The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

"Until then, the news of your death will be the best gift I can give to Kubik."

The ion beam pierced Pavonis's head. The invincible inquisitor and sage of Covenant Harbor collapsed, ending his life.

Urquidex sighed, realizing that things had finally come to a point where they were at odds with Mars.

Thorne then reported: "The expeditionary fleet from Maxim is approaching Mars, led by Hayes and Matt Horner. Our reinforcements will arrive soon."

"Kubik will receive the news of Pavonis's death before then. We'll have to hold out for a while with this little manpower. Thorne, are you confident?"

"We will hold on."

The Exemplary Fist Captain's answer was brief and powerful, his eyes carrying the fiery intensity of that era.

"I will accomplish what we failed to do fifteen hundred years ago!"

-

When Kubik saw the body of Pavonis that was sent back by Leon's servitor, everyone present could see that the remaining half of his face had turned blue.

"Leon...! How dare he kill my messenger! How dare he betray Mars!"

The previously denied worry had now become a reality. The Forging General's roar nearly surpassed the sound array's upper limit: "He's so bold! Where does he get the confidence from?! Dispatch the Skitarii! I'm going to make this madman pay now!"

"But we don't know what motivates him to do this, and the situation on the front lines is still tense..."

The deputy foundry supervisor felt that this move was too risky.

The Titan Legion did not lose, but it also did not gain any benefits from Skarbrand.

The demons continued to attack tirelessly, but the Titans and the Skitarii needed to replenish ammunition and maintenance.

The dead Pavonis could not bring any news that Leon had changed his mind. Even if Leon killed Pavonis and sent him back in humiliation, the sages present would only think that Leon and Pavonis had had an argument and that he was planning to turn against Kubik.

After all, he only has so few people, how dare he go against the entire Mars?

Even if he gets some benefits, can he escape from Mars?

No one understood Leon's true motives, but they no longer approved of this Casting General and did not regard the conflict between Leon and Kubik as a conflict between the other party and the entire Mars.

Conventional logical deduction made everyone except Kubik feel that they still had a chance to stabilize Li Ang.

Kubik disagrees.

He also found it difficult to analyze Li Ang's true intentions, but Li Ang was the reinforcement he called for, so if anything really happened, it would naturally be his fault.

If he condones Li Ang's betrayal, not only will he not be able to deal with the subsequent impeachment, but his current command authority will also be in jeopardy.

"Even if I have to give up part of my defense, I want him to pay the price now!"

He stared at the sages present who had clearly lost their minds with his scarlet eyes, and sternly emphasized: "Do it immediately!"

The Crusaders were mobilized under his orders. They began to shrink their defenses and gave up defending the more peripheral production plants in order to free up troops to march towards the outskirts of the city.

To their surprise, the demon army did not take this opportunity to launch an offensive and seize the production line in the abandoned factory. Besides Skarbrand still howling on the field, Vashtor was also dispatching men and marching towards the outskirts of the city.

His goal was to collect the wreckage of those Tiantu-class Titans, but the Martian Crusaders did not know this.

Not long after the Crusaders crashed into the combined defense line of the Fist of the Paragon and the Undead Army, the ghouls and demons that surged from behind them put them in what they believed to be a "pincer attack from both inside and outside."

Vashtor didn't want to deal with these crusaders at all, but the priests who thought they were surrounded ordered the crusaders to fire at them first.

The vampire who had been reluctantly obeying Vashtor's orders immediately rushed forward with a roar when he saw that the other party wanted to fight.

The outskirts of the city suddenly became the new main battlefield. Surrounding its entrance, which was fortified by the Fist of the Paragon, three parties gathered together to conduct a large-scale melee in the dark.

The ones who suffered the heaviest losses were the Crusaders who were caught in the middle.

The plague code created by Vashtor meant that the priests who were originally only required to manipulate behind the scenes had to personally take action to fight against this corruption.

The Crusaders, who had previously been indifferent to losses, became desperate after the priests were forced to join them. Every casualty suffered in the double attack made them feel like the death knell was ringing for them.

If fighting against the demons was originally justified, now the request to attack the already defended suburbs seemed completely incomprehensible to them.

"We are incurring unnecessary losses! Oh, Om Messiah, how could our Casting General be such a madman!"

Kubik, who regarded Leon as a madman, didn't know that these priests actually thought he was the crazy one.

