Damn guys, we were in TOP 100 last week and now we are out of the rank altogether! Donate Powerstones, it motivates me to continue translating this book!
--
Deep in the corridor, hiding in the shadows.
[All According to Plan] leaned heavily against a barricade, gasping for air.
The purple uniform of the 13th Company Honor Guard he was wearing was completely drenched in sweat, his face smeared with gunsmoke and dried blood.
The barrel of his lasgun was still radiating heat. He had pushed up with Fulgrim's vanguard during the initial charge and actually managed to drop at least three baseline xenos guards.
But those bio-augmented shock troops were way too cracked.
He had watched with his own eyes as multiple players were literally torn to shreds by those things. Against their energy swords, makeshift power armor was basically wet tissue paper.
He quickly opened the regional channel (Wings of Freedom), his voice urgent:
"What the hell is going on over there?!"
"Five hundred guys can't wipe out three hundred?!"
"We already swapped back into Lucius's Honor Guard cosmetics and we're pushing the Diasporex Gate with Fulgrim!"
"Why are you guys still stalling out over there?!"
The channel was silent for two seconds.
Then, [Blue Pigeon Knows Nothing]'s voice crackled through, cursing up a storm:
"Fuck! The other side has a professional shot-caller who's playing like he has literal wallhacks!"
"Three hundred guys are absolutely farming the five hundred of us! Every single one of us has died like three or four times already!"
[Let the Galaxy Burn] chimed in, though his voice was shaking with sheer adrenaline:
"But bro, this firefight is so fucking fun!!"
"We'd never get to play with ordnance like this in real life!"
"Rocket launchers! Melta cannons! Cyclone missiles!"
"This is ten thousand times better than Delta Force!"
"Plan, ignore what's happening over here, just come back us up! Otherwise, we're actually gonna have to run for it!"
Hearing that, the expression on [All According to Plan]'s face, hidden in the shadows, instantly soured.
Fuck.
Why does this shit never go according to plan?
He took a deep breath and replied over the comms:
"We're literally right behind Fulgrim right now!"
"We have to make sure he executes the Captain!"
"We don't have time!"
"If you really can't beat them, just run!!"
He closed the channel and peeked out at the raging battlefield.
The defensive fire from the barricades was still overwhelming. The Emperor's Children were advancing way slower than anyone expected.
The combat effectiveness of those bio-augmented xenos and cybernetic drones was completely off the charts.
And the worst part was...
The Iron Hands' heavy support was gone.
Their ambush had absolutely crippled the Iron Hands, completely removing them from the race for the First Blood achievement.
And there was a very real chance both Iron Hands Captains would bleed out on this flagship.
But because of that, the Emperor's Children now had to crack this impregnable fortress entirely on their own.
[All According to Plan]'s eyes pierced through the smoke, locking onto the purple blur.
Fulgrim was currently locked in a brutal melee with ten bio-augmented xenos simultaneously.
The Laer Blade spun in his hands, every swing perfectly parrying or countering an incoming strike.
But the xenos refused to give him a single second to breathe.
As soon as one fell, another instantly took its place.
They were literally spending their lives to physically anchor the Primarch in place.
Watching the stalemate, [All According to Plan] suddenly came to a grim realization...
This battle wasn't going to be nearly as easy as they thought.
--
Meanwhile, on another battlefield.
In the corridor leading to the Habitation Sector C bridge, the deafening roar of explosions showed no signs of stopping.
The freshly respawned [Konnichiwa Slaanesh-chan] stared at his bank balance, his eyes practically bugging out of his skull.
"What the fuck? My Imperial Coins went from 890,000 down to 80,000?!"
"???"
[Let the Galaxy Burn] leaned over to take a look, his mouth twitching.
"Bro, what did you even do?"
"How do you blow 810,000 Imperial Coins in one fight?"
[Konnichiwa Slaanesh-chan] looked completely bewildered.
"I... I don't even know..."
"I got tilted. At first, I was just gonna spend a few grand on some rocket launchers, but then I got pissed and dropped two Cyclone missiles."
"That's over 600,000 right there!"
"Then I bought a compact melta cannon..."
"And a bunch of explosives..."
"And I died six times..."
"Fuck!"
That breakdown left the surrounding Chaos players in stunned silence.
After a moment, [Let the Galaxy Burn] spoke up softly:
"Legend."
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall] checked his own balance, his face turning equally ugly.
"I blew over 500,000 myself... This is literally unplayable!"
"I knew it, you can't just unga-bunga push in these games!"
"It's exactly what happened to me in Delta Force. Some dog convinced me to go aerospace, told me it was an infinite money glitch. I blew 500 million Havoc Coins in one night just W-keying!"
"And I didn't extract a single time!"
