Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 385 Assault
"The so-called first good of the body is easily destroyed by the loss of limbs, the stillness of the body, and the bending of the trunk. The so-called first good of the soul, that is, sensibility and reason, do not last forever. If a person loses his senses, If one is deaf or blind, one loses his sensibility; if illness makes one mad, there is no reason left.

And these things can happen to anyone. In such a helpless body and mind, can we not understand the truth? "——"The Book of Lorgar"

The stars shattered high in the sky.

At first, there were some tiny sparks, like the coronal halo that was invisible to the naked eye, entangled and lingering on the surface of the gray-black metal satellite. From time to time, a tiny feather-like bright light was set off on the surface of the alien void shield of the war satellite, and then The subtle ripple-like tremors that came, spread out layer by layer and dissipated step by step.

Gradually, the firepower poured into the torpedoes and light spears coated the surface of the satellite with a hot burning shell, roasting the planet like an incandescent molten iron ball, and was about to drip droplets of molten gold and iron in the dark sky.

Then, at a certain moment, a tortuous but sharp golden thread suddenly penetrated from a corner of the satellite and gradually penetrated to the core; the red fire followed the thread and ignited from the inside out, like a pair of invisible double blades of flame. Pry the satellite from the inside along the closed gap that an oyster has.

Then, all the light suddenly went out, the fire fell silent, the light returned, and the metal satellite turned back into a condensed and gray sphere, quietly blending into the infinite darkness in the deep night.

The flash disappeared, and the flowing molten mist solidified, as if all offense and defense had come to an end, and nothing was going to happen.

Only time continues.

The first second. Second second. The first hundred seconds, ten thousand seconds, until the dawn climbs the skyline of the main star, painting the dim edge of the world with pale white light, and gradually brightens, swallowing up the light occasionally reflected by the defense modules on the surface of the war satellite. .

Then, it appears again.

“Although I am not Harhabat, it does not mean that I agree with the endless pursuit of glory, because it symbolizes your desire for vanity that the Lord has not given you, and that is bad that needs to be corrected and removed. Virtue..."

In the light that was nurtured to the extreme, the satellite shattered, and thousands of fragments spread wildly in all directions from their original positions, forming a cloud-like structure that stretched thousands of miles outside the atmosphere.

At first, they agreed that the squad leader would be the soldier from the 16th Legion. After all, they liked the tactical style of squads and associations.

The dazzling light seemed to be absorbed abruptly and violently from every corner of the pale dome to the surface of the war satellite hanging high in the sky. The light is constantly enriched, breaking through the limitations of stellar sunlight during the day, and piercing the sky's envelope with a brighter, needle-like flash of light.

The planet's stable orbit, rotation speed and inclination, which relied on war satellites, were severely affected. The tides oscillated on the water surface. The land edges distributed along the water bodies were swallowed and smashed by huge waves. Countless observation points were overturned by the shaking earth's crust. The unknown flammable area erupted into rapidly spreading fire under the falling meteors from the sky. This planet on the northeastern border of the Milky Way, once shaped by humans and once occupied by aliens, was about to be destroyed by human hands.

And in this rain of fire all over the sky, taking advantage of the chaos of the magnetic field and the temporary loss of control of the orbital defense and monitoring system, the drop capsules carrying the joint rapid assault teams also fell into the atmosphere and penetrated into the surface of the main star. Before the occupation mission is completed, they will serve until death and remain loyal even in death.

But it didn't take long for the Iron Warriors to take over the command, because they were too good at accurately finding loopholes in surface military structures - well, maybe this had something to do with the flashing calculation data inside their iron-gray helmets, which were famous after all. The auxiliary system equipped by Perturabo, the master of war manipulation, for the Iron Warriors collective.

And this bright white spot is still getting brighter, even brighter, until the light contained within it not only circles the outline of its metal, but also blurs it, erases it, violently cuts off its edges, Dismember it, tear it apart, and let the torrent of bright light inside pour out to the outside, illuminating the entire skylight in a brief moment, making it difficult to see.

