I'm in Warhammer, I just want to grow mushrooms

Chapter 344 The Ancient Sage's Third Treasure
Panic gripped the bridge of the human fleet.

The mechanical sage frantically typed on the keyboard, searching for traces of the enemy over and over again.

The communications officer collected and summarized reports from various ships, which were then edited by the chief clerk and submitted to Horus.

Horus himself stood on the command platform, holding a large stack of reports in his hands, reading them carefully with an extremely solemn expression.

The thing I least wanted to see still happened.

Five minutes ago, the fleet had just arrived in this network space when it was attacked by the Ancient Holy Cannon and forced to stop its sub-light-speed travel.

The intense artillery fire trapped the fleet in place; the gate to the net tunnel they had come from was blown to pieces, and the other gate to the net tunnel they had left from was also completely destroyed.

The artillery fire subsided, the fleet suffered some casualties, and the only two gates in this network space were no longer usable.

Horus immediately ordered the Eldar envoy to be taken into custody.

When the dozen or so clowns realized something was wrong, they immediately used their psionic powers to become invisible and dart around the flagship, evading pursuit and causing chaos on the middle and lower decks of the bridge.

Horus ordered the ships to rest in place, patiently waiting for his men to capture the clown alive.

At this point, the encoded transmitter used to transmit messages within the network channel sends out a signal.

The sound array commander glanced at the identification code and short message on the transmitter, and his expression changed drastically:

"Lord Horus, Commander Waldor of the Imperial Guard has sent a message: the sealing barrier of Karata has been closed by the Eldar, and the warp rift is expanding rapidly. It is expected to cover the entire Web Dimension within 24 hours, turning the area outside the Golden Gate into warp space! Waldor orders us to return to Karata immediately to assist the Imperial Guard and the Mechanicus in guarding Terra Palace!"

"What?!" Horus exclaimed in shock and anger. "Are you sure the source is accurate?"

The sound array master officer checks the identification code again:
"That's right, sir, it was indeed a message sent by Waldo himself!"

"Damn it!" Horus slammed his fist on the tactical table, causing the holographic screen to crackle and flash with large amounts of static.

Fortunately, anything made by Motor Oil Guy is bound to be of high quality.

Despite Horus's punch, the tactical table, protected by a high-strength ceramic steel shell, was not paralyzed.

"Could all of this really be a conspiracy by the Eldar, as the Palu orcs said?" Horus murmured to himself.

The Palu orcs' prophecy came true; the Eldar's betrayal was almost a foregone conclusion, yet Horus still felt that something didn't quite make sense.

However, he didn't have time to think about it too much right now.

The immediate priority is to return to Terra, rush to the palace, and stop the Warp Rift from expanding further.

Led by the Great Sage Rand, the Mechanicus masters have been researching methods to close the subspace rift these days.

Before Horus set off, this group of the Empire's top technical strategists already had a prototype device.

Now, turning back and coordinating with the actions of the Forbidden Army and Mars, there is a very high probability that we can stop the expansion of the subspace rift.

But the price was that Li Nuo was allowed to become a god.

Thinking of this, a glint appeared in Horus's eyes, and his gaze turned fierce.

The control of the Cosmic Hall is in the hands of the Palu Orcs, and the order to have the Ancient Holy Cannons attack the fleet must have been given by the Palu Orcs.

Therefore, trapping the fleet within the network space was definitely a plot by the Palu Orcs.

The disappearance of the seal on Karata and the accelerated expansion of the warp rift seem to be closely related to the Eldar, as if the Eldar betrayed the human empire, but the possibility that the Paru Orcs were behind it cannot be ruled out.

After all, a sealing barrier is essentially a solidified energy field.

If Mars could see through the principles, then there's no reason why the Palu Beastmen, who mastered the Net Path technology, would be completely ignorant of the sealing barrier.

In conclusion, Horus strongly suspects that the mutation of Karata was also one of the measures taken by the Palu Orcs to prevent him from leading his team to the ascension site, with the aim of forcing him to return to defend.

"Check the identification code again."

"Yes, sir." The sound array commander lowered his head, scrutinizing every detail of the identification code with utmost attention.
“My lord, I am certain that this is definitely Waldo’s identification code, not a forgery by the Palu beastmen.”

Horus nodded slightly, straightened up, and said:

"Pass on my order to cease the manhunt for the Eldar envoys. Turn on the ship's public address system and tell those Eldar envoys that I have determined that the fleet's encounter and the anomaly in Karata are a conspiracy by the Paru orcs, and have nothing to do with the Eldar. The Eldar are also victims of this conspiracy. Bring them to the bridge. I expect them to provide a plan to repair the Webgate in a short time and implement it immediately."

