The 627th Company of the Ultramar Auxilia repelled five consecutive assaults by the World Eaters over the next half hour.
It was an extraordinarily glorious figure. Actual combat proved that even the World Eaters, renowned for their ferocious offensives, could stumble when attacking a new-model Auxilia force supplied with ample ammunition and cover.
The World Eaters' commander keenly noticed the change in his enemies. These mortals were completely different from the Ultramar Auxilia they had encountered before.
Those mortal forces had possessed decent fighting spirit, but they had been limited by the disparity in equipment.
Even if they resisted to the bitter end, they would ultimately be slaughtered to the last man.
But these mortal Auxilia clearly possessed a stronger command system. Their avian servitors constantly monitored the battlefield, preventing the World Eaters from infiltrating their positions through surprise attacks and then massacring the weaker mortals.
Once the avian servitors sounded the alarm, these mortals armed with lasguns and volkite guns would focus their fire on the charging enemy. The World Eaters noticed that the mortals' weapons were exceptionally powerful, especially the chilling proportion of volkite guns—nearly half the Auxilia were equipped with them.
Volkite guns were relic weapons from the Dark Age. Only a handful of forge worlds possessed their STC templates, and they were also extremely difficult to produce.
Faulty intelligence had forced the World Eaters to taste defeat. They had to admit that the bone before them was exceptionally hard to chew—hard enough to shatter their teeth.
"Bring those tanks up and pull out that nail!" the captain of this World Eaters company roared, slicing off a prisoner's head. He gripped the blood-drenched skull in one hand. "The Primarch has landed. We cannot shame him!"
Amid the roars, the enemy's heavy vehicles finally reached the battlefield. They