Chapter 161: Medical Room Again
Above the surface of Graia-106, amidst the blackstone structures of Sector 03, Graia's Tech-Priests, Iron Warriors, and Death Guard warriors moved back and forth in a constant stream.
Since the airborne squads successfully coordinated with the air forces to bomb the blackstone structures, the Necron soldiers had noticeably slowed down and no new Necron warriors had emerged.
For the Necrons, one of their most significant advantages was their seemingly endless swarms of soldiers, like an insect hive. But now, with no more reinforcements rising, they had clearly lost this edge.
Perturabo's assessment was that the blackstone buildings served to command the Necron troops and manage their resurrection and logistics. Therefore, destroying these structures was an obvious and necessary move.
The main fleet of the Death Guard Galaspar has also arrived. Under the joint command of Garro and Vorx, the combined forces of Death Guard and Iron Warriors swiftly cleared away the increasingly sluggish Necron forces.
Compared to the warriors on the wasteland working together to hunt down the Necron army, those inside the blackstone buildings each had their own agenda.
The Iron Warriors, in Perturabo's name, sought to collect xenos technology and further ensure the enemy's structures were utterly destroyed.
The Tech-Priests of Graia, though officially aiding in the tech retrieval mission, were secretly searching for traces of the Omnissiah's manifestation.
Meanwhile, the Death Guard had a far simpler goal: in Mortarion's name, they were searching for someone.
Blackstone fragments littered the ground, and alien, eerie technological constructs were scattered everywhere. Cracks spread across the hard rocks, scars left by brutal lightning strikes.
"Praise the Omnissiah..."
A Tech-Priest stood before a massive boulder with his Skitarii guards. On its surface, lightning-like cracks ran deep into the stone, so deep the bottom couldn't be seen.
From afar, he had seen it—the massive shadow rising abruptly into the sky.
Was it that Death Guard, Hades?
No... no, it was the worldly emissary of the Machine God!
Black and white intertwined with shimmering green, the space around it distorted, and in that instant, a magnificent and intricate wealth of knowledge flashed before the Tech-Priest's eyes. His confusion rippled away like a disturbance on water, disappearing with ease.
It felt like a dream.
The Tech-Priest blinked. He had caught only a glimpse—no more. The grand and intricate vault of knowledge had not left anything behind for this one faithful follower. He had seen it, and then forgotten it.
Was it because he was not devout enough?
"Praise the Omnissiah, forgive my unworthiness," he muttered.
His servo-skull did its best to broadcast sacred hymns.
As a deeply devout member of the Graia Mechanicus, he was ecstatic to have witnessed a miracle. But now, the figure is gone.
The emissary of the Machine God had vanished like a dazzling bubble bursting, leaving behind only wreckage and obsession.
They hoped to at least seize something tangible.
The Tech-Priest knelt before the site of the miracle. Compared to his colleagues still scavenging alien technology, he preferred to calm his mind and try to catch any lingering echoes of the divine.
And the earth beneath him answered.
Almost inaudible, distorted radio signals came from within the stone.
It was a distress signal... and it included a Space Marine identification code:
"Here!!! Underground!!"
"He's still alive!"
The Machine God had not abandoned them!
. . . . . . .
Hades now lay on a familiar bed in the Death Guard's Medical Room, looking utterly despondent.
It's the same location, same bed, and the same Apothecary.
Damn it, that old schemer, the "Lord of Figurines," really went overboard.
. . . . . . .
Earlier.
Trazyn had helped suppress the dynasty at Graia-106 into deeper hibernation and had already packed up the promised goods for Hades, stashing them in an empty tomb. Hades would just have to bring people to dig it up later.
Meanwhile, Hades had picked a shallow tomb to lie in, planning to knock himself out and wait for someone to come dig him up.
Trazyn watched wordlessly as Hades tried to stab himself in a way that would help him convincingly play dead.
"If you don't hurry up, the forces above will start pulling out," Trazyn said.
"I'm trying to figure out where to stab myself!" Hades replied, looking at the small knife in his hand with a pained expression. He couldn't make the wound too shallow, or the Apothecaries would immediately spot that he was faking.
Although Mortarion and the Death Guard probably wouldn't care much about how Hades managed to "die" and "revive," other Legions were currently present too. Hades figured it was more reliable to play dead and get carried out by the Death Guard.
He couldn't exactly fall from the sky carrying a pile of Necron weapons, could he?
Besides, Trazyn mentioned that Mortarion and Perturabo had gotten into yet another argument.
Again.
Hades felt a wave of frustration.
"Can't do it yourself, can you?" Trazyn strolled over lazily.
"What are you doing? I'm warning you! Don't do anything stupid!" Hades barked.
"Relax, I'm just giving you a hand!"
"Argh!"
Thus, when Hades opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at the ceiling of the Death Guard's Stoic.
"Yo, you're awake?"
Apothecary Leo's large face popped into view. Hades gave a weak nod.
Oh right, Trazyn had been thoughtful enough to customize Hades' new brain to match the original coating, meaning no one could tell that Hades' right brain was no longer original!
'My brain…'
Leo ignored Hades' mournful expression and casually opened the Legion command channel, notifying Mortarion that Hades had regained consciousness.
Mortarion had recently been busy either tangling with Perturabo or trying to personally lead ground operations.
Leo walked off after confirming that Hades' physical condition was stable, taking his apprentice Io with him.
Io was one of the latest batch of recruits selected from Barbarus, and had performed impressively during training. Leo had quickly claimed the promising young Death Guard for the Apothecarion.
Strike while the iron is hot, ever since the Armoury had "stolen" Hades for a time, the medical department had been ruthless and swift in recruiting talented newcomers.
"You're in charge of Sector 12," Leo instructed.
"I'll stay here and wait for the Primarch," he added.
Io nodded and headed off toward Sector 12.
His friend Lerna happened to be receiving treatment there.
Morarg, who was responsible for the rookie squad, had fulfilled his duty admirably: keeping them stationed at the rear of the battle line, deploying them only occasionally to help the Mechanicus clean up enemy flanks.
The entire squad had survived, without any casualties.
However, Lerna had broken regulations, getting separated from the main force during combat. When Morarg finally found him, Lerna was lying on the ground with a mischievous grin, badly injured.
Punishment was inevitable, but it would only be carried out after he recovered.
"Yo! Io! You're here!" came Lerna's familiar cheerful voice.
Io kept a stern face and gave Lerna a light knock on the head.
"Stop making noise. Rest properly."
"Aww, lying around is boring!"
"Hey, stop knocking me, okay, okay, I'll lie down!" Lerna said, shrinking back after another scolding tap from Io.
As Io looked at Lerna, a strange feeling rose within him, though he couldn't quite tell what was off.
"If you're bored, read a book," Io said, handing over a book he had borrowed for Lerna, a compendium of rare and curious creatures.
"I don't like reading this stuff," Lerna whined.
"Then sleep,"
In order to make Lerna shut up, Io smashed the book directly on his face.
"Ouch! Be gentle, will you?!"
The book flipped open on impact, revealing illustrations of bizarre creatures: chickens with five legs, legless horses, nine-headed snakes, three-legged wolves.
Such strange creatures, Io thought.
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