Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

"You little shrimp! You're quite something!" The orc, enduring the pain, charged towards Komi like a mountain.

Finding a suitable weapon in a short time became the top priority. Although Koji's kick was an impromptu response, it was also based on some consideration.

The spot where it landed happened to be Mi Yang's beloved longsword, whose single-molecule blade made cutting through iron and gold exceptionally easy.

With better weapons at hand, Komi felt even more confident, and he judged the next move by observing the orc's actions.

He feigned panic and made a mistake, leading the orc to launch the expected attack. Then, he suddenly shifted his body to dodge, and his long sword, as elusive as a snake, thrust out straight for the orc's head.

His throat was pierced, and before the orc could react, Komi cleanly and swiftly cut it off.

Fresh blood was rhythmically pumped out by the heart, flying high like a fountain before landing on Komi's body.

With a gentle push forward, the orc's corpse fell backward, the heavy thud and the dust it kicked up undoubtedly terrifying the orcs nearby.

Orcs are indeed brave and love to fight, but this mentality often dissipates drastically after their leaders are killed.

Some of the more quick-witted orcs had already begun to retreat stealthily, while the more clumsy orcs were still in shock at the killing of their leader. The most reckless and stubborn orcs, however, suddenly had an idea.

My boss was killed because he was too weak. If it were me fighting this shrimp, I could have turned him into mincemeat in a few punches!

It's hard to say whether this sudden idea was a protective mechanism within the orcish group to cover the fleeing soldiers, but seeing three or five orcs charging towards him with weapons like spiked clubs, axes, and broadswords, Komi had no choice but to continue fighting.

The orc's blood did not congeal on Koji's body; instead, he felt much warmer, and his fingers, which had been stiff from the cold, became more flexible.

To use longswords, which orcs despise, to kill them now would be the greatest desecration of Komi's knowledge of warhammer science.

Orcs are Waaagh! They love Waaagh's enemies, and they also revere Waaagh's enemies.

God knows how he managed to grab the orc chieftain's large, heavy axe. All Gu Jian knows is that when he carried this incredibly powerful weapon and charged at the orcs, the green face of the orc suddenly turned ugly and cowered.

"Hey! Is it possible to reconcile?"

When the orcs asked this question, Komi had only one answer: to split them in two with an axe!

Blood, internal organs, and the orc-specific fungal soup gathered at Komi's feet. He didn't feel disgusted; he only thought of the wood-chopping videos he used to watch before he transmigrated.

Hmm...it really is stress-relieving.

The orcs came suddenly, and they left just as suddenly.

Mi Yang stared blankly at the blood-covered Gu Jian for a moment, then suddenly snapped out of his daze and urgently commanded, "Gu Jian! Don't let those orcs escape!"

Koji instinctively responded, pulling Lanco's body aside and grabbing the heavy logging gun that hadn't run out of bullets, firing at the orc's back.

The commotion was considerable, with flames shooting into the sky.

But they didn't kill a single one.

One orc was so frightened that he cowered on the ground, too afraid to move, and prayed to Brother Gaomao while holding his head.

Komi fired all his bullets at him, but did nothing but leave behind the outline of an orc.

......

I mourn for my absurdly bad marksmanship.

The orc who couldn't hear the gunshots got up tremblingly, and upon discovering that he had no hole in his body, he couldn't help but celebrate that he was the chosen one.

A laser beam passed over Komi's shoulder and struck the orc's forehead, instantly roasting his brain, which was sometimes clever and mostly savage.

When Gu Jian turned around, he saw Mi Yang standing behind him with a limp, looking at him with a complicated expression.

Half of his joy came from Komi's incredible feat of saving their lives and holding the line, while the other half was the shame of running out of bullets with his heavy logging gun without achieving any results.

"Mobilizing soldiers, Komi."

Hearing Mi Yang's voice become serious, Gu Jian immediately stood at attention.

"Now you are my adjutant."

"Huh?" Koji was taken aback; a promotion on the front lines was never a good sign.

“Serving the Emperor needs no question!” Miyan glanced at him with dissatisfaction, thinking to himself that these conscripts recruited from the miners were indeed not as disciplined as the elite of Kadia. “Now assist me in counting the wounded and reconstructing the defenses.”

