Chapter 54: Chapter 54: The Alien
If you're interested, you can subscribe to my Patreon to access more advanced chapters.
Thank you, fellow cultivators~
———— 🌟 ————
Before it plummeted downward, Amilia had already picked up Zhang Ge and swiftly flew in the opposite direction.
Dozens of its fleshy limbs extended downward, making contact with the ground first, followed by its massive body crashing down. Its flesh and thick fluids splattered and tore upon impact with the hardened metal structure, yet the metallic components within remained indestructible.
Though temporarily immobilized from the fall, the enormous eye that had moved to the front of its body never ceased to fixate on the two of them.
From such a close distance, Zhang Ge finally saw clearly what those egg-like objects were.
They were tens of thousands of worms, entangled with one another, biting each other's heads and tails, constantly writhing and shifting. Yet, without exception, each had a black dot at its center, focusing in the direction the eye was gazing.
The flesh on its body was as pale as those man-made constructs, yet crimson hues seeped from the seams of its muscles. The festering wounds and holes that had been torn open were visibly healing at a rapid pace, as countless worm-like creatures surged from its wounds and blood vessels, filling and adhering to the damaged areas.
Originally intending to capture a cult, Zhang Ge unexpectedly stirred up a hornet's nest.
The name of an alien race surfaced in Zhang Ge's mind, aligning with his thoughts.
The Wormmen, or the Lords of Decay.
If this race is not familiar enough, then another associated race is far more well-known:
The Rangdan.
This alien race repeatedly thwarted the Empire during the Great Crusade of 30K. Even with the participation of three Primarchs, nine Space Marine Legions, and Mechanicum forces, the Empire suffered significant casualties.
Space Marines died in droves, dozens of Titan Legions were annihilated, and even a Gloriana-class battleship was sunk.
But their impact on the Empire went far beyond that. It seemed that the Empire suffered some great humiliation in the war against the Rangdan, to the extent that most information related to them was completely erased, and all veterans who fought in the war swore never to speak of it again.
Except for specialized historians, most people are unaware of even the name "Rangdan."
There are various theories about the connection between the Wormmen and the Rangdan. Some say they are merely different names for the same race, others believe the Wormmen are a specialized branch of the Rangdan, and some even suggest that the Wormmen are a superior race to the Rangdan.
However, regardless of which theory is true, the connection between the Wormmen and the Rangdan is undeniably strong.
Despite the Empire's declaration that all Rangdan had been completely eradicated after the Third Rangdan Xenocide, various archives and threat reports from the Inquisition over the millennia indicate that at least the Wormmen remain one of the threats the Empire faces.
Now, at this very moment, this threat manifested itself in its true form before Zhang Ge.
Though it appeared to be merely some secondary effects, not a direct confrontation with those rotting xenos, it was still something the two of them could not contend with head-on.
In the sky, before the two had flown far, the Worm construct behind them had already fully recovered. Its fleshy appendages lifted, revealing that its feet began to split from the middle, transforming into hundreds of writhing tendrils at the tips.
Its speed was not much slower than that of the jump packs.
Zhang Ge raised his plasma pistol and fired a bright azure ball of plasma, its trajectory drawing a straight line as it smashed into the xenos pursuing them from behind.
Yet it neither dodged nor evaded. The plasma sparks exploded on the surface of its eye in the next instant, tearing and melting a large area, exposing the dark red flesh behind the eye. However, such an injury was but a drop in the ocean for that massive body, and it did not even slow its advance.
Seeing this, Zhang Ge nodded in satisfaction. While continuing what seemed like futile firing, he spoke to Amilia:
"You go first. Head to the surface and notify the Mechanicus. I'll hand over Yarkalan to you. I'll stay here to draw its attention and buy us time."
The nobles might not be trustworthy, but the Mechanicus undoubtedly harbors a deep-seated hatred for the Rangdan. It's unclear how the nobles managed to deceive the tech-priests, but if the Mechanicus had known, they would have been willing to bury the entire hive to eliminate this thing.
