The dizziness and ringing in his ears from the explosion left the Astra Militarum Commissar nauseated and in agony. His mortal body's protective instincts seemed determined to strip away his will and make him pass out to spare him the continuing pain.
With iron resolve, the Commissar endured the searing pain as blood ran from his ears and opened his eyes to see for himself what had happened on the battlefield.
An inferno greeted him. Loading bay two was destroyed. Somehow, the Orks had blasted a massive breach in its wall.
Countless Orks armed with all manner of deadly weapons swarmed through the breach, driving straight into the Astra Militarum's flank.
Reeling from the surprise attack and the devastating explosion, his men were being slaughtered by the Orks.
"Don't give up! Hold your positions! For the Emperor!" the Commissar roared at the disordered soldiers, ignoring the blood flowing from his mouth from the blast injuries.
"But... but sir, they're everywhere, everywhere..." a soldier whose mind had been consumed by fear said in a trembling voice.
"Then fire everywhere! Pick up every weapon you can get your hands on! If you have a gun, shoot them! If you have a bomb, blow them up! If you have a bayonet, stab them! If you have nothing, use your hands and teeth!"
After bellowing at the soldiers around him, the Commissar drew his Boltgun and pulled the Chainsword from his waist. "Officers! Kasrkin! Charge with me!"
The battlefield had descended into utter chaos. The Commissar had to lead from the front and rally morale. Ideally, he would kill the Orks' boss; only then could he turn the defeat around.
If he failed, he could only die fighting here. May his soul return to the Golden Throne after his loyal sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Cheng Mingrui was having the time of his life. First, he had used a feint to draw out the humies' armor, then probing attacks with modified Killa Kans to concentrate it in one place.
The masterstroke had been using the explosions and chaos of battle to mask the noise of the Bomm Boyz breaking through the wall. At the crucial moment, a perfectly directed blast had crippled the humies' armor and opened a path for his main assault force.
The first through the breach were the Burner Boyz carrying flamethrower packs. Wearing goggles and wielding oversized flamethrowers, they surged onto the battlefield almost alongside the flames from the demolished wall.
The columns of fire from their weapons resembled fiery dragons, tearing through and carving up the Astra Militarum's positions, intent on setting everything in sight ablaze and reducing it all to ashes.
Behind the Burner Boyz came the Bomm Boyz, the greatest contributors to the success of this surprise attack. These explosion-obsessed maniacs wielded triple-tube missile launchers. They carried so much ammunition on their backs that its weight bent their already stooped Ork bodies even farther forward.
If the Burner Boyz had lit a fire beneath the dining table that was the battlefield, the Bomm Boyz had thrown a basin of water into a pan of scorching oil, making the whole wok erupt. The human humies were the main course being stir-fried.
The Bomm Boyz picked off the Astra Militarum's armored vehicles one by one, blasting them apart. Those once-formidable machines steadily became burning coffins.
Cheng Mingrui was also using a Bomm Boyz missile launcher for the first time, and he fell in love with this weapon that could produce such violent explosions. Every shot unleashed three enormous blasts. No wonder the Orks liked calling weapons like this Dakka. That thunderous sensation of destroying everything was truly addictive to an Ork.
The Astra Militarum soldiers were breaking. Fear and despair crept onto their faces. Soon, they would become a disorganized mob and scatter, just like the humies the Orks derisively called them.
By ordinary logic, once the battle reached this stage, the humans would quickly be slaughtered to the last man. After all, their bodies were far weaker than those of Orks, and ordinary people's willpower could not match the Orks' passion for war.
Already convinced that victory was assured, Cheng Mingrui stopped thinking and focused on the slaughter. He found that holding a Plasma Gun in one hand and a missile launcher in the other was far too cumbersome.
Perhaps watching Cleverhead's modifications had inspired Cheng Mingrui as well. He casually picked up some scrap parts from the ground and, with Clever Git's help, assembled a new weapon in just two minutes.
The result was a combination gun whose upper section fired astonishingly powerful rockets, while its lower section discharged searing streams of plasma that melted everything.
"Boss Slick, none of the clever Mekboys I've seen can fight like you, and none of the bosses who can fight can build like you. You can fight and build! You're a Mekboy, a Mekboy!" Clever Git loudly praised Cheng Mingrui.
"A Mekboy..." Cheng Mingrui was pleased too. Although this was only the simplest, most basic assembly job, it still demanded considerable technical expertise. Resolving interference between the two weapons, especially the Plasma Gun's heat dissipation, had only been possible thanks to Ork Logic.
The sensation of knowledge constantly pouring into his mind felt incredible. In Ork culture, big, fierce, and boss were all good words. Titles such as Mekboy, Big Mek, and Warboss-the latter ruling dozens of sectors-were all symbols of strength and power.
That feeling of steadily growing stronger was wonderful. Being an Ork was pretty good too.
"How come the humies ain't all dead yet?" Only then did Cheng Mingrui realize something unexpected had happened on the battlefield. Based on past experience, the Orks should already have been cleaning up.
"For the Emperor!" The Commissar's roar reached Cheng Mingrui's ears, and he discovered why the human soldiers had managed to hold out this long.
An Astra Militarum Commissar was leading a group of soldiers who had formed a makeshift defensive line around several Leman Russ Tanks and Chimera troop transports. They stood firm, as stubborn and unyielding as rocks along the coast.
The Astra Militarum was the bedrock of the Imperium of Man. Though its soldiers were not as powerful as the Astartes, their vast numbers and fearless sacrifices protected the immense Imperium of Man in the 40k universe, where all manner of monsters roamed.
And a formidable Commissar was the soul that sustained their dogged resistance.
Had Cheng Mingrui been human, he would have admired the Commissar. He might even have followed him and fought alongside him against malicious aliens.
But he was an Ork now, and he had his own side to stand on. Even if he worshipped the Emperor, the Emperor's hatred of all Xenos meant the Inquisition would probably only burn him to death.
"Go get all the good boyz together. I'm gonna kill that humie in charge," Cheng Mingrui ordered Clever Git.
Clever Git immediately jumped down from Cheng Mingrui's shoulder and shouted in his shrill voice, "Boss Slick says he's gonna kill the humie boss..."
The message traveled farther and farther. After being repeated several times, what the Ork Boyz heard was that Boss Slick wanted to fight the humie boss one-on-one, and that the humie boss had better wash his neck and wait to be killed.
The Astra Militarum Commissar seemed to understand the Orks' language too. The situation began taking a strange turn.
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