"Good shot, Ederson."
After the enemy was eliminated, Mathias praised his brother at the right time, and then said in a deep voice:
"Now, in line, we advance to coordinates 3-7-2."
The firing stopped for a moment as they fell into line.
Instead of a foolish din, the knights heard the crunch of iron hooves crushing rubble barricades and mangled vehicles, and the towering debris of the collapsed hive surrounded them like a mountain, masking the sounds of the ongoing battle around them.
The Knights were huge machines, but these wrecks were even bigger, hundreds of meters high of reinforced concrete and scrap metal.
As far as the eye can see, there are only these dirty and polluted walls, statues blackened by ashes, barbed wire wrapped around the looming gargoyles, and horrifying remains hung on them.
"The corruption in this place is too great."
For a moment, the whispers from the Mechanical Throne came like a flood. These words swirled so close that they could almost be heard clearly. Various images flashed in Mathias's mind involuntarily: in the mud, full of complexity On the swamps of barbed wire, warriors grappled together like animals. In a gray desert, the sun shone on the sparkling silver city, and in a more twisted and depraved land, mortals and demons fought.
At that moment, he understood that the machine spirit of the Scorpion Stinger was showing him the place where it had fought, and that the galaxy was a vaster and stranger place than Mathias had ever known.
Suddenly, the collision alarm brought him back to reality. When he discovered that a rocket hit the void shield of the nearby knight mecha, he cursed.
"Cheer up, everyone!"
Mathias yelled, falling rubble hissing against his ion shield.
"sorry."
As the knight spoke, he used firepower to wipe out the attackers and politely apologized to the knight's machine spirit. Fortunately, his car was intact.
As they passed through a crossroads strewn with corpses, Mathias twisted the knight above his hips. His auspicious sign showed no sign of life. The area was empty of life.
"Mathias."
At this time, the voice of his father, Grand Duke Olga, suddenly sounded near the Mechanical Throne.
"Our throne is a huge source of power and wisdom, but mastering it takes time. Being qualified is just the beginning. When your connection with the machine soul is still disconnected, any mental mistakes you make are dangerous. To Learn to accept it, but also master it.”
Mathias nodded, and his interactive interface converted this action into a signal of gratitude and transmitted it to the communication array.
The procession moved quietly and slowly among the ruins of towering buildings.
Suddenly, a Thunderhawk flew low overhead, its engine roar echoing through the canyon-like streets.
Their weapons flashed, firing at some distant target.
"Where are all the traitors? Shouldn't the bombing lead them towards our guns?"
"We are near the enemy's flank. Mathias, please expand your auspicious omen. Orfur, you too."
Mathias worked hard to expand his horizons, his subconscious directing his vehicle while taking a moment to examine the wider strategic situation.
Waiting around is disgraceful, not to mention a waste of time.
Soshyan's plan was classic and bold. The Imperial Navy's light spears triggered an endless fire, which was enough to drive the traitors hiding in the surface bunkers out of their lairs and send them to the Empire's guns. Those enemies who were hiding deeper There is only one choice, attack or retreat, and retreat means giving the empire the time and ability to deploy more combat forces on the ground and execute more plans.
For example, injecting tens of thousands of tons of poison gas into underground passages.
As one of the backbone of the attack, the knights will advance into the burning city, crush the main resistance force, and at the same time eliminate the danger of any heretics breaking out in coordination.
Mathias could see that this was working by looking at the strategic maps and troop deployment runes on his retinas.
"Did you see it?"
Mathias pointed out a few key runes and had them flash on his companion's Retina display.
"The Astral Knights have completed the siege of the coastal area of the hive city and are following a passage deep into the hive city. The enemy's main force is gathering in the direction of the Dark Angel."
"They're lining up to die."
"There, focus on our target coordinates."
Mathias' fingers twitched unconsciously as he marked his runes, his cockpit shaking with each stride his mount took, but the message was as clear to him as daylight. .
"We have moved to the enemy's flank, close enough."
Grand Duke Olga also assessed the situation and agreed with Mathias.
"Both of you, be careful. I understand that they are a ragtag group of armored vehicles. Raise the shield, prepare your weapons, and stride forward. We have to reach the next intersection before them."
Mathias immediately obeyed his father's orders, understanding the wisdom in his words - the enemy was moving towards the array from the south, with their armored units in front, and whoever reached the intersection first would be destroyed in the hive. Block their enemies between large helipads.
The knights turned their attention to the battle, and the enemy's first round of fire fell upon them fiercely, while a large amount of tentative fire broke out between the ruins of the towering buildings and the open space of the crossroads.
Cannonballs and lasers splashed off the shields as Mathias stepped onto a pile of destroyed rail cars.
Soon a Paladin-type mecha came to his right, and a second one did the same thing on the left.
With the sound of rumbling footsteps, the three knights stopped and formed a shield wall to meet the charging enemy.
The Fallen tanks roared as fast as they could to catch up with the array - mostly infantry transports, with a few tanks roaring in the middle.
The dirty machines were covered with crude slogans and fluttered with tattered banners carrying twisted symbols. As for the precise meaning of the patterns, Mathias did not need to know, he only needed to know that they were evil.
A few people were hanging the corpses wrapped in iron wire. They were probably those who refused to rebel with their comrades. Behind the armor, the auspicious device read the runes of this ragtag group. There were at least several thousand enemies.
Mathias felt the machine spirit stirring on the throne and struggled to control it.
"No, not now, quiet."
Mathias whispered angrily, focusing his attention on the target solution and pounding fire on his shields.
"children."
Olga intoned solemnly.
"Fire all you want."
The energy of Mathias' melta cannon surged into flames with his will. He clenched a tactile glove, pumped his fist forward, and fired the first shot.
