Chapter 246

Between the broken mountains, the cold storm of Crassus was weakening bit by bit.

But this was not a good thing; the wind and snow were dangerous, but they also shielded everyone's figures, allowing everyone to avoid the claws of the Despoiler Abaddon.

Xiang Xiang Leina's expression was not good.

The murmurs in her ear were becoming increasingly clear, but the psychic power she could mobilize was decreasing.

Inquisitor Greyfax was very right; her application of psychic power was very crude and wasted a lot.

Things like raising such a massive snowstorm to shield the expeditionary team's figures, such a thing that was both delicate and large in scope, was a great burden on Xiang Xiang Leina's spirit.

"You can't hold on?" Greyfax, who was walking in front of Xiang Xiang Leina, turned to ask.

Xiang Xiang Leina shook her head dryly.

"About half a day more." Xiang Xiang Leina said honestly.

Of course, after this, Xiang Xiang Leina's psychic power would be exhausted, becoming as fragile as an ordinary person.

Greyfax frowned slightly; she was clearly a bit hesitant.

On one hand, the storm raised by Xiang Xiang Leina could create an opportunity for the expeditionary army to march relatively safely.

But on the other hand, Xiang Xiang Leina was also an extremely rare combat force and the person Greyfax trusted most in this team.

If that witch, that guy who called herself Celestine, really committed a blasphemous act, Greyfax would also need Xiang Xiang Leina.

Moreover, although the snowstorm could shield for a while, it ultimately couldn't shield forever; Abaddon's hounds would sooner or later discover their traces.

"The Triple Will of the Omnissiah blesses my logic system."

Archmagos Belisarius Cawl suddenly spoke:

"After persisting for another half a Terran day, the probability of your incapacitation is 79%, the probability of losing control is 13%, and you are a burden to the expeditionary team."

"My logic system calculation: preserving your psychic power is relatively favorable for the subsequent actions."

Archmagos Belisarius Cawl, with only half of his face remaining under the hood, looked down at Xiang Xiang Leina; runes were flashing in his eyes, seemingly constantly distorting and reorganizing the situation based on the data before him.

"Does your logic system tell you to be wary of the witch?" Greyfax asked back.

Her gaze fell on the Living Saint Celestine who was leading the team.

That so-called Living Saint was radiating brilliance filled with Warp evil power, guiding the team forward.

Pah, witchcraft, don't know which damn Chaos god she serves!

"The Living Saint is undoubtedly the incarnation of the Triple Will of the Omnissiah; my logic system reminds me that she clearly knows my mission, that burden I have carried for ten thousand years."

"Celestine will guide me to complete the covenant, make the will of the Omnissiah implemented, and allow me to protect His Imperium."

Archmagos Belisarius Cawl said unhurriedly.

Greyfax's expression was very ugly.

But Xiang Xiang Leina just sighed slightly.

"I will loosen my psychic control over the snowstorm." She looked at Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and said.

Archmagos Belisarius Cawl nodded slightly; he gripped his Omnissian Axe tightly, and his massive metal beast body lifted slightly, as if it were a metal giant worm.

No one would doubt that this Archmagos was just a scholar; his volume was so massive, even larger than the Tyranid Hive Tyrant Xiang Xiang Leina had once seen, almost like a crude war machine disguised as a human.

The Archmagos chanted the sacred binary hymn of the Omnissiah in a low voice, and Xiang Xiang Leina slowly loosened her tense spirit...

Then, the wind and snow gradually ceased.

The roar of the Hell-drakes sounded, venomous fire ignited the snowstorm, those triangular wings of the demon engines tore through the cloud layer, exposing their bodies, which were like giant dragons in ancient myths, to the sight of the expeditionary team.

These blasphemous demon engines came from the craftsmen of the Dark Mechanicus, composed of steel and brass born from the Warp; they were demons and machines, creatures and warplanes, driven by humans who had merged with them.

They were venting the blasphemous bullets of the Hades Autocannon from the sky, spitting venomous fire from their mouths, and the engines burning with pain and fear were hissing.

The Questoris Knights guarding the flanks of the team quickly raised the ion shields in their hands, and the scorching plasma fire resisted the artillery fire vented by the Hell-drakes.

These ion shields were operating with efficiency far exceeding the ordinary under the binary prayers constantly chanted by Belisarius Cawl.

Similarly, the void shields installed on the troop transport were also deployed, and violet light wrapped the entire expeditionary army within it.

Those Hell-drakes circling in the sky soon discovered that bombardment was useless against the expeditionary army; they immediately pounced on the expeditionary army like eagles pouncing on prey.

Void shields could transfer kinetic energy and absorb lasers, but were helpless against attacks that passed through the void shields with their physical bodies.

Scorching sun-like brilliance rose from the ground; Belisarius Cawl shot a scorching corona laser, instantly piercing the body of a Hell-drake.

The Knight Titans around also vented the thermal cannons, laser pulse cannons, and large meltaguns equipped on their arms toward the sky.

