The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2659: Timely Rescue

Soon, the two arrived at the outpost's watchtower. The armed servitors there were already on alert. Hugo looked in the direction the apprentice pointed and, sure enough, saw several solitary figures moving along the dark ridgeline, about a thousand meters away.

From a distance, they certainly looked like Militarum protectors, but they seemed to have just fought a fierce battle. Their robes and armor were tattered, some even covered in lingering blood and flesh. However, their helmets were mostly intact, and they dragged their weapons on the ground like defeated soldiers.

"Which unit is this? Didn't they send a request?"

"No, they haven't responded to our identification signals either."

"Strange... Could they be retreating all the way from other war zones?"

"Try sending another communication request?"

Topin then opened his portable communicator and sent a communication command, but he immediately realized something was wrong.

"Their communication devices aren't even turned on."

"Are they damaged?"

"I'm not sure... Wait, there's some noise in the channel."

Topin adjusted the communicator's listening channel with doubt. Soon, amidst a burst of static, a long string of incomprehensible gibberish emerged intermittently.

However, as the sounds gradually coalesced into blurred words, a strange sense of dread arose in the hearts of the two Tech-Priests.

By this time, the strange group had approached within five hundred meters. The two exchanged a glance, and both saw the horror in each other's eyes.

"Stop them!"

As the outpost's weapons and servitors fully activated, the Alpha Militarum protector at the front raised his head high, lifted his 'hood,' revealing a metallic, balding, and狰狞 face with jagged, serrated teeth.

At the same time, the walls of the camp began to flash. Lasers and small shells flew toward the targets, followed by sparks generated in the explosions, illuminating the ridge and rocks in the night.

However, the dense bullets did not fell the enemies, but merely stripped away their disguise—the flesh of those dead Militarum protectors, revealing their terrifying and true forms: shining metallic skulls and skeletal bodies, along with enormous claws and bizarre metal bone spurs. It seemed their sole purpose for existing was to cross the chasm of time and deliver a message of death to all races.

"What exactly are these…"

Hugo widened his eyes, trying his best to observe the bizarre creatures that had begun to run amidst the gunfire. Their metallized bodies didn't seem particularly special in a forge world, but their agility was far beyond that of robots, and their movements were more akin to beasts.

"Are they some sage's out-of-control experiment?"

"No, I don't think so... Do you remember that rumor? It's said there's an ancient ruin beneath the Cinder Furnace City…"

At this moment, Hugo discovered something and opened his portable cogitator.

The screen flickered, displaying a grid with moving icons. Hugo looked down and gasped.

"The auspex has detected something. There are eight energy signatures six hundred meters west."

Then the screen flashed again, displaying icons.

"Another eight, also at six hundred meters, approaching from the southeast. They're trying to lure us into分散 firepower. I think... yes, here, a third group of invaders is six hundred meters north."

Topin had already drawn his weapon, a plasma gun.

"So, we're surrounded."

"Put the gun away! Send an emergency signal now!"

At this time, heavy combat servitors also began to defend with plasma fire and armor-piercing missiles, knocking down these skeletal wraiths, but most of the monsters were too fast, and the servitors' hit rate was low.

Just as the two were hurriedly sending out a distress signal, a mechanical undead had unknowingly climbed onto the wall where they were.

"Careful!"

At Topin's scream, Hugo turned around in time to meet the attack. He first felt the creature's claws leave a gash on his cheek, and then he shot through its shell with his melta pistol.

Even as it fell off the wall with a hole in its chest, the thing wailed with a piercing screech, raising its blood-stained claws and flailing wildly in the air.

When he turned to look at the camp, he found that some monsters had already broken through the defenses and run inside. A deceased apprentice lay beside a tent, and a metal monster was crouched over the corpse, scooping up a large piece of flesh with its claws, raising it high, and then bringing it to its mouth full of metallic teeth. However, as it chewed, the shredded meat simply dripped down its metal ribs.

"Strange... They're clearly machines, why would they have this kind of feeding behavior?"

At this moment, the firefight within the camp reached its most intense point. Topin, while firing at a monster that was tearing apart an armed servitor with its claws, shouted loudly:

"Stop doing your research! Save your life first!"

Just then, a unique roar sounded in the sky. Two Stormtalons rapidly swept past, and missiles streaked from the fighters' short wings, blasting the mechanical monsters away or completely destroying them. At the same time, the heavy bolters under the Stormtalons' noses continuously fired, shattering the monsters' bodies. Their sturdy adamantium shells could not withstand such fierce firepower.

As the Stormtalons circled and attacked, two Thunderhawks also roared in. Warriors in white power armor leaped out one after another, and immediately used power swords and chainswords to quickly eliminate these twisted enemies amidst battle cries.

"This is…"

Sergeant Xeroe of the White Templars Chapter jumped down from the Thunderhawk. A mechanized, skeletal creature charged directly at him, its stained red robes flying up and down. The sergeant initially thought it was a crazed Militarum protector, but he quickly glimpsed the alien face under the tattered hood.

"Necron?"

The alien charged towards Xeroe, emitting an incomprehensible shriek composed of static and alien language from its open mouth.

Xeroe first fired two plasma shots in quick succession, blasting the screaming metal monster into large chunks of debris, then fluidly rotated his power sword, cleanly and neatly chopping off the limbs of another monster that was trying to sneak attack him with a series of explosive sounds. As the opponent fell, he backhanded a sword and split its head in half.

The battle ended quickly. Xeroe came to the two somewhat apprehensive Tech-Priests, and without any wasted words, immediately asked:

"Where did they come from?"

"Lord, we don't know, we only know that these monsters approached the outpost covered in the flesh of Militarum protectors, but according to the direction they came from, they are likely from some mountain caves."

Xeroe frowned and glanced back at the battlefield. The warriors were collecting the corpses of those twisted monsters.

"I understand. The defenses of this outpost have been breached. Abandon it for now. We'll take you back to the war zone's main base. You should compile a detailed combat report."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the landing Thunderhawk. The two Tech-Priests looked at each other. For the first time, they truly felt what it meant to be lucky, and then they exclaimed in unison:

"Omnissiah be praised."