Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 378 Void Whale Blocks the Door

Five hours after returning to the "Land of Chaos," Nimrod found that San Diego Bergkamp had returned to his captain's quarters and, with no one around, pulled him into the "Land of Chaos."

San Diego was engulfed by the black mist. He was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses.

As a demonic psionicist, he could confirm that the force that pulled him into the mystical space was unrelated to the subspace.

This is the power of the Black Emperor.
He looked up at the throne high in the depths of the black mist and bowed: "My lord."

"You are hurt?"

Upon hearing the Black Emperor's concerned inquiry, Saint Diego felt a warm current surge through his body, as if he were being bathed in sunlight.

"Thank you for your concern, I'm fine."

“What happened?” Ninglu asked.

“My lord, I obey your command and reopen the Caligum Gate,” Saint Diego replied.

"After using psionic devices to conduct tests, I discovered that restarting the two corresponding space stations would activate the dormant Caligum Gate, which is expected to allow ships to complete subspace travel within at least 500 light-years."

"After inspecting all the ring-shaped space stations, I determined that the two opposite space stations were in the best overall condition, so I prioritized repairing that pair of space stations."

"After repairing the space station, I commanded a frigate to conduct a test voyage through the Caligum Gate, where I encountered a massive creature."

"What kind of creature?" Ninglu asked.

"The ship's scanners show that its overall shape resembles a whale, a marine creature from ancient Terran legends."

"The scan results show that his body length is a staggering 3,200 kilometers."

Nimrod knew of two enormous whale-like creatures, one of which was the Sky Whale that the future Commissar Kane encountered in Bryce.

It lives in the atmosphere, and locals have domesticated this gentle creature as a pack animal.

With a body length reaching 3,200 kilometers, it can only be a void whale. Compared to it, the sky whale is like a planktonic bird compared to a whale.

Nimrod's most profound memory of the Void Whales was during the future "War of Nurgle," when Nurgle dragged the seven Void Whales He had brought into the Chaos Realm during the "Eternal Night" as Plague Arks, smashing them into what He considered a blasphemous place—Ax.

He knew that the Void Whale swam and traversed the darkness of space, sometimes riding on the supernatural waves of the subspace.

[Could it be that the Void Whale drifted with the current, "swam" to Kaligum Gate, and got "stuck" there?]
"Just as we finished scanning and were figuring out how to deal with this behemoth, countless winged creatures suddenly flew out of it and attacked the spaceship."

Ning Lu nodded slightly. He knew that because of their enormous size, these subspace creatures had their own ecosystem, which was inhabited by all sorts of insidious creatures.

He thought to himself, [If it really is a Void Whale, no wonder Leon Eljonsson personally went into the Caligum Gate to deal with it.]
Although he knew that in 877.M41, a terrifying mutated Void Whale appeared from the warp, and the Wolf Lord Klaxdom fought his way through the whale's body, placing heat exchangers on its life support organs and detonating the gas belts on its body.

However, this method would cause subspace turbulence, which is obviously not feasible in the Caligum Gate.

San Diego's psionic powers are not yet strong enough to teleport a Void Whale to another location.

“I will set off for Caligum Gate immediately.” Nimrod stared at Saint Diego, noticing that the seven-colored light emanating from his astral body was balanced and stable.

Most sequences emit a pure, single color of light after digesting a potion, but the "Master of Tricks" should be different.

"You've mastered the power of the 'Master of Tricks'?"

San Diego pondered for a moment before replying.

"Yes, my lord, ever since you granted me power again, I have been working hard to perform magic tricks."

"Moreover, just like when I was an 'apprentice,' a month ago, I felt something breaking inside me."

“I think I am already a true ‘master of magic’.”

“Go back and pray, and I will grant you new power.” After saying this, Nimrod sent San Diego back to the real world.

He flashed into the first level of space. Ninglu ordered the space apes to use meteorites and other materials to concoct the Sequence 7 "Astrologer" potion.

As the space monkey moved rapidly, Ninglu heard a murmur in his ear.

With a thought, he could clearly hear the prayer coming from San Diego: "The Black Emperor of the Shadow of Order..."

A moment later, he returned to the fourth level of space with the diamond-like "astrologer" potion in his hand.

Nimrod's spirituality spread again, and he saw San Diego come to the bedroom and set up a small altar there.

Although he didn't need to be so solemn, a simple prayer would have received a response from the Black Emperor.

On the even-numbered stone pedestals of the altar, a copy of "The Iron Laws of the King" was placed, surrounded by asymmetrically flickering candlelight.

San Diego happened to be reciting, "I pray for Your blessing..."

Black mist rose into view, and a strong wind suddenly blew up inside the cabin.

The black mist immediately dissipated, and San Diego saw the potion in the bottle in front of him, shining like a diamond.

"Thanks be to my Lord, praise be to my Lord."

"Santiago said in a low voice, then picked up the vial and drank it down."

The medicine slid down his stomach, and countless stars twinkled before his eyes.

As San Diego became the "astrologer," Nimrod returned to the Shadow of the Throne and immediately ordered the fleet to set sail.

Because the Gan Meteor System has not yet built a portal, the fleet first spent two standard ship cycles to reach the Veredian System.

Then, after another twelve weeks, they drove out of the portal that had just been built at the Caligum Gate.

The first battle group, which set off at the same time, was still en route.

The navigators calculated that the journey through the portal to Vostonia, then to Necromonda, and finally to Alicia would take longer than a direct voyage.

The portal can only slightly shorten the journey, by an order of magnitude measured in weeks.

We cannot shorten the voyage by tens or hundreds of times, like Caligan did.

Its biggest advantage is that it is not affected by subspace turbulence and will not cause route interruptions due to subspace storms.

After arriving at Cariham Gate, Nimrod, accompanied by Alcéna Dunne, boarded a destroyer led by Santiago and flew towards Cariham Gate.

On the destroyer's bridge, the Genetic Primarch looked out through the viewing window toward the Cariham Gate.

A series of interconnected space stations are linked together by a massive bundle of cables thousands of meters long, resembling an unfolded necklace.

The gate is wide enough that, once activated, the entire expeditionary fleet can sail through it.

In the "subspace vision," the ring within the "necklace" shimmers with dazzling light.

Following the light, the genetic prototypes traced their origins and found that they came from two opposing space stations, one above the other.

The space station's ether generator is operating at high speed, injecting energy into the subspace gate.

In the Corrupted Baron's view, the Caligum Gate was a jumble of colors, with countless lines covering the entire area.

The protective shield closed, and the bridge entered the subspace portal.

A colossal object blocked the entrance, obstructing the way forward.

(End of this chapter)