Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

Page 531

“Macurag stayed for more than ten days, waiting for the parameters of his bullet bow to be adjusted, before heading directly to the Great Whirlpool.”

"The Great Vortex has been a chaotic place of psionic energy for thousands of years. The Deathguard and Faos supported the Starclaw Chapter here. The current Chapter Master, Rutef Huron, is also a veteran who does things on both sides. However, due to the special geographical location there, the Empire turns a blind eye and does nothing for the time being."

"You want to bring Huron over?"

Hades suddenly asked, his eyes fixed on Buz without blinking.

Huron... in the original story, was a warrior sent by the Empire to guard the Great Vortex.

In summary, this person was extremely ambitious, highly capable, ruled with an iron fist, and was disloyal to the empire.

After a long period of tax arrears, Huron finally broke with the Empire. He led the remaining Starclaws, renamed them the Red Pirates, and decisively betrayed the Empire, establishing his own power base and hiding in the Maelstrom, becoming one of the forces among the rogue Space Marines.

In the original story, Huron the Red Pirate was also a Space Marine who, under the guidance of the Tzeentch forces' Fateweavers, defeated and imprisoned Primarch Guilliman.

Huron is still being sent by the Empire to guard the Great Vortex—not to defend against Chaos, but to guard against the Sage Faos who occasionally emerges from within the Great Vortex.

As it turns out, this guy still ended up having an affair with Faos.

Buz paused.

"Huron is extremely capable, and I do have that thought in mind—"

“But he has considerable personal ambitions,” Buz said cautiously. “His cooperation with the Deathguard and Faos is also two-faced, maneuvering between the Empire and Faos.”

……

"You want to make money from both ends, huh?"

Hades said, picking up a piece of glutinous rice cake adorned with indigo petals and eating it.

"He maintained his balance very well."

Booz replied, "While some of these tactics certainly displease Death Guardian Faos..."

“But I’m back,” Hades said slowly. “The balance has been broken. Let’s see where his sincerity lies—if not, then wipe him out, or imprison him in Faos.”

Huron himself was neither good nor bad, and was not a benevolent person.

Hades' final destination is Terra. As an important forging world under Hades' control, the reappearance of Phaeus is inevitable. This puts the Starclaws, sent by the Empire to guard the Great Vortex, in a rather awkward position.

Hades doesn't need to make things difficult for himself. If he senses that something is wrong with Huron, he should just eliminate him.

If Huron truly wants to follow the Death Guard and the Underworld Prince... Huron, a man of exceptional political acumen...

Hades believes it is necessary to take advantage of the talent pool.

Before Hades fell into slumber, all he could lead was the Order of Silence. There were few Soulless Ones to begin with, and the Order was small in size. Hades alone, plus two or three deputies, was enough.

Back when he was with the Death Guard, he also had the Primarch in charge, as well as countless members of the Death Guard's management team.

No matter what, a management tree can only extend downwards by a maximum of two or three branches.

But now, Hades needs to find someone like Buzz Bella.

"Then we will stay in the whirlpool for about a month."

Buz paused for a moment, then continued, "If you want to eliminate the Star Claws, it will take at most about a month."

Hades poured himself another glass of black water.

“It might go even more smoothly,” he said calmly. “I bet the sages of Faos will provide Starclaw with crucial technical support—the kind where Faos has the backend management privileges.”

Booz's expression changed.

“Hurron might not use it,” he said. “This…”

"Then it depends on the sages' acting skills. Let's skip Phaos for now, in case we think too badly of him."

Buz nodded and continued.

"The Great Vortex will stay for a month, and then it will be Nukeria. I have a feeling that the World Eaters will be more efficient than the Ultramarines. A week will be more than enough."

Hades nodded. He thought of Angron, the Lord of Red Sand, who was always decisive in his actions, and it seemed that this had profoundly influenced his descendants.

I wonder how Angron is doing now.

"Then we went to Terra."

Hades said, the wine in the glass rippled,

"The largest garrison in the Solar Starfield is the Imperial Fist?"

Booz nodded. "You don't need to worry about that... The Pale Lord once saved Lord Dorn—they've always owed him that favor, and it's time for them to repay it."

Hades knew this; Black had told him.

Hades was silent for a moment. Why did he feel that after waking up, the Empire was full of Death Guardian's favors?

Over the past ten thousand years, Mortarion has accomplished quite a bit.

Hades took another sip of his drink silently.

For example, passing down this extremely unpleasant wine recipe would harm the world and leave a lasting stain on people's reputation.

"...and the Imperial Guards,"

Hades pondered, "As long as the Lord of Humanity remembers me, and the Imperial Guard still obeys the Emperor's command, the Imperial Guard stationed in the Sun Star Region will... not to mention cooperate, at least they will never hinder our actions."

"This is good news,"

"I've dealt with the Imperial Guard," Buzz said, then seemed to remember something and frowned awkwardly. "They're generally... hard to understand."

