Chapter 140: Toxic Midge

In the fortieth millennium of mankind, in this wondrous place, if an Astartes warrior dares to go onto the battlefield without a helmet,

then nine times out of ten he is a living madman, and if you happen to be his opponent, you'd best brace yourself in advance,

of course, this does not mean that those who do wear helmets are definitely not madmen—if his helmet is a skull, a golden mask, red-gold rabbit ears, or a purplish-grey hood, then you'd best prepare to die horribly.

Gabriel Seth, Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers, is exactly the sort of unhelmeted madman—his bare head, exposed to the air and the battlefield, lets him vent his fury better, taste the killing, and bathe in the blood of mankind's enemies.

But if he notices the enemy clearly using toxins and still insists on going without a helmet, then he's not a madman but a fool,

Seth can even tolerate being called a lunatic or a brute by others, but he absolutely refuses to be taken for a fool.

He fitted on his dark red helmet, and through the eye-lens looked at the figure beside him who bore Sanguinia's face,

that face so holy it was as if Sanguinia himself had returned to the world—for a moment Seth even mistook it for the great angel descending back to the mortal realm, and faintly, it seemed, he could even hear the trembling of angelic wings.

And his words—he seemed to know the Flesh Tearers Chapter extremely well, even knowing the founding Chapter Master's sharp remark about the Ultramarines Primarch Guilliman,

and finally, the passage he had spoken. It was exactly the sort of thing Sanguinia himself would have said,

the instant he heard those words, Seth felt a tremor on both the soul and the genetic level, a nameless emotion welling up slightly, even the madness and fury within him somewhat suppressed,

for the sake of that face, for the faint sound of wings at his ear, for his words and the reality of the situation,

Seth decided to tolerate and trust him for now.

"A fellow who won't show his face."

Seth glanced at Zhou Yun, his tone hardly polite as he said:

"In the name of Sanguinia's blood, if you deceive or betray me, I will make you pay the price and know fear."

"You will learn that a raging angel is more terrifying than a maddened beast."

After delivering the threat, Seth's tone eased slightly, as if unwilling to show too much anger before Sanguinia's face:

"Watch out for that strange yellow mist."

Seth watched the grey-yellow mist that kept spreading toward the battlefield in the distance,

the mist seemed almost alive, swiftly shrouding the sea of bugs and making the swarm's silhouettes hazy and indistinct,

even Seth's finest warriors found it hard to shoot through such a heavy wall of fog, and even when a hit landed by chance, the warriors could not confirm their target's death.

"Some may think we're brutes, but among brutes there are also scholars."

Seth said in a solemn and earnest tone:

"I suspect this may be a Toxic Midge."

Zhou Yun smiled slightly—sure enough, it was much as he had guessed,

the Sons of Sanguinia, faced with the face Zhou Yun now wore, might be stunned and dumbfounded, might even grow suspicious, but they would absolutely not feel excessive anger,

in fact they would unconsciously rein in their own fury, almost instinctively behaving before this face in a manner closer to what Sanguinia once hoped for,

because the face Zhou Yun now wore had been completed under the guidance of the winged figure in the White Light, and in theory almost perfectly replicated Sanguinia's former countenance,

and Sanguinia's countenance was almost carved into the deepest soul and gene-seed of every Blood Angel.

"The so-called Toxic Midge is—" Seth hesitated a moment, then began.

Zhou Yun, seeing that Seth wanted to give him a detailed introduction to what a Toxic Midge was, gently raised a finger to cut him off: "I know."

". Oh." Seth's face was hidden beneath his helmet; Zhou Yun had no idea what expression he wore.

Just then, the roar of flames rang out, and Magda, her jump pack mounted, leapt into the air and flew to Zhou Yun and Seth's side,

Zhou Yun noticed that Canoness Magda had also donned her full suit of power armour, ready to defend against the toxic gas.

She glanced at Seth, then let her gaze linger on Zhou Yun for a moment, quickly understanding that the two had reached a consensus,

not enemies… a flicker of doubt and speculation passed through Canoness Magda's eyes…

"I suspect the source of those toxic fumes may be…" Seth suddenly spoke up.

"Toxic Midges, right?" Canoness Magda nodded and said: "In the air-sacs on the back of this Tyranid organism, it secretes a highly toxic spore gas; this gas is also strongly active, able to seep through the tiniest gaps in armour and dissolve a person into a mass of pus and foam."

All of this was content Zhou Yun had written in that book, "The Tyranid Biological Encyclopedia Even an Ogryn Should Understand."

Seth stiffened slightly, then nodded.

Zhou Yun could roughly guess that Seth had wanted to show off a little learning, to soften the Flesh Tearers' brute image.

Too bad Canoness Magda had long known, and Zhou Yun in his previous life had already known all this intel.

