Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

Chapter 104 The War of the Far Travelers (2)

"This has nothing to do with living a long time."

The mechanical priest stopped the sliding tracks.

"According to the Martian Standard Textbook, Volume 37, emotional fluctuations produce excess neurotransmitters, which in turn interfere with logical operations, weaken the accuracy of judgment, and ultimately increase the probability of decision-making errors."

"The higher the degree of mechanization, the lower the endocrine influence from the physical body. Therefore, most priests will actively reduce or remove their emotional modules during the promotion process. This is not due to natural aging caused by increased lifespan, but rather an active choice in the pursuit of absolute truth."

He paused, a glint of light flashing in his electronic eyes, and then added a sentence.

"Furthermore, according to the current statistical algorithm within the Mechanicus, 72 percent of priests with an average lifespan of over two hundred years still retain their original language habits. Their speech may seem cumbersome, but it is simply because they must maintain the habit of communication to remain efficient in their work."

Therefore, your inference is incorrect; there is no direct correlation between the two.

Theresa raised an eyebrow and deliberately dragged out her words.

"But you are indeed being very long-winded right now, and it's like you've been hit where it hurts."

The mechanical priest's breathing grid in his chest cavity was overheating due to the high temperature. The optical lenses in his eyes kept contracting and magnifying, searching a database that could refute the claims at high speed, but he encountered a logical dead loop.

After a while.

He then slowly said, "Engaging in non-technical linguistic arguments with you will not yield any practical results."

"I've already wasted 139 seconds here."

After he finished speaking, he seemed to finally realize that he had indeed talked much more than usual in order to refute the word "long-winded".

Gan decisively cut off the computational process of this topic.

Stop your pointless behavior and stop wasting your time.

Theresa made a face at his back, which was covered in metal cables.

"Okay, okay."

Although she agreed verbally, when she turned around, she couldn't help but look back in the direction Henry had gone.

Only when her vision became sore from the smoke of battle, and she could no longer find that familiar figure in the chaos, did she let out a soft breath and jog after the mechanical priest who had already walked away.

The roar of the chainsaw sword spinning at high speed was like the howl of a hungry mechanical beast.

With a spray of putrid blood, a corrupted hound that had lunged into the air was smoothly cleaved in two from its forehead by serrated teeth.

The two halves of the corpse crashed onto the deck, becoming nourishment for the demon that controlled this area.

Henry casually flicked the smoking blood off his saber teeth and looked around.

The situation is much better than expected.

At least for now, humanity still firmly holds the initiative on this front.

The enemy's strength is still within an acceptable range.

The interception force, comprised primarily of Orion's Honor Guard, successfully blocked the intruder that entered through the breach.

The power armor's built-in internal circulation system and near-perfect sealing and isolation capabilities keep all external toxic fog and plague spores out of the terracotta.

What would be a filthy environment that could burn the respiratory tract and cause festering, pus-filled skin in an ordinary person is nothing more than a thick fog obscuring the vision of these warriors clad in power armor.

In contrast, the creatures of Nurgle that appeared before them were not demons.

Lacking additional psionic power to enhance themselves, they are more accustomed to weakening their enemies by spreading plagues and inflicting pain.

Once faced with fully enclosed armored enemies, having lost their prized advantage of corruption, their deformed, bloated, and sluggish bodies cannot prevail over the Empire's pure firepower and steel in a head-on confrontation.

Heavy explosives can easily tear apart their swollen skin, and the high temperature can instantly evaporate their rotting flesh.

only----

Henry's brow furrowed slightly beneath his visor.

He did not see the plague warriors that Anastasius had previously screamed about in the communications.

Since the start of the battle at the defensive line, all that has been pouring out of that breach are low-level cannon fodder, corrupted and twisted by various forces.

And the planners of the invasion seemed to be waiting for something.

Or perhaps————

Henry whirled around, swung his chainsaw sword, and cleaved a hound that was trying to flank him through the air.

Immediately afterwards, he flicked his wrist, and the rapidly spinning chainsaw sword flew out of his hand.