Discontent spread among the priests, who blamed the losses on the casting general's poor command.

Due to their passiveness and mutual slacking, Mars and Vashtor were unable to break through the defense line set up by the Fist of the Exemplary for a while.

The experienced Thorne relied on the limited forces at hand to block the two, buying precious time for the reinforcements heading to Mars.

Although the advancement speed was not as fast as expected, it was just a last-ditch effort for Kubik who was determined to see Leon die. However, Kubik did not believe that Leon had no backup plan.

He ordered the troops to continue to be sent to the outskirts of the city, but he thought of Augustus who had betrayed him.

When the traitor first arrived on Mars, he had told him in detail about Leon's actions on Maxim.

Although Leon's capture of Maximus began with inciting the priests and the Titan Legion, the most important thing was the expeditionary fleet led by Astra Militarum Commander Hayes.

That expeditionary fleet?

The Casting General began to consider this variable.

He knew that Hayes did not arrive at Covenant Port with Leon and the others. Perhaps he did not come at all, or perhaps the subspace storm separated them when they came.

As a researcher of warp technology, General Forge knew very well that this warp storm was no ordinary one.

The Martian exploration fleet, which possessed the most sophisticated warp observation equipment in the Empire, was isolated and unable to return. In any case, there was no way that the expeditionary fleet could reach Mars now with the warp storm still raging outside.

But apart from that expeditionary fleet, there are still the Solar Fleet and the Phalanx in the orbit of Mars.

"Report to me on the status of the orbital defense array."

he ordered.

The situation on the track was presented to him in real time.

After so many days, even if he was just lying dead in orbit, he should have noticed the abnormality on Mars.

Kubik could see that the only two remaining battleships of the Solar Fleet had already moved away from the Martian orbital defense array. Only the Phalanx remained motionless, and even moved closer to the array.

Kubik understood what was going on. He felt that he had predicted the intentions of Leon and even the entire Ultimate Wall.

Like other oil men, he envied the existence of the Phalanx, but he also understood the dire current state of this ancient star fortress.

The combat effectiveness of this ancient star fortress, which has been in disrepair for a long time, has long been reduced to one tenth of its original strength. It might be able to fight against a fleet in space, but if it comes to confronting an orbital defense system - especially an orbital defense system of a forge world, Kubik does not think they have any chance of winning.

Even if Mars is unable to fully fire its orbital defenses due to energy shortages and production stagnation, what can the Phalanx, whose intention he predicted, do?

"In any case, the combined force is the entire Mars Orbital Defense Phalanx plus a battle barge. The advantage is mine!"

He issued orders to the orbital defense forces, and the orbital defense system quickly entered combat readiness.

A small escort fleet also launched from the Martian spaceport. Mainly composed of frigates and destroyers, they had begun to seize advantageous positions before the formal battle so that they could launch torpedoes at the weak parts of the Phalanx as soon as possible.

Regardless of the outcome, Kubik believes that the Phalanx will definitely not be able to reach Mars, at least in the short term.

He confidently handed over the specific engagements of orbital defense to others and focused his attention on how to destroy Leon's battlefield.

But soon, a priest with the latest news from the track rushed in, his face as pale as paper.

"General! Emergency! The Imperial Fists' Phalanx is breaching our orbital defenses!"

"It's just something that was expected, why are you panicking?"

Kubik waved his hand and said, "Fight back according to the plan I made earlier."

"Unlike what you expected, that plan is no longer applicable!"

Kubik raised his head, a sense of foreboding lingering in his pipes.

"What do you mean?"

Judging from the keel identification code, it includes Hayes's Solar Expedition Fleet!

At this moment, Kubik felt that his logical circuits were starting to turn at an unprecedented speed.

Chapter 190: Don’t take a single step back!

His previous judgment was slapped in the face in an instant, but Kubik no longer even felt angry.

"Hayes' expeditionary fleet? How is that possible!"

But the facts were before him. Now that he finally knew Leon's trump card, Kubik had no choice but to accept it. He accessed the video feed from the defensive array and rethought his strategy.

The expeditionary fleet had not yet entered engagement distance, but Kubik could already see them.

He could tell that the seemingly huge expeditionary fleet was actually mostly composed of transport ships, and there was only one battleship and two cruisers that were actually capable of combat.

