The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“Ricas!?”

Just as Ricas was surrounded by zombie-like enemies in the chaos, Jacob's voice suddenly rang out, followed by him leaping down from a high place, and then other warriors.

“They're hiding Genestealers! Kill them!”

Remember the primary website address 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞

Receiving the order, the warriors immediately opened fire, shooting out scorching bolter rounds, while surging plasma instantly tore the three leading figures waving flags in the distance to pieces. Another warrior used heavy weaponry to unleash raging flames, engulfing the enemies surrounding Ricas. Because the temperature was lowered, it wouldn't pose any threat to Ricas.

In just a few seconds, under the combined attack of dense firepower, this group of heretics contaminated by alien genes were beaten to the point of wailing, and their homes also caught fire, with ash and debris flying everywhere.

“Ricas, are you alright?”

It wasn't until Jacob walked to his side that Ricas came back to his senses. Seeing the deformed 'charcoal' on the chainsword, his hand trembled, and it fell to the ground.

“I I'm fine, I dealt with that Mind-worm, but here”

“I saw the corpse. Not bad, you actually took care of one single-handedly.”

Jacob laughed and punched Ricas in the chest. In the past, he would have been very happy to be praised, but at this moment, his heart felt a little blocked. The tender face crying in the splashing blood seemed to be imprinted in his mind, lingering.

Perhaps sensing that Ricas's emotions were not quite right, Jacob grabbed his shoulders.

“Brother, what's wrong with you?”

“No, it's nothing, I just didn't expect that there would actually be Genestealers here.”

“Yeah, I was also taken aback. Genestealers actually appeared under this city. I don't know when they sneaked in, but judging by the scale it’s probably been some time.”

Vostro Five had been invaded by the Tyranids before, but the scale was small. At that time, the main Tyranid force was concentrated on planets Vostro Three and Four, and the landing troops were quickly eliminated, but it seems they weren't completely wiped out.

“According to the Genestealers' mode of activity, if a small group is found here, there are probably a large group in other places. To clean this up, we have to report back to the Captain immediately, otherwise these small troubles will soon become big troubles, or rather, it's already a big trouble.”

Saying that, Jacob patted Ricas's shoulder, then gripped his power sword and began the final cleanup.

“Leave no one alive, kill everyone who can breathe, and set fire to everything that can be burned.”

With a sword splitting open the head of a woman who was kneeling on the ground and wailing because her leg was broken, Jacob raised his pistol again and shot down those who were fleeing with their backs to him one by one.

Firelight, blood splatters, screams, collapse

Ricas also joined the cleansing process. In less than half an hour, they confirmed that there were no living things at the scene, but it was hard to say whether any had escaped, because there were many holes in the rock walls.

Afterwards, the squad returned to the surface with the Mind-worm and some Genestealer corpses, to the command post in the center of the city, where Bakhram was directing the city's defense operations.

When he saw the Genestealers, Bakhram was very surprised and immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

There was no doubt that the Tyranids had changed their strategy. This time, it was obviously an internal and external attack. What was worse was that the underground area had complex terrain and poor security, making it very easy to become a breeding ground for Genestealers. Even if they couldn't transform hybrids and pure strains in a short time, under the influence of food, faith, and other temptations, as well as the powerful gene-virus, normal people would also be reduced to puppets of the Genestealer cult.

Not long after Jacob's squad discovered the Genestealer cult infiltrating the underground city, bad news reached the command post. A heretical cult called the 'Living-for-Food' cult had launched a large-scale riot. Their size was between one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand, but no one knew the exact number. They attacked the underground guard stations and security offices with the slogan 'Believe in the Emperor and live, worship false gods and die,' killing militiamen and wardens, seizing weapons and food, and constantly coercing those who chose to take risks because of hunger.

Probably due to their lack of strength caused by the short infiltration time, this Genestealer cult did not have a large-scale psychic network, and adopted the structure of a normal human society. Their means of maintaining their subordinates was encouragement and coercion, distributing food at all costs, and they were like locusts wherever they went. Those who had their food stolen could only join them in order to survive.

Long-term lack of supplies had already filled many people with resentment, and the completely different treatment between the upper and lower cities made them even more angry, especially in this situation, many upper-class people still maintained a luxurious life, and even sent servants down to buy girls with outstanding looks. A girl was only worth three loaves of bread! The Space Marines were only focused on the war, which made them feel abandoned. Most of them were refugees from the other two planets. Some of them were originally in the middle or even upper class, but the Tyranid invasion made them lose their homes and relatives, to the point of losing their dignity. Once this fire was lit, it immediately exploded like a damaged fuel tank, and even groups that did not belong to this cult began to cause trouble.

With just such means, in less than six hours, the entire lower part of Stoneholm City was filled with smoke.

Bakhram, who was overwhelmed, immediately arranged for troops to suppress it, but the lower terrain was complex, which not only made it difficult to deal with in a short time, but also required a very large number of troops.

The worst thing was that the Tyranids noticed the riots in the city, or the Genestealers sent a signal. In short, they also immediately began a large-scale attack.

In addition to a large number of Tyranid creatures, three huge Norn Emissaries participated in the attack. They stepped forward with world-destroying steps, steadily approaching the smoky city. Above them were dense swarms of Tyranid Gargoyles and Sky-slashers, like dark clouds. After learning the lesson of having several Bio-Titans annihilated by human air power, the Hive Mind also learned to be good, gathering a large number of flying creatures above the Norn Emissaries, guarding this behemoth closely until it completed its mission.

Faced with this extreme situation, Bakhram knew that he had to optimize his forces again. He transferred some auxiliary troops to the underground and mobilized most of the militiamen. In the dark and complex environment, the untrained militiamen could not play much role. On the ground, under the supervision and encouragement of the Space Marines, they could at least fill the battle line. On the other hand, he called for reinforcements from the Knight Houses in the defense zone.

The last step was to summon a reinforcement that would not be used until the last moment. He was shocked when he first learned about this reinforcement, but he remembered Sorskyan's instructions very clearly: try not to use it unless absolutely necessary, because those forces are too precious.

Soon, on the distant plains, some towering figures slowly appeared.