108: Chapter 108 Destroy It!

The Khorne Bloodthirster struggled to stand up again, its form twisting like a crawling monster, and charged wildly toward Captain Mordecai.

A soldier suddenly leaped forward, reaching out to pull his comrade.

At the same moment, the Khorne Bloodthirster had just extended its arm, which was covered in sharp claws.

Captain Mordecai's comrade grabbed him.

Just as the Khorne Bloodthirster's claws were about to touch him, a barrage of Bolter fire violently knocked it back.

Xia Xingchen held his Bolter, pulling the trigger continuously until he emptied the entire magazine.

The impact of the Bolter shells sent the Khorne Bloodthirster flying, like a baseball that suddenly lost momentum mid-flight, before it crashed heavily to the ground.

The Khorne Bloodthirster fell into the ruins and let out a roar of defiance.

Before it could get back up, the aircraft's engines roared, and the entire fuselage rose rapidly, flying toward the high altitude.

Just as the Chaos forces on the ground were about to activate their anti-aircraft weapons, a shockwave powerful enough to blow everything away shot straight into the sky from the bottom of the Hive City.

Time rewinds three minutes.

The alarm siren echoed in the lower levels of the Hive City for three minutes before suddenly stopping.

It was not a malfunction; it was the final warning sent to the operators before the energy core cooling system completely failed.

Three minutes later, the coolant pipes burst with a roar, and high-pressure steam mixed with radioactive dust gushed out from the cracks, like the final breath of a dying beast.

After confirming that it was completely irreparable, the plasma reactor's load had exceeded its maximum threshold.

An explosion was an unavoidable conclusion.

The moment it detonated, a supersonic shockwave instantly tore through the air.

Everyone's vocal cords, all communication devices, and everything within a three-hundred-meter radius were ground into powder in this silent destruction.

Then, the sound arrived.

It was the wail of trillions of tons of steel, ceramite, and human bone shattering simultaneously.

Low-frequency infrasound waves penetrated directly through the eardrums, causing resonance in the internal organs.

Every survivor felt their heart about to jump out of their throat, blood surging in their veins, and their eyeballs trembling in their sockets.

Some collapsed on the spot with blood bleeding from their seven orifices; others rolled on the ground holding their ears; those who had completely lost their sanity laughed wildly at the sky, then pulled out their Bolters, pressed them against their chins, and pulled the trigger.

The light arrived before the sound.

It was not the light of an ordinary explosion, but the incandescent, blinding light released before the plasma reactor went out of control, comparable to the core of a star.

Several kilometers away, the observers in the orbital fleet overlooking the battlefield saw their vision turn instantly white.

Under this blinding light, Xia Xingchen's aircraft formation pushed their engines to the limit, desperately fleeing the area that was about to turn into hell.

When the light and sound gradually dissipated, all that remained for the world was a slowly collapsing tomb of steel.

The central tower housing the energy core was the first to snap; the upper half tilted slowly like a felled giant tree, crashing into the adjacent auxiliary buildings.

The impact triggered a new round of explosions, with flames gushing out of every window, turning the entire Hive City into a giant torch stuck in the ground.

This explosion instantly swallowed the lives of the entire Lower Hive, half of the Middle Hive, and part of the Upper Hive.

According to the calculations of the warship's logic engine, this explosion claimed at least ten million lives.

But it was not over yet.

"Captain."

The communications officer immediately turned to report to Zheng Hai,

"The Commander and the Astartes have cleared the attack zone. We can proceed with the Orbital Strike."

As soon as the words fell, Zheng Hai immediately gave the order for all warships to fire all their Lance batteries and Macro-cannons at the Giant Rock Hive City.

This time, there were no more Void Shields to protect the fragile city of Giant Rock Hive City.

The God-Emperor's wrath smashed onto the city without restraint, declaring its destruction.

The Khorne Bloodthirster beneath the ground watched the artillery fire filling the sky and casually remarked:

"Just like those lambs say, it's time to wait for the cooldown."

Flames finally consumed the city's population of hundreds of millions, announcing its death.

The Giant Rock Hive City region could no longer provide any resources or population support to the Troy World.

The last Hive City on the Eastern Continent.

Eastern Hive City

Became an isolated island hanging on the Eastern Continent.

In the flight cabin, Xia Xingchen took off his helmet and breathed heavily.

Just now, for nearly three hours, Xia Xingchen had essentially been walking on the edge of the cliff of hell.

If he had been even slightly careless, he probably would have ended up in the Warp, serving the Emperor.

Xia Xingchen composed himself and looked left and right; only two veterans had survived, one of whom was the Star Guard Company Commander who had been by his side the whole time.

"Are you still the Company Commander I know?"

Xia Xingchen finished speaking, watching as the new Company Commander did not answer.

Xia Xingchen understood clearly and closed his eyes, unwilling to think about or face it anymore.

Just then, a dull sound of metal footsteps approached.

