bookbashuk Page 738
Page 738
He didn't want to argue with them, nor did he want to be pounded in the head with a hammer by Vulcan, suffering comminuted fractures all over his body, or be imprisoned by Guilliman for thousands of years, or be imprisoned and tortured by the smiling Hades in the Dark Domain.
Conrad stepped onto the carpet, onto the titanium pile in the middle of the street, where a huge cross had already been erected, the material used to piece the cross together being the Fire Clan's battle armor.
Hmm... should he insert it backwards or forwards?
Conrad hesitated for a moment, but in the end he just stuck it in randomly, since he could always change the direction next time.
"My lord, if you do not wish to engage the enemy, then it is time for you to leave."
The little brat's calm voice rang out in the channel. Conrad chuckled twice, and the Lord of the Night reached out and shoved the huge flesh-and-blood hybrid he was dragging into it.
Hmm, let's make it more exquisite next time.
If Fugen had seen these poorly made, hastily produced items, he would surely have reprimanded Conrad.
........................
"Chase them! Chase them!! We can't let them get away this time!!!"
Shadow Sun roared as a crimson-green Gaussian ray grazed its head, and the towering Titan race sped away with unimaginable agility and stealth.
The crimson mech, Farsighted, drew his sword beside it, facing the dark blue Space Marine. The spikes piercing and connecting their skulls almost made Farsighted vomit.
Yuanjian suddenly swung his sword!
Missed! Another burst of intense gunfire came from afar, and the Titans had no choice but to find cover on the spot. This eerie green light meant certain death upon contact. Suddenly, Yuanjian leaped and darted into the back of a civilian transport vehicle.
A gunshot rang out, and almost as soon as the gunfire ended, it and Yingyang darted out together—
And they missed them again.
The streets, which had just been teeming with Space Marines, were now deserted. Empty rechargeable magazines lay scattered on the ground, and the Marines felt a sense of bewilderment and anger as they stepped onto the solid ground.
"They got away again!"
"Foresight roared, "The human Empire has deployed some kind of force on this planet. At first, the Tau thought they were similar to the Raven Guard because they had similar tactics and ways of stealth."
But later, the TAIAN realized that this strange force was the real devil compared to the Raven Guard.
Within the vast urban cluster, every night after nightfall, a million Tau people would silently disappear, only to reappear before the Tau in various gruesome ways after sunrise.
Corpses hanging from overpasses; skinned corpses floating in the park's river; organs removed piece by piece, blood collected in bags, and dissected bodies placed on the Tu clan's workbench; slogans formed by haphazardly smearing the entire corpse on the city government's exterior wall.
The Tau try to capture these enemies, but they never confront them head-on—meaning their fighting strength is insufficient to fight against the main Tau army.
As the day of the great battle drew ever closer, the Tau people on this planet were gripped by immense panic. Countless tasks that maintained the central system were forced to a halt, the Tau were disheartened, and some Tau who discovered corpses were simply terrified.
Therefore, they must catch these rodents hiding in the city.
Yingyang gritted his teeth. This was the first time the enemy had acted abnormally. According to preliminary statistics, the death toll tonight had already reached one million, and these enemy troops, who were usually scattered, were suddenly reported to have gathered together.
"They want to spread fear... to throw the planet into chaos, so that the main force can launch a landing operation."
Yingyang said through gritted teeth, and Yuanjian beside it also had a solemn expression.
"But we all know they are just rats in the shadows. They are not capable of confronting us directly, so they resort to such despicable tricks."
“We need to capture them as soon as possible, while making the people realize that the enemy is not enough to overthrow the order here.”
Yuanjian opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he and Yingyang both heard a shrill scream at the same time. It came from the Fire Clan warrior who had walked to the end of the street to explore the alley.
The two Titans turned their heads sharply and saw the Fire Clan member trembling as he covered his mouth—before falling straight backward.
Its comrades reacted similarly; some Titans fainted, while others collapsed to the ground as if they had lost all their strength. Yuanjian saw that the strongest member of the Fire Clan turned around and almost immediately began to vomit.
"what happens?"
Yuanjian ran over, grasped the sword at its waist, and the sun was about to rise, the ground was filled with a hazy heat, and a sliver of dawn appeared on the horizon.
