Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 548: Run! Run forward! Don’t look back!
-
*There are a few combat casualties, please note*
Even if one takes into account the enemy attacks he encountered at the age of eight and the losses of his parents and siblings, the time that High Lord Creed has experienced in war so far is only thirty-two years compared to a Space Marine. But this does not mean that his tactical sense is weaker than any mind enhanced by ancient genetic engineering and extraordinary technology.

Since they obtained the detailed calculation possibilities and final conclusions of the battle situation from the demons, he began to try his best to personally ride his special Valkyrie to all the defense points that he could fly to, interview any officer who needed to receive individual or special orders, and give passionate motivational speeches to the soldiers on the front line through the only radio or other means of communication. There is no doubt that the morale of the defenders, which had been low due to several days of fierce fighting, endless battles and heavy casualties, was once again boosted by him.

He conveyed his promise to them in various ways that as a commander he would never abandon them and that Cadia would stand under their protection.

Even Robouti Guilliman had privately conferred with Honsou on Creed's natural talents, and they both agreed that Ursacar E. Creed's presence on Cadia at this moment and his position as Commander in this moment were a tragic coincidence that made him a far more suitable choice than any other place or time.

"I have no doubt." Just before they left Kraveburg, Guilliman commented softly while drinking the hot water that Honsou had asked for him in between calculations, while watching the master of alchemy pump another tube of freshly synthesized potion into his veins through a small drug delivery pump.

"If he had not been born in Cadia, and the Empire had placed Creed in any relatively rich or opportunity-rich place, such as a world at a transit point on the Frontier Passage, he would quickly try to transform from a small leader into a force that is difficult to convince but cannot be ignored, just like I used to try to convince those planetary rulers who were unwilling to join us in the... world."

The pharmacist stared intently at the monitoring information of the original body on the medical goggles, while observing the injection situation with his naked eyes. Now everything seems normal.

He exhaled lightly, and then began to prepare the next tube of reagent - although this potion did achieve the effect for which it was written in the power armor's built-in diagnosis and treatment manual: "... So, according to my guess, although this potion has no actual chemical pharmacology to the body of the Thirteenth Primarch, if combined with my inferred concept of the Thirteenth Primarch in mysticism, then this potion may have a certain neutralizing effect after entering his body. The result, according to my speculation, will only bring benefits without too much harm, because in order to produce gastrointestinal and liver and kidney function interference, first of all, the receptor must conform to the known ordinary human anatomy. As we all know, Astartes already have additional detoxification organs such as built-in stomachs and pebble kidneys... and the internal organs of the gene Primarch do not completely follow common sense... But unfortunately, because it cannot be verified, this can only be a guess..."

Okay, now he, Hong Suo, who is in a dilemma, has completed the conjecture and proved that this potion is indeed useful on the "mystical level", but can he then tell his genetic father the results of the experiment in full?
He raised his head in thought, and was almost startled. Under the colorful light of mainly platinum and gold flashing from the dancing wavy crown, the pair of amber eyes were staring at him quietly through the face that was tattooed with scriptures and magic circles.

The master of alchemy broke out in a sweat unconsciously in the safety of his power armor: because of the recent steady supply of P neutralizing potion, the Thirteenth Primarch was becoming more and more powerful. Now, it was difficult for Hong Suo to say with confidence that he would definitely not be able to see through his thoughts.

Then the demon god, who he felt he should never touch, spoke.

"Let us go," said Guilliman. "We must begin the transfer process within three minutes."

