Chapter 416: Living Saint

At this moment, halfway up the prototype of the hive city, the human forces were already on the verge of collapse.

The troops gathered in this most critical area of the city totaled over thirty thousand regular troops and nearly one hundred thousand militia, including planetary defense forces, remnants of the Astra Militarum, Inquisitor Kethia's Stormtrooper regiment, as well as survivors among the city residents and those from outside the walls.

The entire planet had a population of at least hundreds of millions; now, perhaps only these few hundred thousand remained, and people were dying every single moment.

Kethia roared in anger, "Absurd! You of the Ecclesiarchy actually have no Sisters of Battle on this world? And you of the Adeptus Mechanicus don't even have Skitarii!? I have been to so many worlds, and this is the first time I've encountered such a bizarre pair!"

Before Kethia, a person dressed as a religious figure and a cyborg full of cyberpunk aesthetics both offered bitter smiles.

The religious figure said, "My lord, you should know that this is a Pleasure World, right?"

This single sentence left Kethia speechless.

This 0.5 Dream World was a standard Great World, a vast and magnificent world far exceeding the Gaia humans, with a territory expanding across nearly half the galaxy. It had millions of habitable planets alone; if one counted uninhabitable Death Worlds, mining worlds, and the like, there were probably hundreds of millions.

Based on the environment, function, and whether human society existed on these planets, the humans of this world categorized them for different purposes. Pleasure Worlds were extremely rare and precious; their only function was to serve as places of leisure and enjoyment for the dignitaries of surrounding planets or even the entire star sector. This often meant depravity and decay—for instance, Slaanesh, the Chaos God of the Warp, found Pleasure Worlds the easiest to corrupt.

The Ecclesiarchy of the Human Empire in this dream world was famous for its asceticism and austerity. In particular, the Sisters of Battle served as the Ecclesiarchy's primary armed force, belonging to the ranks of the fanatical, and they were irreconcilable with all acts of depravity. If this Pleasure World truly had a Sisters of Battle contingent, the only thing they would do is roast all the visiting dignitaries on a fire, burning them as they arrived until no one came anymore, or until they were wiped out by rebel forces.

Kethia could not refute this. She looked toward the Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who bowed slightly and said, "My lord, this is a Pleasure World."

Kethia was again speechless.

The Adeptus Mechanicus of this dream world was a technological organization existing in a religious form. They firmly believed that all machines in the world possessed spirits, and above them was the omniscient and omnipotent Machine God. If Su Xing were here to witness the extent of their feudal superstition, he would undoubtedly be dumbfounded.

Yet, no matter how superstitious, the Adeptus Mechanicus was the only remaining organization in the Human Empire of this world capable of science, research, and industrial manufacturing. They required vast amounts of minerals, materials, and large-scale cluster manufacturing to maintain their status, life, and survival.

But this was a Pleasure World. A Pleasure World meant it was fundamentally impossible to allow the Adeptus Mechanicus to conduct large-scale planetary mining or turn the entire planet into a metal world. Therefore, to maintain the original ecology of the Pleasure World, the Adeptus Mechanicus personnel stationed here numbered fewer than ten, and the highest-ranking officer was merely a Tech-Priest, whose purpose was solely to maintain the operation of the planet's various buildings and equipment.

A Tech-Priest was not qualified to lead a Skitarii legion.

Kethia was naturally fully aware of all this, but she was currently at her wit's end, so even if it were just a casual question, she hoped to obtain unexpected armed support.

Unfortunately, there were no Sisters of Battle, no Skitarii, no muscular giants descending from the sky, and even her own Warhound-class Titan support and her elite Stormtroopers had suffered heavy casualties. At the same time, the cruisers outside the planet could not provide macro-cannon support because the material void outside the atmosphere had been twisted by the Warp, and all attacks fired from outer space were swallowed by the Warp, as if a thick, impenetrable void shield stood outside the planet's atmosphere.

"... Taichilong!"

After a few seconds of silence, Kethia suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.

At the very front of the defensive line, an officer who was firing his lasgun incessantly turned back immediately. It was Kethia's chief guard, Taichilong. He ran a few steps to Kethia and saluted.

At this moment, Taichilong was covered in filth and wounds, especially his abdomen, where blood was streaming out, barely wrapped in rags. Yet, his body remained upright, without the slightest tremor.

Kethia said loudly, "Assemble all Stormtroopers, and at the same time, go and select at least ten thousand Astra Militarum soldiers. Gather all current vehicles and heavy weapons. We will launch a surprise attack in three minutes. Order the remaining Astra Militarum, planetary defense forces, and militia to spread to the flanks and pin down all the demons for us. We will conduct a rapid assault toward the target area. I will act as the vanguard; you follow my speed!"

