50: Chapter 50 Loyalty!

The smell of blood permeating the air had become thick to the point of viscosity.

The standing water under their feet had turned dark red, emitting a sticky squelching sound with every step.

The group encountered almost no decent resistance.

The sporadic Fallen along the way couldn't even make a splash against the Adeptus Arbites assault team's Bolters and the players' heavy shields and spears.

Finally, the view ahead opened up.

They stepped into a vast, natural underground cavern.

This place was likely meant to be a transit hub for the Mountain Tribe mining system, with several rusted mine carts parked around.

But at this moment, across the entire floor of the cavern, hundreds upon hundreds of human skulls were arranged into a massive, twisted eight-pointed star pattern.

Dark red blood flowed slowly along the textures of the rock within the pattern.

"Old Liver, stop."

Ming Shen raised his hand.

His keen perception had captured something unusual about the surrounding environment.

From the other entrances to the cavern, chaotic footsteps could be faintly heard.

Soon, several other player squads from the Shelter also crept into this cavern one after another from different passageways.

Everyone gathered at the edge of this eerie altar.

A strong sense of foreboding rose in Ming Shen's heart.

This didn't seem like a coincidence; it felt more like a gathering that had been deliberately guided.

Neil, who had been following behind, stepped forward. After seeing the pattern on the ground clearly, his expression darkened instantly: "This is..."

"A cult sacrificial ritual." The Ecclesiarchy priest's face turned pale, her voice filled with unconcealable horror.

She hugged the glass jar in her arms tightly, "No. We've fallen into a trap."

Before she could finish speaking, an invisible, bone-chilling soul storm swept in from the other side of the cavern without warning.

It was a screech that transcended the physical realm.

Acting on instinct, the priest raised the bulletproof glass jar containing the saint's skull high, rapidly chanting exorcism prayers.

A faint, pale golden barrier instantly expanded, shielding her, Neil, and the only remaining assault team adjutant beside them.

But the other assault team members standing outside the barrier were not so lucky.

The storm swept past.

Several elite Imperial soldiers didn't even manage to scream.

Their eyes rolled back instantly, and their skin withered and turned gray at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the souls and life force within them had been instantly drained by some terrifying maw.

"Thud, thud."

Seven or eight withered corpses fell into the standing water like tattered sacks.

"No." Neil watched his subordinates die tragically, his eyes splitting with rage.

However, what Neil found even more inconceivable was that the dozens of sub-human soldiers standing in front of the assault team, having been hit head-on by this terrifying Warp storm, didn't even sway.

[Makabazi] scratched his horns and looked around, somewhat confused: "Did a gust of wind just blow past? Does this underground cavern have a draft?"

[Wanna Sleep with Slaanesh] shivered: "Probably a group debuff from the boss's entrance. I see my health bar didn't drop either; is there a bug in the calculation?"

The souls of these The Fourth Calamity did not belong to this universe at all.

The Warp's soul storm blew over them like a gentle breeze over a hill, having no effect whatsoever.

In the shadows deep within the cavern, a group of cultists covered in twisted tattoos, some even with sharp metal rods embedded in their skin, surged out like a tide.

There were hundreds of them.

Leading them was a Psyker cult leader holding a bone staff, with deep-set eye sockets.

His originally fanatical expression froze instantly upon seeing the lively group of players.

"This is impossible... Why is soul harvesting ineffective against them?" The cult leader stared fixedly at the players, a Flash of suspicion in his eyes, "Soulless ones? Blanks? Doesn't seem like it."

But soon, the suspicion in his eyes was replaced by pure, murderous desire.

"It doesn't matter."

The cult leader raised his staff, pointing at the players' and NPCs' positions, "Since souls cannot be sacrificed, then we will use their warm blood. Kill them all. Blood for the Blood God."

"For the True God."

Over a hundred cultists let out deafening roars, raising their crude automatic weapons and blood-stained pickaxes, and charged over crazily.

Neil watched his colleagues die tragically around him, his eyes bloodshot.

Before Chaos, fear only becomes fodder for demons.

He drew the Bolter pistol from his waist and pulled the trigger while roaring.

A large-caliber bolt instantly blew the cultist charging at the very front in two.

On the other side, the player phalanx not only didn't fall into any chaos, but instead erupted into a chorus of extremely excited wolf howls.

"Holy shit. The big scene is here."

"This plot is awesome. Cultist all-out attack. Front row shields up. Back row prepare to bleed them."

The players might be rowdy, but their tactical execution was terrifyingly high.

