Chapter 517: Lacking Common Sense

Ding~! Ding!

Gauss spike rounds with extreme penetration and armor-piercing capability struck the combat uniform made of vibranium fiber, producing a clinking sound.

The two auxiliary troops aboard the Zhongche Yuzhu Hao were somewhat unlucky; one was hit in the left chest, the other on the outer side of the right thigh, and both auxiliary troops were relatively close to Leon.

Fortunately, the spike rounds used by the mutants were outdated and could not penetrate the vibranium fiber at all.

At the same time, these two auxiliary troops were merely unlucky; their luck wasn't so bad as to be affected by Leon into becoming terrible. Otherwise, if the spike rounds were swapped for contact-explosive Shellless Pulse Ammo that creates a 'splash' effect, they would surely be injured, even endangered.

At this moment, the convoy continued to move forward quickly.

Lin Hong and his seven auxiliary comrades continuously fired point-blank, efficiently eliminating all threats within sight, while Leon's exclusive nano gun could produce a nano cannon barrage with a splash effect that was over a hundred times stronger than Shellless Pulse Ammo against clustered mutants.

And at this moment.

Whooo!!!

Rum, lying in the rear seat, suddenly woke up and sat up with a jerk; his light-yellow pupils stared fixedly at the blood-red sky, waving his arms as he shouted in panic:

Heretic scum! Heretic scum! All of you die! Die!

"Major General! Stay calm!" While changing the battery magazine of his laser rifle, Lin Hong, who was responsible for Rum's safety, quickly put his hands on Rum to prevent this retired major general from slipping and falling off the Zhongche Yuzhu Hao.

Even Lin Hong, an elite auxiliary troop, could barely restrain him; after all, Rum was a veteran elite over two hundred years old.

As for why Rum went berserk,

it was due to the dream constructed by the 'man-eating flower' anomaly, which was exactly the battle in which Rum's entire force was annihilated, and Rum's greatest inner demon was also that fallen demi-god, Anphisis.

Originally, time had nearly healed the sorrowful and painful past, but that anomaly forced a reenactment of that tragic scene, nearly causing Rum to lose all reason.

Fortunately, over the past century Rum had tried to forget the scene of his troops' destruction, but he never let go of his self-blame, constantly asking himself, 'If I had done things differently back then, could I have avoided the tragedy?'

At the same time, Rum continually reflected on the tactical details of that battle.

So when Rum fell into the dream, he initially found it hard to accept, but as this veteran elite cleared his logic and realized he was in some kind of illusion or dream,

he then began a massive slaughter.

Wielding two double-edged energy swords, Rum 'physically' obliterated all demons, as well as his subordinates who had died but underwent mutation in the dream, including Anphisis, who was again cut in half.

The elite kin likewise grow stronger in will, stamina, and combat skill with age, and since most of the elite are straightforward (lacking common sense), such dreams could never cause Rum to lose his reason.

The 'man-eating flower' anomaly naturally noticed this, and so it voluntarily released its hold on Rum's consciousness.

"Major General! Calm down, it's us!"

Seeing Rum reach for the two sword hilts hanging at his waist, Lin Hong had to exert more force and prepare to use a grappling technique to ensure Rum would no longer 'go berserk'.

"Kid, let go, sitting in the vehicle is affecting my performance!"

However, Rum at this moment was not, as Lin Hong imagined, still berserk; in fact, he was preparing to engage in close combat with the mutated mercenaries and gangsters whose skin was rotting.

"This is!"

Lin Hong released his grip but remained vigilant; if Rum were lying, he would have an excellent shooting angle to ensure the safety of everyone in the vehicle.

But the retired major general had no mind to heed a 'kid's' caution; he leapt straight off the Zhongche Yuzhu Hao, naturally grabbed the two sword hilts, gripped them, and swung them left and right.

Accompanied by a faint 'hum~', the two hilts generated two double-edged energy swords emitting a pale red glow, and Rum, wielding the energy swords, had already charged into the clustered mutants at the front of the convoy, laughing:

"Hahaha! Heretics, die! Die! Thanks for the delivery!!"

This time, an elite skilled in melee and charge went on a massive slaughter, and the convoy's pressure plummeted.

Moreover, the base housed a certain number of mercenaries and gangsters, especially elites like Rum, who, after waking, had not lost their reason nor undergone mutation, and for self-preservation they all began to join the fight against the mutants.

