Horatio watched the grenade, blinking red, being thrown at his head.
His left hand swiftly raised his pistol, pointing the dark muzzle directly at the high-arcing grenade with astonishing reaction speed.
Bang!
After the explosion, the Blood Pact Soldiers crouching behind the wall immediately began their assault.
As they charged out, they were surprised to find no smoke from a grenade explosion.
Where was the grenade???
The Squad Leader was astonished to see the shattered remains of the grenade on the ground.
This was not caused by a grenade explosion; an explosion wouldn't leave such large fragments. It was clearly shattered by a Navy Blast Pistol, destroying the detonator inside.
As he realized this, that huge gunshot, which he had mistaken for an explosion, rang out again.
A massive Navy Blast Pistol round flew straight and struck him on the head.
His plastisteel helmet was instantly pierced by the high-impact projectile. The moment it penetrated the suspension liner, the Navy Blast Pistol round exploded inside the helmet.
Half of his head instantly vanished, and the Blood Pact Squad Leader, with only his shattered jaw remaining, collapsed to the ground.
The Sailors, with precise marksmanship, picked off the charging enemy Soldiers one by one, and the remaining ones retreated behind the wall.
Horatio gestured, and the C.A.T. Drone and Servo-skull moved forward.
The operator was experienced; the Servo-skull floated around in mid-air, evading the enemy's line of fire.
Horatio marked the phantom and warning, then stood up and slowly walked forward, leading the Soldiers beside him.
The Blood Pact Soldiers wanted to ambush the Navy coming from the corridor; the remaining ones were already hiding behind the wall, ready to attack.
They gritted their teeth, waiting for the Navy to rashly advance into the reclaimed compartment.
Drip drip drip drip!
A Servo-skull floated over from above, emitting an increasingly rapid and terrifying dripping sound.
Boom!
When the skull floated into their midst, it instantly exploded, scattering hidden steel ball bearings everywhere, knocking them to the ground, wailing and groaning.
Swoosh—
The hatch opened, and the Armed Voidsmen-at-Arms and Navy Breachers rushed out, mercilessly executing the fallen enemies.
Horatio emerged from the dark shadows.
"Well done, everyone. Now, all units assault outwards, clear out enemies along the way. The defenders on the storage deck need us."
"We swear to follow you to the death, Sir." The crew members saluted this young, brave, and ambitious officer from the bottom of their hearts.
Although the members of a warship all had the courage to sacrifice their lives for the Imperial Navy and their officers, most of them did not like these 'chosen ones' who always put on airs and acted superior.
Navy Breachers and Armed Voidsmen-at-Arms were somewhat better, as they had better treatment and were responsible for maintaining discipline, viewed by Sailors and contract workers as the officers' 'wolfhounds'.
Ordinary Sailors, however, often used harsh words to complain about their superiors and made crude, vulgar jokes about officers, especially attractive female officers, when unsupervised.
Sometimes, they would even roll small cannonballs under unsuspecting officers' feet as a prank, causing them to fall and embarrass themselves.
Even though this would lead to severe flogging, some extremely disgruntled individuals were always incorrigible.
But Horatio's brave performance in personally leading the charge and his heroic actions in rationally commanding to reduce casualties among his subordinates, as a young officer, earned him everyone's respect.
They saluted Horatio with reverence, their eyes gleaming with determination, ready to die for him at any moment.
Under Horatio's leadership, wielding his sword, the Sailors and Navy Breachers advanced swiftly and orderly with their weapons, with occasional gunfire reaching the ears of the vanguard.
Suddenly, Horatio heard footsteps behind him, and he gripped his pistol, pointing it behind him.
A group of blue-armored Soldiers emerged from the dark shadows and were startled to see Horatio and his Soldiers. However, they quickly merged together.
It turned out to be a detachment from the third wave of reinforcements that had spotted this narrow corridor and entered to clear the passage.
There were fifty or sixty of them, which undoubtedly strengthened Horatio's support.
And those Sailors and Voidsmen-at-Arms heading to the ammunition loading railcar entrance had already reached the other side of the passage. They only needed to run through the long train tunnel to reach the ammunition bay.
—
On the storage deck in front of the portside Macro cannon No. 4 ammunition bay.
