The Bizarre Adventures of Cloud Hammer

Xianyu came to the Hive without referring to the hive city map given by the planetary governor. Even the ruler of the planet could not fully know the entire structure of the hive city, so everyone asked Gloria to scan the hive city from inside and outside and reconstruct a detailed hive city map, many of which included routes that were not on the planetary governor's map.

"What about you, my lord?"

"I'll stay here and wait for the ceremony." Xianyu had already thought of a preface. "You know we can't contact the headquarters here. I need you to bring back the intelligence you know so that others can learn of the heretic's conspiracy."

"Don't worry about me. It's more convenient for me to be alone."

If you ever encounter a situation where you need to play with a group and accidentally kill one of your own people, you're doomed.

"Just go back and relax. I'm quite strong. [Photo: Batboy]"

Chapter 60 Word Bearers

"Hurry up and bring the materials over here. And don't be lazy over there. The dust must be smoothed over for me!"

Awei, wearing a red safety helmet, directed the soldiers and Astartes on the site to build fortifications.

After Bayar and Lanny brought back the news of the bottom nest, Allen and the two chapter leaders also knew that the heretics were planning a big event. At present, no one knows why the heretics held the ceremony, but this battle will definitely be more difficult than previously thought.

To be on the safe side, everyone decided to make multiple preparations, and Wei finally had the opportunity to display his greatest strengths.

Let these Emperor Fists see Tie Yong's strength in "beating the dust"!

So Awei took a group of Astartes to the hive city. After observing the lower hive area occupied by the Astra Militarum, he drew the blueprint in a very short time and started construction immediately.

In order to speed up the progress, Awei asked for a group of people from the Cadia Assault Force. At first, these Cadias were actually reluctant, but when they saw the treatment given by the Nebula Hammer, they all rushed over.

Look at all this meat, these vegetables, this fruit, and this wine! These big guys might not even get a single meal until they die, but the Nebula Hammer provides it every meal! If it's not enough, they can keep adding more until they're stuffed and vomit!

Maya, you Astartes eat so well.

The Cardia bosses who failed to get a spot shed tears of regret and pulled back their comrades who were about to go to the construction site, telling them to take care of themselves and remember to bring back some good things for their brothers and sisters when they come back.

As for these foods, everyone's explanation is that they simply don't lack them and have special supply channels.

Where is the channel, you ask?

It’s a clandestine secret, so I won’t answer. Hehehe.

In order to repay the favor of the Nebula Hammer, the Black Templars also sent half a company to assist. As the descendants of Dorne, the skill of civil engineering is also engraved in the genes of the Black Templars. It's just that they are more inclined to the violent and angry side of Dorne, so they are a little unfamiliar with civil engineering compared to the Emperor Fist family, but they are still much stronger than ordinary people.

The planetary governor of Isil originally wanted to send a group of people to help, but was rejected by Wei on the grounds that the number of people was sufficient, which of course was not the real reason for the rejection.

The Lord of the Black Templars took a look at the blueprint drawn by Wei. With his civil engineering knowledge, he could conclude that this was the best design plan that could be thought of to suit this area. This only took a few hours. It would be impossible for the Black Templars to design it so quickly, nor could they achieve such perfection.

"I had no idea that the son of Guilliman could be so accomplished in architecture, Master Axwell."

If the Nebula Hammer had not mentioned that they were a sub-regiment of the Ultramarines, the castle lord would have almost thought that the person in front of him was a master architect from the Imperial Fists.

"There are also those among the Ultramarines who focus on developing their own abilities. They will learn the strengths of other armies... Chapters to strengthen themselves. It's not surprising that there are those who are proficient in architecture."

After such a long time, Wei has more or less learned how to answer other people's questions in a formula. He also asked everyone whether they should leave some suspense for the black orcs.

After analyzing the situation, everyone thought it was feasible. After these incidents, the black orcs would not regard them as traitors. However, they did not want to make it too clear. They just had to act as a riddler and let the black orcs imagine for themselves.

"But that doesn't include me."

"Master Axwell?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

The castle lord believed that there were many ways to interpret Awei's words. The master might be boasting that he was a genius and did not need to study as hard as others, or he might be not an extreme warrior.

The castle lord knew that if he continued to ask, Awei would not answer. What he had to do now was to collect more information and then report it to Marshal Koslo, so he changed the subject.

