".We are now under the judgment of the God-Emperor himself! His eyes are upon us, and His almighty hand holds the sickle that reaps our lives. Because of our sins, because of our weaknesses, we will all be judged !Only the truly upright can survive and continue to serve the God-Emperor! Accept death! Embrace death! Only death can distinguish believers!"
Although he had to rely on the power of these state church figures, Arni could only feel extremely bored when the penitents were speaking endlessly.
"Sinners! All guilty, whether it is the traitors below or you! All guilty! Only the God Emperor can absolve us of our sins, and the God Emperor will never forgive!"
Afterwards, the penitents took off their robes, revealing their scarred bodies. From the moment they entered the Temple of Teaching, they would be required to continuously flog each other every day to remove their weaknesses and sins, to remind themselves that they must pass on pain to others to ensure that they remain in the emperor. Purity and innocence in the eyes of the emperor.
Amid the fanatical shouts of the believers, they walked among the crowd with barbed whips and even bolas, beating everyone hard until their skin was torn and their flesh was dripping with blood.
"Guilty! Guilty!"
"Prove your innocence with death!"
"Death! Accept death! Fear is corruption!"
While the missionaries of the state religion were still whipping their believers, the termite boring machine had already penetrated layers of rock formations and reached the underground city deep in the mining area that had always been a headache for the imperial soldiers.
Obviously, the rebels huddled underground would not be unaware of such a big movement. They immediately mobilized their forces to return to their lair and try to drive away or eliminate these intruders.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Ouranios shouted, and Hashet beside him opened the side door of the termite boring machine. The soldiers who had taken off their restraints ran towards the exit in embarrassment. At the same time, the explosions and gunshots outside were clearly audible. , and the sound of bullets hitting the shell of the machine.
In response, the two laser cannons on the Termite boring machine also rose and fired at the enemy, covering the soldiers leaving the vehicle.
"Take cover!"
Jumping out of the hatch, Hayes, who was wearing night vision goggles on his helmet, saw a small underground city not far away. They had several large metal facilities as the main body and many small shacks attached around them.
Each company and team dispersed and rushed to their positions.
"Scans are reporting activity on enemy lines and the enemy is on the move."
Obviously, the sudden appearance of the giant machinery frightened the underground rebels, and they wanted to eliminate this threat at all costs.
With the machine gun squad in position near a rock bunker, Hayes asked Habri to set up the machine gun while looking into the distance. He could already see them.
Obviously, these rebels were not all stupid. They rushed forward without risking their lives. Many remaining servitors from the past were transformed into weapons by them. However, because they did not have real technical personnel, they could only make some very crude transformations. For example, some metal plates can be tied and welded to the servitors to use them as mobile bunkers and human shields, or a large amount of explosives can be tied to the servitors to turn them into walking suicide weapons.
What Hayes saw was a group of iron servitors, rushing towards them screaming.
"Everyone, hold still! Don't fire yet!"
Although Ouranios's voice kept ringing on the channel, Hayes had already begun to squint through the sight at the oncoming crazy servitor.
Suddenly, something occurred to him, and he quickly completed his pre-battle ritual, silently reciting the lasgun prayer in his mind, and then quickly prayed to the Emperor for accurate aim.
Beside him, the rest of the squad readied their laser guns and grenades, and Habri checked the logging rifle again.
Then there was the sound of grenades being fired from behind, and Hayes knew the battle was about to begin.
"Follow my command...fire!"
Laser beams, small grenades, armor-piercing rockets, and heavy machine guns. The soldiers of the Second Battalion used everything they had to fire at the enemy. At the request of Oranios, their small arms basically reached the level of the first-line Astra Militarum.
Many iron servitors were wiped out or beaten to pieces in an instant, but there were still parts of them. The enemy sent hundreds of human shields, which may be their last remaining servitors.
"Machine gun, switch to intensive shooting mode."
The enemies rushed closer, but their numbers were also much reduced.
Then Hayes saw the suicide servitors with explosives strapped to them behind the iron servitors.
In response, some soldiers raised their flamethrower nozzles, stood up straight, pointed their barrels forward, and unleashed an ever-expanding cone of yellow and black fire on the nearest enemy.
Screaming, the servitors disappeared in a haze of burning pain, setting off a series of explosions.
Soon, all Hayes could see was a curtain of fire rising directly in front of him, and the air was filled with thick smoke and the unpleasant smell of burning flesh.
This seems to be a one-sided massacre.
boom------
Suddenly, Hayes heard a huge explosion from the side, and rocks flew over his head.
For a moment, feeling the edge of the explosion's shockwave, he stumbled and almost fell forward, but the weight of his backpack unexpectedly acted as a counterweight behind him, saving him.
"The enemy has blasted the rock mass on the side! Hayes, change direction!"
Hearing what Hashet said, Hayes quickly asked Hubley to put away the machine gun and asked Winter to pick up the ammunition box. When everyone took steps and trotted away from their positions, Hayes felt a pain in the back of his head. The blow, with deafening force, pushed him to the ground.
Falling into the putrid dirt, Hayes felt a warm moisture spread across his scalp through his helmet.
He reached his hand up to his head, and when he pulled it away again, he saw red blood staining his fingers, before he noticed that his helmet had fallen on the front - hit by an unknown flying object. A huge dent and knocked off his head.
Incongruously, as he stood shakily, he suddenly wondered what would have happened if he had fastened his helmet strap instead of loosening it.
Then a rough voice slammed the thought out of his mind.
Hayes turned around and saw a tall man wearing blood-stained Astra Militarum protective gear rushing towards him. The man held a pistol in one hand and a broad-bladed machete in the other. , a row of three severed human heads hangs from his belt like a grotesque spectator.
He immediately raised his gun and fired, and the beam hit the enemy's chest, but the man was not afraid and did not slow down at all.
Hayes fired at it again, a series of rapid blasts hitting the man in the neck, shoulders, chest, and then the face.
He let out one last roar of rage and fell dead.
It was not until this distance that Hayes noticed that the man was wearing two layers of overlapping protective gear. No wonder hitting the front had no effect, and the armor on this man was most likely taken from soldiers who died in battle.
Later, any brief sense of joy that Hayes felt at his victory quickly dissipated as he saw more of his enemies emerging from the smoky darkness.
"Continue to go!"
He heard a shout behind him as a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"They are coming up from the side, we have to move to a new position!"
It was Hashet who was still the first to come to Hayes. He fired a laser at the approaching enemy with one hand while dragging Hayes towards the bunker.
(End of chapter)