"Ah! Ah!" A Sailor whose arm was severed by a Laser Gun fell behind cover, screaming heartbreakingly, but no one could drag him to a safe place for medical bandaging. Immediately after, a thrown grenade blasted his bloody half-body out from behind cover, splattering it onto the dark deck.
The remaining dozens of Armed Voidsmen-at-Arms were in fierce combat with the enemy; deadly lasers flew everywhere, and grenade explosions continuously eroded the remaining defensive space of the defenders.
Behind the Armed Voidsmen-at-Arms was the fire door of the ammunition bay. Inside, busy Sailors, even with the enemy at their doorstep, diligently secured massive ready-to-fire shells for the crane under the shouts and yells of the Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer, and selected the appropriate shell types according to Farida's orders.
"Hold them! Where are the reinforcements?!" the Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer shouted, half of her face covered in blood.
"Communications are jammed! We don't know the movements of friendly forces!" The Sailor comms operator huddled behind a steel box, fiddling with a small sonic array.
A recoilless cannon shell whizzed past her head, striking the bulkhead and blasting a small hole.
"Damn it, we can't hold on much longer! Check your bayonets! Get the Sailors ready for engagement! We can only defend up to here!"
Heavily armored Blood Pact Soldiers charged forward. They wore carapace armor and carried plasma weapons, shotguns, and Chainswords.
The Armed Voidsmen-at-Arms could barely inflict effective damage on them with their Laser Guns.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer loaded the last set of Navy Blast Pistol magazines into her pistol.
"May the God-Emperor protect us."
She extended her hand and pulled the trigger at the enemy. A Navy Blast Pistol round exploded a bloody hole in a heavy trooper's chest armor, but he did not fall. She then pulled the trigger twice more to kill him.
With a huge explosion, the heavy lance twin-barreled cannon once again tore a gap in the Unyielding.
The Armed Officer fell to the ground in the massive tremor; her Navy Blast Pistol slid out from behind cover.
She tried to pick up the only weapon that could counter carapace armor.
Another series of grenade explosions occurred not far away, accompanied by rising and surging high temperatures; the Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer was already drenched in sweat.
Bang! Bang!
The Sailors directly opposite her fell, shattered by the shotguns of the charging enemies, unable to even scream.
Soon, another Sailor and their cover were melted by plasma, agonizingly turning into a pool of blood.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer sped up, crawling on her knees behind cover towards the Navy Blast Pistol.
But she was suddenly kicked down by a charging burly man.
"Game over." The heavy trooper with a spiky helmet stepped on her chest armor and raised his plasma pistol to her face.
Bang!
The Armed Officer's face was splattered with a large amount of blood. The Evil Cultist who kicked her down had half his skull blown off and staggered to the ground.
She blinked in shock, picked up her pistol, and retreated behind cover, looking towards where the gunshot came from.
"Attack! For the Unyielding! Charge!!" She saw a young officer wearing a bicorne hat, holding a gleaming Navy Blast Pistol Revolver, raising his gilded sword high, and shouting to the Navy Breachers and Voidsmen-at-Arms who surged out of the maintenance passage like a tide behind him.
"For the Unyielding!" The fully armed Navy Breachers roared in unison, immediately engaging the charging Blood Pact Army on the spacious internal deck, standing, kneeling, or prone.
"Reinforcements are here! Let's kill all the enemies!" The Armed Officer shouted to her remaining subordinates, taking out the last contact-detonated grenade from her waist, intended as a 'glory grenade', and throwing it out.
Horatio leaned behind cover, extending his pistol and firing at the heavy troopers. Although ceramite carapace armor was sturdy and durable, its weak points were still vulnerable to Navy Blast Pistol rounds.
Soon, the Breakers assault team, who had to run at the back due to their heavy armor, also arrived on the deck, unleashing a killing wind composed of countless iron pellets towards the enemy.
Horatio observed the situation on the deck with his Hand of Command, an area of several hundred square meters. It was spacious with enough maneuvering room, and due to fallen debris and neatly stacked steel crates, it had plenty of cover. It wasn't suitable for a head-on melee charge by both sides, but he could use the Hand of Command for thorough tactical micromanagement.