Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 510 Peturab: Nimrod's offspring, quite good.
Peturabo's jaw tilted forward, and the long cables stuck in his head looked like dreadlocks, clattering and rattling against each other.

"Your basis?"

Keon felt the pressure from Peturabo, knowing that if he couldn't give a satisfactory answer, he would surely incur the Primarch's punishment.

He had already prepared his explanation: "Sir, my basis comes from my father."

Peturabo's icy blue eyes softened slightly, but he still stared intently at Keon.

"The aliens we are facing are controlled and driven by a race called the Shloth."

"Sloth is able to parasitize the Iron Warrior's body with a special, blood-red, insect-like creature."

"Is this your answer?" Peturabo said impatiently.

“Fricks understands Kelkes; he wasn’t parasitized.”

“My lord, he has been parasitized. The talent given to me by the Father of Genetics, along with the special psychic power I possess, allows me to see things that ordinary people cannot.”

Keown disguises the abilities of "psychics" as psychic powers, a common explanation used by the Shadow Order.

He noticed that Peturab remained silent, seemingly analyzing his words.

"If you don't believe me, you can verify it."

"How do we verify it?" Peturabo's rock-hard voice softened slightly.

"An individual parasitized by flesh and blood may possess intelligence beyond that of ordinary people."

"But he cannot retain your offspring's calculation and analytical abilities. He is not a true steel warrior. He will be exposed as soon as you test him."

Keon always kept in mind the Black Emperor's instructions: his responsibility was to remind, not to expose, and his mission was to let Lord Peturabo discover the truth.

Peturabo didn't say anything more. He turned off the shielding field and walked back to the holographic table.

Seeing his father's gloomy expression, Trident, who was waiting, couldn't help but wonder what Keon and his father had talked about.

Perturabo stared at Kerkez with his icy blue eyes and said in a deep voice.

“Mark the detailed results of the investigation on the holographic image.”

“Yes, Father.” “Kelkez” immediately sprang into action, picking up his cane and beginning to mark the outline of the mountains.

Perturabo watched every move of "Kelkaz". Normally, he wouldn't waste time waiting; he would have enough time to finish formulating the logistics dispatch plan.

But he didn't leave the holographic table, staring intently at Kelkaz.

His trident stood to the side, waiting quietly.

As the timer in the command center ticked past a standard hour, Peturabo's brow furrowed slightly.

Kyle Kelkes moved a little slower than usual, pausing occasionally to think for a few seconds before continuing.

[His movements are too slow; the automatic sensing system will assist him in recording, so he doesn't need to spend so much time recalling.]
“Attack marker one,” Peturabo pointed to the hologram and asked Kelkez, “Your plan.”

"Kelkez" paused for a moment, and remained silent for two minutes before speaking.

"A company of ten Macado heavy tanks, after capturing the target area, deploy Tarantula sentry guns, and then establish a defensive fortress..."

Peturabo's voice grew increasingly cold and hard. "How many fortresses to build? Fortress size? Standard construction time? Guard strength? Firepower? Supplies?"

"Kelkez" remained silent for another three minutes, then said, "Four fortresses, each of equal size..."

War blacksmith Fricks frowned as he looked at his adjutant. According to Kelkez's markings, the terrain around marker number one was rugged and uneven.

At critical junctures, it is clearly not appropriate to build fortresses of the same size. Instead, fortresses should be built specifically according to the terrain characteristics in order to maximize the firepower of each fortress.

As he was pondering, Perturabo moved. He went up to "Kelkez" and ripped off his helmet.

The Primarch's icy blue eyes immediately caught sight of the unhealed, one-millimeter-wide, finger-length gash on Kyle Kez's head.

Without further doubt, amidst Trident's terrified screams, he plunged his finger into the top of Kelkaz's head and pulled out a blood-red worm.

As the insect was pulled out, Kelkaz's corpse crashed to the ground.

Perturabo slammed the blood-red parasite, which was writhing between his fingers, onto the holographic table. With a crisp impact, the corpse of the fleshy parasite slapped against the surface.

"He was parasitized."

The trident's blade... Frix thought of the heavy casualties he would suffer after being misled by Kelkez and walking into the ambush, and he knelt on the ground in shame.

“Father, I didn’t realize that Kelkaz was parasitized, which almost led us into the alien’s trap.”

"Be more careful in the future."

Fricks, who was waiting for the Father of Genetics to punish him, was stunned. He thought he would be stripped of the honor of the Trident, but he did not expect that his strict father would not punish him.

Perturabo's eyes were filled with icy blue. "The aliens have laid an ambush in the mountains, hoping to ambush us."

"Now, they will pay the price for this."

"What he just said was a lie, but it provided me with intelligence: there must be alien fortresses at all the key strategic nodes, and they will be lying in ambush around them..."

As Keon listened to Perturabo's rapid analysis, the Primarch, with almost no need to think, deduced the Xenomorphs' deployment based on Kelkaz's lies and formulated a corresponding battle plan.

Four minutes later, his name was called.

"Keon, your mission is to find Shloth."

Fricks looked thoughtfully at Keown.

[Did the father hand over Sloth, who designed everything, to Keon?]

