Chapter 403

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Deep within the dark-green Warp Rift, the Pale Rose was sailing out of the twisted space.

This former Imperial Heavy Cruiser had long since lost its original appearance.

Thick rust and yellowish pus moss covered the hull's surface.

Thick pink blood vessels coiled around the main cannon and bridge like vines, pulhing rhythmically, transporting turbid bodily fluids to every corner of the ship.

The bridge's observation windows had long been replaced by translucent flesh membranes; looking through the membrane, inside resembled a huge, beating heart.

Rust Phelps stood at the center of the bridge, or rather, he had already merged his flesh with this warship.

The life-support tubes growing from his power armor had completely fused with the bridge's fleshy base.

Dark-green pus constantly seeped through the armor's gaps, only to be reabsorbed by the flesh tissue below and sent back through the life-support tubes.

His upper body barely maintained a human shape; the heavy plague power armor was covered in pitted rust and holes, within which rotting flesh bulged.

His face had completely rotted away, turbid eyeballs hanging outside the eye sockets, connected by a few strands of flesh.

But like most Plague Engineers, his mask and hood concealed his hideousness.

"Heh heh, heh heh heh..."

Phelps let out a leaking, hoarse laugh, and the corruption fluid in his chest gurgled with the laughter.

He watched the images transmitted by the reconnaissance array, watching as the Imperial Fleet not only did not come forward to clean up the bait,

but instead scattered their formation, widened the distance, and poured long-range firepower toward the rift exit, a trace of admiration flashing in his turbid eyeballs.

"Interesting, actually someone saw through my little joke."

A Death Guard beside him hunched his body.

This Nurgle Space Marine's Mark-3 "Iron" power armor had long been corrupted beyond recognition of its original model.

"Sergeant, the Imperial dogs have scattered, our bait is useless, should we let the vanguard ship accelerate and charge up?"

"What's the rush." Phelps spoke slowly, and with every word, a faint green mist overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

"Being able to see through the bait shows there are veterans among them who have seen the glory of the Father."

"Quite good, that way playing it becomes a bit interesting."

He naturally knew the bait tactic might not fool everyone.

But this had never been the winning move, just an appetizer.

Even if the enemy didn't take the bait, as long as it forced them to scatter their formation and abandon the starport's dense defenses, the goal had been achieved.

The Imperial Tithe Fleet, essentially converted from a transport fleet, lacked mobility, and what they were best at was relying on starport fortresses to fight defensive battles.

Once forced to scatter and fight in open space, their defensive power would be greatly discounted.

Phelps actually didn't want to strike so early.

According to his original plan, he should wait another half month, until the plague in Bottom City completely fermented, until the Nest Capital's interior completely turned into a pot of porridge.

Wait until the Imperials and those xenos mongrels fought each other to mutual destruction, then he would bring his fleet out to pick the fruit.

But the Father's revelation had arrived three days ago.

The revelation said, if they didn't act now, the fruit would be picked by the Lord of Change's little brats.

That Tzeentch Witch hiding in the castle's basement playing conspiracies moved much faster than he expected.

If he waited any longer, until she completely controlled the ground situation, then wanting to take Brevis would cost much more effort.

So he had come.

Even if the timing wasn't perfect, even if he had to directly clash with an Imperial Tithe Fleet, he had to act.

"Brevis is the Father's garden." Phelps's voice carried fanatical piety, his axe blade lightly tapping the fleshy floor, emitting a muffled sound.

"Whether they are the false emperor's lackeys, or the Lord of Change's liars, or those xenos bugs hiding in the dark..."

"In the end, they will all bathe in the Father's grace, merging into one."

"Pass the order, all warships advance steadily, main cannons ready, fire a salvo upon reaching effective range."

"Target, the James Tong."

His only remaining good eye stared fixedly at the most conspicuous Imperial flagship in the reconnaissance array.

Beneath the mask came a "hoh hoh" mocking laugh.

As long as they could board and capture the James Tong, infect it, the entire Tithe Fleet would become a new Plague Fleet.

By then, all of Brevis, the entire Kalixis Star System, would become Nurgle's Paradise.

That would be the best gift offered to the Father.

Underground Third Floor of Saint Galus Castle, within the Nine-Sided Sealing Spirit Array.

Gloomy blue witchcraft light flowed, nine Chaos Knights arranged in a ring, surrounding Gu Yu and several surviving veterans in the center.

The bombardment of volcano cannons and thermal cannons continued unceasingly, exploding into a rain of light across the sky when striking the Spirit Silk Net, but always unable to break through that seemingly thin defensive line.

Luna hovered on a platform at the edge of the array, half of her golden mask gleaming with cold light.

She lightly tapped the witchcraft staff in her hand, constantly adjusting the energy flow of the array, controlling the attack rhythm of the nine knights.

She was not in a hurry.

Time flow was slowed tenfold; she had enough patience to slowly wear down Gu Yu's spirit energy, bit by bit tearing apart this Tyranid Chosen Construct.

Once Gu Yu was worn down, she would use the barrier to trap Lin En's reinforcements, and by then the conflict between Dominic and Lin En outside would surely erupt completely.

Then she would strike from behind and reap the benefits, and all of Brevis would fall into her hands.

But at that moment, her heart and mind suddenly leapt.

The multifaceted crystal atop her staff flashed violently without warning, the pale blue radiance flickering bright and dim, and the barrier's energy flow became chaotic for an instant.

Luna abruptly raised her head, the pupils beneath her mask suddenly contracting.

Warp Rift, eastern airspace, Nurgle Fleet?!

"Damn it!"

She cursed softly, and for the first time her normally steady tone carried undisguised anger.

Plague Fleet, this pack of filthy maggots!

Her plan had clearly reached its most crucial step.

Dominic had already grown wary of Lin En; give her a few more days and she could make the two turn completely hostile and come to blows.

But these Nurgle madmen actually jumped out at this critical juncture, sailing the fleet straight to the starport's door!

Luna gripped her scepter tightly in anger.

She of course knew what was going on with the plague in Bottom City.

That Death Guard warband had been lurking at the edge of the star system for a long time, and she had even secretly tampered with things to help them slightly conceal their warp traces.

All so the plague would rage worse in Bottom City and cause Lin En trouble.

But she never expected these madmen to actually dare jump out and directly clash head-on with the Tithe Fleet!

This completely ruined her plan to guide Lin En and Dominic into internal strife.

Meddling, pure meddling!

Luna's chest heaved a few times as she forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart and forced herself to calm down.

No.

Think of it from another angle—this might not be a bad thing.

Once the Nurgle Fleet arrived, Dominic would be overwhelmed, and all his attention would be dragged to the space battlefield.

He could barely take care of himself, so where would he find the energy to manage the cult on the ground and hold Keli Feng accountable?

He might even have to rely on Lin En's ground forces to jointly resist the Chaos Invasion.

Thinking this way, the original deadlock had instead come back to life.

Dominic was tied down by fleet warfare and absolutely could not spare a hand to interfere on the ground in the short term.

Instead, she had more time to slowly wear Gu Yu down, then turn around and deal with Lin En.

As for those Nurgle dregs...

Once she finished with the internal matters, she had plenty of ways to slowly cook them up.

The Lord of Change's game was never thrown off by one or two unexpected pieces.

Luna curled the corner of her mouth, and the smile beneath her mask became composed once more.

She raised her staff again, and the pale blue witchcraft light stabilized once more.

"Everything is still within the plan."