-----------

After arranging the defenses on all four sides of the Erichen Stonehenge, Creed originally wanted to personally take charge of the southern defense line. As the headquarters and the main forces moved north, most commanders were surprised and relieved to find that the enemies who had originally surrounded Clough Castle also immediately followed, almost synchronously, indicating that their target was indeed instructed to be changed to Stonehenge. Therefore, the defenders in that direction basically followed the previous defense allocation:
To the east, there are Baroness Vadus's Knights of the Raven family guarding, and this time Baron Levan's Knights of Taranis are also added. Despite this, the Vulcan Legion with its large number of medium and heavy Chaos Titans is still a formidable enemy;
The north was the defense direction of the Martyred Sisters. They had just received reinforcements from the five companies of fresh troops brought out by the Living Saint from the Warp. The two archsisters also had a large number of servant guards in their own temples that were capable of fighting. Therefore, their defense was actually quite stable in comparison.
The west was originally the guard direction of the Cadian Guards. Although most of the mortal soldiers had to face were armies of mortal fallen and cultists, they had a hard time defending due to the lack of heavy firepower and heavy vehicle support. However, after the four large ships, Mountain Array, Enterprise, Stormrunner and Glory Paladin, arrived and occupied the airspace between Kraveburg and the Elysien Plains, and drove the Black Legion's fleet and Blackstone Fortress to another quadrant above the planet, a number of Astartes monks in silver-black armor were airdropped from the Enterprise to the Elysien Plains in the form of Stormbirds and Flame Raptor gunships that flew into the atmosphere. Not only were they all very vigorous in combat, with the firepower of their gunboats comparable to that of fortresses, but they also knew how to command and cooperate with mortals in combat, and the momentum of the defensive counterattack was immediately reversed.

The southern part of Stonehenge was originally the most difficult location to defend - it was flat, with no shelter and no natural cover. The enemy could easily use air strikes and bombings, and could also land and assemble conveniently. However, Mercury was able to use his abundant military strength to finally put together a company of wounded, lost and stragglers Astartes and placed them on the walls of Fort Clough, led by Lieutenant Ashar of the Raven Guard, as a supplement to the garrison. At least they did not have to worry about the enemy using the walls to cover themselves, and now there was a powerful armored unit here to help them guard. According to reports, the Astartes of these armored units were also extremely good at plain fortifications. The trenches had begun to take shape rapidly and looked very solid and reliable.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Creed finally agreed to Mercury's plan based on a mysterious intuition, after looking at Kyle several times, who hoped that he would refuse and lead the Cadians on the ground. He followed the Astartes and the Mechanicus coalition into the underground tunnel network of the Blackrock Spire complex to hunt down and stop the Black Legion invaders who had been teleported in advance or the damage they would cause.

Mercury had warned everyone before the pursuit began that this would most likely be a most frantic counterattack and decapitation operation by the Great Plunderer and his elite troops. They must be prepared for brutal and extremely chaotic close combat in the tunnel, because the team will be very long and the enemy may annihilate them in sections. Anyone who is attacked must stay where they are until reinforcements arrive from the front.

And now, as the end of the team, they were unsurprisingly attacked by far more enemies than they had imagined.
-
"Damn it! Why are these fucking tunnels built so tall?! Otherwise these traitors will get stuck in the rocks when they teleport in and we'll have to hit their chins and blow their heads off!" But cursing couldn't solve the problem after all. They quickly avoided the broken rock wall on one side, while on the other side there was sulfur smoke and cold blue witchcraft lightning. Abaddon brought enough Terminators and wizards or something else, and dispersed his men in advance, hiding a large number of teleportation beacons along the way in the cave. This group of pursuers found that they had become the prey of the cunning and vicious wolves.

Every teleportation of the Black Legion's long-combat veterans appeared in a random direction, and always caused heavy casualties to the mortal army. Now, in this huge hall that looked like some kind of node, more than half of the veterans of the Eighth Regiment who had fought with Creed for twenty years had died from heavy bombs, flamethrowers or other terrible weapons. Their death was so easy. Under the Astartes-level firepower, bullets and sharp blades tore and chewed the flesh and armor of mortals as if they were made of paper.

The place was filled with thick black smoke and the glow of fire from all kinds of weapons, as well as the smell of blood and iron, and even worse, the smell of burning human bodies. It all filled the high and spacious tunnel hall dome, making people want to vomit. And just now, they encountered the biggest ambush here. Now the place was in chaos, and the two sides had already fought each other:
To the left of Creed and Kyle was a team of Skitarii and Chaos Dreadnoughts who were fighting each other fiercely. The latter's claws were cutting an Armoured Cabin Breaker into eight pieces. The engine oil and nutrient solution gushing out of the body of the Mechanic Guard, which was not yet dead, splashed on the hull of the Chaos Dreadnought. The negligible blood content in the Mechanic Guards greatly angered it, so much so that it ignored the arc rifles of the Skitarii that appeared from behind. About 500 meters behind them, a black stone tower was flashing with blue psychic lightning, and in a small space, storms, hail, fire and so on took turns to appear - this was a duel between Chaos Sorcerers and Astartes Librarians. To their right were several monks of the Black Templar, who were shouting the name of the God-Emperor and raising their weapons to launch a sacred charge towards the Chaos Torturers who were firing at the entire hall.

