95: Chapter 95 Crimson Defense Line and the Countdown to the Abyss

Edge of the Hive City Underhive, Defense Line One.

Wade stood on the makeshift command tower, looking toward the mine entrance in the distance that had been left as bait, a confident smile playing on his lips.

He had personally supervised the construction of the fortifications.

The "Aegis" defense line was laid out five hundred meters outside the mine entrance, with three-meter-high alloy armor plates connected end-to-end, and a two-meter-deep anti-infantry trench dug in front, filled with anti-infantry mines.

The crenellations and firing ports of the armor plates were bristling with heavy Bolters and autocannons.

Behind the defense line, twelve heavy Bolter Tarantula sentry turrets were arranged in a fan shape, each equipped with twin-linked heavy Bolters, their crossfire capable of covering the entire front.

Further away, "Saber" weapon platforms and "Bull" armored personnel carriers were already in position.

Six Leman Russ Tanks were hidden behind reinforced bunkers, their main guns aimed at the only exit.

Four Sentinel mechs were lined up, their ten-meter-tall mechanical torsos bristling with missile launchers.

Wade tapped the tactical board, which displayed the complete defense deployment map.

"Besides the main front defense line, the side alley entrances have all been blocked with concrete, the residential buildings have been cleared, the sewer entrances have been welded shut with steel plates, and twelve groups of hidden sentries have been placed within a three-kilometer radius."

He looked at Fu Haoran's projection in the communicator and couldn't help but speak, "Sir, aren't you a bit too worried? It's just a cult, isn't it? Even if they have—a few more people, they're just a rabble."

Fu Haoran watched him in silence.

Wade felt uneasy under his gaze and chuckled, "Fine, fine, you're the boss. Anyway, I'll just hold this opening, and I'll kill as many as come."

The projection turned off.

Wade turned around and ordered into the communicator, "Attention all units, blow up the other entrances; keep only this one."

Boom!

A dull explosion came from the distance as the elevator shafts, ventilation ducts, and backup passages leading to the Underhive were blown up one by one.

Only the mine entrance remained, gaping open like a dark hole, waiting for the prey to take the bait.

The "virus bomb" had been loaded onto the railcar, ready to be sent into the Underhive at any moment.

Wade certainly knew it wasn't a virus bomb. But that didn't matter; what mattered was whether the enemy would come.

The scout's voice came through the communicator, trembling slightly, "Colonel—the enemy—the enemy has appeared."

Wade leaned toward the Auspex; the red dots on the screen were dense, like an exploded anthill.

But the next second, he froze.

Those red dots weren't pouring out of the mine passage.

They were emerging from the streets, residential buildings, and sewers around the defense line.

From all directions.

The smile on Wade's face froze instantly.

"Where are the hidden sentries? Why was there no warning?!"

There was only the static of electric current in the communicator.

All twelve groups of hidden sentries had lost contact.

The first wave of the charge began.

Not a hundred, not a thousand, but over a hundred thousand.

Hybrid acolytes surged out of every alley; most still retained human silhouettes, but their arms had mutated into sharp bone claws, and they carried rusted machetes and autoguns, charging forward over the corpses of their companions.

—Even if half their bodies were blown apart by Bolters, they still dragged their bleeding intestines forward until they finally expired.

"Fire! Fire!" Wade roared into the communicator.

The heavy Bolters roared, and the ammunition belts poured into the crowd like a rainstorm.

The hundreds of Hybrids charging at the front were instantly turned into minced meat, but those behind continued to charge, stepping over the corpses.

The twelve heavy Bolter Tarantula sentry turrets fired simultaneously, their crossfire carving a dozen bloody trenches through the crowd.

The six Leman Russ Tanks behind the bunkers let out a deafening roar; high-explosive shells landed in the densest part of the insect tide, each shot blasting a ten-meter-wide vacuum of flesh and blood.

The four Sentinel mechs fired their grenade launchers in unison, a rain of fire descending, and the Wolf four-wheel-drive vehicles at the front were instantly blown into fireballs.

But it was useless.

The black tide kept surging over continuously.

The ones in front were blown to pieces, and those behind immediately stepped on the corpses to fill the craters; even if the entire street was blocked by flesh and steel wreckage, the charge did not pause for a single moment.

The Leman Russ main gun barrels were glowing red, and the ammunition boxes were emptying at a visible rate.

Yet the red dots on the Auspex not only didn't decrease, they became more numerous.

The gunner standing on the sentry turret had emptied three ammunition belts, his eyes bloodshot; he had clearly killed hundreds of Grave-Thieves charging up, but the black tide before him had not thinned, but rather become denser.

The gun barrel was so hot it blistered his palms, but he could only grit his teeth and keep firing, because he knew that if he stopped for even a second, the black tide would instantly wash over them.

The black tide washed over the first defense line, slamming into the Aegis armor plates.

