40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 663 45. Interlude: Burning Camas

"The Emperor bless us."

‘Iron Man’ Corell, the captain of the first company of the second regiment of the Camas Defense Force, murmured to himself.

When he said these words, he was facing an entire burning sky. In his memory, the sky in Camas has always been a very beautiful blue. He never thought that this blue would disappear, but reality is reality, and the sky is broken. A huge explosion of indescribable size quietly erupted above the clouds, burning painful spots one after another on his retinas.

After this, strong winds, raindrops and the wreckage of the battleship arrived. The wind made him unable to move, and he could only hold on to the protruding wooden stakes on both sides of the trench with his hands. The swaying light spots quickly crossed the horizon, and the heavy thunderous sound forced him to barely open his eyes. He saw countless fighter planes, gunboats and various types of missiles.

All local air defense forces in Camas have been deployed, but he has no way to know the specific situation or even contact the combat headquarters.

All this can be traced back to thirty-six minutes ago. At that time, he was making pre-war preparations at the assembly area. A huge piece of debris fell from the sky and destroyed everything.

That thing probably landed from the vacuum, and was probably the remains of a ship that disintegrated after being hit by the weapon array of a battleship or space station. The gravity of Kamas caught it, and the piece of debris fell to the ground happily, hitting hard about two kilometers to the right of the 2nd Regiment assembly point of the SADF.

It caused many horrific chain reactions, two of which dealt a fatal blow to the entire second regiment that was being assembled.

To put it simply, one is the earthquake, and the other is the communication interruption. The earthquake first paralyzed transportation lines and armored units on the edge of the assembly area. The vehicle's engine, grenades, ammunition and various weapons sealed in crates

In the flames, they joined in the destruction one after another, and the interruption of communication made the restoration of order a complete luxury.

Corell could only watch helplessly as his company was shaken, jolted and shocked. His regiment fell apart in this horrific disaster that lasted for more than thirty minutes - and they could not even see the enemy. None seen.

This all sounds like a weird, terrible joke, doesn't it?

Iron Man sincerely hoped that this was a joke, and he sincerely wanted to convince himself that it was all just an illusion.

It was him who suddenly suffered a mental illness. The Second Regiment actually had no problems. He was sitting in the camp receiving treatment from the doctor and insults from the regiment leader Feldman.

The bald old man would probably call him an incompetent loser. The war was about to begin, Camas was invaded by Chaos, but as the commander of the first company, he suffered from hysteria at this critical moment? How could he fail the Emperor like this?

"Wake up! You loser!" Feldman yelled at him. "Hold your gun, Captain! The Emperor needs you!"

This sentence hit him like a bullet and saved him, as if Feldman was really standing behind him, pulling him back from the edge of the cliff. However, Corell looked back and saw no one.

He grunted, feeling a headache, and sticky nosebleed spurted out of his nose and slid onto his clothes.

A hoarse voice sounded from behind him: "Captain, the first company has been regrouped, a total of two hundred and twenty-two people."

"How much?" Corell asked.

"Two hundred and twenty-two people." The man replied, his gray face and eyes full of bloodshot eyes.

Looking at him, Corell's headache seemed to lighten a little. He threw his bolter behind him, patting his head as he walked forward, still asking more questions.

"Where's the political commissar?"

"Dead," his current deputy said. "But we have met a new commissar and he is waiting for you."

Without a word, Corell made his way to the end of the trench, where his men stood waiting for him, all wounded and many bleeding. A man wearing a political commissar's coat and wiping his hat stood in front of everyone.

His left ear was missing and covered with a dirty bandage. His cheek was tight and his expression was serious. Seeing Corell walking towards him, the man put on his hat and performed an eagle salute.

"Nice to meet you, Captain. I am Brak Mordo, the new political commissar of the former Sixth Company."

"The Sixth Company is gone. They were a little too close to Promethium." Corell said dryly. "Now I invite you to join us. Before the attack, we received orders from the high command. We are going to garrison the Raddaton River, where there are reports of sightings of Chaos. I need a commissar."

