Warhammer 40k: Melee Warriors

The warship has a complete food and industrial production line, all transported from the shattered steel fortress. While this makes the internal space of the battleship even more cramped, it also means that everyone only needs to obtain the most basic resources to ensure that the warship enters a good cycle.

The powerful engine, the stable output of the Void Shield, and the Geller Field, which blocked the terror of the warp, became the last resort for everyone to survive.

Elaine was clearly better able to read Komi's emotions than Demas, and she couldn't help but ask him what other confusions, besides these worries, were gnawing at his soul like venomous snakes.

Komi didn't answer, but continued to ruffle Elaine's hair, which made Elaine feel a little disappointed. She didn't want Komi to treat her like an immature child.

She is useful too.

Even a distraught Bennet would not hesitate to draw this conclusion when Elaine and Sharon are put together.

Koken was unaware of Elaine's sorrow; he only recalled the curse that the Demon Lord of a Thousand Faces had placed upon him before his death.

Prophecy and curses are undoubtedly among the most ridiculous concepts in the Warhammer universe.

The more a prophecy is avoided, the more likely it is to happen. It's like how the Eldar launched a surprise attack on a human world in an attempt to save themselves, hoping to nip the threat in the bud. However, this very attack attracted the main force of the human empire to carry out their extermination against their own people.

The situation with curses is much the same. A powerful demon's obsession in its final moments before its demise is terrifying, and a curse grows on this foundation, waiting for the day it will erupt.

After Komi awoke, he could sense something sinister beside his soul. He could neither drive it away nor touch it, and could only helplessly tolerate it remaining beside his soul.

Two curses: one is to live and die together, the other is the inevitable betrayal and abandonment by all...

Komi couldn't help but scrutinize everything in the bridge with a suspicious gaze, the memories of being betrayed by the judge still vivid in his mind.

But Komi thought again, how could these people betray him? Even if they were all tied up, they might not be enough for him to kill.

What could betray me? Will the blessings I carry depart at a critical moment?

Gods are always capricious, and their blessings are as unpredictable as the wind. If the Fifth God loses interest in Komi, he will return to the mundane.

I've thought about it for a long time but I still have no clue. There's no point in dwelling on these things.

We can only take it one step at a time...

Komi suddenly stood up, kicked Antoine as he passed by, then turned back and told Elaine to follow him to check on Bennett and the others.

As expected, Bennett stayed by Hela's side, but the Hela of today was no longer the Hela he once loved.

Bennett brushed Hela's shell, but felt no response. The pale-skinned Midnight Lord had grown a messy, sparse beard from worry, and her eye bags were layered.

Ferren comforted Bennett, telling him that birth, aging, sickness, and death are all part of life, and that Hela might not have really died; she still exists in a corner of the warp, waiting for Bennett's rescue.

“That’s what Markus said.” Bennett wrung out the water and wiped away the excess moisture with a dry cloth. “But how difficult it is to find the original Hela... The warp is so vast, and an interesting soul is so small. Even the smoke around us makes this warship look as pitiful as an ant.”

"I never knew that the Midnight Lords and the Raven Guards shared the same tendency toward depression."

Komi's voice interrupted their conversation. Feren and Komi shook hands firmly. Feren's new armor was already covered in rust.

Bennett walked unsteadily toward Komi; just by looking at the style of his armor, it would be easy for others to mistake him for a steel warrior.

He didn't know what to say to Koji, knowing that going to Broken Steel Fortress was his idea, but that idea had almost cost him Hela forever.

Passing Bennett, Komi placed his hand on Hela. He had never been able to sense the emotions flowing within the machine before, let alone now.

Machine Soul Machine Soul... In the silence of the ancient times, he suddenly remembered a new god that was hidden very deeply.

Vashtor, the god of all furnaces.

It is said that this great demon, known for forging demonic machines, has many connections with the Machine Soul, and there is even a theory that says so.

Within the Mechanicus, the power to worship the Mech Soul with a religious heart belongs to the Emperor, the worship that leans towards humanity belongs to the Vashtor, and the worship that leans towards mechanics belongs to the Void Dragon.

If given the chance, Koji would be happy to discuss the issue of Machine Souls with Vashtor. It would be even better if Hela could be found again. I believe Bennett will remember this kindness and become one of his most loyal subordinates.

