Battle of Baal X

Sergeant Herman and his squad were temporarily reinforced into the southern defensive line. They took over a position that had just been bloodied by the swarm, its trenches piled with the corpses of fallen soldiers and Tyranids.

"Establish firing positions! Move! They're coming again!" Herman shouted hoarsely over the explosions.

Cassius and the surviving recruits practically stepped over sticky gore and shredded flesh as they set up their weapons behind the ruined fortifications.

The swarm's assaults came wave after wave, giving the defenders almost no chance to catch their breath.

They could feel the ground trembling beneath countless insectile feet and smell the nauseating stench of acid and decay, so thick it seemed almost solid.

At one point, a Destroyer Beast smashed through a piece of cover on their flank with brute force, opening a gap in their fire line.

In an instant, dozens of gaunts surged through.

Herman roared and met them head-on, his Power Fist reducing the foremost one to pulp, but more creatures lunged at Cassius and the others from the side.

Close-quarters combat erupted in an instant.

Cassius smashed in a gaunt's skull with his boltgun, then drew his Power Sword and deflected another's bone blade.

He felt adrenaline surging through his veins, his fear temporarily crushed beneath the instinct to survive and the frenzy of battle.

A recruit beside him was knocked down by several gaunts, and his scream abruptly stopped.

In the end, the crisis was resolved only after another squad member was killed.

But a deep claw mark now scored Herman's shoulder plate, while acid had corroded the leg armor of Cassius's Power Armor, making his movements slightly sluggish.

Similar dangers were unfolding across many points of the southern defensive line.

The command center's communications channels were filled with urgent pleas for support