Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

Chapter 491: How are you still alive?

"They've restricted our offensive capabilities! If we want to stop the bloodshed in the universe, we must make changes!"

"To brutally turn living beings into highway bricks? How did you come up with such an idea? If we do that, how are we any different from those hungry star gods?"

"The difference is that when the war is won, these creatures will return to their original state! We will not imprison their souls here forever like the Star Gods."

"What if we don't win? Wouldn't these creatures be trapped forever on the boundary between life and death? This cruel technology could also be learned by later civilizations. Imagine if the star gods and their servants learned this technology? All living beings would suffer a terrible fate."

"Then let's fight to the death! We cannot fail, we absolutely cannot fail!"

Komi looked up at the huge, grayish silhouettes arguing. They were clearly projections of the users of the Black Rock Fortress. In a far corner, there was a projection even thinner and weaker than these silhouettes.

Gu Jian guessed that it was a projection of Vaal, the Eldar god of craftsmen and the one who forged Blackrock Fortress. As a god of the Eldar, he had no dignity in front of these more primordial creators and could not get a word in edgewise.

These must be the ancient saints? The final echoes of the creator's destruction...

The issue they are discussing now is what Novia told them before: the Star God used the Black Stone to create an array to calm warp fluctuations, making it impossible for the Old Ones to launch a surprise attack using the Web, and even preventing them from using a large number of psionic weapons based on warp energy.

In order to turn the tide of the war, the Old Ones ordered Vaal to build this Black Rock Fortress. By casting billions of living beings into the material of the soul passage, and then relying on the echoes of souls left behind by the extremely fierce battles on the battlefield to guide the direction of the passage, the Old Ones' army was able to launch an unpredictable surprise attack on the Star Gods' army once again.

This technology originated in the hands of an ancient sage, then fell into the hands of the Ran Dan alien and Bai Yuheng, and now... it's mine...

Regardless of what this technology was once called, Komi was determined to link it with the Soul Path he was building. This project would certainly be very expensive, but the benefits upon its success would far exceed expectations.

The Soul Path might become a powerful mode of transportation to replace the Internet Path...

Gu Jian looked around and suddenly saw a glaring stain in the flawless, despairing whiteness. Its color was as disgusting as the slippery black carapace on Bai Yuheng's body.

Could this be a remnant of the Overlord of Ran Dan...? After so many years, the original body's consciousness has been shattered into dust. How could he still be alive?

Under Komi's shocked gaze, the black thing rose up from the ground, and then many long, black nematodes rolled out from the inside, baring their fangs and claws at Komi.

Realizing that a fierce battle was inevitable, Komi immediately transformed a portion of his soul into a sharp long blade.

"Gurgle..." Ran Dan Overlord let out an unintelligible groan towards Gu Jian. At this moment, he was only able to move by a lingering instinct.

Heh... If they're just mindless beasts, then there's nothing to be afraid of.

Komi chuckled lightly, even manipulating his Soul Blade to create a beautiful flourish, displaying his contemptuous attitude.

Enraged, the Overlord of Ran Dan charged at Gu Jian. His body, made of nematodes, resembled a pool of flowing water. However, Gu Jian had already witnessed the Overlord of Ran Dan's elusive movements in Bai Yuheng's memories, so he was not frightened.

Ran Dan Overlord glided across this distance quickly. His body, several times larger than that of an ordinary Space Marine, was quite imposing, and the nematodes made a noisy buzzing sound to distract Gu Jian.

Gu Jian had seen too many of these tricks in Bai Yuheng's memory; he could even guess from which direction the next attack from this Ran Dan overlord would come.

A stab aimed straight at the chest!

Koken's gaze sharpened, and he prepared his Soul Blade.

Just as he expected, when the overlord of Ran Dan was still ten meters away from him, a bulge appeared on his body, and the next moment he suddenly spat out a large number of black threadworms.

The nematodes flew incredibly fast, almost as fast as a freshly fired bomb, but this posed no threat to Komi, who was well-prepared.

With a few swift strokes, the black nematodes were chopped into pieces, but the strange sensation emanating from the Soul Blade made Koji frown.

Looking at the blade, the long blade formed from a soul was also stained with some of the disgusting colors from the Ran Dan Overlord.

Is this alien really that troublesome? Its ability to contaminate is incredible!

Gu Jian felt a chill run down his spine. The Overlord of Ran Dan also pounced in front of him, his body fully open, like the gaping maw of a wild beast, surrounding Gu Jian.

