"Long time no see," One-Eye said, looking up from the map and smiling at Alexander.
One-Eye was also involved in this battle. He was once an excellent soldier in the PDF, one of the few people in the Lower Nest with military command experience, and the one who trained the Ark Gang members.
Thus, One-Eye's responsibility became commanding the Ark Gang and coordinating with the Astra Militarum's actions.
Because District 13 previously had fewer demands for the Ark Gang's cooperation, he mainly commanded the Ark Gang in other areas within the hive city, coordinating with the Cadian Shock Troopers in street-to-street combat.
This street fortress was built under his command, with materials collected by Ark Gang members.
"We've only been apart for a day, it seems," Alexander shrugged, smiling as he replied.
"A day? That's true..." One-Eye chuckled, "But a day is long enough. The battlefield makes every minute and second feel like a struggle."
Alexander observed One-Eye and found his mental state to be quite good.
He had rushed over from another major district, so he must have managed to get some rest on the way.
Alexander then turned his gaze to Reyna.
Reyna's face showed no fatigue, but her expression was extremely tense.
She kept her mouth tightly shut, as if unwilling to speak.
Reyna had been affected by the Warp Shadow. Although she had mostly recovered, there were still some lingering effects.
Her speech function was slightly disordered; when she spoke, she always involuntarily added some meaningless syllables.
These syllables sounded quite comical, and even well-trained Cadians sometimes struggled to hold back their laughter.
Alexander, in particular, couldn't help but laugh out loud every time he heard them.
This made Reyna somewhat reluctant to speak.
"Do you want to go sleep for a bit?" Alexander asked, looking at Reyna's tense expression.
Reyna's expression twitched slightly, and she whispered, "I'm stimulating my nerves with psychic power, igoo bigoo."
"Psychic power is transforming into my vitality through my nerves, makabaka."
Listening to Reyna's words, interspersed with disordered syllables, Alexander roughly understood that Reyna was using psychic power to stimulate her nerves, activating her vitality to keep herself alert for a long time.
Alexander nodded slightly, thinking that this method surely had some side effects.
But with war at hand, there was no time to consider such things.
"How's the situation?" Alexander asked, looking at the map on the table.
An irregular circle on it indicated the districts still under Imperial control.
"The Tyranid are starting to clear out the servo-skulls. We can only barely tell that the Tyranid have begun to move again," One-Eye said, pointing at the map.
Alexander nodded slightly. He, General Drost, and Reyna ascended to the high point of the street fortress, looking out into the distance under the protection of its fortifications.
One-Eye had chosen an excellent location for the street fortress.
This road was one of the few wide avenues in the Lower Nest. The various cluttered buildings that had accumulated on it were now cleared away, revealing a broad and clean roadside.
This was both to expose the Tyranid to the artillery within the street fortress and to allow the Cadian Shock Troopers' armored forces to deploy.
Leman russ tanks, Chimeras, and Hellhounds of the Cadian Shock Troopers' 186th Armored Regiment were arrayed before the street fortress.
Such street fortresses were strategically placed in different major districts to intercept the main Tyranid forces.
In the narrower streets and alleys, smaller fortifications had also been built, occupied and defended by Astra Militarum soldiers.
The orange-yellow lights of the hive city hung high in the sky. Alexander gazed at the end of the street, awaiting the Tyranid's arrival.
He didn't have to wait long.
The entire hive city's buildings began to tremble. The Tyranid surged like a tide from the distance, countless biological projectiles raining down on the Astra Militarum's street fortress.
First into the fray were vast numbers of Termagaunts and Hormagaunts. These hound-like Tyranid roared as they charged the Cadians.
Then, artillery and laser fire began to appear on the battlefield.
The leman russ tanks' barrels vibrated, firing gigantic cannon shells. Their tracks roared, and the tanks advanced like moving city walls.
Shells exploded among the Tyranid tide, blasting a group of Termagaunts and Hormagaunts into flying chunks of flesh.
The flesh-and-blood Tyranid seemed insignificant before the steel-clad front line.
Boom!!
A thunderous tremor shook the ground.
Scorching bio-plasma streaked across the street, shrieking as it exploded on a leman russ tank, raising plumes of thick smoke.
The roar of beasts erupted.
Three four-armed Tyranid Behemoths, covered in thick chitinous carapaces and taller than tanks, burst forth from the end of the street.
Their two upper arms were sharp, scythe-like crimson claws, while their two lower limbs clutched three different types of writhing biological cannons.
Executioners! Tyranid Behemoth Executioners!
These Behemoths moved so quickly that they reached the leman russ tanks in the blink of an eye.
The leman russ tanks roared, unleashing artillery fire.
However, the almost endless tide of Tyranid escorting the Executioners shielded them from the leman russ tanks' barrages.
And the Cadian soldiers in the higher street fortress fired sharp laser beams.
