Interstellar warriors, of course, have their strengths and weaknesses.
Apart from weapons, power armor models, and other hardware configurations, an individual's strength cannot be overlooked.
Veteran soldiers can take on two, even three new soldiers without much trouble; the champion of a platoon is the strongest among a hundred warriors.
Matins and his companion Schneider both were such champions.
Of course, theoretically, the strongest member of a battle group should be the group's champion or its leader, but Matins had been temporarily promoted after the battle group was nearly annihilated. His true strength was at the level of a platoon champion.
Even so, he had a chance against an Orc Warlord.
If it were a warlord who had control over an entire planet, that might be very difficult; but the one at hand was far from that level.
Moreover, his armor, while looking fierce, had probably not yet reached the level equivalent to the Terminator Model Armor among interstellar warriors, so there was a chance of victory.
The issue now was to create an opportunity for a one-on-one combat.
This was difficult, but not entirely impossible.
Many green skins had surged in, and the entrance became very crowded. The Orc Warlord, along with his mechanically enhanced armor, was only a little smaller than a killing can, and was quite squeezed in the underground entrance corridor. Behind and in front of him were more killing cans streaming in as well.
Interstellar warriors, the soldiers of the Storm Corps, were already firing with all their might.
There was no need to worry too much about accuracy; the entrance was clogged with green skins, and even a blind man, holding his gun and firing towards their roar, could hit the enemy accurately.
However, as this continued, a lot of green skins died, but their ammunition was running out rapidly.
Especially after the frontline green skins were almost dead, what they faced now were killing cans that nearly blocked the entrance solidly, having to bend their mechanical knees, slowly and clumsily moving forward.
If killing cans wanted to come in, that meant pure brute forcing. Their body size was only slightly smaller than the height and width of the entrance. They could squeeze in, but they couldn't use their limbs freely at all.
Especially since there were many green skin youngsters following them, if they raised their multibarrel autocannons to open fire, it's difficult to say how many human soldiers they could kill. But surely not many green skins standing in front of it would survive.
But...do green skins care about such things?
The first one to open fire was not the squeezing killing cans, but the flesh rippers. They struggled to find a gap behind the killing cans to thrust their large guns out and then opened fire towards the front.
The killing can, squeezed and uncomfortable, was hit by the blaster gun and in agony, also went berserk and followed with fire from its multibarrel cannon.
Under the intense firepower, neither the interstellar warriors nor the elite of the Storm Corps could risk poking their heads out.
Too close—if the helmet of a power armor was hit by large-caliber autocannon at a distance of twenty to thirty meters in rapid succession, it would still get blown off.
They could only hunker down.
Fortunately, cover made from various metal scrap and rubble was not so easily destroyed.
But even so, they eventually chose to abandon this position.
The killing can, straining to reach their previous location, forcefully pushed some obstacles aside, finally freeing up some space for movement.
However, the next moment, a violent explosion occurred right there!
The thick red light rolled over, and the killing can was immediately immobilized.
Ordinary explosives, of course, would not easily destroy a killing can. But if it were the thermite grenades commonly used by the interstellar warriors, that would be a different story.
The metal-built body of the killing can, hit by a thermite grenade hidden beside the obstacles and hard to spot, was blown into two pieces.
The instantly elevated extreme temperature was unbearable even for armored metal. In an instant, the armor plates began to melt and fray.
If the thermite grenade had been a bit larger, turning the killing can into molten iron was also a possibility.
Of course, that would have been somewhat overkill. The current extent was enough to induce its destruction. Not only did the armored body lose its ability to fight, the shaved-off imp inside, with limbs removed and tubes plugged into its brain, was already scorched to death.
This mini thermite grenade was one of the remaining supplies of the battle group. Similar disposable equipment was still available, but the more they used, the less they had, and it was impossible to resupply on the godforsaken Rage Owl Star.
Yet, the interstellar warriors couldn't afford to grieve their losses.
High-value equipment was meant to be used at times .
Moreover, frankly, the most precious thing in the Phoenix Battle Group was the lives of its warriors.
In their minds, they counted the time.
The extremely high temperature from the thermite bomb would not last long. With rapid decay, the interstellar warriors knew exactly that after 6.72 seconds, the temperature would no longer be able to penetrate the power armor they wore and cause any harm.
And that was precisely their moment to act.
Five interstellar warriors struck simultaneously at that time.
Three stood firm, their blaster guns already switched from accurate single-shot mode to full-speed firing mode. The last full magazine, loaded in advance, poured out countless bombs in an extremely short span of time.
These bombs, almost all of them, went past the destroyed killing can, hammering towards the Orc Warlord behind it.