Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

The sycophants tried their best to defend them, but they were of little use against the tall and strong orcs.

Miyan could only command the conscripts to fight and retreat, seeking a way to survive in the chaotic battlefield. Finally, at the edge of the rock pillar, Stone identified an abandoned mining elevator based on the building's structure.

They fled into the elevator and blocked the way back before the orc pursuers arrived.

Miyan explained it simply, but Koji was sweating profusely. The danger of dozens of conscripts fighting their way out of tens of thousands of orcs was self-evident. Their achievements alone were enough to qualify them for the Space Marine selection exam.

"So what about the rest of the people? Or are there only a few of us left?" Gu Jian asked, and then saw guilt and self-blame on the remaining half of Mi Yang's face.

The fearless Sergeant Cardia covered his face with his hands and said heavily and shamefully, "It's my fault. They all died on the way to retreat and cover."

Stone, who was standing to the side, was a little anxious. He was usually taciturn, but he immediately comforted her, "Don't say that to Sergeant Miyan. Without your command, we would not have been able to rescue Lieutenant Komi! My brothers were all prepared to die as long as we could rescue Lieutenant Komi.

Having regained some composure, Mi Yang looked up at Komi and asked, "Did you just see the Golden Throne?"

"I guess so..." Komi tried his best to recall, but found that his memory had become very blurry, as if he were recalling a bizarre dream.

Mi Yang let out a sigh of relief, his face filled with a piety that made Gu Jian unable to look him in the eye as he said, "It must be that the Emperor recognized your bravery and thus sent down a miracle. Look at you, all your injuries have healed. When I first rescued you, you were as black as charcoal, and I couldn't find a single intact bone on your body. If I hadn't been able to hear my heart beating, I think I would have given up long ago."

Komi also touched his body up and down and found that many scars and hidden injuries left from the previous battle had disappeared, and his whole body was as if it had been reborn.

The power of the warp is truly amazing...

Komi sighed, then asked, "So where are we now? At the bottom of Ryan's fourth pillar area?"

Miyan and Shitou exchanged a glance, and finally Shitou said, "Further down, we are in the bottom nest. Sergeant Miyan and I are currently looking for a way up."

"The bottom nest?" Koji gave a bitter smile. "Running to this place seems worse than falling into the hands of the orcs. At least their axes could give us a quick death."

"Is this a joke?" Mi Yang asked.

Komi stood up and stretched, then said with a smile, "Maybe so, it depends on how you interpret it. Hopefully, we won't run into those mutants' Hundred Gods, or the things they're trying to escape."

Over the next few days, Komi and his group searched for a path to ascend.

Although Xiachao was poor, at least the empire's strict laws maintained order.

This bottom nest is a completely lawless place, the final graveyard of all garbage and waste.

Toxic slag and wastewater discharged from the industrial zone, which even the miners at Xiachao Mining rejected, all flowed into this place, making it possible for Komi to always see several sewage lakes emitting a dangerous, dazzling green light.

The creatures roaming here weren't some rock beasts looking for water, but something much older and stranger—mutants that seemed to have evolved into ghouls—leaping out of the darkness to attack them.

Komi was able to subdue these pale, deformed beasts and warn them not to set their sights on the three of them with copious amounts of blood and carnage.

This place has everything: an abandoned miners' prison, bizarre graffiti that makes your eyes hurt just by looking at it, and greedy creatures that look like mud.

And this...an imperial statue standing atop decay, simple in craftsmanship but remarkably clean.

Miyan hadn't seen the splendor of the Emperor's statue in a long time, so he was somewhat stunned when he saw it. "I never expected that among the heretics and mutants of the Underhive, there would be guys who worship the Emperor."

Chapter 31: Looks like a demi-human

“The Emperor is humanity’s only savior, so it’s quite normal for these mutants to place their hopes on him.” Stone gave the Emperor’s statue a standard Aquila salute, becoming more and more devout after meeting Koken.

Komi gazed at the imperial statue, whose face was not clear, but whose masculine symbolism was evident.

The Emperor was indeed humanity's only savior. In the dark years when warp gods lurked in the mortal realm and many aliens slaughtered humans like pigs and dogs, only this cold sun could unite people's hearts.

The feeling of being moved didn't last long, because Komi heard some rustling sounds coming from behind him.

Something is watching them.

