The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Wrong experience leads to wrong results. Seeing the slightly comical movements of the Bondage Beetle, Licas exerted force in his arm and punched it directly in the face.

As it howled and leaned back, he raised his foot and kicked its left knee.

With the cracking sound of breaking bones, the Bondage Beetle lost its balance. Licas seized the opportunity, preparing to cleave its head with his chainsword. However, the monster's reaction was swift; it swung its tail, knocking Licas off balance. The Bondage Beetle took this chance to dash towards the tunnel wall, smashing through a metal barrier that had been corroded with holes.

"Don't think about escaping!"

Without much thought, Licas immediately gave chase, plunging into the dark cavern.

This beast was extremely familiar with the underground world. The spot it broke through connected directly to another drainage channel. Licas could only follow the sound of its footsteps, constantly trying to call his comrades on the communicator.

At the end of the chase, the sound disappeared, and before Licas was a downward shaft. It looked very rough, likely casually dug by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Usually, it would lead directly to the main sewer, a primitive underground passage that hadn't undergone large-scale repairs for many years, almost as old as the city itself.

After only two seconds of thought, Licas jumped in.

Bang!

Upon landing, he was surrounded by splashing water, various filth splattering on his armor. But he didn't have time to care, instead following the monster's roar.

After wading through the water for a few steps, he found a spot to jump ashore. The walls here were made of ancient bricks covered in moss, and the stone-paved ground was very slippery. Perhaps no one had set foot here for a thousand years, or if they had, they were just a few unlucky sewer maintenance workers.

However, as he advanced, Licas noticed signs of human activity, such as discarded debris, burnt-out piles of firewood, torn clothing, and so on. But there were also some disturbing things, such as human bones with traces of blood, a smashed Aquila symbol, and human skin nailed to the rock wall, covered in scrawled words that Licas couldn't quite understand, but he felt it probably wasn't anything good.

Just then, the monster's sound disappeared, and Licas cautiously slowed his pace.

It wasn't quiet here. The sound of rushing water and colliding debris was a great interference, but Licas had a wealth of experience. Since childhood, he could hear the smallest lizard crawling on the sand in the subtle sound of wind and sand.

Stopping, Licas slowly turned, the chainsword in his hand began to spin slowly.

Splash!

Water splashed as the injured beast leaped out of a nearby sewer. Licas responded, twisting to avoid the fatal stab of its claws, while the chainsword roared to life, forcefully pressing against the monster's chest.

Licas retreated a few steps, but gritted his teeth and withstood the impact. He grabbed one of its claws and forcefully thrust the chainsword forward. With a sickening grinding sound, the rotating teeth pierced through its carapace, cutting through its ribs and the internal organs beneath.

In an instant, the beast's dying scream in the darkness even drowned out the sound of the water. Its foul-smelling blood splattered and stained Licas's armor a dirty purple.

But just as Licas thought the beast was dead, it suddenly unleashed its last bit of strength, forcefully pushing Licas backward. The immense power even pushed Licas into the wall, and both man and beast fell into an open space.

During the fall, Licas held onto the chainsword tightly. The moment he landed, he slashed upward, splitting the monster's head in two from the lower jaw, and the beast finally breathed its last.

But things were far from over.

"Hmm?"

When Licas stood up, he found himself in a cavern, hard to tell whether it was natural or excavated. But this wasn't an uninhabited zone. The walls and surroundings were covered with crude shacks, and burning fires and oil drums were scattered on the ground. Above these flames, there was food being roasted—humans, unrecognizably charred and sizzling with oil.

In a conspicuous place within this nest, there was a banner sewn together from many human skins, with a twisted symbol that looked like a curled-up dragon.

As the "residents" crawled out of the shadows and shacks, Licas narrowed his eyes behind his mask, and squeezed the cursed name between his teeth.

"Genestealers!"

Before he could think further, thousands of enemies swarmed in from all directions. Most of them were still normal humans, but their pupils had changed, and their skin was paler. A few had already mutated, some with slender claws on their hands, others with an extra pair of arms on their chests.

But whether they had mutated or not, they rushed towards the Space Marine with astonishing speed, howling unclear slogans.

"For the Four-Armed Emperor! Kill the evil Fallen Angel!"

"They will only bring pain, hunger, and disaster!"

Most of them only had primitive weapons, hammers, pickaxes, machetes, and homemade spears, but a few had firearms, and they kept shooting at the Space Marine from behind.

The sword in Licas's hand was still stained with alien blood. Bullets flew around him, but only made crisp shattering sounds when they hit his power armor.

"Come on!"

Facing the lone Space Marine, the alien gene-virus-infected mutants showed their claws and pounced on him fiercely, aiming for vital points.

The moment they touched him, Licas quickly counterattacked, slashing off the head of one mutant, then turning his weapon to bisect another. These alien followers tried to surround him, blocking his retreat, not giving him any chance to breathe.

But the superhuman physique of the Space Marine had an overwhelming advantage. Licas wielded the chainsword forcefully, forming a whirlwind of death, killing anyone who touched it and turning them into fragmented corpses.

Suddenly, something slammed heavily on Licas's helmet. He quickly turned, crushed several alien followers under his feet, and unhesitatingly plunged the chainsword into the enemy's soft abdomen—

It was a boy who looked only eight or nine years old, and his body didn't have obvious mutations, but his pupils were purple. He let out a childish wail as the chainsword pierced his body.

Licas was stunned, looking at the small body trembling under the chainsword's gnawing, his body froze instantly. (I'll write what GW doesn't dare to!)

In that moment of愣神, the heretics and mutants seized the opportunity, swarming forward to grab the Space Marine's legs, waist, and arms, kicking, punching, and striking the power armor with weapons, trying to find a breakthrough.