The orbital bombardment from the foundry ship caused the Necron Tomb Technician to lose a considerable portion of his forces.
This made him feel extremely annoyed, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and dispatch the few remaining warships at his disposal.
Although this Necron Tomb Technician won the war against the Rogue Trader more than eighty years ago, he lost most of his strength in the process.
After all, he was just a Necron Tomb Technician from a small dynasty, and the number of ground troops and warships at his disposal was limited.
In the Necron Dynasty's noble system, a dynasty from top to bottom consisted of the Phaeron, Overlord, and Lord, corresponding to Crown Worlds, Core Worlds, and Fringe Worlds, respectively, with a strict hierarchy that could not be disrupted in the slightest.
The planet, named Rostov II by humans, was not the territory of this small dynasty called Farrah, nor was it even a Fringe World; it was merely a private testing ground established by this Necron Tomb Technician himself.
In the Necrons' social system, Necron Tomb Technicians usually do not belong to a specific dynasty but serve a dynasty after being hired.
Therefore, generally speaking, Necron Tomb Technicians do not enter the dynasty's noble system or possess their own territories.
Of course, top Necron Tomb Technicians, such as Orikan the Diviner, can still become dynasty nobles and possess their own territories.
But clearly, the Necron Tomb Technician on Rostov II did not possess such a prominent status.
Therefore, he could only use his private forces and could not deploy the Farrah Dynasty's army.
If the Farrah Dynasty had awakened at this time, the Necron Tomb Technician could have sought assistance from the dynasty's Overlord or Phaeron; even a mere Lord could have provided him with enough help, dispatching a powerful army to expel the monkeys from this planet.
However, unfortunately, the Farrah Dynasty was still in slumber. As a Necron Tomb Technician who merely provided services to the dynasty, he obviously could not awaken the sleeping Phaeron and Overlord.
As for a Lord, although he could indeed do so, unless his relationship with the Lord was good enough, the awakened Lord would have no reason to send troops to protect his private territory.
Fortunately for this Necron Tomb Technician, although he lost a considerable portion of his private army eighty years ago, and even his Scythe Class Harvest Ship was sunk, he still had confidence in eliminating these monkeys.
A Mist Class Light Cruiser emerged from the far side of the planet, accompanied by three Elegy Class Raiders.
(Scythe Class Harvest Ship, Cruiser)
(Mist Class Light Cruiser)
(Elegy Class Raider)
The appearance of this fleet naturally alerted the foundry ship, and even the Ecclesiarchy void ship docked in the Starport weighed anchor and sailed out, forming a line with the foundry ship to meet the enemy.
Although the Ecclesiarchy void ship was not considered a warship, it was itself a light cruiser-class vessel, just with slightly inferior armament and protection.
While the foundry ship engaged the Mist Class, the Ecclesiarchy void ship could tie down the three Elegy Class vessels, which were only frigate-class.
However, this meant that both void ships would have to participate in the space naval battle, preventing them from providing orbital bombardment to the ground.
Seeing that he couldn't quickly defeat the two human void ships, the Necron Tomb Technician didn't stubbornly persist in that area. Instead, he reorganized his ground offensive and launched an attack on Rostov City.
In the Necron Tomb Technician's view, if strategic objectives could not be achieved through a fleet decisive battle, then eliminating these monkeys and destroying their city through ground combat was an acceptable alternative.
After all, the monkey called Rogue Trader eighty years ago retreated precisely because he could not withstand the casualties of ground combat.
Even if that monkey had sunk his Scythe Class Harvest Ship, with the ground battle completely lost, that monkey had no way to forcibly occupy this planet.
—
"Governor, Rostov City is under alien attack. The Defense Force is currently resisting, but we are short on troops and need support!" Rachel, who was left behind in the city, sent a request for aid and the relevant battle situation in Rostov City.
Alex had taken six of the ten Defense Force regiments to attack the Necron Tomb, leaving the remaining four regiments to defend against the Necrons' advance, relying on the city's defensive system.
Currently, parts of the outer district have fallen, and while the Defense Force can still resist, the battle situation is clearly not in the Imperium's favor.
"I understand. I will send troops back to reinforce immediately." Alex had anticipated the city's battle situation, so receiving Rachel's message did not surprise him much.
In fact, when he received news earlier that the Necrons were preparing to attack the city, besides ordering the foundry ship to perform orbital bombardment, he was already considering dispatching troops back to reinforce.
Rostov City is a super-large city with hundreds of millions of people. Although it is not a Hive City, the only differences are its urban structure and living conditions.
In terms of urban scale, Rostov City is not inferior to a Hive City.
Such super-large cities are not uncommon in the Imperium's civilized worlds, as not every planet can support the construction of a Hive City.
However, this also brought a not-so-small problem: the city's defenses were completely incomparable to a Hive City.
A Hive City is both a city and a sturdy fortress and stronghold, with outer walls thick enough to withstand orbital bombardment, and city defenses capable of shooting down void ships from low orbit.
It also has Adamantium gates that can be closed when necessary, providing the Hive City with defense comparable to a void ship's Adamantium armor.
Ordinary super-large cities undoubtedly lack these features.
Although Rostov City's defenses were strengthened under Alex's insistence after he took over, and the Defense Force stationed in the city recently upgraded their equipment, it still lacked some elements to resist enemy attacks like a Hive City.
Fortunately, the attacking Necrons' forces were not exaggerated. Currently, relying on the newly constructed city defense system, the Defense Force was still able to hold its own.
However, because their forces were insufficient to cover the entire city defense system, their front line was full of vulnerabilities, making it easy for the Necrons to break through.
And once the Necrons broke through their line, it would be a catastrophic blow for the Defense Force.
"We must return to reinforce as soon as possible, but the Battle Sister and Adeptus Militarus suffered heavy losses before and need to rest; they probably cannot participate in the reinforcement for now." Alex looked at General Grigory and asked him, "General, which regiments can return to reinforce?"
"We brought out six regiments. Considering that the battle here is not over yet, I suggest leaving two regiments to continue clearing the alien ruins and sending the Second, Sixth, and Seventh Regiments back to reinforce the defense." General Grigory glanced at the enemy and friendly dispositions on the holographic map and quickly made a judgment: "Additionally, the First Regiment will flank the enemy, attacking from their rear. With this three-sided encirclement, we can completely devour the enemy!"
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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