The sword traced a deadly arc in mid-air, piercing through the chest of another deformed beast that was preparing to spew acid.

Henry's gaze swept past the churning, blasted flesh and blood in front of him, fixing on the monster that was still pouring out.

Deep within the gap.

What are they waiting for?

Launching such a high-profile attack, yet delaying the appearance of their true main force—are they waiting for us?

But aren't I also waiting for them?

They wait until their commander-in-chief truly meets them in the material world, so that he can end this war sooner.

Just then.

The huge breach that had been forcibly blasted open by heavy firepower was finally beginning to close again with great difficulty thanks to Anastasius's desperate repairs at all costs.

Dozens of thick, python-like fleshy tentacles burst forth from the ground, intertwining tightly with each other, like stitching up a wound, gradually pulling the thick, broken fleshy walls on both sides together.

Several bloated, deformed beasts that were about to take the opportunity to squeeze in were grabbed by those violent tentacles and dragged deep into the fleshy walls.

Soon it went silent, turning into nourishment for repairing the defenses.

As the gap narrowed, the frontal pressure on the battlefield visibly decreased.

Some people have already started replacing the empty ammunition belts, preparing to coordinate with the Honor Guard to launch a counterattack.

However, the next second.

boom!!

An explosion several times more violent than all the previous artillery fire rang out from the other end of the not-yet-fully-closed breach!

Large chunks of rotten flesh and fragments of tentacles and bones shot into the sky.

Anastasius let out a scream as more than a dozen of his thick tentacles, which were supporting his main force, were instantly blasted into pieces.

Accompanied by billowing green smoke, a massive steel behemoth, as large as a small mountain, drove into the battlefield.

It was a Rhino armored personnel carrier that had been completely corrupted and twisted by chaos.

Its once proud and indestructible straight armor is now completely unrecognizable. Its surface is densely covered with layers of writhing dark red tumors and huge poisonous mushrooms, and the rusty exhaust vents resemble festering mouths, constantly spewing out nauseating green toxic fumes.

Between the wide metal tracks lay countless fragments of bone and viscous entrails that had failed to escape.

Nurgle's blasphemous blessing imbued this otherwise cold war machine with an evil life.

The armored vehicle hadn't even come to a complete stop yet.

The rusty hatch at the top was suddenly pushed open.

A plague warrior clad in dark green, slime-covered, and rusty power armor emerged. He slowly turned his helmet, which bore a single horn, and surveyed the humans below, who looked like ants.

finally.

His gaze pierced through the smoke and landed on Henry, who was standing at the forefront, holding a chainsaw sword.

"We've found him."

The voice of the plague warrior came out, hoarse and muffled.

The communicator he was carrying in his other hand, covered in skulls, then came through hoarse inquiries from his accomplices.

"Hold him back, brother, the officers are on their way!"

The Plague Warrior looked at the human clad in knight's armor, a slow grin spreading across his face beneath the visor.

"No need. The few of us are enough to crush his bones bit by bit."

After saying that, the corrupted communicator was crushed, emitting a scream.

Immediately afterwards, the Plague Warrior's bomb gun spat out flames.

A specially made plague bomb tore through the air and struck an Honor Guard member who was raising his gun to shoot him.

Although the corrupted bomb lost its ability to penetrate armor, the enormous kinetic energy still sent the guard member flying several meters away, gun and all.

Thick, green pus spread wildly inwards along the cracks in the armor.

The seemingly indestructible ceramic steel surface sprouted a large patch of bacteria the moment it came into contact with the pus, and even the inside of the power armor began to emit a chilling corrosive sound.

With the official entry of the Plague Warriors.

One after another, plague warriors, reeking of foul odor, leaped from the troop transport vehicles like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Each of them was nearly three meters tall.

They were much larger than the Honor Guard members who were also wearing power armor.

After all, the two are fundamentally different in their nature.

Before swearing allegiance to Chaos, Astartes underwent the implantation of the Primarch's gene seed, nineteen superhuman organ modifications that exceeded human limits, and a long and brutal death training.