However, these attacks could barely damage the Executioners' thick carapaces.
Scorching acid, sharp bio-projectiles, and ticks shot from the Executioners' biological cannons, causing explosions on the leman russ tanks.
The fastest Executioner moved, plunging its claws into the Leman Russ' armor, tearing the entire tank apart.
But at the same time, the other leman russ tanks seized the opportunity, unleashing their firepower on the Executioner.
The Executioner was forced to retreat repeatedly, its flesh torn and flying, layer after layer.
But soon, the other two Executioners charged to its side, engaging the leman russ tanks again with the biological cannons in their hands—
Alexander observed the battle from above.
He always felt something was strange. Was the Tyranid's strategy just three Executioners?
This number of Behemoths was not enough to break through the Astra Militarum's steel line.
At least add some Carnifexes, Ion Cannon Broodlords, or something similar.
Hmm?
As Alexander pondered, several even larger figures appeared on the distant street, protected by the Tyranid tide.
The first three were hunched, standing on four limbs, holding a flesh-and-blood giant gun almost as long as their bodies.
The latter three were covered in thick carapaces, with four heavy legs on the ground, and a massive cannon extended from between the carapaces on their backs. The cannon also had six eyes, seemingly for aiming.
The former were Carnifexes, and the latter were Ion Cannon Broodlords.
Alexander's eyes twitched slightly. Talk about manifesting what you think.
The Astra Militarum's armored units also noticed the appearance of these Behemoths.
They quickly identified these two types of Tyranid Behemoths based on "an ogryn's guide to tyranid biology" that Alexander had distributed earlier.
Both types of Tyranid specialized in long-range artillery bombardment.
The Carnifex's firepower could almost pierce a defensive line in the blink of an eye, and the Ion Cannon Broodlord, essentially a mobile giant cannon, was even more potent.
The Carnifexes' burst cannons began to unleash fire, shooting out tick-like biological creatures as projectiles.
They exploded the moment they touched the leman russ tanks, simultaneously releasing waves of viscous, oily substance.
After this, the burst cannons fired seed pods covered in thick, hard shells.
Upon impacting the leman russ tanks, they became coated in the previous viscous oily liquid, dissolving the thick armor within a fraction of a second, then exploding inside the tanks, brutally destroying the foremost leman russ tanks.
The leman russ tanks tried to retaliate, but the Tyranid Executioners immediately engaged them.
And the Ion Cannon Broodlords at the very rear of the Tyranid tide also found their footing, blue ion light beginning to flicker from the massive biological muzzles on their backs.
The roaring bioplasma energy spheres simultaneously unleashed by three Ion Cannon Broodlords could shatter the Imperial line in an instant.
The armored units mobilized all their firepower, attempting to break free from the Executioners' entanglement.
But this group of fearless Tyranid Behemoths, coupled with the deadly burst cannon attacks from the distant Carnifexes, made it difficult for them to pull back their forces for a time.
And the Cadian soldiers were entangled by the close-range Tyranid tide. Lasers and artillery fire flew everywhere, but they couldn't reach the distant Ion Cannon Broodlords no matter what.
Alexander was waiting.
He put on his Superpower Hat, and his figure almost instantly vanished from the position.
Then, Alexander appeared almost face-to-face with an Executioner.
The Executioner, unlike its subspecies the Screamer-Killer, was born almost solely for charging into battle.
Its speed was far from as swift as a Screamer-Killer's. Alexander's fist, wearing Superman Gloves, slammed into the Executioner's head in the blink of an eye.
The Executioner's head instantly exploded into scattered pulp.
The other two Executioners quickly swung their scythe-like giant claws at Alexander.
Alexander's figure flashed again, turning into an afterimage and disappearing from his spot. The scythe-like giant claws swung at empty air almost instantly.
Seeing Alexander appear, the leman russ tanks immediately mobilized their firepower and engaged the remaining two Executioners.
If they could hold back the leman russ tanks, the Imperial armored forces could, in turn, hold them back.
The Carnifexes' anti-armor shells fired continuously. Alexander's figure flickered, dodging them.
He was waiting... waiting for the Ion Cannon Broodlords to finish charging.
Blindingly bright, scorching bioplasma roared out from the massive cannon barrels on the Ion Cannon Broodlords' backs.
With a crackling Damn of electrical light, a boundless tide of azure light surged towards the Imperial position.
Alexander swung his arm violently, using telekinesis to forcibly tear a small empty space amidst the Tyranid tide.
His arm, aided by acceleration gears, reached into his four-dimensional pocket at an extremely fast speed.
A piece of bright red cloth was pulled out by him—
"Ta-da! Reflection Cloak!"
Alexander waved the Reflection Cloak in his hand. This light, flimsy piece of cloth then collided with the torrent of plasma in mid-air.