Chapter 248 Then I will follow the lead, and you will follow me
The vehicles and self-propelled artillery that the World Eaters landed on the ground were firing at the strong and tall curtain walls surrounding the Cantor's Palace.
Originally built to defend against an entire world's rebellion, these walls now faithfully reflect all the intentions of the Mechanicus Priests who built them.
The flying sparks rose high, igniting the broken and exquisite arcades of the former palace in the spiral of heat waves, and there were clusters of blazing flames everywhere.
Many originally regular buildings were sculpted into characteristic depressions and knots by the gravity wave weapons fired at will. The randomness of the materials finally presented in the waves exudes a strange and twisted beauty.
The "points" generated by the vortex cannon tear apart the material surface of reality, leaving behind a series of uncomfortable and indescribable traces.
The bombardment by Typhon's heavy siege tanks and basilisks continued until the earth could no longer bear it and opened huge mouths, swallowing up the collapsed cities and the last traces of human life.
The siege missiles launched from the Cyclone missile vehicle are like death angels dragging long radiant wings, roaring through the sky, igniting everything when they return from the atmosphere to the ground.
If there are any observers here, they will find that most of the missiles appear blind and skewed, and they have no definite target at all. The keen and sophisticated navigation machine souls in these weapons were burned together as they accompanied the landing Twelfth Legion through the ionization storm caused by the death of the planet.
When the deserted, dead streets are repeatedly ignited, and ominous smoke fills the sky, the artillery fire will calm down, and the World Eaters will move forward again, stepping on the destroyed things. Their long-range attacks are not accurate, and they do not pursue accuracy, but they have more supplies and preparations than the Loyalists, and they pour a large amount of ammunition into the Loyalists' last stronghold in a saturated manner.
Most of these attackers could only advance on foot. Due to the severe damage caused by the early indiscriminate bombing, Rhino and Land Raider could hardly move on the dilapidated ground roads, let alone the reinforced concrete roads on the ground. The ruins of a funeral pyre: they are still endless as far as the best eyes can see, stretching to the end of the horizon.
The Thunderhawk gunships that brought them down were no better. The sophisticated navigation electronics on these aircraft, like the navigation systems on the Tornado missile vehicles, were sensitive to unstable ionizing radiation storms in the upper atmosphere. .
Even behemoths like the Mastodon super-heavy vehicles are powerless. Their drivers find themselves struggling to move through the continuous mountains formed by smoke and ruins, and can only travel a limited dozen kilometers a day. Not even as fast as walking.
Nails and other more primal desires drive the World Eaters.
The Berserkers grinned and dripped blood while relying almost entirely on muscle memory to launch and pilot their Land Speeders.
The swaying wings skimmed dangerously over jagged piles of rubble and dead skeletal shells of towers, searching with the naked eye for their prey. The giant Terminators followed, digging their heavy steps through the dust while firing their heavy flamethrowers into every nook and cranny they could reach, driving and slaughtering like inhuman prey. Looking at his former human colleagues.
In the end, there were tens of thousands of people when they landed, but now there are only a few hundred loyalists left, who were driven and gathered into the last and strongest fortress.
What is somewhat dramatic is that they were the attackers here before, but now they have become defenders.
Cantor's Palace.
Thor Tarvitz stood between his brothers, waiting between artillery barrages to fend off the next charge of the mad World Eaters on the city walls.
——————
“It’s okay...it’s okay, Dae’ol. Go and stay with the others for a while, my son, you are just...too tired and lacking energy. Everyone is likely to make mistakes in this situation."
Angron Petra gently told Da'or, who was kneeling in front of him and screamed in repentance, and then let Korag make him cry bitterly. The brother who couldn't stop was taken to the back to calm down for a while.
The resurrected old warrior is now known as Korragg the Songmaster, a name used by others to commemorate and praise the primarch's miraculous resurrection.
He was also responsible for assisting his Primarch in the subsequent efforts to gather other lost loyalists. Yes, Korrag now fully acknowledged that he had two Primarchs, and listened intently to Angron Petra's every word. Now, like the other soldiers who followed the Primarch, he had his pauldrons and other parts painted black with the black smoke that could be seen all over Istvaan III.
"I will join you in the ensuing battles to mourn and avenge the brave loyalists."
Angron Petra declared, once the third, twelfth, and third The members of the Fourteenth and Sixteenth Legions also bowed their heads to him and swore loyalty to him because of his noble grief.
