Warhammer: Saving Humanity Begins with the Resurrection of Horus

Page 36

Perhaps. After all, he and Huron are different from those fools. They are using the power of Chaos, not becoming puppets of Chaos.

Under such circumstances, it is certainly possible for mental stress to develop.

Leaving the elevator lobby, he walked into a secluded room on the first floor and began searching a bookshelf close to the wall.

He quickly found his target, then reached out a hand and pulled it out.

It was an ordinary notebook at first glance, but the black cover gave it a strong sense of fluidity, as if it were not an inanimate object but a living thing.

Almenus felt a sudden murmur in his ear, which made him take a deep breath, and his eyes turned cold in the process.

"Shut up. If you still want your soul, then you'd better behave yourself."

Almenus muttered curses under his breath, not at the air, but at the notebook in his hand.

The fluidity on the cover disappeared for a moment, and when it reappeared, for some reason, it gave people a strange sense of flattery.

Almenus nodded in satisfaction, then opened his notebook, looked at the strange words and diagrams recorded inside, took a deep breath, and then uttered a series of eerie syllables.

The floor of the room began to tremble, and the previously sealed bricks and floorboards started to writhe rapidly. They kept retreating until a large, dark hole was revealed, at which point they stopped moving.

Almenus remained silent, staring at the large hole. Eight seconds later, a faint first ray of light appeared deep within the hole, accompanied by the aroma of animal fat. This aroma passed through the master forge's nostrils, was converted into a biological signal, and transmitted to his brain.

Countless torches shone in the large hole, illuminating a spiral staircase.

The Zeroth Layer, a secret hidden within the Claw of the Stars. Here, there is not only a passage to the outside world, but also a warp ritual that has been set up for many years to establish communication with the Black Legion.

It was here last time, when Almenus was making contact with the Black Legion during a ceremony, that the Imperial Guard discovered him. If Salkota hadn't arrived just in time, that halberd crackling with electricity could have sliced ​​off half of his head instead of just one ear.

He reached out a hand and touched the empty space on the left side of his head. Almenus was then about to enter the tunnel to complete the task Huron had just given him.

But just before he was about to enter, he seemed to vaguely hear something strange.

"Rumble..."

It sounded like thunder, but it didn't rain today. In fact, it hadn't rained in this place where the Thorn Court was located for a full ten years.

Almenus frowned, pulled one foot out of the tunnel, waved his hand, extinguished the torch, the ground closed up, the notebook was put back on the bookshelf, and then he walked out of the room toward the main building's entrance.

"Rumble..."

"Tap tap tap tap..."

As he drew closer to the gate, a growing unease began to grip Almenus. He could hear it more clearly, distinguishing not only the "thunder" but also a multitude of synchronized footsteps.

The master foundry quickened his pace, and finally pushed forward with both hands, directly opening the tightly closed door in front of him.

A blinding white light struck, instantly blinding him.

His pupils began to shrink, and Almenus's superhuman Astartes ability quickly helped him adjust to the bright light. At the same time, he raised a hand to shield his eyes, using the shadow to help him see clearly what was happening outside the building.

A group of about fifty people, fully armed, stood before him. These people were mostly Astartes, wearing Starclaw power armor. Through some special markings on the armor, Almenus could even recognize the identities of some of them.

Reverend Ryan, Pierce of the Fifth Company, Caesar of the Seventh Company, and Enkidu of the Thirteenth Company...

These people appeared here at this moment, and they seemed to be led by a mortal. The instant he saw that mortal, Almenus felt a strange sense of familiarity and warmth for some reason.

How is this going?

Almenus was confused, but before he could figure out what was happening, he saw the four huge black shadows behind these people. In just an instant, he understood where the thunder had come from, and countless beads of cold sweat poured down his forehead.

Redemption type Land Raider, Achilles type Land Raider, Destruction type Predator Tank, and Damocles type Command Rhino.

Two variants of the RAND, a Predator tank equipped with a heavy cannon, and a special Rhino troop carrier. At this moment, these steel beasts, which should have been lying quietly in the armory, have inexplicably appeared silently in the plaza in front of the main building.

However, none of these are the most important things. What is important is that Almenus clearly saw that these heavy firepower vehicles, which have a huge destructive power over buildings, were now all in the pre-firing preparation state under the operation of their crews.

What the hell is going on here?!

Almenus instinctively thought of betrayal. He knew that there was a small group of people in the Star Claws who had long suspected Huron and him, and that this group would inevitably cause trouble once war broke out with the Empire.

But the problem is that they haven't even officially started a war with the Empire yet, and these people are already launching a coup, and...

How did they manage to get their hands on heavy vehicles?!

"Whoosh!"

Two sharp, piercing sounds rang out, and Almenus looked up sharply, seeing two red flashbangs snaking upwards.

Those two directions represent the outposts of the first and third companies of Star Claw, respectively.

A sense of despair slowly began to spread within him. Almenus slowly lowered his head, looked at the mortal leading the coup party, and spoke in a dry voice.

"Who are you......."

"In the name of the emperor."

The mortal spoke, his voice calm and cold.

"Fire!!!"

－－－－－－－

"boom!!!"

I woke up with a start.

The piercing alarm began to echo through the dormitory building, and within a minute, all the soldiers of Star Claw Company rushed out of their dormitories. Most of them hadn't had time to put on their power armor, but they already had every weapon at their disposal.

