In the Blood of Steel, there is deathly silence at this moment. The ticking sound of instruments continues to be heard, but the relatively noisy conversations in the past have now turned into quiet breathing.
The data was extremely ugly. Perturabo was as silent as a dead volcano at this moment. The cooled and accumulated dark gray rocks coated his surface with an expressionless mask.
But everyone knows that beneath the thick rock shell is surging magma that is about to erupt.
Although under Perturabo's command, the Iron Warriors have greatly reduced the loss of ships, except for the cruiser fleet that set out at the beginning, most of the ships lost afterwards were low-level and old types.
But this still cannot cover up his failure.
With the Primarch's amazing insight, Perturabo understood that in his thousands of calculations, if the opposing ship had not paused at the last moment, the Iron Bloods' ammunition would have rained down at the last moment.
The Primarch was confident that the Lady of Glory's firepower could tear these ships apart, but in case
Realizing that his mind was slowly sliding towards the edge of this vortex, Perturabo felt his breathing becoming heavier. He tried to control the sound of his breathing because he couldn't do that. No one except him would be happy to see him fail.
So he couldn't show his failure.
The sudden communication request knocked heavily on Perturabo's temple. The communication request from the Death Guard came unexpectedly.
It is indeed so.
Perturabo laughed secretly in his heart. His brothers were always like this, climbing up by stepping on each other's failed corpses. They seemed to be in harmony on the surface, but in fact they were secretly mocking each other.
What's more, this Primarch from an agricultural planet didn't even have the most basic manners. Perturabo could already imagine Mortarion speaking in a sarcastic tone with a vague country accent.
When he thought of the scene he was about to face, anger and humiliation washed over Perturabo's soul like surging waves.
He cursed softly, and Perturabo wanted to smash something, tear something apart, tear off the ugly face opposite him, smash it, and make it no longer exist in reality.
Just like when he smashed the statue.
A clown's trick.
At the last moment when the Death Guard's communication application was about to reach the end timeline, Perturabo, who was standing still, finally approved the application.
A crackling sound of electricity was heard, and the unstable figure unique to the holographic projection appeared.
Perturabo hated the sound of electricity, which represented instability, unexpectedness, change, and fragility.
Fragile.
However, Mortarion's disgusting figure did not appear in the center of the picture, and his foul-smelling poisonous gas was slowly lingering at the edge of the picture.
The figure of a Death Shroud is in the center of the picture. Unlike other Death Shrouds, one of his shoulder armor is engraved with the symbol of the Mechanicus, silently highlighting his identity as a technical sergeant.
Perturabo frowned, recognizing this as one of the Death Shrouds that Mortarion had brought to the Iron Blood earlier.
Except for the Iron Hands and the Iron Warriors, in other legions, these Space Marines who believe in the Mechanicus will not occupy a high position in the legion.
In the Iron Hands, Fenus Manus allowed his men to convert to the Mechanicus, which allowed the legion to have good relations with the Mechanicus of Mars.
In the Iron Warriors, Perturabo despised those sages of the Mechanicum who had undergone extensive modifications but were cowardly and timid. Under Perturabo's instructions, the Iron Warriors had been working hard to develop the technology of their own legion in order to get rid of the restrictions imposed on the legion by these villains.
Although he himself was only on good terms with many Mechanicus on the surface, those "outliers" were more likely to attract Perturabo's favor than the orthodox Mechanicus sages.
After a brief Eagle salute, the technical sergeant in the holographic projection spoke,
"Hello, Lord Commander of the Iron Warriors, I am Chief Death Shroud Hades."
The moment Hades spoke, Perturabo realized that the voice was the one who had previously had private communication with Dantioch.
Perturabo's eyes narrowed, and anyone familiar with the Primarch knew that this was a dangerous signal.
On the other end of the communication, Hades was trembling with fear, as if treading on thin ice.
He tried to make his voice calm and cold, like a machine... well... or a Necron.
After experiencing the attack from the Necron fleet, seeing that the Necron did not immediately launch a second attack, Hades quickly took advantage of this brief gap to contact the Iron Warriors to inquire and discuss the next plan.
Mortarion allowed Hades to communicate without any burden. After all, he didn't want to see Perturabo or talk to him.
After witnessing the fleet led by Perturabo, Hades realized that Mortarion was a little depressed
He was not quite sure. After all, it was almost impossible to read the expression on Mortarion's "face" when he covered his face like an autistic person.
He could only judge based on the Primarch's behavior. Mortarion did not ridicule or "praise" Perturabo at the first time, so Hades assumed that Mortarion was in a normal mood.
Of course, it would be best not to let the two Primarchs meet and talk again. Hades was sure that in the previous meeting, Mortarion was really considering whether to give Perturabo a sickle.