The alloy plates clanged loudly, the soldiers behind the crenellations fired frantically, and lasers and Bolters turned the Grave-Thieves pushing up into honeycombs.

But just then, a heart-rending scream came from the flank of the defense line.

Hundreds of makeshift Wolf four-wheel-drive vehicles rushed out of the alleys, advancing wildly along the rock walls.

The heavy machine guns on the vehicles swept out deadly chains of fire, and the guards defending the flank instantly fell in droves.

The tribal brothers driving them laughed wildly as they turned the steering wheels hard, and the four-wheel-drive vehicles slammed into the defense line, smashing through the makeshift barbed wire and bunkers.

Thousands of Hybrids surged in through the breach.

Wade slammed his fist onto the command console, his eyes bloodshot.

"These beasts are not animals; they have fucking tactics!"

Before the aftermath of the first wave of the charge had dissipated, the interior of the defense line exploded.

The heavy Bolter positions deep within the fortifications suddenly went silent, and only the static of electric current remained in the communication channel.

It wasn't that the positions had been overrun; the command tower's communication antenna had been blown up from the inside long ago.

The veteran guarding the ammunition depot let out a short, sharp scream, and then there was no sound.

What was even more terrifying was that several veterans who had been fighting side-by-side for hours suddenly drew their knives and stabbed their comrades.

It was a Sanctifier.

The Gene-Stealer Cult's exclusive assassins, those deeply infected Hybrids, could perfectly disguise themselves as humans and launch a fatal strike at the most critical nodes.

Their targets were not ordinary soldiers; they were signalmen, heavy weapon operators, and junior officers.

Wade saw with his own eyes a new recruit so scared that his hands were shaking too much to hold his gun; the veteran next to him slapped him on the back of the head and roared, "What are you shaking for! Fire! If you don't fire, they'll gnaw you until not even your bones are left!"

But no sooner had the veteran finished speaking than a Sanctifier rushed out of the shadows, its sharp blade instantly slicing open his throat.

The new recruit clutched the veteran's blood, completely stunned.

"Colonel! The right flank can't hold!"

The cry for help in the communicator was heart-rending, and more Grave-Thieves surged in through the breach.

The black tide had already washed over one-third of the defense line, and the Aegis armor plates were knocked askew.

Wade kicked open the iron door of the ammunition depot, his heart sinking to the bottom.

The veteran responsible for guarding the depot lay in a pool of blood, his throat sliced open at the root by sharp claws, long since breathless.

On the wall, a letter—G—was written crookedly in the veteran's blood.

The House Grinner family crest.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Wade's back.

He remembered the Governor's investigation results from a while ago; more than half of the core members of House Grinner had long been infected by aliens and were in cahoots with the Underhive's Four-Armed Cult.

It wasn't that Grave-Thieves had infiltrated.

It was those long-corrupted nobles who had entered the fray themselves.

Wade led the reserve team forward, using his Chainsword to hack the incoming Grave-Thieves into pieces, and the veterans behind him set up their Bolters again, finally plugging the breach.

He had just caught his breath and wanted to send a battle report to Fu Haoran, but found that only the static of electric current remained in the communicator.

Just then, a heaven-shaking explosion came from the main bunker at the core of the defense line.

A Goliath truck spewing black smoke smashed through the concrete wall, its heavy front end crashing through the two-meter-thick wall.

The rear door of the truck bed burst open, and a mutant Overlord over three meters tall walked out, roaring.

Its muscles were knotted like rock, its arms mutated into bony siege hammer structures, and it was followed by a dozen similarly gigantic mutants.

"Fire! All units, focus fire!"

The firepower of Bolters, lasers, and heavy weapons instantly focused on the mutant Overlord.

But its ridiculously thick skin forcibly withstood most of the attacks, with only a few Bolter rounds opening bloody wounds on it.

Even if one fell, the rest continued to smash fiercely.

One hammer blow, and the Aegis armor plate was directly smashed and deformed.

Two hammer blows, and a heavy Bolter sentry turret was smashed into ruins.

Three hammer blows, and a Leman Russ Tank's track was smashed, its main gun going silent.

The defense line was completely broken.

The black tide washed over the last bunker, and the soldiers and Grave-Thieves were locked in combat, fighting desperately with bayonets, fists, and teeth.

Wade picked up his Chainsword, slashed open a mutant that pounced at him, and roared at the few dozen veterans left behind him, "Follow me! Plug the breach!"

Behind him, the veterans leveled their Bolters and followed his steps in silence.

Suddenly, Wade felt the sound of something tearing through the air behind him.

Wade turned his head sharply.

He only saw a black shadow so fast it almost left an afterimage.

Sharp claws raked fiercely across the chest plate of Wade's power armor.

The ceramic armor plates were torn open like paper, and three deep, bone-visible claw marks instantly appeared on his chest.

Wade was sent flying by this claw strike, crashing heavily into the ruins, his mouth full of blood.