As a gathering place for veterans throughout the entire battle group, these soldiers were already aware of what had happened. Their actions were swift, and the leader's gaze and expression were resolute, giving the impression of being as hard as steel.

"All personnel wearing power armor, follow me! The rest of you, get your gear on immediately, we need to..."

He had just rushed out of the dormitory and hadn't even finished speaking when the leader abruptly stopped in his tracks. He took a deep breath, looked at the Rand Raiders and their fully armed "brothers" who were already in a state of readiness, and gritted his teeth.

"Casio! Are you rebelling?!"

“It’s not a rebellion, it’s a coup, Leo. I think you can still be saved. Let go. Huron’s actions are doomed to fail. He will only lead the entire warband into an abyss.”

"Heh... Are those insect officials in Terra any better?! At least Huron gave us what we wanted! If it weren't for him, we would have been wiped out by those aliens in the Maelstrom countless times!"

Leo, an Astartes, spoke angrily, but his demeanor remained relatively calm, refraining from rashly launching an attack. He clearly knew that if he did, the heavy firepower from the Rand would instantly send him and his men to their deaths.

But that doesn't stop him from trash-talking Casio.

"How can the Empire be governed by those insectoids who follow Terra?"

"........."

Casio fell silent, which made Leo think that he had rendered the other speechless. So he sneered and continued to speak, while secretly gesturing to the people behind him, telling them to find a weak point and leave.

Casio saw this, but he didn't stop it. He simply took a servo skull from one of his companions behind him and turned the volume up to the maximum without any expression.

The first sound to come from the microphone of the servo skull was Huron's roar, but before he could finish speaking, his words came to an abrupt halt, and were replaced by another calm male voice.

Clearly, like theirs, their communication channels had also been hijacked.

"My name is Lynch..."

The man began his speech, making his points very clear; unless it was Oglin, no one would fail to understand the meaning behind his words.

"Finally, I want to emphasize this! Finally, I want to emphasize this! This is not a terrorist attack! Nor is it an assassination by Imperial Insects! This is a coup d'état by loyalists against traitors! It is righteous! It is an action in accordance with the will of the Divine Emperor!"

"For humanity! For the Empire! For the Claw of the Stars!"

After the channel finished playing, it went silent.

"You actually cooperated with those insectoid creatures on Terra? That one must be the Highlord's lackey. What did they promise you...?"

Leo sneered. Even though the other side seemed to have the moral high ground in the end, in his eyes, they were nothing more than a bunch of insects trying to pat themselves on the back.

"Shut up! What do you know! Do you think we were coerced into starting a coup by those Terran bugs?"

Unlike the silence before, for some unknown reason, Casio suddenly spoke angrily, looking at Leo with anger on his face, and a hint of... pity.

"You don't understand anything at all, Leo. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking about Salkota, aren't you? Let me tell you, he won't have any effect on us. Just wait. In one Terra hour, I will personally take you to the plaza. I just hope that by then..."

Casio glanced around at everyone present, then his tone suddenly turned calm, and his face became as cold as steel.

"You'd better not regret calling that person a lackey."

"boom!"

In the distance, lightning and flames appeared, as if a natural disaster was about to sweep across the entire land.

A figure flew through the sky, leaving a long trail, before finally falling heavily into the desert outside the royal court under the force of gravity.

Casio witnessed all of this, sighed, and a hint of worry flashed in his eyes.

We've all succeeded, old Bell and Eric, now it's up to you two.

Chapter 49 The Battle of Magnetic Fields (Psionic Energy) and Martial Gods (Think Tank) (6000)

Psychic power is a dangerous force.

Salkota still vividly remembers his first conversation with the chief think tank when he was an editor and first formally began learning psionics from them.

Psychic power is a dangerous force that shouldn't exist in this universe, but unfortunately, it not only exists but we possess it. If I could, Salkota, I truly wish you had never come into contact with such power.

But teachers... they are very powerful. If we can fully control this power, then we can certainly use it to help more people.

You're right, Salcota. It is indeed a powerful force, so powerful that it allows some of us to single-handedly turn the tide of a local battle and to foresee the future with unseen eyes... But you must also remember, Salcota, there are always trade-offs. Every use of such a powerful force comes at a price.

cost........

Yes, there is a price to pay. So, Salkota, I'm going to set the first rule for you when you learn psionic skills from me.

What is it?

That is to never, ever try to use something we shouldn't have come into contact with in order to gain greater power.

The memory abruptly ended, and Salkota opened his eyes from his coma. He felt a chaotic void in his brain, as if someone inside his skull was hammering him violently from side to side, causing a ringing in his ears. In pain and agitation, he was unable to utilize his superhuman brain, which had undergone nineteen surgeries, to its full potential.

What's wrong with me?

Salkota asked himself the question, and soon a voice gave him the answer he needed.

You were attacked; you were ambushed by traitors from your faction. They used lightning and fire, and in your panic, you raised your shield, thus avoiding fatal damage, though you were still knocked away...

attack?

Salkota frowned. He couldn't understand why anyone would dare to attack a think tank member, let alone a chief think tank member, in the Star Claws' stronghold, the most powerful psionicist in the chapter when the chief think tank was not present.

He raised his head, looking towards the Thorn Royal Court not far from him. His eyes narrowed slightly; the superhuman vision granted by the nineteen surgeries was now playing a full role. In the darkness, a beam of fire was rising steadily from the Royal Court, thick smoke twisting and swirling in the sky, giving the impression of a group of ghosts embracing and devouring each other.

Assault.