StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

After that, the Cerberus swarm that arrived launched a lightning-fast attack, and launched an extremely cruel and bloody fight with the protoss and zerg that attacked Ister's unit, like a The planing knife is so sharp, cold and sharp.

The imperial army, whose pressure was suddenly reduced, regrouped and gathered its forces to launch a counterattack.

After that, the Jörmungandr swarm continued to increase its troops through the Nydus worms that kept breaking out of the ground, and the battle continued until the stars slowly climbed up to the horizon.

Even in the dark night, fierce exchanges of fire could be heard from all directions, the bright lights of explosions on the horizon were flashing, and traces of the battle stretched from the ground to tens of thousands of feet in the air. Flares, laser beams, and plasma beams lit up the clear night sky over and over again, with only the brightest stars still faintly visible.

This was a disorderly melee. This raid completely disrupted the pre-arrangement of the Imperial landing force, and various Imperial forces were forced to fight independently.

To make matters worse, the satellites and ground communication base stations of the empire's command system were suddenly attacked by the protoss. The scope of the attack included the corps, division, brigade and battalion-level headquarters of the Imperial Army. It is likely that the signals sent by the orbiting satellite base stations completely exposed the locations of the high-level command units.

The enemy did not wait until they were in position before attacking.

During this period, communication between Easter's unit and the 7th Marine Infantry Division was temporarily interrupted.

When a lieutenant colonel took over the command, they learned that the command center where the division commander General Ludweder was located had been suddenly attacked, and that he himself and his adjutant and staff had suffered accidents. Not only the division headquarters, but also the battalion could not be contacted, and there was no news from the fleet in orbit.

That night, bad news came one after another.

When a battle broke out on this side, another hive force of the Jormungandr Swarm began to besiege Shuiyuan Fortress No. 4 where the 7th Marine Infantry Division was about to go for reinforcements. In just a few hours, thousands of All the defenders were wiped out.

The second and third lines of defense were breached one after another before they were fully formed, and they were not even able to delay for much time. On a bloody evening, the 19th and 76th Marine Infantry Divisions along the route of the Jormungandr swarm were massacred, with more than 20,000 dead.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

Immediately afterwards, the Jormungandr swarm that drove straight into the water source oasis colony crossed the defense line. A total of twenty-one divisions of troops were besieged, dismembered, and annihilated. As luck would have it, Easter's troops were not among them, but they were very close to the encirclement, almost under their noses.

At this moment, our own Cerberus swarm has long disappeared. After the battle, they turned around and disappeared into the worm network of the Jormungandr swarm, continuing to pursue their enemies.

Obviously, the Lord of Cerberus has his own ideas about leading troops in war.

With delays in contacting the command center and poor communications, lower-level Imperial officers banded together to take over control of battalion and brigade-level troops.

Lieutenant Colonel Grantz took over the position of commander of the 7th Marine Infantry Division. Because he was leading the troops in a command vehicle outside, he escaped the protoss attack on the division headquarters.

The new division commander sent vulture riders to serve as communications troops to gather the troops, and ordered to continue advancing to Fortress No. 4 to rescue the troops besieged by the Jormungandr swarm and join them.

Easter could see Lieutenant Colonel Grantz's intention: they could only move forward, not retreat.

There is almost no danger in the hinterland of the flat oasis. Retreating means exposing your back and flanks to the bloodthirsty Jörmungandr insect swarms. Competing with the insect swarms for endurance is a dead end. It was a long way back to New Richmond City. In comparison, the No. 4 Water Source Fortress they were originally going to was much closer.

If they could muster enough strength to recapture the fortress and hold it until subsequent reinforcements arrived, they would not be completely wiped out on the first day of landing in the colony.

Will this be another Brochus Hull massacre? Without those famous imperial generals, the remaining commanders simply seemed unable to fight.

No, they are still good commanders. The many victories brought by Emperor Augustus to the Terran Empire have made Ister forget how hard they once fought.

