"If you do this," Grace reiterated, her voice strained, "you will soon provoke Eywa's retaliation."
Wesker had already learned about Pandora's planetary consciousness, Eywa, from Marcus, and Grace's slightly threatening words did not faze him. "Isn't it just a beast tide?" he scoffed. "Let's see if the flesh and blood of the creatures on this planet are tough enough, or if our soldiers have enough guns, cannons, and ammunition." Waving his hand, Wesker gestured for the nearby PDF Soldiers to single out some of the RDA employees. After smashing the heads of a few resisting individuals with rifle butts, the remaining personnel quickly quieted down.
"What are you going to do?" Supervisor Parker, also among these captives, stammered his question.
Wesker did not answer, but instead had the PDF Soldiers escort all of these individuals back to the command tower of Hell's Gate Base. By this time, the initially damaged command tower had undergone preliminary repairs, allowing them to remove their masks and breathe naturally. Under the coercion of the PDF Soldiers, these RDA employees began to reactivate the undamaged defense systems within Hell's Gate Base according to Wesker's orders.
At the same time, a message flashed into the command tower. "This is the USM Valor. The Entrepreneurship Star has been occupied, and the Tyrant Legion has zero casualties." Along with the message, a combat video of the Tyrants sent by the Courage also appeared on the screens. Looking at the combat power of the Tyrants displayed, Wesker nodded, then issued an order. "Leave fifty basic Tyrants to guard the Star of Entrepreneurship, and redeploy all remaining Tyrants to Hell's Gate Base."
"Courage received. Estimated redeployment time: one hour." The RDA employees operating the defense facilities felt a surge of bitterness, as even the Entrepreneurship Star had been completely occupied. Now, they had entirely lost any capacity for resistance. On Pandora, light-years away from Earth, their lives were completely controlled by an unknown force.
Sitting in the command tower, Wesker continuously coordinated the actions of the PDF Soldiers, swiftly erecting sufficiently strong positions and fortifications. Meanwhile, the Courage slowly descended onto the open ground that the PDF Soldiers had cleared. It delivered a total of four hundred and fifty Tyrants. However, the Courage also brought some grim news. "A large-scale beast tide has been detected approaching." During its recent flight, the Courage and other aircraft had discovered an unknown number of massive beast tides converging on Hell's Gate Base.
"That was quite fast," Wesker remarked, somewhat surprised, not expecting the beast tide to arrive so quickly. "All soldiers, immediately enter defensive posture, defending around the positions and fortifications." Wesker looked at the virtual map in front of him and issued the command. The other PDF officers began to arrange specific tactical deployments. At this time, nearly one hundred thousand fully armed PDF Soldiers had gathered around Hell's Gate Base. There were also a considerable number of infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks. Most of these were equipment from the Resident Evil world, with only a small portion produced by Hive World Avarax.
Upon receiving the order, all PDF Soldiers immediately took cover within the defensive fortifications, pointing their weapons towards the outer perimeter of the defensive line, in the direction from which the beast tide was approaching. "Point the defense systems at those beast tides." Wesker swept a cold gaze over the RDA employees, who could only comply. No one doubted that if they refused, they would be thrown into the beast tide and torn to shreds by the person in front of them in the next second.
"Rumble!" The sound of the massive beast tide trampling the ground grew closer and closer, and the PDF Soldiers hiding in the defensive fortifications could clearly feel the ground shaking. Looking up, many flying beasts were already circling above the positions, waiting for an opportunity to snatch a lone unlucky soul, drag them into the sky, and then smash them into a bloody pulp. Many of these PDF Soldiers were veterans who had survived the Tyranid war, and they had long anticipated this kind of airborne threat. Under their warnings, all PDF Soldiers obediently stayed within the fortifications, avoiding any aerial attacks.
"Whoosh—" The missile launcher on the high wall of the base fired with a roar, its projectile landing deep in the forest.
"Boom!!!" Deafening explosions instantly echoed across the battlefield.
"All units! Open fire!" Using the missile explosion as a signal, the PDF Soldiers stationed in the defensive fortifications began their coordinated attack. Crimson laser beams and a torrent of metal projectiles instantly surged from the positions, tearing towards the beast tide that had not yet fully emerged from the forest. "Screech—" The sound of bullets tearing through flesh continuously rang out. Infantry fighting vehicles and tanks also roared to life, their large-caliber autocannon rounds and high-explosive ammunition relentlessly maintaining a heavy suppression. In just one minute, thousands of Pandora's beasts, of various colors, were torn into bloody fragments.
"Bah! Compared to the tyranids, these beasts could be beaten by children!"
"For the Emperor! For the Imperium! For the Governor!!!" The PDF Soldiers roared, unleashing their fury on the beasts before them. In their eyes, this was not a sinful invasion, but a cleansing operation to purge xenos and lower beasts. Conquering a new world for the Imperium would ensure that everyone present would be remembered by history; this was an incomparable glory.
Aside from the exceptionally excited PDF Soldiers, the Tyrants standing at the forefront of the battlefield were surprisingly quiet. Their crimson eyes focused on the beast tide, which was charging forward despite massive casualties. The Tyrants then raised the various heavy weapons in their hands, and high-power elemental flamethrowers ignited. Blazing flames instantly covered a large area of the battlefield, cooking and even charring the beast tide at the forefront. But the frenzied beast tide did not stop; instead, it trampled over the charred corpses of its brethren and continued its relentless charge. Clearly, under the influence of Pandora's planetary will, Eywa, these beasts no longer feared death.
But the Tyrants would only be more fearless, more ruthless. Under the accumulation of a large amount of flesh and blood, the beast tide finally crashed into the forefront of the defensive line, colliding violently with the unwavering Tyrants. If they were ordinary soldiers, they would have already retreated with the support of friendly fire by now. But to test the true extreme combat capabilities of the Tyrants, Wesker did not order the Tyrants to retreat, but to continue holding their ground.
Among the four hundred and fifty Tyrants, some were melee types equipped with heavy steel armor, wielding a giant shield in one hand and a giant melee weapon in the other. These melee Tyrants stood at the very front, raising their shields to meet the surging beast tide head-on.
"Thud!" The tough hides of the Pandora beasts collided with the steel shields. Under the terrifying brute force of the Tyrants, the impact of small and medium-sized beasts could not shake them in the slightest; the creatures could only climb onto the Tyrants' bodies, constantly biting and tearing at their heavy armor with sharp claws and teeth. All of this was, of course, futile, unable to cause any damage to the Tyrants.
In fact, many crimson tentacles burst from the Tyrants' bodies, emerging from the armor seams. They brutally strangled some annoying small beasts and injected them with the T-Virus and the Nemesis-Alpha parasite.