Emperor's Bane

Chapter 959 Giants Ahead (Part 2)

"Ugul, also known as the Web Path Ghoul."

"War monsters bred by the Dark Eldar."

As the reunion of hundreds of monsters shook the entire fortress, the champion swordsman of the Dawnbreaker Legion continued to mutter to himself unhurriedly.

For a long time, this has been a habit that Bayar has maintained when facing strong enemies. If his sword is aimed at an opponent he knows well, he will recite the information and characteristics of these opponents one by one: this is both to stabilize his mind and to make a last attempt to find possible weaknesses.

Even though they are now facing hundreds of monsters that have no order or reason whatsoever.

But every living thing has weaknesses.

Bayar firmly believed this statement.

However, he soon realized his mistake.

"The Ugur are slender creatures, remarkably similar to humans in terms of size and limb proportions..."

The champion swordsman paused noticeably after reciting only the third line from his memory, and then frowned.

He didn't even need to observe carefully; just by slightly raising his morale, he could see the closest one to him in the charging horde of monsters. It was a standard Ugul that perfectly matched the description, with its long limbs and five fingers indeed resembling a human: if one didn't consider that this monster was at least four meters tall when it stood up.

Is this what they mean by being extremely similar to humans?
Bayar had just cursed inwardly when the sudden chaos and screams caught his attention.

The Comorian army, which had been launching wave after wave of fierce attacks on Astartes' array, had somehow crumbled. The monster legion, roused by the sound of horns, did not distinguish friend from foe. Their beastly nature made it impossible for them to recognize which creatures should be destroyed and which they should bypass. Thus, these monsters aimed their sharp fangs at every piece of flesh.

Those seemingly enormous and bloated beast bodies possessed astonishing agility, charging and crashing through the crowd at an almost unnatural speed. Their enormous hands could crush three Dark Elf race members with a single slap, while their rough mouths chewed and swallowed flesh and bones together. The roaring behemoths quickly laid out the corpses of aliens beneath them, enduring round after round of trampling and beatings until the entire battlefield was stained a dirty red.

Comoros' army was overwhelmed by this unexpected attack from behind. The agile elite soldiers had anticipated this, and except for those who were too slow to escape or were caught up in the crowd, the others had already fled before the monster began its charge.

Those unfortunate people and the lowly could not even hold out for long under the ravages of hundreds of giant beasts. In the blink of an eye, the army of tens of thousands of people disintegrated.

The filthy Dark Eldar were fleeing the beasts in a panic, and most of them couldn't escape the crushing onslaught. Some even crashed headlong into the Astartes army. Bayar watched as his opponents turned to dust: these beasts were more efficient than the planned warriors.

Well, at least when it comes to dealing with aliens, these Uguls are indeed very "human".

The champion swordsman tried to find humor in his own heart, but there was no trace of relief on his face.

Because he saw it, realizing that there was no fresh flesh and blood beside his hands, these obviously modified monsters were sticking out their tongues: Ugur had no eyes on their faces, and they used their tongues to taste the sweat and breath in the air, so as to determine the next target several meters or even further away.

It's obvious: it's them.

Bayar took a deep breath, gave his new opponents one last look, and then roared hysterically out of pure warrior instinct.

"Go to higher ground!"

Almost simultaneously, every Astartes was doing the same thing, without even needing the Dawnbreakers to remind them.

Those who have survived countless battles on this battlefield are all veterans: they know that even the strongest will and the strongest armor cannot withstand the gravity falling from the sky, and that going to a higher place to resist is the only way.

Strictly speaking, a proper retreat would have been a better idea in the face of these behemoths: but they absolutely could not lose the fortress tower behind them, whose teleportation array was their only hope of continuing the fight.

"Six minutes left..."

Bayar stood at the rear, swords drawn, with his men at the bottom, guarding the rear of hundreds of his brothers. Standing beside him were only a few of his most reliable old comrades, the Salamander's company commander, and the three powerful Saturn-type Terminators. Even the sons of Morgan, who were proud of their swordsmanship, had to obediently sheathe their blades and choose to use ranged firepower to attack these deadly beasts.

The only saving grace was that the fortress built by the salamanders and the Mechanicus was sturdy enough, and Bayar doubted whether these beasts had any intention of demolishing the walls, but they would certainly follow the scent and charge toward the direction Astartes had retreated. Fortunately, the only passage to the top of the fortress was so narrow that it could only support Bayar and six or seven other warriors to wield their swords.

