Chapter 36: The Sudden First Kill

The narrow airborne cabin was shaking and bumping violently. A red indicator light, the same as that of a boarding torpedo, was flashing overhead. Fu Qinghai was tied firmly to the back of the seat.

Gult, wearing a helmet, turned his head, his scarlet goggles and visor hiding his expression.

"Qingshan, is this your first time riding in an orbital drop capsule?" His dull voice came through the loudspeaker.

"Yes." Fu Qinghai replied.

"No one likes this thing. Everyone would rather ride a Stormbird than leave their fate to this disposable iron shell," said Gourt.

"I think it's okay. At least it's fast, isn't it?" Fu Qinghai replied with a smile.

A burst of laughter rang out in the bumpy and trembling small space, and Fu Qinghai's words eased the depressing atmosphere.

Although Space Marines don't like it, it has to be said that orbital airdrops are a very powerful form of tactical strike.

The war between heaven and earth has always been an asymmetric one since ancient times, and this is even more so if one loses air supremacy in outer space orbit. No matter how solid and complex the enemy's defense systems and fortifications have been built on the surface in advance, they will collapse and disintegrate in an instant when facing the three-dimensional attack and direct penetration of the center by orbital airdrops. In addition to the space warriors inside, the airdrop capsule itself is also a weapon.

The soldiers sitting in the drop capsule suddenly felt a violent shaking. The sudden increase in overload was enough to force the bile of ordinary humans out of their mouths, but the Astartes quickly stabilized their bodies.

Everyone knew that the bottom thrusters of the airborne capsule were spraying in reverse to slow down, and they were not far from landing.

Everyone held their weapons tightly.

Soon, there was a violent collision and tremor, and the airdrop capsule stopped. The alarm light above turned from red to green. However, after the tremor, the surrounding hatches did not open immediately, and everyone was still trapped in the airdrop capsule.

Airborne troops will complete rapid deployment the moment they land, and if the hatch cannot be opened, this suddenness will be lost.

Gult punched the hatch door hard and cursed: "Damn it, our hatch is stuck!"

After cursing, he turned to look at Fu Qinghai, "The good news is that we have a technical sergeant here."

Fu Qinghai stood up from his seat, and the mechanical arm folded on the side of the power backpack behind him stretched out as he thought, like a snarling mechanical appendage.

Fu Qinghai came to the hatch, the iron clamp of the robotic arm opened, and a welding gun nozzle extended from the middle of the clamp. The blazing white light illuminated the dim airborne cabin. With the help of the robotic arm, Fu Qinghai opened the stuck hatch in two or three moves.

The Ultramarines came out one after another with guns drawn.

The drop capsule where Fu Qinghai was located happened to land in the crack of a deep canyon. The Space Marines had to use their hands and feet to climb up the cliff next to them, but they found that there was a dark and interconnected cave on the cliff. They actually fell into a small rift under the big rift.

Gult just took out the tactical tablet to check the coordinates and couldn't help but complain:

"Is this the result that the Tech-Priests calculated for so long? It's too far off."

After a brief search, the team found another airborne capsule with a stuck door. Fu Qinghai walked up and was about to open the door with a welding gun.

"Boom~" A ball of plasma flame burned through the hatch and gushed out.

A team of extreme warriors quickly rushed out of the airdrop capsule, pointing their guns at Fu Qinghai.

"Hey, Polasco, you're not afraid of burning yourself using plasma weapons in the drop capsule." Gult shouted.

"That's better than being trapped in there and dying." After confirming the identity, the Extreme Warrior quickly moved his gun away, and the leading warrior responded to Gult.

Gulte nodded and said, "We have deviated from the planned location by three kilometers. We need to speed up. Let's go!"

After saying that, he took his team, found a cave in the same direction as the target location, and went in.

Another team of Extreme Warriors also found a cave and drilled into it.

The roads in the dark cave were complicated, the signal was not good, and the communications with the space orbit and other teams were intermittent. Fortunately, no enemy was encountered. The Stinger Tactical Team quickly arrived at the designated location, where the Extreme Warriors of the Spearhead Force were already fighting fiercely with the traitors.

Fu Qinghai had just emerged from the cave when a heavy explosive grazed his scalp and shattered a cluster of stalactites behind him.

Fu Qinghai quickly dropped his head and fell to the ground.

Gult crawled to the front. The Ultramarines who were hiding in the depression in the tunnel turned around and saw that it was their teammates. They shouted:

"Gulte, their shipborne weapons are too powerful. Where is your heavy weapons support?"

Gult was just about to reply that I only have ordinary Space Marines here, when he saw the enemy's defense line become chaotic, explosions and gunshots rang out on the opposite side, and the enemy's counterattack began to become messy.

"Heavy weapons are coming." A deep and powerful voice sounded in the communication channel that had been silent for a long time.

Gult was surprised. He recognized the owner of the voice and said, "It's the ancient warrior Hiller! They have landed behind the enemy."

As soon as Fu Qinghai heard the word "ancient warrior", he knew who was speaking in the communication channel.

