The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“Preiss, take some men and block that gap! Don't let that evil beast break through!”

Just as Hayes was arranging for the melta team to block the gap created by the Executioner, a Warrior bug targeted him, charging forward on its hooves.

Sensing a gust of foul wind, Hayes ducked slightly to avoid the attack, then slashed his sword across the Warrior bug's waist. Alien blood splattered the ground, but true to its status as a Tyranid war beast, its resilience was formidable. The chainsword gnawed at the chitinous armor on its abdomen but couldn't penetrate deeper. The Warrior bug twitched slightly before immediately attacking Hayes.

Hayes rolled inelegantly to avoid the claws, and in the instant he was kneeling, the chainsword swept towards its knees—attacking the lower body, he consistently applied this trick against the Tyranids.

To maintain agility, the Warrior bug's joints didn't have much protection. Hayes accurately struck its left knee, using the power of his mechanical limb to cut straight through the cartilage.

The roaring Warrior bug, losing its balance, immediately tilted to one side. Hayes seized the opportunity to strike at its neck. The chainsword howled, the teeth cutting through the strong neck muscles and bone. Grabbing the Warrior bug's head, Hayes kicked its corpse away, then turned and threw it to the militia commander.

“Impale it on the banner!”

“Yes, yes! Immediately! Soldiers! Look! Officer Hayes easily slayed a Warrior bug!”

But Hayes had no time to correct him, because two more Warrior bugs charged over, their blank, black eyes full of rage and killing intent.

Suddenly, a loud sonic boom shattered the sky. The two charging Warrior bugs and the surrounding Ripper swarms were all turned into piles of minced meat and bone under a barrage of fire.

Hayes looked up and saw an aerial support squadron of 20 Dragonwings and 2 Bomba-pattern Pterodactyls swooping down. The whistling sound was like the scythe of the Grim Reaper. They stopped just as they were about to hit the ground, hovering only a few dozen steps above it. Twelve of the 20 Dragonwings were carrying improved Eradicators. They lined up in groups of three, sweeping across the sky, and used Phosphor Blasters to scour the battlefield. The Tyranid hordes quickly struggled and carbonized in the high-temperature flames, while the Gargoyles formed firing lines, attacking the large Tyranid creatures with hail-like razor-sharp dart-shaped rounds. The 2 Pterodactyls flew towards the gap in the defenses, dropping their mounted melta bombs as a Harpy tried to climb over, blasting the giant beast into a pool of burning flesh and gore.

The situation quickly improved, and Hayes couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but—

“What!”

Hayes felt the ground shake, and his face suddenly changed. The Tyranid creature characteristics he had memorized over and over told him something was coming!

“Sand Striders underground!”

He stopped immediately, because if he remembered correctly, the description said that these creatures sensed their prey through vibrations.

The next second, three giant snake-like monsters burst out of the ground. The closest one was no more than thirty meters away from Hayes.

The militiamen were stunned by the sudden appearance of the monsters. Caught off guard, two people were staggered and snatched away by a writhing Sand Strider with spiked limbs, and another was swallowed whole. The last one pierced three people at once with its sharp forelimbs.

The appearance of the Sand Striders directly disrupted the deployment. A swarm of Gargoyles and Harpies swooped down from the sky, and the Dragonwings had to disengage to fight the enemies from the sky. At the gap, a huge Hierophant was trying to cross it. Individual melta weapons had little effect on it. The two Pterodactyls were trying hard to kill it, and more Warrior bugs and Ripper swarms had crossed the wall.

“Damn it! We have to deal with these Sand Striders! Concentrate the grenades!”

Just as Hayes gave the order, he felt something rushing towards him and quickly threw himself down.

Sharp limbs scraped the ground, kicking up dust. The Sand Strider missed its prey in the first charge. Enraged, it reared up, ignoring the weak fire hammering on its shell, staring straight at Hayes on the ground.

Just as it was about to launch its next attack, a burst of flame exploded on the side of its head. The Sand Strider wailed and fell to the side.

“His blood, fuels my wrath!”

A thunderous roar echoed through the rumble of the Thunderhawk engines. Hayes looked up and saw a blood-red thunderbolt streaking across the filthy sky, the blood drop surrounded by saw teeth particularly glaring.

“Flesh Tearers…”

When they were still hundreds of meters above the ground, the Thunderhawk opened its hatch. The crimson giants ignited the jump packs on their backs. There were ten of them, crashing towards the ground with the momentum of meteors.

The leading warrior, wielding a roaring chainaxe, crashed straight towards the Sand Strider whose head had been half blown off by the Thunderhawk, slashing a long gash in its side.

The moment he landed, the Flesh Tearers veteran aimed his bolt pistol at its head and pulled the trigger. The air between the muzzle and the monster shimmered, and the explosion erupted on the Sand Strider's round head. It twitched even more violently.

As the Sand Strider lunged at the Flesh Tearer, he agilely jumped over its tail sweep, ignited his backpack, and roared as he smashed his axe into the opponent's skull.

In an instant, bone fragments flew, but the Tyranid's tenacious vitality allowed the Sand Strider to continue struggling. The Flesh Tearer landed and swung his chainaxe, burying the weapon deep into the monster's belly. The Sand Strider howled, its long body frantically thrashing everything around it.

The Flesh Tearer gripped the embedded weapon tightly, forcefully pressing the opponent to the ground, planting his feet firmly on the Tyranid, and taking the opportunity to repeatedly fire his pistol.

The bullets pierced the Sand Strider's flank again and again. The wounded Sand Strider rolled over, throwing the Flesh Tearer away, who landed heavily on the ground, followed by the bladed tail slamming down on the Flesh Tearer's position, forcing him to dodge again.

The Flesh Tearer, having lost his weapon, growled, and taking advantage of the Sand Strider retracting its tail, ignited his backpack and smashed into the opponent like an angry bullet, directly knocking the Sand Strider over. Then came a scene that Hayes would never forget. The Flesh Tearer frantically punched the Sand Strider's abdomen with his fists. A series of blows cracked the entire bone plate, and then he roared and forcibly tore open the bone plate, forcefully pulling out the entrails inside.

The Sand Strider twitched for a few seconds before dying. The Flesh Tearer raised an organ that looked like a heart and crushed it, allowing the corrosive blood to outline fine lines on its armor.

Hayes had many impressions of Space Marines, but none of them included this kind of frenzy and barbarity, which even made the battle-hardened him feel chills, and reminded him of the renegade Space Marines he had once seen in the Maelstrom.

At this time, the other Flesh Tearers had also solved the other two Sand Striders, and they did not stop, turning to slaughter Warrior bugs and Ripper swarms.

After pulling out the chainaxe, the Flesh Tearers veteran looked around, then breathed deeply and said:

“Who is the officer in charge here?”