As long as you die, you are invincible, but in 40K

After this order was issued, the fleet quickly maneuvered and tried to move into the interior of the Hades Galaxy to leave the ice crystal ring... But unlike expectations, before they had gone far, the change that Zhang Ge had been waiting for came.

A series of massive subspace gates opened up in the distance, not far behind the ring.

Its scale is so large that it can even be called several small cracks. The moment it opens, it is like a purple-red scar suddenly opening on the outside of the Diamond Shield.

This subspace gate temporarily disturbed the subspace phenomena inside the ice crystal belt, causing the four ships to have to adjust the parameters of their light spears.

After the situation stabilized again, the thing that came out of the subspace gate appeared in front of Zhang Ge and his group.

Imperial Navy.

Or rather, the Imperial Navy that is advancing recklessly.

Their appearance allowed Zhang Ge to determine the specific time point.

When the first batch of Tyranid bio-ships sank into the Diamond Shield and were frozen, the commander of this navy mistakenly believed that the bio-ships had been completely killed by the severe cold like other enemies who rashly entered the ice crystal belt. Therefore, in order to compete for the credit of destroying the enemy ships, they directly and rashly left the artillery cover range of the castle lord's ring defense line and approached the inner circle of the Diamond Shield.

As for the subsequent developments...just like countless accidents in the past, an accident occurred this time as expected.

The Zerg's biological ships were not destroyed. Instead, they adapted to the severe cold of the ice crystal belt and even wrapped countless solid ice crystals on their outer shells as additional armor. After leaving the ice crystal belt, they easily crushed the fleet like a big open hand.

Well, but that's the development in the normal world line.

This time, a small unexpected factor was heading towards the fleet at high speed.

Chapter 310: If we want to fight, both sides should fight together. This is the only way to be healthy.

"The cloaking ability is about to expire. You are approaching the maximum distance."

This is the message from the ship of the Eldar allies.

Not long ago, after discovering the Imperial Navy fleet that had arrived inside the Diamond Shield via a short jump, Zhang Ge changed his mind about leaving the Ice Crystal Belt immediately. Instead, he made the fleet begin to circle around the inner side of the belt and move in an arc towards those naval ships.

In this way, not only can the subspace phenomenon of the ice crystal belt itself allow the ships to hide, but the complexity of the ice crystal environment can also make it easier for the Eldar ships to provide cover for other ships besides the bow four.

However, just as the message just received, as the distance continues to get closer and the detection power continues to increase, even with the help of these two factors, the other human ships in the fleet have reached the maximum distance at which they can continue to hide.

But, this was also expected.

Soon, under the order issued by Zhang Ge, a branch fleet consisting of an Emperor-class battleship, two cruisers and three frigates deviated from the sailing direction of the main fleet, broke away from the ice crystal belt, and crashed directly into the warning range of the Imperial Navy - in fact, considering the previous concealment, it was too close, and under normal circumstances it would even be enough to open fire directly.

However, as predicted, the commander of this fleet did not choose to destroy these strange ships at the first time.

Because the distance is now close enough, the enemy's ship type can be detected even without friendly recognition.

Looking at the composition of the enemy's fleet, the naval general concluded that this was a reckless friendly force.

After all, it was an entire uncorrupted Imperial fleet, and more importantly, it also had a precious Emperor-class battleship. So far, no such ancient and powerful battleship had been found to have succumbed to enemies other than Chaos.

The sound array communication request sent by the other party shortly afterwards further proved this point.

After receiving the sonic array communication, the general quickly discovered that not only was the other party able to answer his probing questions fluently, but they also displayed the same astonishing professionalism and intelligence as that of the Emperor-class battleship during the conversation. Considering that it was Endymion on the other end of the communication, this illusion was not difficult to understand.

This made him confirm the identity of the other party's friendly forces and even made him feel that they had met too late.

"After I win the victory, I hope to meet him in person."

The general even made such an assessment in front of his adjutant.

You have to know that this is a naval general who can command most of the warships of the Underworld. It is rare to make such an evaluation specifically for a captain.

However, not long after, he no longer felt like it.

Because another fleet has entered detection range.

Strictly speaking, it is the optical detection distance.

At a distance almost close to the face, someone used optical equipment to directly observe with the naked eye several ships heading towards the fleet, and further reported the situation to his own ship.

Then, based on this intelligence, the ship finally discovered the existence of the strange fleet in the detection system by focusing the detection array towards the direction where the strange fleet was discovered.

