The third force, organized by squads, quickly split into 56 twelve-man Kill-teams.
They advanced cautiously into the compartments, weapons at the ready.
The firefight was not far away, and everyone was on high alert; any slackness could lead to the death of the entire squad, as close-quarters combat offered little room for error.
Shield Guards covered the heavy boarding party as it advanced, with breaching axemen close behind, and two Voidsmen-at-Arms following in a cross formation.
Scouts from the Breakers squad deployed C.A.T. units and Servo-skulls for reconnaissance.
These agile technological constructs could provide them with a certain degree of early warning.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms squads and Sailors were mixed, the former carrying gleaming bayonets, the latter accompanying them on the flanks, armed with sharp Sailor knives.
Upon engaging the enemy, after the Voidsmen-at-Arms unleashed a volley, the Sailors would charge forward fanatically into melee.
Horatio, positioned 150 meters behind the annihilation squads, used the Hand of Command for micromanagement and reconnaissance, advancing in step with the leading squads.
A twelve-man elite Breakers squad served as his personal bodyguard.
In nearby compartments, five Voidsmen-at-Arms squads were responsible for perimeter security and served as reserves.
His position further back did not mean he was safe; he could be attacked at any moment by invaders appearing from unknown locations.
The clearing squads at the front also could not guarantee that they would not miss anyone; who knew which bulkhead the enemy axemen would cut open and pour through.
"Enemy contact!"
The Breakers squad directly ahead encountered Blood Pact Soldiers, and those individuals with bizarrely painted faces charged towards the boarding party.
"They've made it this far?" Horatio frowned, his brow tightly furrowed.
His position was on the outer side of the Port Macro cannon Compartment 4, directly below the command platform.
The enemy reaching this point indicated that the situation inside was indeed grim.
The Shield Guard's twin-linked heavy shotgun fired, the pellets tearing the first charging individual and the person tightly pressed behind him into fragments.
Other enemies surged forward, and a Naval Heavy Axeman brought his axe down on the head of a leading Blood Pact Soldier, the sharp breaching axe splitting the man, along with his spiked helmet, into two.
Under the immense impact, his eyeballs rolled out of their sockets, trailing a string of tissue.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms squad advancing directly also began to engage the invading Blood Pact Army Soldiers, utilizing the compartment's structure.
Inside one of the main compartments, which was a necessary thoroughfare, eight Sailors were pressed against the bulkhead, poised for a cross-formation breakthrough, while two others were further back, covering the compartment and reporting real-time conditions to their teammates.
Two Sailors had already sacrificed themselves; as a reconnaissance team, they had charged in to scout the enemy's firepower deployment before their deaths, briefly dispelling the 'fog of war' for Horatio.
It was during those precious few seconds that Horatio completed the targeting.
"Sailor Squad 17, I have marked the enemy positions for you, prepare stun grenades."
"Yes, Sergeant." The Sailor squad leader immediately used hand signals to instruct the Sailor standing opposite him to retrieve a stun grenade from his waist.
Then, he peeked out from behind the compartment, and was soon surprised to discover a large, red arrow-shaped phantom above the enemies' heads.
The officer had indeed marked out all the invaders' locations; the sacrifices of his subordinates were not in vain.
"Can you see that red arrow?" he asked the Sailor opposite him.
The other party nodded.
The Sailor squad leader roughly understood the officer's prowess and whispered to the Soldiers around him, "Kaelo, your left. Phil, your right. Just shoot where the red arrows are."
The Sailors nodded, all huddled close, Laser Guns ready in their hands.
The squad leader held up three fingers and began to count down.
He gave a thumbs-up, and the Sailor opposite extended his arm, throwing the stun grenade inside.
Boom!!—
Amidst an explosion of bright light and piercing noise, the squad leader led the charge, entering first.
He quickly fired bursts at the enemies marked with red arrows directly in front of him.
His subordinates on both the left and right sides followed behind him in alternation, coordinating skillfully to provide covering fire from both sides, rapidly eliminating all marked enemies.
Those Blood Pact Soldiers blinded by the stun grenade either fired wildly or retreated behind cover, thinking the Sailors wouldn't know they were hidden there.
A Blood Pact Soldier, who had retreated behind a wall, still had blurry vision.
He heard footsteps and planned to wait until his vision recovered before catching the Sailors off guard.
However, the approaching Sailor directly plunged a bayonet into the Blood Pact Soldier's abdomen.
The traitor looked astonished, futilely grasping the bayonet piercing his abdominal cavity, and slid weakly down the bulkhead, leaving a smeared trail of bright red blood on the gray steel plate.
The firefight was very brief; only one Sailor was wounded in the shoulder by random Laser Gun fire, while eight invaders were killed.
Seeing that the front-line enemies were all dead, the Blood Pact Soldiers held back for support began to retreat, attempting to set up a new defensive line in the next compartment.
The Sailors immediately knew their movements from Horatio's commands and rushed towards the phantom marks Horatio had designated.
They pressed against the bulkhead, extended their gun barrels, and fired at the backs of the retreating Blood Pact Soldiers, eliminating the remaining five stragglers.
The squad leader raised his hand, signaling his subordinates to continue advancing and clear the next compartment.
They were just a small cog in the entire battle.
Looking across the entire area, there were fifty or sixty other squads like them, steadily advancing under Horatio's command.
Even if he couldn't simultaneously attend to all locations where firefights were occurring, Horatio could always use the Hand of Command to mark various phantoms and warnings for the Soldiers in the more critical combat zones.
In a compartment on the other side, near the corridor.
"Squad 16! Engaging enemy ahead! Squad 17, provide support from the flank!" Horatio coordinated the movements using the sound array system in conjunction with the Hand of Command.