Listening to the complaints, the expression on [Blue Pigeon Knows Nothing]'s face wasn't much better.
He leaned against the barricade, checking the Imperial Coin balance on his UI...
760,000.
Not terrible. He'd only spent around 400,000.
But if they kept fighting like this, they were going to literally bankrupt themselves.
He took a deep breath and spoke into the channel:
"Cease fire!"
"Fall back!!"
"We're regrouping with Plan! We'll figure it out from there!"
Hearing that, the Chaos players looked like they'd just been handed a pardon by the governor.
"Right, right, right, let's pull back!"
"Fuck, if we keep fighting, I'm actually gonna go broke!"
"Go, go, go!"
Five hundred figures stood up from behind cover, retreating down the corridor toward the core sector and the Diasporex Gate.
As they gradually pulled out, the heavily cratered battlefield slowly returned to an eerie silence.
Leon peeked out from behind his barricade, his gaze sweeping over the ruined corridor.
The Chaos players' positions were empty.
Nothing was left but craters, shattered barricades, and a mountain of corpses.
The corner of his mouth ticked upward slightly.
Knew it. They couldn't bleed out forever.
He spoke calmly into the regional channel (Light of the Emperor):
"Heads up. Push forward. Keep your guard up."
Over three hundred figures rose from cover, bolters raised, slowly advancing down the corridor.
They walked past the blown-out fortifications.
Past the scattered brass casings and shrapnel, past the still-smoking craters.
Until they reached the main doors leading to the Habitation Sector.
[Metal Garurumon Beast Girl] crouched down, inspecting the scuff marks on the deck.
"They fell back that way."
She pointed to the left, toward a set of blast doors leading deeper into the Habitation Sector.
Leon nodded.
He walked over to a slightly smaller corridor branching off to the right.
The damage here was just as severe. The walls were peppered with bolter craters and scorch marks, and discarded gear littered the floor.
But Leon's eyes were fixed on the signage above the door.
It was written in the Diasporex Alliance's script. He couldn't read a word of it.
But he remembered the intel he had studied.
According to the lore data they had pulled from the real world, Demeter's Second Company had attacked from a completely different route.
He crouched down, carefully inspecting the tracks on the floor.
A ton of heavy boot prints.
Heading exactly in this direction.
Leon stood up and spoke into the comms:
"According to the lore we studied, Demeter and Fulgrim split up."
"Judging by these tracks, Demeter probably took this right path."
He didn't hesitate, making the call instantly:
"Double time. We push right!"
"There's zero point getting bogged down in that meat grinder in the Habitation Sector..."
"Fulgrim's over there. Even if we show up, we won't be able to change a damn thing."
[Two-Faced Turtle] was the first to reply: "Copy that!"
[I am the Living Dragon] followed up: "Wherever the Boss points, we shoot!"
[Metal Garurumon Beast Girl] chimed in: "Let's move!"
Over three hundred figures poured into the narrower right-hand corridor.
--
Meanwhile, In another corridor leading toward the core sector.
The deafening roar of bolter fire echoed relentlessly.
Solomon Demeter stood dead center in the hallway, his power sword completely soaked in glowing green xenos blood.
Behind him, hundreds of Emperor's Children Astartes were locked in a brutal firefight with the Diasporex guards.
The defensive line here was no joke either.
Sure, it wasn't the absolute fortress of the Diasporex Gate, but there were still plenty of bio-augmented shock troops and cybernetic drones.
But Solomon's tactical command was ice cold.
He split his forces, using half to pin down the front line while the other half constantly flanked, systematically chewing through the enemy's defenses piece by piece.
Those bio-augmented xenos were definitely powerful, but they simply weren't a match for Astartes.
They had no unified command structure; they fought entirely on instinct.
Against textbook Astartes squad tactics, that kind of feral aggression wasn't nearly enough.
A bio-augmented xenos roared, lunging at him with both mechanical arms swinging energy swords.
Solomon smoothly sidestepped the initial thrust, his power sword sweeping out in a clean arc to sever both the creature's forelimbs.
Without missing a beat, he stepped in close, driving the blade up through its jaw and straight into its brain case.
The monster twitched violently twice before collapsing into a heap.
Solomon wrenched his blade free, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield.
The defensive line was crumbling.
Because the enemy had drastically fewer numbers here compared to the Diasporex Gate.
Ten more minutes, tops, and he would completely shatter this line, punching straight through into a highly vulnerable section of the core—one that wasn't protected by a massive blast door.
When that happened...
The bridge would be completely exposed to his blade.
A faint smirk touched his lips as he opened the vox-channel:
"Brothers, pick up the pace."
"This victory belongs to the Second Company of the Emperor's Children."