Chapter 104: Antimatter Bomb
Boom!
An unprecedented explosion erupted, detonating before it even touched the energy shield. The terrifying power of the antimatter bomb created a dazzling, spherical halo at its center.
The terrifying power tore apart the already overloaded, weakened energy shield, and the ever-expanding explosion embedded itself in the ground below.
The halo of the antimatter explosion grew larger and larger, its center so dazzling that no one dared to look directly at it. The light was so bright it illuminated half the planet, causing a dramatic change in Shadowtooth Star's dim sky.
The drastic change in the sky drew the attention of countless people, but the ever-expanding explosion covered an area of over a hundred kilometers.
All matter within this area—including Hrud warriors, Hrud priests of the priestly caste, super-large architectural cities along with countless machinery and architectural facilities, as well as all the streets of the city—completely vanished in the explosion.
There was no need for subsequent orbital bombardment. The antimatter bomb directly destroyed a super city of the Hrud.
The aftershocks covered an area of a thousand kilometers, with waves of energy impact destroying all life. Wherever they passed, mountains collapsed, rocks shattered, forests turned directly into ash, and all the auxiliary buildings of the super city were destroyed by the aftershocks.
After the dazzling explosion, only a massive crater several hundred kilometers wide remained, filled with countless swirling dust that lingered for a long time.
In the gunship rapidly evacuating from the sky, everyone had not yet recovered from their shock, but Captain Skorr had already contacted Omegon, exclaiming, "Sir, the antimatter bomb is so powerful! One shot was enough!"
Omegon coughed, saying seriously, "Cough, cough, this is my first time seeing an antimatter bomb explode too. Its power exceeded expectations. Next time, don't take too much of a risk. Don't throw a bomb and injure yourself!"
"I'm fine!" Skorr truly didn't know how to complain. The power of this bomb was too terrifying.
Omegon was not in the mood to continue joking and commanded, "Alright, take advantage of the situation to clear out the remaining Hrud. Quickly bombard the surrounding area. You Space Marines will clean up afterwards. Report immediately if you find anything!"
In the Thunderhawk Gunship in the distant sky, Captain Skorr smiled upon hearing this and ending the communication, accustomed to the tactic of bombarding first then advancing.
They understood that this tactic was to maximize the safety of the Astra Militarum and Space Marines, though it wasted a lot of ammunition.
Then, Company Commander Dilion urgently notified, "Skorr, look at the large crater on the ground. Underneath the blown-away dust, it seems the Hrud also have structures underground!"
"What?!"
The Thunderhawk Gunship in the sky quickly approached. Reconnaissance information immediately showed that in the large crater created by the antimatter bomb, damaged buildings and deep underground tunnels had appeared.
An urgent message arrived. In a gunship in the distant sky, Omegon frowned slightly as he looked at the photos of the underground tunnels that had been sent back.
From the beginning, he had not considered that the Hrud would live by digging tunnels underground. They had reached a starfaring civilization. How could he imagine that xenos would regress to living underground?
But the large number of Hrud tunnels and underground structures all told Omegon one fact.
Even though the Hrud could build space warships, they still retained their primitive nature of living underground. From the style of the tunnel structures, this was a long-standing habit.
Omegon had not prepared for underground combat at all. He had no idea how many Hrud enemies there were underground.
Picking up the communicator, Omegon said sternly, "Immediately issue an order to all war bases to thoroughly investigate the situation of the underground Hrud and prevent a large Hrud army from launching a sneak attack from underground!"
The order was immediately announced to the entire Legion. Everyone who heard this information felt it was unbelievable, but they resolutely obeyed the order, using various methods to investigate the underground situation and take precautions.
Subsequently, Omegon notified Gene-Seed Primarch Perturabo and Alpharius. Alpharius did not reply, but Perturabo connected.
Omegon told Perturabo about his problem. They were allies in this war, and Perturabo was a master of weapon design, so he hoped for some advice. After all, he had not conceived of underground warfare weapons.
Perturabo listened, then remained silent for a moment before saying decisively, "I will contact you after I design underground warfare weapons!"
Omegon was speechless when the communication ended. At this time, hundreds of kilometers outside the Hrud super city on another continent, the Iron Warriors Legion's main army was heavily engaging the intercepting Hrud soldiers.
Standing on a heavy super artillery vehicle, Perturabo, clad in full Iron Power Armor, watched the surrounding battle. He knew very well that although Omegon was familiar with the structure and principles of various weapons in Legion warfare, he was far inferior to himself in weapon details and design.
The problem of Hrud living by digging tunnels underground could only be solved by him, Perturabo, because he believed he could definitely design war machines that could drill underground. This implicitly demonstrated his superiority over his brother Omegon.
Omegon returned to the war base to direct the overall war. A command fortress covering over a thousand meters had already been erected, and the hall was bustling with numerous intelligence personnel and commanders.
Omegon sat in the main seat, looking at a floating three-dimensional planetary data model in front of him. Countless bombardment coordinates were marked, with a small portion in red, and the bombardment plan was proceeding in an orderly manner.
Facing xenos that could live underground for the first time, the Astra Militarum generals and Company Commanders reported that there were no Hrud around the base. As for how to scout underground, they had no idea.
Omegon decided to use a crude method: each war base would send some personnel to directly drill into the ground to measure the geology.
Ten days later,
The Alpha Legion now numbered over one hundred thousand, with every ten thousand forming a Battle Group and every one thousand forming a Company. Alpha had transformed from a single Battle Group of only ten thousand to a Legion of eleven Battle Groups.
Of these, forty thousand were personally brought up by Alpharius, and seventy thousand were personally brought up by Omegon.
Their origins were different. Just as every Gene-Seed Primarch has a homeworld, Alpharius considered Holy Terra his homeworld, so most of the people Alpharius brought were warriors selected from Terra.
Most of the people Omegon brought were selected from the Alpha Sector. These individuals constituted the majority of the Alpha Legion and largely identified with Omegon.
Most of the Space Marines in the Eleventh Battle Group were new recruits. Bright, the First Company Commander of the Eleventh Battle Group, led a Company of troops to assist Omegon's work, while Space Marines from other Battle Groups had already been led by their respective Company Commanders to the battlefield to kill enemies.
Bright handed the intelligence file to Omegon, reporting, "In these ten days, we have launched a total of ten million missiles, and bombers have dropped over five million missiles, destroying a total of over three million targets. We have basically destroyed all visible Hrud cities, buildings, and important bases on the surface!"
"We have established thirty war bases on three continents. Our warriors have basically cleared out the Hrud within a thousand kilometers around them, and the Legion is advancing rapidly!"
Bright reported in detail, also learning the Primarch's tactics and greatly agreeing with such a sophisticated bombardment tactical concept. This could be seen from the war data's results, and the steps were very clear and easy to execute.
Omegon quickly flipped through the file, asking, "Very good, how is the drilling progressing?"
"In over twenty war bases, traces of Hrud life and obvious large fault lines have been found in the ground at depths of one thousand meters or even several thousand meters. However, we cannot find their surface entrances, so we have only raised our alert level!"
"Does the Primarch have any ideas?"
Upon hearing that so many war bases had found traces of Hrud underground, and even signs of underground cities, the Hrud did indeed often live underground. The strange Hrud cities seen in the mountain valleys earlier now made sense.
Because the Hrud cities in the mountains used underground passages for transportation and trade, which was a big problem for human armies accustomed to surface combat.
Omegon even speculated whether Shadowtooth Star had been hollowed out, and they were only rapidly eliminating the surface xenos, while the Hrud underground army might be rapidly assembling a large army to prepare for a counterattack.
[End of Chapter]
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