The brainworms are always learning and becoming stronger. They have survived the First Total War and the Brood War, and each time they fought against the Protoss Empire and the Tyranid Empire, the Swarm learned their lesson and never did it again.

In front of the swarm of insects, if they make one wrong step, they will be doomed.

If Lieutenant Colonel Grantz wants to save his army, he must fight against the odds and fight against the odds.

All night long Easter's platoon fought.

They followed their company towards Shuiyuan Fortress No. 4, advancing behind the barrage of siege tanks. The armored troops and all the marauder companies gathered to take the lead, almost stepping on the corpses of enemies and comrades in the attack.

The blood that flowed freely made the originally hard ground under the feet become muddy and slippery. It was unknown how many people died that night and never saw the sun the next day.

Later, parts of several nearby divisions joined Istres. Many troops have been wiped out, and the remaining people have either joined other troops or are missing.

This battle was very difficult. The number of Jörmungandr swarms was more than ten times theirs, constantly attacking the crumbling weak points.

People kept falling down, and the injured had no time to be transferred and treated.

Most of the medical transports were shot down, and the remaining ones had to continue to lower their altitude to avoid the protoss' Phoenix fighter fleet. Their air power was already finished.

Since the army is always on the move, field hospitals are not of use at this time, so we can only rely on armored ambulances equipped with medical equipment. But in this case, even finding those ambulances is a pipe dream.

Lin, who was injured the day before, was not transferred to Haven for training as Ister expected. The hydralisk that attacked him evolved a new venom gland, causing the spines it sprayed to explode. The needle transformed into a poisonous dagger coated in poison, possibly from some kind of venomous snake from New Trinidad.

This is hopeless until new antidotes are developed.

Riol had been carrying Lin on his back, and Ister could only scold him and ask him to put down Lin's body. Riol cried at the end.

It was not until noon of the next day that the 7th and 11th Marine Infantry Divisions finally broke through the defenses of the Jörmungandr Swarm and met up with the remnants of the other two divisions.

At this time, as a second lieutenant, Easter unexpectedly became a battalion commander like a rocket, which meant that all the company commanders and platoon commanders he had taken over had died, or were no longer able to command their own troops.

Since the fleet in orbit never sent reinforcements, the lost troops could not be replaced, and experienced commanders suffered heavy casualties, which could only be made up for through larger-scale temporary promotions.

This has become more and more common in the increasingly fierce battles over the years. The junior officers of the Imperial Army still maintain the tradition of the Revolutionary Army era and often take the lead in charging into battle, which greatly increases their mortality rate.

Under such a situation, lower-level soldiers and non-commissioned officers have more opportunities for promotion, which is very similar to the end of the old Federation.

However, even though he has become the battalion commander, the number of soldiers under him has been reduced to less than one-third of the original number. The original platoon was forced to mix with the other two platoons to maintain combat strength.

When Ister led his troops to prepare to retake Shuiyuan Fortress No. 4, he realized that this was an impossible task.

The towering steel city still stands, but it has completely become a nest of insects. The zerg has infected the entire building, and a large number of spine crawlers, spore cannons, and bile projectiles are growing vigorously along the fortress walls covered with veins and connective crusty tissue, forming a terrifying web of firepower.

The Swarm has never done this in the past.

Just when they were on the verge of despair, support from orbit finally arrived.

They received support from men and supplies one after another. Only then did Easter become the real battalion commander, and he found that he was fully qualified for this position.

Three full-strength Kaimorian Airborne Divisions were also thrown into the battle. These troops of workers, miners, and explorers wore rusty brass-colored armor to distinguish them from the Imperial troops.

These Camorians have a strong will to fight, and are not even inferior to the elite troops of the Empire such as the 7th Marine Division.

