svetikya Chapter 71 The Shrike
Chapter 71 The Shrike
"Kill! We, the Aida, will never surrender!"
"To protect our home, kill the invaders!"
"We are children of the mountains and the sky; for freedom, we are willing to die, but will never surrender!"
Against the leaden sky of Shrike Star, tens of thousands of Shrike Knights riding silver-white giant Shrike birds charged towards the crimson lines of the ground troops, roaring and fearless, despite the dense anti-aircraft fire from the ground forces.
......
Li Wei stood on the temporary command post of the Thousand Sons, looking up at the Shrike Knight riding a giant bird that was pressing down from the sky like dark clouds, his forehead throbbing.
In his memories from his previous life, the aerial forces of the Ark Edge Cluster were indeed extremely troublesome, but he did not expect there to be so many of them.
Looking at the dense flock of birds before him, he estimated that the enemy air knights on the third line of defense of the Thousand Sons numbered in the tens of thousands, which far exceeded the strength that the Thousand Sons' main line of defense could withstand.
Just as Li Wei was secretly calculating, a shrike rider swooping down noticed that Li Wei was in the center, not wearing a power armor helmet, and had a special aura. It was definitely a commander, so it swooped down directly towards Li Wei.
Just as Li Wei was about to return to the command center to take charge, he raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that someone would try to capture the leader first and directly attack him, the commander.
He became interested and wanted to personally experience just how terrifying the physical abilities of the Aida people, who far surpassed those of ordinary people in the empire, were, combined with the impact of riding the giant snow shrike, a specialty of the Shrike Star.
This force was able to hold off the Space Wolves and Death Guardians, known for their ferocity, for years, and even alerted the Thousand Sons Legion from nearby star systems to come to their aid.
The snow-white giant eagle, unrestrained yet still docile and submissive, overcame its instincts and skillfully dodged the anti-aircraft fire, swaying left and right in the air before suddenly lowering its body and swooping down to the ground, its sharp beak swooping down to peck fiercely at Li Wei.
Li Wei stopped the psionic fireball he was about to fire, dodged the swift peck by sidestepping, and was about to reach out his right hand, which was covered in power armor, to grab the shrike pilot who was passing by when he felt a sharp longsword coming toward his head.
Having anticipated this, Li Wei tilted his head to the side, dodging the precise and ruthless attack from the Ada in the passenger seat behind the Shrike.
Having missed the best opportunity to catch the driver, Li Wei could only helplessly accelerate suddenly and punch the still stunned co-pilot who thought he was sure to hit him, sending him flying.
Pfft!
The Ada warrior, clad in a black, form-fitting combat suit, struggled to his feet and brandished his gleaming longsword as he lunged at Li Wei.
"kill!"
Having already ascertained the Shrike Knight's actual combat strength, Li Wei shook his head, then raised his hand and unleashed a purple psionic fireball, which precisely struck the warrior's astonished face.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, the brave and fearless Aida warrior turned into a charred corpse and collapsed to the ground.
After easily resolving this minor problem, Li Wei glanced at the chaotic sky and saw several more Shrike Knights swooping down. He then casually fired a few more psionic fireballs, which accurately hit the silver-white giant birds. The giant birds immediately let out mournful cries and plummeted to the ground, their bodies engulfed in flames.
"It seems that it's not that the Death Guard and Space Wolves are too weak, but rather that the warriors of this planet are powerful. The giant birds are not only extremely mobile, but the individual soldiers of the Aida people are also far superior to ordinary mortal legions. Although they are not as good as the Astartes warriors, they are not far off."
Li Wei frowned as he looked at Qianzi's crumbling battle line, but did not step forward to help him out.
He is the chief think tank member and part of the leadership of Qianzi. He cannot do everything personally. Besides, Qianzi also needs to adapt to this high-intensity aerial raid in order to grow better.
......
The battles that followed were tedious and brutal.
Qianzi relied on the terrain to deploy defenses layer by layer, advancing in a triangular formation with Space Wolves and Death Guards.
The army advanced steadily, constantly shrinking the living space of the Ida people on Shrike Star, forcing them step by step toward their last stronghold, the capital Phoenix Cliff.
Unfortunately, the Idaans' air superiority was too obvious, which slowed down the Allied advance.
After a fierce battle, a joint military meeting of the Thousand Sons Legion, Death Guard, and Space Wolves was urgently convened on the Allied flagship.
The Primarch of the Space Wolves, Lehman Ruth, volunteered to chair the meeting, attempting to mediate the conflict between the Thousand Sons and the Death Guard to ensure the meeting proceeded smoothly.
The specific meeting location was the operations room of the Space Wolves' flagship, the "Herafenkel." The Space Wolves' Primarch, Leman Ruth, volunteered to host the meeting in an attempt to mediate the conflict between the Thousand Sons and the Death Guard.
A rough metal wall was covered with animal hides and spoils of war, and the air was filled with the smell of mead and gunpowder. The holographic star map in the center was flashing with the topographic markings of the planet Shrike.
The atmosphere was so oppressive that you could hear a pin drop.
Primarch Leman Ruth of the Space Wolf sat imposingly in the central seat, watching the Primarchs of the Thousand Sons and the Death Guard ignore each other on either side.
Lehman Ruth scratched his messy red hair in frustration, letting out a low growl like that of a Fenris wolf.
He ripped off the animal bone necklace hanging around his neck and threw it on the table, roaring with undeniable authority:
"This is a battlefield, not your greenhouses filled with the smell of musty books or poison! Since you're all wearing Astartes power armor, you're warriors of the Empire. Now, let's get down to business and obey my orders! Unless you want to taste my claws!"
"Hmm." Magnus, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons, listened to the rude roar and knew that it was the Fenris beast's usual nature, so he nodded slightly. "I have no objection. Let's hear the battle plan first."
Upon hearing Magnus's confirmation, Mortarian, who was always hooded and breathing in poisonous gas opposite Magnus, slowly nodded and said succinctly:
"Can."
However, looking at the still lifeless scene, Lehman Russ exhaled a heavy breath from his nostrils. Although his ferocious look, which seemed ready to devour someone, had lessened somewhat, the impatience in his eyes grew even stronger.
Standing not far behind Magnus to his left, Li Wei watched everything silently with his arms crossed. He knew that given Mortalian's deep-seated aversion to psionic energy, this meeting was unlikely to have a good outcome.
Moreover, from the very beginning, this meeting was not fair to Chiko.
In fact, when Qianzi arrived on Shrike, he completely ignored Leman Ruth and Mortarian's initial battle plan, and simply proceeded with the battle according to his own rhythm.
The initial coalition's operational plan clearly placed the Thousand Sons' forces in the most dangerous northern mountainous region, which was obviously a deliberate attempt by Mortarian to make things difficult, and Leman Russ turned a blind eye and acquiesced.