The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2722: Landu Gore

"But I don't see anything special right now. Do I need to take these eyes out?"

With that, Solzhenitsyn reached out and removed the two red gemstones embedded in the skull's eye sockets, only to find nothing inside.

"Huh?"

He turned the skull over and over, examining it for a long time, then looked at Amunake.

"What's the situation? There's nothing there."

Amunake walked over, picked up the skull, and examined it for a while before frowning.

"Indeed... there's nothing special. Could it be only useful to the Death Guard?"

Solzhenitsyn thought there was some truth to Amunake's words, so he took the Flayer Skull, and his hands were immediately covered in silvery liquid metal energy.

Almost instantly, even before he consciously directed his gaze at the skull, he found himself in a dark palace, with an open door in front of him.

Solzhenitsyn walked up the steps, and before he even entered, he smelled a suffocating stench, even stronger than a battlefield under the scorching sun.

As he approached, he soon heard metallic screams.

At first, it was a distant and lonely cry, like a suffocating, semi-mechanical shriek leaking from an old, malfunctioning machine, 끊임없이 반복되며 결국 리듬감 없는 윙윙거림으로 변했다.

Then, hundreds of piercing, extremely bloodthirsty howls echoed throughout the dark hall, as if the tomb itself was emitting these screams in pain and extreme hunger.

Solzhenitsyn, however, was not afraid and walked straight through the door.

What greeted him was a decaying temple filled with rotten flesh and skin, and dirty bones. A vast number of Flayers gathered here, hunching over like carrion birds surrounding a dying beast. Many wet pieces of flesh and skin hung from their bodies, some looking dry and rotten, others still quite fresh, and of various kinds.

Solzhenitsyn could identify greenskins, Tau, Eldar, and humans. Some of the human remains even looked familiar, such as half a corpse still wearing an Astra Militarum helmet, carried on a Flayer's back like a rag doll, and loose skin with fragments of Ecclesiarchy robes draped over the metal like a bed sheet.

Almost all Flayers had a unique appearance, the only similarity being the huge claws that gleamed coldly in the dim light.

Solzhenitsyn initially thought they were performing some kind of ritual, but the scene was more like a carnival, as if they had just successfully completed some great expedition.

And for some reason, the longer Solzhenitsyn listened, the more he felt that their mad voices sounded like… singing.

The recipient of their song was a towering throne, made of a large amount of bone and flesh fragments, upon which sat...

Solzhenitsyn narrowed his eyes.

It was a giant, wearing bizarre armor that looked like it was made of bones and scarlet muscles, holding a goblet made of a silver skull, leaning lazily against the back of the throne that resembled a spine, and watching him with a sneer.

And his face was exactly the same as Solzhenitsyn's.

Or rather, the person on the throne was him.

"Landu Gore, stop this little trick. It won't save you."

The mocking words rolled off Solzhenitsyn's tongue. He ignored the cowering Flayers around him and walked towards the throne step by step, the power in his voice growing stronger.

At this moment, the other him on the throne slowly said:

"I am you, Solzhenitsyn. From the moment you took control of the Flayer Shrine, I am you."

Solzhenitsyn stepped on the viscous flesh and broken bones, stopped in front of the throne, and looked down at the other him.

"I see. You are the Scourge From Beyond... You've run out again, and you've devoured Landu Gore's fragment."

"Hahaha—"

The him on the throne laughed, shaking the entire temple. The Flayers all knelt on the ground. At the same time, the temperature in the hall plummeted, as if a cold wind had suddenly risen in the desert night.

At the same time, the light went out at some point. Solzhenitsyn heard countless hissing sounds around him, as if a nest of snakes was wriggling.

However, the more he listened, the clearer he became that it was not just noise, but whispers. Many people were talking, male, female, young, old, some with firm tones, others trembling with fear, and still others with anger and hatred.

Solzhenitsyn snorted coldly and punched forward, but hit nothing. Instead, more subtle screams rang out around him, desperate howls, spittle-flecked curses, or voices begging for release. The voices of the dead grew louder and louder until he could distinguish each person's voice.

Everyone wanted to be heard, shouting to break through the noise.

Many messages flooded into Solzhenitsyn's consciousness, and he finally realized the truth of the Flayer Curse—they were "living people" trapped in metal bodies. The curse factors formed by the tiny fragments of the Star Gods activated their mechanical circuits, but the "living" consciousness could not be contained in the "dead" shell, so they went mad, hated, and even disguised themselves.

Although the hall was as cold and biting as a deep pool at this moment, Solzhenitsyn felt as if his body was scorched like a fire.

Then, a pressure came from his chest—light at first, but as time went on, the pressure began to grow larger and more obvious until he felt as if countless hands were pulling him.

The clearer their voices became, the stronger this invisible force became.

Suddenly, a cry of pain—Solzhenitsyn thought for a moment that the sound came from himself, but then realized it was countless Flayers.

Solzhenitsyn clenched his fists and roared.

"Enough!"

Darkness instantly gave way to blood-colored light, and the howls were all torn away.

However, Solzhenitsyn was surprised to find that he had somehow sat on the throne piled with bones and flesh, just like the him just now, and he was holding a goblet made of a silver skull in his hand, and the armor on his body had also turned into a clear line of bones and scarlet muscle form.

The Flayers quietly lay prostrate on the ground, like believers worshiping gods.

Solzhenitsyn closed his eyes, digesting everything that had just happened. Did the Scourge From Beyond's devouring of Landu Gore's fragment mean that it was stronger and more uncontrollable? It had never appeared directly in front of him like this before.

Or was this also its scheme, to make him suspicious?

But aside from these, Solzhenitsyn himself also obtained Landu Gore's secrets and power, although it may only be a small part, it was also a qualitative leap. Now it is difficult for him to say what level he has reached.

But presumably, it shouldn't be too difficult to beat two Demon Primarchs in the material universe.