Chapter 128: Name

Squirming, on the pitch-black dome there were over a hundred six-limbed bodies writhing.

Captain Kalen and Efury held their breath and stared intently at the sight.

"By the Blood of Saint Guilliman." Captain Kalen could not help but say,

He finally realized that what he was seeing was a great swarm of genestealers clinging to the colored glass at the top of the dome.

The genestealers fell from the sky like rain,

The light of Ashford's twin scarlet suns shone through the stained-glass windows, casting scattered colors across the entire great hall.

Captain Kalen was able to see clearly that the stained-glass windows depicted the great sacrifice of Saint Guilliman

"Get out of the way! Captain!!!"

Efury roared in fury, the chainsword-fist in his hand buzzing as it tore apart the genestealers trying to close in on the two of them,

Kalen's face hurriedly swung the Hammer of Bal in his hand, smashing the alien skulls lunging toward him.

"Damn it, they really prepared us a welcome!" Efury cursed, unable to contain his rage.

The other eighteen Terminator warriors formed up in formation, firing into the rain of genestealers endlessly falling from the sky,

Blood poured down densely from the heavens for a time, splashing across the scarlet armor of the Astartes.

"Captain!" Efury tore at an alien's skull, roaring at Captain Kalen: "You should go now!"

The chainsword carved through the bodies of several genestealers lunging at him, alien blood splashing across this warrior who had lost a leg,

He struggled to stand against the wall, fighting to keep his balance under the aliens' relentless assault:

"I'll buy you time! I'll make them pay blood for blood!"

"Go! For Guilliman's sake! Don't let me be a burden!"

Hearing Efury's roar, Captain Kalen hesitated for a moment,

But long training still made him react immediately,

He cursed his own helplessness, swiftly moving toward the remaining eighteen Terminator warriors,

Captain Kalen heard Efury's chainsword-fist screaming in fury, as if the machine spirit too raged, pouring out its last measure of strength.

Then the alien flood swallowed Efury, and Captain Kalen had to withdraw,

Aliens were pouring in from every direction; he had to evacuate at once, or the remaining nineteen would meet the same fate.

"True to the Blood of Guilliman!!!!!" Efury's roar rang out behind them.

The Maggot of the Underworld walked across the corpses, most of which were those of his own offspring

Looking upon the corpses of his offspring, something that should not exist within the soul of the Maggot of the Underworld seemed to have been stirred,

By rights, as the Hive Mind's proxy on this planet, as Patriarch of the genestealers, he should never have possessed such feelings,

All things would eventually die, and after death return to the digestion pools, becoming part of the Hive's totality, and at last gaining new form, new meaning,

The Maggot of the Underworld knew all this, understood all this, and knew that beyond this, neither he nor his offspring had any other path; he too accepted this fate gladly

But despite all that, the Maggot of the Underworld still felt rage at the death of his own offspring,

He stepped across the corpses of his offspring, knowing he had launched a failed assault,

Too many of his offspring had died, while the gains were few; more of the red-armored warriors had fled deeper into the palace,

What was left to him was

That warrior clad in red power armor was still fighting,

His weapon was already damaged — before it broke it had taken the lives of many of his offspring,

His armor too had been torn apart; broken cables, ceramite and mechanical components could be seen everywhere,

One of his legs had also been severed, blood pooling across the ground; any ordinary man would have long since died of shock.

But even without hope, he still fought barehanded against his offspring,

Within the Maggot of the Underworld's mind there should never have existed the feeling of "admiration," but watching him still fight, a strange ripple of emotion rose within.

"ROAR!!!"

The Maggot of the Underworld let out a low snarl and threw himself heavily onto the red-armored warrior, slamming him to the ground.

Claws tore off his helmet, revealing somewhat pale skin and blond hair.

"Xenos!" he spat a glob of saliva onto the Maggot of the Underworld's face.

The Maggot of the Underworld cared nothing for this; he only wished to see this warrior's will.

A ripple of psychic energy rose upon him, its blasphemous will coiling as it pierced into the warrior's mind.

The Maggot of the Underworld paid no heed to the warrior's struggles and curses, focusing only on exploring his thoughts, picking out each idea within his head and examining it carefully,

He wished to know why they had come here, and why they had invaded his domain.

The Maggot of the Underworld savored the taste of his consciousness, touching the depths of his thoughts.

Efury — the warrior before him was named Efury. And Bartolo, Kalen — name after name was seen by the Maggot of the Underworld,

He came to know the names of these intruders.

A name is a very useful thing; a name is like a key, marking a person's identity.

The Maggot of the Underworld too once had a name; by rights he should never have possessed a name,

In the Hive no one is special, no one needs a name.

