Facing steel

The humans reacted quickly too. Two antitank teams fired antiarmor missiles at the Killa Can. Without Kuka's help this time, the missiles slammed squarely into it.

Two thunderous, devastating explosions failed to destroy the Killa Kan. The thick steel plates the Mek had fitted to it allowed it to withstand considerable damage.

This time, the Killa Kan was unlucky. One of its mechanical legs was blown off, slowing it considerably, but it did not fall. Using a mechanical arm as its other leg, the Killa Kan kept charging, the muzzle flashes from the Big Dakka on its chest burning even hotter.

With less interference, the Ardboys picked up speed considerably. They quickly crossed the battlefield, and two Ardboys charged into the human defensive line.

First, they pulled out their Stikkbombs, lit them all, and threw them behind the cover. Then they drew the Big Choppas at their waists and began their slaughter.

When a blood-soaked Ardboy raised his trophy on his Big Choppa, every Ork was fired up. They could not let someone else hog all the fun. Every Ork, Cheng Mingrui included, erupted into a Waaagh!

Ordinary Orks were frightening enough, but Orks swept up in a Waaagh! were even deadlier. Empowered by a Waaagh!, Gretchin dared take on Boyz head-on, Boyz dared challenge Nobz, and Nobz dared talk back to Mekboys and Warbosses!

Once the Waaagh! went to Cheng Mingrui's head, he was no longer human, but a savage beast and a killing machine.

With a Plasma Gun in one hand and a Big Dakka in the other, Cheng Mingrui fired as he charged, blasting apart every enemy he could see until blood stained his vision red.

The Boyz under his command went berserk too. The human defensive line shattered as though struck by a sledgehammer. These elite soldiers were scattered, split apart, and surrounded, then killed by the Orks' various horrific weapons.

The only thing worthy of respect was that they shouted, "For the Emperor!" and fought to the last man without routing.

By the time the fight was over, the Orks were ecstatic. They did not care about their own casualties. Their only regret was that there had been too few Humies. They had all died before the Orks had enjoyed enough of a Waaagh!

Pieces of Ork and human corpses carpeted the entire defensive line. No one remained alive, and few bodies were intact.

The weapons mounted on the Killa Kan and the Ardboys were vicious beyond belief. Even a glancing hit tore humans apart. It would take Astartes Space Marines to face such savage Xenos as the Orks head-on.

The Ork Boyz and Gretchin who had missed out on the fun were unhappy. They wandered through the battlefield's ruins, looking for any living Humies they could finish off.

Some of the cunning ones collected scrap and Teef instead, coming to blows over treasures that were either weapons or Teef. Greed was another defining trait of the Greenskins.

With no survivors, Cheng Mingrui could not ask what these elite human soldiers had been guarding here. Never mind. Wherever the Waaagh! took them, they just had to keep moving forward.

After spending a little more time restoring order among his followers, slapping the nearby Boyz into obedience, and having the Mekboys upgrade everyone's weapons and equipment, Cheng Mingrui led his Boyz farther down the passage.

A sudden tremor struck like an earthquake, sending the Greenskins staggering in every direction.

"What happened?" asked Cheng Mingrui, who had nearly fallen over.

Clever Git had grabbed onto Cheng Mingrui's muscles just in time to keep from falling off. Dangling in the air, he shouted, "Ahead! Ahead, Boss! The shaking came from up ahead!"

Once the tremors subsided, Cheng Mingrui immediately led the Greenskins forward along the passage. Soon, the view opened up before them.

It was an enormous space. Countless human laborers toiled beneath huge gears and chains, using massive, cumbersome mechanical tools to load shells the size of buildings into gigantic gun barrels.

The tremors had been caused by the guns firing.

When the humans spotted the Orks emerging from the passage, their well-equipped guards moved in to surround them. In such a vast space, the humans' heavy armored weapons displayed terrifying destructive power.

Heavy Plasma Cannon emplacements, Leman Russ Tanks, Sentinels, and Chimera Transports-with the help of machinery and artillery, even ordinary humans could stand against terrifying Xenos.

The Greenskins who charged out behind Cheng Mingrui instantly suffered heavy casualties under the plasma, cannon fire, and Lasgun shots pouring from the armored vehicles. Even the Killa Kan, which tried to shield them from human firepower with its own body, could not withstand the Neman Russ Tank's main gun. After several hits, it exploded into fragments.

If even the Killa Kan could not withstand that firepower, the ordinary flesh-and-blood Orks had no chance. The fearless Orks charged, but it was futile. One after another, they were blasted into steaming chunks.

"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!" This was not firepower they could overcome by brute force. Flesh could not stand against steel, and Cheng Mingrui immediately ordered his followers to retreat.

Now he was absolutely certain he had gone the wrong way. Drawing on his knowledge from before his transmigration, Cheng Mingrui could tell that he had led his followers into the warship's weapons section. This space was the loading area for the Macro-cannons that came standard on Imperial warships.

In the age of 40k, the Imperium of Man teetered on the brink. The historical Men of Iron Rebellion-an artificial intelligence uprising-and the loss of technological continuity had left the entire Imperium of Man in decline. Even so, the Imperium continued to struggle desperately and remained standing.

Even without AI assistance, even with so much knowledge lost, humanity's steel monsters remained immensely powerful through the extensive use of the most ordinary machinery, bearings, gears, and chains. Primitive as they looked, they possessed a brutal aesthetic of raw violence.

A head-on charge was clearly impossible. Cheng Mingrui intended to pull the Boyz back before deciding what to do next.

Seeing the Orks battered into retreat and driven back into the passage, the human defenders did not pursue them. They simply held their positions.

The passage was too narrow. The humans had suffered heavy losses in several engagements there, and their heavy equipment had little room to operate inside, making it easy for the Orks to surround and destroy them.

As long as they protected the Macro-cannons, the human defenders had fulfilled their mission. Under the Commissar's reprimands, the human soldiers, excited by their victory, abandoned any thought of pursuit.

Seeing that his plan to lure the enemy deeper in had also failed, Cheng Mingrui rubbed his smooth chin and began thinking.

There was a saying: when humans thought, God laughed; when Orks had a think, Mork roared with laughter.

Cheng Mingrui felt that he could never have been this clever-or cunning-back when he was human. Now, after just a little thinking, he already had an idea.

If they could not win head-on, they could launch a sneak attack. As long as they kept their minds on track, there would always be more solutions than problems.