Emperor's Bane

Chapter 1004 Trojan Horse
As a Dawnbreaker veteran, Ilyon's service record is not particularly illustrious.

That was certainly true, at least before crossing into Comoros.

Like most of the Legion, he was not from Avalon or the Far East frontier, but a Terran veteran who had participated in the unification wars.

Although he achieved no remarkable feats or had the honor of fighting alongside the Lord of Man during the War of Unification, he did, at least, personally experience the oath-taking ceremony that launched the Great Expedition, swearing under the banner of the double-headed eagle to shed blood for all mankind.

For the next two hundred years, he faithfully upheld the oath he had made: regardless of whether the emperor's gaze was still upon him.

He experienced the most complete Great Crusade, from the Emperor's divine descent to Mars to the Wolf God's crowning as Warmaster on the land of Ulanor. Ilion was present in every battle the Dawnbreaker Legion fought during that time.

He had not achieved any great feats. His proudest achievement was leading his troops to conquer a small asteroid fortress, or capturing the native king in a relatively easy battle. Such achievements might be commendable in other legions, but among the sons of Morgan, who were teeming with monsters, Illion never dared to hope that his name would be engraved on the city wall of the square.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. Even though Ilion and his squad had never been well-known, they had never experienced serious setbacks on the battlefield. Even in the Randan Wars, which had caused the legion to lose more than half its men, his squad only lost a few men.

This is partly because they were never expected to be capable of handling the toughest fronts, and partly because, rather than gaining fame on the battlefield, Illion was perhaps better at another aspect of the sons of Morgan: how to survive in the most brutal hell on earth.

This is also reflected in another story.

Like most in the Legion, Ilion joined the Far East Archaeological Society, founded by the Legion's legendary Sergeant Talazin. This organization, now managed by the disciple of the disciple of the disciple of the disciple of Sergeant Talazin, has long since transcended the boundaries of the Dawnbreaker Legion and is widely distributed throughout Avalon and even the entire Far East.

In a sense, it was no longer a private hobby club for the sons of Morgan: sometime before the Ulanor Expedition, the Dawnbreakers first allowed the mortals living on the Dawn to join their archaeological activities, and in the following years, they accepted these mortals as their official members.

When these mortal archaeologists who followed the Dawnbreakers finished their service, returned to their homeworlds and families, and resumed their true identities as local governors and administrators, many of them began to spontaneously promote Sergeant Talazin's work, which led to the rapid formalization of the Legion Archaeological Society.

Now, it is an official institution formally registered under the Ministry of the Interior of Avalon.

Even when faced with the Terra Archaeological Institute, which was backed by the Emperor and founded by the Sealholder, Far Eastern historians had ample reason to stand tall: the relationship between the two sides was more cooperative than competitive, and the Sealholder's seal was also found on the official archaeological documents of the Far East.

However, none of this matters to most of the Dawnbreakers, including Ilion. They still regard archaeology as an activity to explore personal hobbies and find some novel gadgets for themselves: although Ilion is not outstanding even after this daily activity, he has only developed a skill that can barely be called proficient.

But it's clear that this skill, which wouldn't even crack the top 100 among Dawnbreaker archaeology enthusiasts, couldn't bring him any fame.

Illion was like a representative of the masses among the Astartes warriors. He was one of the less superhuman members of this superhuman group. He had never served long on the Aurora, had never met the Primarch, and did not have many brothers he could confide in. His life and military career were as ordinary as those of an ordinary person.

Until fifty years after the end of the Great Expedition.

Ilion and his entire party were conscripted and ordered by the Primarch to go to Avalon, and a few months later they went to the Webway and Comoros respectively.

Until he experienced the most brutal battle he could remember in this net-like city.

Until some point in the battle, when the Dark Lords launched a massive counterattack against the Imperial lines, Illion found himself and his entire force trapped on the most dangerous front lines with the Legion's legendary figure, Morgan's Champion, Bayar, and his Second Company, facing an alien horde that outnumbered them by tens or even hundreds of times.

In this brutal struggle that seemed to have no end and no victory, Ilion, having lost the last bit of luck in his life, suddenly felt a stinging pain in his neck while fighting the enemy, and then all the strength in his body disappeared.

The last thing he remembered was a face of an Elven race that he had never seen before, a face that was incredibly ugly.

And when his memories returned.

Only then did he discover it.

He seemed to be trapped in the worst place in the entire galaxy.

The deepest part of the Comoros.

The stalactite fortress of the Blood People.

……

The only good news right now is...

It seems he's not the only one trapped here.

------

From the moment he awoke, Ilion had been secretly observing the Bloodlust for a long time.

He had never been more grateful to the Emperor for Astartes’ greatest gift: not its immense power, nor its tenacious life, but its speed of thought, comparable to the most sophisticated thinker instruments in the galaxy, measured in milliseconds or even microseconds.

