Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

His appearance made the two conscripts beside him very nervous. They swallowed hard, making gurgling sounds that could be heard by Koji.

"What's wrong with you two?" Koji asked, his gaze sweeping over the uneasy, dark faces of the two conscripts.

Stones, pebbles.

These were the names of the two men. They were not related by blood; it was simply because the miners who went down to the nest didn't know how to name them.

Stone, whose face was deeply lined with the marks of years of hard work, bowed and scraped, his usually downturned mouth forced open to reveal a ridiculously ingratiating smile.

"Boss," Stone called out. This was the title they used when addressing their foreman, Wei Wu. In the hearts of these miners, nothing carried more weight than the word "boss." "We're just simpletons, we don't understand anything."

"Yes, yes... We're just simpletons, we don't understand anything." The pebble clumsily repeated the stone's words.

Koji was completely bewildered, but when he recalled the lives of these miners, he began to understand the two men's actions.

The dark-skinned, dull-witted miners had little status; if they offended the higher-ups, they could be killed without anyone questioning it.

After I became Miyang's adjutant, my status in their eyes rose sharply, which is why they served me so carefully.

Miyan, being a Kadian, didn't buy into that, while on the surface he was a miner born in Red's Nest.

For a second, Komi felt sorry for this deeply ingrained class consciousness. He ordered the two of them to address him as his adjutant and forbade them from behaving like this, thus disgracing their military status.

The two exchanged a glance, their confusion outweighing their clarity.

With a sigh, Koji pried open a hatch blocked by an iron plate and slowly climbed up the ladder.

The viewpoint didn't suddenly become much clearer, but it was certainly more organized.

Here, a conveyor belt is installed to send the ore to the upper part. During working hours, workers gather on both sides of the conveyor belt and use hooks in their hands to perform secondary screening of the ore brought up by the miners on the conveyor belt.

Large enough items are kept, while smaller ones are discarded to the miners as part of their compensation.

The bustling activity of the past was gone. In order to deal with the increasingly large orc legions, many people were conscripted into the army and were crushed to pieces amidst the orcs' howls.

There may only be the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, and clever guys who are good at hiding themselves from the recruiting officers.

Koji continued forward with Stone and Particle, when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck, a creepy feeling of being watched by a wild beast that sent shivers down his spine.

"Enemy in sight! Prepare for battle!"

The warning had barely been given when a tentacle pierced through Shili's body, scalding blood splattering all over Komi.

Chapter 4: Advancing Up the Nest

Shili screamed in agony, and the next moment he was dragged into the darkness, leaving a trail of blood and fragments of internal organs.

When a perfectly healthy person suddenly dies, Koken's first reaction is not tension or fear, but rather a strange and outrageous thought that even he himself finds bizarre.

This really fits the dark worldview of Warhammer, where all living beings are like ants, born unexpectedly and dying suddenly.

Along with the crunching sound, there was also a tentacle. This time, Komi saw it clearly. The tentacle was not made of flesh and blood, but was something wrapped in hard rock and tightly bound by plant-like roots inside.

Rock Beast.

The word, which is well-known in the world of Red Mining, suddenly flashed into Komi's mind. This monster, which is like a plant and an animal, was born in the dark and damp mines and loved to search for minerals and water.

Its primary goal in hunting humans is to extract their blood. Therefore, miners often organize activities called "clean-up," where thousands of people use heavy tools to break through mountains and create tunnels to attack the rock beast. Each such operation inevitably results in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of people.

When was the last time you did a thorough cleaning?

After thinking for a while, Koji only recalled some trivial things he had done after becoming a mobilization logistics soldier from his own memory.

Perhaps in the original owner's memory, the life of a logistics soldier was far more interesting and memorable than his life as a miner.

The tentacles attacked again, this time aiming for the stone.

The dark-skinned, rough-looking conscript was so frightened by the chilling killing intent that he forgot to move, only knowing to raise his automatic gun and fire towards the rock beast.

If trainee committee member Enho were still alive, he would surely be pleased with the stone's growth.

You should know that when they first took over this group of miner conscripts, they didn't even dare to fire a gun, let alone hold their ground when they saw the enemy.

The muzzle flashes from the gunfire provided a sliver of light, making the rock beast lurking in the darkness appear even more terrifying and formidable.

At this point, another drawback of the automatic gun designed to suppress riots became apparent: its slow rate of fire.

The factory owners in Red Mining World are meticulous; they calculate the price of every single bullet. Suppressive fire, a technique that wastes money, would enrage them. Conversely, if only tens of thousands of people died, their brows would be only slightly less furious than if a box of bullets had been lost.

In human empires, human life has never been worth much.

The bullets had negligible effect on the tentacles encasing the rock; the rock's pale, exhausted face even reflected its gruesome death.

Fortunately, Komi realized what was happening this time.

The longsword inherited from his fallen comrade was suddenly drawn and severed before the tentacle could pierce through.

The tentacles, now out of control, immediately disintegrated, and the rubble, carrying momentum, continued forward, striking the stone in the chest and sending it flying backward.

Gu Jian then strode forward, taking several steps in quick succession.

Holding a laser pistol in one hand and a longsword in the other, he could clearly sense that the rock beast lurking in the darkness was trying to retreat in fear because he had severed one of its tentacles.

The Rock Beast is a man of few words; it only comes out to find a living person to replenish its fluids, and there's no need for it to risk its life.

How could Komi let the rock beast go so easily, even though he wasn't familiar with the stone particles?

"You cowardly bastard! Come out and face me!" Komi roared, the words coming out completely without any thought, a purely subconscious reaction.

The rock beast trembled, its initial desire to flee replaced by rage. Now, all it wanted was to crush the water bag that had severed one of its tentacles into a bloody pulp!

