Just as Zeke's family private army and retinue knights' guards felt they might be hit by the rockets, a dark energy shield suddenly appeared in the sky. It was a basic combined shield formed by the Space Marines' individual shields.
All the rockets struck the basic combined shield, causing no impact on the Space Marines below, the regular retinue troops, or the retinue knights.
"Sir, more energy signatures detected underground!" Lissa's voice rang out urgently over the comms channel.
Sure enough, the ground shook violently again, and three more modified Squiggoths burst out of the earth. Their bodies were covered in rusty metal armor, and their backs were fitted with various crudely made cannons and rocket launchers.
"Waaagh! Big metal cans are doomed!" The Ork Boyz Mek Boyz cheered, waving their arms. Their crude mechanical modifications made these beasts look ugly, but their destructive power was not to be underestimated.
Looking at the four gigantic creatures that had appeared before him, Zeke was a bit dumbfounded.
What are these things?
He had only come to fight some Ork Boyz to test the combat effectiveness of his troops and to train with his retinue knights. What kind of things was he encountering?
If he remembered correctly, the Ork Boyz on this planet should have been regularly cleared out by his knight house each year. Where did these giant beasts come from now?
It couldn't be that the four Warp merchants were trying to trip him up, could it?
For some inexplicable reason, Zeke attributed this grudge to the four merchants in the Warp.
He would settle accounts with these four things sooner or later, daring to scheme against him.
If he hadn't cultivated Space Marines and had only brought his retinue knights and family private soldiers here, he would have basically been finished.
Without heavy weapons, and without him using any cheats, just as a regular heir of a knight house, this wave was truly a bit difficult.
He had finally been reborn into a good family with loving parents, and he had even become the heir to the future high king, meaning his future was promising.
Now, all of this was almost ruined by someone. How could he not be angry!
Zeke was very angry, and the consequences would be severe, but the problem was that without heavy weapons for his ground legions, these giant units were really difficult to deal with.
Ten thousand Space Marines simultaneously raised their Energy weapons and opened fire on the four giant beasts.
But unfortunately, the damage inflicted was limited. Although these giant beasts took some hits, none were fatal.
Due to the appearance of these giant beasts, in the overlooked corners, those Ork Boyz Mek Boyz were frantically thinking, "I reckon these little 'biubiubiu' guns can't hurt our giant beasts."
As they thought, they unknowingly received the blessings of two chaos Gods.
Zeke, sitting in his knight titan, saw their actions clearly.
Zeke's face instantly darkened. This was a bit too much.
As a transmigrator, he knew too well the unreasonable racial trait of the Ork Boyz—as long as they collectively believed in something, it would become reality under the influence of Waaagh! energy.
This also meant that without heavy weapons, his legion would genuinely struggle to deal with these four enormous beasts, unless he were to solo them with a power sword.
Or he could do it himself—
Protected by his dark energy shield, he would not fear the attacks of these giant beasts, as their attacks would not exceed the protection limit of his dark energy shield.
He could even just take out his power sword and lightly strike the opponent's head, easily splitting it in two.
But for some reason, Zeke always felt that these Ork Boyz might have some surprises waiting for him that he hadn't seen yet.
If he acted himself, he might miss those surprises. He had to wait patiently.
If any problems arose, he had ways to solve them. The strike cruiser in orbit was not a joke.
Besides him taking action himself, he could also call for orbital strikes against these four giant beasts.
Faced with the choice of whether to personally go and chop the opponents down, Zeke chose to wait a bit longer. He wanted to see if these Ork Boyz had any other surprises.
The four giant beasts advanced unscathed through a hail of bullets, their cannons on their backs continuously roaring.
However, just as his legion could not inflict any damage or impact on these four giant beasts, the opponents likewise could not cause any impact on them.
The Space Marines' combined shield blocked all artillery fire.
During the exchange of attacks, the Ork Boyz were constantly dying, as the Space Marines were not only attacking the giant beasts but also killing the Ork Boyz.
The energy of the Space Marines' combined shield was decreasing.
Currently, the Space Marines' combined shield had dropped from its original 100% power to 99%. This meant that if the four giant beasts on the other side continued to attack for another 24 hours, the Space Marines' combined shield would also fail.
This was precisely why Zeke was so confident, preparing to wait and see if the opponents had any other surprises to show him. If not, he would resort to orbital bombardment.
Zeke sat in the cockpit, his fingers rhythmically tapping the control panel. On the holographic tactical map, the four giant beasts, like four mobile fortresses, rampaged across the battlefield.
But strangely, they didn't seem eager to break through the defenses, but rather were moving in a regular pattern.
"Sir, their movement trajectory..." Lissa suddenly pulled up data analysis. "It looks like they're drawing some kind of pattern!"
Zeke suddenly sat up straight. On the holographic projection, the giant beasts' movement trajectories gradually revealed a twisted symbol—a variation of the eight-pointed star of chaos!
"Interesting! It's a sacrificial ritual!" Zeke instantly understood the Ork Boyz' true intention. "Hilarious, these fools are being used by chaos! They want to use the entire battlefield as a sacrifice!"
He immediately opened the full-frequency communication: "All units, attention! Hold your positions, remain within the protection of the shield. Repeat, everyone hold your positions, remain within the basic shield's range. Assault Team, deploy your shields as well!"
Chaos had indeed intervened.
The impact of the 13th Black Crusade was so significant that it reached their star system.
However, it was understandable when he thought about it, as their star system was itself within a combat zone.
Within the Imperial star systems of the Cadia Sector, there was always a possibility of encountering attacks from Gao Mao Er Ge (Brother Gao Mao).
But if he wasn't mistaken, he remembered that Gao Mao Er Ge (Brother Gao Mao) shouldn't have arrived yet, so why was chaos already impatient to make a move?
It's fine.
It's a good opportunity to test whether the shields equipped in his troops can withstand chaos corruption.
This was very important, as it concerned whether he could go into the Warp later to deal with those four merchants.
As Zeke stood ready, the four giant beasts suddenly stopped simultaneously, letting out deafening roars.
All the cannons on their backs turned towards the sky, firing not shells, but four bizarre green light beams.
The light beams converged in the clouds, and the sky instantly tore apart. A massive Warp rift slowly opened, revealing the twisted chaotic landscape within.
"Hahahaha! Gork has manifested!" The surviving Ork Boyz Mek Boyz cheered, completely unaware that they were being corrupted by chaos energy.
Within the rift, a chaos Fleet could vaguely be seen gathering. Most chillingly, Khorne's crimson banner hung prominently from the fleet's flagship.
For the first time, Zeke felt that the situation's development seemed to be beyond his control; things seemed to be getting out of hand.
His fleet consisted of only one modified strike cruiser, but Khorne's fleet on the other side, at least from what he could see, already had two Hellfire-class cruisers, four Hellbringer-class light cruisers, sixteen Infidel-class raiders, and sixteen Blind Faith-class raiders.
With a fleet of such a scale, relying on his single strike cruiser, what was he supposed to fight?
Although his cruiser's combat power should be somewhat stronger than these things, the saying that ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them was not false.