Chapter 118: The Winged Figure in the White Light

This was the third day since the Hive Fleet descended upon Asford.

In just three days of battle, time seemed to stretch endlessly; General Droste stood behind the defensive line constructed from fallen stone statues, gazing tightly at the street before him, his face etched with exhaustion.

Just as the plan had been executed smoothly beforehand, the forces of the Cadians had been preserved to the fullest extent.

Massive armored forces were deployed upon the streets; tanks of various types such as Venom, Li Man, and Hellhounds lay coiled upon the broken roads like mechanical beasts.

This gave General Droste a slight sense of relief; the steel torrent of the Astra Militarum was their first line of defense against the enemies of mankind.

However, the horror of the Tyranid creatures quickly made this meager sense of relief vanish into thin air.

In merely three days, the entire planet of Asford seemed to have undergone a world-shaking transformation.

Except for the areas occupied by the Astra Militarum, the surface of Asford was already covered by all kinds of Tyranid creatures; the Genestealers were transporting and devouring every substance the Hive Fleet could utilize, from soil to seawater, from plants to animals, and even the metals and minerals within them; everything was gnawed clean.

The air around had become thick and stifling, meaning that the microorganisms symbiotic with the Hive Fleet had already begun to invade Asford's environment, attempting to directly transform this planet into a form suitable only for the Hive Fleet's survival.

Those recycled materials were digested, decomposed, and concentrated into a viscous, foul-smelling biomass fluid; this nutrient-rich liquid gathered into seas, falling from the stars, and was reclaimed by the Tyranid capillary towers inserted deep into the earth.

Many areas within the city of Fidia had already been completely demolished by the Tyranid Hive Fleet, exposing the sky hanging with two scarlet suns.

This was done to allow the Tyranid warships to recycle the biomass within the city more efficiently and effectively.

Consequently, many districts in the High Hive under Astra Militarum control also collapsed.

Whether in the High Hive or the Top Hive, most areas relied on the support of the Under Hive.

If the Tyranid Hive Fleet completely breached the Under Hive and entered the High Hive, then the Astra Militarum could only pray that their reinforcements would arrive before the entire city of Fidia collapsed into the biomass pool.

The scarlet sky light was scorching and dazzling, burning General Droste's skin until it hurt.

He took a radiation-protection pill from his pocket and shoved it into his mouth.

This medicine was extracted from a certain type of algae; precisely because of its existence, humanity was able to expand into the Crimson Scar region without giving birth to too many mutants under the bizarre radiation.

The scarlet sun made General Droste's throat feel dry.

He took out a patterned wine flask from his chest and poured a little of the strong Aksima wine inside into his mouth.

The high-concentration alcohol quickly nourished his throat and protected his nerves.

The intense irritation in his throat gave General Droste a comfortable sensation as if his insides were being sterilized.

This wine flask had originally been stolen by the Vratine, but later Zhou Yun won it from the Vratine.

But yesterday, for some inexplicable reason, Zhou Yun returned the flask to him.

He even said that if the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang and Russ had been competing to drink the wine in the flask back then, neither of them would have been able to take a second sip.

General Droste expressed dissatisfaction with this; that man had no taste at all.

The disinfecting and painful sensation brought by the intense alcohol irritating the oral mucosa was so reassuring.

General Droste looked at the scarlet sky, his thoughts drifting; he was indeed somewhat exhausted.

It was said that the Crimson Scar region, including the Bal and Underworld star systems, was a wound carved by the Blood God with a sword upon the material universe by the one in the Empyrean.

General Droste thought of this inexplicably.

This was content not allowed to be discussed; it could only be a rumor people thought about in their minds. Perhaps even thinking about it was a blasphemy.

"The sky is so red."

A voice suddenly sounded beside General Droste; that voice said with deep emotion:

"I heard this is a wound slashed by the Blood God in the material universe; how awesome!"

"Pfft!!!!" General Droste couldn't hold it back and spat out the strong wine in his mouth.

"See, I told you this wine tastes terrible; even you spat it out." Zhou Yun looked at General Droste and grinned.

Did I spit it out because the wine was bad? General Droste's expression twisted slightly as he looked at Zhou Yun.

"Did you just praise the Blood God?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Did I?" Zhou Yun said with a confused expression.

He hadn't said "Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne."

For safety's sake, Zhou Yun silently chanted the En Qing Xin Zhou a few more times in his heart to prevent himself from truly being targeted by the Blood God.

"I are Rogal Dorn, I are Rogal Dorn, I are Rogal Dorn."

Watching Zhou Yun muttering something quietly, General Droste's expression twisted even more.

He hurriedly scanned Zhou Yun all over.

But based on his experience as a Cadian, Zhou Yun showed no signs of being corrupted by Chaos.

Moreover, this guy, when fighting, used every means possible: ambushes, psychic powers, tricks, and assassinations.