Seth did not dwell on such a small matter; watching the sallow spore-fog that was drawing ever closer and had almost swallowed the entire swarm, his expression grew somewhat grave. "Bolters." Seth issued his brief, forceful order over the comms channel,

the muzzle-flash of bolters immediately lit up across the battlefield, the bolters firing. 75-calibre bolter rounds packed with explosives,

every bolter round fired into the dim mist triggered a series of blinding small explosions, briefly illuminating the surroundings and faintly exposing the swarm's silhouettes in the air, while the splashing blasts also made up to some extent for the difficulty of aiming.

BANG!!!

A roaring bio-shell screamed out from the grey-yellow mist, followed by bio-plasma and rotting toxins,

the swarm had begun to return fire.

Because of the fog's cover, the Battle Sisters and Flesh Tearers charging at the very front line had no time to dodge,

they brandished their weapons, sought cover, or pressed on through the incoming tide of fire regardless,

most of their power armour was scored with fine scratches for this reason, but these scratches alone were not yet enough to compromise the armour's function.

Just then, that sallow mist surged toward the warriors charging at the very front as if it were alive,

the spore-fog seemed almost alive, worming into the tiniest gaps, dissolving and tearing ceramite, prying open cracks wide enough for it to pour through.

"AAAAAAGH!!!!"

Seth watched with his own eyes as one of his Flesh Tearers brothers let out a pained roar—this potent spore toxin was beyond any ordinary person's resistance,

even the Astartes' flesh, the instant it touched the gas, frothed with streaks of bloody foam,

and the Battle Sisters were simply dissolved into a thick, viscous mass of pus and foam that poured out of their power armour, and they collapsed to the ground with their throats wrenched.

Worst of all for Seth—some of the Space Marines, roaring, broke away from their own battle-line, and in the last moment before they left, seemed faintly to have grown sharp, blood-reeked fangs,

yet the war had only just begun, and a portion of the Flesh Tearers had already fallen into the coils of the Red Thirst.

The poison mist beasts hiding within the toxic gas must be cleared away.

Seth tightened his grip on Blood-Taker in his hand, anger's fiery flames flickering in his eyes, as he prepared to charge into the gas-filled mist.

"Poison Mist Beast." A voice suddenly sounded from behind Seth.

Yet before he could charge in, a scorching laser heat current surged from behind him.

Nearly a hundred laser beams converged, and in the blink of an eye shot into the poison mist, briefly illuminating it.

"Roar!!!"

A beast's roar sounded; a long, snake-like Tyranid creature, writhing in mid-air with twisted tentacles and a poison gas sac on its back, was exposed to the air. The scorching laser torrent pierced its body in the blink of an eye, leaving behind charred burn marks.

!. Read

The Poison Mist Insect is indeed a terrifying battlefield weapon, yet its flaw is that its body is fragile.

If discovered amidst the pervasive mist, it can be killed very easily.

Zhou Yun slowly picked up the Seeker Staff from the ground, watching as the gray-yellow thick mist before him grew slightly thinner.

There were other Poison Mist Beasts within it.

"You—————" Seth turned his head in confusion, but before he could speak, Zhou Yun's voice cut him off.

"Poison Mist Beast," Zhou Yun said softly.

The Seeker Staff in his hand fell once more, pointing toward a direction within the gray-yellow thick mist.

The laser torrent surged to strike, and the Poison Mist Beast let out a wail before collapsing.

"Poison Mist Beast!" "Poison Mist Beast!" "Poison Mist Beast!"

Zhou Yun repeated this until the spore poison gas on the battlefield became almost too thin to see.

Then, before the bewildered eyes of Gabriel Seth and Sister Magda, Zhou Yun pulled the Anywhere Door from his four-dimensional pocket.

"Done. The rest of the insect swarm is up to you."

Zhou Yun nodded to Seth and Sister Magda. Before the two could react, Zhou Yun's figure had already vanished from the battlefield.

With the Poison Mist Insects gone, the Flesh-Ripper Chapter's Battle Sisters would be sufficient to fight the remaining Tyranid swarm. Relying on the fortress monastery's shields, they would also be able to protect the Crawler vehicle serving as the stellar energy relay.

At the same time, among the clouds above Asford, a terrifying creature named the Flying Tyranid Tyrant was engaging Dante. Sharp bone blades clashed with the war axe in Dante's hand, sparking sharp flashes of light.

This was not merely a clash of martial skill, but also a clash of aerial maneuvering.

Even without the Archangel's innate wings, Dante could still gain a period of flight capability using his jump pack...

He held his breath and focused, executing one high-difficulty maneuver after another against the Flying Tyranid Tyrant in the sky. The collision sounds from their continuous exchanges sounded like thunder.

"Huff..." Dante took a few light breaths, then suddenly reversed direction, charging toward the massive biomass lake on the ground. His jump pack was nearly shut down.

The Flying Tyranid Tyrant leaped its body violently, twisting its form at a speed beyond physical imagination, almost lunging to kill Dante.

However...

My hand slipped. I'm so sorry; I meant to set a timer...

(End of this chapter)