Five Strength-based players wearing medical exoskeletons immediately stepped forward, slamming their 200-pound large iron shields onto the ground, forming an airtight steel defensive line.

The cultists' bullets hit the shields like raindrops, sending sparks flying everywhere.

These scrap-metal shields were only thick, lacking any special force field protection.

Under the concentrated fire, the steel plates began to show dents and cracks.

Neil saw the insufficiency of the players' firepower.

Most of them were holding melee weapons and couldn't suppress the human-wave charge from the other side.

He gritted his teeth, kicked away the withered corpse of his colleague, picked up the heavy Bolter, and threw it to [Miracle Walker] hiding behind the shield.

"Use this. Kill the heretics." Neil roared in Gothic.

Walker caught the Bolter steadily, feeling its heavy metallic texture, and his eyes instantly lit up like two searchlights.

"Holy shit. Brothers. The NPC is handing out high-level gear." Walker shouted excitedly, "This is definitely a plot-borrowed artifact. Ammo must be free. Kill them."

Walker skillfully pulled the bolt, resting the weapon in the gap of the shield.

"Bang. Bang. Bang."

The characteristic dull roar of the Bolter echoed in the cavern.

Every micro-rocket-propelled grenade that exploded among the cultists took three or four lives, sending severed limbs flying.

Both sides engaged in a fierce firefight.

But the wailing cultists were numerous and didn't fear death, pushing forward to sacrifice their lives against the Bolter fire.

The distance between the two sides closed rapidly.

The only remaining adjutant of the assault team held up a high-pressure riot shield, guarding the priest and Neil tightly.

The Ecclesiarchy priest was currently kneeling on the ground, cold sweat soaking her monastic robes.

She was doing her utmost to use the holy relic to maintain the barrier, resisting the Warp psychic suppression exerted by the cult leader opposite, with no time to attend to anything else.

Neil emptied the magazine of his pistol.

He watched as players were continuously hit by stray bullets and fell, knowing the defensive line was about to be overrun.

He threw away his pistol and drew a power hammer from the adjutant's waist.

He pressed the switch, and blue destructive arcs danced wildly on the hammer head.

"In the name of the God-Emperor."

Neil prepared to charge the line himself; even if he died in battle, he would buy time for the priest to retreat.

However, before he could take a step, the sub-human allies standing beside him who had been defending behind the shields suddenly made an abnormal move.

No orders, no hesitation.

"Brothers. Charge. Let's blow them up." Liver Emperor let out a loud roar and actually removed the large shield that was about to shatter.

Dozens of players holding melee weapons, like a pack of wolves released from a cage, launched a counter-charge directly into the dense hail of cultist bullets.

There was not the slightest fear of death on their faces; instead, they showed a near-manic excitement.

During the charge, players were continuously shot through the chest, falling into pools of blood.

But the remaining people didn't look at the corpses beside them at all, forcibly wading through a path of blood.

A dozen people successfully charged into the cultists' formation.

A fierce melee battle erupted instantly.

[Why Panic When I Have Flash] held his greatsword.

A heretic slammed into him, sending him flying.

Flash used the momentum of flying backward to adjust his posture in mid-air.

He landed and rolled, smashing directly into the densest crowd of cultists.

"Mortgage weapon. Give me full power."

Flash pressed the hidden switch on the hilt.

The blade instantly turned searing hot red.

A violent sweeping strike.

The blade cut through the air with a piercing whistle.

Five cultists who lunged forward were instantly severed at the waist, their wounds cauterized by the high temperature.

"Fighting. Awesome." Flash panted, laughing wildly as he swung his sword again.

This group of players' adrenaline, seemingly accustomed to high-end matches, was secreting wildly at this moment.

Makabazi emptied his shotgun, then simply lowered his head, using his two sharp horns to launch a savage charge at the enemy.

With one strike, he completely crushed a cultist's chest cavity.

The cult leader standing in the back watched his companions being slaughtered one-sidedly, but instead of being afraid, he laughed even more maniacally.

"Yes. That's it. Killing. More blood."

Seeing Flash and Liver Emperor about to kill their way to him, the cult leader suddenly stopped waving his staff.

He drew a strangely twisted dagger, shaped like a snake's tongue, from his waist and stabbed it violently into his own heart.

"Blood for the True God. Grant me ascension."

Accompanied by a scream that didn't sound human, a sudden change occurred.

The blood flowing across the entire cavern floor seemed to be imbued with life, beginning to flow backward crazily, gathering toward the cult leader's corpse.