It was thanks to his lightning-fast thinking that Ilion's brain resumed functioning the moment he regained consciousness.

In a literal instant, the Dawnbreaker recalled his experience before he fainted, and then realized his current situation. Without any careful consideration, he already knew what the right thing to do was.

Ignoring the discomfort of just regaining consciousness, Illion focused all his willpower on controlling his body.

He instinctively closed his eyes, which he wanted to open, and tried to control the rhythm of his breathing, precisely monitoring the speed of his heartbeat and even blood flow, until he was sure that none of his bodily indicators were abnormal: even if someone was staring at his body data screen at this moment, they would not realize that the Dawnbreaker had just awakened.

Having done all this, Ilion began to sort out and reflect on his current situation.

His first thought was of that battle: he hoped his comrades could hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Then, he thought of himself: the face of that Spirit Race member also appeared in his mind.

Before setting off for Comoros, each Dawnbreaker, following the orders of the Lord of Avalon, crammed on knowledge about the Dark Eldar. Therefore, even from just a brief glimpse before losing consciousness, Ilion was able to confirm that his captor was a Bloodling: the most notorious monster even in Comoros.

The instruments of torture that pierced his body, and the stench of blood and flesh emanating from all directions, seemed to confirm this.

Thinking of this, the Dawnbreaker pricked up its ears.

Hearing was his most reliable asset: the almost rhythmic dripping of water in the distance, the dull, monotonous, and arrhythmic footsteps from a slightly closer, lower elevation, and the rough friction of metal against other metals or stones helped the Dawnbreaker visualize his current predicament.

He was likely suspended in mid-air in a natural cave filled with instruments of torture, about five meters above the ground.

This was not a spacious room; there was only one entrance about seven or eight meters in front of him, and the surrounding area consisted of unbreakable natural walls. Apart from that, the Bloodling should not be here, because the only life signal he could sense was the footsteps of no more than four modified monsters constantly wandering on the ground.

They patrolled along a pre-designed route, without any will of their own, occasionally stepping on or bumping into the instruments of torture casually placed on the walls, but their steps never faltered: therefore, these monsters most likely did not possess any complex intelligence.

in other words.

If you're lucky: this is a good time to get out.

But for Ilion right now, that's not the primary issue he needs to consider.

As he observed his surroundings, he sensed another breath, similar to his own, about five meters away at a parallel position. The breath was steady and heavy.

Is it a fire salamander?

Were they also arrested and brought in?
After listening carefully again and confirming that the fire lizard was still alive, the Dawnbreaker silently postponed his escape plan.

The success rate is obviously higher when two people go together.

Moreover, he had no reason to abandon a living comrade-in-arms in this godforsaken place.

Calming himself down, Ilion carefully observed the strange place around him, even daring to slightly open his eyes, while patiently waiting for the fire lizard beside him to awaken.

Fortunately, Vulcan's offspring lived up to their long-standing reputation for resilience, and the fire lizard certainly looked like a veteran: after about ten minutes, Ilion heard the fire lizard's breathing pause briefly, but it quickly returned to normal.

He quickly devoted all his energy to his other skill.

Psychic power.

Indeed, as an ordinary Dawnbreaker, Illion, like most of Morgan's sons, was a potential psionicist whose potential had not been fully explored.

However, unlike Rana and others who actively sealed all their psionic potential, Illion chose to retain at least a minimum amount of psionic power. He had also attended several psionic lectures given by the Primarch. Although he was not enthusiastic about psionic practice, he had not neglected it.

Therefore, it is still possible to communicate with a fellow fighter a few meters away using psionic telepathy.

"brother."

As soon as he spoke, Ilion sensed that the fire lizard's breathing had paused noticeably again.

He quickly resumed breathing, and his breathing sounded heavier than before, as if he were responding.

Seeing this, Ilion didn't hesitate. He poured out their current situation and what he had just observed, one sentence after another. The salamander beside him listened silently the whole time, using the length of his breathing pauses as a way of affirming or denying whenever the Dawnbreaker needed his opinion. Ilion had never imagined that the manual distributed by the Primarch before departure would have such an effect.

Looking back now, these manuals were issued by the three Primarchs of the Legion in their joint name a few nights before their official march into the Comoros city.
All the Astartes who participated in the battle were required to read and memorize every word in the manual: when Ilion read about how prisoners should communicate and escape together if captured by aliens, he even laughed out loud with his brothers.

It's not that I'm laughing at anything else: the brutality of the Dark Eldar is well-known, and if you're captured by them and still have a chance to escape, you're incredibly lucky.

Looking back now, perhaps this is the difference between myself and the Primarchs.

The tide of memories had barely receded when the two Astartes began their operation without a word.