Are they those pale-faced ghouls again?

Komi gripped the blade tightly, using this gesture to warn Mi Yang and Ishi.

Get ready, quickly draw your knife and gun, turn around to be on guard, and you'll see a group of guys wearing animal skins and carrying spears slowly surrounding you.

Needless to say, this is also a mutant tribe that makes a living in the bottom nest. Although it is not easy to see their appearance through the animal skin, Komi can sense from their figures that the degree of mutation in this tribe is far less than that of the tribe that worships the Hundred Gods.

Seeing that Komi and his group were only wary and not attacking, the mutants wearing animal skins breathed a sigh of relief. One of them stepped forward and took off his animal skin hood, allowing Komi to see their appearance clearly.

A woman with colorful, wildly artistic patterns on her face, clearly painted on by hand.

Koken felt that these people were not deeply mutated; it was just that the exposed parts of their skin had fine, snake-like scales.

They are more like subhumans than mutants.

It's important to know that in the thirtieth millennium, during the enlightened era when the human empire was flourishing, even the beastmen were able to secure a place in the imperial forces.

However, ten thousand years after the Emperor was crippled by his good son Horus, the human empire became increasingly harsh on demi-humans.

Only the three-eyed navigator, the clumsy but robust Oglin ape-man, and the short and boisterous Lightling rat-man are treated relatively kindly in the human empire; the rest are killed, driven out, monitored, and brought to the brink of extinction.

The prophetic figure bowed to Komi and spoke softly in a respectful and friendly tone, "Pure people from the upper realms, what important task do you have to accomplish here?"

Komi squinted, clearly puzzled by the prophet's respectful and friendly attitude.

Pure upper-class people?

Look at the three of us.

Stone and Ancient Sense were miners with dark, rough skin, large bones, and strong hands and feet.

After a series of bloody battles with the orcs, he was in a terrible state, his body reeking of a strange mixture of gunpowder and blood.

Among those of noble birth is Miyan, who hails from Kadia. His purple eyes are quite rare in the world of Red Mining. He possesses a heroic and rigid demeanor, and is filled with the martyr's spirit of sacrificing himself for the throne.

But now Mi Yang looks worse than Shi Tou and Gu Jian. Her skin was severely burned, and various infections and complications have taken her life. It can only be said that the genetic modification project of the golden age of mankind is still working hard today.

Her clean and standard Cardia model bulletproof armor was also damaged and discarded, replaced by welded iron armor full of orcish wild style. The only thing that showed her military officer status was the exquisite laser pistol at her waist that had lost its power.

You say these people are pure upper-class citizens? Gu Jian was the first to jump out and say no, and insisted that they were ruthless gang members from the bottom or lower lair.

The prophet also noticed the suspicion and wariness in Komi's eyes. She smiled gently, trying her best to appear that she had no ill intentions.

Then she emerged from under the animal skin, her hands as imposing as dragon claws, at least in Koji's eyes.

Miyan and Stone, on the other hand, showed a hint of disgust towards the prophet's claws, clearly comparing her to the mutants they had encountered before.

The prophet was not angered by the hostility; her eyes shone with an unnatural light, and some phantoms swirled around her.

The voice became ethereal, as if speaking from a deserted valley: "The naked eye can only see our rough appearance, but the mind's eye allows us to see the colors of the soul. I see your souls radiating a loyal and holy light, which is far more trustworthy than your outward appearance."

Gu Jian could easily translate the cryptic words into a single word: this prophet is a psychic, and a psychic at a high level.

The psionic fluctuations vanished, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion created by lighting equipment. The prophet bowed to Komi once more and said, "We harbor no hostility toward warriors loyal to the Emperor. Please accept our goodwill."

Gu Jian glanced at Mi Yang. As long as this officer, who valued human purity above all else, didn't complain, he would be happy to have a friendly exchange with these people whose mutations weren't too severe.

Miyan noticed Komi's gaze. Their long-standing comradeship meant they didn't need much communication. She frowned slightly, indicating that she felt disgusted by these mutants, but was willing to follow Komi's arrangements.

Komi let out a soft sigh of relief and gave the female prophet a standard Eagle Salute with a smile.

The prophet, named Faya, is the leader of this dragonscale tribe. She has won the chance to survive in the perilous Deep Nest thanks to her powerful spiritual energy.