The remaining Astartes had just retreated to the top of the fortress and found good firing positions when the first Ugur charged in front of Bayar. It was a monster over four meters tall, looking even more robust than an Iron Cavalry Terminator, but it was only the smallest in this monster legion.

Behind these "little guys" are the behemoths that are over six meters tall, even larger than the knights of the Empire. Keep in mind that the most basic squire-level knight mechs are only a little over six meters tall: although whether they can be considered knights is still a serious question.

Not to mention, there seems to be an even bigger one coming up.

However, it also seemed to be the most greedy, indulging in the endless flesh and blood on the ground, and not particularly interested in immediately launching the next massacre.

In fact, it wasn't just it; most beasts indulged in the pleasure of blood and flesh, and only the smaller ones that couldn't get a piece of the pie were forced to keep moving forward, only to be met with the fierce firepower of the Astartes.

As a beast, Ugul's skin is surprisingly tough, enough to withstand explosives and incendiary attacks; but that doesn't mean it can withstand the salamanders' carefully prepared heavy disintegration cannons and plasma bombardments.

While the Dawnbreakers on the side did not have equipment they had crafted themselves, as Bayar's company, every member serving there was an elite, and even held a place in the Emperor's court with merit and reputation. Therefore, when the sons of Morgan grumbled and pulled out the Disintegrator and Hellfire Spear, which were only authorized to be used by the Imperial Guard, the fire lizards beside them showed no surprise whatsoever.

These powerful relic-level weapons have the ability to kill any enemy with a single shot, but the only problem is their slow rate of fire and extremely low stability, making them a poor choice when facing agile Dark Eldar. However, if the opponent is a huge monster, these heavy-fire platforms can easily create a death zone.

This is true.

Bayar clearly saw how the monsters at the forefront were eliminated. The Disintegration Weapon is a dangerous weapon that is not commonly used even within the Imperial Army. It is said that its core principle is deeply intertwined with the warp of the Wave Drop Cloud, making it extremely prone to unstable warp backlashes, but this cannot conceal its power.

Even the Ugul, known for their tough skin, will turn to ashes in an instant if their ugly, light blue limbs are touched by even the slightest bit of the particle stream.

Bayar witnessed firsthand how, after a monster's arm was touched by the power beam, its powerful muscles began to decompose at a visible speed, starting from the wound, turning into charred black ash in the air. The ash then further split into invisible atoms. In just a few dozen seconds, before the stupid beast could even react, the destructive reaction had spread from the wound all the way to the other side of its body. The twisted body, several meters tall, vanished into thin air, leaving only a small clump of the most stubborn black ash on the ground.

Those monsters that foolishly charged at the Astartes met the same fate one after another. The Dawnbreakers and the Salamanders cooperated extremely well. Although their crossfire was slightly chaotic at first, it quickly secured an absolute zone of firepower.

However, just as Morgan's champion swordsman was about to breathe a sigh of relief as the situation stabilized, he heard a gunshot that did not belong to them.

Clearly, the Comoros' elite troops only temporarily retreated because these monsters couldn't distinguish friend from foe, but they did not truly leave the battlefield, nor did they abandon the war.

The Comorian warriors, led by the Scourge and the wolves, retreated further away, hiding behind the beast tamers who could control the behemoths, and aimed their deadly spears at the Astartes array: thousands of Dark Eldar returning to the battlefield were almost the final straw that broke the Imperial army's back, and Bayar could clearly feel the fire support behind him becoming chaotic.

They had to divert troops to fight the distant Dark Eldar to avoid being picked off one by one, and their firepower against the beasts began to dwindle. The increasingly slow rotations also highlighted the biggest problem with the Disintegration Weapons: compared to explosives or incendiary bombs, they were too slow, at least not as fast as these monsters.

The situation changed so quickly: from Bayar and others being forced to retreat, to gaining a foothold, to the current sharp decline, the whole process took no more than two minutes.

The remaining time will be up to him to make the most of.

And his sword.

Bayar gripped his old buddies tightly: the two Chanabal sabers looked so slender, but they never disappointed.

This time is no exception.

As the agile figure clad in power armor brushed past the Netway Monster like a phantom, the massive, over four-meter-tall body continued to arch forward in a daze until a fresh, foul smell of blood belatedly alerted the monster to the pain, causing it to clutch its throat.

But it was too late.
When the enormous, hollow head fell to the ground, the body of the Web-Beast remained standing there blankly until blood spurted from the clean cut, at which point it also swayed and crashed to the ground. And as the first victim appeared, Bayar's blade had already effortlessly sliced ​​through the throat of the fourth prey.

