Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

Chapter 89 Military Strategy

Power sword.

The lingering brilliance of human empire science, the sophisticated and expensive weapons of war, are unique and irreplaceable in most worlds.

Orion, as the owner of a merchant's ship, wields a power sword that is among the finest.

The sword's edge sliced ​​through the monster's shoulder like cutting through a layer of rotten leather, cutting down without hindrance all the way to its bloated belly.

A horrifying wound, nearly three meters long, suddenly flared outwards to both sides.

The vast amount of flesh and turbid bodily fluids that had been accumulating inside his body, which were difficult to identify, poured out like a flood bursting its banks, spilling all over the ground.

However, its flesh and blood seemed to have an independent consciousness, and began to writhe and twitch wildly at the edge of the wound. The broken muscle fibers turned into countless tiny tentacles, which intertwined and pulled each other, forcibly piecing the separated body back together.

Psychic powers granted this monster a terrifying, supernatural regenerative ability.

Even though Nurgle had lost interest in it, the vast plague energy accumulated within it continued to operate spontaneously, granting it the powerful ability to fight against the material world.

In just a few breaths, it was already much better.

While regeneration is underway, a counterattack is already brewing.

The monster's right shoulder swelled up like a balloon before bursting open.

A massive, newly grown arm, covered in sickly blue skin and bulging muscles, grew wildly from the ruptured flesh.

At the front of that palm, five fingers, as thick as steel bars, slowly clenched inward.

A spine from another race was forcibly squeezed out from the palm of its hand, and they intertwined and entwined with each other like vines.

The white, bony joints continue to extend and solidify outwards.

Ultimately, they formed a gigantic, pale, and grotesque bone sword.

Orion's pupils contracted slightly, and he frantically raised his sword to parry.

The bone sword had already created a sonic boom as it slammed down on his visor.

Clang—!

The power sword and the illogical bone greatsword collided in mid-air, but the Nurgle psionic energy covering it prevented them from cutting each other.

Two vastly different forces clashed, creating a substantial shockwave.

The old man lowered his stance, his wrist just beginning to exert force, preparing to change his move.

That deformed blue arm, however, with a deviance beyond its body size, was the first to complete the wrist-flipping motion.

The originally sweeping swordplay suddenly turned inward in an uncanny way.

An Imperial Knight's diagonal slash grazed the azure blade of the power sword and slid down at an angle.

The movements were fluid and seamless, unlike those of a chaotic wild beast; rather, they resembled those of a swordsman who had honed their skills to perfection over decades of training.

After that, the giant hand displayed several techniques with completely different styles.

Faced with such unbelievable swordsmanship, Orion could only switch from offense to defense, raising his sword to parry continuously.

Sparks flew as three intense close-quarters exchanges concluded.

The old man in power armor failed to gain any advantage over the monster.

"That's interesting—"

But before Orion could finish speaking, dozens of slimy tentacles of varying lengths emerged from his blind spot and lashed out at the old man.

Orion's power sword had barely managed to parry the oppressive bone sword from above when his wide-open chest armor was struck squarely head-on by that brute force.

boom!!

The terrifying kinetic energy sent the old man, along with his heavy armor, flying backward.

Aldrick, who noticed something was wrong, used the thrusters of his power armor to get ahead of the old man in the path he had flown out of.

The metal soles of the boots sent up a long trail of sparks on the steel deck of the maintenance hall.

Even with the combined weight of the two power armors, it was still not enough to immediately alleviate the terrifying impact.

They slid backward, the maintenance platforms along the way crumbling like toys from the impact of the armor, until they finally came to a stop after crashing into a long-destroyed armored personnel carrier.

"grown ups."

Aldrick supported the old man's shoulder, helping him regain his balance.

"Can you still stand up?"

Orion leaned against the butler, using the support to slowly straighten his body.

A deep crater had appeared in the center of the family breastplate that he was so proud of.

The power armor's built-in alarm was flashing red, and system warnings were ringing incessantly, seemingly indicating that his entire body, various parts of his body, had suffered varying degrees of damage.

He coughed twice, and blood-tinged saliva fell onto the inside of his mask. Then, the veteran actually laughed.

"It's quite impressive, more impressive than anything I've seen before."

Orion touched his chest, still shaken by the heavy blow.

He was just a hair's breadth away from returning to the Golden Throne.

Although as a nobleman he knew that the emperor would only take the souls of a small number of people, those who died here would mostly have their souls belong to the evil gods of the warp.

"Wait a minute, let me catch my breath."

"I can still play in a little while."

Aldrick ignored his master's irresponsible words.

He saw in the distance that the mutated monster was recklessly tearing apart the Honor Guard's defenses.

"Sir, we should retreat."

Orion turned his head to look at his old comrade who had fought alongside him for many years.

"and then?"

"Will you abandon my warriors once again and run away alone?"

"Like a rat on its own boat, hiding and dodging—just trying to survive?"

A question plunged Aldrick into a long silence.

The old man raised his power sword again, even though its light had dimmed.

"Aldrick, I've done this once already."

"But the facts tell us that chaos will only grow stronger, and our failures will become the breeding ground for it."

The butler lowered his head, his tactical mask concealing all his emotions; only a slightly dry, synthesized electronic voice could be heard coming from the loudspeaker.

"But sir, the Vestalen family should not end here."

Not far away, a member of the Honor Guard, clad in heavy armor, accidentally fell during the retreat.

The Chaos Egg dragged him into his ever-expanding, filthy body.

The sound of armor being crushed and cracked was accompanied by screams, which were then completely drowned out by the sound of the monster chewing.

Having witnessed this, Aldrick did not offer any further advice.

He knew very well that he could not convince his master, for he was a subject.

A subject should uphold his master's beliefs and even be willing to give his life for him.

This was true decades ago during that desperate breakout battle, and it remains true decades later.

Before them, the remaining honor guards, stepping on the blood of their comrades, used metal bunkers to rebuild a second line of defense.

"Suppress it with heavy weapons!"

Several heavy bomb guns roared simultaneously upon receiving the command.

The intense barrage of bullets wove together into a net, relentlessly pounding into the monster's bloated body.

The high temperature and shrapnel from the explosion peeled away and tore apart the layers of its overgrown flesh, causing foul-smelling bodily fluids to splatter everywhere.

However, the Chaos Egg, protected by the power of idealism, can completely ignore these damages.

The wound suddenly folded open outwards like a flower bud.

An automatic cannon, which had previously swallowed up along with its operator, grew out of it.

The putrid growth at the bottom of the gun barrel pulsated and throbbed like a heart.

The first shell flew out of the barrel with a dull, strange sound, and exploded in mid-air above the guard formation.

Hundreds and thousands of yellowish-green pus seeds were scattered in all directions like a torrential rain.

A member of the Honor Guard raised his shield to block, but was still splashed with a few drops of the viscous liquid onto his shoulder armor.

An eerie green foam appeared on the surface of the sturdy ceramic steel armor, and it began to rot extensively.

High-strength alloys melt downwards like inferior wax blocks placed in a blazing fire.

The acid corroded through the lining, and the soldiers inside screamed in agony as they futilely tried to peel off the armor plates from their bodies.

But how difficult it is to break free from the steel cage.

It quickly turned into a pool of rotting flesh that kept bubbling and wriggling on the steel plate.