On many occasions, Dantiok takes a serious look at the question: Are these Iron Warriors better suited to defend and build than to attack and destroy?

The War Blacksmith had been thinking about it since he had built his first fortress of his own, but Dantiok never dared to express these thoughts when he was under the command of Perturabo.

There are two reasons for this, first, although the Fourth Legion often sends a variety of troops to various fortresses in the world, but this is all a means of exile of the Gene Prototype to those who have lost or are not taken seriously, and in general, Perturabo's desire to attack and destroy is far greater than that of defense and construction: at least he is in public, it is.

As for the second point: useless thinking like Dantioc was in itself an act of great disgust to the Lord of Steel, and in Perturabo's eyes, the cranky soldier was as useless as blistering steel.

So, although the War Blacksmith felt a sense of accomplishment far greater than destroying a hundred fortress worlds when he saw the fortresses gradually being completed through his hands, he still keenly hid this sense carefully to avoid detection.

He didn't know if his fighting brothers were as disobedient as he was, or if he was really an outlier in the Fourth Legion: and his fighting brothers, and his genetic father himself, were really the ones who valued destruction over creation.

……

Dantiok didn't know.

All he knew was that the company in front of him had indeed repaired the fortress under their feet perfectly, and that their restoration work had gone very smoothly: if Dantioc had led his army to capture the fortress, he thought it would take at least three or five days to get some signs of it, but now the repair work was completed in less than two hours, and it was perfect.

Looking at the two large battalions, whether they were recruits from Olympia or Salamas, commanding like arms beside the rock concrete, construction slaves, and three-story digging machines, the war blacksmith actually felt a certain relief: at least the recruits he taught were not completely separated from the headquarters of the Fourth Legion, and they still had some tacit understanding with their fighting brothers thousands of miles away from blood and customs.

Dantiok didn't want to be the one to splinter the Legion.

But the good mood of the war blacksmith did not even linger for a moment, and when his vision was raised to the gray sky and bullet-riddled caverns in the distance, and the great gaps in the walls, Dantyok could feel his brow rise steeper than the most majestic mountain in Olympia.

The blacksmith of war was like the scene before him, the faint light could not stop the endless gloom, and so did his entire army, the soldiers only numbly threw themselves into their work, while the officers who knew more about the situation walked in the clammy ruins of the fortress, silent.

There is no other reason.

Because here, it's so quiet.

When two battalions and an army of the Empress's Guards landed on the surface of this nameless world, they were greeted by neither friendly hospitality nor frantic retaliation from the enemy, but the airborne capsule and the landing craft came to a dead end beside the ruins of the fortress, sandwiched between the towering castle and the wide river not far away.

Outside the castle, the advance party saw a shocking sight: a Typhon siege tank and at least three RAND raiders lay on the apparently captured position, their armor, gears, and even scars gone, leaving only the rusted structure, as if these mighty engines of war had been abandoned here for thousands of years.

The further you went, the more terrible the situation became: the collapsed walls were not due to the baptism of fire, but more like the steel itself could not withstand the corrosion of time, and the remains of the iron warriors on the ground were either broken into several knots or torn to pieces, the indestructible power armor was split into oxidized fragments, and the bones became the residue that drifted in the air with the wind.

Deeper into the heart of the fortress, Dantiok saw a scene that nearly destroyed his Iron Heart: they saw a long-dead dreadnought mech on the last line of defense, it had melted from the inside out, the chassis had collapsed for unknown reasons, and the interior was empty, except for the organic matter scattered around the steel tomb like nutritious porridge, and the ground was full of trails: everyone knew what it meant.

Dantiok was glad that he had only brought a handful of officers with him, and he heard almost retching sounds in the throats of these veterans of the hundred battles, and the squeaky anger of Kylvallen's fists clenched.

At this time, everyone discovered that something was wrong: an annihilated and annihilated Astarte company was actually not uncommon in the Great Expedition, but Dantiok and others searched the entire battlefield and did not find the remains of even a single attacker, but traces of battle could be seen everywhere.

In other words, the defenders here did not die with their opponents, and the attackers of the battle were victorious, and even calmly cleaned up the battlefield: until now, they could still lurk in the world.