To be honest, psionicists are quite rare among humans, and powerful and stable psionicists are even rarer.

Illegal psionicists who have not received rigorous training at the Imperial Psionic Academy are often unstable bombs. By abusing their psionic power, they temper their souls into delicious little cookies that attract demons, and then dissolve in screams and eternal agony.

However, Koken did not see any of the characteristics of an illegal psychic in this Faya.

It lacked the neuroticism caused by being tormented by demonic whispers for a long time, as well as the madness and indifference from contact with the chaotic warp.

If you ignore Falla's delicate, smooth scales and her pair of dragon claws, she looks like a well-educated lady from a prominent family.

This normalcy did not make Gu Jian lower his guard against her; on the contrary, it made him even more nervous. After all, it was surprising to find a normal person in the bizarre and desperate environment of the Bottom Nest.

Tell me, isn't that terrifying?

What troubled Komi was that when he thought like this, Faya could sense his psychological changes through his psychic abilities.

In the words of this prophetess, the color of the soul has changed.

Komi's soul was a mixture of gold and red, appearing holy and full of fighting spirit; Faya could feel boundless courage just by looking at it.

Miyan's soul is pure white, its light shining straight upwards with unwavering determination, representing that Miyan is a stubborn and strong warrior who finds it difficult to compromise.

The soul of the stone is heavy, quietly shining in a corner, its color and shape changing similarly depending on the soul of the person it comes into contact with. Simply put, it is a natural follower.

Chapter 32: What's the situation up there?

At Faya's invitation, Komi and his group walked through the bottom nest.

After winding through several huge, dilapidated ruins and traversing several broken pipes, Gu Jian finally found the Faya tribe in a basin surrounded by several sharp spikes.

The collected glowing moss and light bulbs salvaged from the garbage dump became the only light source in the dimly lit camp. The buildings in the tribe were simple and sturdy, with a large number of reinforcing ribs to ensure the structural stability of the buildings.

The voices were not clear, either because the tribe was small or because the people of the tribe preferred a quiet community atmosphere.

Getting closer, a wall over four meters high, made of a mixture of thick animal bones, steel, and plastic, blocked Komi's way. The wall was equipped with crude heavy weapons made with similar craftsmanship to those of the orcs. The bullets were dirty and heavily corroded, making Komi think that these bullets must have been retrieved hundreds of times after being fired.

With the gates wide open, the scaly people of the tribe displayed hostility and indifference towards the unfamiliar outsiders, only refraining from further outbursts out of respect for Faya.

“Unclean heretics.” Mi Yang muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowed. Apart from Gu Jian and Shi Tou, only Faya heard his disdainful voice.

Faya simply smiled, holding the prophet's staff, and said gently, "Sergeant Miyan, I admire your anger. Not everyone can maintain such unwavering rage."

Koji's lips twitched. He always felt that Faya was subtly criticizing Miyang for being inflexible and rigid.

Turning his head, he saw that Mi Yang's expression was normal, and he seemed not to have noticed the teasing tone in Faya's words.

As Komi walked and observed, he basically determined that this tribe had nothing to do with the gene stealers.

The criterion for judgment was quite simple: all the tribesmen he could see with his naked eye had hair, and their hairstyles were quite wild and unrestrained, reminding Koken of some styles on the planet Fenris.

At the heart of the tribe was a large, leather-covered yurt. Faya invited Koji and the others to sit there, eat some snacks from the bottom nest, and then discuss the situation of the upper levels.

The earthenware bowl was fairly clean, but the contents inside were less than appalling.

The various meats and vegetables were all mixed together in a mushy mess, making it virtually impossible to scoop up any of them without a spoon.

The taste was quite strange, like swallowing a mouthful of bitter Chinese medicine. After tasting it for a while, a numbing sensation like Sichuan peppercorns came back up.

To be honest, the food we ate among the orcs was much better than this.

The orcs defeated a large number of conscripted troops, and they prioritized seizing the weapons and armor from the fallen soldiers, neglecting the allocated rations.

In their words, these shrimps eat such bland food that birds could be born from their mouths; eating their snacks is less desirable than tearing off one of their arms.

Thus, the mountains of military rations piled up by these orcs became the food that sustained Komi and the others.

Komi managed to eat about half a bowl, only stopping when he felt his tongue was no longer under his control.