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Chapter 292: It's Humanity's Turn to Raid You!
🕑 Added 2025-09-13 13:37:37 +0000 UTCChapter 292: It's Humanity's Turn to Raid You!
When Burns and Argus arrived back at the sanctuary, they saw only the fleeing forms of the Harlequins. As the two entered, they spotted Lemire attempting to carry away the two heavily wounded Astartes.
"Xenos! Put down my brothers!" Argus bellowed.
Lemire, who had assumed Zerg reinforcements had arrived, was relieved to see it was only one Astartes and one ordinary mortal. However, just as he was preparing to eliminate the two of them, a phantom blurred and phased directly through the sanctuary wall. A second later, it shifted back to reality. It was the two Aether-Zerglings.
Burns and Argus had drawn Lemire's attention, and by the time he noticed the Zerg's attack, it was too late to dodge. The Zergling's sharp teeth, imbued with a strange power, tore the left hand holding the shuriken pistol clean off his arm. The special hallucinogenic and lethal toxin from the Aether-Hound's genes began to seep into Lemire's bloodstream through the wound.
Watching his severed hand being devoured by the Zergling, Lemire no longer dared to stay. The toxin was already beginning to take effect. He had no way of knowing if it was just these two Zerglings, or if the main Zerg army had arrived. He no longer cared about the two heavily wounded Astartes. Activating his holo-suit, he immediately retreated from the settlement.
The rest of the Harlequins all fled, and the humans had no strength left to stop them. The Brutalisks, following Abathur's orders, remained in place to protect the humans. The shots fired by Argus and Burns all missed Lemire. Seeing his critically wounded comrades, Argus did not give chase, and neither did Burns.
A glance around the sanctuary revealed a scene of carnage. Bodies were everywhere, and the ground was filled with the sounds of moaning. The giant Brutalisks had finished off the last of the enemies.
Seeing the pitch-black settlement, Burns immediately piloted the SCV to repair the power generator. When light once again illuminated the sanctuary, the horrific sight that greeted them sent a chill through everyone's hearts. Survivors wearing Medic powersuits immediately began treating the wounded.
When the final tally was counted, the number of survivors in the sanctuary was less than 7,000. Without the presence of the nano-med guns, that number would have been much lower.
"Amidir! Wyatt! Are you alright?" Argus asked, treating the two Astartes whose limbs had been severed.
"Argus... the enemy attack was too sudden," one of them rasped. "We failed to protect this place."
Although the three of them came from different Chapters, over the years, they had become the closest of comrades and brothers. Unfortunately, while the nano-med gun could heal wounds, it could not regenerate limbs. The two of them had, for all intents and purposes, completely lost their combat effectiveness. And in Commorragh, they had neither the resources nor the technology to build prosthetics for them.
"It's alright. I will handle the fighting from here," Argus said, his voice heavy. "We will be leaving this place soon. When we get out of Commorragh, you will be fitted with the most powerful bionics and continue to serve the God-Emperor."
After arranging for the two to be cared for, Argus went to find Burns. He found him kneeling on the ground, staring at the bodies before him. Stella, and the Dynasty soldier Ron, were both dead. Less than one-tenth of the Dynasty soldiers in the sanctuary had survived.
"Burns. Get up. Those who live must continue to fight."
Burns stared blankly at the bodies. The sacrifice just before the dawn always felt the most tragic. They were so close to leaving this damned place. Stella was so close to having a new life. His face showed little sadness, but his heart was filled with an immense rage. His hatred for the Eldar had surpassed anything he had ever felt before.
"I know, Lord Argus. This place is no longer safe. The day of Lord Lucan's attack is near. We need to destroy all the Barracks the SCV built and take the remaining people and supplies to rendezvous with Lord Abathur."
"I am already having it done."
Burns carried the bodies of Stella and Ron and placed them in the center of the sanctuary's plaza. Although the best choice would have been to let the Zerg convert the bodies of the fallen into biomass to produce more Zerg, no one would choose to do that. The bodies were piled neatly together before the statue of the Emperor. A soldier in a Firebat powersuit, his heart heavy, incinerated the corpses. A human with an Ecclesiarchy background recited prayers before the statue, praying for the Emperor to guide their souls.
Burns once again climbed into the modified SCV. The group completely abandoned the sanctuary that had sheltered the humans of the undercity for so long.
