Donetsk III was a desolate, rocky planet.
Its surface was covered in barren rocks and dust, with almost no atmosphere, leading to extreme temperature fluctuations; scorching like a furnace during the day and freezing like an ice cellar at night.
The planet's surface was riddled with countless meteorite craters and rifts; there were no signs of life here, not even the most resilient microorganisms could survive.
If not for the Space Necrons' tomb world hidden on the planet, this world would be utterly worthless to the Empire.
Aside from the Space Necrons' tombs, Donetsk III was extremely poor in mineral resources.
There were almost no valuable minerals in the planet's crust, and the few metal veins occasionally discovered had extremely low content, making their extraction costs far exceed their value.
The planet's environment was so harsh that it was almost unsuitable for any form of life, lacking water, having a thin atmosphere, and extremely high radiation levels, causing any unprotected organism to die within a short period.
During the Empire's early surveys of this Star District, Donetsk III had already been marked as a worthless, desolate world.
The survey team's report described the planet briefly and coldly: "No resources, no life, no value."
Consequently, the Empire almost completely ignored the planet's existence for the next few centuries; it became an inconspicuous grey marker on the Star District map.
If it weren't for Alex's plan to develop the entire Sub-Sector and dispatch personnel to scout it, Donetsk III might not have been noticed by the Empire for another thousand years.
This was, in fact, the result of the Space Necrons' careful calculations back then.
After the War in Heaven, the Silent King made a decisive strategic choice: the entire race would slumber, letting time kill their greatest enemy—the Aeldari Empire.
Thus, all Necron dynasties responded to the Silent King's call, began constructing their tomb worlds, and entered a long slumber, awaiting a future awakening.
However, the Space Necrons also realized that their slumber would span tens of millions of years, or even longer.
During this long period, if not concealed, their tomb worlds could very likely be discovered by other civilizations, leading to premature exposure.
To avoid this, the Space Necrons meticulously selected the most remote, barren, and harsh planets in the Galaxy to build their tomb worlds.
The Space Necrons utilized these planets' natural conditions, burying their tombs deep underground or hiding them in extreme natural environments, ensuring they would not be easily discovered before the Great Awakening.
It proved that this decision by the Space Necrons was extremely wise.
During their sixty-million-year slumber, although their thoughts and memories gradually degraded due to the passage of time, and some individuals' consciousness even became blurred, the vast majority of tomb worlds successfully evaded external attention.
Only a very few tombs were discovered prematurely due to accidents or extreme circumstances, and these discoveries were often fleeting, failing to cause substantial impact on the Space Necrons' overall plan.
However, as the galactic situation became increasingly turbulent, the Space Necrons' slumber was gradually broken.
In recent years, more and more tomb worlds have begun to awaken, and the Space Necrons have returned to the galactic stage.
But these are side notes; for the Expeditionary Force at this moment, the planet's barrenness and harsh environment are, in fact, a good thing.
Donetsk III's surface was incredibly desolate, with no valuable resources, and no ecology or facilities that needed protection, meaning the Imperial Army could unleash its firepower without restraint, utterly destroying all obstacles.
Many times, the Imperial Army's firepower projection was not insufficient, but rather because important resources, infrastructure, or strategic locations existed on the target planet, forcing Commanders to act cautiously to avoid irreparable losses.
However, here, these concerns were entirely absent.
From the moment the landing operation began, the Imperial Fleet in orbit never ceased its bombardment of the surface.
Macro Cannons, lance weapons, plasma bombs… countless destructive weapons poured down from space, turning the surface into a sea of fire.
The Space Necrons' ground structures were originally the only conspicuous landmarks on this desolate planet, but under the Imperial Fleet's continuous bombardment, these ancient structures were completely destroyed, reduced to ruins.
The power of the bombardment was so immense that the area where the Necron structures were located had been blasted into a giant lava lake, with scorching magma flowing across the surface, as if a planet was bleeding.
According to the latest battle report Alex received, the intensity of the bombardment had even affected the planet's geological structure.
The planet's continental shelf showed significant subsidence under the continuous bombardment, and crustal fissures spread for hundreds of kilometers, as if the entire planet trembled under the Imperial Army's firepower.
This scale of destruction was not common in Imperial Army military operations, but for a desolate world like Donetsk III, it was the most suitable choice.
But this was still not enough for the Imperial Army, because the Space Necrons' army continued to emerge from underground, launching attacks on the Imperial Army.
As the fierce battle continued, the Second Strike Group's casualties had exceeded 30%, and even the Holy War Army, serving as reserves, had been committed to the battlefield.
The casualties of the Third and Fourth Strike Groups were not much less, but overall, the Imperial Army's progress was still pleasing.
At least under the cover of the orbital fleet, the three strike groups had occupied about one-third of the planet's surface and were attacking a plateau where the Space Necrons were entrenched.
Actually, calling it a plateau, it was essentially a former continent, but since there was no water or oceans on this planet, the former continental plains became a plateau.
The Space Necrons' tomb world was built on a plateau, or perhaps when the Space Necrons built their tomb world, there might have been oceans and forests here?
Alex was not a biologist or an environmental geologist; he could not infer what the surface ecology of this planet was like sixty million years ago.
But he could be sure that, if there were no accidents in the future, the planet's surface would only have one type of landform: crystalline ground after solidified lava.
Because the orbital bombardment from space was extending, opening the way for the three strike groups to advance.
According to the strategy formulated by Command, the three strike groups would launch an attack on the plateau where the Space Necrons were located, eventually converging and encircling the Space Necrons' underground tomb, and finally destroying this tomb world.
However, from the current perspective, the military strength prepared by the Empire seems somewhat insufficient.
If no subsequent reinforcements are committed, with only three strike groups, at the current rate of casualties, they might not have enough strength to complete the encirclement.
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