How could I possibly be devoured by you, the overlord of Ran Dan who has been dead for ten thousand years? Gu Jian smiled sarcastically to himself. Although Otto was fundamentally different from Marcus in terms of physical strength, Gu Jian's soul residing in his body was no less capable.

His soul gathered at his toes, then exploded, propelling Komi out with incredible speed.

Ran Dan Overlord missed his target. His forceful closing of his body resembled two basins of water being poured together, but the collision also sent some scattered black nematodes flying towards Gu Jian.

Horizontal slash! Vertical cleave!

Although the attack would taint the Soul Blade with the filth of the Overlord Ran Dan, it was far better than being bitten by those black nematodes with fine teeth.

Ran Dan, the overlord, charged relentlessly, but Gu Jian always managed to narrowly evade him.

His impact caused many black nematodes to crawl on the ground. Komi glanced down and was reminded of his childhood experience of using public dry toilets.

It was a hot summer day. The excrement in the pit was steaming hot and watery. The ground in front of the pit was wet, with phlegm and urine splattered from the previous user. In these liquids, maggots were slowly wriggling.

Koji danced across the clean ground, but his dodging was quickly proven futile, as he discovered that the black nematodes that had fallen to the ground had surrounded him in a large, nested circle, making the enormous Ran Dan Overlord appear to be about the same size as him.

The black nematodes, controlled by a unified will, formed a circle around Komi, contracting their bodies to accumulate power. When they stretched out, they could pierce Komi's body like sharp crossbow bolts.

Seemingly witnessing this wonderful scene, Gu Jian could actually discern a hint of joy on the blurry, writhing face of the Ran Dan Overlord.

Run, jump! Annoying bug, where can you hide now?

Gu Jian sighed. He looked at his soul blade, which had turned completely black. He could feel that the consciousness of the Ran Dan Overlord was trying to extend to him through this pollution.

“I didn’t want to use this... because every time I use it, I suffer for months and can’t sleep well. But now it seems I have no choice.” Gu Jian said as he sheathed the Soul Blade. He looked at Ran Dan Overlord as if he were looking at a pile of ashes. “But thinking about Bai Yuheng’s ending, using his father’s power to burn you to ashes can be considered a consolation to him.”

Ran Dan Overlord realized something, and for the first time in front of Gu Jian, he showed a sense of panic. He screamed and rushed over, and the nematodes on the ground also shot towards Gu Jian.

Unfortunately, it was all too late...

Komi took a deep breath and put the trade license on his face.

The next moment, golden flames enveloped his entire body, completely incinerating all the filth!

Ran Dan, the overlord, roared in frustration, interspersed with Gu Jian's groans of pain.

The golden flames not only rose here, but the body of Komi standing in front of the Primarch also exuded a sacred aura that made Ella, Gate, and the others tremble and want to kneel down.

The countless souls that had been imprisoned here by the ancient saints in the distant past perished in the burning golden flames, and the deformed true dragon sons who wandered in the Blackrock Fortress were also freed.

Chapter 492: Fetia, you've been promoted!

The golden flames dissipated, and the light faded.

Gu Jian's soul and body lay paralyzed on the ground, unable to get up, while the overlord of Ran Dan was completely annihilated, leaving not even ashes behind.

The excruciating pain made Komi not even want to breathe. After a long while, he pulled himself out of the mire of pain and looked around at his surroundings.

The space formed by countless souls was burned flat by the Emperor's flames, and many distorted faces and limbs could no longer be seen, leaving only a clean and smooth arc surface.

After remaining motionless for a long time, Gu Jian finally stood up shakily. He gritted his teeth and began to unleash his soul power here, spreading the soul bricks from the pure white hall to enhance his control.

One by one, soul bricks were spat out and fell into this space, spontaneously gathering to form a throne. Koji climbed and carried himself onto it. He felt like the original body, Bai Yuheng, with many cables growing from the back of the throne and deeply piercing into his soul.

With each blink of his eyes, Koken felt his consciousness extend within the Black Stone Fortress, viewing the entire fortress as easily as he viewed his own body.

He also saw Novia and the Eldar, who were leading Fuda through the corridors of Blackrock Fortress, too nervous to move about because they had witnessed the Emperor's Golden Flame burning fiercely.

Hmph! I'll deal with you all later!

Now, let me try to see if the Soul Path can connect to these ghostly white passages.

Koji raised his hand and summoned the Soul Path made of Soul Bricks. He ordered it to plunge into the pale white area, attempting to absorb the materials on it to expand his Soul Path.

Hmm...it doesn't seem to work. It still has that extremely resilient feel, and it didn't soften even after being burned by the Emperor's Golden Flame.