Over the next minute, Dantyok and his fellow combatants had a brief but heated argument and came to the conclusion that since the Primordials' request was to keep the Sentinel world running, they couldn't retreat for the time being, at the very least, until they figured out what kind of enemy was causing this.

The Astartes' goal was finalized, but the War Blacksmith did not forget that they were accompanied by an auxiliary force from Avalon, and then, to the great confusion of Kyle Wallen, the War Blacksmith persuaded his battle brother to repair the castle, block the news, lay out the defensive line, gather intelligence, and most importantly, invite the mortal officers of the auxiliary forces to meet again.

"After all, he's Erwin: an amazing man."

After agreeing on the location of the meeting with the Avalons in the communicator, Dantiok explained as he quickly checked the repairs to the fortifications along the way.

"Almost the entire Far Eastern Frontier has heard the story of this Elwin, who exemplifies him as a model of the Lords of Avalon: in the beginning, he was nothing more than a mortal native who had been an enemy of the Dawnbreakers, but was pardoned for his outstanding performance in battle, and was incorporated into the Frontier Legion with his troops."

"And then? Then this guy relied on the first impression given to the Dawnbreakers and his excellent combat exploits, step by step from the border legion to the empress guard, it took a total of almost forty years, and now, he is the leader of this pale rider legion, and considering that the chief of these pro-guard legions has always been a part-time job by Lord Morgan himself, then this Elwin legion leader is basically standing at the top of Avalon's mortal system. ”

"It only took forty years to go from a defeated man to more than 10,000 people in the 300 world......"

Dantiok sighed.

"Isn't it incredible?"

"Indeed, it's incredible."

Kyle Valen smiled wryly.

"After all, I've never seen a mortal auxiliary army with the Fourth Legion that can live for forty years."

"From the day you go to the front: forty hours is considered a veteran."

“……”

"Remember to be respectful later, Kyle."

“…… I try my best. ”

——————

"So, are we still following the traditions of the Far Eastern Frontier this time? Lord Dantiok. ”

The Legion Commander Elwin was probably the thinnest, but most confident mortal auxiliaries Kylvallen had ever seen: when he saw the mortal general shake hands with Danteok in a gesture of complete equality, Kelvalren felt like his temples were going to explode.

And when he saw that the war blacksmith of the 14th battalion was not uncomfortable at all, but showed respect for this mortal general everywhere in his words, the one-eyed warlord made up his mind: he would not say anything, just see how these two men performed.

"Tradition? You say smear? ”

Dantiok smiled.

"Of course: after all, we seem to have plenty of time, don't we?"

With this approval, I saw Erwin wave his hand outside the room, and several mortal soldiers carried something like a sand table to the center of this temporary conference room, and pressed the button next to it, and the sand grains in the tray were listed according to the terrain information collected before, with the gravitational device under it, for the next meeting.

And the [smear] in Erwin's mouth is related to this sand table.

In the military system of the Far Eastern frontiers, there is such a tradition: whenever the conditions permit, all military meetings before the Great War, as long as conditions permit, will be on this sand table-like instrument, simulating the possible situation of war, all the participants can speak freely next to the sand table and sharply ask each of their own questions, the senior officer needs to break up the strategic intentions, crumple them, and explain them to his subordinates in detail, and the front-line commanders will also consult their superiors in person about the purpose of some strategic deployments.

In this process, it is inevitable that there will be fierce disputes, so there is a sand-smear session after the meeting: all the participants have to knock down the statue on the sand table and grind it to a flat ground to show that all the holidays in the conference room have been written off, and then, everyone has to work hard according to the strategic deployment that has been discussed, and the three armies will work hard and share the same hatred.

Dantiok had participated in many similar military meetings and sand rituals, and at first, the war blacksmith was dismissive of this kind of face-saving project, but when he saw that there were mortal generals who could point out the shortcomings of the Lord of Avalon's deployment to his face, and that he would continue to be prosperous, Dantiok realized some of the purpose of the Lord of Avalon's ancient method.