"Can you explain these designs to me?"

"of course can."

Ah Wei began to explain to the castle lord that his design had no blind spots in the terrain of the Lower Nest, with multiple defenses, cross-fire, rapid transfer... basically, everything was done to the best of the current situation. Knowing that the enemy had stealth units like the Night Lords, Ah Wei deliberately left a few gaps. These roads were full of deadly traps. Even if the enemy was lucky enough to survive, they would be eliminated by the Imperial Guards who had been waiting for them. Unless the enemy sent a batch of super-heavy units in from the Lower Nest, Ah Wei had no idea how to penetrate his fortifications, provided that these super-heavy vehicles could drive over.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and the structure of the hive, Awei's construction talent cannot be fully utilized here. Otherwise, he could build a top-level war fortress. As long as there are enough supplies, he can lead a team of people to guard it until the destruction of the universe. Even if it is really breached, the escape device and backup hidden energy will surely give the enemy an unexpected surprise.

In comparison, Ah Wei's fortifications in Xiachao are completely dilapidated, but being able to reproduce the dream combination of Tie Yong Zao Di Quan Shou after nearly ten thousand years is not a wasted trip.

Since part of the Astra Militarum was withdrawn to build fortifications, and the attack on the lower nest could not be shelved, the missing combat power would be made up by the Astartes. Each of the three regiments sent down a company. They accelerated the advance and could not watch the enemy's plan slowly.

Rapid advancement naturally requires the coordination of vehicles. The environment of the lower nest limits the deployment of heavy vehicles, but the performance of light vehicles will not be affected. Therefore, various models of Land Speeders were deployed in the lower nest. This light anti-gravity aircraft is the main vehicle used by the Imperial Astartes for reconnaissance, supply and rapid attack.

After everything was arranged, the Astartes troops immediately launched attacks on various areas of the Lower Hive. The warriors rushed into the enemy's positions on Land Speeders, and the mortal cultists were unable to stop the Astartes' offensive. Their superhuman physique meant that the Astartes did not need to rest like mortals. They would fight until all the heretics in the Lower Hive were eliminated.

Over the next two days, the frontal pressure on the Cadian Assault Force was reduced a lot, but because they were unable to keep up with the Astartes' advance, their main task became to clear out the remaining heretics in the area. But strangely, these heretics did not offer any resistance, as if they were deliberately seeking their own death.

Generally speaking, the two-day advance towards the lower nest went very smoothly, but something happened along the way. When the Astartes rushed into an area, they found the bodies of the Black Templars team that was sent for reconnaissance. The heretics hung these warriors high in the most conspicuous places. After identification, it was found that most of the members of the remaining three teams were here. Their bodies were all mutilated beyond recognition, and their gene seeds were also dug out.

This act of blasphemy made the Black Templars very angry. Koslo almost smashed the console with his punch and vowed to make these traitors pay the price.

Afterwards, the Astartes moved all the bodies before the arrival of the Cadian assault force. The miserable state of the Astartes could not be seen by others, as it would affect the morale of the Imperial Guard.

Before the end of the second day, the three Chapter Masters were discussing another matter on the Reprimand:

"What are those stone pillars?"

Eryu and the remaining soldiers of the reconnaissance team had seen a strange stone pillar in the same location. In the past two days, the Astartes and Cadian assault forces had also discovered similar stone pillars in other areas, but these stone pillars disappeared soon after they were discovered.

This strange object was obviously not originally from the hive, but everyone was confused about the purpose of these stone pillars.

Now we can only wait for Gloria to make an effort to find the stone pillar, but considering Gloria's usual unreliability, it will probably take a few days before we get any results.

On the other hand, the Tianshi team sent to the city also lost contact. As expected, the traitors would not all stay in the hive. Some of them were still in the surrounding cities planning something, but the Imperial Guards still could not grasp the traitors' actions. They could not stand being led by the nose like this.

While Koslo and Elio were discussing whether to send reinforcements from the city, Alan's disciple Mikasa came in and informed them of something.

The Planetary Governor saw that the Imperial Guard was making rapid progress and that it wouldn't be long before they could recapture the Lower Nest at this rate, so he wanted to hold a banquet tomorrow night and invite all the adults to discuss what to do next.

"Holding a banquet at a time like this?"

Elio didn't understand the planetary governor's thoughts. Holding a banquet at this time was like opening champagne at halftime, which was not a good sign.

