Chapter 676 07.675: “The Last Company”

Horatio and his party arrived at the position of Krieg’s Death Legion. The ravine-filled position was silent, like a dead cemetery.

The noise of the battlefield has faded, leaving only an unsettling silence.

On the ground, corpses were lying in all directions, some of them were Kriegs, some were Chaos rebels, they were frozen in various postures in the last moments of their lives, many of them had their limbs entangled with each other, maintaining fighting postures of mutual destruction, like solidified sculptures, telling of the tragedy that had once happened.

Blood was splattered wantonly on the black land, forming pools of blood that turned dark red in the dim light and emitted a pungent fishy smell.

Horatio dismounted, and under the close protection of the Death Knights, he slowly drew out his bolter pistol, and in his right hand he tightly grasped the power sword with the decomposition field activated, the sword flashing with a cold light.

His eyes were alert and he walked towards the entrance of the trench with steady steps.

Ever since experiencing the thrilling night raid and ambush last night, his nerves have been tense and every step he takes is full of caution.

After all, in this battlefield full of unknowns and dangers, no one can be sure what terrible thing will suddenly rush out of the trenches.

At the exit of the trench, an engineer shovel was slashed diagonally on the wooden board reinforcing the trench. Under the shovel, a Chaos rebel with half of his head chopped off was sitting slumped.

There were strange symbols tattooed on his head, emitting a creepy aura in the darkness, and the mask made of human skin was dyed sky blue, making it look particularly hideous.

Horatio stepped carefully on the wooden planks at the bottom of the trench filled with corpses, testing every step for fear of triggering hidden dangers, and slowly stepped into the regimental position.

He was thinking in his mind and planned to go to the third command trench first to find out what was going on.

The subsequent infantry, led by Louise, marched in an orderly manner towards the second logistics trench and the first combat trench. Their figures were looming in the dim light, injecting new vitality into the silent trench and foreshadowing the upcoming bloody battle.

Horatio walked extremely carefully, constantly using the bird’s-eye view of Dark Vision to carefully observe the movements ahead, alert to any possible ambush.

The journey was so quiet that it was almost eerie. Apart from the dead bodies everywhere, there was no sign of any other living things.

The trenches were filled with dead bodies, filling the road ahead, and even forming hills of corpses above the ground. There were at least several thousand bodies, and perhaps tens of thousands. The accumulation of remains caused by close combat was shocking.

Blood flowed from the torn wounds, along their hanging arms, and fell onto the wooden boards at the bottom of the trench, making a slight dripping sound, as if it was the last sigh of life disappearing.

The dirty blood mixed with gunpowder seeped through the cracks in the trench wood planks, eventually gathering into bloody streams that swirled around the drainage holes below before slowly flowing away.

Horatio glanced at the cat-ear cave; it was empty. From the traces at the scene, it was obvious that all the Krieg men were holding their ground.

[Are they all killed?] He couldn’t help but feel worried.

With this question in mind, he walked towards the command trench made of quick-setting concrete with more caution.

Arriving in front of the command trench, he stretched out his hand and gently pushed open the open steel door. His muddy boots stepped into the blood-stained quick-setting concrete hardened ground with a dull sound.

Whoosh! A dark figure suddenly rushed out from behind the door like a ghost, at an extremely fast speed, with the weapon in his hand whirring as it whipped towards Horatio’s head.

Horatio’s reaction was extraordinary after surgery. His eyes instantly became as sharp as an eagle’s, and his head jerked to the right, avoiding the fatal blow by a hair’s breadth.

Swish! The engineer’s shovel hit the wall heavily, splashing a string of dazzling sparks, which was particularly eye-catching in the darkness.

Horatio bent his waist and exerted force, immediately grabbed the opponent’s arm, pushed him forward violently, and took advantage of the successful distance to draw the gun with his right hand.

However, this person showed extraordinary fighting qualities. Facing a counterattack beyond the ordinary, he not only did not fall, but instead used the movement of sliding and squatting to skillfully maintain his fighting posture, and quickly pulled out a laser pistol shaped like a Mauser C96 from his waist, all in one smooth move.

