Warhammer: I don't want to be a stinky can! ! !

Chapter 757 200. Air Combat
[Such a waste...]

Konrad Curze pointed this out mercilessly, and although he himself was a wasteful Primarch, if his words could make Mortarion uncomfortable, then Konrad would do so without any psychological burden.

What's the waste?

Death asked calmly, the fluorescent light on the holographic projection reflected on his face, and he looked intently at the troops on the planet.

【The ships.】

Conrad jumped out of the shadows and looked at the areas where the fighting was taking place with great interest. He also used his sharp fingernails to point at the places where the Pale Lord had smashed down the ships.

【oh,】

Mortarion's tone remained calm, but for some reason, a bad thought suddenly arose in Conrad's mind.

[They are specially designed to do this and can be recycled, so there is no need to worry about waste, because their chief designer is Hades.]

Conrad made a retching sound, while Mortarion looked towards the battlefield with satisfaction - interesting, the Tau's planetary warfare was much more powerful than their naval warfare.

The Tau's fighting style...

Mortarion pondered, this seemed to be in line with the battle direction that Hades had been pursuing.

........................

The scarlet roar of engines cuts through the dawn.

Fly, fly, and fly again - fly as high as you can, and use your wings to provide your comrades on the ground with as much hope of survival as possible, for the victory of the war, and for the Greater Good.

The Air caste felt the hum from the engine, it seemed as fast as a flash of lightning. Beside it, its companions, driving Barracuda air superiority fighters, broke through the clouds with it. Following the point confirmation from the cursor operator on the ground, seeker missiles extended from under the wings of these fighters.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

The missile whizzed towards the ground, and the Air caste felt that the Barracuda it was driving had become lighter, and then it immediately raised the nose of the plane - with the engine running at full power!
boom! ! !
The Air caste can withstand greater pressure and acceleration.

The barracudas turned and left together at an unimaginable speed, swimming quickly back into the thick clouds.

Their goal is to protect the retreat of ground forces as much as possible while minimizing damage to their own forces. Therefore, there is no need for them to engage in a head-on conflict with the backward battleship forces of the Human Empire.

Before this, the Imperial aircraft that the Tau had faced were often crude and cumbersome. With the support of Sky Ray missile boats on the ground, they once took control of the sky.
At that time, barracudas and tiger sharks were flying in the sky together. The barracudas dropped missiles and ion artillery fire, while the tiger sharks released batches of different types of drones.

When the human empire releases a large and difficult-to-solve monster on the ground, Manta will slowly come into their sight. The huge and technologically streamlined manta ray-like creature, this huge aerial creation is comparable to the Titan of the human race.

The difference is that this ray-like creature can fly.

Now, in order to protect the ground troops, all the air forces on the planet have been dispatched.

By now, the planetary defense network of this planet has been destroyed. The spears thrown by the human race pierced the defense of this planet and also caused a brief chaos in the planet's magnetic field. Therefore, the Tau tribe was unable to activate the air force in the first time.

When their air forces finally took off, a fierce battle had already begun on the ground.

They first repelled a group of stormbird formations, and then the Tau gained airspace rights above the battlefield, so they could support the ground -

But the commander warned them that the human air fleet seemed to be temporarily evacuating, and if they gained a great advantage on the ground, the human air fleet would likely come back again.

Therefore, they need to be alert to their surroundings at all times.

The Qi clan somewhat ignored its commander's warning. It thought that the commander was worrying too much. The Tau were the absolute masters of the sky, and they should take the opportunity to support the ground troops and turn the situation around instead of hiding in the clouds.

A deafening explosion sounded from under the clouds outside the window. Qi looked at the ground image on the display screen with some concern.

In the blurry, dirty gaseous fog, only a few landmark buildings of the Tau were marked out. They relied on these landmarks to drop ammunition. The poison gas bombs dropped by the Human Empire had the ability to interfere with the magnetic field.

Now, the pale and sticky fog covered the entire ground battlefield. From time to time, the Tau flying in the air could see a corner of the towering human knights or Titans emerging from the fog, and then disappearing into the fog with the bumpy march.

From time to time, flames that seemed to have been wiped out of color exploded in the vast sea of ​​fog.

"683-1,"

The commander's voice sounded from the command network.

"Bad news. The retreating ground forces encountered an ambush from the enemy on the other side. The lost No. 95 defensive barrier was breached, so the enemy launched an outflanking attack from that end."

"Your mission now is to prioritize the evacuation of the ground forces. Tiger Shark and Manta are heading your way. Remember, you must ensure the successful evacuation of the ground forces, warriors. Victory will belong to us - for the Greater Good."

"For the Greater Good!"

Qi shouted, and the next moment the barracuda he was driving slid sideways and rushed out of the clouds, which meant that they no longer needed to prioritize their own survival. I am for everyone, and everyone is for me, and everything is for the greater good.

But it knew it would not be sacrificed, and the previous battle with the Terran Stormbird fleet gave it confidence.

