Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 460 That is the power of my father
"My Lord." While making suggestions to the Chaos Lord, Lieutenant Colonel Leonid, the current commander of the 383rd Yolan Dragoon Regiment, was coughing continuously, with spots of blood oozing out from the corners of his mouth. He habitually took out a handkerchief to wipe off the blood, then cleared his throat and continued.

The sensitive throat nerves of the Astartes present all smelled the smell of a soldier dying and decaying: not due to plague or microorganisms, but from the breakdown of the body's own mechanisms caused by poison. His adjutant, Sergeant Elad, was in a slightly better condition, but the cheeks of this sturdy man began to become increasingly thin and pale.

The other members of the assault team composed of traitors experienced a not-so-small psychic explosion before they emerged in a mess at the teleportation point of the Soltan War Gang, and were then urgently sent to Soltan.

Now everyone has taken a short break and gathered again in the front-line command room, ready to listen to the next order from the Ruler of the Earth or discuss other matters.

When a mortal officer like Lieutenant Colonel Leonid spoke directly at such a military meeting, several Space Marines still showed expressions of disapproval.

"What is it, Lieutenant Colonel?"

As for the Iron Warrior Lord himself, who had the most reason to be angry about this, he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong. He was still wearing that very "Imperial" power armor, with golden ribbon tassels on his silver skull halo emblem breastplate. He also used good maintenance and weapon oil to polish them and his own weapons until they were shining.

But now, after experiencing the baptism of fire of more than a dozen rounds of charges, everyone knows that this set of power armor is not as simple as it seems - no such seemingly ordinary power armor can demonstrate a stronger defense than the Terminator or even the Dreadnought - as a gift carefully crafted by one of their fathers (?), Soltan's personal power armor was designed in a different direction from Shanto's power armor at the time.

His power armor was designed for some reason, based on the concept of providing the de facto technical officer (?) with a more stable and safe working environment under any circumstances. Therefore, it has undergone extraordinary special enhancements in terms of physical and psychic defense and environmental stability. However, in the previous raids on factories and fortresses, Soltarn had no chance to demonstrate such powerful defense - after all, if you don't get beaten, no one will know that you are carrying a set of trigger-type individual void shields and anti-psychic stances that everyone can understand, as well as deflection and reversal stances that others can no longer understand.

A new theory was spread privately among mortals or slave soldiers who did not know the truth: this was a consecrated set of power armor produced by the ancient Terra Sanctuary or Saturn, but it had been refurbished to look like this, and Soltan used his powerful psychic power and other rituals to "trick" the machine soul of the power armor into accepting the control of the Iron Warriors. At the same time, in order to maintain its strength, the Chaos Lord would make his actions more in line with people's ideal of an Imperial sergeant.

Of course, this rumor was only circulated in some places, and the Iron Warriors themselves knew that it was not the case. In fact, for Soltarn, more rumors like this were not a bad thing. People were always willing to believe a statement that could make them feel more at ease. As long as things did not get out of control, he would be happy to take a look and give guidance at the appropriate time - but these were what they had to do after they captured the Kalan-Gol Fortress.

"Please forgive my disrespect, sir."

After the Earth Ruler nodded to him, Leonid continued, "My soldiers and I are eager to know when we will be ready to launch a general attack on the fortress. Time is of the essence, sir. The 383rd Regiment's determination to join the battle has never been so urgent."

The Stonecaller's eyes turned to the lieutenant colonel from behind his breathing mask. Those eyes, so pale that the blue was almost invisible, seemed almost dyed golden in the light of the Medlungard bunker. His eyes reflected the lieutenant colonel's thin face full of hatred and pain - the lieutenant colonel cleverly used fighting spirit to cover up his hatred, but it didn't matter, Soltarn needed them at the moment, so he would not deliberately expose the lieutenant colonel.

"...We don't have any new information about Filhammer and Anverk." Soltarn turned his gaze to the rebellious Space Marines. It was obvious that these warriors who escaped were also uneasy. After all, they all escaped successfully, but only the lord's adjutant and his friend were left behind. Even in the Chaos side, it was more or less unacceptable.

