Cain spun around, thinking an enemy was charging, and reflexively swung his Chainsword in defense. This undoubtedly saved his life, as what came wasn't a Heretic or a Pure-Strain Genestealer, though those would have been bad enough.
Face to face was a creature from his most terrifying nightmares... or rather, he was facing its belly, as it was at least two or three times the height of a man. It was a twisted, grotesque, massive, bloated version of a Gretchin, and Cain's whirring Chainsword was deeply embedded in its arm.
Had Yugen not shouted a warning, that arm would almost certainly have lopped off his head. The monster then howled with rage and pain, and Cain fought desperately for his life.
"It's a Genestealer Patriarch!" Amberly shouted, as if Cain didn't already know.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her raising her Bolter Pistol and waiting for an opening, but he was blocking her line of fire. Cain tried to maneuver, creating space for her to aim, but his bloated opponent hammered him with several limbs, cornering him.
It swung its clawed arms again and again, and all Cain could do was frantically parry with his Chainsword. This was the source of the cancer infecting Gravelax, the center of the shared Tyranid Swarm consciousness of the Heretics, a tool of the Tyranid Hive Mind destined to devour the The Galaxy / Milky Way.
"For the Emperor!"
Cain struggled to counterattack with his pistol, but his mind couldn't be distracted from the more urgent life-or-death crisis; all his attention was focused on dodging, parrying, and looking for an opening.
Finally, Amberly's Bolter Pistol fired, and for a moment Cain felt saved. But the Patriarch was unharmed and continued its assault, and Cain realized Amberly was helping him take down the Heretics behind him.
The Heretics swarmed out of the shadows, approaching rapidly, but they held their fire, afraid of hitting Cain who was grappling with the monster.
Sorel, however, was not constrained by this. The electromagnetic sniper rifle Li Feng created ignored everything. The high-velocity electromagnetic projectile, a large-caliber armor-piercing round, directly penetrated several layers of chitin on the Patriarch's head, sending blood splattering.
However, the Patriarch did not die, but was instead put into a'stunned' state.
Its distraction gave Cain an opportunity to finally deliver a good horizontal slash to its belly. It staggered, thick, foul-smelling pus oozing from the wound, then continued its furious assault on Cain.
Seeing it severely wounded by the bullet, Sorel began to aim at the Patriarch's limbs, trying to damage its joints and incapacitate it first, buying time for Commissar Cain.
"Hold on, Political Commissar!" Yugen ran down the stairs, his melta-gun ready.
Cain almost prayed he wouldn't fire at him, as that would instantly vaporize Cain.
Yugen was clearly more rational, providing support from behind.
Amberly shouted, "Sorel! Clear a path for Yugen!"
They began to concentrate their fire on Cain and the Heretics around him, while Cain still struggled in a life-and-death battle. He took a step back, but it was too late.
The Patriarch's claw grazed Cain's ribs, tearing through the armor beneath his coat. The searing pain made him curse, and he immediately counterattacked, severing its arm with his Chainsword.
Pus gushed out, splattering on Cain and everything around him. The Patriarch became even more frenzied, attacking violently.
Cain instinctively turned his head and saw Yugen charging towards him, his heart almost stopping. Several Pure-Strain Genestealers were already close, and he thought Yugen was in danger, but they hesitated for a moment as they approached, and Sorel and Amberly accurately shot them down.
Cain turned back to face the Patriarch, encouraged by his recent successful attack, and continued to wield his Chainsword. It didn't flinch, even knocking Cain's sword aside, and Cain dodged a blow from its lower left arm.
Cain roared in anger, "Monster! Why won't you die!"
"How about this?" Yugen appeared beside Cain, and as he approached the monster, the Patriarch suddenly faltered and retreated.
Yugen seized the opportunity to insert the barrel of his melta-gun into the fissure created by Cain's wound. He pulled the trigger, and the entire abdomen instantly turned into foul-smelling residue.
The Patriarch reeled backward, burning all over, its pain-induced footsteps shaking the stone floor. But it immediately saw the being that had caused it so much pain and instantly raised its claws high.
