Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 683 When You and Your Dad Started Being Alone in a Room
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Relying on the Fire Phoenix's powerful ability to control light and heat, they used fire tornadoes and flaming arrows to clear a path and used fire shields for defense, and successfully rushed out of the ruins at the bottom of the tower.

But the nightmare is not over, in fact, it has just begun.

It was obvious that no matter how at ease Carlofis tried to appear in front of the mortals he considered useless and weak, in the end, the captain's increasingly tired eyes, the sweat that was now pouring down his forehead, and his breathing that was beginning to become heavy all ruthlessly betrayed him.

The Astartes warriors were indeed designed to endure pain that mortals could not endure, and to complete their missions despite incredible injuries or weaknesses, but these were all at the genetic level, or in other words, ultimately expressed in their flesh and blood.

Most Astartes are not actually designed to be more powerful than the average human in the art of attunement of the Sea of ​​Souls.

The Thousand Sons Legion is the exception.

Magnus himself and his sons were unrivalled in their affinity with the Vast Ocean, and their knowledge of such things.

Therefore, Carloface actually knew very well that the consumption on the mental and soul levels had little to do with whether the body was tired or not. Apart from proper sleep and meditation, nothing else could help him recover the mental energy he consumed when releasing these powers.

However, these vicious brain-eating insects were endless and could not be killed. Their attack angles were extremely tricky, and he did not dare to take the risk of being pricked by their spikes. Moving slowly under these restrictions, hunting while constantly consuming shield energy and maintaining the fire shield, had reduced his mental strength to a very dangerous level.

Moreover, the situation was no longer such that he could abandon this woman and leave on his own - in fact, his pride would not allow him to do so - the swarms of soul-eating bees here were so numerous that he had never seen such a number before, and somewhere deep in his heart, he began to have some doubts about the final outcome of this hellish journey.

Of course, he would never say this to Camille.

Damn it, when did so many Soul-Eating Bees breed here?! They checked the recent logs before coming out, and there were reports of Soul-Eating Bees appearing here, but the reports said there were only two or three of them! If he could get back alive, he would definitely kick the asses of those who reported it with his boots!

"The fire shield is a little too close." Camille said, she tried to blink her eyes, blinking away the tears that were coming out of her eyes so that they wouldn't affect her running with the Astartes in the rugged ruins. She felt the heat on her face, her eyelashes seemed to be curled up by the heat, and from the increasing pain, she guessed that some parts of her face and arms might have been burned with blisters.

They had now moved almost to the middle of the valley, and were trying to follow a path that offered some shelter on one side.

Camille followed Carloface and didn't dare to look up.

There was that terrifying, yet slight, flapping sound everywhere, in all directions.

And beneath those huge, brain-shaped heads, giant pincer-like jaws and sharp claws are barbed, sword-like stingers.

These soul-eating bees rushed forward fearlessly, as if they only wanted to pierce the needle into their bodies and then twist their heads off their necks with their sharp jaws.

"Your fire shield has shrunk too small! Carlophis! It's so hot that I can't breathe!"

"Fragile mortal! You should thank me and Theoda if you are still breathing!"

The captain of the Fire Phoenix roared a name as if driving a hound. He strode forward, raised one hand, and compressed a sudden burst of violent fire energy into the shape of a dazzling arrow. Then he waved his hand, and the flaming arrow flew out, killing at least ten Soul-Eating Bees in its path at once.

"go!"

There was a gap in the swarm's encirclement for a second. Camille grabbed her coat and covered her nose and mouth with it, then rushed forward with Carlophis.

Finally, after the flames transformed into a long whip and opened up a fan-shaped area, they ran to the bottom of the cliff where the speeder was anchored and began the final sprint climb. The path they took to leave the ruins was now an obvious escape route with charred, smoking debris and sparks everywhere.

But Carloface's strength had obviously run out. His breathing was heavy, his face was extremely pale and he even looked very haggard. The remaining flames were not even enough to maintain their fire protection. However, when a new round of attacks came, Camille heard crisp, orderly, well-trained and very distinctive gunshots.

