That dazzling white light began to rise from the core of the hive, engulfing everything in an instant.
Countless Ceramite buildings were as fragile as foam in its presence, disintegrating in an instant under the central temperature measured in billions of degrees Celsius.
Rooms, each the size of small blocks, bearing the traces of countless generations of life, were erased in a matter of moments.
Under the extreme destructive power created by this power of civilization, everything seemed so pale.
One kilometer, ten kilometers, twenty kilometers...
The nuclear fireball swallowed everything as if it would never end, and the violent Shockwave pushed out by the high temperature and pressure silently and rapidly impacted the closed hive shell.
A terrifying phenomenon appeared.
The originally extremely solid shell instantly developed countless cracks, followed by being directly blasted open by the Shockwave. The towering hive collapsed like a metal mountain, but was even more deadly.
The dissolved metal droplets could even be thrown into the extremely high altitude hundreds of kilometers away, and the fragments that turned into deadly shrapnel were even more numerous, falling around like rain.
Inside the shattered hive, the dazzling light appeared, and the extremely bright light group was wrapped in the Mushroom Cloud, tumbling upward. The Mushroom Cloud extended to a height of hundreds of kilometers and could even be clearly seen in space.
Visually perceptible Shockwave clouds spread outwards, and the fate of any living being caught up in them was undoubtedly grim.
But being killed quickly by the Shockwave and shrapnel was fortunate.
Because the heat that followed outwards also expanded, igniting any object that reached its ignition point, including flesh.
Although the hive was used to reduce it, the radius covered by the heat rays still reached tens of kilometers.
If you were a little further away, you could experience the feeling of being cooked from the outside in.
Then, intense Radiation, earthquakes, and blindness caused by high brightness.
These aftereffects of the nuclear bomb continued to expand under the grim gaze of the Chaos commander.
In just this moment of light, if Chaos Space Marines were not counted, the damage caused to the Chaos side had already exceeded the sum total of the damage caused to it by Acropolis before.
It was undeniable that the vast majority of Chaos cultists were just cannon fodder that could be consumed at will, but even if they were cannon fodder, wasting so many at once would have a certain impact on subsequent plans.
If there was anything that could make him feel comforted, it would only be that, if only economic value was counted, a hive was much, much more expensive than those cultists.
On the other end, on the command ship that had already flown a long distance away, Zhang Ge came to the rear of the warship and looked at the Mushroom Cloud, which could be clearly seen even from a distance.
The meeting that had just been held was very short for Zhang Ge. The truly useful parts were actually things like which ship was responsible for what tasks in which direction. The so-called aftermath that followed was the process of rewarding merits and shifting responsibilities to others.
Zhang Ge had no interest in those things. He simply found an excuse to leave. Anyway, he wished those people would throw all the responsibilities on his head and then pin him to the deck and shoot him.
Nearby, the deputy commander of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment - that is, the previous deputy commander; Zhang Ge simply threw the position back to him later - walked over and reported:
"The total number of deaths is 2,368, and the number of people who have lost combat capability is 1,561."
Hearing this number of losses, Zhang Ge pondered for a moment, analyzing its meaning.
That is to say, about four thousand people had left the ranks, which was no small number.
Although the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment ostensibly had as many as 20,000 people, after deducting various logistics personnel, the actual number of combat personnel was about 10,000, and a large part of these 10,000 were armored vehicle drivers, truck drivers, artillerymen, and the like.
The real front-line combat infantry might only be about half of them, and most of the casualties were actually borne by these infantry.
This meant that in that short period of combat, even if they had swept through the entire time, the losses of front-line infantry might have already approached 50%.
"Are there any replacement soldiers?"
Zhang Ge asked. In theory, some people should have been recruited during those two days.
Hearing this question, the deputy commander hesitated for a moment and replied:
"Uh... in fact, there are approximately 5,000 reorganized Astra Militarum applying to join the unit, and there are over 30,000 applicants who meet the standards of the "Provisional Recruitment Act" (full name omitted)."
"3k?"
"30k."
Zhang Ge, thinking that he had heard an extra zero, was silent for a long time before continuing to ask:
"Where did so many recruits who meet the standards come from?"
"According to the documents' investigation, many "recruits" are from some hive city Military Nobles who have requested that their own personal soldiers and elites apply to join the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment after "retiring"."
Before Zhang Ge could respond, the deputy commander continued:
"In fact, it is not only our regiment that has encountered this situation. Many reorganized regiments that are trying to absorb new soldiers have it, but we are the most watched."
"... Handle this matter yourself. Is there any other good news?"
"Yes, I went to the Ecclesiarchy bishop to argue my point of reason and seized the right to use the weapons and vehicles that were brought out."
"You alone?"
Hearing this question, he recalled briefly before saying again:
"Also, Attendant Amilia."
You also understand what it means to argue your point of reason.
"What else is there? Tell me everything at once."
"The Adeptus Mechanicus has a protectorate unit that calls itself the "Provisional Titan Guard" and requires us to establish a unified command agreement. The Sisters of Battle have established small chapels in our garrison area based on the previous agreement. Tech-Priest Yolanda has brought a batch of new weapons, Servitors, and Automata..."
As one thing was read out after another, Zhang Ge felt like he was Li Yunlong who had fallen into a US military armory.
Wait, shouldn't we be suffering heavy losses and covered in gloom after a battle, not even knowing where to gather ammunition?
How do we only occupy the first four words? Who is trying to harm me?
"Is there anything urgent that I must handle personally?"
"Two things. The first is on the Adeptus Mechanicus side, and the second is an invitation from a Military Noble."
"Tell me one by one."
"The Adeptus Mechanicus has dismantled several Anti-air Macro Cannons that can still be used normally from the fallen Navy Escort, completed their reuse on mobile chassis, and has taken the initiative to negotiate and say that they agree to hand over one of the 457.2mm caliber cannons to us, but they require you to attend the reception in person."
"I'm not going. They have always regarded equipment as their lives. Who knows what they are planning this time? We can't follow them on everything. They can give it or not. What's the second thing?"
"Um... an anonymous noble lady invited you to a secret meeting, oh, a Military Noble."
Although he could probably guess who it was, Zhang Ge still subconsciously twitched his eyes and replied:
"Is this as urgent as the previous matter?"
The deputy commander chuckled and whistled a frivolous but not excessive whistle, saying:
"It's something that you need to handle personally."
———— 🌟🌟 ————
ps:Support and join my Patreon
patreon.c@om/chenc11 [Remove @]
You can read up to 40 premium chapters.