The Emperor’s Angel of Death

As a veteran of the Salamanders, Gonzaro had engaged with Chaos heretics many times before joining the Deathwatch, so he was not lacking in relevant combat experience.

The only difference was that the enemies were not simply a Chaos warband, but a group of twisted and cruel perverted killers and sadists who had split from the former Eighth Legion, and even more terrifying, leading them was a Daemon Prince.

But the blood feud must be repaid. Vasko Gore's heinous act of slaughtering an entire Watch Fortress could not be tolerated, even if it meant paying a heavy price, they had to annihilate him!

To this end, Gonzaro had devised a meticulous plan. The previous failed ambush was just an illusion, because they had already figured out the daemon's pattern of behavior.

The seventeen worlds he attacked were all agricultural worlds or hive worlds with strong food production and processing capabilities. Obviously, the purpose of doing so was to disrupt the expeditionary force's rear and create food shortages or even famine. After all, the Maelstrom's grain supply was only basically self-sufficient, but the balance was very fragile. Even reducing production by just 2% could starve many people to death, and importing from outside would take time.

During Vasko Gore's raids, the benchmark price of grain trade in the Maelstrom area had doubled. If it hadn't been for Sojyan taking some coercive measures in advance, it would probably have been far more than that.

Whether for the sake of the expedition or for the blood feud, Gonzaro was determined to kill this fiend.

"If someone must bear the burden of this blood, then let it be me."

Gonzaro scanned the squad members, already expressing his attitude, then looked to the sky, he could already taste the violence permeating the air.

The dark sky, the howls of predators were rumbling.

But after the sound, nothing fell, only the planets' cities were in chaos, farmers huddled in their homes and estates, or gathered with torches in churches, while the cities were filled with sirens, the streets were empty, only panicked guards stood behind makeshift roadblocks and barricades with crude weapons.

It seemed that everything just now was just a test.

"Those cunning bastards are definitely guessing if there's an ambush."

Dontaie spat on the ground, a disgruntled growl coming from his throat.

"And we're using Imperial citizens as bait."

He glanced at Gonzaro, the Salamander, and found him motionless. Obviously, this marine hadn't come to the Deathwatch entirely out of a sense of duty, he and his chapter clearly had some incompatibilities.

A few minutes later, an even more piercing howl suddenly came from the sky, along with several flashes of light.

Dontaie widened his eyes, his light gray pupils rapidly contracting.

"Here they come!"

Gonzaro also issued instructions to the distance at this time.

"Wait until they drop to 2000 meters before firing."

Several Hydra flak cannons slowly drove out of the hidden corners of Cersatus' capital, Happiness City, then the flak cannons aimed at the sky, the machine spirits began to calculate the firing parameters, and the missiles on both sides of the anti-aircraft vehicles also pointed diagonally at the sky.

For this ambush, they had specifically borrowed professional anti-aircraft weapons from the Astra Militarum.

Five minutes later, when the first drop pod entered the firing range, the Hydra flak cannons let out their unique hissing roar.

Dense lines of fire sprayed into the sky, and after calculation, they accurately covered the trajectory of the drop pods with firepower, and one plasma missile after another was launched.

Three seconds after the first drop pod exploded in mid-air, the second also exploded into fragments in the air, followed by the third.

"This is too easy."

Dontaie looked at the small fireballs falling from the sky, somewhat puzzled.

"Are they just done for?"

The next second, huge fireballs rose from the city, and a Hydra flak cannon was turned into ruins by a low-flying Stormraven.

"Not good! They found out! Those drop pods were bait! There was no one inside!"

In fact, Gonzaro was also very surprised that the Stormraven had entered the planet so silently, then he realized that they might have been exposed long ago. Now all the Hydra flak cannons were quickly destroyed by the Stormraven because their positions were exposed, leaving only one that crashed through the wall of a nearby house to avoid destruction.

At the same time, as the city burst into flames, in the midnight sky, the real disaster began to descend.

——————————

A violent tremor shook the assault pod, Alvarez realized they had entered the atmosphere, then all the Raptors undid their restraints themselves, their highly mutated bodies no longer needed such assistance.

They crouched or clung to the walls of the pod like beasts, like distorted statues in the darkness, silently waiting for nightfall.

Suddenly, a clanging metallic collision echoed in the assault pod, and the hatch swayed open.

Instantly, the dark chamber became the center of a storm, the kind of gale that might knock ordinary people over, but for the Raptors, it was just a breeze.

They began to rush towards the hatch, the jump packs that had fused with their armor and bodies began to roar, crawling on the ground with their clawed fore and hind limbs, like four-legged birds.

"Get out!"

Making a garbled sound, Kessler rudely pushed an arrogant brother aside, seizing the spearhead, because the first jump was his right!

But before jumping down, he strangely circled Alvarez, huge bony claws popped out of his gauntlets, then with a cackle, he turned and jumped down, his jump pack making a roar more horrifying than his laughter.

Alvarez was very surprised, then heard many guttural roars, something was wrong…

Suddenly, he realized that his brothers were looking at him expectantly, their claws were rubbing, their heads tilted to the side, dangerous desires flashing in their crimson lenses.

Did they think he was afraid to jump?

Logically speaking, he wasn't a Raptor, and there was no need to play this trick. He could just follow the assault boat to the ground.

But the atmosphere made him feel danger. The Raptors regarded him as an alien, and if they smelled his weakness, then he would be the first prey to be torn apart.

Alvarez immediately broke free of his restraints and rushed over, following in Kessler's footsteps, throwing himself into the storm.

He knew very well that in this warband, once you were seen as weak, then death would follow. Eliminating the weak was the unified "culture" of almost all Night Lords warbands.

Soon, Alvarez was caught in a whirlwind of gale, then he opened his arms and released a howl.

In embracing the gale, he tasted the only peace he knew.

Now there was no putrid witchcraft, no mutated brothers, only himself—

At this moment, some strange thought emerged in his mind.

If he couldn't change, could he try to escape, to find a true purpose, to find a group of like-minded brothers who followed the Primarch's teachings?

Although he knew it was wishful thinking, the claws in the shadows would not allow any betrayal to happen, but once the thought was produced, it took root in his mind like a vine.

"Sigh."

With a soft sigh, realizing that he had descended to a sufficient altitude, Alvarez reluctantly ignited his jump pack, ending his brief moment of peace.

With the roar of the jump pack, Alvarez folded his arms, diving down like a knife, straight towards the burning city, according to plan he would take over and destroy the city's energy systems, then true darkness would envelop these weak Imperials.

And his mutated brothers would hunt the real prey—

Those self-righteous Deathwatch.