"Will Judge Allen go?" asked Koslo.

"The teacher has something to do these two days, so I will go in his place."

After getting the answer, Koslo asked Ou Ge:

"Where is Chapter Master Uldren?"

"Of course I'll go. I want to see what tricks this planetary governor is playing."

Not long ago, Ou Ge told Koslo and Elio his guess that all the missing reconnaissance teams used the map routes provided by the planetary governor without exception, but this could not be used as evidence because the heretics might also know those hidden routes.

What really made Ou Ge suspicious was the Slaanesh rituals that were skipped in the Underhive. The reason was most likely that the conditions for holding Slaanesh-related rituals did not exist in the Underhive here. So, which part of a hive is most likely to cause Slaanesh?

It is the spire, where the nobles sit.

So it is normal for Ou Ge to be suspicious. Although not all imperial nobles are nobles, the proportion of nobles is conservatively more than five levels. It is not uncommon for planetary governors to be corrupted. Isn't Diaz, the planetary governor of Edith, one of them? Diaz didn't even want to be corrupted voluntarily.

"Before the Nebula Hammer arrived, my teacher had already examined all the nobles atop the hive tower and indeed uncovered some heretics, but Isil's planetary governor was not among them."

Because of Edith's experience, Allen used the demon book given to him by Credion when examining the planetary governor, and the results showed that there was nothing wrong with the other party.

"I don't think Inquisitor Allen would trust the planetary governor so easily."

"You are right, Lord Uldren. My teacher has not given up on examining the nobles at the top of the tower. My previous mission was to monitor the planetary governor and kill him if he showed any signs of corruption."

Always being suspicious is the most basic quality of every Inquisitor of the Order of the Heretic, and Alan has always been prejudiced against the hive nobles.

Because of their suspicion towards the planetary governor, Ogo and Mikasa decided to attend the banquet. Elio was not going to attend as he wanted to find a way to contact his battle brothers who were heading to the city.

After thinking it over, Koslo decided to trust his intuition. He would attend the banquet, and if there was really something wrong with the planetary governor, he would personally chop off the heretic's head.

Dichao, Xianyu has been waiting at the ceremony site for two days, and today is the time for the ceremony.

The heretics did not let Xianyu's wait go to waste. In the evening, people came to the ceremony site one after another, which made Xianyu put down his chopsticks and observe carefully.

The cultists first drained the blood of a group of people, and used the blood to draw the magic circles and runes required for the ceremony. Then seventy-seven cultists entered the magic circles in a specific order and began to chant chaos scriptures.

A Chaos Astartes, unknown to Xianyu, brought a bound person to the ceremony site, and the ceremony officially began after the bad can was in place.

Xianyu also started screen sharing at this time. He looked at Bad Can and asked everyone in the channel:

"Look, whose bad can this is."

Brother Ou: "Enlarge the image first. It's so small that no one can see it clearly."

Apu: "There are no symbols of the Four Gods on your body. -Come closer, I want to see the details on the armor."

"Zoom in immediately. By the way, where is Luochen?" Xianyu didn't hear Luochen's voice in the channel. Wasn't Luochen always there during this kind of science popularization segment before?

Apu: "He and Allen are out on some business. Zoom in a little more."

"It's already the biggest. I'll move forward."

Xianyu entered a building closer to the ceremony site, which was directly opposite the Chaos Astartes.

This Chaos Astartes bore no markings of the Four Gods. His power backpack was adorned with the Chaos Octagram, though it was unclear whether it was some kind of iron halo. His crimson power armor was inscribed with dense scriptures, even on his decorative loincloth. The symbol on his shoulder armor was a burning demon's head.

Apu and Ou Ge understood now.

"This nm is a Word Bearer!"

The 17th Legion - The Word Bearers, one of the rebel legions, whose primarch is the chief heretic - Lorgar Aurelion. As the first rebel legion, they did not devote themselves to any of the four gods, because they believed in all four gods equally, so the Word Bearers also belonged to Chaos.

Almost every Word Bearer will obey his Primarch unconditionally, so to understand the Word Bearers Legion, one only needs to look at Lorgar.

So how should we evaluate Lorgar? A blind, extreme but not pious fanatic, a "clown" led by his adoptive father and "offspring". He is the original founder of the state religion and the culprit for the empire becoming what it is today.