Brak narrowed his eyes and nodded: "I'll join, Captain."

Without too many words, the first company set off from the northwest corner of the assembly point and embarked on the journey to the Ladaton River. During this period, communications were occasionally restored, but more often than not, only noise came from the channel.

Corell seized those few hard-won opportunities. He learned that they were not the only ones in the second regiment who survived, but half an armored company and several companies also survived.

However, due to the collapse of the ground caused by the earthquake, they were temporarily unable to join the first company and could only hope to meet at the Ladaton River. An hour and forty-four minutes later, the 1st Company, all wounded, arrived at their destination.

The Ladaton River was now stained red with blood, and countless corpses floated from the upper reaches to the lower reaches. On the other side of the river, flames were burning, and there were flashes of light from time to time. Some deformed mutants or hybrids would rush out and try to cross the river. The machine guns that had been set up on the firepower position would stop them and then beat them into pieces.

Seeing this scene, Correll finally breathed a sigh of relief - the Ladaton River position was still firmly in the hands of the Kamas people, which meant that the support line had been pulled up.

As long as the communication was restored, the rear forces could be contacted for targeted bombing. By then, the position could be really stabilized, which was great news for several cities in the rear.

"Something is wrong." The new political commissar he invited to join suddenly said seriously.

"Really? What do you think?" Correll asked, grabbing his gun and jumping into the trench designated by the garrison command for the first company.

He hurried his steps, looking around, and checking whether this place was qualified. Brak Mordo followed closely behind him, the chainsaw sword on his waist shaking violently, and the soldiers of the first company began to set up weapons on the spot, clean the observation holes, and prepare grenades. A series of actions were orderly, and the rigorous training in daily life came in handy at this time.

"I don't believe that Chaos will only send these pathetic and hateful bastards to fight us after launching an attack. They are cannon fodder at best, Captain."

"Moreover, the Supreme Command clearly pointed out that the enemy to be faced in this war is a group of traitors who are used to being space pirates. At this time, the war has spread to the surface of Kamas. Where are they? Even if this is just a decoy to attract our attention, how long can this group of cannon fodder last?"

Corell turned around, was silent for a few seconds, and asked again: "So, what do you mean-"

He didn't finish his words, and a loud noise from the air interrupted their conversation. Corell immediately looked up, but was squinted by a gust of wind. At the same time, a similar burning pain as before also descended on his retina again.

In the last moment before he closed his eyes, what he saw was a huge, dazzling, but distorted purple mist like a diseased organ in the human body.

Then there was rain, indescribably filthy rain.

Political Commissar Brack roared from his chest and dragged Corell into a sunken fortification. At the same time, gunfire began to blaze at the other end of the position.

Continuous screams rang out in the position communication network temporarily built with some instruments. It was not the report of officers or signalmen, but another voice. Just listening to them, Corell, who still had his eyes closed, felt cold all over.

He ignored Brack's obstruction, rubbed his eyes, and climbed out of the fortification with bloodshot eyes, but he never thought that the explosion would come again, and this time, it was even more terrifying than the last time.

Corell had a splitting headache. For the second time in his life, he felt like he was really going crazy. He couldn't stand it. Otherwise, how could he see the political commissar and the soldiers in front of him as a mixture of flesh and blood with human skin torn off? Otherwise, how could he identify the explosion as a long scream full of pain and pleasure?

He raised his head frantically, his face was blurred with tears and blood, and a figure that was falling was captured by his rapidly rotating and trembling eyeballs.

In his eyes, the man's face was pale, and his eyes were as dark as a ghost. A naked beast was being stepped on by him, and his chest had been cut open by something, and blood, internal organs and other things flew out with gravity.

This man only appeared for less than a second, and then disappeared completely. No matter how hard Corell looked for him, he couldn't find any shadow, as if it was just his fantasy, but the beast was real, and there was definitely more than one.