Combined with the power aboard the Phalanx, Mars' orbital defenses would be up against the Phalanx, two battleship-class opponents, and five cruisers.

This kind of force was equivalent to that of a main fleet, and Kubik felt relieved.

His logic shifted the balance of war from the inevitable victory of Mars to a stalemate.

Since falling to traitors 1,500 years ago, the loyalists who recaptured Mars have placed particular emphasis on the construction of orbital defenses. Even though they are now incomplete due to lack of energy, they are still the foundation of Kubik's ability to control his territory.

"Leon is like a wedge on the ground. If they can penetrate the orbital defenses, they can work together inside and outside to attack Mars."

"But if Leon can be completely eliminated quickly, with the Hive Void Shield, even if the Final Wall occupies orbit, it won't be able to reach Mars. I can also use the Final Wall's civil war as an excuse to put them to death at the High Lords' Council."

Having reached a conclusion, Kubik looked towards the Phalanx sinisterly, determined to teach the reckless Astartes a lesson that would last a long time.

They are nothing more than dogs raised by the Empire, while the Mechanicus is on the other side of the double-headed eagle, on par with the Empire.

Even though the Mechanicum was reorganized into the less powerful Adeptus Mechanicus after the Heresy, Kubik never forgot his ambition to make Mars able to once again control the entire Empire.

Even if the teleportation plan fails, Mars is not something these genetic freaks can humiliate!

"Prioritize the energy supply for orbital defense. I need to teach these self-righteous Astartes a lesson!"

The energy centers on Mars that were still functioning properly readjusted their energy supply strategies, and the light spears of the defense array received sufficient energy supply for the first time since the start of the Beast War.

No longer limited to physical ammunition, the energy weapons on the array also began to roar. Dense beams of light ignited the icy universe and eventually sank into the hull of the Phalanx.

The Phalanx's void shield swallowed up the attack, and its artillery fire retaliated like thunder.

Each strike from the incredibly powerful Star Destroyer Cannon could wipe out several defensive space stations like a string of candied haws. However, this number was still a drop in the bucket compared to the overall size of Mars.

The Phalanx's secondary weapon systems were all malfunctioning, and the Star Destroyer Cannon required a long time to reload. Kurland knew that with the Phalanx's efficiency, it was unlikely to achieve any significant results.

"The Void Shield has been damaged, and the tolerance threshold has dropped by two percentage points."

The captain reported to Kurland.

"What do you suggest?"

"Get some distance and use the Star Destroyer's range to attack the orbital defenses."

The captain was aware of the condition of the Phalanx, which had just been ravaged by the electronic demon.

It was no longer suitable to be a vanguard in the charge, but rather a decisive weapon placed under the protection of the fleet: "As long as there is enough time, we will use her performance to win this battle."

But what they lack is time.

"Pull the Phalanx closer, Captain."

The captain suspected he had misheard until Kurland repeated his order in a firm tone.

"Keep going, Captain! Our will is our most powerful weapon!"

Facing multiple encirclements, the Phalanx retreated instead of advancing. It stubbornly withstood the enemy's fire, like an unyielding beast, determined to tear the enemy to pieces.

It even destroyed several space stations with its own hull.

This reckless behavior was not without cost. The Phalanx's massive size meant it couldn't maneuver flexibly, and it launched torpedoes at the destroyers it was encircling, which couldn't be stopped by the void shield.

The Phalanx's current weak close-range firepower is not enough to intercept these deadly weapons, and it can only use its own structure to withstand these attacks.

"Boom!"

The armor plates on the ship were peeled off by the explosion, and the fleet that approached the Phalanx launched a new round of attacks towards the torn holes like sharks smelling blood.

Waves of fire from the explosions echoed across the Phalanx. Even Kurland, far away on the bridge, could feel the vibrations from the explosions on this ancient behemoth.

"My Lord, how far should we advance?!"

The captain confirmed loudly to Kurland.

"Don't retreat a single step! Even if we have to fall from the sky, I will treat it as our final charge!"

Matt Horner saw the Phalanx's single-handed attack against the entire Martian defense network. Remembering the task Leon had assigned him in the astronomical language, the commander of the expeditionary fleet became anxious.

"The Phalanx is using itself to buy us a window in the orbital corner. Speed ​​up, we can't let it fight alone!"