The rock beast roared, a sound like the cracking of rocks. It stretched out all its tentacles, forming a dense, impenetrable net, and slammed it down towards Komi.

Even a tiny bit of it will result in death or serious injury.

Gu Jian dared not bear the weight with his body. He felt something was wrong with his body. Perhaps it was a cheat code that Warhammer had given him, but he couldn't figure out the specific details and limits of this cheat code.

The two tentacles were severed and disintegrated at Komi's feet.

Unconvinced, he pulled out his laser pistol and fired at the rock beast's most obvious weakness—its mouth, which resembled a sea anemone and was used to draw water.

Like his master Mi Yang, the machine spirit was eager to achieve great deeds and slay evil demons and heretics for the God Emperor.

Unfortunately, the laser beam veered off course and shot in a direction that Komi hadn't even seen.

Sizzle!

The laser struck a bolt on the top exhaust port, causing the weathered pipe to loosen slightly due to the external force. As it dropped a few millimeters, it triggered a devastating chain reaction.

Countless metal rubble rained down, landing directly on the head of the rock beast. Although the beast was strong, being crushed by a metal structure weighing hundreds of tons left it with no chance of survival.

Dust suddenly rose up, obscuring everything like smog. Komi coughed as he searched for stones on the ground and dragged him out of the place.

"Boss... uh, adjutant. You did all this?" Stone's eyes sparkled, and he looked at Komi with even more admiration than he did at the foreman.

"Uh... I guess so?" Gu Jian said stiffly, then looked at the laser pistol in his hand from side to side, sensing the equally bewildered emotion of the machine spirit within it.

How could that shot have hit that spot?

This is even worse than the Stormtroopers' accuracy in Star Wars!

And that shot just now almost killed me! If I hadn't reacted quickly and run away in advance, I would have been crushed to death underneath!

With a sigh, Komi put away the laser pistol. He decided that he should use firearms less and stick to his sword. When he had the means, he could get a large shield to enhance his defense.

Stone wasn't too saddened by the death of the pebble. The miner was used to sudden separations of life and death. Now, he simply used his little brain to complete Komi's great achievements.

Despite the danger posed by the rock beast, Adjutant Komi remained calm. He first used his longsword to block the beast's clumsy and laughable attacks, then discovered an even easier way to defeat it: aim at a loose structure and shoot. The falling metal pipe crushed the arrogant rock beast, killing it instantly.

Koji had no idea what the stone was thinking; he could only pray that nothing went wrong on the way ahead, as time was of the essence.

They had been traveling for two days. Along the way, Koji and Ishiko simply ate some dry, hard nutrition bars and drank water that had been filled with water purification tablets and had an odd taste. Basically, they would set off immediately as soon as they woke up.

Fortunately, the miners' bodies are indeed resilient; such harsh living conditions did not make Komi sick, nor did they make him feel too uncomfortable.

If this were a college student with a weak and unhealthy body, they would probably catch a fever and cold the next day, and be shaking like a leaf.

Another fortunate point is that there were no further attacks after the rock beast. The two of them walked safely to the border between the lower and upper nests. The towering city walls blocked the view of the upper nest. The people of the upper nest would never bestow any light upon the lower nest, even if that light itself came from the hard work and selfless labor of the people of the lower nest.

Chapter 5: The Nobility of the Upper Nesters

"Stop! State your identity!"

Before the two could get close, a sound came from the direction of the city wall. It was the city gate defense force calling out to Gu Jian and the others.

Stone stopped before Komi did; his ingrained submissiveness was far more unshakeable than Komi's swordsmanship.

Standing still, a group of soldiers approached the two men. They were better equipped and in better spirits, clearly soldiers recruited from the upper nest.

One of the ten was the captain, whose shoulder armor was engraved with an octagonal rose-colored stone, which meant that he came from a family that processed rose quartz.

There are many families in the Red Mining World, but as long as you can recognize minerals and distinguish their scarcity, you can roughly understand the hierarchy among different families.

Rose quartz is not considered a precious material in the world of Red Mining; it is merely a necessary material used by the upper class to make ornate stained glass.

Therefore, although the rose quartz family is not large, it has a very close relationship with the higher-ups.

The captain, named Fagas, had the typical pale skin and a more slender physique of the Upper Nesters. When he saw Komi and Ishi's dark, rough faces, his eyes revealed undisguised contempt and disgust.

It feels like your spotless home has been polluted by dirty rats rolling in the mud.

Koken was displeased by Fagas's contempt, while Stone lowered his head in fear, afraid that his dirty face would tarnish the appearance of the Upper Nesters.

The task is urgent.

Koji convinced himself of this, then straightened his back and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "We are soldiers from the M-1566 warehouse district, belonging to the 88th Mobilization Regiment, commanded by Political Commissar Miyan Enho. We are here to report the battle situation to our superiors. The orcs have discovered a gap that can bypass the frontal defenses..."

"Did I ask you to speak? Hmm?" Fargas's tone was cold as he glanced at the nameplate on Kojima's face, which symbolized his rank as an adjutant.

There is absolutely no respect involved.

Fargas even thought to himself that the world had really changed; even these lowly bastards who scrambled for food in the pit dared to speak loudly in front of the Upper Nest people after putting on military uniforms and wearing ranks.

If this were before, without this military uniform protecting him, Fagas would have already had Komi and Ishi arrested and brutally beaten!

He spat at Komi's feet, as insurmountable as the Chu River and Han Border in chess. Before Komi could get angry, Fagaz looked at the stone with its head down and no sound, quite satisfied with the man's cowardice and obedience.

That's right, a lowly person should act like a lowly person.

"Raise your heads, soldiers."

Stone raised his head tremblingly, daring not to meet Fagas's gaze.

"State your identities and your purpose."