Taichilong turned and left immediately. At this moment, the Ecclesiarchy priest shouted, "My lord, no! If we do this, our position will be easily broken, and those filthy things outside are already crazed. We can barely hold on even just defending!"

Kethia immediately raised her laspistol and aimed it at the priest. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Watch your next sentence, priest. Do not make me think you have already been corrupted by demons. Now, immediately, I need you to go to the front line and deliver a speech to inspire all the people to fight the enemy bravely!"

The priest did not even frown. He retorted loudly, "Inquisitor, I do not fear death; I only fear dying without value. You must know, there is one behind our position... Once the position is broken, it will inevitably be rescued by the demons. In that case, all our sacrifices will have been in vain!"

Kethia frowned. She remembered that demonic scroll; inside it might be the strongest Greater Daemon under the Chaos God Tzeentch. Its very existence posed a huge and fatal threat to the Human Empire, so she hesitated again.

Suddenly, at this very moment, cheers erupted one after another from the front. The position, which had been lifeless, saw its morale instantly reversed. Those militia who needed to be shot by commissars behind them at any time, and who needed political officers to keep shooting them just to barely maintain the line, were suddenly fighting forward, pulling the triggers of their lasguns incessantly.

Kethia immediately knew the situation had changed. She ignored everything else here and ran toward the cheers, almost falling over. Behind her, the priest also ran forward with eyes glowing.

The two passed through the crowd of soldiers and saw that deep in the battlefield outside the position, a human male with a bird on his shoulder, flies at his waist, and a dog following at his feet had just torn apart a Great Unclean One. Once that foul, rotting body was torn open, it immediately began to turn into fly ash. At the same time, as the soldiers' lasguns, the heavy machine guns of the Astra Militarum weapon teams, and the heavy artillery further back struck the demons on the battlefield, the demons' flesh seemed like paper, easily pierced and charred. A single heavy artillery shell could directly blast a demon to pieces.

Under the dense fire of the position, the hundreds of demons that had already broken into the line and begun slaughtering mortals were quickly cleared out. Further away, the Chaos Space Marines and more demons and demon-spawn that were charging in all began to flee.

This precarious position was reversed in just a few dozen seconds. In an instant, it became as solid as a fortress. The surrounding demon clusters were either wiped out or began to flee. Within everyone's field of vision, not a single demon could be seen anymore.

Su Xing's arrival had turned all Warp entities possessing supernatural powers into mere flesh and blood. And in front of high-tech long-range weapons, flesh and blood were truly just ordinary flesh and blood. It was no surprise at all that this was the result.

At this time, Su Xing walked from outside the position into the position. The cheering soldiers were all stunned. Many subconsciously aimed their weapons at Su Xing because he was covered in blood, and in his hand, he was carrying a huge demon head nearly a meter in diameter. Most terrifyingly, the demon head was actually still alive and kept speaking.

"Stop!!"

Kethia was terrified. She roared frantically while running, fearing that anyone on the battlefield might accidentally discharge their weapon. At the same time, the priest behind her also shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lower your weapons, all subjects of the Emperor! Lower your weapons! This is a Saint! This is a Living Saint blessed and favored by the Emperor!"

A supreme military commander and a supreme religious leader both shouted to stop and lower weapons at the same time. The officers and non-commissioned officers present immediately received the order and began to command their subordinates to lower their weapons. The militia were more chaotic, but by this time, they had also gradually lowered their weapons. No one dared to aim their weapons at Su Xing again.

Just like that, on this sloped defensive battlefield, under the gaze of everyone in this direction, Su Xing carried the huge demon head and stepped into the position, stepping into the crowd.

"Event achieved."

"6.7:997. M41, Su Xing arrived at the Pleasure World of Audia. Thirteen days later, the Warp erupted with the most intense Chaos storm in history, triggering cracks in the material universe. The kin, subordinates, and ascended beings of the four Chaos God factions rushed into the Audia Pleasure World and fought Su Xing in succession. Due to the merit of killing a large number of demons, Su Xing obtained the collective witness of the planet's surviving people and was recognized as a Living Saint, the Emperor's favored, the Emperor's Chosen, thereby unfolding..."

"You have established a Level 1 Shelter."

"You have obtained one full random lottery reward."

"You have obtained the qualification to awaken three maintenance personnel." "You must return to the world where this shelter is located every thirty days and stay for ten days."

The Main Brain's voice sounded in Su Xing's mind, which made Su Xing silently offer a bitter smile.

He had known before arriving that once he made contact with the surviving humans of this planet, the reputation and recognition provided by them would inevitably lead him to obtain a historical event-type shelter. Sure enough, he had established a Level 1 Shelter, which also meant that this 0.5 Dream World now had a connected passage to Gaia.

Khorne and Slaanesh, perhaps plus Tzeentch and Nurgle—this dream world had at least four root-level existences. Their goal had been achieved!

