The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2877: The Clash of Steel and Shell (Part 1)

After grasping the relationship between the Nemeroth and Flayer virus, it took Sotha Nul less than a moment to create a unit within the Bone Kingdom known as the Crimson Knights. These differed slightly from ordinary Flayers; the blades on their arms were replaced by writhing metallic tendrils, structures extended from the Nemeroth swarming within them. This allowed them to pilot various vehicles with ease, even surpassing the driving skills of typical Destroyers. Sotha Nul implanted a unique form of hysteria into their minds, making them believe they were honorable knights of an ancient dynasty, and the vehicles were their steeds. However, their penchant for flaying remained unchanged; they would habitually collect the enemy's 'banners' and 'cloaks' to decorate their mounts.

Their mounts primarily consisted of Tomb Blades and Annihilation Barges. These 'light vehicles' possessed firepower comparable to human super-heavy armor, making short work of Tyranid Hive Guard and Haruspexes.

As for the artillery, the Red Blade leaders among the Crimson Knights would pilot 'Doomsday Beasts'—namely, Doomsday Arks—to deal with them. Each firing of their doomsday cannons meant the demise of a massive Tyranid artillery creature.

Ultimately, the Tyranids still held an absolute advantage. Their bio-ships in orbit could bombard the surface at any time. Sotha Nul had no intention of truly defeating them here; it was unrealistic. The scale of the Tyranid Hive Fleet was beyond what the current Bone Kingdom could handle.

After another day of attrition, the enraged Tyranid Hive Fleet ceased sending tendrils to Venox III, concentrating most of its forces to annihilate the damned Necrons on the planet—exactly what Sotha Nul had hoped for.

The two sides continued to clash for some time. Eventually, the Bone Kingdom retreated 'laden with spoils' from the world. A successful grand hunt had filled their tomb world with the flesh of Genestealers and Tyranid organisms, enough for them to 'squander' for a long time until it all rotted away.

Throughout this operation, Sotha Nul hardly intervened. Aside from modifying the Crimson Knights, he only annihilated a dozen or so Neurothropes.

He did this because he realized that the Tyranids were adept at learning and adapting. If he intervened too often, they might analyze something and even evolve countermeasures. To prevent greater troubles in the future, he simply refrained from acting, especially since the Bone Kingdom still had reserves.

Before departing the Crimson Shrine, Sotha Nul specifically instructed Vargul to increase the number of subjects as much as possible and to find ways to understand the Orosk Dynasty. He remembered that this dynasty had also completely succumbed to the Flayer curse. If he could bring them under his command, the combined strength of the two dynasties might truly be able to defeat a Hive Fleet on their own.

The Deathwatch was currently watching the Eternal Court, making its forces unusable. However, Sotha Nul believed the Necrons would never suspect anything amiss—a perfect insurance policy.

His 'disappearance' during this time was explained as secluded research into strategies for combating the Tyranids.

Although it sounded a bit odd, it was only odd and unlikely to suggest anything else.

Now that the Tyranids have breached the void minefield and reached orbit, according to their usual behavior patterns, they will first recover the bio-ships destroyed by the void mines and then begin the invasion of the ground. That is to say, we still have about 1-2 days. Here I will make some personnel deployments.

Sotha Nul's deployment was essentially one sentence: the Astartes were mainly concentrated in the Snow Palace as a reserve force, while the garrisons in other outposts were primarily composed of mortals, with a maximum of one company of Astartes assigned to each outpost.

Then he looked at a Tech-Priest.

How is the ocean situation?

Lord, the purification is complete.

The Tech-Priest opened a flexible screen, which showed an endless expanse of black, where once was the beautiful azure ocean.

To prevent the Tyranids from obtaining too much organic matter from the sea, Sotha Nul had the Adeptus Mechanicus directly destroy the planet's entire ocean. This project sounded massive, but for the Adeptus Mechanicus, who specialized in 'environmental destruction,' it was a trivial matter. With the massive introduction of a dozen or so chemicals into the ocean, the composition of the entire ocean rapidly changed, and all marine life died. The corpses were devoured by unique decomposer bacteria, and the organic matter within was quickly transformed into inorganic components.

Of course, this action would inevitably cause irreversible damage to the planet's environment, including the air. Fortunately, the mountains were high enough to avoid significant impact, but the plains would soon become desolate.

This method would certainly not kill Tyranid organisms, but it could weaken their ability to acquire biomass.

Sotha Nul nodded.

Very well, thank you all.

Suddenly, a sharp screech echoed in Sotha Nul's mind, and he knew what it meant.

The Tyranids are coming! The companies assigned to each outpost proceed immediately! Raise the void shields on the Snow Palace, and all anti-air weapons go on alert!

At his command, everyone moved into action, and Sotha Nul went to the highest spire of the Snow Palace.

As the void shield slowly unfurled from top to bottom, he noticed the sky beginning to change color. Distorted outlines began to appear in the clouds, and then tens of thousands of spore cysts tore through the planet's atmosphere like meteorites, emitting dazzling light as they rubbed against the atmosphere.

Hydras deployed in various locations began firing at the sky, attempting to destroy the spore cysts.

Some were shattered in the air, scattering a large amount of unformed biological fragments, but more rapidly approached the ground.

Splat! Poof!

A spore cyst crashed heavily to the ground, and then, from the slowly collapsing egg sac, a Ravener stepped out onto the wet, soft mass. But before it could see this world clearly, a piercing shriek was heard, and a violent explosion sent it dozens of meters into the air, with only two bladed arms falling back to the ground.

The roar of over twenty thousand cannons firing simultaneously was like a thunderclap, breaking the silence of the Saint's Crown Mountains and heralding the start of the great battle.

Uncle, what are those shooting stars in the sky?

At Outpost Seven, Little Pheadus tilted his head and asked curiously. Hais, standing beside him, glanced at them and replied:

Tyranid drop pods.

Drop pods? What are those?

Ah, how can I explain it to you? Have you seen fish eggs in the water? It's a bit like that, but bigger, carrying Tyranid organisms, just like Astartes drop pods.

Ah? But Astartes drop pods are metal, aren't they? These are made of flesh?

They are made of flesh, but that's the Tyranids. Their flesh is sometimes stronger than metal, and the spore cysts are covered in carapace.