This situation was quickly reported to the entire fleet...and then, a shocking fact was presented to the general.

It's a Glorious Queen class ship.

To put it in more detail, as long as his brain is not damaged, or there is no problem with the records in the book, then by comparing the various characteristics, it can be basically confirmed.

It is a Glorious Queen-class dreadnought named "Spirit of Vengeance".

And she also showed no signs of being corrupted.

Is it a subspace illusion?

This was the first thought that came to the fleet commander's mind.

After all, the last time the Vengeful Spirit fought for the Imperium was over ten thousand years ago - and even the fact that the Vengeful Spirit had once fought for the Imperium was unknown to most people.

For thousands of years, due to the deliberate distortion and downplaying of facts by the Imperial high-ranking officials, for the vast majority of people, even the Primarchs were only those who had never rebelled, let alone the Primarchs' flagships?

The higher-ups would rather have people believe that the Glorious Queen and Primarch of Chaos were born there, rather than the reality:

They were all once superhumans as powerful as the loyal primarchs, and were all created by the Emperor. The only difference was that they later joined the Chaos camp through a shameful betrayal, rather than appearing out of thin air for no reason in a historical event called the "Great Heresy".

Of course, even this general had no way of knowing such a secret matter. All he knew was that the Spirit of Vengeance had once fought for the Empire.

"Turn on the Geller field, no, that's not right."

He said this in a mixture of shock, disbelief, and slight panic, but he quickly came to his senses:

This is the real universe, and it is impossible for a subspace illusion of such a scale to appear.

But to be honest, for the general now, he would rather the other party was an illusion.

"..."

I wanted to speak several times, but after opening my mouth, I couldn't say anything specific.

Giving a Glorious Queen-class ship that showed no signs of corruption the order to prepare for battle?

If it turns out that this was a wrong decision, he and his entire family would likely be nailed to the pillar of shame because of this sentence.

You can't tell friend from foe from a ship that's nearly 30 kilometers long, a ship that only a few exist in the entire empire? Don't make people laugh—for others, that's just how it seems. Not many people will really delve into the real dilemma they're facing.

However, in the end, his sense of responsibility as a commander outweighed his resistance to risk.

After making up his mind, he asked the other party to provide identification while at the same time requiring each ship to make preparations for the battle and adjust the battle formation.

However, even though he was prepared for the worst, the information sent from the other party was still beyond his understanding.

It was a psychic message sent directly to the entire fleet:

"Your commander has betrayed us. He deliberately made the wrong decision, leading all your ships to their deaths. This will severely weaken the defenses of the Hades System. Now, I demand that the soldiers and officers in the fleet who remain loyal to the Empire cooperate with us to regain control of the fleet."

"?"

What? I'm a traitor? You didn't tell me?

However, if this message only confused the ships and units upon its arrival, then what happened next greatly increased its credibility and plunged the fleet into complete chaos:

A large number of hostile reactions emerged from the inside of the Diamond Shield... These were the large number of Tyranid bio-ships that should have been "frozen into ice sculptures" and "pose no threat".

They were waving their active tentacles that showed no signs of deactivation and approaching the fleet.

Chapter 311: Blasphemous Enemy, Boarding

When the Zerg bio-ship appeared, Zhang Ge also completed the final cycle of the plan.

That's right, his plan was to attack both the Imperial Navy and the Zerg Fleet at the same time.

Of course, like his other actions before him, this decision was not without reason:

There is a high possibility that this naval fleet has been severely corrupted.

It's not Chaos corruption, it's Genestealer corruption.

To understand why Zhang Ge could make such a judgment, we must first dispel a common misconception among most people.

That is, the misunderstanding of the hugeness of an imperial naval fleet.

For most people, a naval fleet is like a "space cluster" of many "small boats" gathered together, and then wandering around in the universe for various tasks under the command of someone.

But this is not actually the case.

One hundred ships would be a huge space entity with a population of hundreds of millions, and one thousand ships would be a mobile steel planet consisting of thousands of isolated "islands" and covering billions of people.

Elected representatives, industrial entities, authoritarian armed forces, rebel leaders...

This entity that has been traveling in space for hundreds, thousands, or even millennia contains everything you can imagine and everything you can't even imagine.

However, you don't need to go into detail about this. Just realize this and look back at that abrupt decision:

Directly rush out of the Castle Lord's Ring to attack those Zerg bio-ships, which are unimaginably numerous, far superior in strength to their own, and have destroyed countless galaxies, but are now definitely "completely frozen" due to passing through an ice crystal ring.

