Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

Miyan had not yet given the order to fire, and the conscripts had not opened fire without authorization.

The mutants made way for the tribal leader, a gaunt old man with a sheep-like skull and a robe made of hundreds of rat skins sewn together, who was carried out sitting in a bone chair.

The old man's face was covered with layers of wrinkles, his teeth were almost completely gone, and his eyes were sunken, with only two glints of light shining through in the darkness.

He shook his crooked wooden cane and shouted in a hoarse, aged voice, "We are just refugees... We have no intention of being enemies with you people under the light. I swear to the Hundred Gods, the Rat Skin Tribe will never strike first."

"What is the Hundred Gods?" Mi Yang turned to ask Gu Jian, hoping that his old miner experience could still be useful. To be honest, Gu Jian didn't know what the Hundred Gods were either, but he knew the setting of the bottom nest and many stories, so he explained.

"Perhaps it's some strange thing these mutant tribes encountered in the Deep Nest, and they admired its immense power, so they worshipped it as a god. What should we do? Should we let them pass?"

"Let them through?" Mi Yang would never trust mutants, much less allow them to live. So she smiled at Koji with a hint of bloodlust, picked up her laser pistol, and fired to signal the start of the war.

Chapter 12: No Retreat, No Mercy

The laser beam pierced straight through the air and landed directly in front of the tribal chief. A transparent shield, rippling with waves, rose up and blocked Miyan's attack. The old man sighed, waved his wooden staff, and ordered the mutants to launch an attack.

Getting involved in a battle that could have been avoided didn't bother Komi. A few days after entering the Warhammer world, he realized his tragic fate: he would have no happiness in life and no peace in death.

Therefore, he followed closely behind Miyan, placing his rarely used automatic gun on the sandbag and focusing intently on the mutant in front of him.

Komi's shooting results were not ideal.

This is no longer just aiming at something in the east and shooting at something in the west; it's simply not aiming at living creatures at all.

Bullets clattered and fell before the mutant's feet, like carefully planned warning shots. Mi Yang frowned, growing angrier as he watched. Finally, he snatched Komi's automatic gun and yelled, "If all enemies were like you, we could have stormed into the Eye of Fear by tomorrow!"

Komi awkwardly touched his nose, then huddled in the trench with a heavy orcish axe beside him, waiting for the enemy to charge before he could take action.

Miyan's shooting was accurate, deadly, and fast.

With almost no aiming, it was purely an instinctive reaction; a magazine full of bullets was poured into the mutant's body.

These mutants are just as physically capable as the orcs, and the fact that they have survived the nightmarish Underhive to this day shows that they are not easy to get along with.

One mutant even had three heads. Even though Miyan blew two of them off, it didn't affect his movements. He charged ahead like a small mountain.

In the end, it was only by concentrating the firepower of five conscripts that the mutant was prevented from getting close to the defensive line.

The mutants suffered heavy casualties as they approached the defensive line, but no one was deterred by it. The suffering they endured in the bottom nest was far more terrible than dying on the way to the front.

The tribal warriors charged forward, wielding heavy shields and spiked clubs nearly as tall as a person. The automatic guns were completely ineffective at penetrating their shields, and even if they were lucky enough to hit their bodies, they couldn't inflict much damage on the armor made of animal hides and various scraps.

Needless to say, this is my job.

The storyline depicts a scenario where classic Warhammer ranged weapons are ineffective, ultimately forcing individuals to rely on their personal bravery to turn the tide of battle.

Komi reminded Miyan, then charged towards the enormous axe that was like a two-handed weapon to him.

The tribal warrior's face was covered by a rough gas mask, and his bare skin, exposed beneath his tattered armor, was covered in scars. He roared at Komi in a muffled voice as his spiked club came crashing down on his head.

A huge body does not mean slow movement. If Gu Jian had not been extraordinary, he would never have been able to dodge this attack.

The wind whipped up by the spiked club slapped against Koji's face, but he calmly moved closer and chopped the tribal warrior in the waist with his axe.

Some black blood, with a texture like engine oil, splattered out, inevitably splashing onto Komi's face. He tasted it with his tongue and found it to be as strange as water infused with Sichuan peppercorns.

