Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 815 The Necromancer's Scheme

"Look at these despicable human apes, they still hide the barbaric weapons created during that golden age of the past."

"Even after experiencing a dark age of civil war that nearly wiped out their race, they still preserved some of their heritage."

"Their ancestors were indeed remarkable; in just tens of thousands of years, they plucked the most brilliant pearls from the crown of science."

“If we weren’t bound by that so-called alliance, perhaps the thing we should do now is to eliminate humanity along with the Ork.”

"After all, we have experience in eliminating green-skinned orcs. Even those Kork orcs fell in our strangulation with resentment. But we don't have much experience in dealing with humans."

It wasn't just human commanders like Luther who witnessed the Steel Hand swiftly and decisively destroy the Battle Moon.

Claudius, the crowned general of the Nihilarchian dynasty, also used their projection equipment to silently observe human activities from a great distance.

General Dai Guan's body is also made of living metal, but it is more sophisticated and powerful than other space undead.

He was about three meters tall and wore ancient ceremonial armor branded with runes of the Fear of the Dead. A dark green metal cloak behind him moved without wind.

The crowned general held a double-halberd spear that shone with the Trinity Cross, which was both a ceremonial tool symbolizing his status and an extremely dangerous weapon of killing.

As he stood in the royal court of the world's engine, a unique aura of nobility arose within him, naturally distinguishing him from the cold, mortal guards around him.

Before completing his biological transformation, Claudius was a descendant of the Fearless Nobles and graduated with honors from the most professional military academy of the Fearless civilization.

He and the famous Sotek dynasty crowned general Zahdek were once classmates who studied and trained together.

However, since the other party came from the Sotek Dynasty, thanks to its powerful strength, ranking among the top three of all the Necromancer Dynasties, and its flamboyant and arrogant style, Zahdek's fame was much greater than Claudius's.

However, being low-key does not mean that Claudius is inferior to Zahdek. The Nihilak dynasty was the most prosperous dynasty among all the undead races in space.

Their wealth did not come from hard work.

A horse will not be fat without night grass, and a man will not be rich without windfall.

During that era of warring and plundering among the civilizations of the dead, the Nihirak dynasty plundered the wealth of at least a thousand lost civilizations and stored it in its own tomb world.

Although Claudius did not conquer all of these thousand lost civilizations, the crowned general still achieved remarkable military exploits.

After completing the biological transformation, Claudius diligently guarded the treasures in the dynasty's treasury, ensuring that they would not be stolen or plundered by any ambitious person.

"Do you need to invoke the Death Mark? With just one command from you, we will hunt down and wipe out those clumsy bio-engineered human-ape warriors."

Beside the crowned general, Captain Sanders of the mortuary guard asked in a cold voice.

Claudius turned his head and stared intently at his guard, who also sensed that perhaps his suggestion had displeased the Crowned General.

"For the sake of our honor, we should not send out the Death Mark. We should treat those Astartes the same as other space necromancer lords and subdue them with fair combat."

Sanders spoke earnestly, but Claudius was still not satisfied.

"Humans possess the power to grant our race souls. Tarachin is the first Deathbringer to regain a soul. Do you intend to wage war against humanity under these circumstances?"

Claudius's tone carried a hint of disappointment, while Sanders suddenly realized that he understood Sanders's ambitions for taking the position.

"Then we'll take this power from humanity and then destroy humanity."

"Trust me, if you leave everything to me, there will definitely be no mistakes."

General Dai Guan covered his face with his hands in exasperation and waved to his chief of guard to stop giving him bad advice.

"You said it well, don't say it again next time."

Sanders was a powerful warrior, and his martial skills were among the best in the entire Nihirak dynasty.

But the stronger his fighting ability, the simpler his mind.

General Dai Guan realized that it was unrealistic to expect his deputy to come up with good ideas.

"I was just making a comment. If we deliberately cause trouble for humans, that guy Tarasin will definitely report it to the Emperor, and we'll be in trouble."

"This guy is so close to humans as if they are the same kind of people, which really puzzles me."

"What kind of bewitching potion did humans give Tarashin to make him so infatuated with a different race?"

"Notify our graveyard ships to prepare for war. Once those little human bastards have stumbled, we'll be the ones to clean up the mess."

"The head of that beastly warlord will become part of my collection and will be displayed in the Hall of Honor."

"Although they are not as powerful as the ancient orcs I have hunted before, as one of the most powerful orcs of this era, they are still worthy of being taken into my possession."

In General Dai Guan's eyes, these enhanced Orcs were indeed no threat.

Even if they were able to build war fortresses of the level of battle moons, the threat to the space undead would still be very small.