If someone like this were favored by the Blood God, General Droste would twist his own head off and use it to soak wine.

"... The Citadel Ring has fallen completely silent." General Droste said in a somewhat low voice.

This meant that the Cadian warriors within had likely already marched toward death; the second wave of the Hive Fleet's attack was about to arrive.

And according to what Zhou Yun had previously told General Droste...

"Do you think the Hive Fleet will use powerful psychic units in the next attack?" General Droste asked. Zhou Yun's lips twitched slightly; according to his memory, the Hive Fleet would certainly do so.

Moreover, this was also the strategy the Hive Fleet was most likely to adopt.

The sea of bugs met the disciplined Cadian warriors; the giant beasts met the Astra Militarum's powerful armored forces; the Genestealers' surprise attacks had also failed to take effect.

The best choice for the Hive Fleet next was to hatch powerful Tyranid psychic units and directly crush the armies of the material universe with the power of the Hive Mind.

"Can the psyker forces of Augustus Flax hold them off?" General Droste still tried to struggle.

"No use; they do have some ability, but..." Zhou Yun shook his head.

The psychic units the Hive Fleet would send next were a squad of Hive Tyrants; leading this squad was a psychic leech of Alpha-level psychic power.

In addition, a Neurotyrant had also been deployed by the Hive Fleet to Asford.

Later, this Neurotyrant, combined with this squad of Hive Tyrants, actually knocked out Mephiston, the Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, before they died.

That was Mephiston, one of the top-tier psykers in the entire Empire, a madman among madmen of the psychic arts.

If Zhou Yun were to choose the strongest individual beneath the Primarchs of the 40k Imperium, he would first consider Mephiston.

This madman's future feats include casually suspending time, splitting a starship with a single psychic lance, injecting consciousness into every cell, manifesting three bodies from one qi to traverse time, and banishing seeds of destruction, among other things.

Although Mephiston at this point in time is not yet as heaven-defying as he will become, he is still far beyond the level of the motley group of psykers adopted by the Governor.

"Look on the bright side, haven't I already started thinking of a countermeasure?" Zhou Yun said seriously, patting General Droste's shoulder.

General Droste's mouth twitched slightly; he turned his head to look behind him at the "countermeasure" Zhou Yun had devised.

The newly built church in the Ninth Sector had been demolished by Zhou Yun.

!. Read

The bricks mixed with the crimson soil of Baal and the ashes of martyr Battle Sisters were transported to the Underhive.

A portion of them was piled up before the towering stone statue of Sanguinius to form a crude hut.

The remaining bricks, due to time constraints, were arranged by Zhou Yun's men to stand upright one by one around the crude hut.

At a glance, General Droste felt it looked like a crude outhouse from a feudal world built in a graveyard.

"Your plan isn't just... praying to Sanguinius, is it?" General Droste asked, unable to suppress his exasperation.

"... How did you know?" Zhou Yun asked with a look of surprise.

How did I know? General Droste's expression twisted even further.

Around that outhouse—oh no, the crude little chapel—candles were lit one by one.

Each candle represented the devout prayer of a Guardsman or a hive dweller.

And amidst the flickering candlelight, thirteen Battle Sisters and one hundred and sixty-nine devout Cadian warriors knelt in worship.

Zhou Yun had specifically requested that these warriors must be pure, with no mutations, and must be devout believers.

Furthermore, on the bricks taken from the church and on the bodies of the warriors, Zhou Yun had painstakingly drawn certain symbols with his own blood.

If General Droste had not previously cooperated with the Blood Angels and known that these symbols came from the Blood Angels' secret runes, he would have mistaken this for some kind of cult sacrifice ritual.

Yet, General Droste also could not figure out where Zhou Yun had learned these symbols.

The one hundred and sixty-nine Cadian warriors were divided into thirteen groups, each chanting sacred scriptures regarding Sanguinius.

From the angel descending upon Baal, to the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang retrieving the angel, to the angel's great sacrifice aboard the Revenge of the Soul, the thirteen groups of scriptures praised the life of Sanguinius.

"Can this... really deal with Tyranid psychic units?" General Droste said with some hesitation.

"An ancient Terran psychic sage once said: To defeat magic, one must use magic!" Zhou Yun said with utmost seriousness.

But in truth, he felt a bit uncertain in his heart.

"Are you sure this will really work?" General Droste hesitated for a moment before asking again.

"It should... work, right?" Zhou Yun's gaze drifted as he looked at the winged figure within the Bai Guang.

"..."

The winged figure within the Bai Guang also had a wavering gaze, seemingly unsure:

"My progeny is very near. Add to that the prayers, the ritual, and the bricks mixed with the hot soil of Baal and the ashes of martyrs."

"Add to that your presence as an anchor, and the barrier between me and the material universe has become quite thin."

"So, it should... work, right?"

(End of this chapter)