The tribal warrior fell, discarding his heavy shield and drawing a dagger from his waist to stab Komi. Komi parried the axe blade and the dagger grazed past, then chopped off the warrior's arm before the dagger could pierce him.

With his limbs severed and his fighting ability greatly reduced, the final blow to decapitate him became extremely easy.

With a crack, the warrior's head rolled on the ground, and even the mutant who had seemed fearless of death caught his breath.

A warrior has died...

The old man's gaze finally changed. These warriors were key to the survival of their tribe, and losing even one meant a significant reduction in the tribe's strength.

He moved his lips, uttering a few sinister syllables, then stood up from his chair and raised his arms high. "Great Centaur, your humble servant begs for your help!"

In an instant, a chilling wind howled across the entire position.

Even Mi Yang couldn't help but shiver, suddenly feeling his hands and feet turn ice cold, and he couldn't even hold the laser pistol firmly.

The mutants were also affected; instead of being afraid of the supernatural cold, they cheered with joy.

Under the old man's gaze, several mutants pulled up a pregnant mutant, then cut open her belly and presented the deformed baby inside to the old man.

Without pausing, the old man cleanly and swiftly stabbed the baby in the head with his wooden stick. Instantly, his stick emitted countless wisps of black smoke, and a distorted shadow stood behind him.

Witnessing all this, Koji felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't expected to encounter those eerie and bizarre things from the Warhammer world so soon. Compared to these things, the orcs who only thought about fighting seemed particularly endearing.

To flee? Or to fight another day?

If it were anywhere else, Komi might have done the same thing.

But this is the Warhammer world! A place where you absolutely cannot survive without fighting!

A place where exposing even the slightest weakness could lead to certain death!

If you fight exceptionally bravely, even if the Emperor himself doesn't have time to glance at you, Khorne, the god of war, will still bestow some blessings upon you.

Choosing weakness is tantamount to choosing death...

As the shadow drew closer, the mutants screamed and trembled with fear, and Miyan and the conscripts trembled from the depths of their souls, Koji resolutely stepped forward.

He charged ahead, wielding his axe, and with a simple phrase that inspired countless warriors, he blew away all the evil winds.

"For the Emperor!"

Mi Yang was the first to be awakened by Gu Jian. She blinked and saw that Gu Jian had already rushed far away, leaving behind a trail of mutant corpses that he had killed.

She stood there stunned for a long time, then became unusually determined. She put the whistle she had taken from Commissar Enho to her lips and blew it hard.

The sharp whistle seemed to possess a strange magic, inspiring everyone to become brave and fanatical. Even the most timid and honest conscripts dared to roar angrily at the mutants, then draw their melee swords or daggers and charge out of the defensive line, determined to keep up with Komi's pace.

Next to Kojima was Stone, who held a large hammer he had taken from a mutant. He smashed the heads of the enemies in his way one by one, but to him, those heads were far less difficult to deal with than the ore.

Finding herself still standing there in a daze, Mi Yang immediately felt guilty. As a sergeant, how could she let these conscripts rush ahead of her?

She raised her arms and shouted, then nimbly charged forward across the defensive line.

Abandoning firepower suppression and breaking away from the defensive line is undoubtedly a foolish tactical choice, but in the idealistic yet materialistic world of Warhammer, melee combat is always the safest and most effective way to defeat an invincible enemy.

Chapter 13: The Emperor Never Gazed at Me

Under the emperor's gaze, one is bestowed with great power.

Raging and bloodthirsty, with immense strength.

To be honest, Koji didn't feel any of these things at all.

Finally, covered in blood, he approached the old man and was able to see clearly what the old man looked like.

They cannot see the bloodthirsty rage of the Khorne demons, the ever-changing chaos of the Tzeentch demons, the decaying rot of the Nurgle demons, or the decadent lust of the Slaanesh demons.

The realization that this thing had nothing to do with the Four Gods undoubtedly relieved Gu Jian, as he didn't want to get involved with those four heavyweights so early on.

Upon closer inspection, Gu Jian felt that this Hundred Old God looked like several lumps of rock beasts roughly pieced together and then given excessive vitality.

He trembled and writhed constantly, peering at Komi's figure through the eyes peering through the cracks in the ore.

