Landing Operation

Massive Stormbirds screamed down toward the burning earth like death incarnate, their turrets ceaselessly sweeping aside scattered anti-air fire as Swordtail Interceptors howled overhead, reducing Ork Deffkoptas and Flyboyz to scrap metal.

The specialized Stormbirds deployed Void Shields that rendered all incoming Ork firepower useless, while the Orks who had revealed their positions quickly received long-range missiles and Laser Cannons as warm greetings.

After the Stormbirds had raked the area clean again, transport craft carrying various Legion armored units touched down on the surface. The massive ramps opened, and Sandman stepped onto the soil alongside Raven Guard Terminators and Adeptus Mechanicus battle-servitors.

"Hm?" The moment he set foot on the battlefield, Sandman felt a shift in his vision. In his psychic sight, the Orks and their war machines, all radiating a green aura, were laid bare before him—no technical reconnaissance needed; he could see them all clearly.

"Not yet," Sandman murmured, calming the urgent hunger he sensed from his Warp-projection.

"Twelve o'clock, heavy Ork infantry. Ironclads, a volley of missiles!" Sandman commanded.

Three Ironclad Terminators with missile pods mounted on their shoulders stepped forward from the orderly ranks. Dozens of missiles streaked through the air with thick white smoke trails toward the designated kill zone, and roaring flames instantly charred the Orks hidden there into cinders, the fire also scouring away the spores beginning to leak from their bodies.

"Advance! Scouts, watch the flanks—something's infiltrating toward your positions. Shadow Kill, fire a Volcano Cannon at that junk pile at two o'clock! Heavy combat servitors, release your gravity bombs!" Countless data points were captured, analyzed, and relayed to every combat cluster squad.

As the front line pushed forward and the battle zone expanded, Sandman soon realized he could only oversee an area of about a dozen kilometers. The rest of the forces had to rely on their own commanders and battlefield adaptability to fight the Orks. Fortunately, whether Astartes, Solar Auxilia, or Adeptus Mechanicus battle-servitors, all were humanity's finest—these conditions weren't too difficult for them.

On the other side of the battlefield, beyond Sandman's reach, hordes of Ork Nobz mixed with Tin Can Robots and Stolen Wagons charged roaring at the human 'shrimpies.' Chaotic formations, crooked vehicles, circular saws grinding with teeth-clenching screeches, and guns blazing as they opened fire on the Raven Guard units. Ork weapons might not match human accuracy, but their power was always overwhelming.

Facing organized Ork armored units, the Raven Guard adjusted their formation. Saturnine Dreadnoughts, Emperor's Poison Blades, and other heavy tanks took the front line with their thick armor, returning fire with precise salvos.

"Trying to decapitate me?" Sandman frowned. In his perception, a large group of Ork units was rapidly converging on his position—air units, given their speed. They weaved through the towering structures, and a few unlucky Rokkit Boys were even shot down by scout bolters.

Some Deffkoptas joined them. As Shadow Kill opened fire on the charging Orks, the greenskins descended from the sky in a chorus of "Waaagh!" and surged toward Sandman. Clearly, in the galaxy, no matter how heavy your firepower, how great your battlefield advantage, or whether you held air superiority, melee was inevitable.

The Ironclad and Saturnine Terminator line opened fire immediately. Thundering Disintegration Cannons and missiles shredded the incoming Deffkoptas, but the Ork air units still inflicted casualties on Sandman's men.

Even Astartes in Ironclad Terminator armor couldn't withstand the sheer power of Ork weapons—bodies were blown apart in an instant. Some unlucky automata were cleaved in two by the circular saws on Deffkoptas. For the first time since stepping onto the battlefield, Sandman felt the lethal fervor of these Orks.

"Damn greenskins!" A pitch-black psychic shield suddenly materialized around Sandman, enveloping his guards as well. Neither shells nor Ork Shootas could dent the barrier. Then, a crackling psychic lightning bolt arced out of nowhere—black death-lightning leaping through the air, striking every Ork Boy in its path. Death-fire licked at the greenskins, whose minds knew only slaughter, and in an instant, all the Orks who had closed in on Sandman crumpled to the ground.

In that brief moment, the Ork force that had nearly reached him lost its chance at decapitation. The others had already re-formed a complete defensive perimeter. The Ork copters and Rokkit Boys still trying to breach the line were met with a sweep from the Raven Guard's Stormbird squadrons. To prevent a repeat, five Stormbirds began circling the command group, providing fire support.

"Exhilarating!" Feeling the blaze of battle, Sandman experienced an unprecedented satisfaction. Not just him—even his Warp-projection seemed to applaud him. From that shadow, Sandman could only make out a single, sharply shaped solid fragment, like a weapon or something, while the rest remained a dark blur.

"Big shrimp here!" The Orks realized Sandman was the one worth fighting most and swarmed toward him again. The Stormbirds overhead wasted no time turning them into chunks of meat.

"Stubborn race, these Orks," Sandman remarked, watching the greenskins charge even as their vanguard was blown into bloody mist. There was no fear in their eyes—only the same excitement for war.