Shadow Sun followed closely behind, rushing forward in a few strides to catch up with the terrified Fire Clan members. They leaped past them and saw—
They, they saw—
The two commanders, who had experienced countless brutal battlefields, stared into the alley with trembling eyes, disbelief, horror, fear, and despair. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably, wanting to escape and scream.
Countless Titans were forcibly squeezed and sewn together, their mouths bound shut with thick thread, spreading across the entire alley, stench and filth seeping from between their gaps—
The titanium was writhing, it was even alive, its face etched with words like "bitch" or "long live the emperor" or "long live the night lord," its dark pupils darting around, staring at Shadow Sun and Vision with madness and despair.
Looking along the living carpet, atop the countless piles of Titans with broken limbs, stood tall, scarlet crosses.
The sun has risen.
The round sun, bringing light and warmth, dispelling darkness and night, rises and looks down upon the cross, ascending to the foot of its short arms.
On the cross, countless skinned, naked bodies writhe and writh, reflecting a thick, hazy light under the sun. A gigantic, titanium-like, yet not titanium-like, colossal Titanium creature stands upside down, piercing through the cross.
Deep, dark marks were scorched on it by the lightning claw.
"The Emperor (crossed out) is dead! Long live the Lord of the Night!!"
Yuanjian felt his whole body stiffen. He stood there blankly, staring at everything in front of him, as if his body no longer belonged to him. Beside him, Yingyang's knees buckled and he knelt down with a thud.
They stood and knelt, gazing at the enormous, living, upside-down sculpture.
The creations of pain and despair also gazed at them, as did all the titanium they had sworn to protect, emitting a chaotic, agonizing wail that could drive all titanium mad—
Behind the cross, the sun calmly watched all of this.
Yingyang slowly, very slowly, opened the central communication.
“(T45, o865),”
Its voice was incredibly calm as it announced the coordinates of the alley.
"Command: Bombard from the air—"
Yingyang's words abruptly stopped in mid-air, and Yuanjian suddenly tackled Yingyang to the ground.
"They're all still alive!!!"
..............................
Conrad then happily hummed a song.
Yay, it's gone!
The "living carpet" comes from the original work; the Lord of the Midnight created a living corridor for Conrad, the kind you can imagine.
Chapter 762 How could this be seen? X-ray vision?
【? 】
Robert Guilliman suddenly looked up from the vast sea of texts, blinking blankly with a hint of confusion in his blue eyes.
"?"
"what happened?"
Hades, who was discussing the new Space Marine armor with Fernus, casually asked a question. He was very familiar with this kind of action by the Primarchs—generally, it meant that some being in the warp was echoing the Primarchs' nature.
[...I had a bad feeling.]
Guilliman spoke slowly, a statement that caused Hades and Phenus to turn and stare at him simultaneously. Hades blinked.
"Did something happen to Lao Mo?"
Although the probability is extremely low, it cannot be ruled out.
[Maybe...no, I don't think so.]
Guilliman slowly raised his hand, lowered his head and remained silent for a moment as if dizzy, before decisively uttering the name.
[Conrad.]
Killieman said seriously,
[It was Conrad—he built a sculpture of me out of titanium, and that's why I felt it.]
Before Guilliman could finish speaking, he sensed those extremely faint responses coming from the bloody, mangled creation, where something even seemed to be writhing and struggling.
"???"
Hades neither understood nor respected Conrad's perverse sense of humor. He paused, recalling once again Mortalian's attitude toward Conrad.
Finally, Hades came to his own conclusion.
"I don't think they'll include these operational details in their war reports."
If Conrad were to make overtures to Mortalion, then this Primarch, who dislikes writing battle reports, would almost certainly not elaborate on the Night Lords' war of fear and psychological warfare.
After all, while Mortarian possessed morality, he had no opinion on other races. Furthermore, Mortarian would remain completely indifferent and dismissive of strangers.
Guilliman nodded, then shook his head, seemingly somewhat speechless about what he had just experienced in the warp.
It's alright, I already know. I'll interrogate him myself when they return.
Guilliman sighed and rubbed his forehead.