The arrival of a loyal Primarch is undoubtedly a shot in the arm and a cohesive agent for the Legionnaires, but more worries are also being spread in private.
Angron Petra knew what they were worried about.
Firstly, not only can I use psychic powers, but I also have the same body shape and appearance as Angron who is chasing them - well - although it is indeed hard to believe at first glance - but those The first reaction of the Legionnaires who had narrowly escaped the slaughter and hunting of the World Eater Primarch when they saw him and the fear in their eyes afterward could not deceive anyone - especially the Iron-Hearted Benevolent One.
He extended his psychic barrier as far as possible, sheltering these warriors from repeated searches so that they could have more breathing room, and used the new techniques he had learned after his time in Old Nuceria. "Comfort" these warriors who are tired, hurt and even more unacceptable after learning that they have been abandoned by the Primarch. Thanks to the miraculous power of the Iron-Hearted Benevolent Ones, most of them survived and grew stronger like tempered steel, with the Nail-Stop World Eaters as their backbone.
The second is that they will be more worried that he is indeed loyal than that he is a betrayer. Because obviously, the fleet in orbit and the great betrayer do not want to leave any breathing creature on the ground of Istvan III, and if they watch a loyal primarch lose here——
They will die without being able to apologize.
However, when they were dropped by the airdrop pod, they had no way to leave the surface of Istvan III. Horus Luperkar was indeed determined to let all of them life.
But Angron Petra didn't think so.
He already had some preliminary ideas, and on the morning of the ninety-ninth day here, he once again poured out a full amount of special rations for Space Marines from the metal tube gifted by Perturabo. time is more perfect.
"So, now you should be the last group of people around here."
Kelle Lorne stood quietly in front of the red-haired king, holding his broken body with one hand. Holding the helmet on his waist, he performed the etiquette of meeting his lord.
His jaw was tense, showing tension at the oppressive power of the Primarch, but he still tried to maintain the Luna Wolf's demeanor.
"That's it, respected... Lord of Iron Heart, I have news about the last two big strongholds."
"Tell me about it."
"The one we are in now The underground station is right near the center of the city. It runs east-west and it's easy to tell the direction. To the north is the Cantor's Palace, where there should be a large number of loyal soldiers of the Third Legion holding on. Judging from the sound and explosion range, it's not right. Their attack may be fierce, but there should be the strongest surface buildings on the planet there. To the south of us are strong church buildings and many secret catacombs, which are ready-made good defensive strongholds. Someone also told me that the tenth As the commander of the Sixth Legion, Gaviel Loken is preparing to gather all the loyalist fighters there.”
Obviously Kellorne preferred to join Gaviel Loken, but he restrained himself. He resisted the urge to speak further and simply introduced the information he knew.
This made Angron's evaluation of him rise a lot.
Pirames, whose face was wrapped in a rough cloak and a bandage soaked in medicine, showed a hesitant expression on the side - he was trying to protect Kellon and Daeo in the previous dark melee. Then he was almost ground into a bloody ball on the stone by a World Eater Berserker.
Fortunately, Angron still had apothecaries on hand. Although they lacked medicine, with the help of a small amount of the primarch's magical spiritual power, they still tried their best to save the Emperor's Children.
"But I heard that Ga'viel Loken may have gone to join Sol Tarvitz," when asked, the Emperor's Son tried his best to use the elegant court swordsman etiquette. , and grinned in pain, "This is the last fragment of words I captured, and I haven't had time to share and verify it yet."
"So." Angron Petra thought about the next decision. At the critical moment, nearly a hundred warriors looked expectantly at their King of Miracles with broken eyes in the darkness.
The Primarch pondered, unaware that the only ray of light leaking from the cracked ground was shining on his gold and silver armor, making his entire body appear to be glowing.
"Let's go to the south first..."
No, wait, Angron Petra suddenly thought that those Space Marine ration particles showed the imprints of ancient symbols on the mold, the stars of the eight-pointed disc, One star is particularly long.
Polaris.
Polaris.
He thought to himself.
"Gather everyone together, explain the key points to pay attention to on the road, and allocate all slow-moving and inconvenient units. I want to ensure that everyone can receive assistance and control."
The Primarch made a decision. Rising from the ruins of concrete, steel and rubble.
The light shone on his face.
“Let’s go to the Cantor’s Palace.”
(End of Chapter)