Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 179 Stepping into a Trap
The leader of the Pentagram Army, the soul of a Space Marine, protected by twenty brothers, enters the mind of a human being who has been mentally controlled.

His soul fell into the void, and all he saw was boundless pure blackness.

The human soul should not be so empty; it should be vibrant and colorful, filled with the rich tapestry of emotions.

However, within this pitch-black consciousness, countless fine white cracks were present.

Upon closer inspection, it was not a crack, but rather fine lines formed from white consciousness, like a spider web coiled within human consciousness, manipulating thought fluctuations.

At the convergence point of the white spider web, a white dot of light floats, seemingly pure and harmless.

When the Heavenly Lord's consciousness tentacles touched the white light spot, the alien's knowledge instantly flooded into his mind.

He had to do this, taking a huge risk, to probe the mind of the alien race and obtain relevant alien intelligence.

The moment the tentacles of consciousness touched the white light, knowledge about the alien flooded into the mind.

He glimpsed the underlying structure and basic intelligence of the Randan aliens, and even some of Morse's military deployments.

Randan's war structure consists of a massive, controlled slave army at the bottom, elite warriors in the middle, and "war commanders" at the top.

The aliens had foreseen the arrival of humans; Morse was a carefully laid trap.

The Lord of the Heavenly Army's consciousness sank, and he became even more eager to know more.

"Who is touching my mind?" Just as I was about to delve deeper, a strong spiritual force came over me.

The white spiderweb cracks suddenly contracted, piercing towards the consciousness of the Lord of Heavenly Army, attempting to take over his consciousness and control him in reverse.

The spiritual fluctuations were as vast as the sea, pressing down from the darkness, and the white spider web transformed into a rope, encircling the Lord of the Heavenly Army.

He was horrified. Having explored the spiritual world for years, he had never seen such a powerful spirit.

It far surpasses Astartes, exhibiting extreme aggression and domineering nature.

But the Lord of the Heavenly Army remained calm; he was Astartes, and his consciousness was protected by his brothers.

Condensing consciousness into spikes, it pierces the white light, destroying the alien's consciousness.

"what!!!!"

A violent mental fluctuation erupted, piercing the white light spot, which then shattered into countless irreparable cracks.

Another piece of information entered his mind, and the Lord of the Five-Pointed Star Army quickly processed the information.

The Randan aliens possess powerful mental strength, enabling them to control races with weak mental strength.

This control is irreversible; it is a dual control, both mental and physical.

Ran Dan's brain is even larger due to her outstanding mental strength, and it secretes a unique cerebrospinal fluid to maintain its function.

For Ran Dan, cerebrospinal fluid is a consumable for washing her brain, a physiological substance that is secreted and excreted daily.

But Ran Dan's cerebrospinal fluid has another function.

If consumed by other races, even in minute quantities, the cerebrospinal fluid will contaminate their minds, establish a mental connection with the fluid's owner, and achieve mental control.

"Human, you will get nothing from me!" Ran Dan uttered a vicious curse. The moment their consciousness touched, the alien knew that it was a human spying on it.

The white light trembled erratically, shattered into glass shards, and disappeared into the pitch-black space of consciousness.

As the alien spirit departs, the mortal's mental world gradually collapses, and there is no way to save it.

In the real world, a mortal's body would explode, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

The leader of the Five-Pointed Star Army, his consciousness returning to his body, involuntarily shuddered: "We're in big trouble—"

His voice was low, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead, as he tried to alleviate the aftereffects of being out of his body.

"Help me up," he said urgently, gesturing for his fellow warriors to help him up. "Take me to the Grand Master. This is a trap..."

Urian stood in the command room, staring intently at the holographic map. His face beneath the helmet was resolute, but his brows were furrowed.

Everything was normal at the landing site, and personnel and equipment were being continuously lowered from the tracks, with the tactical deployment proceeding smoothly.

In the distance, the human charge continued, but the charging ranks were different.

The old, weak, sick, and disabled were all exhausted, leaving a meter-thick carpet of blood and flesh on the ground.

The human servants sent by the aliens, clad in armor and armed with standard automatic guns, moved with measured steps and employed sound tactics.

Outside the hive capital, in the wilderness, the standard auxiliary troops, under the cover of the flesh and blood wall, set up heavy fire positions and bombarded the Void Shield at the landing point.