"Give us some new equipment and we'll go back to them!" Svolgard stepped forward and said carelessly, "I still remember how to get to the courtyard!"

"Don't be silly! You can't get through!" Seraface stopped Brother Wolf before he could continue speaking. "I've already reported to Lord Soltarn. Although the tunnel leads directly to the interior, neither you nor I can get through it by our own strength!"

"Why not?" Svolgard tilted his head, his long red hair and messy beard overflowing from his armored neck guard, like a furry beast. "Even if that place is a little weird, we know this time that they are afraid of fire! They are afraid of heat, so bring more flamethrowers and fuel tanks!"

"No, it's not that simple, you stupid wolf." The former Blood Crow Think Tank shook his head, "Do you still remember those strange black creatures and invisible evil spirits in the tunnel, and how we all gathered around them later? If it weren't for their amulet beads, I can tell you now that at least half of us would have been trapped in that tunnel full of pain and curses, not to mention being able to fight after running out."

"Remember, what's wrong? This should be the amulet they brought. Before we went in, we half-jokingly prayed to the black and white fur ball. I also told the pendant that we are all furry." Svolgard scratched his head and blinked his ears unconsciously. Jeffrey frowned and looked at him, and Soltan stared at him deeply.

"Yes, the amulet obviously... had a very obvious effect. Praying to it is useful." Seraface said tactfully, and turned his gaze to Soltan at the top. "If Lord Soltan can give us two or three such amulets, then perhaps we can go in again and try..."

"Don't even think about it." The Earth Ruler Stonemason interrupted Blood Raven's eager speech without any hesitation, "I don't even have that string of rose beads, how dare you ask for two or three at once? That is a gift from God given to them, not something that can be forced." He glanced at Seraface with a warning, "You definitely don't want to try to challenge the wrath of the Lord of Steel."

The words Soltarn used made the former Blood Raven Librarian raise an eyebrow in surprise, "I thought that was..."

"That is the power of my father!" Soltan answered decisively.

"But we can try to go back." The scout in dull green armor who had led the way for them said, "I can plan a new infiltration route for you, but if we don't go through that tunnel, we may not be able to go too deep with our numbers. Because although the number of Iron Warriors defenders inside is not that large, there are still a large number of Dark Om Messiah believers working for Tolamino. They and their defensive servitors have greatly filled the defense line of this fortress."

Soltan shook his head and turned to Lieutenant Colonel Leonid who had been waiting for a long time.

"The death strike missile swarm has actually been prepared. I have also confirmed all the psionic beacons, and there is no problem with the placement of the assault team, but I have to wait and see."

"What are you waiting for, my lord? Are you just going to wait here and do nothing? Those beacons could be discovered and deactivated at any time."

"Wrong. It's not just a simple wait." Soltan put his hand on a large book with a steel, silver and gold cover and parchment that had just been hung on his waist. "So far, after advancing here, only the last omen of the precious prophecy my Lord gave me for this battle has not yet come true. I have a feeling that it will come true soon, and when it comes true, we will be able to..."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, but this statement was quite common in the Eye of Terror. Considering that Tolamino, who they were facing, was also famous for witchcraft, this duel made people begin to think that perhaps it was really unique. "So what is the omen, sir? Do we know?" Seraface asked this question on behalf of the others.

Soltan carefully opened the book to that page and read the word.

"Newborn."

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"Are we really going to jump?"

Uriel, Pasanius and Samokan were now standing next to a huge, stinking sewage lake, with the bodies of killed mutant guards and servitors lying on the ground at their feet.

"This is too disgusting..." Samokwan raised his skinless nose and made a face - the effect was very good with his current appearance. Pausanius felt a chill on his back, but the person making the face didn't know it.

"Unless you can find a second way out faster, or you are willing to go up, and then the three of us can kill through those fully armed Chaos Space Marine guard posts starting from the elevator." Uriel pointed upwards unceremoniously, "We were able to get here by luck. I don't think the guards up there will be weaker than they are now."

