Chapter 397: War Hammer: What Do You Mean You Conquered the Bug Race

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Boom—!!

A violent explosion blasted open the heavy ice gate, the high-temperature shockwave blowing a gap wide enough for two people through ice several meters thick.

Bone-piercing cold wind rushed in through the gap, carrying wind and snow that struck their faces like tiny knives scraping their cheeks.

Dim daylight from the ice plain poured in through the breach, casting a dazzling band of light across the blood and shattered ice covering the ground.

The light was hardly bright, but to Dominic, who had fought too long in the dim Tooth City, it carried an almost intoxicating air of freedom.

"Go!"

He growled lowly, holding the Sunset Dagger backhanded in his palm, his right hand pulling Sister Elaine's hand as he led the way out through the gap.

Ice-cold wind and snow instantly enveloped his whole body, sweeping away the heavy stench of blood and burnt smell in his nasal cavity.

Beneath his feet lay a solid and vast ice plain, no longer the narrow, cramped passages of the ice cave, nor the crowds closing in from all directions.

His vision suddenly opened up, the heavy snow obscuring the distant horizon and providing them with the best cover.

Outside the gates of Tooth City was not entirely defenseless.

Hundreds of the most elite Savage Warriors had already guarded the outer areas of the Ice Gate.

They wore snow-white camouflage beast skins, held long spears coated with ice poison, and were arrayed in a fan shape on both sides of the exit.

The moment they heard the explosion, everyone turned at once, long spears held level, roaring as they charged toward the gap.

"Invisibility."

Dominic uttered two words softly, and the neural interface on his helmet simultaneously issued a command.

The surface of the gray-white cloak draped over his body immediately rippled with fine undulations, like a stone cast into water, blending their figures into the surrounding wind and snow background.

Sister Elaine simultaneously activated the device, a pale silver intangible force field contracting to the smallest range, barely protecting a half-meter radius around the two of them.

Her breathing was steady without a ripple, as if that bloodbath and the sacrifice of her companions had never happened.

The Savage Warriors' long spears whistled past beside the two of them, missing by a hair's breadth, yet never hitting their target.

They stared with wide eyes, searching everywhere in the wind and snow, roaring angrily from their mouths, but the mimicry ability of the optical camouflage device was not something the naked eye could capture.

Dominic and the other person used the cover of wind and snow, lowering their figures, passing silently through the gap where two groups of Savage Warriors converged.

The density of guards on the ice plain was far less than inside the ice cave, and the gaps between them were enough for the two in invisibility to pass through leisurely.

The snow beneath their feet was crushed into fine creaking sounds, soon covered by newly falling snow, leaving not a trace.

After running nearly three kilometers straight, confirming no pursuers behind them, did the two stop their steps behind a leeward ice rock.

The small airship hidden here in advance lay quietly in the snow, its hull covered with camouflage and a layer of snow, almost blending into the surrounding ice rocks.

Boarding the airship, the sealed hatch kept the howling cold wind outside.

The constant temperature system quickly activated, warm air blowing over his icy body, yet Dominic felt not a trace of warmth.

He leaned against the cold metal cabin wall, stiffly removing his invisibility cloak, revealing light armor stained with blood inside.

At the severed end of his left arm's mechanical prosthetic, faint electric sparks still hissed; under the dual effects of low temperature and overload, the neural interface sent waves of dull pain, yet he seemed to feel nothing at all.

Resting quietly in his palm was a small tube of tissue sample stained with faint purple blood.

It was what he had casually scraped from the ground after slaying Divine Envoy Canthus.

The sample was sealed in a vacuum sampling tube, a thin layer of frost condensing on the tube wall, emitting a strange luster under the cabin light.

Even without returning for genetic testing, he could guess the result.

Four-armed structure, psychic characteristics, an aura highly coincident with the Purge Plague Sect, and near-combat ability far beyond humans...

Everything pointed to the same answer.

Gene Thief.

A Tyranid vanguard parasitic species.

Sister Elaine had already taken the pilot's seat and started the airship.

The engine emitted a low humming, and the airship broke through the cloud layer, flying toward the starport.

Outside the porthole lay an endless white ice plain, wind and snow raging, the heavens and earth vast and desolate.

Dominic gazed at the snow scenery rapidly receding outside the window, remaining silent for a long time.

Too much had happened during this period, dramatic and unpredictable like a strange and wondrous dream.

He still remembered the scene at departure. The subspace route encountered rare turbulence, and the fleet deviated from its course by who knows how many light-years.

Wave after wave of Chaos warbands and demon invasions exhausted the soldiers, morale once plunging to rock bottom.

After great difficulty they arrived at the Kalixis Star System, only to run into Green-skinned Warlord Lianggenna's massive invasion; Dolido fell, Kal II was in dire straits, and Brevis hung by a thread.

That was the darkest encounter battle since he joined the army.

Lianggenna's undying, strange ability almost made him lose confidence.

He stood on the bridge of the James Tong, watching with his own eyes as people around him sacrificed themselves one after another for him, and for the first time truly felt his own incompetence and insignificance.

He even made the worst preparations, using his own death to exchange for the entire fleet's fury, keeping that terrifying Green-skinned Warlord forever on the James Tong.

Fortunately, that Inquisitor pulled him out of his daze, and Lin En's appearance completely reversed the battle situation.

First he saw through Lianggenna's fake death, then used his rich experience with Green-skinned Warlords to formulate subsequent tactics.

Then with terrifyingly precise intelligence and flawless tactical design, through the near-perfect saturation strike at Horse Hoof Valley, he wiped out the legendary Green-skinned Warlord Lianggenna in one blow.

Then they recaptured Dolido, scorched-earth purged spores, industrial reclamation planning...

Everything was flawless.

He had thought this would be a perfect trial.

Like the heroic tales passed down by his ancestors, he would be reborn through pain and despair, defeat a powerful enemy, and return home in glory.

But now, the story had completely gone off course.

Behind every foreign enemy he had cut down along the way stood a deeper mystery.

And at the heart of that mystery was the Young Governor he had admired and supported all along.

The Purge Plague Sect was one thing.

In the Empire's dark side, hive worlds that relied on Gene Thieves' efficient perception and execution to handle plagues and improve administrative efficiency were not rare.

Most were gray operations that high-level officials turned a blind eye to; as long as they didn't cause a public scandal or get caught red-handed by the Tribunal, they usually slid by.

After all, for hive worlds, efficiency was often more important than political correctness.

But Frost Dragons were different.

This was not a shady deal hidden in the Bottom City sewers; it was a legend deeply bound to Keli Feng's life history.

The Forbidden Wall War, the Ice Plains Qing Xun, the Wildmen's submission...

Every step of his rise had the legend of Frost Dragon Recognition as its backdrop.

If Frost Dragons were all a facade fabricated by Tyranids using genetic technology.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but tremble slightly, his right hand unconsciously grabbing his trousers and wrinkling them.

Did this mean that the invincible Cold Soldiers were essentially a Tyranid legion at their core?

What exactly was Keli Feng?

Dominic closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temples.