With every shot of the bolter, a corresponding Soul-Eating Bee fell to the ground. Obviously, Carlophis did not lose his combat skills as an Astartes while deepening his psychic skills, which made Camille feel a little relieved.

"Hurry up and climb up! Don't dawdle!"

Her hands and feet were all burned with huge blisters from running in the ruins, and now they immediately turned into a bloody mess when she climbed. It was as painful as walking on the edge of a knife, but she knew this was not the time to worry about it.

Camille just gritted her teeth and climbed up.

Finally, she stumbled and managed to climb up the cliff.

The speeder was there, parked quietly - a mountain breeze blew over, bringing her fresh air without the smell of burnt food, as if the hope of their imminent rescue was waving at them.

"Idiot! Get down!"

She screamed and fell forward to the ground. A sharp barbed needle grazed across her back, and she felt a strange burning sensation on one side of her waist: a bullet grazed her waist and hit a soul-eating bee that attacked her from behind the speedboat.

A few more shots followed and the monsters were shot down, but the swarm of insects under the cliff was still chasing them. They could hear the deafening sound of flapping wings - there were more and more of them!

"It's an ambush! Oh God! Please! Anyone! Save us!"

"Then you might as well trust my gun and sword."

Calofis climbed up and shook off the insect corpses that were cut in half from his body. "But when it comes time for me to use my sword, you will be on your own, mortal."

As he said, even though Carlofis's shooting skills are accurate and skilled, when the number of enemies reaches a certain level and they are not afraid of death, the hope of escape seems to become more slim.

They were now only two steps away from the speeder.

"I'm going to use the fire tornado one last time to push them away." Carlophis' voice now sounded almost like he was gritting his teeth. Veins popped out of his forehead and his eyes were bloodshot, like a mortal who had been staying up all night for several days and was still howling. Camille suspected that his mental strength had been completely overdrawn. "Theoda can only help me use it one last time. Do you understand, mortal, you only have one chance to rush into the cabin."

Who is Theoda? But anyone is fine. She nodded immediately. "Understood."

"Three, two, one! Go in!"

A circular fire tornado rose out of nowhere, burning any soul-eating bee that approached into charcoal.

Camille ran over with all her strength and speed, opened the door, threw herself into the seat, and slammed the door shut.

Carlophis roared, killed the last few Soul-Eating Bees that had escaped, and then ran towards the speeder boat.

Oh! Thank God!

She watched him swing his bolter belt over his back, pull open the hatch, and leap in—

A roar of pain escaped his lips, and the warrior turned, and with a surge of furious and primitive strength, he grabbed the bug that had hidden insidiously in the shadow of the speeder, ripped off its wings with his bare hands, and then twisted off its head and threw it aside. "Quick!" she said in horror.

But the fire tornado just dissipated two seconds ago, and the hateful attacker bought the swarm two seconds.

Camille opened his eyes wide, watching dozens of soul-eating bees rushing over, trying to insert their sword-like stingers into every gap in Carlophis's armor.

Suddenly, they all began to retreat.

No, not retreating.

They were beaten back.

A salvo of storm bombs splattered over the Zerg like a harvester, precisely splitting them in two, and the powerful flamethrowers that followed burned the still struggling and squirming fragments into ashes.

"Hey! Are you guys okay?"

At this moment, Camille suddenly realized that some huge aircraft was slowly rising from the other side of the cliff. The rising air currents messed up her hair and blurred her vision.

Uthelma Atla waved at them from the Scarab Lord's Stormhawk, while a line of Sekhmet Terminators steadily advanced the battle line.

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"I have no idea……"

Camille swallowed and wiped her face, which was blackened by the flames' soot.

Uther handed her a clean wet towel and she took it gratefully. The feeling of the wet, cool, soft cloth against her face obviously calmed her down a little.

"I don't know how to thank you..."

