"Lieutenant Marcus Aurelius!"
Butler immediately saluted upon seeing Marcus. The latter waved his hand and placed his helmet on the table.
"I didn't expect you all to survive Kadaku. Praise the Emperor!"
Butler replied, "By the Emperor's grace, we only recently evacuated from Kadaku, and then Major Sarkaana urgently deployed us here."
"Major Sarkaana is also in Central Hive?"
"Yes, Cadia Eighth is responsible for sectors A to E in the upper areas of Central Hive."
Saying this, Butler opened the holographic map, which displayed the real-time movements of Imperial Guard units in the surrounding area, as well as the Tyranid's advance routes. Looking at the map in front of him, Marcus rubbed his chin, then asked, "Have you found any crashed thunderhawk gunships nearby?"
"No, sir, but Sector B reported an Imperial aircraft crash a while while ago. However, the situation at the front was urgent then, so I didn't check carefully."
Marcus looked at Sector B on the map and found that it was tens of kilometers away from Sector E, where he was currently located. Moreover, it was filled with a large number of Tyranid-occupied areas, and crossing these areas rashly would be extremely dangerous. Furthermore, Marcus knew that Titus and his two companions probably wouldn't be looking for him. Everyone's primary goal was still to go to Thassean Temple and find Morias Leuze. Therefore, Marcus could only follow the previously planned route to Thassean Temple, hoping to meet up with Titus and his two companions along the way by chance.
Just as Marcus was deep in thought, Butler, who was beside him, asked with a hint of curiosity, "Lieutenant Marcus Aurelius, was that alien chaos just now your doing?"
This question interrupted Marcus's thoughts.
"Of course not. How could I possibly have such an ability?" Marcus shook his head, immediately denying Butler's guess.
Butler nodded and continued to ask, "Will you stay here to help us defend this fortress?"
"I have a mission, and it's a mission personally given by the Ultramarines Captain. You will have to rely on yourselves for defense for now."
As he spoke, Marcus recalled the two people he had just met, who claimed to be the illegitimate daughters of Governor Avarax. "By the way, about a kilometer from here, in a church, there's a person who claims to be the Governor's illegitimate daughter, and there's a private soldier with her. See if you can contact the Governor of this planet to verify the identities of these two people and have the Governor send someone to pick them up."
Saying this, Marcus marked the location of the church on the map.
Butler nodded, called over a communicator, and recorded the location.
After all this, Marcus lifted the tent flap, ready to leave. Behind him, Butler watched Marcus leave and immediately rushed out.
"May the Emperor bless you to successfully complete your mission."
Saying this, Butler led the other Astra Militarum in the position to salute Marcus. Without looking back, Marcus left the position directly and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight within the position.
After leaving the position, Marcus first arrived in a small alley. In the dark alley, a lictor slowly shed its invisible skin, revealing its hideous and terrifying appearance. In the corner of the alley, there were also more than twenty Tyranid Warrior heads piled up. These were all trophies that the lictor had just hunted.
Although he didn't know if the Tyranid he summoned had self-awareness, Marcus still casually said, "Well done."
Then, Marcus did not choose to recall the lictor . Instead, he opened the system panel and summoned the equally terrifying Venomthrope and Night Lords. Before this, because he had been acting with Titus and his two companions, Marcus could not fully use the power of the illustrated book. But now, with no one else around, Marcus could use the power of the Tyranid he summoned without any scruples.
Looking at the three terrifying Tyranid in front of him, Marcus nodded in satisfaction. Then he gave orders to the Venomthrope, lictor , and Night Lords.
Under Marcus's command, the Night Lords spread its wings and soared into the sky, circling above Marcus's head, constantly monitoring the movements of the nearby Tyranid. The lictor re-entered stealth mode and retreated into the darkness, responsible for hunting elite units like Tyranid Warriors nearby, and also helping the Imperial Guard reduce defensive pressure. The Venomthrope used its huge claws to dig open the floor and quickly burrowed in, ready to burst out from underground at any time to devour any Tyranid approaching Marcus.
Then, Marcus opened the map on his auspex. According to the Imperial Guard's defensive arrangements and the Tyranid's advance routes that Butler had just shown, he planned a relatively safe and not very time-consuming route.
After determining the route, Marcus took a deep breath and began a forced march. With the help of the Night Lords above his head, Marcus was able to avoid surging large-scale Tyranid every time. And those small-scale Tyranid that attacked Marcus were all slaughtered by the lictor and venomthrope, who followed him. Thanks to this, Marcus was able to concentrate on his journey.
After two enhancements, he was able to run for long periods at a speed of nearly sixty kilometers per hour. In just over ten minutes, Marcus was about to reach his second target location.
Standing on a towering spire, Marcus gazed into the distance. Amidst the towering smoke, a magnificent bridge stood not far away. The once wide bridge was now piled with countless Tyranid corpses and abandoned armored vehicles. Even the several magnificent statues that originally stood by the bridge had collapsed with a crash, shattered all over the ground.
Behind several sturdy defensive fortifications, thousands of Astra Militarum were constantly firing. And opposite these Astra Militarum, millions of Tyranid were continuously pouring in from another already fallen area, trampling on the corpses of other Tyranid beneath their feet, pushing forward madly. Among them were even dozens of massive Exocrine figures. Fortunately, beside these Astra Militarum, there were also more than a dozen Lehman Russ tanks stationed. With the powerful firepower of the battle cannon and heavy bolter arrays mounted on the Lehman Russ tanks, they maintained suppression over the Tyranid.
Looking at the battlefield in front of him, which was like a meat grinder, Marcus couldn't help but click his tongue. He could now use the power of various equipment to single-handedly wipe out small-scale Tyranid. But if he were to enter a battlefield of this scale, he probably wouldn't last even a minute before dying from exhaustion.
Shaking his head, Marcus looked at the other side of the bridge. He didn't have to wait long, and soon, a huge green psychic orb shot out from a dilapidated building.
"Boom!"
This psychic attack directly detonated the promethium tanks and ammunition depots of the abandoned vehicles piled on the bridge deck, causing a powerful sympathetic detonation. Accompanied by towering flames and mushroom clouds, several Lehman Russ tanks were directly destroyed by the explosion. The shockwave it generated even made the entire bridge tremble.
Marcus's expression was serious as he looked at the dilapidated building from which the psychic attack was launched. That was Marcus's destination for this trip. The location of the zoanthrope...