Amidst the thrilling... well, perhaps not that thrilling.

Wait, where were the pursuing forces?

At this point, Zhang Ge was leading several Titans and a portion of the Armored Spearhead at the very rear of the column, in order to respond to any enemy pursuit. However, from night until daybreak, there was nothing, not even a token air raid.

Aside from being tormented by the temperature and flying sand, forcing them to don helmets, the situation remained unchanged until the column began a short rest at midday.

This even somehow improved Zhang Ge's reputation among the allied forces:

See, even though the regiment under his command is well-funded, they are truly there when needed.

Noticing this and being reasonably certain that no one would be pursuing them, Zhang Ge immediately passed this hot potato on to someone else and went back to driving in the main column himself.

And afterwards, it proved to be, in his opinion, one of his rare correct decisions; the imagined relentless pursuit by the enemy never materialized, even as they moved beyond the planned danger zone.

In fact... if there were a "Most Wanted to See a Certain Camp Leader Die Horribly" leaderboard, the commander of the defensive line they had bypassed would probably be at the very top.

Chaos Space Marines, no, not just Space Marines, but the vast majority of Chaos followers have no bottom line whatsoever. Even if they look like normal people, they might be your closest kin one second and stab you in the back the next. This is a corruption and Flesh-warping of the mind and soul.

This corruption is more complete than chemical substances like drugs. It can make people more ferocious and unscrupulous than drug addicts in the throes of withdrawal. At least addicts have rehabilitation centers to try to get them clean, but the only way to stop a Chaos follower from their Profane Acts is physical termination.

Even for Space Marines.

It's not that after falling to Chaos, they simply changed their allegiance or adopted a different style. These once-noble warriors have been fundamentally twisted at their very core, and their only guiding principle is the whims and dictates of the Dark Gods.

Although the Iron Warriors do not worship a specific Chaos God, instead leaning towards Undivided Chaos, and even reject Flesh-warping mutations granted by the Dark Gods, this does not change the fact.

After mentally preparing himself and considering the pros and cons, that commander betrayed the camp leader he originally served with extreme smoothness, without even needing half a second of extra consideration about the betrayal itself.

So, let alone sending people to pursue, if he could, he might even directly tell people to temporarily join Zhang Ge's regiment. After all, if that camp leader didn't die, he was most likely next... Of course, after the first defeat, even if he didn't betray, he would very likely die anyway, which is precisely why he chose to betray.

What's more, five million cultists and a hundred Space Marines are enough to form a new Warband. As long as that camp leader dies, wouldn't the sky be the limit? Firing two shots into the sky is all that's owed to the old employer's resources; there's nothing more to it than that.

On the other end, this commander's message reached the camp leader even earlier than Zhang Ge's column.

The camp leader had controlled his subordinates for so many years, so he naturally knew what kind of state they were in. Those harsh punishments were precisely for that reason... Honestly, after reading the whole message, although he did not suspect the overall picture, he did suspect that the officer he sent out had fabricated some details.

For example, five million Astra Militarum. If there really were that many, and they had a Titan, how long could a mere six million cultists hold out? Surely, an urgent request for reinforcements would have come with this information.

The real number, he estimated, was probably around one million? Considering that the previous waste hadn't completely wiped out the besieged enemy forces, this one million should also be accompanied by twenty or thirty surviving Space Marines. If you calculated it that way, the forces he had given him would be able to hold them off.

As for the enemy forces that the intelligence mentioned had slipped through, the camp leader naturally noticed them, but did not pay too much attention to them. A few slipping through was fine; with such a large discrepancy in the intelligence, it was normal to be caught off guard and expose some weaknesses. He really couldn't blame him for that.

A small group of enemies wouldn't pose a threat even if they came from the rear. A few thousand? Or ten thousand? He estimated that ten thousand would be a lot. Even with the current strength of the Rearward Defensive Cordons, they could completely handle it on their own.

However, out of caution, he still extracted an additional ten thousand from his existing forces, which were already slightly strained after drawing out six million, to reinforce the rear lines.

Originally, there were still plenty of troops to spare, but not long ago, the defenders of Deadwood Sector seemed to have received a large number of reinforcements, temporarily stabilizing the Imperial Fists' crumbling defenses, and even allowing them to launch a Counter-offensive in Key Zones, forcing him to also send troops to the front lines, which led to the current embarrassing situation where ten thousand was considered a large number.

Thinking of this, he felt even more animosity towards his Fated Nemesis.

And regardless of his thoughts, at this time, Zhang Ge's group and their forces had resumed marching.

During the quiet and rapid advance, the number of officers at all levels who took out maps and tried to find a landmark in the desert to confirm their location clearly increased. Even many of the regimental commanders repeatedly confirmed the situation with the Imperial Fists Champion:

Are you sure you're not leading us the wrong way?

Because it was too quiet. There wasn't even an intercepting force to be seen, let alone a pursuing force. What, weren't nearly two hundred thousand people and six Titans worth the Iron Warriors' attention? Or had they just happened to slip into a Defensive Lacuna?

Compared to the above two situations, the possibility of taking the wrong road and going in the wrong direction was actually more believable.

However, these questions all received the same firm reply from the Imperial Fists Champion:

That's right, this is the way.

Although he was also very confused about the current situation, there was no way he could misjudge a direction, could he?

Helpless, the troops could only continue to advance amidst a mixture of tension and anxiety.

This situation continued until one day, when the Reconnaissance Detachment that had been sent out returned and finally reported the discovery of enemy forces.

Judging from the few photos, if it wasn't due to Warp Distortion, then the defenses that could be seen... wouldn't be called impregnable, but at least they could be described as sparse and extremely lax—this sparsity was in relation to the power they currently possessed.

It was as if they had no idea they were coming.

But how was that possible? Surely the people on the previous defensive line weren't all blind.

However, since they had already arrived here, and that Space Marine Champion firmly believed that his judgment was correct, the various regiments gradually prepared for battle.

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