"It's only natural." The young man smiled. "Aren't we friends? Besides, I just happened to meet you. I just wanted to give it a try to see if I can join you before your archaeological work is finished. You are so lucky, Camille."

"Oh, yes." She almost cried, "No matter which god gave me this luck, I am now willing to thank him sincerely! For giving you to us!"

"Haha, I remember you didn't believe in God?"

"It doesn't hurt to believe a little at a time like this," the female narrator said sincerely, "otherwise I don't know how to express my gratitude."

"If you want to thank me, then you'd better do a more thorough investigation of the place you are going to next time before you go on a long trip. Bring enough bodyguards, fully charged high-intensity flashlights, and a communicator that can send a distress signal. Is that your way of thanking me?"

Camille burst into laughter. "Oh, not everyone can find a team of lion guards as bodyguards. But - thank you, you are a really good man. Uther, first Calista, and then me, you are a blessing to us."

Carlophis, who was frowning as he cleaned the charred insect remains on his power armor, snorted coldly.

"Obviously," said Ma'atla, giving the increasingly sour-looking Fire Phoenix a kindly and forgiving smile, "you didn't realize before your investigation that the reason why this beautiful valley settlement was abandoned and called 'the wasteland' by subsequent generations of Tizca residents must not be due to lack of water or an unsuitable climate."

"Soul-eating bee plague." Camille said tremblingly.

Maatra nodded. "Yes. Apparently there was a bee plague in that place, and the swarm devoured the entire city in a short period of time, leaving only ancient wasteland legends with no one able to tell the details. But it doesn't matter, you are safe now."

He comforted the frightened Camille for a while and promised that he would immediately arrange an emergency medical room for her and do a thorough head scan and physical examination. Finally, under the suggestion of his powerful and gentle aura, Camille stopped trembling and nodded.

"We could have handled it."

Just as Maatra patted Camille's hand, stood up and walked to the door to give orders to the Sekhmet Terminator who was much taller and stronger than him, Carloface suddenly spoke behind him.

The green-eyed young scholar smiled and made his request to the Primarch's Lion Guard, who then left with Camille.

Then, under the gaze of Carloface who raised his eyebrows, Maatra turned back and closed the door.

Now, the only people left in the room were the hot-tempered Fire Phoenix Temple instructor and the Primarch's new mortal favorite.

"is it?"

Uthelma Atla's smile disappeared immediately after Camille and the others left, and he was unwilling to keep it on his face for even half a second.

The small but imposing scholar now folded his arms and looked sternly at Carloface.

"So, you think you are quite justified in the whole thing?"

"Why? Shouldn't it be possible? I was the one who saved this woman! I protected her until she got there! Otherwise, she would have died when she encountered the first Soul-Eating Bee!"

Carlophis, whose hot temper was as famous as that of Fusis Taka, frowned and looked up and down critically at the mortal who had recently occupied the Primarch's time and energy, just like a gray sparrow pointing fingers at a fire phoenix.

You don't know how to live or die! Do you think that you can use such an admonishing attitude to a lecturer in the Holy Temple just because you have a little power and the support of the Primarch? Humph.

"Also, what's your attitude? Do you want to teach a legionnaire a lesson? A temple instructor? Your psychic skills are just a small introduction. You are just a little pet who can only please people with your pretty face and sweet words. What qualifications do you have to..."

"Oh, what a surprise! You rarely look like this in front of your Primarch, Carlophis. I always thought you were a straightforward and hot-tempered person, like Phthys Taka. Your jealous and twisted face now looks not much different from that guy Hathormat."

This strange, condescending and extremely rude tone of commenting on him and his colleagues instantly ignited Huo Feng, who was already holding back his anger.

"I'm going to teach you the lesson you deserve! Mortal!"

Carlophis roared and began to gather his strength again, calling on his guardian spirit.

Utherma Atla gave a pleasant smile.

"It looks like we can have a good talk, Carlo Face."

(End of this chapter)