Warhammer: Empire Reboot

This cornerstone assassin is one of the special nodes emerging from the swarm, possessing an animal affinity talent.

After the bee colony exceeded 100 million nodes, the massive neural network began to spontaneously generate nodes with various special abilities.

Some are skilled at plant identification, some are proficient in civil administration, and some are born with psychic potential.

A number of these nodes are able to establish a kind of instinctive trust relationship with animals.

This kind of talent is difficult to describe precisely using scientific language.

The most plausible explanation is that these suicide bombers automatically adjust their bioelectric field frequency, body temperature radiation patterns, body language, and breathing rhythm to a "non-threatening" mode when they approach animals.

Wild animals cannot sense hostility from them, just as a stone poses no threat to a river.

In recent years, animal-friendly samurai have made many contributions.

During their exploration missions on wild planets, they were able to traverse the territories of ferocious beasts without hindrance.

In the agricultural world, they can guide wild predators away from residential areas during pest control efforts, and in the conscription world, their success rate in taming mounts is ten times that of traditional animal trainers.

The Katachon barking toad is also an animal.

Although it is an extreme and even abnormal animal, its behavior is ultimately driven by instinct, and its alertness mechanism is based on the perception and judgment of external stimuli.

If an animal-friendly, death-like creature can make it instinctively determine that this thing is not a threat...

Maybe it will work.

The assassin has already begun his operation.

He leaned slightly forward, his arms hanging naturally at his sides, without making any unnecessary movements.

1,500 meters, 1,200 meters, 1,000 meters.

The barking toad's two yellow eyes occasionally twitched, but it didn't show the subtle tension it had displayed when faced with the allure.

800 meters.

This is the maximum distance that Ash's charm can extend.

Six hundred meters, five hundred meters.

It exceeded that.

The animal-friendly undead are closer to being than the two high-ranking Slaanesh archdemons.

Qianxian's mouth opened slightly.

Four hundred meters, three hundred meters.

The assassins' pace slowed down.

The barking toad closed one eye.

This is a good sign.

In the ecology of Katachan, predators keep their eyes wide open when approaching prey to lock onto their target.

When a barking toad closes one eye, it means its alert system classifies the approaching creature as a "low threat."

One hundred meters, eighty meters, fifty meters.

The assassin crouched down, slowly spread his hands, palms down, and assumed a low, almost prostrate posture.

This is the core technique of animal affinity, using body language to convey the signal "I am weaker than you, I am not a threat".

The barking toad closed both of its eyes.

Twenty meters...

Fifteen meters...

The barking toad's eyes snapped open.

When the assassin approached within twelve meters, the barely perceptible evaporation of sweat produced a wisp of extremely fine odor molecules.

The barking toad was detected.

That's not the smell of Katachon.

These smells are completely undetectable to humans and are insufficient to trigger an alarm in most animals.

However, the olfactory system of the Katachang barking toad has reached the molecular level in its ability to identify "non-Katachang native odors".

An unfamiliar smell is equivalent to an unfamiliar presence.

The presence of an unknown entity is a threat.

The barking toad began to swell.

The assassin activated the miniature static force field anchor point on his body 0.1 seconds before the barking toad's skin cracked.

The precision of swarm intelligence control far exceeds that of manual operation.

He disappeared into the static field.

Three-tenths of a second later, the barking toad exploded.

boom!!!

Another circular dead zone, one kilometer in diameter, has been created in the silent swamp.

The grayish-white poisonous fog devoured all organic matter around it; moss, shrubs, and a few unfortunate swamp worms all turned into slime.

The assassin reappeared in the air beneath Lawson's feet, kneeling on one knee.

His uniform hem was grazed by the edge of the poisonous fog, and the fabric was smoking, but he was unharmed.

Lawson looked down at the fresh dead zone and remained silent for a few seconds.

Two soft laughs came from behind him, which he tried to suppress but couldn't quite manage.

Lawson turned his head.

The two large demons were covering their mouths, their shoulders trembling.

