Kroken almost wanted to laugh. This defensive node had still come under attack, yet the passage where they had deployed the laser cannon had no enemies at all. The two routes he and the Techmarine held were drowning in bugs.
Heh. All that work for nothing.
The Techmarine remained unhurried, every weapon array on his body blazing. Within minutes, he had sealed the passage-with bug corpses piled from wall to wall.
The Corpse Gatherers went to work. Their side did not use flamers to clear that passage, but simply waited for the enemy's flanking force.
What did you do when a route was blocked? Go around. And wouldn't that take them straight into the passage with the heavy laser cannon?
If they wouldn't come to you, you had to give them a reason to.
The underground region had become a realm of death. The toxins sprayed by Venomthropes, drifting parasites, and harmful substances released by vast quantities of burning material made entry impossible for Astra Militarum troops without fully sealed equipment. The Death Korps of Krieg would have to wait just a little longer before entering.
The Adeptus Mechanicus's definition of "a little," that was.
The wait was dull and interminable. The Techmarine directed the Guardian Squad in orderly counterattacks, driving back the Tyranids to buy time. The bugs grew fewer, because the main force under Anthony had cut off their routes down.
An inexplicable pang of dread struck the Techmarine. Through an auxiliary camera, he glanced at Kroken beside him. The old Dreadnought was firing without a word.
He could have held all three passages himself, let alone dealt with enemies from just one direction.
The Techmarine called over the communications channel. The situation ahead was grim. More than sixty warriors had already died at the meat grinder of