Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 319 Krock in the Frozen Realm

The ice sheet of Herson III was trembling, as if the entire planet was shuddering inside the belly of some ancient behemoth.

Chapter Master Joel of the Blood Knights stood in the makeshift command post, his crimson power armor covered in frost, the frost clinging to his joints peeling off with each movement.

Behind the visor, his eyes were fixed on the ever-expanding red area on the holographic tactical map—representing the Greenskins' intensifying offensive, like a turbid torrent breaching a dam, devouring the last weak point in humanity's defenses.

What's even more unsettling is that the orcs' attack route wasn't chaotic; their goal seemed to be more than just breaking through human defenses, but converging on a certain coordinate deep within the ice plains.

"What are they digging for?" Joel's voice was low and hoarse, like two pieces of rusty metal rubbing against each other.

His rough fingers swept across the data panel, bringing up the images that the reconnaissance team had risked their lives to send back.

Deep within the ice, an ancient metal structure, frozen for millennia, is being brutally excavated by the orcs. The skilled young men wield welding torches and drills, and the rusted runes gleam with an eerie green light under the searchlights, as if responding to the orcs' savage hammering.

"Ancient relics?" Sea Hare stood to the side, her brows furrowed into a deep furrow.

He wasn't a military expert, but even he understood that giving these natural war machines any form of technological boost would be catastrophic.

Those killing machines cobbled together from scrap metal and insane "I think" ideas, if they were further enhanced by ancient technology...

“No, it’s worse than that.” Joel suddenly gripped the data panel, and the armored servo system emitted a dangerous hum.

He violently magnified a corner of the image—deep within the ice fissures, a massive green body could be vaguely seen, frozen within the thick ice wall like a prehistoric giant insect encased in amber.

Its size far exceeds that of ordinary orcs; its muscular arms are almost as thick as the waist of an Astartes warrior, and its fangs protrude from its jaw like power axes. Even when frozen in ice, it maintains a posture of roaring towards the sky.

At the same time, it was covered in a suit of power armor that looked very advanced at a glance, and it was holding a hammer that looked as big as a family car!

(Kroc concept art, possibly a fan-made design, authenticity not guaranteed)

The air in the command post froze instantly.

“Krock…” Sea Hare’s throat tightened.

—Legendary ancient orcs, monsters capable of wrestling with the Primarch.

"Do you know what this is?" Captain Yor stared intently at the sea slug, demanding to know what this seemingly unimaginable behemoth was.

Originally, the commander of the Yor Warband thought this was a "beast" that had appeared in the Beast Wars recorded in the history of the Empire, but now he heard a name he had never heard before from the sea hare.

Croc, a name that Joel can be certain never appears in any official imperial records.

"I once heard Judge Chen Xi mention that in the era when the Necromancers of the Space were still active, they waged a war against a race called the Ancient Saints, a war known as the War of Heaven." Sea Hare didn't seem to care much about secrecy at this point, and in his eyes, this wasn't exactly a secret: "The Necromancers of the Space received help from a real-world cosmic deity called the Star God, and they wantonly distorted the laws of physics, folded or altered the dimensions of the universe. The war that broke out between them and the Ancient Saints, who mastered psionic technology and the Web Dao, even tore the galaxy apart."

In order to fight against the Necromancers and the Celestials, the Old Ones transformed the Orcs and Eldar into their servants for this war that tore the galaxy apart. The Krok were the weapons of war created by the Old Ones to combat the Necromancers and the Celestials; they are also the ancestors or origin of the modern Orks.

"Are they the ancestors of the Greenskins? Were they very powerful?" Yor stared at the sea slug and asked the question that concerned him most: "What will happen if the orcs dig it up?"

Faced with Joel's question, Sea Slug gazed into his bloodshot eyes and asked in a low voice, "If a Primarch were to return, how much of an impact would it have on Astartes? Kroc is to the Greenskins what a Primarch is to the Space Marines."

Upon hearing this, Joel instinctively felt a surge of anger. How could this monster be compared to the noble Primarch?

But then he felt a chilling fear that made the hairs on his body stand on end.

Because the sea slug added, "The 'beast' that could fight Lord Vulcan one-on-one in the Beast Wars was not as big as Croc, and its strength was much weaker."

"We must stop their digging!" Chapter Master Joel suddenly calmed down, because he knew that the Blood Knights had found a mission worth sacrificing everything for, and they would wash away their shame in the name of Saint Gilles.

"Gather all Blood Knights who are still able to fight, let's raid the ruins and destroy that device!"

Sea Hare instinctively tried to stop him: "Commander Yor, we must inform Judge Chen Xi about this! We need reinforcements; we're short-handed right now, you—"

“Mortal, this is not a request, but a notification.” Before the sea hare could finish speaking, Joel interrupted him, his voice as cold as iron: “Honor cannot be tarnished. Even if we die in battle, we must stop them from awakening that monster.”
-
Three hundred Blood Knights charged through the howling blizzard, their red power armor covered in frost, their leaping backpacks spewing fiery blue tail flames that streaked across the dark night sky with countless blinding streaks of light.

The hum of the chainsaw sword mingled with the frenzied battle cries of the green-skinned orcs, creating a symphony of death.

However, when they rushed into the area of ​​the ancient ruins, what awaited them was not only an ambush carefully laid by the orc warlords, but also more ancient greenskins awakening from the depths of the ice.

These monsters, frozen for countless centuries, are larger than modern orcs. Their muscular bodies are covered with armor that looks rough but can easily withstand bullet gun fire, and their fangs protrude like scimitars.

The weapons they wielded were not crudely made scrap metal, but rather well-forged killing tools.

Sharp battle axes, heavy power hammers, and even some strange firearms that seem to be from ancient technology.

They are not Kroc, but nobody knows which era they belong to.

Their fighting style is savage and efficient; each charge is like the trampling of an ancient behemoth.

It even gave the battle-hardened Blood Knights the illusion that they were fighting against the terrifying orcs from the "War of the Beasts" recorded in the Empire's history.

Battle losses are rising rapidly.

A Blood Knight was struck head-on by an ancient greenskin's power hammer, his breastplate instantly caved in, and he crashed into the ice like a cannonball; another warrior had just severed an orc's head with his chainsword when a battle axe attacked from the side cleaved his shoulder armor, and his blood instantly congealed in the extreme cold.

"Hold the formation!" the Blood Knight's company commander roared in the communications channel, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the deafening battle cries of the Ancient Greenskins.

(End of this chapter)