Three hours of effort finally restored the defensive line, which had been shattered by the orcs, to tactical standards. The 88th Conscription Regiment, which originally had 1500 men, lost half of its strength in the orc attack. About a hundred men were missing, their bodies and nameplates could not be found, presumably because they escaped in the chaos.

Miyan lacked the energy and manpower to search for these deserters. He simply gathered the remaining conscripts and told them that the great Golden Throne would never allow cowards to enter, emphasizing how important their defenses were to Red Mining World.

Komi knew that Miyan's words were all lies. Behind the defense line they were responsible for, there was only one thing worth protecting: some metal ores that had not yet been transported away.

For these uneducated conscripts, several hundred tons of metal ore was an unimaginable fortune, but for the Imperial army and orcs fighting in the higher hives, those several hundred tons of metal ore wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap.

But what could Miyan do? She had no authority to promote soldiers, and the so-called adjutant position was nothing more than a verbal promise, without any official documents from the Ministry of Military Affairs to prove it.

This was her last resort to boost the morale of the cannon fodder, to instill in them a sense of honor and mission, and to make them feel that their perseverance here was meaningful and important.

These words will greatly boost the morale of the cannon fodder before the lies are exposed.

The troops dispersed, remaining at their posts, vigilant against the approaching orcs swarming into the darkness.

Mi Yang looked worried, her purple eyes casting a hazy, beautiful shadow over her thoughts, but her gaze remained predominantly one of fervent determination.

There are no cowards among the people of Qatar, not in the past, and not in the future.

“Komi.” Miyan’s tone remained stern, as if questioning a traitor. “I will report your achievements to my superiors, but can you explain why you were able to defeat an orc? Although we tried our best to describe the orcs as clumsy in the brochures, I think you have already felt their savage strength.”

Komi remained calm, having already prepared his explanation: "I...I don't know Commander Miyan. I just felt like I was having a dream, seeing a chair shrouded in golden light..."

"A chair covered in golden light?" It took Mi Yang a while to confirm what Komi meant. Komi was an uneducated miner with many grammatical errors and used mostly local slang.

Is that the Golden Throne? The great God-Emperor cast his gaze at him.

Mi Yang frowned, unable to confirm this. As a soldier, her knowledge was only slightly greater than that of these cannon fodder miners, and insignificant compared to the trainees from Zhongsi Academy and the mechanical cultivators not assigned to their regiment.

But Miyan still remembers the stories that circulated on Kadia, and the sturdy and massive fortresses are the best monuments to these heroic deeds.

Some warriors fought bravely, proving the purity of their souls and their loyalty to the God-King, thus creating heroic miracles...

Even the great God-Emperor, the Angel of Death, cast a respectful glance at the deeds of these heroes.

Is Komi one of them?

As for the strength to lift orc weapons...

Miyan had no doubt about this.

One of the biggest reasons for incorporating these miners into the mobilization corps is their exceptional strength under high-intensity work conditions. To meet the mining needs of other worlds, the rulers of those worlds would never show any mercy to the miners themselves.

Over hundreds of years of exploration, the planet's rulers have long since summarized and formed a set of shepherding techniques to maintain the slow growth of the world's population and to maximize the exploitation of labor.

The weak die young, and only the resilient and strong remain after careful selection.

If these miners had received systematic combat training, their combat effectiveness would be even higher.

However, for the local rulers, training a flock of strong sheep to be combat-ready was clearly not in their interest. If the orcs hadn't already reached the highest noble district, they would never have had any opinion on the issue of conscripting the mobilization army.

Mi Yang seemed lost in thought, feeling a mixture of envy and jealousy.

As a Kadian, her love and loyalty to the God-Emperor were beyond question. To question her loyalty would be tantamount to mocking the Kree for their fear of death in front of them.

After a long while, he let out a sigh, his emotions a complex mix.

Miyan patted Komi on the shoulder and said gently, "Your efforts have been recognized by the God Emperor. Keep it up. The Empire will not forget the loyal men who shed their blood for him, even if they were just lowly miners."

Koji blinked, puffed out his chest, and tried his best to look honored and flattered.

Chapter 3: Promotion on the Front Lines! You Have a New Mission!

"Now I'm giving you a task." Mi Yang was satisfied with Gu Jian's feedback. A soldier who could be inspired was much better than a seasoned veteran who had accepted his fate.

Miyan pointed to the darkness where the orcs had suddenly emerged. It had been a mining area where miners relied on a lighthouse with a huge sun lamp to sustain their hard lives.