But the attacker did not fire his gun, just as Horatio did not.

The two faces wearing gas masks stared at each other, and the atmosphere was so tense that it seemed to ignite the air.

The two sides were in a stalemate for a moment, then the soldier put down his pistol first, slowly stood up, and gave Horatio a standard Sky Eagle salute, and Horatio also put away his weapon.

Because they both recognized each other, both were wearing Krieg uniforms.

“What’s the situation here, soldier?” Horatio asked, his voice slightly muffled through the gas mask.

He reached out and fumbled to press the light button on the wall. In an instant, the dim light illuminated the room.

There were more than a dozen bodies of rebel soldiers lying in disorder on the floor of the room. Blood and other unknown body fluids gathered together and formed a small pool of blood under the action of gravity, which emitted a disgusting smell under the light.

It was also under this light that Horatio could see clearly that the friendly soldier on the opposite side was a Krieg Grenadier.

The grenadier held a sharp engineer shovel in one hand, with blood still lingering on the blade, and a laser pistol in the other. His helmet and mask had steel guards in the shape of death skulls, giving off a cold aura. The marks on his armor indicated that he was a grenadier sergeant.

“Did you kill all these enemies?” Horatio looked at the corpses all over the ground, feeling a little unbelievable.

To be honest, killing a dozen rebel soldiers single-handedly in close combat might be a piece of cake for a super soldier like an Astartes, but for a mortal soldier, this is definitely an unimaginable and brilliant achievement.

The grenadier nodded slightly, his movement so concise that it seemed as if he was unwilling to spend any more effort to acknowledge such an achievement.

“How many people are still alive on the battlefield now?” Horatio continued to ask.

The grenadier raised his hand and gestured the number “93”.

“You, can’t speak?” Horatio couldn’t help feeling a little strange when he saw the grenadier’s strange expression.

The grenadier nodded again, pointed at his throat, and then pointed at the black smoke outside, revealing a hint of helplessness in his movements.

Horatio understood immediately.

[Has your vocal cords been damaged by inhaling poisonous mist during long-term trench warfare on the front line?]
He couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the soldier in front of him, but the cruel reality of the battlefield did not allow him to have too many soft emotions, and he quickly turned his attention back to the serious situation before him.

“Okay, 93 people…” He muttered softly, feeling his scalp tingling.

The original defenders suffered such heavy losses in manpower, and the next battle would undoubtedly be more difficult. The grenadiers walked out of the command post and blew the copper whistle hanging around their necks using the air outlet of their gas masks.

The whistle was sharp and long, echoing in the silent battlefield.

Call! Call!
Dozens of heads popped out from the surrounding piles of corpses. The soldiers who crawled out of the dead were covered in blood and dirt. If they hadn’t taken the initiative to show up and move, there would be no difference between them and the surrounding dead.

They jumped into the command trench nimbly and lined up quickly in front of Horatio in silence. Their military posture and movements were meticulous. Despite the hardships they had experienced, they still maintained their military demeanor.

Horatio did a quick count: ninety-three, no more, no less, just as the grenadiers had reported.

“This is the last company of the 1313th Infantry Regiment,” the grenadier indicated to Horatio using tactical sign language.

The 1313th Infantry Regiment, in the sequence of the Krieg people, does not have those fancy and glorious prefixes like “Guards” and “Royal”, but only a string of cold serial numbers, just like their silent dedication and cold will without asking for anything in return.

“Where’s your colonel?” asked Horatio.

The Grenadier shook his head.

“What about the captain?” Horatio continued to ask.

The Grenadier shook his head.

“You don’t have any officers left in your entire regiment, do you?”

Horatio felt his scalp tingling and a sense of uneasiness surged in his heart.

The Grenadier was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly.

Horatio couldn’t help cursing in his heart: “What the hell! There’s not even one officer in the whole regiment. Where can I go to handle combat affairs? ? ? ]
“Colonel!” The voice of the staff officer suddenly came from behind Horatio.