The satellite disappeared into the daylight.

"Where is my honor?" The Luna Wolf reached out and patted the Word Bearer's shoulder suggestively, "Dear cousin."

"Before we come here, we should visit more mortal army training bases in various places, so that we can know which warehouse their laser cannons and tanks are in." The Luna Wolf muttered, his thin face hidden in his helmet. . The radio system in the tower has been hacked by two Iron Warriors, who are replacing the local rebels to send signals to the control tower.

Some of the fragments are entangled and twisted with each other, turning into a broken and disordered spider web, which is tied to the outer surface of the main star and covers a large area of ​​the sky. Another part of the fragments burns through the atmosphere, carrying a scalding rain of fire, and is dragged out by the wake. Arrow-like rays of light penetrated into the fragile interior of the main star.

"It's not necessary." Another Iron Warrior said, "The defenses in each place are different. They will only build trenches according to their respective military levels and environmental factors. There may be traps - just like what we encountered outside the base. to the razor network.”

After saying that, he turned his helmet to the window, looked at the broken energy shield and the gray cloud-filled atmosphere in the sky, and sighed: "Being able to penetrate the defense line of these blasphemous creatures also makes me——"

After the Terran Dark Sky in the team used some kind of scissors to easily cut the barbed wire fence outside a training base on the planet, Iron Warrior Kroger first climbed up the tower close to the blind spot of the outer wall, leaning against The guard at the fence, who was looking expressionlessly into the distance, grabbed his neck, pulled him out of the fence, and threw him down.

Soon, this temporary five-man team consisting of a Word Bearer, a Dark Angel, a Luna Wolf and two Iron Warriors, except for the Deathwing Terminator, all appeared on the top of the tower. They are all from the assault teams of various legions and have no military ranks.

"You have all measured the location of the trap, friends, and I am once again honored to work with you." The Word Bearer said, while the gray helmet engraved with scriptures pointed in the direction of the iron-gray armor of the two Iron Warriors. .

Kroger climbed over the railing and tumbled inside. A few minutes later he reappeared from the tower and gestured downwards.

-

The Word Bearers, waiting at the base of the tower, caught the fallen guard precisely. If Kroger hadn't completely crushed his neck, the impact of the impact on the Astartes ceramite armor would have been enough to take away the opponent's life. The Word Bearers fixed the body on a metal plate they had plundered from the freight station and threw it silently into the surrounding ditch, covering up the traces of their infiltration.

"I understand, I shouldn't provoke you," Luna Wolf took a step back and raised his hands, "Dear Mr. Scholar, the Word Bearer."

"I'm glad you got over the wrong thing—"

Explosions began to rumble inside the base, and automatic shells roared through the base, making the ground tremble. Just as the Luna Wolf was about to cheer and celebrate the Iron Warriors' success in allowing the base to self-bomb, he suddenly noticed a beam of fire approaching and quickly lowered his body.

"Go!" Kroger shouted, "We've been discovered!"

Another Iron Warrior quickly fired a string of explosives at the floor, blasting through the narrow entrance and exit. The team members jumped into the charred hole at the edge one by one. After falling more than two floors and accelerating, they directly relied on the mass of the armor to smash them. Wear through the floor for a faster fall.

Earth and rock shattered, steel bars collapsed, and half the top of the tower was blown away by missiles. They descended to the ground and stood guard at the base of the tower, followed by Deathwing warriors with crossed swords carved on their pauldrons. The pursuit of artillery fire proved that they had been locked by this base. Unknown lasers combined with alien weapons penetrated the air from high altitudes, burning the land in the kill zone, chasing every footprint they left.

"Damn it!" Shadow Moon Wolf roared. He believed in the caution and reliability of the Iron Warriors. The invasions along the way had proven this, which made it unbelievable that they were suddenly discovered by that group of sluggish soldiers.

"Watch your words—" the Word Bearers shouted.

More shells sizzled around them, lightning pulses whipped the earth black and broken, and the artillery systems scrambled by the two Iron Warriors and the forces still controlled by the Renegades clashed in a chaotic interweaving.

