Chapter 244: Ku'gath - Plague Father

"The plague cauldron bubbles and pops, the path to rebirth is full of joy. Tall or short, all are knocked down, spreading divine grace without a care!"

A loud, even slightly comical voice rang out from the depths of the portal. To his followers, Nurgle is a benevolent deity, spreading rebirth, laughter, and happiness rather than pestilence; thus, Nurgle's daemon armies are always full of smiles and generous.

Every Dwarf gripped their weapon tightly; to be honest, among the forces of the Chaos Four Gods, Nurgle's troops are likely the ones who fight the Dwarfs the most. The Dwarfs' extremely high immunity to plague and erosion makes the God of Decay all the more eager to conquer them.

All kinds of Nurgle Daemons poured out of the portal, and Sinuoli keenly noticed that there were not many high-ranking ones among them. This was perhaps the merit of his Doom Anvil, as there were not enough Winds of Magic in this area to sustain the Daemons' manifestation.

Before the Dwarfs could express their opinions on this not-so-large Chaos force, a large palanquin, carried by a huge crowd of Nurglings, appeared halfway out of the portal.

"Stumpy Dwarfs! Long time no see, hahaha! I hope you like the new product I've concocted!" Following the heart-trembling, booming voice, the giant creature sitting cross-legged on the palanquin poked its head out of the portal.

"Nurgle's Palanquin?"

"Could it be?"

"By the Ancestor Gods!"

Sinuoli's clansmen grew nervous, and Sinuoli himself had a bad premonition.

"You disobedient little cuties, you've caused me, Plaguefather Ku'gath, to lose the favor of the loving Father!" A massive green Greater Daemon appeared, sporting a huge belly with a gaping, blood-red maw and deer-like antlers on its head.

"Ku'gath the Plague Father!" Repeating the name of the Nurgle Greater Daemon before him, Sinuoli licked his lips. The Chaos Four Gods' daemon armies had not appeared in the games of his past life; he only knew of this one thanks to the memories of this life.

While other Great Unclean Ones were busy spreading plagues, Ku'gath became obsessed with the research life of cultivating new viruses. To acquire more test subjects, he would occasionally leave his laboratory and descend upon the Mortal World.

According to the records in the Great Book of Grudges, the Dwarfs had thwarted Ku'gath's invasions three times. Two of these occurred at Karaz-a-Karak, respectively during the initial arrival of Chaos and about two thousand years ago.

And the most recent one was at Zhufuba, over a thousand years ago, when the Chaos Four Gods made a wager to each send their subordinates to attack a city. Nurgle dispatched Ku'gath—the number one Greater Daemon under his command at the time.

However, with the help of Jiliuguan's own War Machines and reinforcements from Slayer Keep and Karaz-a-Karak, Ku'gath failed, and he consequently lost the favor of Father Nurgle.

Sinuoli took the newly acquired two-handed Battle Axe from a subordinate beside him; he was already prepared to use Avatar of the Gods. Previously, the ancestors were able to defeat this Great Unclean One mostly by relying on the terrain of the fortress; now, in the open wilderness, he could only go head-to-head with this former number one Nurgle Greater Daemon.

As the plague palanquin squeezed out of the portal, the pressure became too great, and the already unstable passage trembled; after another Great Unclean One squeezed out, the portal collapsed directly. This one appeared to be a relatively lower-ranking Daemon.

Nurgle's sacred number is seven, and Great Unclean Ones are also ranked by powers of seven. Not every Greater Daemon receives the same favor from the Evil God; this one was clearly a size smaller than Ku'gath, and its antlers were also much shorter.

"You stumpies are truly troublesome. Come, taste this! My new achievement!" Ku'gath looked at the closed portal behind him with a trace of dissatisfaction. He reached into his messy palanquin, grabbed a mass of filth, and hurled it toward the Dwarfs.

"Dodge!"

"No!"

Even the Dwarfs with the worst eyesight knew not to get hit. They quickly changed formation, letting the mass of filth strike empty space. But before they could rejoice, a puddle of green splashed up.

A few clansmen standing nearby were unable to dodge in time and were stained. Sinuoli saw their armor corrode at an extremely rapid speed; two who reacted quickly tore off the contaminated parts and threw them away.

But one clansman who hesitated for a moment had the virulent disease spread to his skin; his flesh fell off rapidly, and rashes erupted on his body. He tried to scratch at it twice, and large chunks of rotting flesh fell off at the touch; the poor man breathed his last almost instantly.

"Hahaha! Looks good! By combining rot with pustules and ulceration, I can finally let you appreciate the beauty of rebirth and bathe in the grace of the loving Father!"

Ku'gath was very satisfied with his new product. In this time, the Nurgle daemon army had deployed its formation, and the Dwarfs in the rear had also arrived.

The area around and above the Nurgle troops was covered by a layer of green mist; according to the records of the ancestors, this is known as the Cloud of Flies. They were shrouded in pestilence; if the troops were to fall into a prolonged melee, the Cloud of Flies could boost the unit's melee defense.

The temporary poison immunity Sinuoli had previously cast on the army had not yet worn off. This might be effective against the poisoned attacks of ordinary Nurgle Daemons, but against the plague meticulously concocted by Plaguefather Ku'gath specifically for Dwarfs, even Valaya herself might fall victim to it.

Watching the Plague Father sitting on Nurgle's Palanquin and reaching into his skin-pouch for more Gangrenous Bombs, Sinuoli knew he had to finish the battle quickly. If he let this Greater Daemon hide in the back and throw from afar, no matter how many men he had, they wouldn't be able to withstand it.

"Puff!"

Sinuoli wiped the ring on his finger, used a Rune fireball to blast apart Ku'gath's second cluster of bombs in mid-air, and then took off the ring and threw it aside.

"Charge! In the name of the Ancestor Gods!"

Sinuoli let out a roar and activated Avatar of the Gods, transforming into a towering stone statue. His breastplate and boots tightened against his body; Sinuoli held the newly acquired Battle Axe and swung it—the size was just right.

"Ku'gath, come here and meet your death!"

Sinuoli's stone body, of course, retained the ability to speak, and his voice seemed even louder.

Ku'gath was also stunned to see a living Dwarf suddenly turn into a moving stone statue. This Great Unclean One lived year-round in the "Gallows Tree" of the Chaos Realm developing new plagues, and his combat experience was still slightly lacking compared to Greater Daemons of the same level.

"Slap!"

Another Gangrenous Bomb shot over, but it hit the stone statue's body without even splashing a drop of water. It was only natural that a virus specifically mutated for Dwarfs would have no effect on a guy who was no longer a Dwarf in the literal sense.

"Get back to your sewers!"

Sinuoli roared and swung his great axe at the front line of the Nurgle daemon army. The most numerous among Ku'gath's subordinates were Nurglings. These things cultivated by the Great Unclean Ones themselves looked like miniature Nurgles. They made friendly faces, their tiny bodies green and swollen, with limbs that were either twisted or disproportionate.