Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 804 The person who talked to the toad on the moon was...
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Horus looked around blankly as the short sword, as hot as molten iron, pierced the belly of the last rotting, starving corpse that lunged at him with a sizzling, quenching sound.

As if the process of killing these monsters produced a kind of cleaning effect, the putrid sludge, mold and maggots that had been attached to the bulkhead and the ground had disappeared without anyone noticing, and the horrifying appearance and pungent smell of the monsters he killed had also rapidly decomposed into a kind of dark green substance that could be seen with the naked eye, and was blown away by the breeze flowing through the gaps.

Now, scattered at his feet and around him are only severed limbs and the remains of bodies that have been dead for a long time. The only remaining clothing and rank insignia indicate that many of them originally belonged to the bridge department of this flagship.

Considering that the monster horde poured out from behind the blast doors on the command deck, this makes perfect sense.

A wave of weakness washed over him, and his arm, which was gripping the sword, convulsed.

Horus only then realized that the side effects left behind after the surge of extraordinary power brought to him by adrenaline subsided were beginning to emerge—which was quite novel, since the Primarch's impressive ability to eliminate side effects long before they even began to affect them.

He shifted his body; the clothes inside his protective suit were completely soaked, and the sweat on his toes made him very uncomfortable—the Astartes armor had a recycling system inside, and this was the first time he had experienced the practical inconvenience of such ordinary equipment.

Several blast-proof armored doors blocking his way resembled jagged steel teeth and bronze teeth, with only the faint lumen light he had initially seen still shining in the deepest part, like a flame attracting moths.

"...It's like a trap that was deliberately set up for me here."

However, he also had a sudden realization: even if this was a blatant trap, he could only move towards the source of the light.

Being left alone inside such a deep and large ship as an ordinary person, waiting for rescue in place is not a good option.

The bridge is actually a place that all search teams will go to check; there might be a chance to wait for the search teams to arrive there.

"Don't disappoint me... Peturabo, and someone whose real name I still don't know."

He wiped the splattered dirt from his mask again—almost everything that defied common sense in those rotting corpses that kept repeating faint sounds had decomposed rapidly as he knocked them down, but this splattered dirt and mud was clearly not.

He walked over to Lucius's still-lying body and sighed.

"Although you were a terrible comrade, you were also a truly dedicated warrior and bodyguard," Horus said sincerely. "...You were also the comrade who made me feel most at ease by far...I think...if you hadn't died, we might have become..."

He kept his mouth shut; such things were always too much of a luxury for a warlord. He had many so-called friends, brothers, comrades, and children, but true friends were the most precious thing for anyone told he might ascend to the pinnacle of imperial power—this was what his father, his emperor, had taught him, and he remembered it deeply.

The funeral arrangements for the warrior and the retrieval of the gene seed will be left to the later search team. Horus bowed his head, observed three seconds of silence for Lucius, and then raised his power sword once more.

The golden-red gleam of the sword blade reflected the Phoenician purple ceramic coating of the emperor's son.

Before entering the bridge, he must obtain as many supplies as possible from the only friendly corpse there.

For a lone wolf, survival and returning to the pack are paramount.

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Although the internal structure of the bridge of the Terra Glory has been twisted and displaced, its basic structure remains unchanged, just as it was when Horus visited this place seventy years ago.

only……

He carefully made his way along the path for servants along the edge of the command deck. Every now and then, a face sewn on with the look of betrayal, fear, or anger would flash across the tattered battle flags fluttering in front of or beside him.

The most appalling thing was that Horus found that he could still roughly identify a few of them by certain features: Yugan Tamba's technical director and his capable subordinates, who had surrounded the new planetary governor to welcome and send him off seventy years ago.

Horus doesn't know why their corpses appeared on this flag covered in strange symbols, but one thing is becoming increasingly certain: it must be related to Yugan Tamba himself, as well as some act of betrayal against the Empire and the Emperor, and Horus himself.

Further on, the cables on both sides were haphazardly twisted together in a way that would make any follower of the Cult of Mechanics scream in binary language, hanging down as if the intestines of a giant beast were being brutally dragged out of its corpse.

Some of them had already broken due to the sudden movement of the Terra Glory wreckage. Horus was surprised to find that sparks and crackling sounds of short circuits flashed from their cracks, combined with the faint lumens of light in front of him.

Could it be that some of the bridge's equipment still has power, or even—can tell him exactly what happened here, how a planetary world of nomads could cause an Empire's advanced capital ship to crash to the ground... a survivor?
After all, if the ship still has some energy, the life support equipment might still be working, and if we're lucky, we might even find some backups recording what happened at the time.