Meanwhile, in his command post outside the lower levels, Vect was digesting the bad news Lemire had brought him. He was surprised that the Harlequins had actually failed. As for the "Brutalisk" they spoke of, Vect merely felt it was an excuse for their incompetence. Seeing the one-armed Lemire, Vect said mockingly, "The mighty Harlequins actually lost an arm while facing a group of humans."
"Vect," Lemire seethed, "that monster is far more powerful than you can imagine."
"The strongest gladiators of the Wych Cults, the greatest creations of the Haemonculi, and dozens of Kabals under my command are all gathered here. I do not believe this 'monster' can make any waves."
"You will pay the price for your arrogance, Vect."
"The war has barely begun and you are already afraid of the enemy. You are the one who is wrong, Lemire. Since you failed to find that xeno by capturing the humans, then we will just kill them all."
Vect spoke with extraordinary confidence. This time, he had distributed the various powerful weapons he had collected over his long life to his troops. Some of the most powerful modified creatures of the Haemonculi were on par with the Chapter Masters of the human Astartes. To reclaim their territory, the Haemonculi had also spared no expense, committing everything they had to the war against the Zerg. Potent combat drugs were distributed to every Dark Eldar as if they were free.
But when the vanguard finally clashed with the Zerg in earnest, Vect was stunned by the Brutalisks' tactics. They did not launch a frontal assault on the Dark Eldar. Instead, they used their burrowing ability to continuously attack his supply lines and artillery positions. After striking, the Brutalisks would simply burrow and escape.
Although they managed to destroy several Brutalisks, and their corpses were sent to Tevantias's biological labs, it wouldn't be long before these giant monsters were recreated by Abathur and reappeared on the battlefield, even stronger than before.
Although the Dark Eldar did their best to prevent the Zerg from obtaining biomass, the Zerg still managed to acquire a large amount of it. The Aether-Zerglings created by Abathur were a particular nuisance. The complex terrain of the lower levels made their attacks completely unpredictable. The corpse-incineration units were frequently attacked, and immediately afterward, a swarm of Drones would appear to drag the bodies away.
The battle raged for four days. The Zerg then began to actively contract their defensive lines, conserving their strength. According to the timeline, it was almost time for the rendezvous with Lucan. The Dark Eldar, however, seeing the Zerg retreat, believed they were being pushed back, and the Kabals advanced even more rapidly. Having acquired a large number of Zerg corpses from the battlefield, the Haemonculi were continuously conducting their own biological experiments, trying to find a way to wipe out the Zerg on a massive scale.
At that moment, in the Webway, a massive combined fleet of human and xenos warships was advancing. Lucan's fleet and combat forces had been assembled and were heading towards their designated Webway entrances. Eldrad had provided Lucan with five large Commorragh portals capable of accommodating a fleet.
Gabriel's Blood Ravens, Ferrus's Iron Hands, Lucan's Mongorte Dynasty forces, Artanis's Protoss, and Kerrigan's Zerg. Five fleets would launch a simultaneous invasion of Commorragh from five different directions.
The Mongorte Dynasty fleet led by Lucan consisted not only of his own ships but also a considerable number of his most loyal vassal dynasties. These were the dynasties that had joined the Alliance when it was first established. Their direct heirs had all graduated from the Dynasty's academies. When Lucan told them he was going to attack Commorragh, they were both nervous and excited, but conspicuously not afraid. Countless victories had already built their steadfast confidence. They believed that since Lucan dared to do this, he must be sure of victory. Following Lucan meant there was profit to be had. It was usually the Dark Eldar raiding them; now, finally, it was their turn to raid the Dark Eldar.
Lucan had also offered them generous benefits and promises. Loyalty wasn't just about words; it had to be maintained with mutual benefit. Their strength was the strength of the Koronus Sector, and the strength of the Dynasty. Lucan had Rebecca provide large payments in Mongorte Credits to the vassal dynasties participating in this operation. In addition to these Credits, he also promised that any spoils they acquired in Commorragh would be theirs to keep. However, if they wanted to sell their loot, the Dynasty must have the right of first refusal for acquisition, and the purchase price would absolutely not be unfair to them.
Items that the Mongorte Dynasty didn't need could be sold to other factions within the Imperium. Although the black market was not allowed on the official trading platform, it still had a large audience in the Koronus Expanse and the Imperium. Although it was not as convenient as selling within the Expanse, and transporting it to the Imperium to find buyers would take some time, their good days had only just begun. Most of them were still very interested in this profit. What money wasn't money? As long as there was a profit to be made, they were in!
