121: Chapter 121 Attacking Troy

Edward only received the news the next day.

"What?"

"Red Eye was ambushed by remnants of the Chaos forces on his way back to the Lower Hive, and his entire army was wiped out."

"This... this is too coincidental."

Edward simply dared not think too deeply about it.

As a smart man, he knew clearly what he should think about and what he shouldn't.

Edward did not delve any deeper into the news; he simply waited quietly for orders from the Imperial Army.

Edward knew that the Imperial Army would certainly have him take over all of Red Eye's troops.

Soon, a unit of the Star Guard arrived. They represented almost nothing less than a direct order from Xia Xingchen himself.

Edward nodded in immediate understanding and immediately mobilized his own officers.

Because Red Eye's troops were leaderless, they were disarmed with almost no effort.

Just like that, the internal conflicts of the Rebel Army were completely resolved.

Xia Xingchen's army also received a massive reinforcement as a result.

According to the quartermaster's statistics, the combat troops under Xia Xingchen's command had actually expanded to around six million people.

Among them, nearly five million were from the Penal Legion.

Of these five million-plus people, nearly two-thirds were ordinary civilians drafted into the Penal Legion battalions, while the remaining third consisted of the remaining loyalist troops on Troy World.

According to reports from the logistics department, as the troop numbers expanded to six million, material consumption reached an unimaginable level.

Two-thirds of the logistics supplies stored on the interstellar transport ships brought with the army had been consumed, but this was only enough to arm two million people.

The remaining three million relied entirely on the original military reserves of Troy World.

These reserves came mainly from three sources:

First, equipment manufactured before the fall.

Second, military equipment produced by Troy World after the fall, and another portion consisted of weapons manufactured by private underground armories.

These weapons had no quality guarantees whatsoever.

However, for Xia Xingchen, as long as the Penal Legion troops had a weapon in their hands that could fire, it was enough.

As the Imperial Army's bridgehead outside Troy Main Hive City was completed, a railway connecting the bridgehead to Ironwood Hive City was also gradually finished through all-out efforts.

Once the trains were officially running on the tracks, a massive influx of personnel and weapons began to be continuously transported to the bridgehead.

This time, Xia Xingchen committed almost all of his military strength—a full army of nine hundred thousand.

If you stood at The Spire of Troy Main Hive City and looked outward, you would find circles upon circles of lights completely surrounding the entire Hive City.

That was not some natural landscape, but the lights of countless military camps, illuminating the entire land.

Kargos stood at The Spire, looking at the endless lights in the distance, an irrepressible excitement surging in his heart.

In his view, an endless slaughter was about to unfold on this land.

"Kargos, what are you looking at?" Xue Shatian's voice came from behind him.

"We are an isolated island now. Facing so many mortals, are you confident?"

Kargos looked outside, painting a picture of an incredibly dark future for Xue Shatian.

Xue Shatian, however, did not care in the least. He stepped one step at a time across the smooth marble floor, slowly saying:

"Do not worry. If we truly cannot hold it, we still have the Chorus Engine as our trump card."

After hearing the four words "Chorus Engine," Kargos finally couldn't help but ask:

"You all keep talking about the Chorus Engine. I am also very curious, what exactly is this thing that makes you believe in it so much?"

Xue Shatian poured himself a glass of wine, downed it in one gulp, and replied indifferently:

"Something that can let us see a truly bright future."

Kargos snorted coldly upon hearing this; he was still speaking in riddles.

Xue Shatian ignored him, but in his mind, he was thinking about the situation in the Segmentum Obscurus.

He wondered if Chaos Eternal had managed to get things done over there.

Now, they had at most ten months left.

Meanwhile, in the Segmentum Obscurus.

Chaos Eternal had already conquered the Giant Bear Fortress World.

At this moment, a replica of the Chorus Engine, identical to the one on Troy World, was slowly charging up here.

Unlike the one on Troy World, this Chorus Engine had a clear crack on it, obviously caused by an attack.

Looking at that crack, Chaos Eternal cursed angrily in his heart:

"Damn Grey Knights."

However, that crack had already been mostly repaired by the Archmagos of the Dark Adeptus Mechanicus, and it could barely be used again.

It just needed time for the energy to reconverge.

Chaos Lord Karuke of the Putrid Warband came to Chaos Eternal's side and informed him of one thing:

"The Imperial Army is very likely about to launch a second general offensive. We must step up our defenses."

"Understood."

After Chaos Eternal finished speaking, he pulled a scepter out from the Warp.

He went outside and pointed the scepter toward the sky. Massive Warp energy began to surge out from the scepter, turning the entire Giant Bear Fortress World into a world completely shrouded in Warp energy.

"Now, even if the Imperial Army's troops want to rush in, they will have to pay a significant price."

Chaos Eternal pointed outside and ordered the Chapter Master of the Putrid Warband:

"Hold this place for me. You must hold it for at least ten months.

After ten months, you are free to retreat, but within these ten months, no one is allowed to take a single step back."

Chaos Lord Karuke of the Putrid Warband nodded upon hearing this.

Chaos Eternal stood at The Spire, watching the Imperial Army's warships and the Starship Alliance's fighters in space, continuously launching assaults toward the Giant Bear Fortress World.

Meanwhile, the Starry Sky Raiders' mechs had now turned into fixed artillery batteries, forming a massive web of fire on the ground, firing frantically into the sky.

Shifting the focus back to Troy World.

After half a month of preparation, Xia Xingchen's troops had surrounded the entire Troy Main Hive City like an iron bucket, airtight.

When Xia Xingchen arrived at the front line, he could hear deafening roars.

Heavy artillery in the distance was continuously bombarding Troy Main Hive City, but the vast majority of the fire was blocked by the Void Shield.

Yet Xia Xingchen still did not order a cease to the bombardment.

Because he knew very well that the energy consumption of the Void Shield was enormous.

The Void Shield was composed of multiple independent generators, and these generators would form layers of Void Shield fields wrapped like an onion.

Moreover, once the Void Shield was activated, all instruments had to be running; for a Hive City, this was no small expense.

More importantly, the Void Shield would block any high-speed attacks, but most peculiarly, slowly moving personnel or equipment could pass through it easily.

Xia Xingchen had another purpose for the continuous bombardment: to draw the fire from inside the Hive City and create opportunities for the infiltration troops.

This time, the entire First Company of the Nova Chapter was deployed, and they had also brought along Terminator veterans.

The Nova Chapter was determined to succeed this time; they wanted to destroy the plasma engines of Troy Main Hive City, just like they did at Giant Rock Hive City.