The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The terrifying killing machines were virtually impenetrable to the lightly armed militia, like invulnerable monsters. They were surrounded by hordes of crazed green creatures, uglier and more vile than those piloting the rotorcraft. Wielding crude spears and blades, they paraded the heads of slain men, women, and even children on flagpoles. Their small, malicious eyes glowed red as they communicated with each other in shrill, squeaking voices, appearing both comical and disgusting.

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Mel took a couple of steps, leaning against the shattered barricade. His remaining hand fumbled, finally finding a grenade.

He knew there was no going back. The only thing he could do was be the last defender here. He glanced at a wounded soldier struggling on the ground a dozen meters away. His lower body was torn open, intestines spilling out. The young, pale face was filled with despair, seemingly calling out for his mother.

Mel hesitated for a moment, then pulled the pin and tossed the grenade towards the soldier before throwing himself to the ground.

Boom—

The wounded soldier's whimpers ceased. Mel wasn't sure if the man would thank him, but it was the only thing he could do.

Shaking his head, he sat up again and found a pistol on the ground. It looked like an antique, firing solid bullets, but it was better than nothing.

Mel propped himself up on his knees against the barricade, raised the gun, and fired a shot.

Bang!

A small green monster shrieked and fell. The other little beasts around it immediately jumped up as if startled, then angrily chattered and pointed at Mel's position.

Clang, clang!

The smoking killing machine strode towards the barricade. Its metal spikes were adorned with various human remains, like some kind of disgusting totem. At the same time, the circular saw on its arm began to spin, emitting a piercing whine.

Mel fired shot after shot at it, but the bullets harmlessly bounced off its metal body.

Finally, he stopped firing and looked at the pistol.

One bullet left.

Should he save it for himself?

After a moment's thought, he raised his hand, aimed at the killing machine that was almost within reach, pulled the trigger, and roared:

"Go to hell, you greenskins!"

Boom!

The shockwave from the violent explosion threw him backward, slamming him heavily onto the ground.

"What..."

As he struggled to sit up in astonishment, he saw that the previously menacing killing machine had been reduced to a pile of burning wreckage. And what had destroyed it... was a crashed rotorcraft.

"This!"

Mel was stunned as the colossal behemoth soared overhead. It was something that only appeared in myths.

The massive winged beast let out a high-pitched roar, and on its back was a knight in exquisite, exotic armor, holding a shining lance and bearing three flags behind him: a green scroll flag, a platinum fire crest flag, and a red blood hand flag, fluttering wildly in the wind, creating a strange scene of terrifying majesty.

Not only Mel, but almost all the panicked people seeking shelter saw this strange reinforcement arrive. The crowd erupted in exclamations amidst the horn-like war cries of the wyverns—

"What is that! Flying lizards? Or..."

Wide-eyed citizens lay on the burned-out buildings, crowded on intact rooftops, and stood on the parapets, watching the speeding wyvern riders.

"Lord! Look!"

The Black Reef City Lord, who was frantically dealing with the situation on the inner city parapet, was so shocked by the sight of the wyvern riders that his mouth hung open. He had been in despair, considering whether to retreat or die defending the city, and had even arranged for his family to escape by boat. He never expected this to happen.

"Are they... reinforcements? The Astra Militarum?"

Although Rynn's World was the homeworld of the Space Marines, it wasn't very developed or a military focus. The locals had a vague concept of the Imperium. As the city lord, he only knew that the Imperium had a regular army called the Astra Militarum.

The city lord looked up at the sky and then turned to the officers around him, who were equally clueless.

"Wait, they don't intend to contact us?"

The officers looked at each other, unable to say for sure. The city lord could only wave his hand irritably and say:

"Useless! Useless! You're all a bunch of useless people! Then we'll wait until they're done fighting. During this time, no troops are allowed to act without authorization... By the way, haven't we contacted New Rynn City yet? What do you mean we can't? Tell the communications officers to find a way! I don't want problems, I want answers! Did you eat the military rations for nothing!?"

Compared to the humans' astonishment, the greenskins were simply terrified. They were completely unprepared for this sudden attack and had never imagined facing such devastating cavalry charges in the sky.

Although the greenskin rotorcraft could bully unprotected human ground troops at will, they were as fragile as the humans they attacked when facing agile and swift wyvern knights. As a crazed rocket exploded in a dazzling trajectory, a roaring wyvern burst out of the smoke. The wyvern knight raised the laser lance in his hand, which emitted a bright white flash. The greenskin pilot screamed in frustration and anger, choosing to bail out at the last moment.

The laser detonated the rotorcraft, and as its wreckage fell in flames, the greenskin who bailed out tried to open his parachute.

"Ughhhhh!"

A gaping maw bit into the greenskin pilot's body from the side, vigorously grinding its razor-like teeth and shaking its head amidst his screams. The top half of the guy was bitten off and thrown away.

Some of the wobbling greenskin rotorcraft tried to escape, but their speed was not enough to get them out of the battlefield. Lasers streaked across the night sky, accurately hitting their tail fins or propellers, or even more directly, the dire wyverns used their hard claws to directly crush the rotorcraft's propellers and pierced the screaming greenskin pilots with their hooked tails, hoisted them into the air, and then slammed them to the ground.

At the same time, the killing machines finally met their retribution. The wyvern knights responsible for attacking them picked up the light missile launchers on their saddles. These individual missile launchers used complex multi-chamber missile bays to load different types of ammunition, such as armor-piercing rounds and plasma rounds. This design effectively reduced the need for ammunition reloading. The ammunition in its internal ammunition bay was arranged very tightly, allowing a large amount of ammunition to fit in one launcher, making the weapon very small and easy to carry, about the size of a shuriken pistol.

Although those miniature missiles were only the size of human bolters, their power was considerable, basically cannon-level. Dozens of automatically tracking plasma missiles roared out, hitting the killing machines with various strange and tricky angles as they tried to hide in buildings and streets. As the plasma expanded, it turned them into burning wreckage of iron cans.