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Chapter 111: The Weight of a Pyrrhic Victory
Under the dark red sky, the smoke of battle had not yet dissipated.
The Greenskins, having lost their leader, completely collapsed. They abandoned their armor and weapons, cried out and howled, and scattered like headless flies. Their former ferocity and fearlessness had long been devoured by fear.
The imperial soldiers who were chasing them from behind finally unleashed the fear and anger that they had suppressed for an entire afternoon.
They roared and fired, their treads crushing the green-skinned corpses, their guns spitting out flames of vengeance.
From the despair of being overwhelmed to the triumphant victory, the morale of all the soldiers soared to its peak at this moment.
At the very back of the column, the hatch of the mobile command vehicle was tightly closed.
Luo Ning leaned back in the cold metal chair, his fingertips tracing the constantly changing battle damage data on the command screen. His throat was dry and sore, and even his breath smelled of gunpowder and rust.
Garan stood to the side, his face grave as he compiled the battle reports from each unit. His usually crisp and efficient voice was now tinged with an undisguised heaviness.
They won this battle.
Killed 150,000 main force of greenskins, killed the war boss Rockbreaker Bloodaxe and his 20 big bodyguards, and beheaded 81 ordinary greenskin bosses.
The green-skinned core power of Caron II was completely crushed.
Even if the remaining scattered troops hid in the mine, they would only be insignificant frightened birds, unable to cause any more trouble.
But this victory was so heavy that it left Luo Ning breathless.
Thirty thousand were killed or went missing, more than fifty thousand were seriously wounded and on the verge of death, and forty thousand soldiers had minor injuries of varying degrees.
Of the entire 200,000-strong army, nearly half were lost; the elite troops trained over six months were mostly buried on this scorched land.
The armored forces were almost completely wiped out: of the twelve Leman Rustams, four were completely destroyed and the other eight were badly damaged, with twisted gun barrels and broken tracks, barely moving while emitting heavy smoke, and had long lost their combat capability.
Five petrified lizard self-propelled artillery pieces are on the verge of being scrapped due to high-intensity firing.
Of the thirty Chimera troop carriers, six were destroyed, and the rest were riddled with bullet holes.
The Church of England suffered heavy casualties: Under Bishop Moraes, three assistant priests and twenty-one clergy were killed in action, five fighting nuns, including the captain, were killed, and the fifteen survivors were all seriously wounded, two of whom lost limbs and two of whom were paralyzed from the waist down.
The Mechanical Church, despite seemingly suffering the fewest casualties, actually suffered the most severe losses.
Viktor's most prized possession: the Conqueror-type fighter plus the Omnisiah Fist. It had given its last bit of its mech soul to kill the Rockbreaker, and now it stood silently in the center of the battlefield. Its full-body adamantite armor was shattered, its shoulder cannon was broken, and its power fist was completely destroyed. Its mech soul was now dead.
This is an ancient mech treasured by Victor for a hundred years, and it is the most prized possession of the Mechanical Church on Planet Vatos VII.
Although Viktor spoke casually, treasures of this caliber are not something that are easily given away.
This time, Viktor chose to bring Ronin along on the expedition as a backup plan.
And the facts proved Victor's foresight; if it weren't for the Fist of Omnia's participation in the final battle, everyone present would probably have died.
Looking at the cold numbers on the command screen, and then at the battered tanks, exhausted soldiers, and battle nuns silently wiping their wounds outside the window, Luo Ning felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly by a giant hand.
He spent a full six months working tirelessly to develop industry, build factories, train the army, and accumulate wealth, transforming a barren, marginal planet into one of the most powerful planets in the region.
But that afternoon, he almost lost everything.
But he did not regret it.
They averted this catastrophe before the Greenskins could breach the hive and seize the mines and arsenals.
Once the Greenskins establish themselves and reproduce wildly using the steel and ammunition of the Charon II, the next challenge will not be two hundred thousand Greenskins, but a green tide of millions or tens of millions. Both Vatos VII and the Charon II will be reduced to ashes.
"Get the transport planes down." Ronin's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping. He had never felt his throat so dry; even swallowing hurt. "The greens have lost their will to fight. Get the soldiers on board and give them a chance to catch their breath."
Garland nodded immediately and shouted the order into the communicator.
Immediately, Ronin adjusted the communication matrix and reconnected to the defenses of the second Kalon hive.
"Colonel Fisher, this is Ronin, commander of the Vatos VII Defense Force. The Greenskins' leader is dead, the main force has been routed, and the remnants are fleeing towards the hive city," Ronin said in a deep voice. "Close the hive city gates, and my troops will pursue and intercept them throughout the entire process."
On the other end of the communicator, Fisher's voice, utterly exhausted yet ecstatic, immediately came through: "Lord Ronin! Thank you, Emperor! The garrison will immediately cooperate to block the attack!"
Luo Ning instantly understood—even though the Rockbreakers had withdrawn their main force, the Nest City was still under heavy attack.
Those remnants of the defeated army remained a deadly threat to the Kalon garrison, who were running out of ammunition and food.
"There's no need for a head-on fight," Luo Ning advised softly, his tone tinged with empathetic weariness. "The enemy is already demoralized. Don't let your men sacrifice themselves in vain. Just hand them over to my troops."
"Understood! I will follow Lord Luo Ning's orders!"
Luo Ning smiled and said slowly, "Lord Fisher, just do what you can. The enemy has lost the will to fight. Don't let the troops suffer any more casualties. Leave it to my men."
Above them, the transport ship's engines roared as it landed, its hatches wide open.
Under Garan's command, the soldiers quickly boarded the ship, sat on the edge of the cabin door, and fired wildly at the fleeing greens below with their rifles, their anger and fighting spirit turning into the densest barrage of bullets.
The infantrymen on the ground watched their comrades boarding the plane, laughing and cursing, "These bastards who are trying to steal credit," but they quickened their pace, biting the green-skinned man's tail tightly.
More soldiers climbed onto the chimera troop carriers, even if they only clung to the doors and half their bodies hung outside, just to catch up with the enemy as quickly as possible and avenge their fallen comrades.
Smoke billowed and tanks roared.
The weight of the Pyrrhic victory still lingers in everyone's hearts.
But this army, which has gone through the ordeal of life and death, has completed the most brutal transformation.
From this day forward, they are no longer new recruits on the battlefield, but true veterans who have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The price paid was too high. Although people in this world chanted slogans like "sacrifice for the empire" every day, Ronin still couldn't accept such a heavy price.
As he was thinking, Viktor slowly walked onto the command vehicle.
His prosthetic eye, glowing red, locked onto Luo Ning, clearly indicating that he had come looking for him.
"Lord Ronin, our troops have paid a heavy price. I think you can ask the sector for some compensation."
Ronin looked at Viktor, this cunning old fox, who had the same idea as him.
"Lord Victor, you see, if our governor applies to the sector for temporary control of Caron II, they shouldn't have any objections, right?"
As Viktor's prosthetic eye flashed red, even his perpetually expressionless face revealed a hint of appreciation. "Lord Ronin has rendered outstanding service, leading the team to defeat a WAAAGH force of two hundred thousand! The leader of this planet even deserted in the face of battle. I believe the sector will approve of your deep affection."
The two men, each with their own thoughts, looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
And the depression that had been weighing on my head finally dissipated by most of it.