Since he was here, he'd thoroughly beat up these bugs, and uncover all their secrets.
He wouldn't believe he couldn't find out what the Tyranids were up to by turning Octarius upside down!
"In that case, we need a detailed plan. Master, we must not expose ourselves—this is a guerrilla war and an intelligence war. If we show our cards first, the enemy will gain the advantage," said Mefilas.
As Rhodes' top advisor, he had to ensure this. They were in the shadows; the Tyranids in the light, so their advantage must be exploited.
"I know. This time, the Tyranids won't notice a thing," Rhodes said.
The Tyranids' intel wasn't as quick as his. Their movement was slow; Tartarus' portals let Rhodes outmaneuver them, and superpowers weren't detectable by psychic means.
"Master, the planet below is almost out of nutrients—the Tyranids have eaten most of it.
If we want to breed more Orks here, it'll take a long time," Tartarus observed.
The planet had been squeezed dry—even before the Tyranids, the Orks had bled it nearly dry.
"Tartarus, if you can reverse time for that Necron, can you do it for this planet?" Rhodes asked.
"Master, you really think highly of me, but I can't do that," Tartarus replied.
Reversing time would mean restoring the entire ecosystem—a hundred times harder than destroying a planet.
He could restore AsanethAyu's time because she'd slept for sixty million years—she had no concept of time.
And she was a mere mortal. But this was a whole planet!
Hearing this, Rhodes was a bit disappointed—Tartarus wasn't omnipotent after all. Even an ultimate being couldn't rewind a planet's timeline.
Necron tech could manipulate time across a star system, but only to speed up or slow time—not reverse a planet to its state millennia ago.
"Master, while I can't restore the planet to perfection, I can accelerate time—what would take months or half a year to breed Orks can be done in hours," Tartarus said.
"I can do that too," Rhodes said.
Last time, with the Necrons, Rhodes and the goddess of life, Isha, used time acceleration to let his cosmic beast quickly devour a red giant.
"That's different, Master. You need to save your power for the Tyranids! If you use psychic power to accelerate the planet, the Tyranids will sense it. But my power is different—I use time manipulation," Tartarus said.
"Tartalos is right. Your psychic power could speed up the planet, but the energy waves would alert the Tyranids—especially the node creatures and Norn Queens, who are strong psykers," Mefilas said.
"In that case, you handle it, Tartarus. Accelerate time and raise an Ork army as quickly as possible," Rhodes ordered.
"Leave it to me, Master! My power can't be detected by any being in this universe," Tartarus said, then enveloped the planet in a golden barrier and began accelerating time.
A few hours outside passed, but months went by on the planet.
Within those months, a hundred million Orks grew, draining the planet's last nutrients.
Meanwhile, Zett brought another fifty million Orks.
"All done, Master. This planet needs time to recover now," Tartarus reported.
Now, they had two hundred million Orks, with another hundred million in Rhodes' base.
"Good. Organize 50 million Orks per warband, each led by the strongest Ork warlord, and attack nearby planets.
For every planet we take, we wipe out all Orks and Tyranids!" Rhodes commanded.
"Lord Rhodes, ordinary Ork warlords may not match the Hive Tyrants—especially if there are many Hive Tyrants," Mefilas said.
Splitting into four groups maximized efficiency, but there was a problem: without super-beast warlord Gromm Hellroar's leadership, regular warlords might not be a match for Hive Tyrants, even with some super-beast blood.
"I've thought of that. Mefilas, did you forget your superpower? You can enlarge a being proportionally—make them 40 meters tall. No special abilities, but they become giant lifeforms," Rhodes said.
With his power maxed out, Mefilas could turn an Ork warlord into a 40-meter giant.
Not as strong as a true super being, but stomping Hive Tyrants would be easy.
"But Master, that would immediately tip off the Tyranids—only you and Chaos have this enlargement ability now," Mefilas said.
"I've considered that. Let's not make them 40 meters—make them 10 meters. How about that?" Rhodes said.
"Even 10 meters is risky! We must make sure the Tyranids don't notice. So, with my power and yours, we can boost tens of thousands of Ork bosses to 5 meters—equal to warlords in size and strength.
And since it's only double their size, it won't drain us much, and the effect will last for days.
I estimate they'll maintain warlord size for at least three days—no risk of Tyranid detection," Mefilas advised.
"Let's do it your way," Rhodes agreed.
The Ork army was split into four groups, each with all their bosses and warlords, then Rhodes and Mefilas boosted them all to five-meter warlord size, weapons included.
Once the bosses were enhanced, Tartarus opened four portals to send them each to a nearby planet.
Rhodes and Mefilas struck separately, using their powers to crush Tyranid ships and hives from the shadows.
The Tyranids noticed something off—a mysterious Ork fleet was attacking, destroying many hive ships collecting biomass.
These well-fed, fat hive ships all became Rhodes' system points—each one worth tens of thousands.
"WAAAGH!" The Orks' war cry echoed across the Octarius sector. Within days—
All the local Ork forces knew the Tyranids were under attack, and the attackers were a strange Ork clan.
These Orks seemed from another tribe—taller, stronger, more WAAAGH! In Ork eyes, that was perfect.
Rhodes led his Ork army to raid more than a dozen Tyranid-occupied Ork worlds, rescuing countless Orks.
This time, Rhodes didn't slaughter the locals, but instead spread Gromm Hellroar's legend.
With more recognition, Gromm Hellroar's WAAAGH! energy grew stronger.
"Master! I have something to report—a Big Mek here made a strange crown that can control Tyranids," Gromm Hellroar said.