But some Hell-drakes still broke through the dense firepower net; an Armiger Knight was pounced on the ground by a Hell-drake, venomous fire spat out from the Hell-drake's mouth, burning the pilot inside alive.

There was also one that rushed into the Seraphim squad of the Battle Sisters, tore the bodies of the Battle Sisters with its claws, and then pounced on the troop transport carrying the holy relic; its claws had almost pierced into the armor of the troop transport.

Then, Archmagos Belisarius Cawl rushed to the side of that Hell-drake with a speed that shocked everyone.

The Omnissian Axe in his hand seemed to harbor the anger of the Machine God, smashing the head of that Hell-drake, which was composed of steel and brass, like a heavy hammer, exposing the pilot inside who had mutated and curled up like a fetus.

The Archmagos's heavy mechanical arm gripped the pilot's body and pulled it out of the Hell-drake's cockpit.

"1000110111010111000111101011!" A series of complex binary languages spat out from the Archmagos's mouth.

He squeezed the pilot's body to pieces.

Inquisitor Greyfax mobilized her psychic power, amplified her mind through psychic goggles, and projected it into the mind of the Hell-drake pilot.

In an instant, she felt the painful, angry, and killing-desire-filled emotions of the Hell-drake pilot.

Greyfax hummed lightly and crushed the pilot's head; that Hell-drake lost control accordingly.

"Use psychic attacks on the pilot—" Greyfax turned to look at Xiang Xiang Leina and said.

Then she saw scorching psychic brilliance bursting in Xiang Xiang Leina's eyes; she abruptly reached out to a Hell-drake in the sky.

Then in an instant, that Hell-drake was like a turtle dove strangled by an invisible giant hand; its brass wings curled, and its body emitted moans.

Then Xiang Xiang Leina reached out her other hand, strangled another Hell-drake not far away, and then smashed the two Hell-drakes together hard.

Under Xiang Xiang Leina's psychic control, those two demon engines were quickly crushed into a ball of flesh, brass, and steel, smashing down from mid-air.

"Inquisitor Greyfax, what did you just say?"

Xiang Xiang Leina turned her head with some bewilderment.

"I was just concentrating on mobilizing psychic power and didn't hear clearly..."

Greyfax was silent for a while and shook her head: "Nothing, you continue to resist the enemies of humanity."

"Oh!" Xiang Xiang Leina nodded understandingly and then continued to cast her gaze toward the sky.

More Hell-drake clusters were surging from the sky.

These demon engines could use void ships as nests, entrenched in those Chaos ships on the orbit of Crassus; who knows how many Hell-drakes were harbored there.

In addition to the Hell-drakes, the Chaos Raptors equipped with jump packs also emitted sharp and piercing screeches, pouncing on the expeditionary team from the sky with fear.

Greyfax's complexion changed slightly; it seemed that many loyal warriors of the Imperium were going to fall here.

However, just at this moment, the dense Raptor squads in the sky emitted sharp wails; their voices resounded through the sky through the loudspeakers they were equipped with.

In the stunned expression of the expeditionary team, those Chaos Raptors fell from the high sky like dumplings.

Coupled with their black paint, they were simply like flies sprayed with insecticide.

Greyfax was completely stunned, completely not understanding what had happened.

But Archmagos Belisarius Cawl keenly sensed that echoes of machine spirits were coming from the jump packs of those Chaos Raptors, and then their power was inexplicably cut off.

Just at this moment, a magnificent ray of light crossed the entire sky; several Hell-drakes turned into ash in the laser, and that laser did not stop, but shot straight into the void, piercing the atmosphere.

A moment later, a Chaos void ship turned into a meteor and streaked across the atmosphere.

Belisarius Cawl looked at this scene blankly.

That kind of laser was clearly a defensive laser equipped by a fortress, massive in volume, and even capable of striking ships in orbit.

But how could there be such a level of defensive laser on this cold planet, and the density of this laser beam was something even Cawl's design could barely reach.

And the style of this laser looked... a bit like the design of Primarch Perturabo in the Great Crusade era? And it was even a boutique among his designs.

Next, something that made Cawl's scalp tingle happened.

According to the knowledge he had accumulated over ten thousand years, this kind of laser should require a very long time of cooling and energy storage to be used again after one firing.

But now, this kind of laser would fire a beam every few minutes, piercing the void, shooting down Chaos void ships while killing the Hell-drakes in the sky.

And the position of each firing was different... This was too strange!

Could it be that the cold mountains nearby were actually a fortress built by Primarch Perturabo??

That's not right either! Wasn't that Lord of Iron already betrayed the Imperium long ago?!

Most importantly, Cawl could feel that after that inexplicable support appeared, the machine spirits nearby were cheering and jumping.

"Is this the hope and salvation you spoke of?" Cawl looked at Living Saint Celestine flying in mid-air with some hesitation.

Celestine's gaze also carried some bewilderment.

This, this isn't right, is it?

Celestine is seeking the Emperor's guidance. jpg

(End of chapter)