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Chapter 290: The Spy is Exposed
🕑 Added 2025-09-12 14:14:23 +0000 UTCChapter 290: The Spy is Exposed
Just as Lucan needed to secure his rear, so too did Vect.
When he learned that the Zerg belonged to Lucan, he knew he absolutely could not allow them to continue to grow in strength. After verifying the events of Cadia, he realized that these xenos were an even greater threat than he had imagined. With the endorsement of the Laughing God, and with the Harlequins directly eliminating some of the Archons who opposed him, Vect had assembled a vast army from the various Kabals. The Harlequins themselves had also directly intervened in this war against the Zerg, helping Vect to find Abathur's location.
These Mandrakes had also been forcibly requisitioned from various Kabals and noble houses.
The Zerg were protecting the humans. Lemire had decided to capture the humans here to either find out Abathur's location or to force him to appear. As long as they could capture a human alive, with the Dark Eldar's methods of torture, they would not have to worry about failing to extract intelligence.
Soon, the pale ghouls stopped. They had caught the scent of humans.
Lemire looked in the direction the ghouls were facing. It was a vast ruin from the time of the ancient Eldar Empire. From the outside, it looked no different from any other ruin, but Lemire knew the human sanctuary was hidden within. This matched the intelligence provided by the spy.
"Found you."
Without a word, the Harlequins lunged toward the hidden sanctuary. The Mandrakes, under orders, had already slipped into the sanctuary through the shadows, unseen and unheard. The outer sentries and the vigilant human guards had no idea that danger was upon them.
The dark environment of the sentry posts was the perfect hunting ground for the Mandrakes. These soldiers, who believed they were perfectly hidden, had no idea they had been so easily discovered. One by one, the sentries were eliminated without a sound, while the guards in powersuits were met by the Harlequins' assassination.
Before the Harlequins' weapons, the powersuits were not enough to block the damage. A blast from a neuro-disruptor killed them before they could even send a warning. The unlucky ones were stabbed from behind by a Harlequin's Kiss, the monofilament wire within it instantly liquefying their internal organs.
Not even an entire company of Astartes could withstand the assassination attempt of so many Harlequins, let alone these mere mortals.
At that moment, the humans within the sanctuary had no idea that doom was descending.
Stella was busy packing up the mushrooms she had just picked for the evening meal, but suddenly, her psychic ability began to flare. An overwhelming sense of extreme danger flooded her mind. Ever since her awakening, this perception of danger had saved her several times. She knew this feeling was not wrong. She immediately dropped her work and instinctively looked in one direction.
The people in the sanctuary were going about their daily lives.
"Where is it... where is the problem?!" Stella muttered, extremely agitated.
Finally, her gaze penetrated the crowd. She saw a man walking nonchalantly toward the settlement's power generator—the place that maintained the entire settlement's energy supply and lighting. Although he looked completely normal on the outside, Stella was now certain that this man was the problem.
"Stop! What are you doing! Stop that man! Quick!!" Stella screamed at the top of her lungs.
The Dynasty soldiers nearby looked at her. They all knew that their commander was very fond of this little girl and treated her like a daughter.
"Stella! What's wrong?!"
"Brother Ron! That man is a problem! Stop him, quickly!" Stella shouted to the Dynasty soldier.
Ron looked at the person Stella was pointing at. Seeing that he was not a Tech-priest yet was heading for the power generator, he also realized something was wrong. The man Stella was pointing at no longer looked so calm. He had no idea how he had been exposed.
Ron instantly remembered what Burns had told them about potential traitors in the sanctuary.
"You! Stop! I said stop!"
As he raised his C-14 rifle and fired, he was a step too late. The man had already pulled an Eldar grenade from his coat. Without hesitation, he armed it and threw it into the power generator.
With a tremendous explosion, the entire sanctuary was plunged into darkness.
The sound of the explosion and the failure of the generator threw the sanctuary into chaos. The two remaining Astartes immediately began to maintain order.
"Tech-priests! Restore the power system immediately! Everyone else, get into your powersuits! Now!"
Ron pulled Stella to his side. "Stella! Hide! Don't come out!"
But Stella was clutching her head, her entire body shaking uncontrollably. "Monsters... so many monsters!"
In her psychic senses, a large number of non-human presences had suddenly appeared within the sanctuary. Every one of them was radiating an incredibly dangerous signal. These intruders were the Mandrakes.
If the power system had been running normally, they would not have been able to infiltrate so silently. But now, the darkness that had enveloped the sanctuary allowed them to go anywhere they pleased.
"Stella, what are you saying! What monsters!" Ron still didn't know what was happening. He couldn't see a thing in the dark.
"Watch out!"
All Ron felt was Stella pushing him violently aside. Then, the sound of a blade sinking into flesh reached his ears. With the Mandrake so close, Ron finally saw the monster Stella had been talking about. He couldn't make out its specific appearance, but he could see the glowing green runes that covered its body.
Stella's warning to everyone had made the Mandrake target her directly. All she felt was a sharp pain in her abdomen; a dagger had already pierced through her body. As if convinced that Stella was beyond saving, the Mandrake flung her aside.
"You monster! For humanity!" Ron screamed. "Invaders! The sanctuary has been breached!" After shouting the warning, he threw himself recklessly at the creature.
An unexpected sneak attack had been thwarted by Stella's warning. The remaining humans immediately grabbed their weapons to fight back. But most of them were not wearing their powersuits, and in the darkness, they were quickly cut down by the impossibly fast Mandrakes, suffering heavy casualties.
Fortunately, the two remaining Astartes—one from the Howling Griffons and one from the Silver Skulls—were still in the camp. The darkness was no obstacle to them. Their counter-attack gave the remaining humans a chance to get into their powersuits and fight back.
Countless floodlights began to cut through the darkness, but the humans' enemies were not just the Mandrakes. The Eldar Harlequins had also entered the sanctuary.
"Capture those two human Astartes! They must know something!" Lemire ordered the Harlequins. Even if it was a one-on-one fight, the two Astartes were no match for these elite xenos, let alone nearly a hundred of them.
The Harlequins dodged the bolts fired by the two Space Marines. A power sword flashed, severing the arm of one of the Astartes. As they tried to continue the fight, they felt their legs go numb. With three of their four limbs severed, even an Astartes had little combat strength left.
Lemire laughed at the humans' futile resistance.
At that moment, Burns and Argus arrived on their Zerglings just outside the sanctuary. Hearing the sounds of gunfire and combat from within, they knew they were too late.