But the Maggot of the Underworld did have a name,

Tiberius Augustus — that little name he kept buried in the deepest, most wretched depths of his mind,

The name his parents had given him. But this name was betrayed,

Yes, betrayed. Across the long ages the only emotion he had ever been able to feel was the fury of betrayal,

He still remembered how his brother had betrayed him, how his guards and nobles had betrayed him, how they had killed his parents,

They were all traitors; not one of them was innocent,

It would make the traitors pay with blood for their blood debts; he would make Asford begin to burn.

"ROAR!!!!"

The Underworld Worm roared in anger and dissatisfaction, for the warrior before it named Afuri refused to let his will reveal even a shred of important information; the Underworld Worm still did not know why they had come.

Powerful psychic power coalesced into a single point from the body of the Underworld Worm,

it gripped Afuri's head, concentrated all its energy, and stared at him with its scarlet single eye, completely ignoring his fists futilely pounding against its chest carapace.

The Underworld Worm saw things deep within his thoughts,

his resistance, a resistance of no account, was torn apart by the Underworld Worm, exposing those deeper things.

A craving, a craving for blood, cruel and mad.

An anger, an anger at death, terrible and hideous.

And also a hope and a responsibility; oh, this was their purpose: to cure the craving and the anger,

they needed to find it. The Underworld Worm tasted that name.

Augustus Flax!!!!

The Underworld Worm let out an uncontrolled roar of anger, pouring out its rage at that name,

its muscles suddenly tensed, almost tearing Afuri's reinforced body apart——————

"Announcement: Underworld Worm, Gene-Stealer Patriarch, Tiberius Augustus, I, the Phantom Thief Dora DX, shall steal your life."

A slightly embarrassed voice suddenly rang out,

a thin, sharp announcement letter then transformed into a dart and shot over,

the Underworld Worm, completely immersed in its anger, had no time to notice it.

Rrrrip!!!

"Ahhh!!!!!"

Blood gushed from the Underworld Worm's remaining eye, turning this hideous giant beast completely blind.

It suddenly threw Afuri from its grasp, covered its eyes with both hands, and let out a hideous roar from its mouth.

Afuri crashed heavily into a corner of the hall, staring blankly at the scene before him.

!. Read

Brilliant stained glass on the dome cast down rays of radiant light, falling upon the figure in the center of the hall,

it was an elegant man two meters tall, draped in a black cloak, wearing a black top hat and a monocle, and dressed in a black suit,

strangely, the man's body was covered by a layer of silver metal, seemingly some kind of power armor.

Before Afuri could react,

the man's figure turned into a afterimage and vanished from the spot,

when he reappeared, he had instantly arrived before the Underworld Worm.

A fist covered in metal suddenly swung out toward the Underworld Worm's face,

although the Underworld Worm was blind, its psychic power still gave it the ability to sense its surroundings,

layers of psychic power formed barriers, stacking layer upon layer to block the fist of the one who called himself Phantom Thief Dora DX,

no.

Afuri watched in shock as the Underworld Worm's psychic shields shattered layer by layer, like light and fragile ice,

then, that metal fist struck heavily upon the Underworld Worm's head; the muscles on its face twisted, and its nearly seven-meter body was sent flying heavily.

Such immense strength, such terrifying speed!!!

Afuri had once seen the figure of Warlord Dante in the gladiatorial cage,

but even that old general did not have the speed of the man before him, and his strength was far inferior.

Could it be the effect of that power armor?

Could such thin power armor possess such strength?

Or perhaps the figure within that power armor was not human, but an Eldar or some other humanoid alien?

Zhou Yun looked at his fist covered in metal; beneath the Phantom Thief DX suit, he was also wearing Superman Gloves.

But that single punch, weakened by the layer upon layer of psychic shields, was not enough to take the life of the Underworld Worm.

With the arrival of the Hive Mind, the power of this blasphemous monster had increased again.

"ROAR!!!!"

A beast-like roar sounded, and the Underworld Worm suddenly charged out from the smoke,

half of its face had been nearly hammered to pulp by Zhou Yun's heavy punches, yet it still lived.

This alien monster hesitated almost not at all, turned, and sought to flee.

At the same time, the Gene-Stealers around also began to surge toward Zhou Yun.

The superpower hat beneath the top hat on Zhou Yun suddenly moved, and ninety laser rifles appeared beside him,

lasers poured forth, each shot precisely taking the life of a Gene-Stealer,

Afuri could not help but exclaim in awe at this exquisite marksmanship.

And just then, Zhou Yun quickly reached his hand into the fourth-dimensional pocket,

and before Afuri's shocked gaze, a massive thing made of steel appeared in the hall.

(End of this chapter)