After absorbing the blood, the corpse began to swell violently, its bones emitting teeth-grinding sounds of cracking and restructuring.

The priest kneeling on the ground saw this scene and let out a terrified scream: "He is Daemon Ascending. Stop him quickly. We cannot let him complete the ritual."

Neil and the adjutant certainly knew what this meant.

A materialized Chaos daemon was about to be born; if it were allowed to be born successfully, this entire area would likely be corrupted.

Moreover, this heretic leader was a Psyker, and the soul energy that would erupt would cause all intelligent life within several kilometers to die.

Neil raised his gun and fired wildly at the swelling mass of flesh, but the bullets were all deflected by the surrounding barrier of blood.

What to do!

The players didn't understand what the priest was shouting, but with this typical second-phase boss transformation animation, even a fool would know not to let him finish channeling.

"Ignore the adds. Kill the boss first. Interrupt his channeling." Ming Shen roared from the rear.

Flash, being the closest, reacted the fastest.

He lunged forward, dodging a strike from a cultist beside him, and backhanded his sword to decapitate him.

Using the momentum of the spin, he threw himself like an arrow released from a bow, hurling his body toward that mass of flesh.

"Die, you bastard."

The searing blade pierced through the newly formed blood barrier without any resistance.

Flash roared, gripping the sword with both hands, and stabbed the mutating cult leader straight through from chin to crown.

The ritual was forcibly interrupted.

The surrounding surging blood lost control, instantly collapsing and turning into a pool of foul-smelling blood that splashed onto the ground.

The remaining dozens of cultists saw their leader dead and the ritual failed, and their last shred of fanaticism vanished.

They dropped their weapons and turned to flee deep into the mine.

But how could Neil and [Miracle Walker], holding the Bolter, give them a chance?

Accompanied by a burst of dense gunfire, the remaining cultists were picked off one by one, all falling on their path of escape.

The underground cavern finally fell into a deathly silence.

Only the smell of gunpowder and the thick scent of blood permeated the air.

Neil held the power hammer, panting, looking at the corpses covering the ground and the six remaining surviving sub-human soldiers of the other side.

His heart was filled with mixed feelings, not knowing what to say.

According to the strict laws of the Adeptus Arbites, these mortals who had come into contact with the Chaos sacrificial ritual and even witnessed the Daemon Ascension process must be eliminated on the spot to prevent the spread of contamination.

But he looked at the swords still dripping with blood in their hands, and those heavy shields that, although damaged, still exuded a sense of oppression.

He knew that with just himself and the adjutant, they couldn't beat these six battle-crazed lunatics.

Moreover, these people had just saved their lives.

Neil was caught in an extremely painful dilemma.

Ming Shen saw the NPC's hesitation and keenly sensed the direction of the plot.

He typed extremely calmly in the team channel: "Brothers. According to the plan set on the forum last night. Let's amp up the intensity for the NPC. Let's have a perfect finale."

"Sigh. This plan is cool, but it's a pity about the experience points I just earned; losing 20 points for nothing." Flash sighed, but his actions were without hesitation.

Just as Neil gritted his teeth, preparing to open his mouth to make these people lay down their weapons and accept interrogation, he saw a scene that he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life, one that even caused his faith to shake violently.

The remaining six sub-human soldiers suddenly stood in a line extremely neatly.

They ignored Neil's warning and instead threw their spears, battle-axes, and even the borrowed Bolter onto the ground.

Then, they drew their sidearm pistols or sharp daggers from their waists.

The six of them, with movements in perfect unison, aimed the muzzles and blade tips at their own temples and hearts.

They looked at Neil and the priest, their faces devoid of any fear of death, only a pure, near-fanatical calmness.

"Loyalty."

The six people shouted in unison in non-standard Gothic with a deafening roar.

"Bang."

"Squelch."

Six corpses fell into the pool of blood.

The underground cavern was terrifyingly silent.

Neil, the priest, and the adjutant stood there blankly.

They looked at the pools of blood on the ground that belonged to these soldiers.

To prevent being contaminated by Chaos, to avoid causing trouble for the Inquisition.

These brave soldiers, after achieving victory, had actually chosen self-execution without any hesitation.

What kind of faith was this.

What kind of loyalty was this.

Neil's hand holding the power hammer trembled violently.

This Arbiter, who had seen enough treachery and bloodshed in Coastal City, felt his nose sting severely at this moment, and his eyes turned completely red.