Koken was certain that the castings were no longer viable; even if he pressed his ear tightly against them, he couldn't hear the endless wailing flowing within.

But this seems to have become a problem. The difficulty in using it before was due to the resistance of the intertwined souls. Now the difficulty in using it is because these souls have become "dead weights" and will not cooperate with your movements at all. They just press there with the weight of the dead souls themselves.

After all that work, all I got was a private space to crawl into and daydream? No! Absolutely not.

Koken was unwilling to accept the current situation. He took off the soul bricks used to assemble the soul path and then cast them into the shape of sharp knives and nails, poking and stabbing at the ghostly passage. Soon he pried open a gap fixed with soul brick nails.

Judging by the speed at which the nails were slowly pushed out, Koken believed that five nails could keep the passage open for five minutes, and the gap was large enough for a child to pass through.

Adding more nails to the edge of the rift makes it open wider and last longer, but the number of Soul Brick nails required increases exponentially. When Komi opened the rift wide enough for Space Marines to pass through freely, he had more than five thousand Soul Brick nails on the edge.

Although the nails can be recycled, expanding the crack is too much work.

Sigh, we can't be too greedy. At least it's usable, right? It's better than the network that the Emperor spent his entire Great Expedition on, only to have it become a failed project in the end.

However, Blackrock Fortress cannot be put into use immediately; many of its facilities must be reactivated and maintained.

While pondering, Gu Jian looked at Fitiya, perhaps he could connect this loyal cultivator to the entire Blackrock Fortress, making her a special kind of machine spirit within the Blackrock Fortress.

This might be too difficult for Fithia, but it must be tried.

“Bring up Fithia.”

Komi's physical body did not speak, but the sound resonated deep within everyone's minds. They steadily brought up the iron plate used to place Fithia, and with a thought from Komi, some tentacles on the throne wrapped around her broken body.

To prevent Fetia from discovering that he was a fraudster posing as the Emperor and the God of Machines, Komi specially decorated the place with Soul Bricks. The Skull and Gear Festival of the Cult of Machines rose like a sacred halo behind Komi's throne, and countless phantoms praising the sacrifices of the Imperial soldiers surged like waves beneath Komi's throne.

Before long, Fetia, whose body was completely enveloped by tentacles and whose head was the only part of its broken body showing, appeared in front of Komi.

Komi frowned, because Phitia's confused soul was incomplete. Her body had many square-edged defects, like a half-finished character built from pixel blocks. The most obvious defect was Phitia's chest, where the originally round and soft organ had become a flat road.

Where did that thing go?

Komi was certain that he did not have any soul bricks that looked like water bags in his reserves.

Pointing directly at Fithia's chest and asking her where her flesh had gone was something Komi couldn't bring herself to do. So, suppressing her doubts, she spoke to Fithia.

“Brother Fithia, you have passed my test.”

The amplified sound echoed through the space, adding a sense of mystery and sanctity to the sound.

Fithia snapped out of her confusion and turned sharply to look at Koken, whose face was calm on the throne, his soul trembling with excitement.

Is this a saint? Or a savior?

Fitiya tried to kneel down to show her piety and respect, but Komi simply flew a few soul bricks to support her body.

Hmm...too light...much lighter than a normal living person. Mechanical monks, due to mechanical modifications during their lives, possessed bodies far heavier than mortals, even requiring reinforced spines to support their heavy bodies. But after death, their souls weighed far less than anyone else's...

Where did that part of the soul go? Could it really have been eaten by the God of Myriad Machines?

Komi looked at Fithia and continued, “You have proven your courage and loyalty through your actions, and therefore you have earned my attention. You will receive more of my trust than other believers, but correspondingly, the responsibilities on your shoulders will also be much heavier.”

Fitaia's mouth was agape, and she couldn't say a word for a long time, but Komi could read excitement and submissiveness in her shining eyes.

“Now, I will give you a new job. You will become the manager of this ancient machine.” Komi took Fitaia to his side. “Although this ancient machine is powered by souls, it also has a sea of ​​data that you can understand. I will send you there. You must conquer that primordial sea of ​​data and not get lost in it.”

"I...I thank you for your trust in entrusting me with such an important task." Perhaps because they were too close, Fetia's face was flushed, and her hand unconsciously rubbed her hair.

As if she had thought of something, Fetia looked up at Komi's face seriously and said, "After I enter the Data Sea, will I still be able to see you?"

“Of course you can.” Komi stroked Fita’s head. “Once you control this fortress, you will see more than just me; the entire universe will be within your sight.”