Fearless mecha!

The standard heavy firepower platform of the Space Marine Legion.

Fu Qinghai and the Extreme Warriors seized this hard-won opportunity, turned around and rushed towards the enemy's positions and fortifications.

As Fu Qinghai slid into a tunnel, a huge buzzing chainsaw axe came at him from the side. Fu Qinghai dodged the axe by moving his shoulder and accurately stabbed the attacker with his right hand. The tip of the power sword, flashing with a dark blue arc, slid smoothly into the attacker's goggles.

With a scream, the Word Bearers warrior loosened his grip on the axe handle and fell to his knees in despair.

Kill!

This was the first Space Marine killed by Fu Qinghai since he became a Space Marine, his first kill.

It came so suddenly. There was no severe confrontation, no patient maneuvering, no round-by-round counterattack. In that instant when Fu Qinghai was caught off guard, he didn't even have time to think. Just relying on the muscle memory and instinctive reaction acquired from long-term training, the enemy was already dead.

Fu Qinghai took a deep breath and told himself that this was not an online novel, this was war!

An Extreme Warrior nearby also jumped into the tunnel. He looked at the corpse under Fu Qinghai's feet and said:

"That was a good move just now. Go back and teach me."

Fu Qinghai didn't know this soldier. He nodded, stepped over the corpse and continued forward.

Soon they saw the Dreadnought mecha wreaking havoc and killing not far away.

It was a behemoth that was 4.5 meters high and 3 meters wide. The only land-based upright unit larger than it in the Human Empire Army was the smallest Titan - the Knight Mech.

Fu Qinghai identified its model: the most commonly equipped Contemptor dreadnought mecha during the 30k period.

A thick and huge fuselage is loaded on the sturdy two-legged chassis, and buried in the middle of the fuselage is its pilot - a seriously injured Space Marine who died. His limbs were removed, leaving only his head and part of his torso, mainly the spine. He was stuffed into this sarcophagus... Strictly speaking, it is a life support device that cooperates with the Mechanicus's intelligent control technology to control this giant.

Fu Qinghai, a technical sergeant, could immediately figure out that this dark blue-painted Contemptor Dreadnought had a double-barreled melta cannon mounted on its left hand, and a power claw with a plasma cannon built into the palm of its right hand.

At this moment, the Dreadnought was killing people in the enemy camp. It burned to death several Word Bearers Space Marines who rushed up with howling hot molten gas. The huge fuselage that could rotate 360 ​​degrees twisted backwards and grabbed a Word Bearer warrior who attacked from behind with its power claws. The sharp power claws pierced the attacker's ceramic steel armor and hung him on the power claws. The fuselage turned again and threw the dying Word Bearer out.

Oh my god, it's so awesome... Fu Qinghai's eyes lit up, and the electronic soul backup of Iron Man in his mind was boiling - if this Dreadnought was given to Fu Qinghai, he could modify it to make it even stronger!

"Ancient warrior Hiller, well done!" Gult shouted excitedly in the communication channel.

Although the landing position of the Stinger team was deviated, other teams landed correctly inside the enemy's defense line. Under the pincer attack from both inside and outside, this defense line was quickly breached.

The long-lost voice of Vlahos also sounded in the communication channel: "All teams, proceed to the key locations of the transport ship according to the original plan to destroy the spacecraft equipment. Do not fight to the death. I repeat, do not fight to the death."

Fu Qinghai knew that Vlahos had also led the team to airborne, but he didn't know where he landed.

As communications were restored, their distance only grew closer.

The Stinger Squad had strong tactical execution capabilities. Their fearless mechas led the way and went straight into the heart of the battle line without lingering on.

After several small-scale battles, the Stinger team found a target transport ship in the pitch-black isthmus.

The searchlight installed on the top of the Contemptor Dreadnought lit up, and the white beam of light hit the side of the gray-white spacecraft that was as tall as a wall.

The high bulwarks stood like a city wall blocking everyone's way, and one had to crane their necks to see the top.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

The transport ship that sensed the arrival of the Extreme Marines also reacted. A quadruple heavy bolter cannon mounted on the side turned towards this side and opened fire. The Dreadnought propped up the atomic shield generator, blocking most of the incoming bombs, and facing the storm-like fire chain of the quadruple heavy bolter, it moved forward step by step with difficulty.

The Stinger Squad used the atomic shield held up by the Dreadnought as cover and struggled to maintain a stalemate with the turret on the transport ship.

Gult shouted into the communication channel: "Stinger Team, has arrived at the designated location, 11 minutes later than the scheduled time, found the transport ship Abomination Worm, coordinates 341-023-123, is exchanging fire with the transport ship's onboard firepower, heavy firepower support is required!"

"Received, Stinger Team, enter the designated location of the Abomination Worm, and evacuate after completing your objective." Vlahos's voice sounded in the communication channel.

"The atomic shield is running low on energy and is expected to last another three minutes." The dull voice of the ancient warrior Hiller, after being converted into a voice generator, was as calm as ever.

Calmly telling a critical fact.

