novelraw Chapter 219: Ceasefire
Chapter 219: Ceasefire
"Kill!"
Following that single word, the savage thrum of various melee weapons drowned out the miners' shrill battle cries.
Without needing any further words, the Astral Knights unleashed a merciless slaughter upon their attackers.
The Holy Flame Sword was one of the most efficient weapons among them. It howled as it cleaved through clothing and bone, incinerating flesh and cauterizing the wounds at the exact same instant it severed heads.
Soshyan wielded it within the confined space of the tunnel, executing a rapid, blistering series of short strikes. The spatial restrictions merely made his slaughter even more brutal; his silver-grey armor was drenched in crimson within moments.
The finale arrived just as abruptly as the beginning.
The damaged tunnel was instantly cleared. The Space Marines stayed their hands one after another, thick streams of coagulated blood slowly dripping from their armor.
They did not utter a single word throughout this process; only the harsh rasp of heavy breathing echoed across the vox-network.
"Damage assessment."
Following a brief inspection, they discovered that aside from the boy nearly fainting from terror, everything was basically normal. Even amidst the bloody melee, Armin had not allowed a single drop of blood to splatter onto the boy."Continue advancing."
Despite suffering a merciless slaughter, these heretical miners refused to let the matter rest.
When they arrived at the main tunnel of a subsidence shaft, the ambushes grew increasingly intense.
The journey through the mine shaft transformed into a chaotic mixture of bloody gore and battle fervour. Fully geared miners charged in wave after wave driven by despair, their sharp blades and mining picks flashing amidst the flickering, unstable illumination of the tunnel, their howling cries hoarse and ear-piercing.
By the time they reached the bottom of the tunnel, Soshyan could already hear the faint sound of flowing water.
Their destination was right before their eyes.
This was a spacious subterranean cavern. Massive numbers of stalagmites grew from both the floor and the ceiling. A gently babbling river flowed through the cavern, looking like a giant serpent shimmering with glowing scales under the dim light.
Numerous low, squat houses lined both banks of the river, crowded tightly together at varying heights, reminding Soshyan of the slums within a Hive City.
Further along the rock walls grew numerous glowing plants and fungi, serving as the primary source of illumination within this cavern.
Unlike the mine tunnels, there was no burning sultriness here, nor was there the omnipresent chemical stench. Instead, there was only primitive dampness and gloom.
Soshyan also noticed that hanging from the ends of the stone pillars above were countless dark, shadowy shapes. Like a massive, densely packed swarm of upside-down bats, they instilled a sense of dread, as if awakening them would trigger a catastrophe.
In a cavern such as this, there ordinarily should indeed be a large number of nocturnal animals inhabiting it.
Then, Soshyan noticed that at the far end of the cavern was a sizable, pyramid-shaped structure.
Barring any unexpected circumstances, the target they were searching for was located right there.
"Covering advance."
Just as Soshyan pointed his sword toward the facility, a tidal wave composed entirely of heretics surged forth from the bottom of the cavern.
The Astral Knights did not stop. They charged directly into the sea of people. The initial gunfight quickly descended into close-quarters melee combat and mutual shoving.
Soshyan swung his sword, carving a bloody path straight through the heretics and traitors.
During this process, he noticed that some individuals were wearing tattered planetary defense force uniforms, or garments resembling ceremonial robes. Every person's face bore the exact same tattoo, some of which were still bloody.
They emitted a terrible stench. Their dark eyes resembled glass, completely unblinking.
More importantly, even when facing the Astartes, they remained entirely fearless of death, behaving almost exactly unlike mortals.
A blade scraped fiercely against Soshyan's arm guard. Subsequently, he struck back at those unknown assailants with his sword and pistol, violently blasting them to pieces.
In the brief moments between his own slashes and thrusts, he could distinctly see Sol's effortless, reaping strides. He looked exactly like a farmer methodically working in a wheat field—efficient yet entirely tedious.
The crowd remained undissolved.
Using the butt of his pistol, Soshyan smashed heavily into the face of someone attempting to bite him, completely shattering the tattoo upon the attacker's face. The person then collapsed directly at his feet.
Only then did he genuinely realize that this was a woman—a young woman who appeared to be merely sixteen or seventeen years old—who had just died so utterly worthlessly.
"We are the Astral Knights Chapter under the command of the God-Emperor! If you continue to obstruct our mission! We will slaughter you all to the very last!!"
Unable to endure this situation any longer, Soshyan furiously roared aloud.
To his surprise, he felt the shoving begin to slow down. The shouting also decreased, and the foul stench began to dissipate.
He looked around, holding his breath. Those people were still surrounding them.
But they looked somewhat surprised and bewildered.
"He just said the God-Emperor."
"Not the Four-armed Emperor?"
"They also don't really look like monsters..."
Soshyan suddenly realized a glaring problem.
These people lived underground year-round; perhaps multiple generations had never even visited the surface. This also meant that their knowledge was likely terrifyingly impoverished.
They might not even actually know of the existence of the Astartes.
But the problem was, they seemingly understood High Gothic.
"We are the God-Emperor's envoys, dispatched here specifically to investigate the Genestealer Cult and another heretical cult."
Soshyan ordered his squad to hold their weapons, then stepped forward.
These people were covered entirely in blood—mostly belonging to their own kind. They stared timidly at the approaching giant.
"He... he did say the God-Emperor."
One of the men was eventually pushed forward by the crowd.
"The H-High Priest is currently away. We cannot make the decision."
"High Priest?"
Soshyan looked up at the pyramid completely shrouded in shadows.
"Do you worship a god known as the Raven Lord?"
"No, the Exalted Lord is not a god."
The man shook his head, speaking words that genuinely surprised Soshyan.
"It is the God-Emperor's envoy, our ultimate protector."
"Have you actually seen it?"
"Only the High Priest can behold the Exalted Lord."
"Is it located in there?"
Soshyan raised a hand, pointing toward the structure in the distance.
The man nodded.
"Take us to completely meet it."
"Impossible. Only the High Priest can behold the Exalted Lord."
"We are also the God-Emperor's envoys."
The man looked back hesitantly at the crowd, but no one spoke, nor did anyone express a clear stance. Everyone had clearly been terrified completely by the recent slaughter, persisting until now solely on fanatical faith and sheer ignorance.
"I know you have actively been fighting the Genestealers. So have we."
As he spoke, Soshyan produced several severed Genestealer claws from behind his back. These were originally intended to be brought back entirely as a gift for Ford. Upon learning that they were deploying to deal natively with Genestealers, the biological scholar had actively expressed his eager desire to acquire their famously lethal claws for research.
Upon seeing the razor-sharp claws Soshyan produced, everyone immediately let out gasps of surprise.
"Those are the claws of a Purestrain monstrosity!"
"I've only ever seen them on the High Priest..."
"Did he chop all of those off?"
The man stared intently at the blood-stained claws entirely in Soshyan's hand. He hesitated for quite a while before finally nodding his head.
"I can only guide you up to the temple. Whether the Exalted Lord chooses to meet you will be entirely up to it."