40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 359 79. Never compromise

Cold, heat, numbness.

This is how Dantioch described his current state. In fact, it may be worse. Fortunately, this did not prevent him from carrying out his duties, nor did his immune system, which made him sweat profusely.

He stood between the trembling decks and the crowd, listening to the conversation between their Primarch and the two other Primarchs.

"We can't organize an effective offensive to push back." He heard Perturabo say this. "It takes time to get the battleships out of trouble, and it takes even more time to establish communications with these battleships in advance. And Horus will not let us have this time, if he really does what you said."

"He will definitely do it." Vulkan, the Lord of Fire Dragons, replied hoarsely. "He is not Horus, Perturabo, he is something else, a monster"

Dantioch heard their primarch sigh softly.

"I don't have the energy to talk to you about this right now, Vulkan. I don't want to get into a fight with you at this point in time over a title, but I'm really unhappy in my heart that you have been holding on to this matter. He is also Well, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

"...I know." Vulcan said, and anyone could hear the fatigue in his voice. "I probably just can't accept it, bro, I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Perturabo said.

He lowered his head and clicked back and forth on a data pad, making a constant beeping sound. His back was to them, so Dantioch could not read his expression. Besides, I'm afraid it's useless even if I can see it.

The changes in the Lord of Steel are astonishing, and they can detect them at a glance.

"The battle has been decided and we are about to lose. As the commander, I am of course the most negligent in my duty. Therefore, you don't have to feel sorry for this. Just retreat with the fleet, Vulkan."

"I can delay them." The Fire Dragon Lord said after a period of silence.

"And then make your legion become like us?" Another person in the communication channel spoke dissatisfied. "Stop doing such a thing and retreat quickly, Vulkan."

"Indeed." Perturabo agreed with Mortarion's words without any emotion. "You can't stop Horus with your own legions. Fight and retreat, brother. Join us."

"Then what?"

"Then we retreat to Robert Guilliman's Five Hundred Worlds. We can fight the Word Bearers with them and return to Terra via the Mandeville Point there. If we're lucky, maybe we can also fight with An Grand and the others met."

".I understand." Vulcan said.

His voice was very deep, and Dantioch suddenly felt a sense of empathy. Of course, he couldn't understand what a primarch was thinking, but this did not prevent him from feeling something close to sympathy for Vulkan.

He understood that the Fire Dragon Lord probably hated himself for being powerless now.

The communication has come to an end for the time being, but the Lord of Steel's busy work has not stopped. He put down the data pad in his hand, walked to the driving platform of the special shuttle, and began to manually control it using nerve bundle connections to avoid the huge vines swinging slightly in the vacuum.

In the next ten minutes, they passed three warships located in the shackles of this diseased jungle. Unfortunately, they failed to respond to the call.

No one spoke in the shuttle, everyone remained silent. Dantioch stood in front of the wide and narrow porthole and observed the true appearance of those vines at an extremely close distance.

Frankly, they stung his eyes and made him feel as if he were going blind - could anything in the world really be so ugly?

The light from the stars shone on his face through the porthole, looking cold and indifferent. Yes, the stars didn't care what happened to them.

Dantioch knew that he was being sentimental, and he couldn't break free for a while. Fortunately, the fourth battleship responded to them in time, allowing him to get a little help and return to his normal thoughts.

That was the Cold Iron, a Styx-class cruiser. It was lucky that it was not captured by those huge vines. After both parties completed their identification, they quickly boarded the ship.

The person currently leading this battleship is the adjutant of the 45th Great Company, Soltarn V. Bronn, an expert in siege warfare and defensive warfare, known as the Stonemason.

"Primarch!" On the bridge, Soltarn hurried over.

His power armor was scarred in many places, the result of a group of Death Guard traitors who had joined them. Soltarn led the men of the 45th Company to victory, but they also paid a heavy price.

Unfortunately, his company commander died in battle, and the rear third of the Cold Iron was completely blocked. He sent many servitors carrying promethium liquid tanks into it, hoping to use high temperature to inactivate the virus.

Whether his strategy was effective or not is unknown, but no one in the front half of the Cold Iron was infected with the disease, so it was genuine.

"Report the battle situation, Soltarn." Perturabo nodded to him, immediately asked the question straight to the point, and stood on the command platform. While listening to the battle report, he issued an order to the Cold Iron's crew to change course.

At this moment, a dazzling firelight illuminated the entire iron-gray bridge. Soltarn couldn't help but stop his voice and stared sideways, the bright explosion shining in his eyes.

A battleship captured by those vines had just been destroyed and was directly beaten in half, without the ability to fight back. The crew nervously and orderly began to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid the possible aftermath of the explosion, and activated the artillery position.

The fragments of the ship's explosion will approach them due to their huge kinetic energy, so it is best to destroy them in advance.

At the same time, an open broadcast signal swept across the Cold Iron's radar. The Lord of Steel accepted it calmly, hearing a voice he least wanted to hear right now.

"I am Horus Luperkar, Imperial Warmaster, and I speak on behalf of those who remain loyal to humanity as a whole."

Perturabo hung up immediately, knowing what it was - a surrender. Horus was already certain of winning this war, but he was still not satisfied and wanted to use this method to destroy their psychological defenses.

He knew very well that this tactic of persuading surrender would not work on any of the Legiones Astartes, but he still used it. In classic Horus Luperkar style, once he really makes up his mind to go to war, he will definitely seize any opportunity to push his opponent to a desperate situation.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for them.

Perturabo narrowed his eyes and began to call Vulkan and Mortarion.

This chapter is 2k, and there are 6k updates in total. I originally wanted to write more, but I seem to have a fever and feel warm all over.