The turret's crazy output showed no sign of stopping.

"Stinger Squad, deploy from the flanks and suppress with fire," Gult ordered.

The Extreme Marines quickly spread out from behind the Dreadnought to both sides, raising their weapons and firing at the turret.

However, the rotating quadruple heavy bolter turret on the transport ship simply ignored the bullets fired by the Space Marines on both wings. The thick bulwarks blocked these sparse shots and it focused on the Dreadnoughts and fired crazily.

"Two minutes." The dull voice of the ancient warrior Hiller sounded again in the communication channel.

The only heavy firepower the Stinger Squad possessed was the twin-barreled melta cannons and plasma cannons mounted on both sides of the Contemptor Dreadnought. Unfortunately, neither of these two weapons could reach the tall turrets in the distance.

"We will retreat steadily back into the cave and wait for the long-range heavy firepower team to arrive before entering."

Gulte felt that it was not a good idea to passively take a beating like this, so he chose a safe option.

Fu Qinghai narrowed the view of his goggles and carefully scanned the hull of the transport ship. Tony Stark's electronic soul was analyzing at high speed.

Found it!

Based on the structure, shape and texture, Fu Qinghai discovered half of the hidden hatch buried in the rock.

"I can get into the transport ship, you cover me!" Fu Qinghai shouted in the communication channel.

Without waiting for his teammates to respond, Fu Qinghai looked around, and taking advantage of the darkness and the firepower attracted by the Dreadnought mecha, he quickly and carefully moved to the other side.

Gult turned his head and watched Fu Qinghai quietly touch a hatch at the bottom of the spacecraft. The mechanical arm behind him flexibly deployed the welding gun and cutting knife and began to break the door.

The Stinger Squad, which was originally preparing to retreat, stopped again.

Gult recalled Fu Qinghai's performance along the way and thought to himself that this boy was too warlike. His desire to fight was even stronger than that of the Extreme Marines who had a grudge against the Word Bearers. As a technical sergeant who should have been placed in the rear of the team, he always rushed to the forefront of the battle, killed countless enemies, and his swordsmanship was superb, not inferior to the company champion.

In fact, what he didn't know was that Fu Qinghai gradually discovered in battle that acting together with his teammates would increase assimilation points, but the enemies he killed with his own hands would have the most assimilation points, so he would rush to the front in every battle.

But Fu Qinghai was also very afraid of death. While he was working hard to earn assimilation points, he was also extremely nervous and cautious.

Due to the pitch and elevation angles, the quadruple heavy bomb could not see Fu Qinghai's small movements under the spacecraft.

The turret was still outputting damage, and the atomic shield of the Dreadnought was gradually dimming under the continuous attacks of saturated firepower.

Fu Qinghai cut open the hatch and crawled in.

Behind the hatch was a dark circular pipe with countless black cables, chains and pipes extending along it.

Fu Qinghai climbed up along the pipe to the installation location of the quadruple heavy bomb and found that a skinny servitor was connecting and controlling the weapon. Countless wires were plugged into the servitor's head and connected to the turret's controller.

Fu Qinghai shot and broke the connecting wire. White smoke and sparks burst out. The robot fell to the ground, shaking all over and making grunting sounds.

The quadruple heavy bomb finally died, allowing the Stinger team hiding behind the Dreadnought to move forward quickly.

"Well done, Qingshan, wait for us to meet up with you." Gult praised in the communication channel.

The soldiers of the Stinger Squad entered the transport ship through the hatch cut open by Fu Qinghai. Gult said to the fearless mecha following behind him:

"Ancient Warrior Hiller, you wait here for the arrival of other teams and cover our rear."

"Got it." The Dreadnought Mech replied in a muffled voice.

The hatch that Fu Qinghai cut was too small, and what was connected to the back was not the corridor of the transport ship, but the passage where the workers and servitors shuttled through. The huge size of the Dreadnought Mech made it impossible for it to pass through.

…

Outside another transport ship, Vlahos, who was wearing Terminator armor and holding a power hammer and was still fighting a bloody battle with the Word Bearers, received the news that the Stinger Squad led by Fu Qinghai had taken the lead in breaking into the Abomination Worm transport ship.

As the commander, he knew that Gult's Stinger Squad was the first team to successfully break into the transport ship.

Vlahos was very familiar with his men, and he knew that Gult was not the kind of person who would rush forward rashly.

The variable then is the Astartes Techmarine from the White Scars.

Vlahos smashed a Word Bearer warrior into submission with his hammer and paused to catch his breath.

He thought to himself, he is worthy of being a White Scar. Just as the rumors say, speed is in his bones.

......

　PS: The war scenes in the first volume focus on relatively small local conflicts, and will not spend space to describe the original plot of the Horus Heresy. This is because, on the one hand, the official novel has written about these things, and if I repeat them, it would be suspected of padding the word count. On the other hand, the protagonist is still a small character who has just grown up and does not have the ability to influence the outcome of a battle, so I will not describe the big war scenes for now, but will do so later.

(End of this chapter)