After the orc invasion, the power generation zones of Red Mining World fell one after another, resulting in a severe power shortage in the hive city, which naturally could not provide the powerful energy of the Myriad Machines to this remote corner.

Do you know what the arrival of the orcs means?

"Uh...does that mean they can come again?"

Mi Yang nodded. She had now discovered another advantage of Gu Jian: compared to the other ignorant and dull miners, this kid had more ideas.

“Our mobilized corps is under-equipped, so we can’t use equipment to send messages to our superiors. Therefore, I order you, Lieutenant Furumi, to take on the responsibility of an Imperial soldier and report the news of the orc invasion to them, and ask them to send reinforcements and equipment to deal with the orcs’ next fierce attack. As for me, I will stay here. A fragile army needs a steadfast leader to support it.”

Miyan spoke quickly and with a sense of competence. She even ordered Komi to repeat her orders. After hearing Komi's almost perfect repetition, she nodded and selected two conscripts from the ranks to act with Komi.

Looking at the three conscripts holding riot control automatic guns, Mi Yang frowned. After thinking for a while, she took out her family heirloom laser pistol and handed it to Gu Jian.

Looking at the laser pistol, Mi Yang's eyes filled with longing and reluctance.

Komi could tell that this well-maintained laser pistol was not just a simple weapon; the grip was decorated with an unknown brown animal hide, which looked comfortable to the eye.

"Take this." Mi Yang's tone left no room for Gu Jian to refuse, as if the tender emotions of longing and reluctance revealed in her eyes were all fake.

Seemingly afraid that Gu Jian might misunderstand, Mi Yang added, "This is more useful than the automatic gun you have. When you are stopped by the soldiers at command post, this pistol can also serve as a pass. Now go, don't die on the way."

Komi accepted the laser pistol, slung the automatic gun over his back, saluted Miyan, and then quickly left with two conscripts.

They were heading to the command post located on the upper level of the hive. According to Koga's estimate, it would take them at least three days to get close to the place, and this time would be even longer if they got lost or were attacked by the strange things in the hive.

Nests are layered structures, with each layer having a completely different appearance and climate. The gates connecting the different nest levels are naturally areas heavily guarded by the military.

Simply put, nests can be divided into four levels.

The richest and most powerful people live at the top of the pyramid, the top floor of the city, where they have the best air and almost unlimited resources. The upper nest is where people who can barely live a comfortable life live, and there are also small families and companies that serve the higher-ups. Life is even more difficult, and the largest group of people in the city gather in the lower nest, which is the perfect embodiment of poverty, and also the biggest pillar that maintains the abundant resources of the upper nest and the top of the pyramid.

The people of the Lower Nest and the Upper Nest are distinctly different, both in appearance and speech, which makes the high wall and deep ditch used to isolate the people of the Nest Capital seem justified.

Further down lies the Bottom Nest, a collapsed, ruin-like area teeming with countless dangers and chaos. It's an area that the Imperial authorities can't manage and are too lazy to manage. All the trash they deem trash is sent here to die. Only when an extremely serious incident occurs, affecting tens of thousands of people, will it attract the attention of the higher-ups.

There is also a special structure in the middle nest that divides the nest layers. This may be a design made by the people on the top of the lower nest so that they can get closer to the upper nest.

Komi and the two conscripts behind him were from the Lower Nest, doing the hardest and most dangerous work and receiving the most insignificant pay, but they also had a small sense of pride in their hearts, grateful that the merciful God Emperor had not let them be born in the nightmare-like Lower Nest.

As a mining world, Red Nest's lower nest structure is like a huge mine, with tunnels like a chaotic spider web leading to places that even the locals can't explain.

Those tunnel areas that were determined early on to be devoid of mineral resources became the places where impoverished miners settled down.

Scaffolding and scrap iron plates supported one family after another. Ribbons adorned with fluorescent stone powder hung on the door frames. When Komi looked inside, he could only see a few pairs of timid eyes peeking out from the dim light.

A feeling of suffocation suddenly surged up, bringing Komi back to her senses from the joy of easily killing the orc.

This is the Warhammer world, a giant cesspool devoid of peace, justice, and beauty.

I don't want to be part of this cesspool...

Gu Jian gripped the handle of the laser pistol tightly, his expression grave.