The Hive Mind could not understand. In its history of devouring and evolving across countless millions of years, it had never encountered such a "thrifty and diligent" race. To it, war was merely a conversion of energy and matter. Victory meant turning all of the enemy's biomass into a part of itself.
Yet these noisy green creatures were wasting precious combat time picking up "trash"?!
Just as the Hive Mind tried to comprehend the strategic meaning of this "atavistic" behavior, its counterattack began.
It could not tolerate its biomass being so "desecrated"!
Amid piercing shrieks, countless smaller and faster "raider" units—such as the fleet-footed Hormagaunts and the winged Gargoyles—poured out from the rear of the Tyranid positions!
Their target was not the Orks' defensive line.
It was the corpses!
And so, across the battlefield of Octaria, the most ridiculous and absurd scene in galactic warfare history unfolded.
A group of Gretchin had only just dragged a massive Titan bone whip halfway across the field with all their strength. Before they could catch their breath, a huge flock of Gargoyles swooped down from the sky. The winged little demons clamped their sharp claws around the other end of the bone whip, trying to drag it back to the Tyranid lines.
A unique tug-of-war over a single bone whip erupted with great fanfare in the no-man's-land between the two armies.
"It's ours! We saw it first!" the Gretchin shrieked, their faces red with panic.
"Hisss!" The Gargoyles answered with threatening screeches.
Neither side was willing to let go.
In another corner, a pack of Hormagaunts was trying to drag the wreckage of a Big Can back to the swarm. However, they were soon surrounded by a Gretchin salvage team led by an Ork boss that had rushed over after hearing the news.