Amidst the chaos, hundreds of individual drop pods arrived above the base at kilometer altitude, then simultaneously deployed to slow their descent.

When the distance to the ground was only a hundred meters or several tens of meters, the drop pods went into free fall, using inertia to inflict impact damage on the base's simple structures and related facilities, as well as on mutants unable to dodge.

But before the bulk of drop pods arrived, six slightly larger drop pods had only activated a brief buffer upon entering the atmosphere, then continued to plummet at full speed, and their 'passengers' adjusted their angle just before impact, immediately

"Boom!! Boom!!"

The deafening impact noise echoed across the entire base, also smashing many mutants to bits, with flesh and limbs scattering outward via the small shockwave.

This was merely the 'first impact'.

Then, as the hatch doors flung open and the six passengers set foot on the ground of Si Li Lan with their weapons, the mutants would face the 'secondary impact'.

It consists of explosive bolt rounds and a fist-blade impact larger than a basketball.

Because these six passengers are precisely six Astartes from the Sparta 16th Battalion, the Dark Crow Guard 59th Battalion, and the Tu Te Mo Si 13th Battalion.

Moreover, one of them is not an ordinary legion member but a Sergeant Major who assists the garrison company commander in maintaining discipline, or, if the company commander unfortunately falls in battle, temporarily takes over his duties and command authority.

At the same time, the Sergeant Major also has another title in the various companies, namely.

Regiment Champion.

Only see a Sparta Sergeant Major wearing Thor's Hammer Mark IX and a helmet adorned with a golden olive branch, who, the moment he left the drop pod, was immediately besieged by a group of mutants whose souls had been devoured by the anomaly.

But.

"Hah, trash."

"Sizzle! Sizzle!"

But the metallic disdain and the sound of the blade easily slicing through flesh and bone began to reverberate.

In the flash of lightning and stone, this Sergeant Major had already disposed of all the mutants attempting to surround him.

Then, feeling that using the short sword forged by his tech brothers to slaughter such 'trash' mutant beasts was overkill—like using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken—he promptly returned the ancient Greek-style short sword to his waist sheath and headed straight for another wave of mutants.

"Heretic! He is a heretic!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

The mutants that had been preparing to ambush Leon, Lin Hong, and others, upon seeing the Sergeant Major approach, all shouted to turn their guns around; judging by their appearance, they were determined to kill the Regiment Champion whom they deemed a heretic.

Thus, the mercenaries and gangsters whose bodies had mutated not only lost their souls but also their common sense.

After all, a normal person seeing an Astartes approach would first think to drop their weapons and surrender.

Run?

When facing an Astartes under normal circumstances, there isn't even time to toss away weapons and surrender, or one might not even see the Astartes before being physically displaced by an explosive bolt round, let alone fleeing.

Ignorant trash.

The sergeant major was full of contempt, flexed his hand joints, relied on the energy shield to bluntly block all attacks, then once again turned into an afterimage and charged into this group of mutants.

Indeed, as an Astate, there's nothing better than crushing heretics with bare hands, smashing them apart—the best way to pass time; if there is, it's tearing apart various aberrations by hand.

Meanwhile, the sergeant major's other five brothers also began a unilateral slaughter of the mutants.

Especially the two brothers from Thutmose, who, upon leaving their respective drop pods, used Spiritual Shock and in one go wiped out nearly half the mutants… and… this was still a two-point Thutmose formation, the effect of deliberately controlling force.

In order to continue their long‑absent pastime, the two Thutmose brothers chose to employ some rather flashy‑looking elemental Spiritual Energy—like conjuring ice spikes, wind blades, fireballs out of thin air—whose actual destructive power and attack strength weren't all that strong.

After a large number of drop pods landed successively and the main force of three companies of auxiliary troops was unloaded, the auxiliary forces finally realized there was hardly any threat left to deal with.

After all, the mutants' overall combat strength hadn't changed much from before their mutation; at most, their survivability had become a bit more tenacious.

———————

Not long after.

The gunfire inside the camp had already ceased.

