Chapter 337: The Gambler's Fallacy
Within the tomb world, more and more Necron Warriors with no self-awareness were being awakened. Their first target was the Tyranid bio-ships still on Peltar.
A total of fifteen crescent-shaped Necron warships broke through the surface of the planet. Under the command of Zardathusa, they charged as one toward the Tyranid bio-ships in orbit, which outnumbered them several times over.
It seemed the Tyranids had an absolute numerical advantage, but before the Necron warships, they shattered as if made of glass. In the void, the warships of the Necrons still held a position of absolute dominance in the Warhammer universe.
The arc projectors on the Necron warships easily tore through the armor of the Tyranid bio-ships, and their Gauss particle whips disintegrated the flesh and blood into a molecular state. The warships, made of living metal, were also absurdly durable. One after another, Doom Scythes charged at the smaller bio-ships. Their Necron pilots, combined with the ships' own systems, could simulate countless strategies in a matter of nanoseconds. They easily weaved around the Tyranid ships, continuously launching their devastating weapons, while the Tyranids' biological tendrils could not destroy them. The dimensional drives they were equipped with provided them with incredibly powerful propulsion.
In the ship-to-ship engagement, the Tyranids' acid cannons couldn't even breach the Necrons' armor in a short time. Even when the Tyranids tried to ram the Necron ships directly with their predator-tendrils and fangs, the Necron warships were far sturdier than imagined. The Necron ships were fine; it was the Tyranids' tendrils and rams that were destroyed.
The smaller Tyranid bio-ships posed no threat to them at all. The Necrons' unique inertialess drives allowed them to achieve extremely high acceleration without having to exit the warp for interstellar travel.
It wasn't just the Tyranids. In the few large-scale wars between the Imperium and the Necrons, the Imperial Navy had also been exceptionally vulnerable against Necron warships. Often, the loss of an entire fleet would only result in minimal gains. The Necron fleet could easily tear through the formations of Imperial warships. Only the fleets of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which also hid some of their own dark technology, could go toe-to-toe with them.
In less than an hour of fighting, all the Tyranid bio-ships over Peltar were completely annihilated. Only the shattered wreckage of countless Tyranid ships remained in orbit.
However, this slaughter did not assuage the fire of Zardathusa's rage. He observed the current state of the Cryptus System, this territory that had once been his. The humans had long since taken root, disfiguring one planet after another. The human fleet over Asphodel was quietly docked. Over Iphix, an incredibly large Tyranid bio-fleet was in battle. And he also saw the Grand Prism, which had originally belonged to his dynasty. But this Grand Prism had been modified beyond recognition; even he could barely recognize it.
He commanded his fleet to approach Iphix, while at the same time dispatching two warships toward the Grand Prism. While destroying the Tyranid bio-ships, he wanted to reclaim control of the Prism. This was his most powerful weapon now.
Zardathusa's mind may have become arrogant, but he was not stupid. The number of humans and Tyranids in the Cryptus System was too great. With the currently operational forces of his dynasty, it was impossible to clear out all the invaders in the system through conventional means.
In the strategic command center on Asphodel, Lucan and Dante were watching the screen. The Imperium's current augur-detection methods had a hard time accurately detecting the presence and movements of Necron warships. It was only after the Tyranid bio-ships over Peltar were all destroyed that they confirmed Zardathusa had begun his move.
Both Lucan and Dante watched Zardathusa's movements intently. When they saw him heading for Iphix, they were relieved.
After the Hive Fleet tendril over Peltar was so easily annihilated, the Hive Mind also became aware of the Necrons' existence. In the past, the Swarm would have just ignored these creatures, avoiding them if possible. But now, it was different.
The Norn-Queen quickly received information on these Necrons from the wider Hive Mind. Not just this Leviathan tendril, but other tendrils, in the process of devouring worlds, would also occasionally awaken a tomb world. Their combat experience against them had also been stored in the Hive Mind. The Norn-Queen knew how troublesome these creatures were. But now that the Necrons had come knocking, it had no choice but to fight back. The battle was now unavoidable.
The main reason was that the Tyranids had already invested too much biomass on Iphix. If the battle on Asphodel had been a case of Lucan destroying all the biomass the Tyranids could absorb, forcing them to give up, then the biomass on Iphix had not disappeared. It was right there, visible and tangible, it had just all gone to the Zerg.
The biomass had not decreased. In fact, with the Nydus Worms continuously transporting more forces from Char to Iphix, the biomass had accumulated to a level that even the Tyranids could not abandon. The amount of biomass now accumulated on this one planet already exceeded the total of the entire Cryptus System.
At this moment, the Norn-Queen, representing the Hive Mind, was even beginning to exhibit a gambler's fallacy. It had already invested too much capital on this planet. Giving up was impossible. As long as it won this one hand, just one, it could turn the tables and gain an immense amount of biomass. This biomass was even enough to double the size of the Leviathan tendril.
Therefore, the Norn-Queen of Leviathan would absolutely not allow the Necrons to flip its gambling table.
At Lucan's suggestion, Abathur had even ordered the Zerg to deliberately slow the pace of their attack, feigning a slight disadvantage, to give the Tyranids the ability to divert more of their forces to fight the Necrons.
Seeing that their own forces' advance was accelerating, and that the Zerg forces were in a rout, the Hive Mind became even more enthusiastic. It felt as if just one more push was all it would take to completely crush the Zerg.
The area occupied by the Tyranids on Iphix had expanded by at least a third, and this had allowed them to, for once, acquire a considerable amount of biomass. When it seized this biomass from the Zerg, the Norn-Queen felt as if it wanted to cry. This was the first full meal it had had since arriving in this system!
With this newly acquired biomass, the Norn-Queen began to split off a large number of its bio-fleets. Led by a Hive Ship, they rose to meet the Necron fleet. With the addition of the massive Hive Ship and more medium-sized Tyranid bio-ships, they finally managed to slightly slow the pace of the Necrons' slaughter.
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