Before he could even make a move, the old man let out a mocking laugh at Gu Jian, who was charging forward. "Xia Chao Ren, your bravery is indeed admirable, but you are ultimately just mortals. How can you compare to the mighty Bai Lao Shen? Although what Bai Lao Shen has descended here is merely a shadow of himself, possessing only one ten-thousandth of his power, it is still enough to kill everyone here. I will use your corpses to make up for the tribe's losses."

Komi, too lazy to waste words, threw a dagger from his waist at the old man. The shield blocked the attack, which also made the old man lose the will to continue communicating with Komi. He prayed to the God of a Hundred Years, asking him to kill the audacious madman in front of him.

The Hundred Gods moved, their shadowy bodies exuding a sense of oppression. These tentacles and claws, which were essentially invisible, could actually cut through the ground.

Komi focused his attention, concentrating all his strength on the axe in his hand as he slashed at the shadow that was attacking him.

Just one strike!

The outcome is already clear!

Both Sergeant Miyan and the old man were stunned by the sight before them; they opened their mouths wide and could not utter a word.

The oppressive shadowy body of the Hundred Gods was cleaved in two by Komi's axe, causing him less trouble than the tribal warrior.

As the old man saw Koji approaching him step by step, he closed his eyes in despair, knowing that he and his tribe were doomed because of this man.

Koken didn't rush to chop the old man in half; he simply examined whether the strange symbols on the old man's body were related to the Chaos Gods.

If not, it can only mean that their current state is simply due to the pressures of life.

The empire's appalling state is providing the Chaos Gods with an endless stream of followers. If the four gods were even slightly more human, Koken has no doubt that the human empire would once again fall apart.

But there are no ifs. The nature of the Four Gods is wicked, and telling them to cherish life is as ridiculous as advising people who don't like beef not to engage in reverse urbanization.

Before death came, Koken said with some regret, "If there is an afterlife, don't be reborn into the underworld. May the Emperor have mercy on you."

The old man was stunned for a moment, then his head flew high into the air.

Eliminating the remaining mutants was no longer a problem. Having witnessed the collapse of their faith and the death of their leader, they had completely lost the desire to continue fighting and scattered like birds and beasts, abandoning their armor and weapons.

The battle also resulted in casualties, with over two hundred conscripts killed by the mutants' crude weapons, which worsened the already understaffed 88th Conscript Regiment.

The only good news was that they obtained some heavy weapons from the mutants, including handmade rocket launchers and large-caliber trash-spraying hand cannons.

Koji was chewing on the nutrition bar in his hand, taking bites here and there. The other conscripts looked at him with an even more undisguised sense of admiration and dependence.

Anyone could see the danger just now. If Koken hadn't intervened, they would have been a lump of meat in the mutant food truck long ago.

Ishi, who had accompanied Komi to the communications station, was even pulled aside by the conscripts for a chat, as everyone wanted to know how Komi had fared on the road.

Amidst such enthusiasm, even the somewhat clumsy Stone was swayed into becoming eloquent, praising Komi's unparalleled bravery to the other conscripts.

Of course, he didn't forget Komi's teachings and didn't mention the conflict between them and the Rose Stone family, Fagas.

A family is still a family, and it wields considerable power. It's always best to avoid causing as much trouble as possible.

Komi listened intently to the stone's words, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the stone had not mentioned anything about Fagas's deeds.

Of course, there's nothing to be afraid of even if I say it out loud. With my fighting ability, I can find food anywhere.

"Why does the hero seem a bit down?" Mi Yang sat down next to Gu Jian with a freshly heated lunchbox in her hand. She didn't have any feminine fragrance on her, only a slightly burnt stench from dried blood and gunpowder.

Fortunately, Komi is just as smelly, so no one can complain about the other more.

"Don't say that, esteemed Sergeant Miyan." Komi smiled wryly. "I was so scared by that thing just now that I was shaking. If I hadn't known I had no pants to change into, I would have really soiled myself on the spot."

Miyan laughed heartily. As a warrior, she didn't know anything about being coy or pretentious. The Cardians always admired fearless strongmen. "But you still charged forward, bravely facing the enemies of humans and the Emperor. That's enough."

Komi smiled shyly and silently accepted Mi Yang's praise.

"Heroes should eat something good. Take this and eat it." Mi Yang snatched the nutrition bar from Gu Jian's hand and then shoved the lunchbox into Gu Jian's arms without any room for refusal.