"Stop rushing! Stop rushing!"
Commissar Viktor Mikhailov stared at the Krieg soldiers around him who were still charging towards enemy positions under their own artillery fire and shouted loudly.
"Wait until our artillery barrage is finished before attacking! Cease the assault immediately!"
Viktor, a former Russian soldier from the Resident Evil world who now served as a political commissar, was witnessing Krieg troops advancing recklessly under friendly artillery fire for the first time. He thought Russian soldiers in his world were crazy enough — but here, he found something even more insane.
Without orders from the governor, the Orcs on Concordia IX were scattered after being brutally bombed by Space Marines. In the chaos, they encountered human troops dressed in gray uniforms and gas masks.
Just when the Orcs had started to regroup, reality hit them again. Their famed close-combat fighting was not only being stopped by the Space Marines, but also by these ordinary human soldiers who refused to back down.
Though beaten repeatedly, these soldiers stood firm, shattering the morale of the Orcs.
"The Emperor has issued orders that we must secure this planet as quickly as possible! All for the Emperor!" came the emotionless voice of the Krieg infantry regiment commander, muffled behind his gas mask.
"This..."
Viktor Mikhailov was speechless. Who would have thought that simply shelling the infantry with artillery while attacking simultaneously would work so effectively?
"Damn it, I should have explained this sooner," Viktor thought, frustrated.
His eyes welled up but he held back his tears and responded only by throwing Krieg grenades toward the enemy.
The standard weapon used by the Grenadiers of Krieg is the Heavy Laser Cannon Mark XIV, commonly nicknamed the Hellgun within the ranks of the Imperial Guard.
This weapon boasts an impressive effective range of up to 28 megapixels (a unit of range in their world) and is equipped with advanced targeting systems capable of up to 4x magnification. It also features low-light infrared detection and thermal imaging, allowing soldiers to identify enemy positions in nearly any condition.
However, the Hellgun is not without flaws. Its rechargeable power cells require constant maintenance, and the weapon itself is prone to barrel warping and other accidents caused by overheating. To mitigate this, the weapon is typically outfitted with integrated heat pipes and high-pressure cooling systems. Though these systems are often recycled multiple times, they offer significantly more protection than none at all.
For added safety, Grenadiers wear V-shaped antivirus devices across their chests, while their core batteries and critical components are mounted on their backs. Since Grenadiers are frequently tasked with the most intense offensive operations on the battlefield, they are supplied with a generous number of grenades. Although the Hellgun lacks a bayonet ring, the Grenadiers still carry their own personal bayonets in preparation for close-quarters combat.
On the battlefield, more than half of the Orc fortresses had already been destroyed by relentless artillery fire. Yet, a few machine gun bunkers and defensive structures remained untouched. The Orcs' machine guns were powerful enough to shred Krieg infantry into pieces, but the armored divisions were deployed to prevent such a scenario.
Several heavy Macarius tanks surged forward, systematically eliminating the remaining enemy weapon emplacements. In a matter of moments, the heavy weaponry at the Orcs' rear positions fell silent. Then, the second wave of bombardment commenced.
This time, the artillery fire was far more intense than before. The entire terrain was churned up again and again by the relentless shelling. The corpses of Orcs in green uniforms now carpeted the dirt-covered plains.
Following closely behind the tanks, Krieg infantry advanced rapidly. Krieg combat engineers led the front, clearing obstacles to pave the way for the armored columns, while the regular infantry marched just ahead of the tanks to provide cover and neutralize remaining threats.
Their objective was the largest Orc stronghold on Concordia IX—Fortress Echelon, which had once been a space navy installation of the fallen FUW empire. Now, it had become a battleground… or perhaps, a graveyard.
The Krieg forces had just begun clearing the outer defensive lines of the Orcs near Fortress Echelon. Artillery fire still thundered in the distance, and the Krieg soldiers advanced in tight formation, undeterred by fire or the wreckage of the battlefield.
Unbeknownst to them, however, a dozen Space Marines of the Imperium Caelestis had already infiltrated the fortress from the opposite side. Their movements were silent and precise, slipping through ruined structures and shattered defenses left in the wake of previous battles.
Now, two powerful arms of the same Imperium had entered Fortress Echelon—each from a different direction.