You should know that during the War of Heaven, those damned Kork orcs were able to create batches of battle planets, and even battle neutron stars—such outrageous creations.

The Kork orcs are like locusts in the Milky Way, plundering ancient celestial bodies that have existed since the Big Bang.

Black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, and stars—they relentlessly reshape the universe, turning the power of nature into their own.

But they weren't the ones who had the last laugh; even the Star God fell under their iron hooves.

Claudius received a direct order from High Priest Nissilak: he must join forces with his human allies to annihilate the rising Ork Empire.

But as a general wearing a crown, he also had his own ideas and calculations.

If he directly ordered his Graveyard Ships and World Engines to bombard the Ork war fortresses and kill the beasts, then humanity would not realize just how powerful the enemy was.

Only when humans encounter obstacles, fight, and bleed will they realize how difficult this war is.

When the crisis comes, the Nihirak dynasty's war fleet will utterly destroy the Green Tide, demonstrating its military might and reminding humanity of the kindness of its space necromantic allies.

This is the best way to control humans; a controllable ally is a good ally.

As a crowned general, Claudius had to consider not only how to fight, but also the political implications behind it.

He has to help humanity, but he also has to control the degree of help just right.

Humanity now holds the lifeline most cherished by the Necromancers of space. As long as the Spark remains in the hands of the human named Roche, they must remain restrained and calm.

For the space necromancers, the best outcome for the human species is to obediently restore their souls, in which case the space necromancers will offer them protection.

The day when all the Necromancers of space regain their souls will be the day the former rulers of the galaxy return.

If humanity were wise enough, perhaps they could carve out a region of space for humankind to thrive and multiply, thus demonstrating the noble character and magnanimous spirit of the undead in space.

But if they don't know what's good for them, then...

General Dai Guan continued to assess humanity's technological prowess and war-fighting capabilities, which would become important factors in the French Emperor's decision-making.

……

The rapid demise of the two battle moons put even greater pressure on the Ork.

These humans are just as unreasonable as them, pulling out bizarre, ancient weapons from their own pockets.

In the previous Battle of Harad, their Battle Moon appeared on the battlefield for the first time, catching humanity completely off guard.

If it weren't for the support of a Space Marine legion that appeared out of nowhere, they probably would have been able to devour the 20,000 Astartes in one fell swoop.

Although the human Astartes are powerful, they are still flesh and blood. Under the attack of the Battle Moon, if an opportunity is seized, all the Astartes on the planet will be wiped out.

The loss of two battle moons was not an unacceptable price for the Ork of Blackrock Rift.

With the amplification provided by the black stone here, they are transforming the existing planets into their battle moons at a faster pace than ever before.

They had noticed the human target: the battle planet at the center of the star system. A massive number of orc warships were swarming in, blocking the path of their beast warlords.

The Orcs aim to overwhelm the Iron Hand's vanguard with sheer numbers.

These crazy shrimps are indeed very powerful, but the dangerous methods they use are definitely not endless.

The Iron Hands' unstoppable offensive momentum was finally slowed down by the swamp formed by the Orcs.

The sons of Feralas finally released more than thirty armed satellites collected from Medusa's ancient orbit.

They had been dormant for a long time. After Feralus sent people to retrieve them, he used his wisdom to repair them.

These armed satellites formed an array that could overlap and resonate, and then released terrifying beams of energy powerful enough to illuminate the void.

The destructive power released by this shot was far less than that of the planet-destroying cannon of the Thundercloud-class planetary warship.

Thousands of orc warships were completely pulverized, while many more were caught in the aftershocks and blasted into large chunks of space debris.

These are echoes from humanity's ancient, dark ages; each piece is a rare and irreplaceable relic-level weapon.

However, after destroying these orc warships, the Waaagh energy shield that lit up on the battle planet neutralized the devastating blow of the satellite matrix energy cannon to the incredulous gaze of the Steel Hand.

With weapons and artifacts from the Dark Ages serving as a deterrent to the humans, the Orcs were not intimidated at all.

They are more powerful than before, thanks to the influence of the Kork orcs and the amplification from the numerous blackstone veins within the Blackrock Rift.

The most obvious manifestation of this is their massive battle planet, which is almost the size of Saturn.

According to data captured by human scanning arrays, this behemoth has an average diameter of about 120,000 kilometers, which means it has a diameter ten times that of Terra and a volume more than eight hundred times that of Terra.

Even those battle moons are nothing more than tiny satellites floating in orbit compared to battle planets, seemingly harmless.

Through the thin atmosphere of the battle planet, one can see densely packed orc forges, as well as fortresses and defensive structures scattered among them.