I should have known why he went—at least in that respect, he hasn't changed at all; I thought he'd be persuaded by Corax.
His army's tactics have never changed.
Fernus suddenly spoke up, pointing out this point.
There were reasons why the Night Lords were not accepted by the Empire as early as the Great Crusade.
..............................
You need to speed things up, Conrad.
Corax's voice crackled softly in the communication channel. Conrad impatiently tapped the ground beneath his feet and nodded haphazardly.
My progress is already quite fast.
As it turned out, the living wonders were very effective, at least inflicting considerable psychological trauma on these Tau people. The Midnight Lord's strategic goal remained unchanged from beginning to end: to use the fewest enemy deaths to instill the most enemy morale.
They not only wanted to instill fear in the titanium on this planet, but also to spread the image so that the assembling armies would realize what they would face if they did not surrender.
Conrad hissed a few times, and subconsciously touched the burn marks on his shoulder armor.
They've been pursuing us very aggressively lately, which is unusual. Mortarian didn't tell me about having this many ground troops.
Three days after the wonder was created, at least the highest level of the Titanium finally reacted. In the city where corpses were observed, at least one large squadron of aircraft, including two Manta, hovered above the city, and countless machine bees took off, illuminating the night as if it were daytime.
After realizing they could not fight the Midnight Lords at close range, on the tenth day after the wonder was built, after countless arguments and pain, the Tau, on Shadowsun's advice, launched a devastating bombing plan against the city.
In other words, in order to keep more Titan alive, these guys have finally started pointing their cannons at their own people. Areas where the Midnight Lord is discovered will be bombarded point-to-point immediately. After the first wave of bombardment, all surviving Titans in the area will be evacuated immediately, and then the entire sealed-off area will be completely flattened by artillery fire.
Conrad scratched at the ground with some annoyance. The Night Lords, a legion that relied on psychological warfare, struggled particularly in protracted battles and against large vehicles. Furthermore, the Tau people's eventual annihilation of urban buildings was uprooting the foundation of their urban warfare capabilities.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the channel.
"The Mortalians have indeed sent back some new intelligence. They seem to want to do something with this planet. Do you need my help, Conrad?"
No! Don't.
Conrad immediately rejected the idea. Inside the dimly lit drainage system of the Tau city, the Primarch thoughtfully raised his head and listened intently to the vibrations.
My tactics were successful; I don't need your support.
Roughly estimated, the Night Lord killed/tortured about 1% of the planet's population, while the remaining 99% of the Tau were mobilized. Of these, 70% of the Tau suffered from mental illnesses such as inefficiency and hallucinations due to witnessing the massacre directly or indirectly, 11% of the Tau died from excessive fright, and another 18% of the Tau were killed by the retreat or bombing of their own Tau.
The Night Lords didn't actually kill many, but they always gave the Titans the illusion that they had killed a lot.
This data may have a large margin of error, but that doesn't matter; Conrad doesn't care about numbers.
Although the encirclement searching for the Night Lord was shrinking, the Night Lord's hand that was stirring their spirits never stopped. Time passed second by second, the sun rose and set, and the Tau people adopted the right tactics, but their spirits were being destroyed little by little.
Conrad couldn't understand it. Normally, the highest leader of a planet should have left by now, but Shadow Sun and Vision had stayed on the planet, even though a bunch of Titans were now openly insulting them as worthless Titans.
It's just a central transportation planet.
Conrad tapped the metal pipe beside him, making a soft thumping sound.
In their fight against Conrad, Shadowsun and Foresight completely abandoned the principles long upheld by the Tau, causing their armies to become somewhat restless.
Their atrocities were not only witnessed by the planet's military, but also spread, and among the Tau who did not witness Conrad's bloody deeds, the doubts about the two commanders grew louder.
【they,】
Conrad paused, because there was no such thing as a "mutiny" in the history of the Tau people, but judging from the progress, the army had clearly reached the tipping point of mutiny.
They're probably about to rebel, but the Tau are too obedient to their leaders; I'm not sure if they'll ultimately do it.
Conrad hoped to pinpoint the mutiny to the point where the Mortarion attacked the planet, thus saving the Empire the most manpower and resources—a strategy consistently advocated by the Night Lords.