Blood Haze (V)

"We can't keep fighting!"

Aikaxiya cursed again. Several hundred meters ahead of him, the hastily built machine-gun positions kept firing into the enemy masses crowding in from all directions.

He could feel the ever-shifting battle situation tilting against them.

With the main Ork force tying them down, they did not have enough firepower to break through White Diamond's void shield, much less damage that machine.

Lieutenant General Aikaxiya was deeply conflicted. If they kept fighting, they would likely be wiped out. But if they failed to fulfill their mission and hold this pass, they would face a fate far worse than death.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of compatriots on the front line hung over the abyss. Every extra minute they kept this lifeline open could save thousands more.

If necessary, every soldier would willingly die on the battlefield under his command.

Though it was Aikaxiya's duty as a general to devise intricate battle lines, carefully arrange troop movements, fire support, and overlapping fields of fire, he also had to be responsible for his soldiers' lives.

If he followed Ben Lier's wishes and ordered them to hold their ground to the death, his orders would be carried out without question.

The soldiers would willingly, but dearly, offer up their lives, killing as many enemies as possible until the front-line forces escaped the Orks' pursuit.

But Aikaxiya could see no noble sacrifice before that god of war.

No, there would be no glorious last stand—only swift, dishonorable death and destruction.

They could not buy Dunwich the precious time it needed to complete its defenses, and that was the highest objective. If they failed, the entire operation would lose its meaning.

That was truly something to fear, because even after death arrived, people would still discuss the outcome of this war