Since the rise of the empire, the internal rule of the Kemerian Consortium has been declining day by day. The current corporate coalition government has already followed the lead of Khama and handed over the command of the coalition's army to the Imperial High Command without any hesitation. Anyway, the army is an army trained and organized by the empire. In terms of command and dispatch, those shrewd businessmen and politicians have nothing to say.

But the nature of the Camorians meant that they would never become Tyranids, of which Istel was absolutely sure.

Not only the Kaimorians, but also the United States of Umoyan also sent troops.

The elected assembly of Umoyan was originally worried that the power of the Tyranids would use it to erode and control their country. However, after the golden fleet and the insect swarm effortlessly destroyed several United States territories, the Umoyan Protectorate Army immediately became determined. The earth sided with the Terran Empire.

Several mercenary groups also arrived at the same time. Many of these veteran mercenaries were people who were unwilling to join the Imperial Army during the Federation era and could not find other better jobs after retirement. Their combat effectiveness is stronger than ordinary Imperial recruits, but their price is high.

Even if the world is about to be destroyed, commissions will still be collected. Not many people will question this.

The newly supported support force meant that the fleet in orbit was able to free up means to provide fire support, so Lieutenant Colonel Grants once again ordered the attack on Fortress No. 4.

The next night, they used tactical nuclear bombs and flamethrowers to clear the way before they broke into and retaken the fortress.

The remaining troops of the seven divisions, about 30,000 men, took advantage of the weakening of the Jormungandr insect swarm offensive to repair the fortress and hold on until the third day.

But on the third night, the corpses of those comrades who had not been burned in time staggered over, dragging horrifying rotten bodies. Horrible spores took root and sprouted on their broken corpses, twisting people into monsters.

Ister and his warriors had to kill them again.

On the fourth day, a legion of fanatics appeared in front of the fortress and launched a massive offensive. They used their only reserve troops, and even the medical soldiers filled the gaps in the battle line with weapons. On this day, Easter had used up all the stimulants, and he had basically not slept much in the past nearly a hundred hours.

The army's casualties had reached unbearable proportions and they were on the verge of collapse.

At the same time, the battle situation in orbit is not optimistic, and the follow-up fleet of the Golden Fleet has arrived.

The fleet commander had to admit that they had to abandon the planet and ordered all transport ships to be put down to pick up the troops on the surface.

"We stayed here for four days and nights, and in the end we had to give up here. So, what is the meaning of our sacrifice?" On the Hercules transport ship returning to the fleet, McGinn sat next to Ister.

He was the last survivor besides himself in Ister's original platoon. The others stayed at the water source forever.

The oasis of water has now been reduced to a puddle of corruption.

Now looking back in the direction of New Richmond, I can only see streaks of black smoke rising into the sky. The ugly creeping fungus spreads like a scar on the earth. Everywhere it goes, there is no grass and a barren landscape. The land that is full of vitality is a lifeless scene.

In just a few days, Ister almost completely forgot what the water oasis looked like, and could only vaguely recall the impressive lake and blue sky.

It is now a ruins of rubble.

Look at the atrocities committed by our enemies on our lands. The protoss and zerg are killing with impunity.

Eamon admired this wonderful doomsday drama very much and personally arranged for the actors to appear on stage.

"I don't know." Easter rubbed an identity plate in his hand.

Heinlein was blown to pieces by a baneling bug buried underground. Not even a broken bone could be found. Ister only found his identity plate.

These people trust him and regard him as a leader and an authority in fighting, but can he live up to their trust? In the end, there was only so much left to prove that they once existed and fought here.

Easter thought of the last words of Emperor Augustus:

I have signed an order, ordering every inch of mountains and rivers and every inch of blood. I am just a mediocre person, but I ask you to be selfless and holy like a saint, and I ask you to pay, sacrifice, and dedicate.

The transport plane rose into the clouds, and only small black dots remained in the ruins of New Richmond below.

In the end, they watched numbly in high-altitude orbit as the protoss fleet destroyed the Heliok III, until anger and grief poured into their throats like hot spicy oil.