Grandmaster Urian's planned surprise attack, intended as a swift and decisive victory, was dragged into a war of attrition by a massive number of slave cannon fodder.

"Urian Bendreg!" A weak and urgent call came from the security door of the command fortress.

Urian looked up and saw the Lord of the Five Elements Army being helped by two of his battle brothers as he approached.

The Grand Master rushed forward, realizing the gravity of the situation, and made a lord of the Heavenly Army set aside his respect and address him by his name. With one hand on his brother's breastplate, Urian turned around and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"How could you be so weak?" Urian helped him to a chair, his tone full of concern.

“A minor side effect of psionic power.” The Lord of the Heavenly Army shook his head, removing his gloves to reveal his large hands. “Take off your helmet. I don’t have time to explain to you. I’ll just implant the memories directly.”

Under normal circumstances, Urian would never allow psychic energy to enter his mind to prevent possible memory alteration.

But at this moment, he sensed his brother's urgency and the urgent situation that required no delay.

Urian removed his terracotta helmet and bowed his head to his brother, the trust between them evident.

The Lord of the Pentagram Army raised his arm, his fingertips flashing with psionic light, and pressed his thumb against the Grand Master's temple.

As a chill of zero degrees Celsius washed over him, Urian sensed a message entering his consciousness.

His eyes shone with psychic light, and he saw the memories touched by the Lord of the Heavenly Army.

This is a trap; Ran Dan has set a snare here to test the Empire's strength.

Randan's war commanders and elite warriors are hiding in the human capital, using human servants to deplete the Empire's fighting strength.

They will only appear when the First Legion is exhausted and weary, to reap the Empire's remaining fighting force.

Urian staggered backward, but was caught by the guards behind him. He knew everything.

The current mentor was in a daze, his mind blank, and he was momentarily lost in thought.

He knew that the operation had failed.

Under his leadership, the First Legion charged into Randan's trap, putting the lives of millions of its fleet in grave danger.

How did the aliens know that the human empire would come here and prepare in advance?

"Tell the fleet to be wary of alien attacks." Urian shook his head violently to clear his mind and broke free from the support of the guards behind him.

The Grand Tutor didn't investigate further; now was not the time to pursue the leak of intelligence.

The immediate problem to be solved is how to arrange the next tactics to resist Ran Dan's attack.

"Notify the orbital fleet!" he shouted anxiously, his face pale. "Have them drop the war supplies as quickly as possible."

Urian's orders were firm: the Grand Master would not withdraw his troops; on the contrary, he would intensify his amphibious assault.

"Urian Bendreg!" The Lord of the Pentagram Army stood up, pointed at the Grand Master, and shouted angrily, "This is a trap, don't you understand?"

"We should retreat now, preserve our fighting strength, and wait for the Primarch to arrive."

"We have lost the battle here and must evacuate."

"Don't let your pride destroy the First Legion..." The Lord of the Heavenly Army's last words sounded like a plea, urging the Grand Master to leave:

"For the Legion..."

Inside the command room, the black-armored warriors stood solemnly, glancing at the pleading voices; they had never seen the fragile Lord of the Heavenly Army before.

“I know!” Urian’s eyes were filled with tears as he stepped forward and held his brother’s shoulder armor. “I know everything, my dear brother.”

"That's why I have to have the fleet drop more supplies to sustain a protracted battle."

His voice was low and choked with emotion: "It's too late to turn back... Can we still leave?"

"The aliens have meticulously prepared a trap, and we... my arrogance led you into it."

"They want to wear us down, and we must do the same, delaying them and waiting for the Primarch to arrive!"

"We must hold out for four months, preserve the empire's military strength, and have the capacity to counterattack."

The leader of the Heavenly Army was about to speak, and he couldn't refute the Grand Master's tactical arrangements.

Now that the million-strong mortal army has all landed, the fleet is truly executing the next phase, with the Faith Guardians and Titan Legions about to land.

With so many personnel and weapons, it's easy to get down but difficult to get up.

"Land all supplies, fleet prepare to evade, and send astral messages to the Primarch."

Urian swiftly made arrangements, demonstrating his decisiveness as a legion leader in dealing with the ensuing situation.

"Brothers of the other legions, heed my command and assemble at these two locations!"

He marked two locations on the map and instructed the soldiers at the other two landing points to move there.

In this way, all the landing forces are arranged in a triangular formation, mutually supporting and protecting each other.

(End of this chapter)