On Zhang Ge's side.

After marching for some time, the troops finally clashed with a sizable enemy ground force.

Even with the support of the Land Battleship and artillery, six Titans, along with Knight Armigers, easily annihilated the relatively small enemy detachment of about ten thousand—other units hadn't even had a chance to get involved.

However, that didn't mean the subsequent operations would be equally effortless.

Rather, viewed from another angle, the fact that this alone was a detachment of what appeared to be mere scout fodder sent to face them was indicative of the brutal battles to come; the deployment of even one thousand enemy troops signaled something much larger ahead.

With that mindset, the unit did not rashly engage after sensing they would soon encounter the enemy's main forces. Instead, they tentatively dispatched several small contingents to launch multiple small-scale attacks toward the enemy.

Theoretically, these attacks were not intended to achieve any significant victory but were simply aimed at getting as close to the enemy as possible to gather intelligence about their deployment and composition.

Yet, the gap between reality and the paper plan seemed to reveal itself almost immediately.

Many reports came back stating that:

Even though they conducted relatively low-intensity feints, the numerically superior enemy would still retreat after only two or three exchanges, giving up their positions.

Moreover, and crucially, not a single one of the small units deployed to the front lines had encountered enemy heavy fire—considering the enemy should have been aware of the newly deployed Warlord Titan on the Imperial side, their intercepting forces could not possibly be lacking in sufficient heavy weaponry. So, where had all the heavy firepower gone?

As more similar reports piled into the command post, the several senior officers holding a brief operational meeting began to untangle the situation and ultimately reached a conclusion that was somewhat ridiculous:

Despite the overwhelming numerical superiority of the enemy and the Iron Warriors' usual proficiency in offense, they seemed, for some reason, to have opted against offensive action and adopted a passive defensive stance against the Imperials.

Was it the deterrent effect of the Titans? But in the face of a Titan, wouldn't sitting still lead to a quicker demise? This didn't add up—could the enemy have some plot that they hadn't considered?

However, the truth was far less complex than the strategists had envisioned.

This misunderstanding arose from a discrepancy in information.

After realizing that the supposed "one Titan" in the intelligence reports actually turned out to be six, the commander of the Iron Warriors decided to treat the information as worthless.

Come on, how could such a large, towering machine that could be heard for dozens of kilometers when it fired be misidentified as a single machine? If they were capable of such a blunder regarding the Titans, how credible could the rest of their intelligence be?

Consequently, the assumption that the enemy's numbers did not exceed forty thousand was also completely overturned.

Based on the reality he faced, the Iron Warriors commander derived a conclusion he believed to be more accurate:

He was likely confronting a battle group at least as large as his own, composed of more elite troops, and reinforced by a considerable number of Titans and Knights.

If he replaced the imagined enemy with that more formidable assumption, many of the unexplainable dilemmas began to fit together.

Damn it, a swarm of bugs.

While rejoicing in his keen insight before large-scale engagements, he quickly adjusted his operational plan.

What followed only further validated the Iron Warriors commander's suspicions:

Multiple forward positions situated far apart simultaneously came under assault from the enemy forces.

The first wave of the assault spread over such a wide range, leading to the realization that the enemy's scale was indeed vast.

With this thought, he issued defense time requirements down to the minute for each forward position while promising that any forces withstanding the attack could retreat at their discretion to preserve their strength.

If he truly faced an enemy group consisting of millions, then the lifespan of several forward positions during a full-on assault was essentially counted in seconds; any notions of retreat could be disregarded.

But they were not just hundreds of thousands yet—Zhang Ge and the others could scarcely gather even tens of thousands, factoring in the Skitarii; they could at most muster approximately twenty thousand, with the reconnaissance units numbering only in the dozens to hundreds.

This situation meant that those forward positions easily held out beyond the defense time requirements, subsequently retreating as promised while leaving behind a bewildered Astra Militarum.

This loop continued for several iterations until the reconnaissance units dispatched could finally see the enemy's main defensive line being constructed.

By that point, the Imperial forces no longer dared to push further; after breezing through the front lines, it felt almost disrespectful to continue.

Throughout this ongoing process, their suffered casualties were so insignificant that they could practically be ignored. The clashes to take the forward enemy positions could be described as nearly bloodless victories.

Winning was too easy; it felt exceedingly odd. Each successive advance only increased the high-ranking officers' unease.

Finally, even the most aggressive among them began to increasingly lean toward the notion of pausing the advance after securing the forward positions.

In fact, if it weren't for repeated simulations and discussions confirming that the enemy was not utilizing some method to lure them deep within, the various legions might not have dared to swallow these forward positions whole.

Aren't you supposed to make some noise, create some trouble? You genuinely let us take your forward positions so smoothly?

By the time the last enemy point was cleared, that question arose in the minds of officers at various levels collectively.

Despite their opponent being a notorious Chaos warband—or even traitor legions—how could the operational intensity seem less than an actual suppression campaign?

Zhang Ge was one of the members of the vanguard, eager to engage in battle only to find, after half a day's fighting, that not only had no one died, but he hadn't even run out of his carry ammunition.

This situation was uncomfortably skewed, prompting him to temporarily abandon frontline combat to head toward the joint command post of the rear legions, needing to clarify what on Terra had transpired.

Coincidentally, at the very moment this thought crossed his mind, a message carried by a messenger was delivered into his hands.

The contents requested his presence at the command post.

It seemed he was not alone in feeling perplexed about the current state of affairs.

Zhang Ge burned the parchment, contemplating inwardly.

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