This greatly excited Horus, who silently vowed to find the culprits and avenge the unfortunate dead, and then continued cautiously onward.

The trail was in disrepair, and the gruesome corpse flags and cables hanging on both sides made it very dark. Considering the issues he had heard on the bridge of the Vengeful Spirits regarding the signals coming from here, he also had to consider the possibility of native rebels stationed there. So he turned off his headlamp and carefully felt his way forward slowly.

His footsteps were muffled by the crackling of the broken cable and a faint, repetitive signal, similar to the one they'd heard on Vengeance Souls, and... he frowned again behind his mask, wondering why the signal sounded more like... a dying person repeating something over and over as he moved forward.

The mixed noise made him more cautious and hide himself to the side, preventing him from noticing the noises from other intruders immediately.

Only when the distinctive firing sound of bolt carriers and a furious shout in a Kzunian accent suddenly rang out from below did he rush towards the nearest opening, about to ask with delight which company's sons were so skilled and brave, reaching this point first—

The loud crack of a cervical vertebra breaking off from the power armor came from the giant hand on the neck of the last warrior wearing pearl-white power armor. He was then carelessly tossed to the ground beneath the command throne like a tattered rag doll.

The helmet lock of the deceased was damaged, and his helmet rolled to the side, revealing a face familiar to the warlord: this face, with its eyes wide open and still showing anger, belonged to Moy Verulan, the company commander of the 19th Company of the 16th Army Corps.

Horus used all the willpower he had in his life to keep himself from making any unnecessary noise due to the grief over the death of his offspring.

Because he also saw the killer who killed the squad.

It was a bizarre, giant toad-like figure standing upright, its skin covered in blisters and wrinkles, its loose fat piled up like a small mountain of excrement and rotting flesh, occupying the entire high platform of the command throne.

Right here, it instantly killed an entire Shadowmoon Wolves squad that was trying to attack him and threw their bodies off the platform.

Its head was unrecognizable, submerged deep within the bulging flesh, where various mosquitoes, flies, and maggots swam and flew merrily in the cavities beneath its skin. As the murderer slowly moved his body, the glittering gold medals and silver buttons of the officer's uniform amidst the filth stung Horus's eyes.

He recognized the uniform; only one person in the entire 63-8 garrison fleet was allowed to wear this commander's uniform.

So, if the owner of this uniform caused a series of events, it could explain why the Terra Glory crashed here.

“Yugan Tamba.” His heart burned with rage, and he silently uttered, “My appointed governor of Devon. Traitor.”

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"Come out. Stop hiding."

Horus maintained his pace, quickly vaulting over the fallen obstacles on the path and carefully maneuvering around them. "Come out, old friend, it's been a long time."

If one had not yet seen Yugan Tamba's current horrifying appearance, nor witnessed his treacherous act of killing his own offspring, the voice of this mortal governor, once highly trusted by Horus, remained almost entirely unchanged, still gentle and rational.

"Why don't we talk? Lord Warlord, Lord Horus. Praise be to the Lord of Corruption! I know you have come, you are here! Why don't you show yourself and join me in receiving this eternal hymn of death?"

"I have nothing to talk to you about!"

Horus finally couldn't help but shout, and at the same time nimbly jumped away from where he was standing—two seconds later, the iron mesh floor was grabbed and torn off by several thick, slippery tentacle-like things—then he realized with disgust that they were not tentacles, but the rotting intestines that had grown excessively in Yugan Tamba's stomach.

"Aren't you afraid to face me, Warlord? Afraid to face me, Yugan Tamba? You even have to disguise your voice?" The monster shook its head, chunks of fat falling off to reveal twisted, grotesque features, even showing a hint of regret. "Why bother?"

"You are not Yugan Tamba! You are just a hideous monster in his skin!"

Its entrails, tinged with bluish-red and pinkish-black, surged out from the rupture in the toad-like belly of the former planetary governor. It grabbed another iron plate, returned empty-handed, and wriggled about.

“Wrong, I am Yugan Tamba. Warmaster.” The voice of this terrifying monster was now as gentle and refined as a human’s. “I am the Tamba who once thought I could be your so-called friend, the Tamba who was abandoned here by you on your expedition, the Tamba who had to fend for himself in this desolate world, the Tamba who became yet another stepping stone in your pursuit of glory.”

"The Yugan Tamba I know is loyal!"

“Indeed, I was once one of the most loyal servants of the warlord Horus. But now I know a master more suitable to serve, and I sincerely invite you to join us in praising and rejoicing for the Lord of Decay, so that the wonderful and powerful might may flow into your veins, strengthen your body, and grant you an immortal destiny.”