"Okay. Hopefully I can hold my breath long enough—"

They heard more noisy footsteps and the sounds of weapons and metal limbs banging coming from the distance - apparently someone had finally noticed the unusual silence in this area, and more fully armed guards had come to check it out.

"Follow me!" Uriel shouted, and jumped into the turbid sewage lake.

The refuse, scraps of meat, and other fermented waste from the entire fortress floated in the water, swirling around his chest, and as he began to swim toward the sluice gate, his ears heard two splashes of water, and he knew that Pasanius and Samokhan had caught up with him.

Then they began to dive deeper into the sewage. The underwater visibility here was extremely poor, but this terrible environment also concealed their huge bodies, and the guards who rushed to the shore did not immediately discover them.

But two other bad things began to threaten his life: he vaguely saw that the part of the sluice gate under the water had sharp rotating blades and was working normally. Apparently, in order to prevent large bodies or other things from blocking the sewer pipes, the administrators set up something like a sewer crusher here - and to make matters worse, the sewage was too dirty, and the chemical composition of some unknown medicine and other corrosive liquids in it began to sting Uriel's eyes, and any exposed part of his body that came into contact with the sewage began to produce a burning sensation.

The speed of the water flow increased slightly, and he began to feel the force of being sucked into the swirling vortex formed by the blades of the huge crusher - he concentrated on looking at the sluice, discerning the direction of the swirling water. Although the blades were sharp, they were very large, and because they had been used for a long time, there was obviously some space on both sides of them where they were washed by the water, and the same should be true below. If he swam close to them, it was not impossible to avoid it, but his eyes and respiratory mucosa were now very painful due to being in contact with the pool water for too long.

——Pain...? Damn it. He suddenly realized, Samokan, that kid didn't have any normal skin on his body that could resist this corrosive pool water! His jumping in was like jumping into a huge pool of acid - if he was in pain or even fainted from the pain, he wouldn't be able to pass through the sluice gate by himself...

Uriel kicked hard and floated to the surface. He was already quite far away from the shore. He wiped his face and began to turn his head to look for his companions.

In front of him was a pile of human entrails tangled together in a greasy mess, reflecting the distant light. The gases produced by the decaying corpses made it easier for the biological remains to float on the water.

Uriel discovered that the things spinning with him in the cold darkness were all kinds of dead humans, from babies to space marines. His neck was kissed by the cold, sticky skinless lips of the dead. The skulls were lying on the dark water, looking at him with their dead fish-like eyes. The open jaws of the skulls seemed to be giving him a silent smile and invitation.

He suppressed the extremely nauseous feeling and used his arms to push away the floating islands of rotten flesh, while trying his best to stay in the water.

Thankfully, he finally saw Pasanius struggling to pull the seemingly unconscious Samokan not far behind him.

Uriel slapped the water desperately to try to get their attention.

Pasanius swam towards him slowly, and it was obvious that swimming in this water with a man of Space Marine size was not easy. Uriel's three lungs and windpipe were now burning from overuse, but he finally reached the sergeant and the boy before they could miss him.

It was obviously not a good idea to talk here. Under the surprised gaze of the sergeant, Uriel wrapped the rosary on his neck around Samokan's neck. As soon as this precious amulet left his body, an extreme chill and malice immediately enveloped Uriel, making him shudder.

He gestured to Pasanius and pointed at the gap at the bottom of the sluice, hoping that the other party could understand what he meant as much as possible. He only had one chance to test his ideas, and whether Pasanius and his men could pass also depended on whether his ideas were correct.

After the blond sergeant nodded at him, Uriel took a deep breath of the corrupt and smelly air and swam back towards the grinder blades that were constantly stirring the water and turning large chunks of corpses into meat paste.

The roar and the sound of water filled his senses. At the moment when he finally dived to the deepest part, he located the edge of the blade by memory. Uriel felt the skin of his chest and abdomen rubbing against the rough stone floor of the cave entrance. He stretched himself as far as he could and pushed hard -

(End of this chapter)