Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 212: Blood Mine (2)

It was a moment before Soshyan realized the remaining xenos had vanished.

The tunnel was suddenly empty.

Sol stepped forward, firing a single bullet to blow out the brains of an agonizingly struggling xenos whose entire lower body had been sheared off, before coming to stand beside Soshyan.

"It appears the xenos threat can now be fully confirmed."

Hearing Sol's words, Soshyan responded with a cough.

They stood there amidst the piled corpses. Through the vox, he could hear the heavy breathing of his battle brothers, knowing full well they were suppressing their own raging battle lust—when an Astartes utilizes his violence, he must also know how to control it.

"Is it your opinion that we retu—"

Before the sentence could be finished, they heard the deafening roar of explosives and crashing boulders from the passage they had just used to enter.

There was no doubt that the tunnel leading back to the secondary mining sector had collapsed. The enemy had clearly arranged an ambush in advance, or rather, this massacre itself was a part of the ambush.

These xenos were definitely not mindless beasts.And the subsequent events immediately verified Soshyan's thoughts.

From deeper within the forward mine tunnel and from the two other tunnels converging on the junction, various firearms began roaring and spitting fire.

"Shift to the right."

Soshyan commanded concisely, turning away from the darkness illuminated by muzzle flashes and retreating toward the lighting at the junction.

They ran as bullets kicked up gravel and blasted large chunks of dirt off both walls.

During the maneuver, Soshyan felt a heavy projectile strike his left pauldron, but it was deflected by the outer layer of adamantium.

Another grazed against his backpack and exploded. It was unquestionably a bolter; the enemy even possessed heavy bolter-class weaponry.

Immediately following that, a third round smashed into the iron tracks directly beneath his boots, erupting into a massive shower of sparks.

More bullets flew into the entrances of the other two adjacent tunnels, the heavy muzzle flashes revealing faint, rapidly moving red eyes.

"Auspex failure."

Sol spoke loudly as he ducked into cover nearby; the fully loaded ore cart shuddered as bullets slammed into its surface and detonated.

"Are there any alternative routes?"

"I am scanning now. It is possible, but it will take time."

That said, the xenos were unwilling to give them time.

The firepower from the attackers in the darkness was increasing. Even as Soshyan formed his next thought, the shrieking hiss of a launch was followed by an impact and the smoke trail of a frag rocket emerging from the opposite tunnel.

In the next second, it smashed into an overturned ore cart ahead, turning it into a sieve with shrapnel while sending the entire cart flying into the air.

According to the Codex Astartes, the standard procedure to resolve an ambush of this nature is a covered flanking counterattack, but the narrow terrain restricted such operations.

Then there was only one solution.

"We need to draw them out into the open and eliminate them all at once."

Soshyan stated over the public vox-channel:

"We retreat."

"Where to? They have already blocked the only route back to the secondary mining sector."

"There is a transport passage over there. It will draw them into the intersection."

"According to the scans, there is no cover there."

Sol warned.

"You need to think this through carefully."

"If we try to let them pin us down here without any support, we will only waste time, and face even more uncertainties."

Soshyan made up his mind.

"Withdraw in combat formation, falling back toward the left tunnel."

The Astral Knights subsequently broke from cover, while the first half of the tactical squad initiated a covering volley, blindly pouring bolter fire into the tunnels under attack.

As they did so, the second half of the squad rose up, kicking gravel off the railway sleepers as they sprinted toward the retrograde transport passage.

They came under fire as they moved; solid slugs hammered against their ceramite, causing the weaker joints of their armor to bleed.

Fortunately, however, before they plunged into the darkness of the tunnel, there were no casualties.

"Covering fire."

Soshyan then directed the second half of the squad to open fire, covering the first half's retreat.

The first half was led by Sol. Firing his bolt pistol as he moved, he unleashed a continuous barrage of shells toward the entrance of the nearest tunnel.

He doubted he hit anything, but that was not the objective.

Right before slipping into the passage entrance, Sol tossed a grenade backward. Following a deafening explosion, an agonizing wail echoed through the air.

White-hot energy blasted against one of the tunnel walls. Exciting a mist of blood, the flash instantly illuminated the attackers—a pack of 4th Generation Hybrids, entirely hairless, wearing miners' uniforms and wielding an assortment of firearms.

They looked almost entirely indistinguishable from normal humans, save for their slightly pale skin and features. Yet they were without a doubt xenos, non-humans.

For such entities to appear also meant that this planet had already been infiltrated to an extremely severe degree.

This required a recounting of the Genestealers' highly unique reproductive cycle.

Initially, an original, pure Genestealer would inject its genetic material into a host to initiate the cycle of infection.

Once the parasites spread and the Genestealer cult grew, the first Genestealer would take control as the cult's Patriarch, slowly growing itself into a massive psyker monstrosity—a Hive Lord.

Meanwhile, the infected hosts would return to their societies and experience an intense, compulsive urge to find a mate and start a family. This mate would also eventually become infected by the Genestealer genetics.

The physical structure of the infected remained largely similar to their original species, barring a somewhat pallid or bluish skin tone, and they became completely enslaved by the Patriarch's psychic domination. This explicitly turned them into perfect infiltrators.

Subsequently, the infected would give birth to...

The first generation of xenos freaks, known as the 1st Generation Hybrids.

Compared to other Genestealers, 1st Generation Hybrids were merely animals—sluggish, clumsy, and feeble-minded. The Genestealer cult typically merely utilized them as expendable cannon fodder.

They usually possessed three or four arms and were incapable of using the technology or weapons of their host species. However, they would give birth to...

The 2nd Generation Hybrids.

Every single 2nd Generation Hybrid was unique. This generation could reproduce selectively, often enslaving their own parents like livestock. Certain traits were also greatly enhanced, such as speed, strength, and aggression.

Compared to Genestealers in the conventional sense, they more closely resembled the host species, yet they still remained entirely incapable of using the host species' technology.

But their offspring were the 3rd Generation Hybrids.

This hybrid generation was incredibly close in physical appearance to the species they had parasitized. They could even blend into the host species; if they wore concealing clothing and kept to the shadows, they could actively operate within the host species' society.

More importantly, some individuals within this generation could actually use the structural weaponry of their host species.

The offspring they produced were the 4th Generation Hybrids, the generation by far the most difficult to distinguish from the host species.

The 4th Generation Hybrids bore only very slight deformities, though some individuals would still exhibit features that could betray their true identities, such as bald heads or sharp fangs.

Due to their ability to fully integrate into host societies, they vigorously strove to seduce, abduct, or use whatever means necessary to maximize the number of new hosts.

Some exceptionally rare individuals within this generation would even possess psychic abilities; these individuals would become the cult's Magus or Primus.

And here is where the most bizarre aspect of Genestealer reproduction occurs.

The 4th Generation Hybrids, the generation most closely resembling the host species, produced a 5th generation that...

Abnormally 'reverted to its original form'.

By the 5th generation, the Genestealer DNA would resurface entirely, turning them back into complete Tyranid Genestealers—terrifying xenos killers that retained only a few physiological traits absorbed from the host species.

Thus, the cycle of infiltration would thoroughly begin anew, with a completely fresh Genestealer possessing the sheer potential to profoundly infiltrate an entirely new world.