There were sounds of gunfire, explosions, terrible howls and crazy laughter. All kinds of noises mixed together and hit the rock walls of the cave, forming even more vague and loud echoes. Only after they saw a series of light spots as dense as a rainstorm flying out from the layers of smoke did they realize belatedly that someone was walking towards them in the shadows at the other end of the hall and shooting at them.

——First, the two Kashejin guards who stood in front of them. These two elite soldiers in the Cadia army immediately raised their guns and tried to fight back, but failed to fire a bullet. The flying storm bolter bullets carried too terrible kinetic energy and mass, and blew their torsos from chest to pelvis into pieces. The fresh and strong loyal lives instantly turned into a pile of minced meat on the ground; then the chief communications officer beside them, her reaction was also fast. She had already pulled out the heirloom Purgatory pistol in the holster and fired a shot in that direction when the guard fell down——

Then, the bone fragments of half of her skull, the communication beads she always wore on her ears, and the charred fragments of the equipment she was guarding exploded due to the impact, and the bright red liquid hit Kyle's shell and Creed's coat with a clang like a shower of sand.

Then it was Kyle - Creed grabbed the flag officer who was about to raise his gun and pulled him towards him - and then the shrapnel swept across Kyle's leg, and then hit the rock ground next to it, creating a series of dazzling sparks and leaving a deep row of grooves.

"Kyle!" Creed shouted, trying to lead him back - after the bombing, the High Lord put on the bulky refractive stance necklace again under the nagging of the sergeant, and it was the reliable quality of it that saved them this time.

The severe pain that made people see stars soon faded from the flag officer's consciousness due to the surge of adrenaline. He blinked, inserted the flag of the 8th Regiment into the bullet hole in the ground, supported his body, and at the same time used great strength to shake off Creed's hand that was holding him.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh fucking run!” His blood was boiling, and the flag-bearing officer yelled, “Run! Ursaka! Run! Run forward! Don’t look back! Just like you did when you were a kid!”

"No! Kyle! I can't-"

But Garlan Kyle had already recognized from behind the dim smoke and flames the figure that he had seen in his nightmares thousands of times, an outline that he had seen countless times in intelligence pictures and internal propaganda and would never mistake: a size that exceeded that of a regular Space Marine, a ferocious giant ancient claw on the right hand, a unique and terrifying magic sword, and a sky-high bun that fluttered in front of a trophy rack with skulls and helmets.

"Run! Run! I'll stop him for you...!" The flag-bearer gritted his teeth, trying to overcome the most primitive fear that surged from his heart the moment he saw the monster striding towards him, pushing aside the black smoke and stepping on the ashes of corpses: he smelled his pungent and cruel scent, as if he was forged from the warp, he saw the agile and cruel movements of a top predator, he saw countless filthy evil shadows surrounding the head of the great predator like ghosts, he saw the howling faces of the imprisoned souls on the blade of the magic sword that was longer than two people, and what shocked him the most was that when he looked up, he saw Abaddon's human face, which was like a marble statue without any signs of mutation, and was as arrogant as it was ten thousand years ago.

But he immediately gripped the hilt of the sword, drew out the power sword from his waist, shouted angrily, and used the reverse grip force to support the flagpole to stab it fiercely at the face that was showing anger and roaring at him!
"Ursaka, Cadia... Cadians cannot live without you! Remember Cadia stands!"

"We are united...! Garlan!... My brother... Thank you..." Creed's voice suddenly became extremely weak and sad, just like the day thirty-two years ago when Garlan Kyle of the 8th Regiment of Cadia saw the lost orphan who was holding a gun tightly in the ruins after the war.

(End of this chapter)