"Yes, sir." The communications officer relayed Horus's order, and a chorus of voices rang out throughout the ship.

The tactical commander asked:

"Lord Horus, shall we continue onward, or obey Valdor's orders and return to Terra?"

Horus frowned in thought, not answering the tactical officer's question, but turning to look at the helmsman:
"Assuming that every network node we pass through subsequently has its network gate destroyed, how long do you estimate it will take us to reach our destination?"

The helmsman pulled out a data panel and, while calculating, said:
“My lord, we still need to pass through eight more net passages, totaling nine net passage gates. If the Spirit Race can keep the time spent repairing each gate under two hours, we can reach our destination relatively easily.”

Just then, several Eldar envoys were drawn by the broadcast and came to the bridge, offering their willingness to cooperate.

Horus instructed them to contact Elena to inquire about the time required to repair the Webway gate.

Normally, after losing control of the Cosmic Hall, repairing the gate in a short period of time is pure wishful thinking.

But now is a critical moment, and the Eldar have brought out their trump card: the Web Tunneling technology.

"Horus, we will send a team of Supreme Prophets and Bone Singers to support you, along with at least three psionic engines and three ships loaded with spirit bones. Please protect them. Without external interference, we can repair a Webway Gate in just one hour."

Elena's promise undoubtedly gave the human fleet a shot in the arm, and the atmosphere on the bridge became heated, with morale soaring.

Before Horus could express his gratitude and deliver his impassioned speech, the commander of the sound array suddenly shouted:
"Sir, a communication signal from the Palu Beastmen has forcibly intervened in the bridge. It has obtained the highest priority communication access to the sonic array device, and I cannot stop it!"

"Hello? Can you hear me?" The orc's loud voice squeezed into the bridge. The sonic commander wanted to cut off its communication signal, but that would take a while.

The orc said:

"Horus, our boss told me to tell you that the warp rift in Karastanagada is expanding. You'd better go back and guard the weasels' asshole!"

"Shut up!" the sonic commander shouted angrily. "Stop spouting nonsense here, orcs! We already know about the situation in Karata, and Lord Horus made a swift, correct, and great response!"

"Oh, you all knew all along. Well, wait a minute, let me flip through the script and see what I'm going to say next."

The orc muttered a few words as if no one else was around, interspersed with the sounds of turning the pages of an animal hide scroll:

"Oh! I found it! Hey Horus, are you going to give in to us? If you're willing to go back, we can help you fix the gate you came from."

"Give in? Arrogance!" Horus couldn't help but curse, "You green-skinned creatures..."

Before Horus could finish speaking, the orc dropped a sentence and shut down the communication.

"If you don't back down, then die, you idiot shrimp."

"Clap."

A torrent of angry words stuck in his throat, Horus could only force himself to swallow them back as he stared at the closed communication screen.

The people on the bridge dared not breathe, for fear of angering the National Religion War Commander.

The quiet and oppressive atmosphere lasted for about ten minutes.

The clown received Elena's message via his personal coded transmitter, which read:
"Horus, our fleet has reached the previous network node and is about to begin repairing the network gate." "Hmm, hurry up." Horus said with a grim face.

A few minutes later, the clown's expression changed drastically, and his teeth chattered beneath the mask.

"What? Is there bad news?" Horus asked in a deep voice.

The clown swallowed hard.

"The fleet... the fleet was destroyed by the Palu Orcs. The Supreme Prophet and the Bone Singer team were all killed, the psionic engines were blown to pieces, and the spirit bones were looted by the Palu Orcs. Lady Elena is mobilizing another fleet, which is expected to arrive here within two hours."

Horus let out a heavy sigh:

"No need, thank you for your help... call back the communication signal from before."

The commander of the sound array was taken aback. "Sir, what are you going to do..."

The Primarch of Genesis, the Warmaster of the State Church, actually has to submit to the Palu Orcs!

Morale on the bridge plummeted to an unprecedented low.

Do you want me to repeat the order?

"No, sir, I'll call that orc right away."

A few seconds later, the communication was established, and a holographic image popped up.

This time, however, the orc in the picture was not the same one as before, but Pakado.

Horus was not surprised.

He took a deep breath and said calmly:

"You win, orc. We're going back to support Terra Palace. To stop our expedition, you've even disregarded the safety of Terra. It's hard to imagine that your leader was originally human."