Those large foundries can produce any creation on the Ork tech tree.

From the small, green-skinned boy's cleavers and mortars to the Titan-class ancient monstrosities, even warships capable of traversing space can be born from this.

The billowing black smoke was directly emitted into the atmosphere of the battle planet. When the battle planet moved slightly in space, the smoke was even flung into the universe, leaving a clear trail.

Faced with the Ork's frenzied counterattack, even the Iron Hands, who had performed exceptionally well in the war, were finally unable to hold on.

They adhere to the Feralas Marusian creed of survival of the fittest, but that doesn't mean they would foolishly throw their lives away when faced with an insurmountable enemy.

"Control of the battlefield is now being transferred to the Dark Angels."

"The Iron Hand will withdraw from the first order."

The cold, mechanical voice of Mel Irnna, the Iron Father of the Avignon Clan, rang out on the communication channel, signaling Commander Luther to take control of the battlefield.

“You’ve done a great job, Company Commander Mel. The Iron Hand has opened a crucial breach for us,” Luther replied seriously.

Since the death of Felus, the Iron Hand Legion has been completely divided.

The ten clan warbands formed the legion, but they were not as closely linked as other legions.

Each clan has its own unique traditions and characteristics, and also possesses a high degree of independent voice.

Theoretically, only the Iron Council, composed of ten clans, has the power to determine the Legion's will; no single clan can control the Iron Hand according to its own will.

This change was made to avoid the arbitrary mistakes that Ferrus made during the Istvaan V.

The Avignon clan was once Feralus's most beloved and valued clan, holding a position in the legion equivalent to the first company of other legions.

When Feralus learned of Forgrim's betrayal, the only troops he brought with him were the elite forces of the Avignon clan, which shows their unique status.

In this grand war against the Ork, the other clans also temporarily compromised, allowing Mel Irn to represent them in communicating with the other legions.

Mel's predecessor was the famous Company Commander Gabriel Santo, a representative figure of the Iron Hand Legion and the commander of the Primarch Guard's Morlock Terminator.

However, Gabriel Santo also met with misfortune after following Firus to Istvaan.

Santo was defeated and killed by the traitor of the Emperor's son, which made Mel the new company commander.

Luther ordered the Dark Angels to take over the position of Iron Hand, and the First Legion's massive space fleet began to unleash its firepower.

The Orcs' battle planet is right before our eyes; no one who isn't blind can ignore its existence.

The New Caliban's planet-destroying cannon was already fully charged, and it unleashed a destructive beam brighter than the sun at the energy shield on the surface of the battle planet.

Various powerful cannons, torpedoes, and light spears were bombarded on the battle planet without restraint, and the space, filled with war debris, was instantly illuminated by the light spears of humanity.

The Space Wolves and Dark Raven Guards, providing cover on both flanks, also formed a dense formation, preventing the Dark Angels, who were unleashing their full power, from being disrupted by attacks from the sides. Under Luther's control, the human expeditionary fleet closely interlocked, like a sharp scalpel widening the gaps torn open by the Steel Hand.

Although the Orcs were also putting up a counterattack, they were limited by space and could only send their warships to the battlefield little by little, where they were crushed as if they were entering a giant millstone.

A large number of stone golems are processing information rapidly, and a staff of thousands is helping Luther analyze the current situation and make the most reasonable judgment.

"Data transmission complete."

"The Battle Planet Energy Shield reduced the psionic power by 13.5% under the first round of firepower."

"The combat planet's energy shield is being repaired and is expected to be completed within half an hour if there is no interference."

Upon hearing this news, even Luther's usually calm expression turned somewhat somber.

This was an offensive that mobilized the entire Dark Angel Legion's firepower, yet it only managed to destroy about 13% of the shield.
Moreover, the enemy began repairing itself immediately after the attack, and by the time the Imperial Navy had fully charged up again, the enemy had also repaired a significant portion of its defenses.

This means that even if the other side does nothing but hold up the waaagh energy shield, like a nail driven into the ground, they have no way to deal with the beast.

At this moment, Luther felt a little regretful that he had used Iron Hand's trump card a bit too early. Compared to the Battle Moon, this damned Battle Planet was much more troublesome.

But since we've already used it, there's no point in talking about it anymore. We might as well think about how to crack open this damn shell.

"Let's release those swarms of nanobots and see if these energy-devouring void plagues can shake the shield of the battle planet."

Under Luther's orders, the vaults of the New Caliban were unsealed, and the Dark Angels released a dangerous artifact.

Missiles carrying swarms of nanobots were launched from within the macro cannon, landing silently on the dark green energy shield.