He turned around and saw the staff officer running towards him quickly, his eyes scanning the soldiers lined up in front of him.

“Staff Officer Clausewitz, this is the last company of the 1313th Regiment. They don’t have a single officer alive. I don’t even know what the mission of the 1313th Regiment is here.”

Horatio’s tone was both mocking and helpless.

After the last round of fighting, a regiment of 3 people now has only 5 soldiers left. A regimental unit has been almost destroyed to only one infantry platoon.

He was a regiment commander, but he was promoted to platoon leader as soon as he took office.

This huge gap made Horatio feel mixed emotions. When he realized this tragic and absurd fact, he almost laughed out of anger, but he finally held it back because he knew that in front of these soldiers who fought bravely for the empire and suffered heavy casualties, it was inappropriate to express such emotions, and it was also disrespectful to the soldiers who died in the battle.

At least he brought 8 reinforcements, didn’t he? The situation hadn’t degenerated to the worst.

“1313 Infantry Regiment…” Staff Officer Clausewitz repeated the name of the regiment, and his tone sounded a little strange.

“What’s wrong?” Horatio keenly noticed the difference and asked.

“This is one of the two infantry regiments which I told you were attacked on parade.

The 1313 Infantry Regiment is a member of the 15th Siege Army, which was originally the 15th Siege Regiment. It was an old regiment with a long history and was also a meritorious regiment in previous expeditions.

However, while representing the Krieg Death Legion at the military parade, the 1313th Infantry Regiment was attacked by rebels and fallen knight families, and suffered heavy losses.

In order to cover the breakout of the 1314th Infantry Regiment, which remained relatively intact during the raid, they all stayed behind to cover their retreat. The battle report at the time showed that all members of the 1313th Infantry Regiment, from the colonel to the soldiers, were killed.

Later, due to the fierce fighting situation and the large number of reinforcements, I thought that the 1313th Infantry Regiment had been disbanded.

It now appears that General Blücher has finally reorganized the regiment and deployed it to the Passchendaele-Ypres line,” Staff Officer Clausewitz explained in detail.

“Where are your military flags?” Horatio looked around. Since he hadn’t seen any fluttering military flags when he came here, he couldn’t be sure which side the position belonged to.

As soon as this question was asked, the 93 soldiers in front of him suddenly became agitated. Although they did not make any sound, their hands gripping the steel guns trembled slightly due to the force, their joints turned white, and there was a sound of slight trembling of bones, showing their inner excitement.

Only the grenadier in front of him looked relatively calm.

“It was captured by the enemy during the fierce battle on parade,” the grenadier gestured.

“An infantry regiment without a regimental flag.” Horatio shrugged and sighed.

Losing the regimental flag is a very shameful thing and a betrayal to the God-Emperor, not to mention a regiment like Krieg that is full of faith and fearless.

The soldiers who lost their regimental flags must have felt more painful than if they were killed.

“Colonel, don’t worry. Our staff team will fully assist you in rebuilding the 1313th Infantry Regiment.” Staff Officer Clausewitz said quickly.

“There are 1313 people left in the 93th Infantry Regiment. Which regiment is commanded by Military Supervisor Commissioner Farida Hood? How many people are left?” Horatio asked, trying to quickly understand the surrounding military situation.

“The Military Supervisory Committee is in charge of the 1314th Infantry Regiment that successfully broke out of the military parade. The staff there told me that there are still 1314 officers and soldiers left in the th Infantry Regiment, most of whom are artillery and baggage logistics, and the infantry losses are also heavy.

However, the 1313th Infantry Regiment now has more than 8000 soldiers to reinforce it, and the personnel officer will recruit new reinforcements tomorrow.” Staff Officer Clausewitz reported quickly.

“Captain…Captain!” Louise rushed over from the first battle trench through the communication trench, and her way of addressing Horatio changed accordingly.

“What’s wrong? Louise.”

Horatio asked, feeling a sense of foreboding at Louise’s anxious tone.

“I just observed from the trench lookout that the enemy is gathering troops in the trenches! The motive is unknown!” Louise said breathlessly.

(End of this chapter)