There was a beeping sound on the console, and Qi was delighted to hear the response from the rest of the troops. The schools of fish flying in the air merged with each other and soon formed a giant school of fish with barracudas and tiger sharks surrounding Manta.

Their flat and curved wings echoed each other, raising air currents and using the force to fly towards the area where the ground troops last sent a signal.

Viewed from afar with the naked eye, the area was submerged in an ominous white ocean. What a cruel enemy... Qi felt his heart throb. Even if they captured the planet, the damage to the soil caused by the poisonous gas would make it completely impossible for them to use the planet afterwards!
Humans have destroyed this planet forever, just like they did to the Milky Way. This ignorant and brutal race will always use only rough and direct methods.

Qi clan clearly realized that it would rather die in battle than let its beautiful home and the beautiful galaxy fall into the hands of such a race!
The barracuda it was driving therefore moved more decisively among the school of fish. It soared with the wind and reached the front of the school of fish in an instant. In order to enter the battle zone, they had to cross an area of ​​thick lightning clouds.

In order to save time, they cannot take a detour.

Without fear, Qi rushed into the thunderstorm clouds.

........................

【past】

"Moth smash!"

【…】

"Moth-smash! Moth-smash! Moth-smash--all right, Old Mo!"

Mortarion finally turned his head as if he had just recovered from deafness, and the next moment he rushed up with a smile with a hearty over-the-shoulder throw. Fortunately, Mortarion was tall enough, and he supported the ground with his feet in time, like a clothes rod, and prevented Hades, who rushed over and subconsciously wanted to hit Mortarion but finally chose to over-the-shoulder throw, from succeeding.

"a ha ha ha."

Seeing that the prank failed, Hades laughed a few times and then decisively let go. Otherwise, the picture of the two of them standing in the corridor in a "triangle" shape would be a bit too abstract. He coughed a few times and immediately chose to preserve the reputation of Pluto.

【What's wrong? 】

Death asked calmly, continuing to walk towards the port, while Hades kept up with him, smiling mysteriously.

"You know that a new batch of fighter jets have been put into service recently, right, Lao Mo?"

Death nodded. He had heard something about this. The various assembly lines that Hades had previously transformed had finally been put into large-scale production. He had also seen these troops with blank numbers in some small battlefield reports printed with the word "Confidential".

Thinking of this, Mortarion raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. He felt a little interested. The God of Death touched the potion bottle on his waist and looked at Hades' mysterious (actually funny) smile with white teeth.

[You don't plan to hide them anymore? ]

"Bingo!" Hades snapped his fingers. Mortarion was not surprised at all. This was natural. The command of the first batch of new troops should be given to him.

"I decided to let them show up on a large battlefield and see where they need further improvement."

Mortarion nodded. So what would these new troops be?
The God of Death was waiting for Pluto's introduction. He didn't need to say anything, because Hades, the chief commander of technical engineering, would tell it himself - this was a common problem among them, the technical people.

"It just so happens that they might conflict with the Tau's way of fighting."

Hades's eyes suddenly became playful.
"In fact, I hope that the new troops can try to learn from the experience of the Titanium."

This sentence made Mortarion feel a little dissatisfied. Hades even needed to learn from the experience of the Titanium? But this was Hades after all, and Mortarion casually brushed off his dissatisfaction.

【Don't worry, leave it to me. 】

Mortarion said calmly,

[I will ensure that your new unit has a good combat environment - So, what is this unit? ]

........................

Strong winds mixed with heavy rain came, hitting the fuselage of the fighter plane, like the explosions from a machine gun.

The dark clouds before the storm were like the sea, surging and roaring. The sky and the earth seemed to be upside down, sinking into the dark sea of ​​darkness.

In this primitive and turbulent world, the technological creations that the Titanium people are proud of now seem so small and insignificant. In the shaking wind, the fish gathered together and sailed firmly towards the area on the ground where they sent out a call for help.

boom!
A white flash like a dragon, winding down from top to bottom and splitting through the clouds, suddenly illuminating the world, and also illuminating -

That airspace that was lit with a strange light.

A cold green light flashed in the eyes of the ambushing hunter.

........................

"I once had a long argument with Finus."

Hades chuckled and scratched his head.

"From the perspective of reducing costs and improving efficiency, Finus Manus has always believed that the Empire's manpower is cheaper - so he refuted my attempt to use the Nirvana system to establish a secondary unmanned command system."

Mortarion pondered for a moment. The god of death who witnessed huge deaths every day thought that what Finus said was right.

"So I need to make the cost of producing an unmanned device lower than the cost of training a servitor or operator, otherwise Finus will not approve my application."

So you managed to keep costs down?

Mortarion asked, and Hades curled his lips and shook his head.
“It’s not that easy. Finus is playing a logic game with me. The best way to reduce costs is to launch large-scale production, but before launching large-scale production, costs must be reduced. This is a vicious circle.”