The weapon, having been tempered again by the Primarch, was so smooth that even when it struck skin strong enough to withstand explosives, it felt like it was cutting through a shell. Its bright, clean blade shone with a dazzling silver light. Even though the bloody carnage had made the power sword sticky, the disintegration field could make all traces disappear after a short rest.

A slash, a dodge—the sharp blade avoided the needle-like fangs. Ugul's pride in speed and rage proved useless against the more powerful champion swordsman. Bayar, however, exploited the deep-seated greed of these net-path monsters: as he moved through the beast horde like a legendary ranger, all the greedy maws tracked his every move.

Strike, kill, dodge, pursue—the champion swordsman's heart pounded in this repetitive cycle. His moves were neither flashy nor complex, but simply so fast that they were impossible to imitate. He seized upon the smallest mistake his opponents made and finished them off faster than storms and lightning.

Even those fighting brothers who followed closely behind him and had the courage to fight alongside Bayar were far from being comparable to Morgan's champion swordsmen. Their highly tense eyes could barely catch a glimpse of Bayar's figure, and the combined achievements of all of them were far less than the newly piled skulls under the two Chanabal sabers.

Seeing Bayar's battle, every Astartes who witnessed it firsthand would involuntarily recall that phrase.

According to legend, while Morgan's Seeds brought many of the most chaotic and deadly genetic diseases to the Legions, they also gave the Dawnbreakers an advantage: they included almost all mutated genetic seeds. In other words, they also included almost all advantages. As long as the base number of seeds that can be accepted reaches a certain scale, then every potential advantage has the opportunity to be revealed.

Therefore, in the ranks of the dawners, there will always be a group of particularly conspicuous iconic figures: they may be the tallest, the strongest, the smartest, or even the luckiest; they are irreplaceable exceptions who stand on the backs of countless losers.

And it is clear that Bayar is one of them.

He was the most powerful: a power that was almost inexplicable by common sense, unbelievable even by the standards of the Astartes, and only a handful of people, such as Sigismund or Sevita, could barely meet the standard, even within the entire Galactic Empire.

They are born strong.

No reason is needed, and no question is required.

When Bayar, unscathed, beheaded the last monster that dared to charge at him, securing a decisive victory in the hunt, and witnessing the annihilation of over thirty giant beasts, even the veterans who had participated in the Great Expedition had to admit the truth.

Although they are all Astartes, some Astartes and these people are destined to be different.

However, now is not the time to think about this.

As Bayar sensed he was drifting off the front lines and prepared to retreat, he suddenly detected a dangerous aura. Turning around, he saw the beasts retreating like a tide, but only one beast was steadily approaching him: it was the largest of all the Ugur beasts. It was so enormous, even taller than the fortress itself that the Astartes were defending.

Bayar wasn't sure exactly how tall it was, but based on his past experience, he deduced that this enormous monster king was probably only slightly shorter than a Ranger Knight or a Dominator Knight: the main force of these two knight families was about ten meters and eleven meters tall, respectively.

It was so large that the champion swordsman had to doubt whether the disintegrating weapon would actually work on him: but he knew that this was not an opponent he could face.

The Dawnbreaker silently calculated the time in his mind.

If there are no mistakes, they have been holding out here for more than nine minutes, and the reinforcements should have already come out of the teleportation array.

Thinking of this, Bayar took a few steps back: he could clearly hear the Dawnbreakers and Salamanders behind him shouting for him to come back quickly.

The three Saturn-type Terminators seemed to be preparing to step forward and face the monster with him.

But Bayar gestured to everyone.

Because he heard another voice: not the voice of the monster in front of him, but the voice of another equally enormous figure behind him.

That voice sounds very familiar...

"..."

He took another step back, and suddenly, Morgan's champion swordsman understood the source of the voice: his pupils instantly lit up.

Then, without hesitation, the Spider Queen's champion swordsman turned and ran, sprinting towards the fortress: even the Dark Eldar were startled by this sight.

But the Comorians didn't see that Bayar wasn't simply running away; he was anxiously making a military sign to the fortress garrison. The Dawnbreakers were the first to understand their commander's intention, and then they hurriedly pulled the fire lizard away.

Amidst the bewildered gazes of the Dark Eldar, the Astartes abandoned their positions and retreated to a more distant location.

What replaced them was a strange sense of vibration.

"..."

