Chapter 15: Howard's Risky Decision
"My Lord, the Bolesław spire is in that direction."
Bukayo came to Nimrod's side, pointing to the right front.
"My Lord, my full name is Bukayo Arshavin. My family was bloodily purged by King Bolesław under trumped-up charges. In fact, he just coveted our printing business."
"I could only flee to the underhive. If I hadn't met you, I would still be worrying about food."
Nimrod nodded slightly. No wonder the boy had a maturity beyond his age; it turned out he came from the upper hive and had received a good education.
The cargo elevators rapidly shuttled back and forth, delivering eight hundred and forty subordinates to the upper hive. Then, Nimrod suddenly heard the sound of vehicles moving.
He immediately grabbed a nearby metal pillar and rushed towards the direction of the sound.
As Nimrod leaped and ran, he displayed agility that belied his giant frame. The containers and other obstacles in the cargo area didn't hinder his movement at all.
He leaped into the air, swung the dry metal pillar in his hand, and smashed the lead vehicle of the convoy.
The rolling truck crashed into two other trucks.
When Bukayo was the first to arrive at the scene, he saw more than a dozen trucks, all smashed down by his Lord.
Even though he had already anticipated it, he was still stunned by this scene, rooted to the spot.
Nimrod realized he couldn't wait any longer. His advantage wasn't in numbers but in time.
Once the enemy reacted, the forces they could mobilize would be a hundred or a thousand times greater than his waiting subordinates. More importantly, they could also seek help from the Mechanicus.
Nimrod didn't want to exhaust all his loyal forces in the conquest of the Tetzvok hive city; this was just the beginning.
He issued an order to Rolfslev, who had rushed over, "Leave eight squads to guard the elevator entrances."
"The rest of you, follow me to attack the hive spire."
"Yes, Lord."
Rolfslev immediately obeyed. If someone had told him a month ago that they would attack the royal family's hive spire with less than eight hundred people, he would have laughed at their madness.
But if that person was Nimrod, the god-like towering giant, he firmly believed it could be achieved.
Just as Nimrod led his team away, a luxurious car with a golden lightning bolt insignia painted on its side arrived late.
Kaminsky, who had just been promoted from personal butler to the Fend family's head butler, leaned back in the leather seat, closing his eyes to rest.
His personal secretary suddenly exclaimed, "Butler Kaminsky, something happened at the cargo station?"
"What?"
Kaminsky opened his eyes with displeasure, then saw the raging flames ahead.
"Damn it, retreat quickly."
The butler secretly rejoiced that he had asked the cargo convoy to leave first because he was preparing the dinner party, allowing him to escape the disaster.
A moment later, Howard received the news. He immediately switched to the communication channel of the family's intelligence officer.
"The family's cargo convoy has been attacked. I need you to find out what happened immediately."
He switched to the guard team's channel again, "Assemble the family's armed forces."
After hanging up, he frowned deeply.
"Breton?"
"No! He's just a useless piece of trash."
"Estupinian, possibly. Even the royal family might be directly involved. They've done this before, seizing assets. Maybe the Fifth Arbitrator is just a puppet pushed to the front by the Bolesław family."
The blond noble boy stood up and walked around his office desk a few times.
Just then, a beeping sound rang out.
Howard took a deep breath before connecting to the intelligence officer's communication.
"Earl, my people have retrieved the surveillance footage near the cargo station. They discovered a force of less than a thousand men marching rapidly. They have already annihilated several hive city security units."
"Are their targets our hive spire?"
"No, Lord. Judging from their marching route, their target is the royal family's hive spire."
Howard was stunned. He asked in surprise,
"What?"
He wondered if he had just hallucinated. Only the most insane person would attack the royal family's hive spire.
He remembered seeing in the family history that a family once attacked the hive spire with their entire elite force of over sixty thousand men, and they didn't even manage to break through.
Now, the attacking force was only a thousand men.
"Lord, their leader is very special. I have never seen such a tall human. I think you should take a look."
Howard took out his data-slate and viewed the footage sent by the intelligence officer.
His blue pupils constricted. He had thought it was just a burly man about two meters tall, but now, seeing it on the footage, even Ogryns were much shorter than him.
When he saw the slow-motion replay of the man's majestic face, a sudden sense of familiarity arose.
In Howard's mind, the handsome face of a boy enlarged and overlapped with the giant's face. He exclaimed,
"Nimrod!"
"How did he become like this?"
After the blond noble recognized Nimrod with shock, he was even more astonished to see him slaughtering the hive city security forces with a fighting style completely different from what he remembered.
He directly crashed into speeding vehicles, shattering the speeder, scattering metal debris all over the ground.
He picked up a security guard as easily as picking up a chick, swung him into the air, and smashed him into an automaton equipped with a lumberjack gun.
Several words flashed through Howard's mind: simple, brutal, efficient, cold, ruthless, unstoppable.
Nimrod wasn't a person; he was a god of war.
Howard suddenly snapped out of his shock. Now was not the time to marvel.
The key was how the Fend family should react.
[Even if Nimrod's armed uprising fails, the Bolesław family will suffer significant losses.
Considering their methods, they will definitely shift the blame and seize the assets of other families as a deterrent after the turmoil.
Deducing from his marching route, I can pinpoint the Hantexi Dome, and thus pinpoint me. Even my previous request for him to help with the defense will be linked.]
Howard clenched his fists. He realized that the Bolesław family would make him a scapegoat, claiming that he provided Nimrod with intelligence or was even the mastermind behind it.
The truth never mattered; as long as they covered up the fact that underhivers had attacked the hive spire, they could continue to maintain the royal family's prestige.
Howard clenched his fists and made a risky decision—to join Nimrod's ranks and launch an attack against the Bolesław family, who were leeching off the Fend family.
Nimrod had given him the courage to make a decision. In the less than four minutes he had watched the footage, the giant had actually fought his way through the defenses of an entire street, and he was only five point two kilometers away from the royal family's hive spire.
As Howard led the Fend family's guard team in vehicles, marching towards the Bolesław family's hive spire, Nimrod encountered trouble for the first time.
Four fixed turrets opened fire, and the devastating barrage of mortars covered his team.
Amidst the deafening explosions, more than a dozen battle-hardened gang members were torn apart by the shockwaves, their bodies shattering like burst sandbags.
"Scatter!"
"Find cover!"
Nimrod roared, charging towards the turrets against the rain of shells.
(End of this chapter)