The Deathwing warrior raised the missile launcher he held and tried his best to aim at the source of a laser beam while running. The iron feather-like armor on the shoulders of the Terminator reflected the flowing iron luster.

At the same moment when the missile was launched, the explosion shock wave that exploded near the team flipped him to one side. Regardless, a string of red and black fire exploded from the targeted laser turret. The fort seemed to be a floating metal ball.

The Luna Wolf, who successfully escaped the explosion, pulled the Dark Angel up. In front, the Iron Warrior shouted from inside the channel: "Bunker!"

They stepped on the steel plates covering the mud floor and rushed behind the solid wall of a warehouse that was part of the entire complex. The metal plates under their feet reflected their footsteps with a hollow echo, and a large amount of gunpowder shot from another angle was hit by the huge The main building complex blocked them, but various flying fire platforms and some soldiers still chased them, including the pursuing floating laser turret.

The Iron Warrior raised his hand cannon, and deadly ammunition spit out from the launch tube. One bullet was enough to bite off the entire body of the former mortal soldiers from the hips up. Screams and roars exploded above them, and dazzling plasma fire shot through the thick smoke from the front. The Word Bearers found the location of the tank and detonated the reactive armor in advance. The metal jet from the main warhead of the armor-piercing projectile penetrated the tank's main armor very quickly. Orange-red flames instantly lit up, followed by denser gray-black smoke. The Iron Warrior immediately added firepower and detonated the magazine, causing the armor of the vehicle body to explode in all directions.

"What is that!" the Luna Wolf shouted loudly from behind, his voice vibrating in the turbulent air through the helmet visor.

"Tank!" Kroger replied, unwilling to question why his companion would ask such a stupid question.

"No, I mean! That thing that's flying! That turret!"

"Go first!" Iron Warrior shouted.

The son of Horus did not stop running. In the gauze-like smoke that was about to dissipate, he could see some viscous liquid dripping from the inside of the metal ball flying in the sky. He ensured that the image It was recorded in the optical imaging system of the helmet, and then caught up with the forward speed of other team members, while firing to defend against surrounding surprise attacks.

The Dark Angel aimed at the spherical laser turret for the second time. The damage this time was superimposed on the previous round of destruction, completely tearing apart the outer armor of the laser turret. The burning modules were peeled off piece by piece, exposing the internal structure - it seemed It is a dark pink substance that is mixed together.

More of some kind of liquid was burned dry by the flames, but there were also some sticky substances falling down in lumps. After the carapace completely fell off, the laser turret quickly lost its ability to float, and fell to the ground in piles, turning into a puddle of reddish-brown gelatinous mud, mixed with some hard bones and indistinguishable objects. Apparently its anti-gravity capabilities come from an area of ​​the external armor.

"For His sake!" The Word Bearer was surprised as he saw the mass crash.

In the previous battles, they were basically fighting against renegade humans who were slaves of the alien empire. This was the first time these Astartes warriors saw alien biological structures that had broken away from the definition of human beings in the Randan realm.

In a sense, this is actually a good thing, because it means they are starting to delve deeper into the real Randan empire and touch on a piece of the puzzle.

"Trigger the cannonball, Moon Wolf." Kroger said on the channel. Even in combat mode, his voice was just a little thicker. "This is not a load-bearing wall."

"Me?" The Luna Wolf grunted and rushed to where Kroger was. His running speed slowed down and he was well prepared to get out of the way before Deimos Rhino's multi-tube melta caught up with him. The flowing firelight hit the outer wall of the warehouse. The two Iron Warriors quickly coordinated to attack multiple points around the wall. The solid outer wall of the warehouse was broken open in an instant.

Moon Wolf quickly turned back and dodged into the room. The surrounding cold air instantly formed a layer of frost mist on the surface of his hot armor. The adsorption compound with small holes at the bottom of the boots immediately fixed him to the smooth ground.

Soon, others followed and entered the room. Behind him was the Word Bearer, who blasted the second armored vehicle of the day after Rhino's bulldozer got stuck in the outer wall of the warehouse, blocking the passage.