Qianxian's purple eyes curved into crescent moons, and Ash's lips trembled slightly.

They saw that even Lawson's men had failed.

Taking pleasure in others' misfortunes is one of Slaanesh's instincts.

Lawson's gaze swept over: "Is it funny?"

The smiles on the two demons vanished completely.

Qianxian's reaction speed was astonishing. She switched from a smirk to a serious expression in just one gesture, and then pressed herself against him.

“Master, I was laughing at that toad for being so ungrateful. It was lucky to be chosen by you and to have you personally stop, but it just blew itself into a pile of mud. What a waste! If it were me, being stared at like this by you, I would not only blow myself up, but I would also be willing to dismantle my bones one by one and arrange them into the shape you like.”

She clung to Lawson's arm with both hands, rubbed her cheek against his sleeve, and looked up at him, her big eyes filled with a sincere and shining adoration.

Slaanesh's emotions are always real, even if the content of those realities is absurdly ridiculous.

“Master, do you know, when you were standing high in the sky watching the toad explode, the wind was blowing your clothes and the light was shining on your profile. I think that was the most beautiful scene I’ve ever seen in my life. I really want to keep that moment forever.”

Lawson: "..."

"And when you sent people down," Qianxian's voice trembled with an unsteady breath, "you were clearly unsure if it would succeed, but your expression didn't change at all, that composure... Do you know what that composure means to me? In the entire subspace, among the four Chaos Gods and trillions of demons, not one can remain so composed when uncertain, only you."

She buried her face in Lawson's sleeve and said sullenly, "I don't care about success or failure at all. I just want to watch you do things. You look good when you frown, you look good when you think, and you look even better when you're angry. When you said 'it's funny' just now, I..."

Ash silently approached from the other side.

The Keeper turned slightly to the side, leaning half of his body weight against Lawson's shoulder, like a vine silently clinging to a large tree.

"Qianxian was talking too much, but she did say one thing right."

"Each of the four gods is terrifying in its own way, but they all act with a kind of obsession. Obsession with killing, obsession with scheming, obsession with decay, obsession with the senses."

“But the master is different. You just do what you are supposed to do, and when you finish it, you move on to the next thing. If the toad explodes, you think of another way. If your subordinates fail, you change your approach. You don’t even sigh.”

"The master is like a sea, which cannot be pushed or filled."

The keeper lowered his gaze, his eyelashes casting a shadow beneath his eyes.

"I used to think that being dominated by the strong was the ultimate experience, but after meeting you, I realized I was wrong. The feeling of being submerged by a sea is more joyful than being dominated by any strong person."

Qianxian immediately chimed in, "That's right! If you want to strip my clothes off from head to toe, all you need is a glance from your master."

Ash glanced at her.

"Shut up, you wish."

Qianxian poked her head out from beside Lawson's arm, unconvinced: "I'm telling the truth. When Master asked 'It's funny' just now, I really felt my heart stop."

“You don’t have a heart,” Ash said calmly.

"I can grow one specifically to stop for my master."

"cheap."

"You're jealous."

Ash finally turned to look at her: "I'm jealous that you flatter like a drunken widow in a tavern."

Qianxian choked for a moment, then turned to look at Luosen, her eyes bright yet aggrieved.

“Master, look at her. She’s just jealous that I’m better at pleasing you than she is.”

Lawson raised his hand and flicked each of their heads.

"okay."

The two great demons fell silent at the same time, each rubbing their foreheads.

Lawson's anger subsided a little.

He had to admit that Slaanesh was several levels better than human sycophants at pleasing their masters.

When human bureaucrats flatter, it always comes across as stiff and deliberate. The person being flattered knows that the other is flattering them, and the person flattering them knows that the other is also flattering them. Both sides are acting, creating an extremely awkward atmosphere.

When Slaanesh was flattering, he was genuinely sincere.

They genuinely thought Lawson was amazing, and they truly derived pleasure from worship and flattery.

This pleasure is part of Slaanesh's nature; it is etched into his soul.

Therefore, their praise didn't sound like an act, but rather like a natural expression.