Su Xing sighed in his heart, but what had to be done still had to be done. He looked at the female officer who was clearly the supreme commander on the field and said, "Why don't you board the ships? What are you doing here? Don't you Holy See that the surroundings are full of demons?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone around stood in awe.

How loyal!

Willing to die in this hell themselves just to let the people retreat!

The female officer was Kethia. She immediately said, "Lord Living Saint, we could never abandon you and retreat. That would mean we would all be desecrating the Emperor's will!"

"?"

Su Xing's eyebrows twitched, and he discovered that his "cluelessness index" had plummeted by ten thousand, directly becoming over one hundred and ninety thousand.

He was so scared he didn't dare to be negligent, nor did he dare to ask any more questions. He immediately said, "Can we retreat now?"

!

Kethia nodded immediately and said, "Of course. Your arrival has stabilized the battlefield. Those demons can no longer break through our lines. We can retreat immediately. Please, Lord Living Saint, board the ship first. We can go to the cruiser in the void right away!"

Su Xing resisted the urge to complain or do anything else. He said in a deep voice, "Let the elderly, children, women, and the weak retreat first. There are so many ships at the starport, enough to accommodate them, right?"

Kethia did not argue. She immediately said, "As you command!"

While speaking, she immediately gave a look to the priest behind her, then greeted the officers around her, and at the same time ordered the militia to begin the retreat.

Seeing the actions of this supreme military commander, Su Xing felt greatly comforted. He watched with satisfaction as the officers directed the militia to retreat in an orderly fashion, while simultaneously executing some of them in an orderly fashion...

"?"

Su Xing let out an angry roar, almost rushing up to start a massacre. His roar spread across the entire battlefield, causing the soldiers and officers who were shooting people to stop in their tracks, stunned.

Su Xing carried the demon head and glared at these officers and soldiers. Although his faint Conqueror's Haki pressure did not make them faint, it made them tremble all over.

"Tell me! Why are you killing them like this?" Su Xing roared.

The officers, commissars, and Astra Militarum soldiers were all bewildered. They looked carefully at the people being shot. That's right, they were all people wounded by demons, especially those wounded by Nurgle demons. Their wounds were already rapidly rotting, festering, and fungi and insects were growing from the wounds. Well, with Su Xing's arrival, the changes in their wounds had stopped, but there was no doubt they had all contracted the plague.

Wasn't it a matter of course to shoot them directly?

Oh!

They understood!

An officer saluted Su Xing with a troubled expression and said, "Lord Living Saint, we have no flamethrowers here, so we can't burn them on the spot, and we are about to leave this world, so we can only shoot them hastily."

"?"

The cluelessness index in the corner of Su Xing's eye dropped by another five thousand, becoming over one hundred and eighty-seven thousand.

Su Xing touched his neck and head. He suppressed the urge to kill these officers and soldiers directly and said patiently, "I mean, why not treat them? They were fighting the enemy bravely just now!"

At this time, someone in the crowd burst into tears, and many people knelt down to Su Xing. In the rear of the higher levels of the hive city, where the women, children, and elderly were, some women also cried loudly, calling the names of their fathers, husbands, or sons.

These officers and soldiers all showed bewildered expressions.

They understood every word and term Su Xing said, but when combined, they completely failed to understand the meaning.

To treat... the wounded who had contracted the plague and been polluted and corrupted by Nurgle demons?

What kind of joke was this?

At this time, Kethia's face was complex. She and the priest standing beside Su Xing looked at each other. Kethia whispered to the priest, "I have confirmed it. The corruption on them has completely disappeared. It's just ordinary illness, bacterial and viral infection, and injuries..."

The priest also nodded in agreement.

The priest shouted loudly, "Obey the will of the Living Saint! He says these people should be saved, and the Emperor will surely send down miracles to save these survivors!"

Those wounded, at least one or two thousand of them, remained silent, shedding tears, and then knelt down and prostrated themselves before Su Xing...

Su Xing also watched all this in silence. At this time, Kethia came to Su Xing's side, carefully examining the demon head Su Xing was carrying, wanting to identify which demon it was, what its true name was, and what its authority and threat were. Su Xing suddenly spoke, "Commander, I need your help."

Kethia was shocked and said loudly, "I will fulfill it with my life!"

Su Xing shook his head slightly and said, "I need books, historical books, or you can tell me yourself... all historical records from the 21st century of Earth to the present, human history... everything!"

Kethia opened her mouth. The priest beside her and the Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus who had already arrived all opened their mouths wide.

They knew about Earth; it was said that Terra was called Earth in the very ancient primordial era, but the 21st... century?

"?"

The three looked at each other, each showing a bewildered expression.

Su Xing watched with satisfaction as his cluelessness index rose by over three thousand, just happening to restore the number to one hundred and ninety thousand.

(End of chapter)