【…】

Mortarion thought Hades was right - why was Feinus so unreasonable? The Death God calmly thought that if Hades was unwilling to attack his colleague, then Mortarion could try to do it for him.

Anyway, he is not happy with any of the Primarchs now.

"In the end, it was Guilliman who spoke for me. We persuaded Finus by saying that we could manufacture smaller models that could withstand more acceleration and would be more stable than manual labor after being put into combat."

Hades' smile became brighter, as if he remembered the scene of his great success in talking nonsense.

"so,"

Hades looked at Mortarion,
"We need to allow new types of troops to enter complex battlefields as much as possible, and also to allow them to fight with multiple arms as much as possible. Guilliman and I want to open up another combat system. It's time for the various forces of the empire to unite instead of fighting in isolation."

"And you,"

Hades suddenly raised his voice and said to Mortarion excitedly,
"Old Mo! You have experience in combining the Death Guard with the Mechanicus and the Cult of the Underworld to charge into the Garden of Nurgle - so this time I'll leave it to you!"

Mortarion turned his face away and coughed. His expression remained calm, but Hades still noticed the slightly changed breathing sound behind the gas mask.

【You can trust me. 】

Death said, and he smiled.

........................

The cold light of psychic transmission lit up on the small drones, frost climbed up their pale fuselages, the engines flashed with brilliant green light, and the fighter planes as sharp as swords drove into the sea of ​​clouds.

And in the next moment, he jumped directly into the school of fish!

boom!
A spark exploded directly in front of the school of fish! But this was just the beginning. The arc caused by the explosion immediately connected the barracudas closest to the explosion point.
The arc scattered! With a bang, the brilliance disappeared, leaving a dent as big as Ogryn's fist at the point where it landed.

The barracuda that was hit by the drone was already falling down with smoke, and it was separated from the main group.

The barracudas that were hit by the electric arcs deviated from their direction and slowed down in a short period of time. The fighters around them had to adjust their direction to cooperate with them. In a short period of time, the originally orderly fleet became chaotic.

But it's not over yet.

The appearance of the first drone was just the beginning. The sonic boom cloud it left behind had not even been blown away by the strong wind. The second, third, fourth... densely packed small drones flashing green light broke through the clouds and flew out with a buzzing sound!
At first glance, the light from countless small computers looked like the green-lighting colored ball in the Pluto's Son karaoke room!
"Scatter! Scatter!!!"

The schools of fish immediately tried to disperse. The ion cannons and rapid-fire cannons were activated at the same time. Some drones were shot down, but in the layers of exploding smoke, more drones broke through the smoke and rushed towards the school of fish!

This is - this is - the human empire is imitating their drones!
Qi felt his scalp tingling. The Mechanical Blades were a crucial part of the Tau warfare. These small aircraft had their own computing centers and could carry different weapons and ammunition as needed.

This was once considered by the Tau to be a representative of advancement, different from the human empire which fought recklessly and brutally.

Before this, they had never seen the Human Empire use similar technology - so much so that they thought the Empire didn't have this kind of technology at all!

But this huge swarm of drones has already told the Tau the answer. Although they don't know why the Empire didn't use them before, now, these small, supersonic things, which even seem to be about to exceed the speed of light, will directly smash them to pieces!
In contrast, at such an altitude and in such a harsh environment, the mechanical spearheads transported in the Tiger Shark could not be released at all!
The drone swarms of the Human Empire immediately dispersed the Tau fighter fleet. Although they could not cause fatal damage to heavy aircraft such as the Manta, they were enough to inflict heavy damage on the Barracudas and Tiger Sharks.

But what made the Qi clan even more desperate was that the aspect that it had previously unanimously believed to be more advanced than the Human Empire had also been surpassed, and so thoroughly and completely.

It felt shocked, dissatisfied, and a kind of anger of being fooled. How could humans, whose fighting philosophy was so backward and brutal, possess such technology - did they copy it from the Tau Empire?! Absolutely - it must be like this!

Otherwise why didn't they take it out before - what a shameless race!

No! But even so, they will never be able to imitate the true core and philosophy of the Titanium Empire, which is the fundamental reason why Titanium can survive forever.
Everything is for the greater good!!!
Before the Air Caste could even utter its battle cry, two drones had already arrived at the nose and flank of its fighter plane, one after the other. The huge inertia caused by the ultra-high speed was so great that the fighter plane even emitted a mournful cry of broken metal before the explosion began.

And then—BOOM! BOOM!

Two sparks exploded! The arcs formed by their combination immediately struck the other fighters!

………………

On the other side, under the thick clouds, surrounded by countless modified Stormbirds and Thunderhawks, a huge fighter plane whose prototype could be vaguely identified as the Valkyrie was quietly parked in the airspace.

Inside the huge fighter plane, there are no longer troops or supplies that need to be transported. Among countless priests and sages, the Nirvana Aerial Combat Support Center 0-85 is operating quietly.

(End of this chapter)