Chapter 770: Occupying the Cyberk Complex (4)

"Bolter volley! Take out those gunners!"

Huokan's sword tip pointed toward the faint, charging points of light within the building's shadows.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A dense rain of bullets, a suppressive barrage of fire, flew toward the gaps in the building's outer walls, the windows, and every shadowy corner where the Canglei soldiers might be hiding.

Large-caliber bolter shells slammed into the special alloy outer wall, bursting into countless dazzling sparks and metal fragments, emitting deafening impact sounds.

Some bolter shells luckily passed through the gaps or shattered fragile observation windows, drilling into the building's interior, triggering short bursts of metallic clanging and the whine of energy overloads from within.

"Team A! With me! Clear the building!"

Huokan did not wait for the fire to cease completely. He seized a gap where the enemy fire was suppressed, drew a shining arc with his power sword as a signal, and was the first to charge out from behind the shield wall.

Behind him, five Salamanders Space Marines wielding chainswords followed closely, rushing straight toward the main entrance of the auxiliary building, which was scorched black by flames and riddled with bullet holes.

The resistance inside the building instantly intensified.

In the shadows, several incandescent beams shot out again, attempting to stop the assault team from approaching.

"Clang! Sshhh!"

Huokan's power sword precisely parried an energy beam aimed at his chest plate; the blade and the beam collided, bursting into blinding sparks and arcs of electricity, leaving a melted scar on the sword body.

Another Salamanders Space Marine took a hit head-on with his shoulder plate, the ceramite melted into a deep pit, but his momentum in the charge did not diminish in the slightest.

"For the Emperor! For humanity!"

The assault team members roared as they charged into the dark building entrance.

Inside, the sounds of close-quarters combat erupted immediately!

"Bang! Boom!"

The sound of bolters firing in the confined space was exceptionally crisp.

"Zzzzt—Crack!"

The harsh, piercing screech of chainswords tearing through metal shells.

Outside the building, the remaining Salamanders Space Marines with dragon-scale shields and the fire support team maintained vigilance, their bolter muzzles locked tightly onto every exit and window.

The Techmarine came to the side of the Salamanders Space Marine whose thigh joint was severely damaged, who was leaning against a pile of metal scrap.

Arcs of electricity flickered as the Techmarine performed emergency battlefield repairs, attempting to restore some of the warrior's mobility.

Suddenly, at a breach blown open on the second floor of the building, a blue-and-white figure leaned out, its palm aiming at the Techmarine and the wounded soldier receiving treatment below!

"Watch out above!"

A dragon-scale shield warrior roared and raised his shield, but the angle was insufficient to provide full coverage.

Just at this critical moment!

"Whoosh—Boom!"

A thick plasma ball of light, carrying destructive energy fluctuations, shot out from the Salamanders support line in the rear!

It precisely hit the window where the Canglei soldier attempting the sneak attack was located!

The metal edges at the breach instantly melted into crimson molten iron and flowed downward; that Canglei soldier, along with the weapon in his hand, was more than half vaporized the instant the beam hit!

The remaining half of the charred corpse smoked and tumbled from the breach, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Huokan's figure walked out from the main entrance.

His power sword's tip dragged on the ground, making a harsh scraping sound; the blade was covered in viscous, arcing coolant and unidentified metal debris.

There was a clear, melted scar on his chest plate where a high-energy beam had grazed him, and his shoulder plate was covered in dents from bolter impacts. Inside the building entrance behind him, the sounds of combat had ceased, leaving only the crackling of burning flames.

"Building cleared!"

Huokan's voice carried the heavy panting of post-combat, but it remained steady and powerful as it transmitted through the communication channel to the squad.

"Confirmed 87 Cyberk special units eliminated. Our side... 21 lightly wounded."

He glanced at the Salamanders Space Marine still receiving emergency repairs and added.

"One severely wounded, temporarily lost mobility. The Techmarine is handling it. All units take note, the Cyberk Alien weapons can threaten us, do not be careless!"

Confirming there were no new threats, he raised his power sword again, the blade pointing straight at the narrow alloy corridor ahead leading to the Hexin tilian qu; deep within the corridor, that massive alloy gate with its flowing energy barrier was already vaguely visible.

"Regroup! Evacuate the wounded! Everyone else, continue forward! Lord Vulkan and the Furnace are waiting for us! For the Emperor!"

"Into the fires of battle, unto the Anvil of War!"

While the Salamanders Legion was exchanging fire with the Cyberk soldiers below, the Blood Angels Legion was vaulting and piercing through the upper structures of the refining facility.

"Sanguinius be with us! Clear the A7 lianjie qiao! Control the high ground!"

Aoruisitesi's voice rang out in the Blood Angels 1st Company communication channel, drowning out the roar of the jump pack engines and the fury of the bolters.

He had just pierced the skull of a Cyberk ambusher crawling out of a ventilation duct with his power sword, and with a flick of the tip, he tossed the headless metal body off the platform, which was dozens of meters high.

The Blood Angels Space Marines used the powerful thrust of their jump packs to shuttle, dive, and stop rapidly between the intricate metal platforms, thick energy transport pipes, and narrow connecting bridges.

"Zzz-hum—!"

"Bang! Bang!"

Energy beams and Cyberk-standard kinetic armor-piercing shells shot toward the figures flying in the air from various tricky angles.

The Blood Angels warriors continuously performed evasive maneuvers amidst the rain of bullets.

Sparks from energy impacts burst continuously on their boarding shields.

A Blood Angels Space Marine performed a side-spin in mid-air, dodging a burst of fire, while the bolter in his hand spat tongues of flame, blowing the heads off two Cyberk soldiers in a gun emplacement below.

"Squad B, land on the C qu pingtai! Establish a fire support point!"

Aoruisitesi ordered, while he himself activated his jump pack again, lunging toward a hub platform higher up that controlled several main energy pipes.

Just as Aoruisitesi was about to land on the edge of the hub platform, a sudden change occurred!

In a seemingly inconspicuous maintenance passage deep within the platform, the shadows suddenly twisted!

Three condensed energy beams, with incandescent cores and ghostly blue edges, shot out without warning!

The target was aimed directly at Aoruisitesi, who had just landed and whose center of gravity had not yet fully stabilized!

The timing of the shot was extremely tricky.

"Company Commander!"

An Angel Warrior of the Blood Angels following closely behind let out an exclamation over the comms.

The lenses of Aoruisitesi's helmet lit up instantly.

At the critical moment, the auxiliary thrusters of Aoruisitesi's Jump Pack swiveled violently, forcibly driving his body into an extreme lateral roll.

At the same time, the Boarding Shield in his hand instinctively protected his vital torso!

"Clang! Sizzle—!"

"Pfft!"

Two energy beams grazed past Aoruisitesi's shoulder guard and leg armor, leaving two deep, long, molten-edged scorch marks on the Ceramite!

The third beam struck the edge of the Boarding Shield hard! A blinding burst of energy erupted, and the immense impact caused Aoruisitesi to stagger, only stabilizing his stance after dropping to one knee.