The noise from the outside world temporarily faded away. Several people avoided the scope of the rhinoceros lighting and took a breath in the cold indoor light.

"It was right to let you take command, Kroger." Luna Wolf said generously, while scanning the shadows inside the warehouse for anything that was moving quietly.

"Yeah." Kroger simply responded, surveying the warehouse environment they entered.

More specifically, this is a cold storage. The temperature control system of the power armor has begun to hum. The cogitator adjusts the temperature environment to retain more heat for the Space Marines inside the armor.

The interior of the cold storage is extremely wide, probably more than a hundred meters long. Judging from the distribution location, it should be converted from a small training platform.

The cold lighting system makes the walls inside the cold storage glow with a dark blue light. There were multiple rows of iron cabinets arranged in the space. The Iron Warrior walked to the iron cabinet on the far side and carefully opened one of the cabinets. No signal is sent out as a result, which is relaxing.

In the opened iron plate, even in dim light, the Space Marines could see clearly that there was a frozen human being who had stopped breathing. Judging from the clothes he was wearing, he should be a logistics support personnel. Kroger grunted heavily and pushed the cabinet back.

"Did they freeze humanity here?" the Word Bearer whispered, somewhat sadly. "Why do this?"

"Alien behavior," the Dark Angel of Deathwing said. Like their current six-wing commander, Lieutenant Colonel Hou Guin, the entire Death Wing gives outsiders the impression of being taciturn. And maybe a little leisurely.

"You're right," Luna Wolf muttered, his gauntlets resting near his power sword. "Should we continue walking inside? Well, at least let us avoid the artillery fire in this section and walk further into the base."

"Check our weapon data." Iron Warrior said, "Confirm the remaining ammo quantity..."

His voice suddenly stopped in the audio system, replaced by low and steady breathing.

The frost crackled quietly everywhere, and some slight scratching sounds were caught by the enhanced hearing of the Space Marines, like some small objects moving inside thousands of walls, rubbing and knocking against the space that bound them.

When a sharp crash erupted from the iron cabinet, the Space Marines had their weapons ready, firing as the cabinet slid outward on its rollers, matching the swings, stabs, and bludgeons of their powered weapons.

Every corpse that crawled out of the cabinet fell easily to the five warriors' attacks that were too fast to be seen, but there were more corpses stored in the hundreds of rows of hard iron cabinets.

Kroger compared the situation inside and outside and made a quick decision. "Keep attacking," he growled.

It's always easier to blow up a dead man than kill a tank. He turned sharply towards an approaching figure and severely shattered the fragile purple face of the figure with one punch. At the same time, he removed the corpse's shoulders, then kicked its frozen legs to pieces, stripping off all movement. and attack possible. The laser weapon fell from the corpse's hand and hit the cold ground.

"Krog!" shouted the Luna Wolf, "then-"

His voice was covered by a burst of overlapping, loud and piercing shouts. It is unimaginable that such a level of pure pain could erupt from the throat of a mortal. After Krog kicked off the dead body holding his leg armor, Turning around, he was suddenly horrified by the scene in front of him.

At the end of the iron cabinet, some corpses crawling out of the container were twisting and squeezing each other, blending into a pile of formed flesh and blood among the broken bones and skin, and pouring them into a set of damaged Space Marine armor. , forcefully holding up the armor that was empty inside.

Then, through some unknown method, the artificial nerve center that was supposed to be connected to the central nervous system of the Space Marines completed the interaction, and the entire set of brown power armor was forcibly activated.

From the changes in the indoor electromagnetic environment, we can know that this is not an isolated case.

"Blasphemy!" the Word Bearers spat, raising the flamethrower.

"Stop even thinking about blasphemy," shouted the Luna Wolves, "even if they fucking dare touch our fucking Second Legion's fucking power armor!"

Kroger made a decision, "Look for the emergency exit here! There must be isolation doors around the training platform."

"Keep going," the Dark Angel said hoarsely.

"continue!"

(End of this chapter)