Of course, it is said that it is a write-off, but how can a grudge be resolved so easily, and the dirty things in the conference room will inevitably interfere with ordinary interpersonal interactions, and this is just to ensure that when formulating military deployments, there is as little influence as possible from external reasons.

What's more: first, most of the mortals who can participate in military meetings are human spirits, and if someone wants to hide from this group of guys and carry out a so-called after-the-fact reckoning with his enemies, then his actions are difficult to conceal, and secondly, this kind of smearing ritual often has a prefix of less imperial truth.

The vast majority of Avalon auxiliaries, and even a small number of Daybreakers, would often place a statue of Morgan in the conference room before such a meeting, and everyone swore to this statue that they would abide by the principles of the sand ceremony 100 percent, but anyone who violated it would be discovered and discarded by the Original: this method that sounded very unreliable was extremely effective, at least for the Dawnbreakers and Avalons, a considerable number of them really believed in this, The Spider Empress has been sung up and down the Far Eastern frontier in a position between personal idolatry and deity.

"Of course, this sand smear ritual actually has a potential use."

Dantyok lowered his voice and whispered to his fighting brother beside him.

"In this free-spirited environment, it was easy for the participants to discern the best and most trustworthy of them by comparing them with the actual situation: then when the situation was so urgent that a military meeting could not be held, this group of people would naturally become the core of the chain of command, and this is how many of Avalon's officers were excavated."

"We want democracy, but we also want centralization."

“…… Makes sense. ”

Kylvallen nodded, and he turned to Elwin, who was talking: the Iron Warrior couldn't imagine how this mortal general could have found so much convincing and reliable data in such a short period of time.

"So, two: through the field investigation of the fallen part of the fortress and the professional analysis of the relevant instruments, as well as my personal investigation of all the battlefield sites, I can draw the following exact conclusions."

Erwin's pale fingers wrote and drew on the sand table, leaving shallow marks.

"The alien attack methods used to attack the fortress do not belong to any of the aliens known to the Empire, they are most likely the Heruds mentioned in the intelligence who will intervene in this expedition, and their strength is far stronger than we initially thought."

"These xenomorphs have at least one, or more of their time-related weapons, as time weapons are not equal in strength depending on the number of people killed in battle and the damage to vehicles, and some fighters appear to be only slightly senile, dying from melee weapon damage, while others are dying entirely from old age: this also means that the Heruds have at least one melee weapon capable of threatening Power Armor and Astarte."

"It's about their own characteristics."

The War Blacksmith nodded.

"In the command room, I found the information left by the former company commander, although they could not contact the large army in time due to the interference of the Heruds, but before the death of all the members, they retained all the information they detected with their lives."

With that, the war blacksmith tossed the blood-stained memory disk on the table.

"The Herudians do have their own time weapons, but what is really terrifying about them is the temporal entropy force field they carry: this means that they can make the target fall into aging and corruption as long as they get close to it, and considering the large number of tunnels around the fortress, we can deduce the reason for the loss of the fortress."

"And this force field will stack up as the number of Heruds increases: one Herud can only make the Astarte warriors look slightly old, but when dozens or hundreds of Khrudians are crowded together, they can turn anything to ashes in an instant."

"However, judging from the ruins, the number of these Heruds is not too large."

"As for melee weapons: it doesn't matter, getting close to them is a failure in itself."

Dantiok shook his head, he looked at the thoughtful Elwin.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

The mortal general pondered for a moment.

"First of all, it is prudent to consider that retreating first is naturally the safest option: because all our inferences have not been tested on the ground, they are untenable, and if we can return here with an army of absolute superiority, it is responsible for the lives of our subordinates."

"Avalon's best mortal general, when facing an opponent, would he actually think about how to retreat first?"

There was obvious sarcasm in Kylvallen's words, but to his surprise, instead of being angry, the Avalon in front of him nodded calmly.

"That's right, my lord, no matter what kind of war is fought, I will always give priority to the question of the back of the army: Avalon's army is not afraid of defeat and retreat, and in the face of final victory, the glory of fighting to the death is nothing."

"But the Lord of Steel will not accept any reason to flee without a fight."