The nanite swarm began to decompose the missile debris, constantly splitting itself, while attempting to devour the Ork's waaagh energy.

The nanobot swarm did begin to multiply, but after consuming Waaagh's energy, the swarm exhibited a reaction similar to indigestion.

The waaagh energy is more volatile and difficult to tame than ordinary psionic energy. As if sensing that it was being devoured, it immediately launched a summons towards the surface of the battle planet.

A hurricane suddenly rose from nowhere, and the fungi and mushrooms planted by the green-skinned boy on the ground trembled and released countless green spores.

As these spores float in the air, they begin to deform continuously, forming equally tiny, green-skinned worms.

These green-skinned worms began biting each other after coming into contact with the nanoworm swarm, showing no sign of backing down.

Moreover, these green-skinned worms began to secrete potent psychic acids capable of dissolving metals, extinguishing the multiplying swarm of nanoworms.

Orcs are inherently a non-standard, collective consciousness species, with each individual possessing their own independent thought.

However, when Ork people gather in large numbers, their group consciousness will be rapidly strengthened.

This is what the Orcs often refer to as waaagh!

In addition, the numerous blackstone veins continuously amplify the Orcs' waaagh energy, causing the creatures in the Orc ecosystem to exhibit an almost abnormal level of adaptability and learning ability.

In a very short time, they understood what kind of enemy the nanobots were and found a way to deal with them.

Although they couldn't destroy the swarm of nanobots in a short time, they managed to keep the swarm tightly bound by the green-skinned worms, slowing down its spread.

The terrifying thing about nanobot swarms is that if their existence is ignored in a war, by the time people realize it, the nanobots have already achieved an exponential increase in numbers by plundering energy and matter.

However, this was only the first step in the Orcs' counterattack.

The Orc defense system on the ground launched a missile similar to a human vortex bomb, and the swarm of nanobots that were controlled within a certain range were thrown directly into the torn subspace rift.

The damaged waaagh energy shield was repaired and healed at a visible speed by energy constantly gathering from other places, as if nothing had happened.

The nanobot swarm lost contact, and a scarlet warning signal immediately flashed on the holographic projection of the New Caliban.

Luther clenched his fists; the orcs were proving to be more troublesome than he had anticipated.

That battle planet was not a sitting duck either; it was also fiercely retaliating, with countless ground-based cannons, missiles, plasma cannons, and other weapons posing a significant threat to the human fleet.

It's really asking too much of a ship-based weapon to compete with a ground-based weapon supported by a planet.

Moreover, there are definitely WAAAGH gates inside the battle planet, providing a continuous stream of reinforcements.

"Bring Ambassador Tarachin over here. I need to ask our space necromantic allies what they think."

After much deliberation, Luther ordered the fleet to maintain the standoff with the battle planet while searching for a way to break the deadlock from the space necromancy.

Lieutenant Garland quickly brought over the Endless Ones who were staying on the New Caliban.

"Lord Tarasin, do you have a good solution for dealing with this battle planet?"

"As our allies, you should provide the assistance we deserve."

The flame on Tarachin's chest flickered faintly, and an invisible luster flowed across his metallic body, giving him a life force unlike any other space undead.

Upon hearing Luther's question, Tarachin also looked troubled.

“I know it will be very difficult for you to deal with the battle planet, Lord Luther, and I also hope that our race’s world engine can lend a hand.”

"But General Claudius, the Crowned General, rejected my request."

"That damn stubborn guy!"

"He told me that during the previous battle against the Ork on the moon, the World Engine suffered unknown errors and damage because it had been dormant for too long."

"Our tomb technicians will need some time to complete the restoration."

"So he can't help you now, so you humans should figure it out yourselves."

Tarasin felt a wave of embarrassment as he relayed General Dai Guan's reply.

Claudius clearly intended to stand by and watch, letting humanity suffer a crushing defeat on the Ork's battle planet.

The reason why humans and space undead were able to become allies, besides the threat of the Ork, was that Loshi possessed the Spark that could grant souls.

Without the existence of the spark, the space necromancers would not have given humans a second glance, since in their minds, humans were just some short-lived carbon-based apes.

Arrogance is deeply ingrained in the hearts of the Necromancers of space; when it comes to pride and conceit, they are no different from their old rivals, the Eldar.

"I'll try to persuade General Dai Guan again and try my best to get some help for you."

"I promised Roxi that I would do my best to facilitate cooperation between our two races."

Please believe in my determination.

Tarasin solemnly promised, even Luther was a little taken aback by this strange necromancer overlord.

In the eyes of the Caliban Knights, although the Crowned General's attitude was annoying, it was the normal attitude of a space necromancer towards humans.

