The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Will this work? I'm afraid the Void Shield might be vulnerable to aerial strikes."

[I hope readers remember our domain name here: Taiwan Novel Website → 𝓉𝓌𝓀𝒶𝓃.𝒸ℴ𝓂]

Sergeant Avicus, who was executing this kind of mission for the first time, was also hesitant, but he stuck to his duty, ensuring the laser designator continued to function.

Subsequently, he caught the sound of something streaking across the sky, and when he looked up, he immediately saw twelve black dots, like small aircraft, approaching the stronghold. Their speed was at least somewhat slow in his eyes.

However, it was precisely this relatively slow speed that, at the moment they touched the Void Shield, only stirred up a ripple. Then, two of them disappeared in the flash of the Void Shield, and the remaining ten hurtled towards their target.

Ten seconds later, several miniature mushroom clouds shyly poked their heads from behind the stronghold's protective walls. The erupting explosive heat instantly annihilated the target, and the soaring rubble and debris even slammed into the hillside behind Avicus' squad, leaving the sergeant dumbfounded—

"It actually worked?"

At this point, the interior of the fortress was already a ruin, but this was not the end. With the shriek of engines, six missiles launched by three Thunderhawks cut through the air in graceful arcs towards the last remnants of the fortress.

Tiny points of light burst open, like the light feathers unintentionally scattered by holy angels upon the mortal realm. The whole world instantly accepted the fiery baptism of truth and goodness. The submunition-launching chain reaction triggered by the explosion instantly destroyed the entire fortress. The shockwave tore the more distant protective walls to shreds, and the gale-force winds, carrying surface debris, roared towards Avicus, forcing him to turn around to protect the equipment in his arms until the storm faded into a settling of ash and embers.

"Wow, Sergeant, this—"

Soon, the surrounding recruits also gathered, curiously examining the distant, tiny remnants, finding it hard to imagine that a fortress had stood there before.

Avicus wiped the dust from his visor and looked back at the ruins.

"First, use low-speed, laser-guided glide bombs to breach the Void Shield defenses and destroy key facilities, then use high-yield cluster missiles to attack the unprotected facilities and personnel. Even if the enemy has survivors, the significance of this stronghold is no more. And to accomplish all of this only requires a few recruits and three Thunderhawks. That's how you destroy a fortress with a Void Shield."

After watching for a while, one of the recruits said softly:

"Then doesn't our value just become a laser designator? The glory of the Astartes should be in chainswords and bolters."

Avicus immediately corrected him.

"We are soldiers first and foremost. A soldier thinks about how to complete the mission, how to achieve victory. Remember that."

Saying that, he patted the equipment.

"And do you think the enemy will let us come and swagger around with the equipment without any precautions? Things won't be that simple in actual combat. Being able to say such naive things shows that your training isn't over yet. Alright, enough nonsense, go and carry out the next mission."

Meanwhile, in the observation post far behind the exercise base, Sorskyan was looking with interest at the images from the reports converging from all directions.

"In just ten minutes, all nine of the enemy's fortified strongholds were destroyed. If we had used traditional tactics, whether it was a frontal assault, infiltration and breakthrough, or forcibly overloading the Void Shield with firepower, it would have taken longer and cost more, and we'd have to ensure that there weren't any powerful enemies like Chaos Space Marines resisting inside, and there might even be casualties."

Sorskyan turned his head to look at Bangula, who was standing next to him, and smiled:

"Wise Man Bangula, this 'Thunderclap' gliding melta bomb is a great design. Setting the limit speed at the Void Shield's rejection threshold ensures both penetration and avoids being too slow."

Bangula also responded with a smile:

"It's all thanks to the Chapter Master's blessing, otherwise we wouldn't have thought of such a design, let alone such precise Void Shield threshold data."

Because it involved Sorskyan's rather sensitive identity, Bangula put it very tactfully. In fact, the design of this glide bomb came from a weapon in the Eldar armory called the Ghost Missile. It is usually used by Phoenix Fighters or Vampire Raiders and has an incredible propulsion system. By simply adjusting its wraithbone wings, it can precisely adjust its speed. It can take advantage of the Void Shield's difficulty in defending against low-speed targets to suddenly reduce its speed to the Void Shield's threshold when approaching enemies with Void Shield defenses, using the Void Shield's inability to block low-speed targets to break through the shield. After completing the breakthrough, it can suddenly increase to extreme speed in a tenth of a second, making its speed and trajectory as bizarre as a ghost, hence the name Ghost Missile. It can be said to defy the laws of physics.

It is naturally difficult for humans to simulate this kind of missile that relies on wraithbone and ancient Eldar technology to achieve magical effects, but this idea of ​​high-speed maneuver followed by low-speed penetration gave Sorskyan inspiration. So, he proposed the idea of ​​researching a low-speed penetration weapon to Bangula a long time ago.

Thus, the Thunderclap Glide Bomb was born. This bomb, which is similar to a missile, has a fairly simple structure. The streamlined top cover has a guidance head. After the guidance device senses the laser reflected from the target, the deployed wings control the projectile to head straight for the target at a lower speed along the reflected laser.

Of course, maintaining a low speed all the time certainly has its drawbacks, such as being easily intercepted by lasers or being interfered with by enemy equipment. So, the best way is to launch it when it is relatively close to the enemy. The risk is very high on the ground, so choosing to launch it in the sky is the way to go. And in order to resist enemy interference, traditional augury guidance is definitely not feasible, and wetware is not very reliable. So, the most reliable way is laser guidance.

As for the enemy's interception firepower, the simplest way is to stack the numbers, using a saturated number to overwhelm the enemy's interception firepower. This requires that the bomb should not be too complicated and can be manufactured in large quantities at a low cost.

And glide bombs are very suitable for this requirement.

As for the Void Shield threshold data, Sorskyan also got it from the Bonesinger. Originally, he thought that this would only have a little reference value for humans, after all, humans have been playing with Void Shields for so many years.

To his great surprise, the Adeptus Mechanicus's understanding of the principles of Void Shields seems to still be at a relatively basic level.

He doesn't understand why this is the case. Anyway, everyone can build them. He can only guess that many of the overly detailed data need to be explored by the Magi themselves over the years, and even if they are really explored, they probably won't be shared. In the end, it is still a problem of the Adeptus Mechanicus's internal closure and the proliferation of academic cliques.

There is no solution to this, and Sorskyan can only sigh.

And the Void Shield threshold data is very important for this equipment, because it determines at what speed the bomb should pass through the enemy's shield, ensuring the penetration rate without being too slow. But this data is not a single value. In fact, there are corresponding differences due to the size of the Void Shield, the coverage area, and even the model of the generator. This not only requires a lot of statistics, but also requires a series of complex formula calculations. The Eldar have a very in-depth study of human Void Shields. They even have a special calculation method that can quickly derive the threshold values ​​of various Imperial Void Shields.