Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 189: Strangulation (2)

"Waaaagh!!!"

The Ork Mek's counterattack was exceedingly vicious. With a backhand swing, it forced Farzad to leap up, compelling him to quickly roll away. The subsequent strike over the shoulder chopped deeply into the section of the deck where he had just been lying.

When the behemoth turned around again, Farzad could barely stand. A sweeping horizontal slash forced him to cross his twin axes to block, otherwise he would have been cleaved in half at the waist.

Metal clashed against metal, letting out an ear-piercing shriek. His booted feet slid and scraped across the deck, sending sparks flying everywhere.

Under these conditions, movement became extremely difficult.

Farzad realized he needed to speed up, but the warship's dying life-support systems caused the slowly dying gravity to drag at his limbs with gradually increasing inertia.

At that moment, a blur flashed past Farzad's right side. In the hazy visual feedback, he saw a warrior from his squad, Shifa, fiercely smashing the head of his power maul into the Mek's flank.

It roared—a sound so loud that it rattled Farzad's acoustic feedback systems and briefly overloaded the dampeners installed within his helmet.

Recognizing this as an opportunity to gain a desperately needed advantage, Farzad launched an attack at the behemoth's neck.

As he wrenched his axe free, a stream of dark purple fluid spurted out.Although his helmet had filters, the foul stench remained nauseating, but the Mek's agonizing howl was even more unsettling.

The howl of a wounded beast originating from deep within its throat meant it was about to fight to the bitter end.

Farzad couldn't possibly give it the time to act up. Within seconds, he launched another attack, chopping off the opponent's two mechanical arms, and then slicing off the two fleshy arms from the wrists down.

The Mek, just trying to turn around, convulsed and writhed in pain. A breath later, the crackling tip of a power sword suddenly pierced straight through its chest.

Another warrior appeared behind the Mek; it was Galvin, belonging to Farzad's squad.

In an instant, the entire corridor was filled with the festering, burnt stench of sizzling, corrupted blood.

Farzad knew they couldn't stop to savor their victory. According to previous combat experience, these Greenskin technicians usually carried self-destruct devices on them.

Therefore, as the behemoth fell to one knee, Farzad brought his axe down, punching through its armor and striking its collarbone before it began to shatter.

Subsequently, Farzad continued hacking, swinging his battle axe down again and again, as if chopping down a tree that had been loosened at its roots.

Corrupted blood left speckled stains across his armor.

Galvin, who had pierced the Mek's chest, also stepped forward. Wielding his sword with both hands, blade pointing downwards, he thrust continuously in a rhythmic cadence.

Within a few seconds, it was all over.

The Ork Mek was reduced to nothing more than a steaming pool of blood clots and bone fragments, alongside scattered armor plates. The dismembered remains lay strewn like a puddle of sludge at the Astral Knights' feet.

Farzad nodded toward Soshyan.

"The perimeter is clear, Chapter Master."

Sheathing his sword, Soshyan glanced at the auspex in his hand and nodded.

"Clear."

Once through the ventral corridor, they would be able to reach the Warp engines.

The explosives they brought were enough to cause significant damage to this ship, triggering a devastating explosion.

"Do you think these enemies are the last batch?"

Sol asked, even though every sweep of his auspex returned a negative result.

Soshyan tapped the side of his helmet with his gauntlet. Just as he was about to answer Sol, the acoustic link crackled in his ear.

"Brother Soshyan, is your operation concluded?"

It was Malakim, who was responsible for providing fire support for the Astral Knights' boarding action.

"It will be concluded momentarily."

"Casualties?"

"Zero casualties. Thank you for your concern."

"That is good. You need to move quickly; another ship has appeared on the auspex."

"Departing immediately."

Soshyan cut the vox-link.

The Techmarine stepped forward with the explosives and handed them to the others.

"This is enough to blow up three ships like this one."

Soshyan nodded, silently praising Logris's mastery over explosives.

"No need to destroy that many. We only need to destroy one."

After planting the explosives, they swiftly evacuated the ship.

Following that, this warship, originally packed full of Greenskins attempting to escape Vorenus Prime, was reduced to dust amidst a violent internal collapse.

And such occurrences would continue to play out constantly over the coming days—

"Ugh..."

The dull, grating sound of gears pulled Guji out of a deepening stupor.

The cell door was opening, allowing a beam of light to pierce the darkness. As the door gradually rose, it slowly disappeared, finally becoming a thin slit in the ceiling.

A man displayed his dark silhouette against the light.

The silhouette indicated he wore a greatcoat, which further accentuated his broad, intimidating shoulders, and a shining Aquila adorned his officer's cap.

He tried to stand up, but before his resistance was crushed by exhaustion, he managed to prop himself up on only one knee.

Shaking his head, the man highlighted by the silhouette chuckled mockingly.

"Still weak."

This wasn't a question, but a statement of what he saw.

"Is this an Ork?"

His voice hissed—an imitation of the Ork language, but out of tune with its rough, grating cadence.

Shortly after Guji had been captured in the void and roused aboard this transport ship, this man had introduced himself.

He said his name was Yarrick.

What Guji initially saw was a robust man with a close-cropped buzz cut and a rather ferocious-looking face.

He was very young, yet he possessed an unfathomable aura of rich experience only seen on veterans.

Guji responded with clenched teeth, glaring at the other party with his one good eye.

He was a Greenskin, and a warband leader at that, yet now he was captured by humies and imprisoned. This humiliation drove him nearly mad.

The light stretched across the room, bathing Yarrick in a greasy yellow glow that made his skin look sickly pale.

"Your injuries seem to be healing."

Yarrick said in a low voice.

He crouched down and grabbed Guji's drool-covered jaw.

"During this time, I've learned quite a bit from you. I really must properly thank you."

Yarrick's warm smile and icy gaze met Guji's. He had gradually become familiar with this expression, which was typically followed by this bastard's penchant for inflicting pain.

On one hand, he claimed he wanted to learn the Ork language; on the other, he constantly tortured him.

"I can tell what you want to say. I find that I have a unique interest in creatures of your kind. Yes, I hurt you because that's what you want me to do, alien dog."

The young Commissar maintained his smile, as if he had already plucked out Guji's thoughts.

"Some new questions today."

While Yarrick spoke, he increased the pressure on Guji's jaw.

"How do you... describe a focused attack pattern, and what is the reporting format for firing coordinates?"

Aside from the heavy, ragged sound of breath entering and leaving his lungs, Guji made no noise whatsoever.

"Tell me."

Yarrick continued asking:

"How do you designate bosses of different ranks?"

Guji still did not answer.

Yarrick smiled again, his expression revealing a trace of pity.

"Do you really want me to do it again?"

Releasing the prisoner's jaw, Yarrick stood up, took a step back, and picked up a spiked shock maul from the nearby table.

"I truly don't want to do this."

Guji used those few precious moments to rally his strength. He hoped his words would be enough to convey his meaning; he hoped his jailer would remember them deeply.

At this moment, he stood up from the ground. Although he swayed and trembled, he ultimately did not fall.

His single eye wide round, glaring proudly and fiercely, Guji roared at the top of his lungs:

"Waaaaaaagh!!!!"

What followed was Yarrick's savage beating. Using the highest power setting on the shock maul, he drove the air from Guji's lungs, drowning him in a flurry of fists and kicks.