"It's over!" Yugen's emotions finally fluctuated a little at this moment. Cain raised his laspistol, firing frantically, hoping to slow the descent of the claws... Suddenly, a high-speed flying object, trailing white smoke, directly hit the Patriarch's body. The massive explosion directly shattered its upper body, which bore the claws... Then, a lot of white powder drifted out of the explosion... Cain and Yugen looked up and saw a Krieger wearing a gas mask standing next to Sorel. He had a huge rocket launcher on his shoulder, and the muzzle of the rocket launcher was emitting white smoke.
"Cough, cough, cough! What's with the powder! Cough, cough, cough, you're choking me, Yugen!"
"Political Commissar, that's probably the Krieger adding his comrades' ashes to the rocket..."
"Huh?"
It was then that Cain realized all the Gretchin that had been attacking frantically had now fallen. The gunshots and sounds of battle outside the door indicated that the Krieger were engaging the Gretchin outside, and the Krieger were clearly gaining the upper hand.
Cain quickly turned to look for new targets, but the Gretchin and hybrids had already scattered into the shadows.
Cain and his teammates opened fire again, but this time, they left the rest to the follow-up forces.
Without the Patriarch's command, the Heretics in this area became easier to clear, but they still needed to be completely annihilated to prevent Pure-Strain Genestealers from regrouping and taking its place.
"I thought you were dead," Cain said. Yugen nodded.
"To be honest, I thought so too," he said. "They almost swarmed me when the wall collapsed, and then I guessed the other side was just as thin, so I fired at the other side."
"I guess you guessed right," Cain replied. Yugen nodded.
"That was good luck," he added.
"What about the others?" Amberly asked.
Yugen's face darkened, "Sorel and I made it through, but I didn't see what happened to the others."
He didn't need to see... Within seconds, they must have been overwhelmed.
"It was lucky you found us," Cain said.
As they walked down the corridor, Sorel came over to join them, "Actually, no. We found your tracks in the dust and followed them."
"How did you know it was us?" Amberly asked.
The marksman shrugged, changed the magazine of his sniper rifle, and then slowly said:
"A pair of Imperial Guard boots, a pair of women's shoes. You don't need an Inquisitor to figure that out."
"I suppose not." Amberly looked at him with a hint of respect.
Yugen added, "As soon as we heard gunfire, we moved to a flanking position. Standard operating procedure."
They walked up the stairs, while the Krieger remained below, helping them block the endless stream of Gretchin from behind.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Amberly pointed to the solid wooden door in front of them: "Got it. Yugen, if you please."
"My pleasure."
Yugen chuckled, like a student picked to answer a question, then a melta blast vaporized the door and part of the wall.
"By the Emperor's teeth," Cain gasped, stepping into the passage beyond.
Sunlight streamed through the window frames into the passage, the intense light stinging their eyes. The decorations in the house, the carpet on the floor with portraits, suddenly gave Cain a bad hunch.
"I think I know where we are," he said. Amberly nodded, gritting her teeth.
"I know too," she said grimly.
Suddenly, the sound of a bolter pistol firing shattered the peace. Sorel flew backward, his blood immediately splattering on an expensive painting.
Yugen immediately rushed forward to check on Sorel. The bullet had struck the connection point of his left shoulder and arm, severing his entire left arm. He rolled on the ground, clutching his severed arm.
Yugen immediately pulled out hemostatic tools and began to stop the bleeding, pressing the barrel of his melta-gun directly onto Sorel's wound with a "hissing" sound. The high temperature of the barrel instantly cauterized the wound surface, preventing secondary bleeding.
At this moment, a voice emerged... Governor-General Greys stood at the end of the corridor, holding a pistol steadily in his hand, aimed at the group. The foolish look on his face had completely disappeared:
"Commissar Cain, and the charming Miss Vail... you truly are the most annoying of beings."
Cain looked at Governor-General Greys, unable to believe his eyes: "You! Weren't you dead!"
Governor-General Greys, like a great villain, pointed his bolter pistol at the group and said, "As a Planetary Governor, it's normal to have several doubles. After all, fakes are a good thing."
"So you expected to die early on?" Amberly asked.
Governor-General Greys let out a sickening laugh:
"Hahaha, the moment the Tau garrisoned the planet, I already expected it. But at the time, I wasn't particularly sure, until the parade when you arrived, when I saw that man Li Feng, I was certain that whether or not I embraced the Hive Mind, that man would kill me... because that man's eyes looked down on everything. I would believe it if you said he would directly blow up the The Galaxy / Milky Way."
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