He could clearly see the situation of all squads within his command radius from a top-down perspective, and this feeling of having the entire situation in his grasp made the Soldiers feel secure.
They found that this officer could always, after a squad engaged the enemy, dispatch the nearest units to flank them, giving them a strong sense of reassurance.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms, with their complete information superiority, charged from an unexpected flank, catching the enemies off guard.
They charged within five meters of the enemy, unleashed a deadly volley, and then immediately launched a bayonet charge.
The Voidsmen-at-Arms roared, their sharp monomolecular bayonets plunging into the invaders' chests like knives through cheese.
Their momentum was overwhelming; many enemies were knocked down.
Those in front continued to charge, while those behind kicked the enemies attempting to get up, knocking them back to the ground.
They stepped on the enemies' bodies, plunging their bayonets in, and twisting the blades with anger and hatred.
Although the Imperial Navy is the branch of the military with the largest caliber artillery in the entire Imperium, its officers and Soldiers place great importance on the use of cold weapons.
This is in stark contrast to the Imperial Guard, who would first 'plow' the ground with a dozen rounds of artillery before charging.
Inside the compartments, there was no artillery support, and in close-quarters combat, cold weapons were sometimes more effective than firearms.
If one were to calculate, Sailors might be the mortal troops with the highest frequency of close-quarters combat.
Compared to the Laser Gun itself, Sailors trusted their gleaming bayonets and Sailor knives more.
Launching a bayonet charge in narrow corridors would be a huge morale blow to the opposing side, forcing many enemies to abandon their defenses and begin to retreat.
At the same time, the Imperial Navy's supplies were relatively abundant, and the food for Sailors and crew members was far better than that of the Imperial Guard Soldiers.
Under normal circumstances, there was no situation of feast or famine, and they also maintained and serviced ship equipment daily, thus all of them were robust and burly.
This was even more true for the Breakers, who were full-time Soldiers.
Their Void Boarding Armor was even heavier than Carapace Armor; without a good physique, let alone fighting, just running would leave them breathless.
"Squad 22, you have enemies at your 10:30 position! Squad 24, maintain your current route, and once the enemies ahead pass, you will rush forward, turn right, and cut into their rear!"
"Understood! Sergeant!"
Almost all frontline squads had engaged the invaders; they consisted of both frenzied Evil Cultists and cold, terrifying Blood Pact Soldiers.
Horatio, from his bird's-eye view, surveyed the bloody battle and continuously sent in reserves to replenish the ranks.
The scale of the battle gradually grew, from individual squad engagements to multiple squads engaging a group of enemies in a mass brawl.
This brutal slaughter was thrilling and required immense courage.
Horatio saw three Voidsmen-at-Arms squads on the right flank encounter a large group of Blood Pact Soldiers head-on at a corner.
The distance was so close that there was no time for even a volley; both sides immediately engaged in a bayonet charge.
Two lines of bloody blades plunged into the bodies of opposing Soldiers, and blood flowed like a spring dug into the ground.
Several fell as a result, and the wounded Sailors who were not dead howled, but other Sailors could not help them for the moment, as they had to fill the gaps and engage the enemy; otherwise, once the human wall was torn open, everyone would die.
Sailors in the rear threw impact grenades; these specialized grenades contained numerous fragments but little explosive charge, specifically designed to minimize damage to the ship's hull while maximizing casualties to personnel.
They also used a contact-detonation mode, allowing Sailors to throw them onto the overhead deck plates to trigger an air burst.
The Blood Pact Soldiers on the opposite side fell in swathes, but soon they, too, hurled grenades at the Naval Armed Forces.
However, the Imperial Guard's grenades had a delayed fuse, and after they were thrown, some were daringly tossed back by Sailors like throwing a ball.
But there were still some veteran Imperial Guard traitors who held their grenades for a moment before throwing them, causing casualties to the Sailors with instantaneous detonations.
Sailors in the rear filled the combat positions, and some shorter Void Sailors and naturally short Ratling crewmen crouched low, like loaches, squeezing through the legs of Soldiers engaged in bayonet combat and light gun fire to the front lines of the slaughter.
They wielded broad-bladed Sailor knives and boarding axes, hacking at the enemies' lower bodies and abdomens, while firing pistols with their other hands.
Naval short swords and boarding axes were of moderate length and lightweight, making them very suitable for confined spaces, and combined with pistols, they were even more effective, quickly cutting down the enemy's first row.
The Blood Pact Soldiers with severed legs screamed, then were trampled underfoot by the steadily advancing Voidsmen-at-Arms and finished off by spearmen from the rear.
Sailors armed with naval short spears stood behind the Voidsmen-at-Arms engaged in bayonet combat, seizing opportunities to suddenly thrust their sharp spearheads at the enemy.
Enemy Soldiers continuously fell, clutching their bodies where blood holes had been pierced, spitting blood.
After repelling the enemy, the Sailors formed two ranks, one kneeling and one standing, and unleashed another volley, killing several more.
However, Evil Cultists wielding blood-stained cleavers and Blood Pact Heavy Axemen from the Blood Pact Army also charged forward.
Clad in heavy armor, they relied on their sturdy carapaces, enduring laser fire as they crashed into the Sailors.
Both sides howled as they slaughtered each other, and dismembered limbs and severed heads constantly flew.
This made it difficult for the Sailors to parry with bayonets, forcing more Sailors to advance and engage them in close combat.
Horatio promptly dispatched two Breakers squads to cut into the Blood Pact Army's right rear flank and ordered three nearby mixed Sailor and Voidsmen-at-Arms squads to support the Sailors currently engaged in close combat.