Above it, more filth followed.

Yes, it was raining.

"Did you see it?" Corell asked tremblingly.

Brack didn't answer, but pulled him down with force and pulled out the bolt pistol from his waist.

It's funny, at this moment, Corell found that the pistol was well maintained, and its barrel was even specially treated. That kind of brilliance can't deceive people-so he wants to shoot me? Because I saw something I shouldn't see?

The captain's crazy thoughts were answered in a second. The commissar's hand exerted force again and pulled him up, and then there was a burst of gunfire.

Corell turned his head and saw a large group of demons surging like a tide rushing towards them from the blurred observation window. The machine guns that had been set up long ago and the soldiers on the major positions were all shooting. The raindrops connected by the bolt and laser blocked their first wave of charge, and the easy-to-use mortars also opened fire immediately afterwards.

Dust and blood flew everywhere. Koril instinctively pulled his bolter from behind, turned off the safety, aimed at the demonic tide, and pulled the trigger all the way down. However, he didn't know if he was really crazy, but the illusion came back.

He saw the ghost again. The first bullet was fired from the gun barrel, and a flash of fire appeared. The ghost stood in a corner of the battlefield. The shell fell to the ground, and Koril instinctively began to exert force to resist the recoil of the bolter. The ghost disappeared on the spot.

The second and third bullets were fired at the demonic tide. The picture captured by Koril's eyes was finally transmitted to his brain. The biological signal was analyzed, and the existence of the ghost began to tear his reason again.

He opened his eyes wide, turned his neck to look at the right end of the line, and just then a piece of broken limbs flew into the air.

All of the above happened in just three seconds. In the fourth second, Corell emptied his magazine. In the fifth second, he returned to the fortifications and began to breathe heavily.

"I'm crazy!" he shouted at Commissar Brack. "I saw a-"

"-a what?!" the commissar shouted at him.

Corell didn't say anything. He suddenly thought that if the ghost was killing demons, then he was not an object he should be afraid of. With a click, a new magazine was loaded, and the captain of the first company stared and instinctively completed the loading action.

He stood up again and met the enemy again, but he didn't use up the ammunition in one breath. He just aimed at the demons who rushed to the front and fired short bursts. In eleven seconds, he emptied another magazine, but didn't see the shadow of the ghost again.

Just when he suspected that he was really crazy, large pieces of rain suddenly flew behind the demon tide?

Rain? No, I'm afraid not, there is no rain with broken bones and flesh.

Corell was stunned, awakened by the sharp roars of the demons. A gust of bloody wind blew in his face, hitting him like a punch, making him retreat again and again, almost falling. He staggered against the cold wall, his back aching, but found that the gunshots gradually stopped.

What's going on? Are they coming? ! He looked around hurriedly, but there was no trace of close combat on the battlefield. The reason why the gunshots weakened was only because the soldiers stopped shooting on their own initiative.

He looked across the riverbed, his eyes passed over the bloody gully full of dead bodies, and saw a faint white mist and countless twisted shadows surging in it.

Those were the shadows of the demons, there was no doubt about that, but they were all falling one after another. There was no gunshot, no bombing, no roar of chainsaw weapons, only the continuous sound of flesh and blood being torn.

The noise was so loud that it could spread from the other side of the river to the front of the position. At least Corell heard it clearly, and for some reason, he didn't feel scared.

Thinking back to that pale face, he didn't feel any fear in his heart.

A few minutes later, the fog began to slowly dissipate. The soldiers raised their guns again and aimed at the other side. However, this time, what appeared in their eyes was not a demon, but a man covered in blood.

He didn't wear any armor, but a shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows in a funny way, as if he was working just now. He glanced at the other side of the river and disappeared quickly.

Corell breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know if other people saw the Sky Eagle emblem pinned on the right chest of the man like him, but he did see it, and it was very real. This was definitely not his illusion.