He struggled to lift his head and saw that figure.

Pureblood.

It hadn't appeared out of thin air; from the very first wave of the charge, it had been silently following behind the insect tide, bypassing all the defense lines along the way.

The sentries and guards along the way had all been killed in a single blow by it, without making a sound.

Its target from the very beginning hadn't been ordinary soldiers.

It was the highest-ranking Commander of the defense line.

However, standing beside the Pureblood Genestealer was a person.

The other party was dressed in proper attire, and every gesture made them look like a noble, not a thug.

Three arms held different weapons, including a power sword and a Bolter.

It was the Gene-Stealer Cult Leader.

The second-in-command of the cult, the strongest combatant under the Hive Lord.

The other party hooked their finger, signaling Wade to attack.

Wade wouldn't talk about martial ethics with the other party; he raised his gun and fired.

However, the speed of the Gene-Stealer Cult Leader was ridiculously fast; it dodged the attack in a flash and looked toward Wade.

The Chainsword in Wade's hand was directly knocked away, and the huge impact made him stagger backward.

Before he could stand steady, the Leader was already upon him.

The first claw sliced open his left shoulder plate.

The second claw shredded his chest plate.

The third claw went straight for his throat.

Wade tried his best to dodge to the side, the sharp claws grazing his neck, leaving three deep, bone-visible claw marks on his collarbone.

He fell heavily to the ground, his mouth full of blood.

The Leader did not pursue.

It just stood there, looking down from above, its three arms spread slightly, like an artist admiring their own work.

Those cold compound eyes swept over the corpses covering the ground and the retreating defenders, as if everything before it was just a predetermined hunt.

Wade didn't know what the enemy in front of him was, but he instinctively felt that this enemy before him was not one he could handle.

The other party hadn't used their full strength at all.

If Fu Haoran were here, he would definitely recognize this as the Gene-Stealer Cult Leader, the second-in-command of the cult, the strongest combatant under the Hive Lord, a ruthless character capable of fighting an Astartes Captain one-on-one.

Wade gritted his teeth, supporting himself on the ground with his Chainsword, struggling to climb up bit by bit.

The Leader seemed amused by his resistance; the two arms holding the power sword lifted slightly, and in the next second, it was about to pounce and deliver the final blow to Wade.

Just then, a Sentinel mech arrived and fired at this spot without hesitation.

A thick laser beam struck, and the Leader quickly dodged, rushing toward the Sentinel mech.

A few breaths later, the Leader jumped onto the Sentinel mech, stabbed through the armor with its sword, and killed the pilot inside the mech.

The out-of-control Sentinel mech toppled over, and the Leader jumped down easily, walking toward Wade again.

Wade stared fixedly at the figure standing on the ruins, his back covered in cold sweat.

Suddenly, a ghostly green phase sword hacked down; the Leader's reaction was extremely fast, and almost the moment the blade light appeared, it rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow.

"You sure can dodge." Lucifer's voice carried a hint of nonchalance; her figure emerged from the void, and with a wave of her phase sword, the incoming Bolter rounds were instantly sliced in half, exploding behind her.

The Leader's compound eyes stared fixedly at Lucifer, its body tensing instantly.

It could clearly feel that this woman before it carried a terrifying pressure from ancient times, far surpassing the Hive Lord, a power it could not contend with at all.

But it did not run.

As the second-in-command of the cult, a Leader who had led countless cult uprisings, it would never flee in terror before its prey.

It let out a sharp hiss, and the surrounding Pureblood Genestealers instantly went crazy, pouncing toward Lucifer.

Lucifer frowned, her phase sword sweeping out; the dozen Pureblood Genestealers that pounced were instantly decapitated, but the Leader's figure had already disappeared into the depths of the tunnel.

She glanced at the defense line that was about to be completely submerged by the insect tide, then looked at the direction of the Underhive, and finally stopped her pursuit.

"Can you still stand up?" Lucifer looked down at Wade on the ground, her tone flat, "The defense line can no longer be held; take your men and retreat to the Promethium Factory; there are solid fortifications there that can hold out for a while longer."

Wade gritted his teeth and stood up with the help of a guard, watching the black insect tide washing over the defense line, his eyes full of bloodshot veins.

"Retreat!" Wade issued the final order into the communicator.

The remnants of the troops, under the cover of Lucifer, gradually consolidated their formation and broke through toward the Promethium Factory behind the defense line.

The Gene-Stealer Cult Leader watched the retreating defense forces with great disdain: "These heretics will never understand that only the Four-Armed God-Emperor will save the world."

Just as the Gene-Stealer Cult Leader was about to continue the attack with the main force, it received a message from the Underhive via telepathy.

"Someone has broken into the core of the lair?"

The Leader's expression turned from shock to anger.

"A mere few dozen rats dare to challenge the gods!"

"The rest of you continue the attack; I will go back and deal with those rats."