He just spoke with his father alone, and his father did not punish me for my dereliction of duty.

Could it be that Keeung reminded his father?
"As you command, but I need that."

Keown pointed to the fleshy parasite's body on the holographic table, and after receiving permission, he picked up the blood-red worm with his gauntlet.

Keon then remembered the duty the Black Emperor had given him: "My lord, Shloth is difficult to kill. Please allow me to find him and report to you."

“I will authorize you a dedicated communication channel, and you will be able to contact me at any time,” Peturabo sent a series of communication codes to Keon. Fricks looked at Keon with envy, thinking to himself.

He has already won his father's trust.
After confirming the connection of the helmet communicator, Keown left the command center.

He assembled the royal monks within his company, each possessing different powers bestowed upon him by his father.

Keon did not select any psychics, nor did he allow any prophetic psychics to foresee the future.

The Black Emperor had instructed him about some of the characteristics of the Slothians, which were similar to those of the Untouchables.

No one can be perceived by a psychic, and their terrifying minds can inflict varying degrees of punishment on psychics.

Six hours later, Keown and his team arrived at the outskirts of marker point five in the mountain range.

Beside Keown is a "diviner" whose divination staff is tipped with blood-red parasites.

He looked up into the distance; the Iron Warriors had already launched a surprise attack on the mountains.

They were like a precisely operating war machine, with each squad acting simultaneously, arriving at their designated locations at the same time, and launching precise fire strikes against the aliens.

The deployed Tarantula sentry cannons did not fire laser beams; instead, they fired energy beams personally designed by Lord Peturabo.

The tarantulas, along with the energy weapons mounted on the Macado heavy tank, fired at the towering, tree-like bone-eaters.

Each attack by the Bone Eater wipes out a tarantula or a vehicle, but the Iron Warriors do not back down. They form an iron torrent and continue to attack the Bone Eater.

The overwhelming attack drowned out the Bone Eater's firepower.

With a tremendous roar, the Titan-sized Bone Eater's body collapsed.

"set off!"

Amidst the violent tremors of the earth, Keon led his team through the thirty-four Macado heavy tanks destroyed by the Bone Eaters and into the mountains.

The group continued on their journey, with the "diviner" constantly using the "divination staff" to correct their course, until they finally arrived at the foot of a mountain peak that was a thousand meters high.

After the "psychic" gave the order to stop, he opened the "Eye of Death" and entered the spiritual world to examine the fortress from a higher perspective.

The fortress was grayish-white, with countless dark green vengeful spirits howling and coiling around it.

After observing for a while, the "psychic" closed the "Eye of Death," having found his target.

Keon immediately switched the communication channel to the channel reserved for Lord Peturabo and sent the location coordinates captured by the divination box.

A second later, Peturabo's rock-hard voice came through the communication channel.

"I see."

Keon led his team, hiding behind the rocks, and waited quietly.

They didn't have to wait long; the helmet timer had just ticked past thirty-six standard marks.

Amidst the roar of engines, a flock of iron-gray stormbirds pierced through the clouds and flew swiftly in.

The heavy Stormbird, handcrafted by Perturabo, leads the way in the iron-grey formation.

The guardian bone-eaters shot beams of light into the air, striking Peturabo's chariot.

The iron-gray Stormbird was struck by the jet of fire, sending up a string of blinding sparks.

Within seconds, the Stormbirds formed an arrow-like formation and launched a series of attacks on the Bone Eater.

"Ignore the airborne part; Shlos might take the opportunity to escape. Keep a close eye on him."

The royal cultivators immediately shifted their gaze from the sky, each using their own abilities to focus on the mountain.

The "spectators" beside Keown, with their dark eyes gleaming, searched the mountains.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed across his eyes.

The "audience's" eyes lit up, and he suddenly shouted into the communication channel.

"I found it."

He immediately uploaded the captured shadowy figure to the tactical network.

Amidst the deafening crash of the Bone Eater, Keon immediately shared Shloth's location with Lord Peturabo.

The iron-gray stormbird that was flying toward the fortress immediately changed direction and flew toward Shlos.

Dominic kept changing direction, but the Stormbirds stayed close behind him.

Perturabo stood at the hatch, tactical data flashing through his superhuman brain, which he used to predict Shrews' trajectory.

While directing the pilot, he raised the plasma gun he had created and fired beams of light at Shlos.

With a series of pattering sounds, worms fell among the rocks.

As the iron-grey stormbirds shielded Shloth's body, Perturabo leaped down.

A massive, unparalleled broadsword pierced deeply into Shlos's body, and with a piercing scream, the worm-man's body was torn apart in all directions.

Peturabo swung his sword repeatedly, slashing at Dominic's limbs.

“No!” Dominic roared in despair, “How did he find me?”

After Perturabo killed Shlos with a series of slashes, he thought to himself.

"Ninglu's offspring are quite good."

He asked Keon, who was approaching, "What reward do you want?"

"My lord, it is my honor to serve you."

"If I could, I'd like Shlos's body."

　PS: At this time, Perturabo was using a sword, and the Skullbreaker was given to him by Horus during the Great Birthday Celebration.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)