Before Danteok could come up with any soothing words, the one-eyed warrior's voice shook the entire conference room.

"You should be well aware of the importance of this sentry world, mortals, not to mention that if this is really an unknown opponent, then we should stay here: a little sacrifice in exchange for real information can avoid more unnecessary sacrifices in the future."

"Judging by the traces, the previous company has been here for at least eight nights: we have six companies, and a whole mortal army of yours."

“…… That's true. ”

Dantiok momentally, this time, he was on Kyle Valen's side.

"Iron Warriors can't flee without a fight, Lord Elwin."

Morgan's love will blink.

"Neither will the Avalons, Your Excellency."

"In that case, pull down all the forces that can fight, put them on heavy garrison, and be ready to evacuate at any time: behind this castle is a strong hill that is wide and completely inaccessible to tunnels, and in front of it is a wide river, and we have one more afternoon to build a defensive line of forts and moats on the other side of the river."

"It makes sense."

Kyle Vallen shouted, and then naturally saw Dantiok next to him.

"The two of us, whose battalion should be stationed on these fortifications?"

"I don't recommend you coming, sir."

Before the blacksmith could speak, Erwin answered Kyle's question, causing the One-Eyed Warlord to look curiously at the mortal, who understood the underlying meaning of Elwin's words: to have Avalon's auxiliaries garrison across the river to meet the first wave of enemy attacks.

This made Kyle Valen laugh.

"Are you sure you don't let Astarte guard the most dangerous place, and let you mortals from Avalon do the job: can you do it better than we do?"

Erwin just smiled, he didn't answer the question head-on.

"To be clear, Lord Kyle: because of the influence of objective conditions, if there is a crisis in the fortifications on the other side of the river, and reinforcements from the fortress need to be dispatched in time, or if there is any military operation in the fortress itself, Astarte's mobility is much higher than that of mortals, and if we just nest in the battle line, the gap between us is not so big."

"In this case, the gap is big for that task. Naturally, it will be arranged for the Astarte warriors, and the small gap will naturally be left to our mortal army: there is no so-called optimal solution to war, only suitable and unsuitable. ”

"Even Astarte can't do it all, my lord, if not, why would the emperor create twenty Astarte legions with very different styles, instead of all Astartes being the same?"

“……”

Kelvaren's eyes narrowed, he rarely saw anyone mention the Lord of Humanity with such indifference, not even the necessary reverence: among Astarte, such people were rare, let alone mortals?

Furthermore: both Dantiok and the few mortal soldiers of Avalon guarding the gate seem to have turned a blind eye to Erwyn's disrespectful behavior.

This made him a little uncomfortable.

"Of course, to be on the safe side, we can also send some Astarte stationed."

“……”

Kyle Valen was silent for a moment.

"So, Avalons, how can you be sure that these mortal armies across the river will be able to maintain their composure in the face of an enemy strong enough to wipe out a company of Astarte?"

"That's not a problem."

Erwin paid a slight salute, but this made the One-Eyed Warlord frown: he felt a strong arrogance in it, that is, the arrogance of not being afraid of these powerful warriors at all, but treating himself as a warrior of the same rank as Astarte, which was clearly reflected in Erwin's words.

"I will personally go to the other side of the river and direct the next defensive operation."

"Personally?"

The one-eyed warlord smiled.

"As a general, go to risk in person?"

Erwin smiled back.

"Personally, I have always believed that a general should think calmly, but what a general should do more is to make it clear to each of his soldiers that he is with them."

"He is no different from them."

——————

"It's not just the officers of Astarte who have the courage to go to the front, Your Excellency."

"We, the Queen's Guard, have been treated the same as Astarte by the grace of Lord Morgan, with the same respect and the same pride, so since we don't have the power of Astarte, we can only have more ......."

"Enlightenment."

——————

(There is a shift in the evening, try to finish this plot, and jump back to the main line of Morgan and Peturabo, but don't wait, I'm not sure when I'll finish writing, this plot still needs a lot of words, after all, although Avalon's auxiliaries are only supporting roles, there will be a big scene in the future, and I still have to foreshadow it every day)

(End of chapter)