Amid a battlefield shrouded in smoke and dust, Astra Militarum soldiers and Blood Angels charged fiercely toward the Defense Force positions like a tidal wave, only to be met by the Defense Force's terrifying barrage of artillery fire.
Every explosion kicked up billowing clouds of dust and sent flames soaring into the sky. Countless soldiers were instantly swallowed up and fell one after another.
Dok stood on high ground, watching the battlefield closely. He saw the fearless Astra Militarum soldiers and Blood Angels charging forward without hesitation, yet they seemed so fragile and powerless before the Defense Force's overwhelming firepower.
By now, the distance between the Astra Militarum soldiers and Blood Angels and the Defense Force positions had shrunk to less than a thousand meters.
Dok slowly lowered his binoculars, took a deep breath, and calmly issued an order over the communications channel. "Self-destruct hounds, deploy!"
"Woof woof woof!" In an instant, the only response to Dok was a chorus of barking rising and falling.
One after another, mechanical dogs only half a meter tall and a meter long emerged slowly from the trenches where the Defense Force soldiers had taken cover. Their bodies gleamed with a cold metallic sheen as they marched forward with steady steps, like a pack of well-trained beasts.
At Dok's command, a full ten thousand mechanical hounds raced out from the Defense Force positions like arrows loosed from a bow.
They gathered into a surging torrent, howling in unison as they charged toward the Astra Militarum and Blood Angels rushing fiercely at the Defense Force positions.
For a time, deafening barks of "Woof woof woof!" echoed across the battlefield. The sound was both a warning to the enemy and the battle cry of these mechanical hounds before the fight.
"What the hell are those things?"