Meanwhile, at the center of the camp, Rom placed his hands on his chest, leaning back against the battle‑scarred Warthog, gazing at the technicians and auxiliary troops gathering the mutant corpses and debris, as well as Leon and the six Astates standing not far ahead, and couldn't help but complain to Lin Hong standing beside him:

"It seems my earlier guess was right—you lot are Imperial spies, tsk tsk, but I didn't expect there to be an Astate acting as reinforcement for the spies."

But before Lin Hong could respond, Zhuoya, also standing there, hurriedly asked: "What does the Empire want? Is it trying to bring Serilan back under its rule?"

"Watch your words." Lin Hong frowned, gave no face, and spoke bluntly: "It's not about re‑incorporation; Serilan has always belonged to the Empire from the start. It's just that you, and a bunch of troublemakers, are being gathered together for easier management."

"You!" Zhuoya wanted to shout a tirade.

But seeing the auxiliary troops all around, and then the few remaining subordinates behind her, she swallowed her foul language; this truly made the "brave" and "arrogant" Zhuoya feel utterly miserable.

Although she was born on Serilan, she always felt that the former UEG and now the Empire had abandoned her; but as she grew older, Zhuoya gradually realized that it was actually her parents, in pursuit of absolute "freedom", who had voluntarily severed ties with human society.

Seeing Zhuoya no longer chattering, Lin Hong shrugged at Rom and picked up the previous thread: "We're not spies, nor do we have any particular interest in Serilan itself; we were merely carrying out a mission when we were ambushed by an anomalous phenomenon. As for the mission's content,

"Sorry, Brigadier General, I can't disclose that."

"Understood, understood." Rom didn't keep teasing, then twisted his body and leapt onto the rear seat of the Warthog, placed his hands behind his head, lay down, looking like he was about to take a short rest, and said:

"If you still need a guide later, wake me up—I need to sleep a bit."

"Yes, Brigadier General."

Lin Hong didn't say anything more, glanced at Leon and the others still talking ahead, then turned his gaze toward the distant mountain range.

At this moment, the dim sky was still illuminated by blood‑red light, and the black mountain peaks were likewise filled with an indescribable eeriness.

However, the anomaly lurking beneath the mountain peaks, after the six Astates and three companies of auxiliary troops completed their airborne drop, made no further movement or sound, let alone a sound resembling arrogant laughter.

Perhaps it was afraid?

But Lin Hong would rather believe that the indescribable anomaly is very likely concocting some plot, or perhaps laying a trap.

After all, the arriving reinforcements had not, like them, been passively plunged into a coma and then clashed with the anomaly in a dream.

And Leon and the others this side.

"Sir." The Spartan sergeant major, lowering his gaze to the contemplative Leon, proposed: "Let us go up the mountain and drag that anomaly out, how about that?"

"Hmm."

"That's right."

The remaining brothers also nodded in agreement.

It's obvious that the earlier slaughter of the mutants didn't let this group of Astates "play" to their heart's content; they want to head for the black mountain and drag out whatever unseen horror lurks in the dark.

"This." Leon didn't give a direct answer, he glanced at the distant mountain and the blood‑colored sky, then continued: "The latest intel I have is that the Imperial Guard Commander Constantine will escort the plague doctor to Serilan; with the plague doctor present, I believe we can better capture, control, or eradicate this anomalous phenomenon."

Leon isn't "timid and fearful"; it's a doubt that even Lin Hong could guess—so how could he possibly fail to notice it?

Furthermore, Leon surmised that the mutants are merely a byproduct of human souls being plundered by that anomaly; a more accurate description would be that they are defective goods.

Therefore, as the supreme commander aboard the Griffin and the Imperially appointed Minister of Intelligence, Leon is weighing the pros and cons of sending the Astates and auxiliary troops deep into the mountain.

Of course, he would rather wait for the plague doctor—who is like a walking library—to arrive in Serilan and give them "professional" advice to avoid trouble.

But Leon's words, to the sergeant major and the brothers, sounded a bit too "grating".

The Astates, endowed with extraordinary wisdom, know what Leon is agonizing over, yet waiting for Constantine's arrival always gives them the feeling they need the Imperial Guard's assistance.

Their pride is bruised.

If constrained by orders, this group of Astates can only stay here, secretly resentful.

However, Leon also sensed the sergeant major's displeasure and resentment; in order to continue pleasant cooperation later, he immediately shifted his tone:

"But we can also first conduct a small‑scale reconnaissance; then I'll trouble you six."

(End of chapter)