Is this a bit questionable?

How could an ordinary naval admiral, a giant entity like this, get everyone to agree in such a short time and execute this order that sounded so stupid that it overflowed with words?

Even if the Admiral himself was an idiot, were all the staff members behind him also idiots, and were all the countless different factions that had converged from different star systems also idiots?

And what about the usual red tape? What about the meetings? What about the discussions?

Yes, although similar actions on naval ships are much less severe due to the militarized style, such a major decision that can determine the fate of the entire Hades Galaxy was made so quickly, even hastily?

This is no longer something that can be described as weird. Judging from the decision-making efficiency alone, it would not feel out of place if we cover the name and regard this fleet as just another Zerg fleet.

Of course, Zhang Ge did not hastily assume that all the personnel in this fleet had been replaced by Genestealers or the like. What he said in the psychic message he sent was "request for soldiers and officers who are still loyal to the empire."

According to his guess, he believed that the Genestealers on the ship must have used their evil Warp magic that could influence, pollute and interfere with human consciousness, causing it to expand and erupt the moment the Warp shadow brought by the Zerg invaded the Hades system, thereby affecting the judgment of the entire fleet and its commanders.

To be honest, the impact is likely to extend beyond this fleet.

The loss of contact with the Castle Lord's Ring was a source of considerable doubt as the situation unfolded. How could this formidable defense be instantly disconnected before even a single message could be sent? With the Zerg fleet alone, even if the bio-ships encountered no resistance, it would take a while for them to reach the point.

Back to Zhang Ge.

After realizing these factors, it is not difficult to understand why Zhang Ge would make such a plan - if it were someone more extreme, such as an alien inquisitor, there might not be so many twists and turns, and they would directly judge this fleet as an enemy.

Zhang Ge was relatively more rational. At least he had developed a plan that could screen out enemies and friends to a certain extent.

Endymion went to test whether it was completely irreversible, Cti used psychic communication to disperse some of the evil magic in the warp, and finally the Zerg fleet was used as evidence.

All of this eventually turned into a heavy hammer, hitting every crew member on the bridge.

Those survivors who had not yet been infected were shocked to find that their colleagues who had just been discussing old memories of their hometown cabin, their comrades who had shared past combat experiences, and their superiors who were deploying combat plans had suddenly turned into strange aliens with purple and white skin, protruding foreheads, and even multiple limbs.

Chaos spread almost instantly, and countless exchanges of fire filled the entire fleet in an instant. From inside the ships to outside the ships, from laser guns to nova cannons, brilliant ripples of death, flames, and void shields gradually spread.

A few ships that were in less serious situations quickly regained control and made the same decision as Zhang Ge:

Flagship of the boarding fleet.

For Zhang Ge, it was to expand the combat target as much as possible in order to seek an opportunity to die. For them, this incident was an unforgivable and absolute shame. It was meaningless for a small number of ships to escape back to the castle lord's defense line. They had to recapture more ships and at the same time draw the blood of the perpetrators in order to finally clear their name.

However, amidst this tragedy and shock that exceeded everyone's expectations, there is also good news:

In the previous period of time, because the ships spent time adjusting their formations and preparing for battle instead of continuing to approach the Diamond Shield as originally planned, the Zerg biological ships were still quite a distance away from the fleet.

They still have time.

Well, whether he has time or not doesn't really mean much to Zhang Ge. It's more like a shortcoming. The best case scenario would be that the swarm would come up to him as he landed on the enemy ship... It's a pity that it still can't be perfect.

He finally packed up his things, left the captain's throne, turned on the communications on all frequencies, and asked bluntly:

"Are the troops ready?"

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a uniform response sounded in the flowing light caused by the external void shield resisting the attack.

The fleet that was being targeted was rapidly expanding in sight.

Of course, as the Spirit of Vengeance drew closer, the fire from the mutinous ships became increasingly intense.

Although the Spirit of Vengeance was accurately destroying the enemy ships that attacked her, the opponent was, after all, countless ships, not a small fleet of ten or twenty ships. So even she could not wipe out all the enemies in a short time. Instead, the strength of her void shield was constantly decreasing.

But as mentioned before, Zhang Ge did not intend to destroy all the enemies with just these few ships.

As it plunged into the fleet, the Spirit of Vengeance's counterattack gradually ended, and it instead concentrated all its energy on maintaining the void shield.

And finally, he found his target among the countless warships.

The Retribution-class battleship that served as the flagship.