Of course, sending her to the Mechanicus was merely a convenient excuse. Once Zhang Ge was dead, he could deal with this thing himself.
But Amilia shook her head and said, "No, it's unnecessary."
Zhang Ge was dumbfounded. Are we in a soap opera now? "This is not the time for personal sentiments. Go!"
Amilia gave Zhang Ge a slightly strange look, her gaze sweeping over his neck, "You're still wearing that pendant, aren't you? Olivia can hear."
Hearing this, Zhang Ge's expression froze.
Damn, I forgot about this. Earlier, for the sake of convenience in long-distance communication, Zhang Ge had simply tucked the pendant inside his clothes. So, if nothing unexpected happened, Olivia could actually hear every word he said.
Not necessarily, not necessarily. What if there's no signal over such a distance?
Zhang Ge pinched the strand of hair on the pendant and tentatively asked:
"Olivia? Are you listening? If you are, tell me where you are right now."
"I'm here. I just set off. Though I'm not sure what's happening, please hold on a little longer. I can sense the location of the other part of my body. There's no need to call Miss Amilia over."
The other part of her body must be referring to this strand of hair.
"Did the priests not stop you?"
"Priests? Those little red-clad figures? No, but they brought a lot of similarly dressed people to follow me."
As they spoke, the upward momentum of the jump pack had gradually turned into a descent. As the speed slowed, the distance between them and the pursuers was rapidly closing.
But before they could be caught, Amilia had already reached her desired location—a rather large building.
From the outside, it was unclear what it was, but given the current state of the underhive, there was no need to care about that anymore.
She turned around, using the thrust from the pack to slow down. The two of them gradually decelerated in mid-air but crashed into the window before they could come to a complete stop.
Amilia raised Zhang Ge slightly above herself as she smashed through the window, ensuring his legs remained off the ground when she landed. This way, only she needed to stabilize upon landing, avoiding mutual interference that could lead to imbalance.
After being set down, no further communication was necessary—Zhang Ge already understood her intentions.
As Zhang Ge dashed into the building, Amilia retrieved several grenades from the storage compartments of her power armor.
If they were ordinary weapons, it would be better to run a few more steps rather than use them to buy time. But it just so happened that the Sisters excelled in incinerating flesh, and the Ecclesiarchy could conveniently obtain some minor contraband through various channels.
The surface of these round objects was marked with red inscriptions:
Phosphor Grenades.
These weapons, capable of burning through adamantium, had an enlarged missile variant typically launched from warships to burn entire planets, swiftly and efficiently carrying out Exterminatus.
When these phosphor grenades were thrown, the worm-like creation dismissed them as less threatening than plasma bursts.
But as the grenades detonated, green clouds began to release flames and radiation along its eyeballs, and anything that came into contact with them inevitably caught fire. It then truly experienced the consequences of its mistaken decision.
The massive entity, propelled by immense momentum, was utterly unavoidable. Driven by inertia, it could only crash head-on, enveloping the front half of its body in what should have been a diffused cloud. In the midst of burning, high temperatures, carbonization, and agonized shrieks, it lost its vision.
Its body, now a blazing torch, illuminated the surroundings. The repulsive, grotesque eyeball, along with the front half of its body, gradually turned to charcoal.
In its blind charge, it collided without slowing down in front of the building where Zhang Ge and the others were. The green cloud it carried spread out, even igniting the ceramite that constituted the building, causing a raging fire to spread.
However.
Amid the spreading high-temperature flames and the scorching heated air, its rear half slowly lifted itself. In front, the carbonized layer that should have lost all vitality began to peel off—first one piece, then a second, and more.
Outside the window, its pupil, unfocused and horrifyingly tangled with worms, reappeared.
———— 🌟 ————
ps:Support and join my Patreon
patreon.c@om/chenc11 Remove @
You can read up to 15~20 premium chapters.