Arrogance, conceit, and disdain for all other races in the galaxy—this was the true nature of the former galactic overlord.

But creatures like Tarachin seem to be a bit too close to humans.

“In that case, thank you for your efforts, Lord Tarasin.” Luther, not wanting to offend someone who was smiling, politely replied to Tarasin.

Tarachin did not shy away from the situation and activated the dimensional communication device directly in front of Luther.

He tossed a metal sphere into his mouth, and it immediately began to emit a ghostly green light, outlining the appearance of the crowned general.

"Tarrazin?"

Claudius's virtual projection looked around and found himself standing in front of the human commander.

“This is not how we should treat our allies, Claudius,” Tarasin said bluntly, gripping his Staff of Annihilation.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” General Dai Guan scoffed.

"You're saying our world engine is temporarily unusable due to years of neglect? Is that true?" Tarasin pointed his staff at the other person.

"If you could come up with a less lame reason, like our tomb engineers having problems because they slept too long, I would be more likely to accept it."

"But your current reasoning would make even a brainless necromancer burst out laughing."

Tarasin's relentless questioning immediately displeased General Dai Guan.

Which side are you on, anyway?

What he said was indeed an excuse, and humans know it's an excuse, but the fact that he said it so bluntly made him feel very embarrassed.

"Trazyn!"

“I must warn you, you are first and foremost the overlord of the Nishirak dynasty, and only then a friend of that human named Loshi.”

"You're too friendly to humans, Overlord. Your dangerous ideological tendencies are even more extreme than that old man Zahedek's."

"Zahdek believed that humans were short, fearful of death, greenskins were gray-green fearful of death, and Eldar were malnourished, emaciated fearful of death."

"He's just a little crazy because he's asleep, unlike you who have perfectly healthy bodies but develop too much affection for humans."

Claudius's questions were extremely sharp, and he even brought up another crowned general from the Sotek dynasty as an example.

"Don't you want to restore your souls, or even your bodies someday in the future?" Tarasin asked sternly.

"Yes," General Dai Guan replied without the slightest hesitation.

“But I don’t want to entrust this matter of the fate of our race to other races.”

"Even the closest allies won't work, let alone the fact that we and humanity aren't exactly bosom allies."

"Have you ever considered that if our race were to regain its soul, it would inevitably lead to friction and conflict with humans?"

“I understand humanity. They will never submit to us. When that time comes, whose side will you be on?”

"Which side are you on? The soybean flour hasn't even been ground yet, and you're already thinking of discarding the donkey after it has served its purpose?" Tarasin cursed.

The two high-ranking members of the Nihilak dynasty did not control their voices during their conversation, so Luther heard their entire exchange.

Luther's political acumen far surpassed Ryan's; he immediately and astutely grasped the key point.

The key link between the space necromancers and humans lies with Rosie, who seems to possess something extremely important to the space necromancers.

"Tarasin was actually willing to argue with the crowned general of his own dynasty for the sake of humanity..."

"If this isn't a pre-arranged charade, then it's definitely worth taking a closer look."

Luther remained expressionless, but inwardly he began to analyze the situation carefully.

Claudius was also a hot-tempered space necromancer. After arguing with Taracin, he cut off the remote communication.

"I'm sorry you had to see this," Tarasin said apologetically.

“You are a respectable ally, Your Excellency.” Luther’s tone was more gentle than it had been at the beginning.

"If we look at the issue from an objective perspective, your crowned general did not do anything wrong."

"If we are in a more advantageous position, then we will naturally take the lead in cooperation."

Tara gave a forced smile and nodded in agreement.

Only he himself knew that when he regained his soul and filled the emptiness within him, he solemnly made a promise to Roch:
If one day humans and space undead have a disagreement, he will stand on the side of humans in his personal capacity.

Of course, such a promise could not be made public, otherwise Taracin had no doubt that Claudius would immediately send the Death Mark assassins to completely obliterate every one of his backups.

"Let's not talk about these things anymore. Although we didn't manage to get Claudius to participate fully in the war, he still promised me that he could open the Waaagh energy shield on the surface of the battle planet for you."

“That’s enough!” Luther said in a deep voice, a glint of light in his eyes.

Once he could break through that damned outer shell and expose the inner workings of the battle planet, he was confident he could completely destroy the orcs' lair.

His most lethal weapons were neither those space warships nor ancient relics.

Weapons are just tools; what is truly powerful is the human beings who create and use them.

Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Iron Hands, and Raven Guardians—the Emperor's most powerful warriors, having undergone Primitive Upgrades, need the strongest enemies to prove their mettle.

(End of this chapter)