Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

The appearance of the Astartes threw the Orks into momentary disarray.

Their target had been the Astra Militarum on the front, and an enemy lunging from the flank truly caught them off guard. But once they got a clear look and saw that these tin cans, all told, numbered only a few thousand, the disarray instantly curdled into a bloodthirsty excitement.

With so few cans on offer, weren't they just delivering themselves up as a meal?

And they were even wearing the little cans that every greenskin boy dreamed of!

If they could strip the power armour off those little shrimps, wouldn't this fight be twice as glorious?

What more was there to say?

Carve them up!

The surging lust for battle set the greenskins' blood boiling, and a considerable portion of them wheeled around outright, charging straight at the Space Marines.

"Kill the can-boyz! Waaagh!"

Gadda's command left these Ork units somewhat out of sync, but even so, the first wave hurling itself at the Astra Militarum positions still numbered well over a hundred thousand, and the greenskins who diverted to charge the Astartes numbered in the tens of thousands.

Though by sheer numbers these greenskins seemed able to swallow them whole, Lin felt no fear.

He gave the order: "Open fire!"

In the distance, the Leman Russ tanks mounting the Shockwave Artillery Cannons began to roar once more. Having originally been supporting the front line, they swung their barrels around, and the dense barrage hammered down ahead of the Space Marines, clearing the road for the Astartes.

The sudden artillery strike inflicted ghastly casualties on the greenskins, but the high-explosive shells could mostly only sweep away the lightly armoured Orks armed with nothing but a single blade or gun. The Killa Kans and Gorkanauts that formed the main force came through almost without a scratch.

Still howling, they charged at the Astartes.

The Astartes met the charge of these tin cans head-on!

Though the Orks had no concept of combined infantry-armour tactics, the greenskins the Leman Russ tanks had swept away earlier had in fact provided cover for the Kans.

Now that these accompanying greenskins had been gutted, the charging Astartes closed easily with these tin cans that stood three metres tall at the least, locking into a melee with these Ork contraptions.

Kurande brought his sword down on the body of a Killa Kan. Though the Power Sword's Disintegration Field left a deep gash in the can's armour, it clearly had not harmed the driver inside.

The Kan swung its enormous claw, trying to grab the can-shrimp in return. But its agility was plainly no match for its opponent. Kurande sidestepped with ease and dodged it — yet he too could do nothing against the tin can before him.

An armoured Space Marine stood about 2.5 metres tall, but a Killa Kan stood a little over three metres. Its cockpit sat above the Kan's main body, and this fatal difference in height left Kurande unable to drive his Power Sword straight through the cockpit and deal the can a killing blow.

He turned his head toward Sorn beside him and asked, "Got any melta bombs?"

Having dodged another Kan's attack, Sorn shook his head.

With a backhand stroke he punched a hole through the Kan that had attacked him with his Power Sword, then took aim at the hole he had bored with his heavy bolt pistol and put a few rounds in, killing the Kan.

Having done all this, he wanted to move toward Kurande, but among the swarming greenskins another Kan soon came snarling and baring its teeth to make trouble for him. Sorn had no choice but to turn back and keep fighting.

He was deliberately protecting Kurande, and so kept to his left and right. But in the present situation, he had no better recourse.

The main production lines had all been taken away by those sages, and though Lin had striven to restore the Forge World's output capacity, the melta production at Cath Maximus could still only be described as pitiful.

These few melta charges had in turn been allotted by Lin to the Astra Militarum across the various battle lines. That way, at least the ordinary Astra Militarum troopers still had a chance to clutch a melta bomb and take an Ork down with them. The melta bombs could make their sacrifice a little more practically valuable.

It was precisely by this means that the Astra Militarum line could be held under the impact of millions of greenskins.

Sorn understood Lin's choice, but as an elite assault force, the scarcity of anti-armour means left them in real misery. He glanced to the side and found that the brothers wielding chainswords were in an even sorrier state than they were.

The Astartes charge had been stalled before it ever drove deep into the Ork interior.

At this rate there was no way to accomplish the goal of cutting the battlefield apart. Sorn felt the best method now was to pull back and defend in concert with the Astra Militarum: "Kurande! We ought to retreat!"

"No!" Kurande refused Sorn's proposal.

Having taken the gamble of leaping up to strike a Kan's cockpit, he was nearly seized and instantly rendered down by the can.

But having dodged the blow by the narrowest of margins, he still insisted, "Hold on a little longer!"

"Hold on until when?"

"Until our victory! I trust Lin and those veterans — they would never propose a plan with no feasibility at all!"

Sorn could not comprehend Kurande's trust, but he could only pin his hopes on it. He kept fighting the greenskins, but very soon the corner of his eye caught a figure hurrying toward them.

Sorn knew him — a warrior named Cosmod Rich. Back when they were still being equipped, he had been left with a deep impression by the greatsword the man bore, a head taller than anyone else's blade.

"Chapter Master Sorn!" he heard the warrior shout. "Lure the two Kans together!"

The man's confidence convinced Sorn that he truly had a means to deal with both Kans at once. He did not hesitate, and drew the Kan still locked in combat with him closer to Kurande.

When he stood back to back with Kurande, he saw that warrior draw the greatsword he had slung across his back.

A greatsword? He meant to use that against the war machine before them?

Sorn found it a little hard to believe, but the warrior had already bent his knees slightly. Gripping the hilt of the greatsword in both hands, he hauled the blade up onto his shoulder. Sorn could feel the aura rising ceaselessly off the man.

Just as this charging of power reached its peak, he heard the warrior suddenly erupt in a furious roar.

"Chapter Master Sorn, Chapter Master Kurande, get clear!"

As warriors who had fought through countless battles, both Sorn and Kurande sensed the astonishing aura emanating from that warrior. Faced with his demand that they dodge, they threw themselves flat against the ground in undignified haste.

And behind them, with his shoulder as the pivot, Cosmod fiercely cleaved out his first stroke.

In the blink of an eye the greatsword's edge ran clean through the Killa Kan before him. Its tip drove deep into the can, and the unstoppable blade sliced the Ork's tin can cleanly in two from top to bottom!

The Kan's armour split apart, and Sorn could see the goblin driver locked inside cloven vertically in two together with the can, the Gretchin's face still wearing a thick, lingering disbelief.

But this was not the end.

The True Charged Slash, infused with the full strength of his body, together with the weight of the greatsword, carried Cosmod up off the ground. Seizing the momentum, he completed a 360-degree spin in midair, and using the rolling kinetic energy, brought his second stroke down upon the other Kan!

That Kan, unsurprisingly, followed in the footsteps of the first.

With that, both Ork Kans were utterly wrecked.

The entire combo took no more than a few seconds. Cosmod's movements flowed like clouds and running water, yet the result he achieved left Sorn — still sprawled on the ground — utterly dumbfounded!

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