Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 180 The Surviving Salamander
"Lord Garides! They've plunged into the deepest pit! Should we give chase?"

"Chase them? Do you think they can survive at the bottom with just these people? That's impossible! That's the territory of the Blood People."

They will be devoured by those outcasts, and those terrifying ghosts and mutated creatures will take care of them for us. The Bloodbringers' out-of-control, modified monsters are far beyond their capabilities.

Even Garides himself would not easily venture into the terrifying depths of Comoros, where the territorial consciousness of different factions is exceptionally strong.

The same applies to the lower levels, which are the territory of mutated creatures and blood-eating people.

In the past, they simply threw the corpses of dead creatures into the portal.

Garrids looked pained; this was perhaps the worst deal he had ever made.

The loss of a large number of slaves would be enough to make him recover for a long time. Most importantly, such an event would make him a laughing stock.

As Burns and the others passed through the portal, they immediately looked nervously behind them.

The portal was still rippling, and it wasn't just this one portal; there were numerous portals, and corpses were being thrown out of them every now and then.

The expected pursuers did not appear, and what they saw around them stunned them into silence.

The crystals atop the broken walls and ruins emitted a faint light, illuminating everything around them.

Beneath some completely shattered ground lies an unknown void.

Everyone looked down at their feet, where piles of white bones covered the ground like mountains.

The pungent, putrid stench was suffocating.

The searchlights on the combat suits shone in all directions.

Surprisingly, there were quite a few creatures scattered around, and even some humans could be seen among them.

What they were doing was extracting food from corpses that hadn't yet decomposed, and what that food was was obvious at a glance.

At this point, Burns was still unaware of the kind of place he had arrived in; his situation in the lower levels of the Comoros was probably no safer than before.

The surrounding magnificent buildings are piled up haphazardly, and although they are dilapidated, you can still see that they are full of artistic flair.

This place may seem like an abandoned site, but it was once a prosperous part of the Eldar city of Comoros.

The servo systems on the combat suit were running at full power, and the terrain near the tactical mask began to be detected and scanned.

Thermal imaging allowed everyone to see their surroundings clearly.

"No matter what, we can't just stay here. Let's move on, everyone."

Looking at the bewildered crowd, Burns said.

And the direction they were heading was precisely towards those humans who fled as soon as they saw them.

Humans are naturally inclined to gather together, and it is difficult for a single individual to survive in such a harsh environment. If we could find a place where humans gather here, perhaps then everyone could truly understand their situation.

The murky air was unbearable, and as they ventured deeper into this unknown area, more and more mutated creatures began to appear on the road. Fortunately, the weapons in their hands were quite effective.

Even when ammunition is depleted, melee combat can still pose a threat to these monsters.

This team acted like a beacon in the darkness, attracting the mutated creatures in the vicinity, and as they ventured deeper, these aberrant monsters clearly grew stronger.

Some aliens even coveted their equipment.

This area feels like a hunting ground for monsters, and they are only alive now because the real hunters haven't found them yet.

The group wandered around like headless flies, realizing that the interior of any of the hollowed-out buildings could be a monster's lair.

Without food, the group's physical strength had almost reached its limit.

"Sir! There's no road!"

Their path was blocked by a collapsed building.

Burns remained undeterred and attempted to use the power of the SCV to forcefully break open the passage in front of him.

But the commotion attracted even more monsters, and the roars of the monsters behind them grew closer and more intense.

Along the way, the team suffered many more casualties, with many soldiers without combat uniforms being dragged away by monsters in the darkness.

They cannot protect everyone; enemies could appear from any direction.

Some of these roaming mutants can even drain a person's life. Burns witnessed firsthand how visibly aged the two comrades he had attacked.

"Brothers, we might really not be able to escape this time. Let's kill as many as we can!"

A low, somber prayer echoed around them.

Everyone was trying to gain the courage to fight one last battle by praying to the God-Emperor, just when everyone had resigned themselves to their fate.

The familiar low Gothic language called out to the crowd from afar.

Inside an inconspicuous building ruin, several raggedly dressed humans were waving at them.

"By the Divine Emperor! Come quickly! Those monsters are coming this way!"

Everyone stared at each other in surprise. Although they had encountered more than one or two humans along the way, this was the first time someone had taken the initiative to make contact with them.

"We have no other choice! Let's go!"

As if grasping at a straw, everyone rushed toward the location of the humans.

Led by them, Burns and his group arrived at a human stronghold hidden in the lower levels.

Burns stared in disbelief at everything before him.

The entire stronghold was actually built on a huge architectural ruin that was floating in the void.

The entire stronghold resembled a small human town. He saw rows of simple weapon workshops, and even some technical priests who had undergone extensive physical modifications, though they were no longer able to wear their iconic red robes.

Inside the clearly militarized stronghold, many people are still conducting combat training.

Burns even saw a statue of the God-Emperor carved from stone. If this were within the Empire, seeing such a crude statue of the God-Emperor would likely have led the state religion to label him a heretic.

But here, people often kneel down in front of it and pray to it.

Just as the group was bewildered, a man with jet-black skin, wearing tattered power armor, walked towards them.

"An Astartes? There's actually an Astartes here?!"

Burns opened the SCV's cockpit and flipped out.

He looked up at the Astartes, a place he had to look up to.

"Soldier, state your unit number, why are you here, and what's with your equipment?"

"We are all from the Montgomery dynasty of the Kronus expansion region. We are led by the great merchant ronin, Gao Yi Montgomery. This equipment is standard issue for our dynasty. May I ask who you are and why you are here!"

"I am Argus, Technical Sergeant of the 3rd Company of the Salamanders Chapter! Welcome, soldiers, we have united with new comrades!"

Argus was not as arrogant as the other Astartes when facing mortals, and the Salamanders were the most amiable of all the founding members. They took it upon themselves to protect mortals and were kind, uncle-like figures.

However, their hatred for aliens is unusually strong.

From Argus, Burns learned why Argus was there and why this place was located in such a stronghold.

The Salamanders' invasion of the Comoros was originally intended to rescue captured Chapter members.

A total of 500 Astartes participated in the operation.

While the invasion, conducted alongside other chapters, successfully rescued the captured "Forgehammer" and its fellow chapter members, some Astartes were also unable to escape during the rescue operation. Some were killed on the spot, while others later perished in the arena.

However, some people managed to escape and reach the darkest corner of the Comoros.

Using his superhuman physique, he relentlessly attacked the Dark Eldar and searched for and rescued other humans who had fallen into the same predicament. Over the course of nearly three hundred years, the scale of the entire stronghold grew larger and larger.

This was a very long time, even for Astartes.

There are very few soldiers in normal combat groups who have served for such a long time. It's not that they can't reach the lifespan limit, but rather that it's very difficult for anyone to live to that age.

However, resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Argus unites all the humans here and gathers intelligence as well as devises attack and escape plans.

With his strength and the increasing number of humans joining him, he has managed to establish a firm foothold in this region.

Besides Argus, there are also the Silver Skull and two other Astartes of the Roaring Griffin.

Meanwhile, the two men were at one of the other two backup outposts.

(End of this chapter)