The nightmares, who were originally planning to follow behind the monster, exchanged glances and stopped in their tracks: their rich combat experience made them feel uneasy.

The only one that seemed oblivious was perhaps the nearly ten-meter-tall King of Ugur: its thick tongue could only sense that its prey was fleeing. Following its instincts, the giant beast quickened its pace. The earth-shaking sensation during the chase was all too familiar to it. But when it caught up to the fortress, even this beast sensed that something was wrong.

The vibration was not caused by it.

It comes from inside the stone in front of us.

Within these rocks, a creature just as dangerous is rapidly approaching.

He was running.

He was roaring.

He swept through everything in his path, smashing through countless walls and steel gates without bothering to open them.

He's very close, getting closer and closer.

He... seems dangerous?

The beast's mind could only think of these things, but the terrifying aura did stop its pursuit. It searched blankly for its opponent. Just then, Bayar had retreated back to the ranks, where his brothers who had risked their lives to stay behind were there to meet him. But the champion swordsman simply turned his gaze to the beast king who had stopped and the fortress in front of him.

Three seconds left, two seconds left...

He counted down in his mind.

At this moment, even the most dull-witted person could clearly feel the earth shaking. They could no longer stand, the corpses beneath their feet were moving erratically, and even rocks the size of a human were overturned on the ground.

Something is approaching: very close.

one second.

Amidst the hysterical roar of the Beast King, fueled by fear and rage, Bayar gave his final countdown.

With the next heartbeat, the world collapsed before his eyes.

The fortress walls were breached, and the steel giant, several meters tall, was mercilessly torn to shreds. The deep sky and the blood-soaked earth trembled before this scene: amidst countless exclamations and sighs, a silver giant burst out of his cage like lightning.

He looks to be seven or eight meters tall, or even taller.

He looks like Astartes, but not quite.

He wore a massive suit of armor that defied any current power armor standards, making him look like a knight with more humanity and ferocity. This knight was smashing through the city wall in front of him with his shoulder armor, while dragging a massive blade as wide as an Astartes in his other hand. He stepped onto the battlefield amidst the terrified roars of the beasts, having already locked onto his enemies from the very beginning.

He charged forward at incredible speed, so fast that it was impossible to imagine how enormous he was. Even the steel walls could not hinder the giant's will: before the shattered stones could fall to the ground, the giant had already slammed fiercely into the king of beasts' dark blue body. The dull thud and the hoarse roar instantly pierced Bayar's eardrums. In the sudden upheaval of blood-red sand, the champion swordsman had no choice but to retreat in a very disheveled manner.

Even the strongest samurai were helpless in the face of the giants.

He could only watch as the roaring beast king was forced to retreat step by step before the giant. Its relatively slender body was no match for the heavy armor. After being dragged for seventy or eighty meters by the impact, the nearly ten-meter-tall beast finally lost its balance and fell to the ground.

Before it could even stand up, the giant in silver armor swung his massive blade again.

A roar of extreme pain told everyone just how successful the strike had been.

The blade, at least two meters wide, inflicted an unimaginable wound on the Ugur beast with a single strike. From its provocative lower limbs to its protruding shoulder blade, a bloody scar revealed the bone and flesh beneath. Stimulated by the pain and the smell of blood, the beast roared madly, but it no longer had the strength to even get up.

But the giants did not stop their attack.

He had already raised his fist high.

The punch landed like a planetary impact.

The violent sound wave even killed several Dark Elf race members who were standing too close. Moreover, under the indestructible fist wind, the Beast King's skull, which was stubborn enough to withstand the artillery fire, was smashed with a conspicuous dent. Most of its ugly face fell off, and its originally hoarse roar turned into a dying whimper.

At this point, the outcome was decided, and life and death were decided.

Even the most arrogant Dark Eldar, after witnessing such a brutal battle between giants, silently sheathed their weapons and quickly retreated.

They failed.

Everyone knows this.

Bayar naturally saw all of this.

He was breathing heavily, his mouth full of sand that had been splashed up in the chaos, but that didn't stop a smile from creeping onto his lips.

This is the relief after victory.

This is also my feeling as a senior.

In the shadows, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and muttered to himself in a mocking voice.

"No wonder it was so slow."

"So it was you, kid. You insisted on wearing the armor that the Emperor and your mother gave you, didn't you?"

"Ok?"

"Hector?"

Looking at the eight-meter-tall giant, Morgan's champion swordsman slowly uttered the name of his battle brother.

That's Hector.

He is his junior.

Also the Spider Queen's... giant.

(End of this chapter)