Xia Xingchen looked up and saw Captain Mordecai standing in front of him.

In the moment Xia Xingchen was stunned, Captain Mordecai took the initiative to perform a standard Aquila Salute.

"Thank you, Governor."

This was the first time he had spoken to Xia Xingchen in a friendly and kind manner.

"Thank you for your help earlier."

Seeing this, Xia Xingchen smiled:

"It's nothing. Even if I hadn't intervened, your battle-brothers would have helped. Come to think of it, I suppose I stole their thunder."

Xia Xingchen joked while accepting Captain Mordecai's thanks.

"Hmm, that seems quite interesting."

Captain Mordecai added, and then made a promise to Xia Xingchen:

"If you need help in the future, please do not hesitate to ask. My Nova Marines Chapter will respond to you."

Captain Mordecai, like all Space Marines, did not like to owe favors.

Since he already owed Xia Xingchen this favor, he would definitely look for an opportunity to repay it.

Xia Xingchen was overjoyed; he hadn't expected to receive a promise from a Space Marine.

The group took a gunship back to the warship.

Xia Xingchen and the Space Marines parted ways on the warship; they were returning to their Battle Barge.

After saying goodbye to the Space Marines, Xia Xingchen first returned to his quarters to clean himself up.

Half an hour later, Xia Xingchen sat in the command room, with Cassandra massaging his shoulders from behind.

Meanwhile, Hecuba brought some fruit that looked like a cross between a strawberry and a tomato and handed it to Xia Xingchen.

"What is the situation now, Zheng Hai?"

Xia Xingchen asked about the current situation, "Has the Eastern Hive City World made any reaction?"

Although the entire Giant Rock Hive City World had been completely destroyed, the Eastern Hive City World was still intact.

The military forces and supplies of the Eastern Hive City must be contained within the Hive City; they must not be allowed to leave.

"Archon, rest assured, the Governor of the Eastern Hive City has already panicked and does not dare to make any moves."

Hearing this, Xia Xingchen nodded in relief.

After confirming there was nothing else, he handed all matters over to Zheng Hai to handle and returned to his bedroom to rest.

On the Divine Punishment, 1st Company Captain Mordecai reported the course of the battle on the Troy planet to his Chapter Master, Inquisitor Kolo, and the Canoness.

"In other words, this ground battle encountered Possessed Marines, and it is highly likely that there are even more powerful Chaos entities, right?"

Captain Mordecai nodded.

Upon hearing this report, the Nova Marines Chapter Master turned to look at Captain Mordecai.

Clearly, this situation had exceeded everything Inquisitor Kolo had initially told them.

Clearly, some things were beyond the control of even them, the Space Marines.

"Inquisitor."

The Chapter Master's voice had just spoken, but unexpectedly, Inquisitor Kolo stood up and said:

"Alright, let's put aside what has already happened for now. Our main goal is still to conquer the entire Troy World and eliminate all the traitors on it."

Inquisitor Kolo shut everyone up; it was clear there were some things he did not want everyone to know.

He immediately ended the conversation and turned to leave.

The Chapter Master and the Canoness exchanged glances; it was obvious the Inquisitor was hiding something from them.

But there was nothing they could do; after all, the Inquisitor's authority was greater than theirs.

Inquisitor Kolo arrived in his room and then opened an encrypted communication.

"How is the plan being executed? You are much slower than expected."

Before this communication, Inquisitor Kolo dared not show the slightest negligence.

"We have no choice; after all, we can only rely on that Governor to realize the plan."

The voice on the other end of the communication sounded very speechless.

"Seriously, can we really not find a capable Governor loyal to the Empire to do the job?"

Inquisitor Kolo felt very helpless.

It was good enough just to find a useful Governor.

For those Imperial Governors, it was already good if they could keep their worlds from collapsing, let alone leading troops to assault and fight Chaos.

And such people were mainly concentrated in Ultramar.

Plus, communications in the Ultima Segmentum were severely obstructed, and many Governors could no longer contact their superiors.

For an independent Governor to be able to guarantee loyalty to the Empire was already considered quite good.

The more realistic situation was that many Governors in the Ultima Segmentum had long betrayed the Empire.

Although they had not joined Chaos, they had all declared independence.

"We will help you from the Segmentum Obscurus and buy you more time."

The voice came over, clearly silent for a moment, and then continued:

"At most, an additional year."

Inquisitor Kolo nodded.

From now on, he had one year and three months to conquer the entire Troy World.

On Troy World

Xue Shatian looked at the Warp psychic projection in front of him and then asked skeptically:

"What do you mean?"

The Warp psychic projection continued helplessly:

"We were attacked by the Grey Knights, and the artifact suffered heavy damage. The Dark Mechanicus are already repairing it, and it is estimated to take a full year."

Upon hearing this, Xue Shatian clutched his head and said:

"Damn it, this is really bad news."

The Warp on the other side was silent for a while, and then the voice of Xue Shatian came through:

"I will hold on for another year."