Just then, a warning flared in Sandman's mind. A massive figure, wrapped in a dense green energy field, was hurtling straight toward him.

"Scatter!" A powerful repulsive force erupted from Sandman, flinging all the Raven Guard guards around him away. The next second, a colossal shape slammed down from an Ork psychic teleport point onto the spot where the Ironclads had stood. As the dust cleared, a giant Tin Can Robot loomed before everyone.

Sandman had never seen an Ork war machine this massive in person. The ten-meter-tall Tin Can Robot swung a huge Power Claw at him.

"Come on, then!" Sandman shouted, drawing his Power Sword and sidestepping the claw in a flash. In a few swift moves, he climbed up the machine's mismatched leg—scavenged from who knows where—and began dismantling the giant with his master-crafted Power Sword, cutting through it like butter.

Not only that, but black psychic lightning, several times thicker than before, suddenly arced across the sky. In seconds, it pierced the Tin Can Robot's shields, the terrifying psychic force slicing through the Ork armor and devouring the soul of the Ork pilot inside.

"Try a Titan next time!" Sandman said after finishing it off. This Tin Can Robot was at best equivalent to a human Knight-class Mech, and its teleport beacon hadn't fully activated before being destroyed by the psychic lightning.

"Got to admit, the Orks of this era are way above 40K standards—way above," Sandman mused, looking at the burned-out Psionic Beacon. He wouldn't have been surprised if anything had come out of it.

"All units, report casualties!" Sandman resumed command of the battlefield. As for the distant teleport platform, the Raven Guard Librarian had locked onto it the moment the psychic fluctuation appeared, and the Stormbirds quickly destroyed it.

"Psychic teleportation—really hard to guard against," Sandman sighed. If he hadn't reacted in time, his guard would have taken heavy losses.

But there was nothing he could do about it. In the galaxy, those with psychic powers were a different breed. Unless your own psychic strength surpassed theirs, technology alone struggled to counter it. Sandman wasn't willing to throw Sisters of Silence into this kind of Ork fight—if a stray grenade or shell hit their squad, he'd be devastated. He only had three squads, and he never underestimated Ork weaponry.

"Keep pushing forward!" Sandman ordered.

The advance went smoothly from there, with no more surprise Ork psychic attacks. The fleet held space, Stormbirds ruled the air, and a terrifying armored cluster dominated the ground. What could the Orks do against that? Even if an Ork Titan showed up, he wouldn't flinch—calling in orbital bombardment would be a waste. The Volcano Cannons on the Titan Hunter-killers would teach them a proper lesson.

This special variant of the Emperor's Poison Blade was brutally simple: mount a Titan's main Volcano Cannon on the chassis. Two or three shots could overload a battle Titan's Void Shields, and these Titan Hunter-killers operated in full squadrons. Otherwise, a Titan could shred these little things in a single attack.

Whether on Sandman's planet or the others being invaded, the overall assault pace followed the Raven Guard command's plan.

The recapture of five planets was entering its final phase. Once the last stubborn Orks were eliminated, Sandman could launch landings on the remaining worlds.

After four days of continuous combat, the five planets were officially reclaimed for the Imperium of Man.

The massive Landing Force began returning to the warships in orbit. After a brief rest, they would plunge into the next landing battle—again and again, until death.

"Deploy the Virus Bombs!" Sandman ordered once all landing forces had withdrawn.

These Virus Bombs were specially formulated by Mortarion to target Ork spores. Dropped into the atmosphere and water, they would consume all Ork spores within a Terran Week, ensuring the planets would never again sprout those greenskins that plagued Imperial rulers.

"Next, the Om System landings will be commanded by Nekser and Ken," Sandman announced in the Raven Guard's operational briefing.

As Legionary Commander of the Raven Guard, it was his duty to train the next generation of excellent commanders. From squad to company, from escort to fleet, from space combat to planetary landings—they needed to master it all. The Legion's growth would only accelerate, demanding many capable commanders to fill the ranks of new companies.

"Yes!" Nekser and Ken responded immediately. Since leaving Savior Star and enduring various battles, they had begun to mature, gradually able to stand on their own.

After issuing his orders, Sandman stepped aside to observe how the two would plan the remaining planetary landings. Satisfied there were no major flaws, he approved their battle plan.

But this time, Sandman didn't accompany the landing force. He and his guard simply waited in the teleportation hall aboard the Styx. Whenever support was needed, or he found a target worthy of his attention, he would swiftly reinforce the ground troops.

Dense beams, shells, and missiles began bombarding the remaining planets. The fleet's Lances struck planetary defense platforms with surgical precision, Macro Cannon shells tore through fortified bunkers, and blazing plasma—hot as a star's core—vaporized Orks outright.

After a full day of bombardment, the fleet finally cracked the planets' Void Shields, and the landing clusters launched. Organized Head Empty Bays, Stormbirds, and other air units began their landings according to their missions. Titan-led combat clusters stretched a long battle line across the planet, like an iron net sweeping over everything—every Ork unit inside caught in a hail of weapons.

Sandman watched the ground combat quietly, scanning for any Ork target that might catch his interest. Unfortunately, the naval bombardment had already reduced most large Ork war machines to rubble.