Chapter 325: Charging the Formation and Pursuing the Kill

Queek, who was fleeing in a panic, couldn't help but turn his head slightly upon hearing his own name. Just as he discovered the helicopter and the hanging basket below, his combat instincts prompted him to shift slightly toward the periphery, which saved his rat life from the impact of Sinuoli's landing.

However, that was not enough; the intense shock of the Thunder Strike made his footing unstable. Facing the incoming Warhammer, he was unable to dodge in time and could only pray that the defensive power of his Warpstone Fragment Armor would not disappoint him.

"Puff!"

What Queek waited for was not the heavy hammer, but a warm, moist body. His adjutant, that Stormvermin covered in scars, had rushed out from the side to block this meticulously planned strike for him.

"Awoooo!"

Meeting the eyes of his adjutant, whose rat eyes had been squeezed halfway out of their sockets, Queek let out a heart-wrenching roar.

"Run.

"

Along with the final instruction, several pieces of broken internal organs also spilled from its mouth. With the immense strength of the Stone Form combined with skills and Runes, this Storm Hammer was simply not something a mortal body could withstand.

This rat was called an adjutant, but it was also one of the top-tier claws of Clan Mors; Queek had once received guidance in martial arts from it when he was just a rat pup. As Queek accumulated battle merits and his status rose, his former teacher became his subordinate, but a deep bond, by Skaven standards, still remained in his heart.

"Where do you think you can run?"

A trace of regret flashed across Sinuoli's stone face, though he hadn't expected to take Queek's life with this one hammer blow. The stone statue, more than twice the height of a Stormvermin, took long strides, and the ground trembled slightly.

"Block, block him for me!"

The Headtaker rolled on the spot, crawled out from under the adjutant's corpse, and shrieked orders to his subordinates.

"Kill only Queek, ignore the other rats!"

The voice emitted by the stone statue carried a "buzzing" tremor, but unexpectedly, the Stormvermin at the base of the city wall were not terrified by his horrific entrance. They still gripped their weapons tightly, trembling as they huddled together, seemingly trying to gain some courage from their peers.

Sinuoli looked back and discovered that his airborne tactics had not been as effective as he had imagined. Because they had not been trained in advance, the Slayer Brotherhood's speed in disembarking and forming ranks was not very fast.

At the same time, the first flight experience caused physical reactions in many of them; some veterans leaned on their axes and dry-heaved. The surrounding rats saw their chance and swarmed them. They might not dare to use their flesh and blood to block the tall stone statue, but they could certainly try their luck against this group of white-bearded ones who looked to be in poor condition.

These elite forces were tied up and unable to break through the enemy lines with him to surround and kill Queek as planned. Fortunately, the Stormvermin could not do anything to them either, as these veterans covered each other and organized their formation.

"Those who block me die!"

Sinuoli twisted his neck. Although Queek was hidden behind his guard, he did not intend to give up and instead drew his Battle Axe.

"Hah!"

The two-handed great axe, as tall as a Dwarf, was swung easily by the stone statue in a move like a mountain-splitting strike. The iron-clad wooden shields of the two Stormvermin with swords and shields directly in front were shattered into fragments by this heavy blow, along with their owners, leaving behind two mangled corpses.

"Ha!"

After the downward strike, Sinuoli followed up with a horizontal sweep. Runes flowed on the axe blade, slicing three or four rats in half at the waist. The one gifted by the Old One Taiboke, which Krag Master thought had great potential, had been taken away to have Runes inscribed on it; Sinuoli was currently using a standard-issue, exquisitely crafted one purchased from Tiefengbao as a temporary measure.

"I gave you a chance and you failed to seize it! Then let the ancestral grudge be repaid upon your heads!"

After a few more horizontal and vertical slashes, sending a dozen rats to meet the Rat God, Sinuoli was in the swing of things. These armored elite Stormvermin felt very good to cut; they were taller than Goblins, so he didn't have to bend down to slice them, and they had more substance than skeletons while being softer than constructs.

A few breaths later, a look of annoyance appeared on Sinuoli's stone face. He discovered that although he was slaughtering in all directions, the number of rats between him and Queek was increasing. If this were any other Skaven force, they should have already scattered and fled.

"Clan Mors truly has something to them," the Dwarf King muttered to himself. Even if they could only leave a scratch or chip off a tiny bit of debris, the mass of halberds kept thrusting at him.

"But it doesn't matter, gathering together only means dying faster!" Sinuoli stomped his foot hard, activating the Rune of Wrath and Ruin. During his three years of study, he discovered that the principle of this Rune had some connection to the Earth Vein Network, and he had subsequently adjusted and developed it.

"Bang! Boom!"

The ground under the Stormvermin's feet cracked open. Those near the center of the explosion were blasted into the air, and those standing on the periphery were sent stumbling.

"This move is called Autumn Wind Sweeps Fallen Leaves!"

Sinuoli charged forward while holding his axe level, sweeping left and right, leaving a trail of severed limbs and broken arms behind him.

"Defend! Defend!"

Before Queek could catch his breath, he saw his guard transformed into a sky full of blood rain, and that terrifying stone statue was heading straight for him again, weapon in hand.

This time, the Stormvermin also began to fear; their thighs were visibly trembling, taking one step forward only to retreat two small steps back.

"Heh heh!"

Watching that large rat, who carried a skull rack and wore armor that was green-tinted red, get scared until his legs went soft, dropping to his front paws and fleeing wildly on all fours, Sinuoli smirked and raised his great axe. He seemed to be only a few steps away from slaying the Eight Peaks God of War.

"Da-da-da!"

Just then, untimely gunfire rang out, and the projectiles hitting Sinuoli's stone body even caused him a certain amount of pain. Following the direction of the shots with his gaze, he saw the bullets leaving faint green steam trails in the air.

A WarpstoneJezzailTeam had finally assembled their highly explosive long barrels and, under the cover of melee rats and their own shields, were firing special ammunition at him and his subordinates.

The Jezzail is a type of long-range armor-piercing weapon newly developed by Clan Skryre. When fired, a bullet made of refined Warpstone sprays out. The high initial velocity provided by the long barrel and the properties of the Warpstone made them capable of piercing Dwarf Plate Armor.

"Rat-spawned!"

Sinuoli cursed. He had already exhausted his skills, and the ring engraved with the Master-class Flight Rune had been removed in advance to prevent it from being crushed during his transformation.

Although he could choose to brave the rat-men's Jezzails and try to force his way through, he felt he did not have the confidence to take the risk. The main forces from the north and south would soon complete the encirclement, and Queek's rat head would only be kept on its neck for a few more days.

"Retreat!"

Turning back to find that the all-great-axe Brotherhood, led by Gotrek and King Luen, had killed most of the small clan leaders who were previously by Queek's side, Sinuoli glared fiercely before turning and leaving.