They possess a spare second heart, a third lung that can breathe in poisonous gas, a Raman device that can instantly seal wounds, bone-enhanced organs harder than steel, muscle implants that unleash astonishing power, and neural reaction speeds far exceeding the limits of human visual perception.

Compared to the members of the Honor Guard, they underwent more modifications, and the technology from humanity's glorious era allowed Astartes to transcend the fragile realm of "humanity".

Their power armor further widened the gap between them.

More than just a layer of armor to protect the body, it is an extension of their nerves and muscles, an inseparable part of their bodies. Connected by the black shell, it has a reaction speed far faster than conventional power armor and can amplify the user's strength to the limit.

And that was just an ordinary Astartes—

The Plague Warriors, influenced by Nurgle's power, far surpass their former colleagues in the Empire in many ways.

Their intervention immediately reversed the course of the battle.

A larger gap means more filthy creatures can enter through it.

Faced with the power of the plague bombs, even the elite Honor Guard had to abandon their advance and were forced to retreat continuously to find more solid cover.

Only Anastasius's remaining tentacles, not yet completely destroyed, continued to emerge from the deck.

They ensnared fallen soldiers, dragging them away from the front lines, while opening their gaping maws to devour them, absorbing the plague clinging to their armor and peeling away the decay bit by bit.

However, the only person on the field unaffected by the plague was Anastasius.

one left.

Clouds surged within the billowing green poisonous fog.

A figure carrying a chainsaw sword rushed out from among them.

Henry's new helmet, which Teresa had just finished making, was instantly corroded by the high concentration of plague and covered with a thick layer of green rust the moment he passed through the poisonous fog.

However, as Henry's talent was put to use, the rust gradually disintegrated and faded at a visible rate.

The helmet gradually merged with Henry's armor, instinctively repelling and rejecting the contamination from other forces in the warp.

Several green-glowing bombs flew towards us with a piercing whistle.

Henry stopped abruptly, his massive chainsaw sword whipping up a gust of wind as he swung it repeatedly in front of him.

The bomb was knocked into the air and exploded into several eerie green fireballs in mid-air.

The knight's charge was only a few seconds slower before he charged straight toward the largest plague warrior at the front.

Watching the knight getting closer and closer.

The Plague Warrior's lips, hidden beneath his visor, slowly curled into a smile.

That suits me perfectly.

He suddenly twisted his thick waist and swung his right arm violently.

A chain bearing the skull of a mortal man lashed out like a venomous snake.

With the swinging of chains, a plague aura spread across the center of the battlefield.

The other plague warriors watched with amusement, without intervening in the duel between the two.

After all, the other party was just an ordinary person who had not undergone genetic modification.

An ordinary man, wielding a saw, attempts to challenge a true Astartes veteran.

It is the most ridiculous and overconfident joke in this galaxy.

Even though they knew that the knight in front of them, dressed in tattered metal, had recently killed one of their comrades by some means.

Even though their captain admitted that the other person was also qualified to compete for the "Crown of Corruption," as he had been blessed by Khorne and possessed superhuman strength.

But so what?

The Astartes who were killed by a conspiracy due to carelessness did not not exist.

They have also killed many of those blessed by Khorne.

As for the candidates for the title of "Crown of Corruption"...

Who personally beheaded this knight?

Whoever has the right to strip him of his trial qualification and take his place.

The knight was nothing more than a thief who had luckily stolen the Fruit of Mercy. He swung the chain, but the Plague Warrior paid no heed to the human knight, who was as futile as a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and didn't even bother to see if the chain would hit.

For mortals, that chain was fast enough and terrifying enough.

Most humans are beaten to a pulp before they even see the chains before they die.

It once used this weapon to smash the armored vehicle of a warlord on a planet, along with everyone inside.

But to his surprise...

The chainsaw sword was raised horizontally.

The chains collided with the high-speed rotating teeth, sending sparks flying, and the weapons of both sides were knocked apart in opposite directions.

The plague warrior felt the shockwave from the chains.

He couldn't help but glance at Henry.

This power—it certainly doesn't seem to belong to ordinary people.

But that's all there is to it.

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