Like most Primarchs, Lorgar is a very complex guy, but he can also be viewed in a single perspective. After all, he is indeed an unforgivable traitor. (There are too many rumors about Lorgar, and the Raven King blocking the door is one of them.)

"Why the hell is the second warband the Word Bearers?"

Apu and Ou Ge had a premonition that something big was going to happen, but they decided to watch the ceremony first. They wanted to know what the Word Bearers were trying to do. This kind of ceremony had been held too many times, and now there was more than one place in the entire Underhive where the ceremony was being performed. It was too late to interrupt it.

The ceremony was just coming to an end.

[Picture: One of the people with words]

[Image: The Second Person with Words]

Chapter 61: Close it, it's boring

The ritual site echoed with the whispers of Chaos. The bodies of the seventy-seven cultists within the magic circle began to rot until they became a pool of rancid flesh. This flesh then 'boiled', and the sickening stench intensified. The subspace energy within the ritual site climbed, and after reaching a critical point, thick green mist and light appeared within the magic circle.

A thick, festering hand stretched out from the flesh paste without warning, and then the whole body slowly crawled out from it. As the Nurgle demons were summoned, the plague also spread.

The Word Bearers used their psychic powers to begin the second ritual. A strange light lit up in the magic circle, and the plague of Nurgle demons was sealed in the magic circle.

At this time, the Nurgle demon also found something wrong. Its body in the real universe was collapsing. It wanted to escape from the range of the magic circle, but was firmly imprisoned by the Word Bearers.

The Nurgle demon screamed as its Warp soul was extracted by the Word Bearers. The cultists pushed the bound host into the magic circle, and under the control of the Word Bearers, the Nurgle demon's soul was locked into the host's body.

The demon host screamed as soon as it was born. The Nurgle demon in its body wanted to break free of this body and return to the warp, but the Word Bearers would never give it such a chance. Several subsequent rituals directly blocked the possibility of the demon's escape, and the demon host fell silent again.

Then a strange scene happened. The subspace energy in the ritual venue plummeted at an abnormal rate and returned to the normal state of the physical universe in a very short time.

"Shit, what's going on?" Xianyu had no idea what was happening. The mark of purity on his body had just been lit but went out before it was halfway through.

"It's a demonic host. The Word Bearer used some kind of ritual to alter some of the demonic host's properties, turning it into a vehicle for absorbing and storing Warp energy. No wonder there wasn't even a trace of Warp energy here before."

Gloria didn't slack off this time. She directly analyzed everything the Word Bearers had done.

"They are using their daemon host as a vessel for Warp energy."

As mentioned earlier, demons, as creatures of the Warp, are themselves a source of Warp energy that emits "radiation" and can absorb Warp energy to enhance themselves. This means that demons can actually be used as rechargeable batteries. (This is how the Demon Engine is used.)

But the demon host cannot do this, because the host itself cannot withstand the power of the demon, and the warp energy will continue to overflow from the body over time. However, the Word Bearers have changed this in some unknown way, removing the pollution while retaining the demon's characteristics, making the demon host a more perfect container.

The demon host is still absorbing the subspace energy brought out by the ritual in the magic circle until it reaches its storage limit. The Nurgle demon in the host is now in a state of being almost full to death but unable to vomit. The host's body, the demon's mind and spirit are all being tortured.

According to Gloria's estimation, if the demon host exploded at this time, the bottom nest and the area outside would be lost. It would be much easier to just wash the ground than to purify it.

After the demon host reached its limit, a group of new cultists entered the magic circle and surrounded the demon host. Under the influence of the magic circle, the cultists began to dissolve and deform. The flesh and blood completely wrapped the demon host, and finally turned into a stone pillar after solidification and transformation.

Apu: "I said, does that pillar look familiar?"

Brother Ou: "Because these are the pillars I saw these past two days."

Now everyone knew what those stone pillars were. Inside them was a demon host that was full of subspace energy. It was equivalent to a high-yield bomb that had not yet exploded, and it was difficult to even dismantle it.

"He seems to have cast some spell on the stone pillar?" Xianyu saw the Word Bearer adding something to the stone pillar.

"……I see!"

Gloria finally understood why she couldn't scan it. It was because the Word Bearers' spell had hidden the stone pillar in the gap between reality and the warp. Perhaps because of the instability of the spell, the stone pillar would return to reality from time to time, so it could be observed.