Warhammer 40: Saviors Emerging from the Bottom

Feeling the pain in his abdomen, Valerian smiled with excitement.

"Haha, that's interesting. It seems those rumors weren't entirely fabricated."

"Don't be so shocked, the real battle has just begun."

"Young man, don't be so sure of yourself. Although I am over a hundred years old, I am not someone you can bully."

Valerian twirled his sword, then stepped forward and thrust it toward Xiao Yi's chest.

Clang! The sound of metal swords colliding rang in everyone's ears. Xiao Yi parried Valerian's attack with an upward slash.

The two then engaged in a fierce fight.

The movements of both sides were so fast that they left afterimages. Apart from the three Astartes present and the person with the mechanical eye, no one else could see what was happening.

They could only judge who had the upper hand by the sounds of weapons and flesh clashing.

Xiao Yi's relentless attacks left Valerian on the defensive, and before long, he began to pant heavily.

Time has left indelible marks on him, and it is no longer possible for him to fight all day like he did in his youth.

We must finish this quickly, otherwise Xiao Yi can completely exhaust his stamina with his strength and speed.

From their exchange just now, Valerian realized that his opponent had not systematically studied swordsmanship.

All he's doing now is relying on his instincts to keep launching attacks.

If you find the right opportunity, you can take them down in one fell swoop.

However, given the current frequency of attacks, it will be difficult to extricate oneself.

Valerian was pondering a countermeasure, and his movements were noticeably a beat slower. Upon realizing this, Xiao Yi immediately seized the opportunity and launched an attack.

As the blade drew closer to his body, Valerian broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately gripped the sword with both hands to parry, finally managing to stop it just inches from his skin.

"Distractedness during battle is not a good habit."

"I don't need you to remind me of that."

Valerian gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence.

His well-developed muscles didn't give him much strength or advantage; if the stalemate continued, he would definitely lose.

Therefore, the old knight raised his foot and kicked Xiao Yi slightly below the abdomen.

Contrary to the common perception that "those who value honor will always win the duel fairly," Valerian, who had wandered the universe for decades, deeply understood the importance of combat skills.

He didn't care what methods he used to achieve victory, as long as it reduced casualties among his men. Even using methods that other Solaris nobles would consider extremely despicable was perfectly acceptable.

Having anticipated this, Xiao Yi immediately dodged backward. If he were to be careless in this position, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Seeing his reaction, Valerian's lips curled into a smug smile.

Despite his exhaustion, he immediately followed and thrust at an extremely tricky angle.

"Old man, you have no martial ethics."

Xiao Yi cursed under his breath, then twisted his body, barely dodging the sword thrust at him.

After regaining his footing, he immediately raised his leg and whipped it across Valerian's back.

The old knight, who had not yet regained his footing, was suddenly struck on the back by a huge impact and almost fell to the ground.

He held the sword with both hands, using the tips to support his body.

Suddenly, a cold sensation came from his neck.

You lost.

"You should be glad I reacted quickly enough, otherwise if something had really gone wrong, I'd never forgive you."

Seeing Xiao Yi's unfriendly expression, Valerian used two fingers to brush away the sword that Xiao Yi had lightly placed on his shoulder, and said, "That's how the battlefield is."

"I never expected that I would be defeated by someone who has absolutely no basic swordsmanship skills."

"Would you be interested in learning swordsmanship? I can be your teacher."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yi was taken aback.

Before I could even speak, the other party came to me willingly. Could there be some kind of conspiracy involved?

Seeing Xiao Yi's suspicious look, Valerian smiled and said, "I just don't want the Empire's warriors to die on the battlefield because of their own negligence. If you really encountered those sword masters, you would have died three times over by now."

Valerian's words were somewhat exaggerated. Unless it was an enemy at the Primarch level, it would be impossible to kill him three times in such a short period of time.

However, his words were not without merit.

"In that case, I'll trouble you. But right now, supporting Aurora is the more important thing."

Valerian smiled but didn't say anything. For some reason, he felt that the guy in front of him looked a lot like himself when he was young.

They were all so young, spirited, and full of vigor.

The crowd watching the game relaxed instantly upon seeing the two in good spirits.

"Phew, that startled me. I thought Lord Valerian was dissatisfied with the outcome of the duel and wanted to back out."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that Lord Valerian is a dishonest and untrustworthy person?"

"I didn't mean that. Don't make wild guesses."

"So what do you mean?"

"Alright, you two, stop arguing. Let's talk about this after the war is over."

After returning the sword to the captain of Vornheim, everyone returned to the banquet hall.

Under the guidance of Xiao Yi and Valerian, they enjoyed the food while discussing their upcoming tactics, with a mechanical apprentice taking notes alongside them, carrying a servo skull.

With Friedrich's personal ship and Bakda's remaining three warships, Xiao Yi could field a fleet of 17 cruisers.

The vast majority of them are Luna-class cruisers.

As the most common warship in the Imperial Navy fleet, the main advantage of the Luna-class cruiser is its ease of construction. Even in the wild world of the Empire, the natives can manage to assemble one through decades of persistent effort.

Depending on the application scenario, they are equipped with different weapons, the most important of which are macro cannons, light lances, and torpedoes.

In war, the Luna-class cruisers, like the wolves of Terra, would move out in groups and work together. They would often use a barrage of torpedoes to tear through the enemy's defenses, and then use light spears and macro cannons at close range to inflict devastating damage on the enemy.

Valerian's ship, the Fearless Lion, and Friedrich's ship, the Mars Explorer, were both Gothic-class cruisers, and like the Luna-class cruisers, they were common members of the Imperial Navy's fleet organization.

However, after various private modifications by the Great Sage of the Cult of Mechanics, the Mars Explorer has little in common with ordinary Gothic-class cruisers.

Previously, this feeling wasn't very obvious, but after seeing Valerian's "Fearless Lion," Xiao Yi realized what a real Gothic-class cruiser looked like.

Its powerful firepower makes it perfectly capable of serving as the main force for output, working in conjunction with other Luna-class cruisers to break through enemy defenses, and transport ships carrying soldiers and cargo can safely reach the starports of Aurora.

Based on Valerian's suggestion, the Empire will first send two transport ships under its control to lure the enemy's main force to a nearby asteroid belt for annihilation. After weakening the enemy's strength, they will then launch an attack.