"Oh, Horus, do you believe that the warp rift going out of control is our doing?"

"Of course it's you." Horus sneered. "It's in your best interest. If it's not you, then who else could it be but the Eldar?"

“Why can’t they have pointed ears?” Paccardo asked.

Horus said:

"Because the Spirit Race doesn't want to see Li Nuo become a god, they won't cause us any trouble! Enough talk, fix the door, and we'll go back now."

Paccado gestured to the boy next to him, and the net gate began to be repaired.

“Before concluding this communication, I must tell you something.” Paccard paused:
"Don't think that just because pointy ears are preventing our leader from becoming a god, they're truly opposing him. Pointy ears are a shameless race that will do anything to fulfill a prophecy. We orcs and you shrimps, our actions reflect our thoughts. But pointy ears are different. They're preventing our leader from becoming a god only because the prophecy requires them to. Their true purpose is singular: to seal the Dark Lord. Take care of yourself, Horus. This is my final advice to you."

*Click*. The communication screen went dead.

Horus frowned, remaining silent, seemingly lost in thought. The Eldar envoy nearby remained silent, as if he hadn't heard the orc's slanderous words.

A few minutes later, the mechanical sage cautiously said:

"Sir, the gate we came through has been repaired."

"Set off."

"Yes, my lord."

As the fleet began its return voyage, the atmosphere on the bridge became a little more lively, but it was still quite somber.

Rescuing Terran Palace was of utmost urgency; the human fleet wished they could simply open a wormhole and head straight for Karata.

The Eldar were even more anxious than they were.

The Palu Orcs prematurely broke the seal, causing the warp rift to expand ahead of schedule and posing a fatal threat to the Terra Palace. There is a certain probability that the Dark Lord will descend into the Emperor's body, but the Eldar are not yet ready to seal the Dark Lord.

"What do we do now, Ms. Elena?"

The theater troupe leader, who was guarding the door of the Obsidian Archives, couldn't wait to ask Elena about the revelations in the Book of Destiny as soon as she came out.

Elena stopped and said seriously:

"Sacrifice, the Book of Destiny forces us to sacrifice ourselves to forcibly complete the sealing ritual."

Self-sacrifice!

The clowns trembled with fear, but none of them showed any sign of cowardice.

They were mentally prepared for this when they embarked on this path.

"The threat from the warp rift alone is not enough to guarantee the arrival of the Dark Lord. We also need the help of the Chaos Beast King."

“Madam, I am willing to make contact with the Chaos Beast King and guide it and its fleet to besiege Terra.”

"Madam, I'd like to as well."

Elena raised her right hand, interrupting the clown's words:
“You are very brave, but the Chaos Beast King does not need our guidance. It will attack Terra at the most appropriate time. This is a revelation from the Book of Destiny. I do not know how destiny will guide the Chaos Beast King, but I believe that as long as we follow the steps, the prophecy will surely come true.”

"Yes, ma'am!"

The clowns responded in unison.

...

...

at the same time.

In the northeastern corner of the Solar Starfield, in a star region bordering the Hazy Starfield.

The Chaos Beast King, Ulgrik, led the Chaos Beastmen to devour the Empire, resulting in the massacre of hundreds of millions of lives.

After a long and fierce battle, the Chaos Beast King returned to the newly built "Wolf Blade" to rest.

A tiny figure stood beside the Beast King's throne, seemingly having been waiting for a long time.

"Shrimp?" Ulger snorted, trying to detect the scent. "No, you're not a shrimp. You look like a reptilian?"

"Urge, you've finally arrived. If you had come any later, you would have missed the most important gift of your life."

The lizardman remained fearless in the face of the colossal creature that stood fifty meters tall.

It took something out of its pocket and tossed it to Ulger.

The thing magnified in the air, growing from less than ten centimeters in length, width, and height to about the size of an anti-gravity tank.

Ulger found the lizardman interesting, and since he had just slaughtered a lot of shrimp and was in a good mood, he didn't kill the lizardman on the spot.

It caught the metal box, opened it, and looked inside. It was empty. It then turned it over and examined it in its hand.

"Isn't this the treasure I obtained after breaking the third seal of the Ancient Saint's Treasure? How did it end up in your hands?" (Note: See Chapter 247 for details.)
“I know where the contents of this box went.” The lizardman smiled slightly.
"So? Do you want to obtain the third treasure of the Old Ones? If so, go and attack Terra now. You will see this treasure after defeating the Emperor."

(End of this chapter)