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In the distance, a radiant sphere suddenly arose from the ground.
It was even more brilliant than a star.
At its center, it glowed incandescently, with a deep blue outer ring faintly visible at the edges.
It expanded swiftly; even though only half of it had ascended from the surface, its height quickly surpassed the tops of nearby buildings.
At its present height, its lower half must have already melted through the isolation walls.
The night that enveloped the hive city was dispersed by the light it radiated, creating elongated shadows of people and buildings alike.
The brightness at its center quickly reached an intensity that made it impossible to gaze directly at it.
And this brilliance obscured many things—such as the car lights beginning to flicker under the strong electromagnetic pulse... It had obliterated most civilian electronic devices and even heavily interfered with military equipment.
"It's in the direction of the Void Shield," Amilia's words confirmed what everyone had already suspected.
Although the light and heat had dispelled the darkness that was hindering combat, making the surroundings brighter than during the day, no one, except Zhang Ge, felt happy about it.
This meant the Chaos Space Marines had succeeded.
It seemed that the control systems had directly initiated self-destruction, detonating the vast energy array originally set up to supply the Void Shield. They had sacrificed their elite forces before they were destroyed by the enemy.
But it also indicated that the Void Shield's destruction was now a certainty.
Returning his gaze to the sphere of light, Zhang Ge observed that it did not explode with the ferocity one might expect. Compared to its scale, the resultant sound and impact could almost be described as negligible.
There was no sound, no shockwave; it simply expanded quietly until it stabilized at a certain size, as if containing itself.
However, if one focused on the orderly boundary of the sphere, they would notice that nothing obstructed it.
Beneath its calm appearance lay extreme heat measured in millions of degrees Celsius; anything consumed by it would be instantaneously plasma-fied.
Whether it was towering ceramic-steel skyscrapers or merely an ant foraging for food, there was no distinction between them in its presence.
This was a sun rising from the ground.
If it could be sustained for any length of time, the heated air would soon turn the entire hive city into a boiling cauldron. However, relative to the real stars above, the energy sustaining it was still too insufficient.
Zhang Ge lowered his head to check the time displayed on the dashboard, feeling the surrounding air had already become scorching, and said, "At least there's one piece of good news: we can fight in daylight for the next few minutes."
Facing a plasma sphere that had claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, Zhang Ge made a somewhat inappropriate joke, yet he also conveyed a reality:
No matter the cost in lives, they should not be staring blankly at the phenomenon but rather utilize every fleeting moment they had.
The Chaos Space Marines could not all have perished in there; they were the ones who would soon face these enemies directly.
When Zhang Ge saw the others come to their senses, he activated the communications within the vehicle.
Though he had little hope, he still attempted to speak.
Now... there was one more piece of good news: the Warp Static should have temporarily dissipated due to the large number of daemons, sacrifices, and ritual sites consumed by the sphere.
However, there was also bad news: under the current strong electromagnetic interference, his voice came across as crackling and distorted.
But it was better than nothing; they would make do with it.
After organizing his thoughts, Zhang Ge uttered one clear command.
Despite requiring repetitions to ensure each part of his message was conveyed due to the distortion, his command, filled with electrical noise, was ultimately transmitted:
"Everyone... the sun has risen... but we will still crush them in the sunrise... now... continue advancing."
The first to respond to this command were the aircraft in the sky.
The strong electromagnetic field, of course, did not only interfere with their side; even the robust conventional electronic systems suffered significant disruptions, let alone the more delicate and precise systems like anti-air radars.
In a situation where both sides had been rendered "blind," the fighter jets could rely on their maneuverability and high-precision optical targeting for ground strikes. With their heavy armor, they were akin to airborne fortresses providing fire support.
Many aircraft previously intending to retreat for supplies returned, slowly hovering above the battlefield. Multi-barrel laser cannons fired from their windows at high speed, either melting the heads of cultists or slicing them in half.
Following that, confirmation voices responding to the command echoed back through the communication systems, and the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment, bathed in that unique sunrise, resumed their advance.
The remaining defenses of the Chaos forces had not suddenly gained strength because the Void Shield was destroyed.
Instead, the large number of elites and ritual supplies that had been consumed temporarily weakened the Warp incursion, even allowing communications to be briefly restored, significantly improving the efficiency of information exchange within the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment.
Those cultists hiding in the sewers were either dealt with by a direct bombardment or pulled out by infantry positioned in the buildings beside them; any enemies obstructing their path became offerings under the rising sun.
Since this assault targeted behind the enemy line after breaching one side, their progress was considerably quicker than during a frontal breakthrough.
Though that vast sphere of light began to fade away after roughly ten minutes, ultimately disappearing and leaving behind a massive hole that nearly tunneled through to the upper hive, as well as an abundance of ceramic-steel reduced to glowing red molten material.
But in that fleeting time, Zhang Ge could clearly hear the sounds of gunfire from his allies attacking the front lines. As they crossed this last small stretch, merging with friendly forces, the remaining enemy "arrowhead" troops would be completely surrounded.
So... given that victory was now within reach, and that even a pig could lead this charge successfully, he saw no reason to stay behind and continue directing operations.
Zhang Ge intended to do something he had been wanting to since waking from his coma.
As the troops advanced deeper into what was effectively the enemy's defensive territory, he could easily see the Chaos Escort Ship protruding among the clusters of buildings in the distance.
If the Chaos Space Marine Captain could raid their base, why couldn't Zhang Ge?
In the current scenario, where the enemy's anti-air defenses were in chaos, directly inserting himself into the vicinity was entirely feasible, with ample justification. The surviving Chaos Space Marines were likely numerous, and even if they would eventually win, allowing them to roam free would cause considerable damage.
They had to find some means to restrain or weaken them.
At that moment, with the enemy's elite suffering significant losses and the anti-air systems basically paralyzed, was there a more suitable opportunity to resolve the source of the massive Warp contamination?
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