"Speaking of Sharon, where is he?" Komi asked abruptly. Just as Feren was about to answer, a piercing alarm sounded throughout the warship, and Demas's voice was transmitted directly to the sound array device built into Komi's Terminator power armor.

"A demon has appeared in the warship industrial area! And it's a very powerful demon. We need to drive this monstrosity away!"

Is war about to break out as soon as I wake up?

There really isn't much time to rest...

Koji pursed his lips and then strode towards the shipbuilding industrial area.

......

The production line, which had not yet been started, was already running on its own. The sounds of the conveyor belts and engineering arms were pleasing to a huge, ferocious demon. To him, these powerful, restless sounds were as melodious as a fine opera in a grand theater.

Not far in front of this giant demon was Sharon, his face contorted with rage, questioning why the demon had broken their agreement.

"Disobey?" The Great Demon stared at Sharon with his dim, yellowish eyes, flicked his fingers to create sparks, and then a contract covered in writing appeared in his hand. "This is part of our agreement... but you didn't heed my advice to read these contents carefully."

"The situation was so urgent, how could I have time!"

"That's your problem, not mine. I have upheld the spirit of the contract to the extreme, and I take the contents of the contract as the standard. This warship will have a part of me."

Chapter 160: You're here to collect a debt?

Walking briskly through the ship industrial zone where powerful demons roam, even with the protection of the Geller's Stance, there are obvious signs of corruption. The boundary between steel and flesh has become blurred, and the cameras of surveillance cameras have been replaced by eyeballs.

The tightly closed gate opened under Demas's control. Komi walked in front, carrying one of the few powered weapons in the armory. These weapons were obviously captured from the Empire, with an Imperial double-headed eagle on the hilt.

The Iron Warriors attempted to destroy the double-headed eagle, but abandoned the attempt upon discovering that the disintegration force generator was also inside. Instead, they carved several grooves into the surface with their knives to demonstrate their irreconcilable stance against the Empire.

To be honest, Komi doesn't really like power swords. They always feel light and flimsy in his hands. Komi thinks that if he could get a power hammer like Hongsuo, or a giant chopping axe with some kind of mystical power, that would be fine too.

Sharon was suspended by iron chains and bound to a corrupted Thinker machine. His psionic energy was being continuously extracted by the machine and eventually transformed into one of the power sources driving the production line.

A gigantic demon, as tall as a knight's mech, roamed through the industrial zone, meticulously calculating how much Sharon's psionic energy input could increase industrial production efficiency.

Faced with the open gate behind him and the sound of numerous Chaos Space Marines raising their weapons, the colossal daemon didn't even bother to turn its head.

This is definitely not a problem of blurred vision or deafness.

But deep down, this demon felt that all the living people on the battleship were useless.

Koken signaled to everyone not to fire, and he began to observe the physical characteristics of the giant demon from a distance.

His chest cavity was entangled and bound by several pipes that then extended from his back. These pipes spewed out a lot of choking smoke with the demon's breathing and movements.

The face was replaced by a welder's mask, with a strip-shaped observation hole emitting a scarlet glow. The gap between the mask and the face was imperceptible, almost as if it grew out of the face.

His limbs were a fusion of muscles and machines. At first glance, they didn't seem advanced. Instead, they looked like they were made in some steampunk era, with gears moving inside making a clock-like clicking sound and a few sparks.

This...Vashtor's demon?

Komi raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that he had just been thinking about Vashtor, and now one of his demons had arrived to cause trouble.

Knowing Vashtor's nature, Komi sheathed his power sword and stood proudly facing the demon's back, asking, "What are you doing here? I don't recall signing any treacherous pact with you or your master."

Upon hearing the mention of a contract, the busy demon turned around and looked at Komi seriously. Then, he pointed at Sharon in the distance with his welding torch-like fingers and replied, "He made a deal with us to ensure the success of a spell."

"The Gate of Infinity?"

The demon nodded, and Sharon, whose spiritual energy had been drained, tried his best to turn his head to the side so that no one could see the embarrassment on his face.

Sharon's unstable psionic energy is unprecedented and unparalleled. Even a transmigrator like Koji, who has read through many Warhammer stories, cannot find another heavyweight like Sharon.