“You sound like a madman spouting nonsense. I pity you, monster.”

Horus had reached the walkway beneath the bridge dome. The echoes and howling wind made his voice reverberate throughout the area, making it difficult for the monster to pinpoint its location. Its rotting intestines, like some kind of eerie tropical flower or sea anemone, bloomed from its belly, spreading everywhere and searching for prey.

"Why deceive yourself, War General? I can hear the wavering and the stirring in your voice, can't I? Your ambition is there, and so is my power. It is so strong and vibrant. Once you possess it, I can once again assist you, conquer the galaxy, and reign supreme over all living beings. You will become the lord beloved by all creatures."

“There is already one person who is loved by all, Tamba, the beloved emperor, who is also my father.”

"Oh? Is that so? Then where is your father now? When your emperor entrusted you with the army and the title of general, did he also leave you with the power and glory he had for others? When he abandoned you, leaving you to continue his endless, cruel wars, to deal with those lowly bureaucrats and greedy, insect-like nobles, and returned to the Terra Palace alone, did he give you any explanation that you could accept?"

"..."

"Think, Warlord, think." Tamba sighed softly, as if he truly sympathized with Horus's plight. "Have you realized that throughout history, and indeed the entire Great Crusade, events are all preordained by fate?"

“Divine will? We only speak of Imperial truth now, Tamba. There is nothing in the universe that Imperial truth cannot explain.”

"Really? What about the warp? What about chaos?"

"If you're going to try to convince me with these arguments, you're sorely mistaken, Tamba. Why can't a material universe contain the existence of warp? Warp life is just another form of alien, merely a form of existence that we don't yet fully understand."

The Warlord's voice gradually regained its excitement as he replied, "I had a reasonable suspicion long ago that the reason our beloved Emperor wanted to return to Terra was to use his great mind to unravel the fundamental mysteries behind the warp! If he succeeds, we will no longer be troubled by this other form of existence!"

The toad-like behemoth chuckled, its laughter unrestrained. Half-melted, putrid grease began to drip from its body.

"Is that so? Just speculation?" Tamba's voice was as soft as a close friend's whisper, so malicious yet so gleeful, almost joyful. "So did he actually tell you what this unprecedentedly great undertaking he's going to do is, the mess he's dumped on you?"

A gentle breeze blew by, sounding like a sob.

The sizzling sound of the golden-red blade piercing through rotting flesh and bones, along with the billowing stench and thick smoke, drowned out the voices of the mortals leaping from above.

"You're right, you damned monster."

Horus Lupecal's voice was filled with deep sorrow and grief: "He didn't tell me, he didn't tell anyone."

Before the extraordinary heat emanating from the blade scorched away the opponent's spine and skull, the monster turned its head 180 degrees—a feat impossible for a human—for one last look at the "War Commander" who had jumped behind it.

Then it let out a terrifying, earth-shattering scream.

"Who are you?! Why?! Where is the War General?! Where is Horus?!"

"I am Horus, the War General."

The blonde woman said coldly.

"No, no, that's impossible... You demon..."

The golden-red sword energy permeated the monster's entire body like magma, and the mutated growths, like those on the corpses outside, began to dissipate in the wind.

The face gradually regained its more human form, and intense regret and panic began to appear on it.

“You are not… but I saw it… I saw it!” Yugan Tamba’s eyes regained their mortal intelligence as he stared directly at the other man. “I… please tell him… I… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“Alright,” the mortal woman finally said, “Tamba, perhaps you have been bewitched… Have you been deceived? Who has deceived you?”

Tamba sobbed as his body continued to burn, shrinking smaller and smaller, as the decaying life force left him.

“I’m sorry…” He looked up at the woman’s lowered face, the bright halo around her head reflecting in Tamba’s gradually widening pupils. “It’s my fault… I was too weak in the face of the forces in the Warp. They showed it to me on the ship… I couldn’t resist… But I saw it, and I must warn the Warchief… I must save the galaxy…”

"What? Who?"

This man, who should have died long ago, grabbed the hand of the woman holding him. "War General! The Emperor is dead! The galaxy is burning! Endless darkness and war! Religious ignorance and a hell of superstition filled with bureaucratic dogma! I beg you! Tell the War General! He must hold fast to his principles! Only he can...stop it..."

"Wait!"

But Yugan Tamba's body has been restored to the appearance of a corpse that has been dead for many years.

The governor, whom they had waited for sixty years, was now completely dead.

(End of this chapter)