As Warboss Redeye's body was kicked in half, the WAAAGH! energy that had enveloped all the boys' hearts, making them fanatical and fearless, instantly dissipated like a punctured balloon.
On the battlefield, the orks, who had been fighting back and forth with the players as if they would fight until the seas dried and rocks crumbled, suddenly lost the violent red glow in their eyes.
They looked blankly at the weapons in their hands, then at the mountains of their comrades' corpses around them. The courage and fighting spirit that had sustained them seemed to vanish with the death of their Sir.
Unsure which ork turned and fled, the entire ork battle line instantly collapsed. They dropped their weapons, turned and ran, pushing and trampling each other, creating a chaotic scene, completely devoid of their previous ferocity.
As the saying goes, even if there are ten thousand pigs running around, it would take three months to catch them all, let alone these orks who run much faster than pigs.
Seeing this situation, Joker decisively abandoned the idea of annihilating the enemy.
"All units cease pursuit, stabilize the defensive line, and reset the wounded! Let them run!"
If they run, they run, what else can be done... After the battle, inside the temporary command post.
Joker met the two space marines who seemed like gods descended from the heavens. He straightened his smoke-stained military uniform and was the first to give them a standard military salute.
"The resolution of this battle is largely thanks to you two."
"Oh, no, not at all," Andrew waved his hand, saying very humbly, "If you hadn't held these orks here so tightly, even if we had rushed over, this battle barge would probably have been torn to pieces by them long ago."
Joker nodded and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, where are your boltguns and other equipment? Those two weapons should be inseparable from you, right? I still wanted to witness the classic scene of astartes wielding chainswords."
His gaze turned to Caleb, who was silent beside him, and he noticed that the other's right leg was standing in an unnatural posture: "And this one's foot... it seems like there's a problem, is he injured?"
"We don't need those things," Andrew said proudly, spreading his palms, "This, this is the best weapon and tool!"
"I just injured myself by forcefully using a skill I haven't fully mastered yet," Caleb said calmly, "In martial arts terms, it's a training error, minor cases lead to internal and external damage, severe cases lead to exploding and dying... But it's nothing major, with an astartes' recovery ability, I'll be ready to fight again in half an hour."
"Uh..." Unable to think of how to respond to such a player-like statement, Joker decided to decisively change the topic, "The soldiers captured a few live orks, do you two want to see them?"
"See them! Why not?" Andrew immediately became interested, "I really want to see what a captured ork looks like."
Soon, an ork, bound tightly with power shackles, was carried in by several player-soldiers. Although he was still strong and muscular, under the gaze of the crowd, he was cowering and terrified, even cowardly.
"You... I've told you everything you want! You can't kill me!" The ork pleaded in slurred words.
"It's truly hard to imagine," Joker completely ignored the ork's wailing and sighed, "orks, who were fearless and excellent in both courage and tactics on the battlefield just now, became so timid just because of the death of their leader..."
Andrew carefully scrutinized him up and down, and after satisfying his curiosity, he said with a smile, "There are many enemies like this. orks, tyranids, and even some necrons are like this; their soldiers have no initiative. Once their leaders or nodal creatures are eliminated, the entire species will immediately fall into a state of morale collapse, staring blankly, or even fighting among themselves."
Andrew shrugged and continued, "The reasons for this are, on the one hand, because in the Wahammer worldview, high-end combat power is indeed powerful enough to influence the entire battle; on the other hand, of course, it's to make it easier for authors to write exciting hero figures."
"You think, when a nodal creature dies, the enemy completely collapses, which is better to watch than describing a hero killing an entire enemy army from beginning to end... However, this setting also makes things convenient for us, doesn't it?"
"Indeed," Joker nodded in agreement, "Being able to revive after death is so convenient for us to carry out assassinations. The methods we can use can almost be described as reckless..."
At this point, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and his expression changed slightly: "Oh, by the way, Archer! Has the tactical nuclear bomb buried under the command post been dug out yet?"
Archer turned his head, somewhat puzzled: "Not yet, should we dig it now?"
As soon as his voice fell, the command post fell into a dead silence.
The smiles on the faces of Andrew and Caleb instantly froze. Slowly, inch by inch, they turned their heads, looking at Joker with a ghost-seeing expression.
"What did you say?!"
"A tactical nuclear bomb?!"
Facing two gazes that almost pierced through him, Joker cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Ahem," he tried to explain, "This is a necessary measure. To prevent the enemy from also trying to use high-end combat power to raid our headquarters, just like we did to the orks today... We always need a mutual destruction insurance, right? Anyway... we can revive!"
Joker's last sentence was spoken with self-righteousness, as if discussing what to eat for lunch today.
However, this explanation did not reassure the two guys; instead, it made their expressions even more dramatic. Revival is one thing, but no one wants to experience the feeling of being instantly vaporized by a tactical nuclear bomb detonating under their feet.
Moreover, it was not convenient for them to die now. Ordinary players dying and reviving could be explained as recruiting new soldiers, but astartes dying and reviving would be troublesome.
"We're leaving," Andrew's expression instantly switched from shock back to a business-like smile. He grabbed his brother, who was about to say something else, "There are still remaining enemies in the hive city waiting for us to eliminate!"
Before he finished speaking, the two powerful space marines almost immediately turned around and strode out of the command post, their speed so fast that it almost looked like they were fleeing.
"Contact us if anything happens!"
A polite remark floated in from outside the door, and then the figures of the two iron giants disappeared from everyone's sight.