Perhaps Tzeentch is protecting this guy, hoping he can bring him more fun.

Koji shook his head helplessly. He really didn't want to clean up Sharon's mess, but he had to help because of the curse.

Once the Bone and Blood Forest broke the curse with an axe, Komi's first act was to kick Sharon off the ship. He was speechless at having this useless and troublesome guy around.

Suddenly, Komi had an interesting idea.

Could it be that Sharon is the traitor who alienated him from everyone?

Hahaha...

That's ridiculous.

If he can really do that, Komi feels he'll have to give him a thumbs up.

With his power sword drawn and activated, Komi walked forward step by step and said, "Alright, demon. Sharon is not for you and your undeified master to manipulate. His fate is in my hands."

"How arrogant! Do you really think that Terminator power armor gives you a chance to defeat me?" The demon sneered, his tone full of disdain. "As the debt collector under the Lord of Ten Thousand Furnaces, the demon who ensures that all contractual debts are fully repaid, I, Karaka, will make your souls work in the Soul Forge until your last breath!"

15 minute later.

Karaka lay down in front of Komi with his hands behind his back. All four of his limbs had been broken, and even his head had almost been twisted off by Komi. If it weren't for the universal joint between his neck and head, he would have died at Komi's hands long ago.

Komi squatted down, poking Karaka's shriveled buttocks with his power sword (which had its field deactivated), laughing and cursing, "I haven't even put in any effort, and you're already down. You're quite big, and you've got a lot of nerve, how come your combat power is so much weaker?"

Karaka, panting heavily, managed to turn his head to look at Komi. "Don't be arrogant... Even if you can defeat my body, you can't defeat my essence. The Lord of Ten Thousand Furnaces gave me a great blessing, something you mortals cannot comprehend..."

Koji curled his lip; he knew Vashtor all too well what kind of person he was.

This guy is an inventor, engineer, and other scholar, possessing the depraved and immoral nature unique to demons. His source of power is relatively weak and scarce compared to the four Warp Gods.

Humanity's ambition to understand and master the forces of nature fuels its expansion, much like how, in the process of human development from the Middle Ages to the modern era, nature, which was considered divine, was gradually shattered by the progress of science, ultimately leading to the slogan of science conquering nature. In the process of progress, science has also acquired some new divine attributes.

The realm of Vashtor is very similar to the world that the Iron Warriors want to build. In this vast country of endless factories and steam, there is no freedom. Everyone is a tiny cog in the machine, constantly being replaced to boost the productivity of this dark factory.

Vashtor's greatest advantage over the other four gods is undoubtedly his trustworthiness, even though the contracts he signs are all heartless agreements that would make you want to offer up your entire family's souls just to get a sip of water.

But this is still much better than Trevor, who speaks only half the truth, and whose rewards and punishments are unclear.

Judging from Karaka's appearance, this demon has also been tainted by Vashtor's penchant for signing treacherous agreements.

Komi remembers that Vashtor always wanted to be promoted to a new god in the warp, but his ascension progress was blocked by the Emperor on Terra. As long as the Emperor did not become the Dark Lord, Vashtor would forever remain in the awkward position of a demigod.

This is really interesting...

If I want to ascend to godhood one day, I'm afraid I'll have to get past the emperor first.

So what should we do? Watch Cipher stab the Emperor? Or snatch the Draknien sword from Abaddon's hand?

This seems too far-fetched and unrealistic.

Chapter 161: Now I'm your new boss!

Koji didn't know what kind of generous employee benefits Vashtor gave to this Karaka, but he knew that Vashtor's divine power was limited and he couldn't possibly resurrect millions of great demons with a wave of his hand like the gods.

Komi looked at Vashtor with a smile. As a World Eater, the smile on his face, which had been taut with anger over the years, was quite terrifying. Even Karaka, a demon, couldn't help but comment on Komi's smile.

“Karaka...Vashtor is not omnipotent; you must understand that his power is limited.”

Karaka turned off the faint light from the strip-shaped observation hole on his welder's mask, pretending to ignore Komi.

Since they won't take the good stuff, let's try something tough.

Komi got up and ordered the Steel Warriors to use forklifts to flip the crippled and immobile Karaka over, so that he lay sprawled out on his back, staring at the ceiling of the industrial area.