The salamander writhed on the torture device, his breathing became noticeably erratic, and he opened his eyes, appearing as if he were waking up from a coma.

To be honest, his acting skills aren't very good. If Illion were on the opposite side, he would easily see through it.

However, it is clear that the Bloodlings maintain the fine tradition of not endowing their creations with superior intelligence.

As expected, the scene quickly attracted the programmed modified monsters: two were drawn to the feet of the fire lizard, while the other two continued their patrols: the Dawnbreaker patiently waited for one of them to come to him.

At the same time, his psychic power was slowly wearing down the torture devices stuck in his flesh.

Everything is just right.

After the bewildered, modified monster entered his attack range, Morgan's son gritted his teeth, tore off the weakened torture device, and ignoring the excruciating pain in his flesh, he clenched his fist and, using the momentum of his heavy body being captured by gravity, plummeted from the sky towards the monster that had just raised its head.

Then, he swung his fist hard.

……

"How does it feel?"

After working together to defeat the last monster, Ilion rubbed his still aching shoulder and looked the fire lizard, who had also regained its freedom, up and down.

He discovered that these Vulcan offspring all seemed to look exactly alike: dark skin, thick lips, and fiery red eyes.

He couldn't tell if it was because of their skin color or something else, but he always found these fire lizards hard to distinguish.

However, they are equally reliable in battle.

If Ilion hadn't been prepared, and after barely dealing with the two monsters, immediately grabbed the torture device he had noticed leaning against the wall and threw it, severing the torture device from one of the fire lizard's arms, their escape might not have been so easy.

Because the Dawnbreaker was extremely weak at the moment, he was almost knocked to the ground when the other two monsters attacked him together: if it weren't for the fire lizard hanging in mid-air forcibly tearing off another piece of the torture device, and then eagerly joining the battle, and almost single-handedly defeating the other two modified monsters.

"We can fight another match."

The fire lizard also stretched his muscles, his rough voice carrying an undeniable confidence.

"But we can only fight one more match."

Ilion nodded: He was about the same.

Neither of them spoke. They quickly began to check their surroundings to make sure they hadn't overlooked anything, and to gather weapons and anything else that could protect them.

Unsurprisingly, as prisoners of war, their original weapons and armor had been confiscated and were now lying around gathering dust in some unknown corner. All they had left were those ancient instruments of torture, scattered everywhere and stained with blood and reeking of stench.

"We were lucky."

Picking up a handful that felt fairly handy, Ilion looked up and observed the dark cavern.

“We’ve captured this Bloodlust man, but he should be a newbie in the Bloodlust group.”

"So he didn't dare bring us back to his real stronghold."

"Because if we do that, we will only be taken away by the higher-ups of the Bloodlings as excellent test subjects, while the one who captures us will get nothing."

"Similarly, because he was a novice, the modified monsters he left behind were so easy to deal with, and the room where we were imprisoned had no security devices: it must have been a place he used for his daily entertainment."

The fire lizard listened quietly, then nodded.

"So, you mean we're not currently imprisoned inside the Bloodlust's fortress?"

"We can't be that optimistic."

Ilion walked to the door and peeked outside.

"This place definitely belongs to the Bloodlings, but it shouldn't be their core territory."

"If we want to leave, we are still very likely to encounter the Bloodlust and their monsters."

Have you ever fought against them?

He looked at the fire lizard, who shook its head.

"I have only heard of these deserving monsters in legends related to the Primarch."

"OK then."

Looking at his bare muscles, then at the rusty weapon in his hand, and then at his comrades whom he hadn't even had a chance to introduce himself to, he felt a pang of envy.

All Ilion could manage was a bitter smile.

"May the Emperor and the Primal Bless us."

"They definitely will."

The fire lizard nodded firmly.

"No matter where we are."

"As long as we are still fighting against the enemies of the Empire."

"The Emperor and the Primarch will always be watching us."

"..."

"hope so."

------

Have you been keeping an eye on them, Morgan?
Of course, Father.

#The Spider Queen's laughter was devoid of genuine joy#
[A Dawnbreaker, a Salamander.]

So far, things are going smoothly.

Very good.
The Lord of Humanity nodded.

Continue to observe and carefully choose the time to take action.
I will.

I assure you, I will open this Trojan horse at the most opportune moment.

If possible, I could also use her to kill Hector.

And all you need to do is wait for this Trojan horse to open the walls of Troy for you.

[Ensure that your Greek army can wipe out all the men, women, and children behind the city walls.]

That's right.
Then take all its wealth with it.
[And Helen, the father.]

Helen was the cause of this war.

I know.
But for me, the Helen I need isn't behind the walls of Troy: she's right beside me.
You are my Helen, my daughter.
+You are the one. +
(End of this chapter)