The movements of the Necrons are still unclear, and the Death Guard hidden in the satellites affiliated with the mining planet No. 106 are unable to detect the situation on No. 106. The Iron Warriors are still in charge of the war.
What Hades didn't know was that after the "pause" just now, no new Undead soldiers emerged from No. 106, and the Undead warriors originally standing on the ground were quickly eliminated by the Iron Warriors who reacted.
For a moment, the entire battlefield became extremely quiet.
Apart from the occasional shots from the Iron Warriors and the friction of metal underfoot on the corpses of the Undead, there was no other sound at the moment.
After the ship battle, Perturabo did not allow the Iron Warriors to continue advancing. Instead, he began to deploy medium and high altitude defenses, as well as trenches, and more trenches.
The reconnaissance team was released to take advantage of the brief gap to investigate the enemy situation.
These occupied part of Perturabo's thinking, and his current thinking and computing power were put into communicating with the Death Guard.
Would this be an insult? Mortarion using his subordinates to consult with him was a clear offense.
Although in some cases, the Primarchs would indeed ask their trusted sons to take over the discussions between the Legions.
But Perturabo still speculated on Mortarion's slow and dull malice, which was like a swamp with bubbles that made Perturabo sick.
He would not speak first, would not give the other side a chance to insult him, Perturabo hated that they were not present so that he could walk up to this bold Death Guard, stand threateningly in front of him, and then listen to the arrogant words of this Death Guard.
"I am currently entrusted by Legion Commander Mortarion to be responsible for communication with your Legion."
Hades spoke in a neither humble nor arrogant manner. Perturabo could not hear any fluctuations in his voice.
"The war is urgent, please forgive me for skipping the greetings."
Of course, praise still needs to be given, and Hades knows this.
"I really admire the naval battle that the Iron Warriors just performed. Such a detailed and large-scale command is truly breathtaking."
"It is hard to imagine that such a meticulous operation can be carried out on such a complicated and grand battlefield."
"I think most mortals would not be able to realize the subtlety of this operation."
Perturabo folded his arms and stared across.
It was just praise from an ordinary Space Marine. As a Primarch, he had heard it too much. It was what he deserved and it was unnecessary.
"As the commander-in-chief of this campaign, you must have a much better understanding of the enemy's situation than the Death Guard after such a wonderful battle. Therefore, the Death Guard hopes to share information with the Iron Warriors and discuss the next tactics."
Although Hades felt that Mortarion was quite unhappy when he said this, in a sense, apart from Hades who knew the spoiler, the Death Guard really knew very little about this alien.
This was the truth, told without sarcasm or malice, so Mortarion did not object.
Perturabo on the other side still had his arms folded, he put his thoughts aside and went on to deploy the trenches on the ground of No. 106.
He "watched" his offspring hurrying through the dusty mining area, their metal armor dimmed by the yellow sand.
Then Perturabo looked back at the Death Guard projection across from him, painted white and green, like those fragile and easily broken plants.
"In the next battle, the Death Guard needs to listen to me."
Perturabo handed down his verdict and then simply shut down the communication.
At the other end, Perturabo's projection disappeared with a crackling sound of electricity.
Hades was sure that Mortarion had directly cursed Barbarus, and that Mortarion was most likely now wanting to give Perturabo the unfinished sickle.
Of course, Hades wanted to curse, too.
Although in reality, because they participated in too few battles (lack of legion experience, Mortarion returned late), and the main fleet did not arrive, the Death Guard would most likely play a supporting role in the next battle.
But what Perturabo said was quite unpleasant.
However, less than a second later, the Death Guard received a stream of information from the Iron Warriors.
The complex and detailed data is well organized, marking the intelligence of the Necrons.
Numbers and High Gothic jumped across the Death Guard's screen, calculating the image of an alien race.
Not only that, the topographic map on No. 106 and the cross-section of the trench that was being repaired were also sent over.
The following information was beyond Hades's expectations. He put aside his useless emotions for the time being and began to study the information carefully.
He blinked in surprise.
This means that the Death Guard will most likely have to fight a ground battle.
After all, the Death Guard's current fleet is indeed unable to fight against the Necrons' ships, but on the ground, the Death Guard possesses powerful strength.
The data transmitted by the Iron Warriors has not stopped.
A red dot at the rear of the 106 mining area map was marked by Perturabo.
Hades asked suspiciously,
Shit, it’s Morag and the others.
These Death Guard were placed in the rear by the Iron Warriors, alongside the Forgemasters of the Graeae.
Hades almost forgot that there were a few Death Guard recruits on board No. 106 if Perturabo hadn't reminded him.
Mortarion, who had been quiet, also coughed awkwardly.
Hades bet he had forgotten too.
This diluted their anger to some extent.
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(End of this chapter)