Although the flames of the orbital bombardment briefly cleansed the surface, they failed to eradicate the Orkish threat deeply hidden beneath the ice.
These stubborn spore creatures, like an unending plague, continuously spewed forth from the ice fissures torn open by the bombardment, trampling over the charred corpses of their comrades, letting out deafening war cries amidst the steaming mist.
Not only that, the Human fleet's saturation strike on the ancient ruins instead tore open more deadly wounds.
The power of Kroak, originally sealed by thick layers of ice, was now gushing out through crisscrossing ice cracks, with an eerie green light pulsating deep within the glacier.
Inspired by this primal force, Ork tribes within hundreds of miles fell into a berserk state, converging on the ruins from all directions like sharks scenting blood.
The ice plain trembled under the stomping of countless Orkish feet; from afar, the entire snowfield seemed to writhe—a denser green tide than before the bombardment was forming.
On the bridge, Alex gazed at the tactical holographic projection, his face ashen.
The blue light of the bridge illuminated his taut features, deepening the furrows between his brows.
His recently issued orbital bombardment order had been carried out, scattering the Orkish tide on the ice plain, but at a cost—the ice fissures had further expanded, and Kroak's power was accelerating its leakage.
The Orks surging from the ice cracks were more berserk than before, their muscular bodies entwined with an eerie green light, as if dominated by some ancient will.
"We can't delay any longer…" Alex muttered to himself, tapping his fingers on the command console, pondering a countermeasure.
He knew, of course, that committing a large army to storm the ruins was the safest method, but the reality was—the surface of Helson III had become a meat grinder.
The number and combat power of the Orks far exceeded expectations; ordinary Astra Militarum regiments simply couldn't stop them, and the Blood Knights Chapter had just suffered heavy losses in the bombardment, unable to organize an effective offense in the short term.
Unless he could mobilize ten million Astra Militarum or several thousand Astartes Warriors to fill the gaps with lives, a frontal assault would be tantamount to suicide.
"Although orbital bombardment will accelerate the leakage of Kroak's power, it can at least delay its awakening," Alex calmly weighed the pros and cons.
The lessons from the Beast War were vivid—a single Beast forced the Imperium to send the Primarch Vulkan to counter it, and Kroak was even more terrifying than a Beast!
If it truly broke free from the ice, the entire Sub-Sector would become the starting point of its WAAAGH! tide.
By then, let alone the entire Mariupol Sector, even the entire Segmentum Solar, or even the entire Imperium of Man, would likely be engulfed by the green tide.
After all, that was the ancient Kroak; no one knew how terrifying the combat power of these creatures, whose size rivaled knight titans, truly was.
"Do I really have to go to the Terra Imperial Palace and drag that old jerky who's been sitting on the toilet for ten thousand years to fight?" Alex sneered and shook his head.
The Emperor could not make a move, and he himself did not possess Primarch-level combat power.
His current authority was only V-level, and all the points for deploying pieces had been used to deploy the Psyker Warmaster Titan. Now, Alex had no external tricks left.
To solve an enemy of Kroak's level, his authority would need to increase by at least two more levels, allowing him to drop a Gene-Seed Primarch.
So, at present, if Kroak truly awakened, the only option would be—Exterminatus.
Alex's gaze was cold as he looked at the planetary model of Helson III.
If it truly came to that, he would not hesitate to activate Exterminatus, burning the entire planet into glass.
Or even… more extremely, directly activate the Warp engine and Warp Helson III above the Necrons' throne world, letting Kroak and the Necron Dynasty fight each other.
"But it hasn't come to that yet," Alex took a deep breath and looked back at the tactical projection.
Currently, the orbital bombardment had temporarily curbed the Orkish offensive, but they had to be stopped from continuing to excavate the ruins.
"Order!" He suddenly looked up, his voice cold and resolute: "All fleet firepower to lock onto the ice plain fissures, saturation bombardment! At the same time, gather all available forces to construct a defensive line around the ruins; the Orks must not be allowed to get any closer!"
Although with Alex's current power and status, issuing an Exterminatus order on a Death World was not a big deal, and no one would hold him accountable afterward, Exterminatus was not something that could be simply issued.
For one, the ground forces would have to be withdrawn first, and Sea Hare's dome would need to be properly handled, right?
All of these required time, and what humanity lacked most at the moment was time.
The green tide surged, and the ancient Kroak's power continued to leak. If Alex wanted to buy time, he had to first find a way to seal or sever the connection between the Orks and Kroak.
That is, to sever the Warp field connection between the two.
Fortunately, this was not impossible.
During the Beast War, the Imperium had relied on the power of the Sisters of Silences to sever the connection between the Beast and the Warp field, thereby causing it to lose the Warp field blessing of its vast Ork army.
And coincidentally, Alex happened to have a small squad of Sisters of Silences at hand.
Although initially there were only two Sisters of Silences who came with this Black Ship—one of whom was an apprentice who had not yet completed her training—after several years of management, this special unit had begun to take shape.
The original Sisters of Silence, through her secret connections with other Sisters of Silences and the excavation and recruitment of untouchables in the Rostov Sub-Sector, successfully expanded this special force into a complete squad.
In addition to this official five-person squad, several apprentices were undergoing rigorous training.
They were taught how to control their "blank" nature and how to become a deadly weapon against Psyker threats on the battlefield.
All in all, Alex now commanded over ten untouchables. Although the number was still not large, it was a force not to be underestimated.
If this force were deployed in a frontal battle, Alex might as well send in a squad of Battle Sisterss, as Sisters of Silences were not significantly more combat-effective than Battle Sisterss.
Their primary role lay in their powerful suppressive ability against Psykers.
If a dozen or so untouchables were to engage together, let alone ordinary Psykers, even powerful Psykers like Mephisto would have to stand still obediently.
So Alex quickly arrived at the designated area on the Black Ship and found the Sisters of Silences who were training.
"I need your strength," Alex said without pleasantries, directly stating his purpose.
"We have anticipated this moment, and we will fight for you," the leading Sisters of Silence signed to Alex, while an apprentice beside her provided simultaneous interpretation.
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