"understand,"

Hades said, “I understand you. I’ve dealt with the Imperial Guards too. They don’t do anything productive—they just think about how to shut me up all day long.”

……

Buz fell silent, watching Hades sigh and pour wine while remaining oblivious. Buz thought that on this matter, he might, for once, reach a consensus with the Imperial Guard.

Sometimes, necessary silence can maintain a sense of mystery and respect that people imagine?

As for Hades, he was wondering what happened to Charon and the others.

He has likely returned to the Golden Throne.

Let's have another drink.

“If the Imperial Guard doesn’t intervene,” Hades said, holding his wine glass as he listened to Buz’s estimate, “then the High Lords won’t last long—their remaining forces include the Astral Army, the Imperial Navy, assassins, the Guardians of the Faith, the Forged World’s army, self-armed merchant fleets, and psionic troops…”

"But they are not a monolithic entity,"

Hades said,

"Not only are the High Lords themselves not united, but the armies under their command are also not united."

Buzz nodded, picked up a piece of cake, stood it upright, and then gently pushed it away—

It collapsed with a crash.

"The moment we led our army back to Terra, they had no choice but to relinquish power."

Buzz picked up the cake, taking a bite as he spoke.

"There might be a few minor skirmishes—at least we need to establish our authority."

"Strike a few, ignore a few, and bring a few under your control."

Hades chimed in, and he too picked up a piece of cake to eat.

"Now it'll be up to you to figure out who deserves to live and who deserves to die, Booz."

In this regard, no one is more suitable than Buz, who once served as regent of the empire. Buz can see through most of the intricacies of central Terran politics, which is enough for him.

Buz was well aware of this, and this time, instead of making excuses, the Prince of the Underworld nodded solemnly.

then……

Hades pondered, if all went well, the first thing he would do after taking over the Empire was to unite and reorganize the Mechanicus.

The loose structure of the Mechanicus must be changed. If those sages have the time and energy to wage internal holy wars, they should all be sent out to build an empire.

We must develop science and technology and increase productivity. Now Hades can help technological development avoid interference from Tzeentch and the Star Gods—so there's no need to keep the sages in the dark.

Hades felt that this one thing alone was enough to give him a hard time.

He pondered that his memories from the past were probably no longer of any use; the original storyline was that Guilliman would enter Terra, but now it was his turn.

Chaos did make a brief appearance during Guilliman's journey to Terra.

But for some reason, Hades felt that Chaos wouldn't bother him.

Unless it's a fierce battle, no matter how many troops Chaos sends, they're just mud in the sea, turning into dust in an instant.

Hades could say that, putting aside everything else, his special attack skills in fighting Chaos are already maxed out.

But Chaos seemed unlikely to bother him—after all, there was the Mortarion in the warp causing destruction and violence.

Thinking about it this way, Mortarion actually shared a large part of Hades' burden. Whether it's the current imperial layout or Chaos, Mortarion definitely contributed.

Hades was again considering whether to contact the Death Guard in the warp, but Karas's message was "Don't worry..."

Hades decided that if the Death Guard didn't notify him, he would ask the Grey Knights after he arrived in Terra and stabilized the situation.

He also has to remember Magnus.

Hades' Magnus Stone at his waist was dull, suggesting that Magnus needed a rest.

After all, having him follow Hades around every day... that would probably be another form of torture for a psionic Primarch.

"How is the Empire's recent war situation? Are there any major battlefields?"

Hades asked again, and Buz shook his head.

“Aside from the recent Tyranid calamity that Macragge has just suffered, there is currently no war that is enough to shake the Empire’s position—or perhaps, like the Octarius sector, Terra has not taken it seriously.”

Chaos, Terran, Orks, Eldar, Necromancers, Tau... For the current Empire, the most threatening are Chaos, Terran, and Necromancers.

Chaos is an old adversary. Currently, Mortarion is wreaking havoc in the warp, and with Hades in charge, at least in the real universe, they can rival Chaos.

Tyrannosaurus and the Five Hundred Starfields have just wiped out two large tentacles, and they won't be able to make a comeback in the short term. But now we must start to pay attention to Tyrannosaurus and try to eliminate the insects in the early stages.

In the long run, however, according to Hades, the Tyranids who have come to the galaxy are just a small part of the vast swarm. If the human Empire hopes to survive in the long insect hive, it must develop technology that can efficiently destroy the Tyranids.

After all, no matter how much the Tyranids evolve, it is still based on flesh and blood, and when they eat planets, they only eat the surface, not the stars.

Causal weapons, time-reversing weapons, gene viruses... these are all technologies that humanity has possessed in the past, and there must be one that can deal with Tyrannosaurus.

If all else fails, there are also unorthodox methods like Star Gods and Subspace.

As for the space necromancer—

If the Silent King from beyond the Milky Way were to return and seek to reunify the galaxy, this could be a severe test for humanity.

Furthermore, according to Hades, the current timeline is very close to the timeline of the Silent King's return in the original work.

It is unknown whether the butterfly effect caused by Hades will interfere with the Necromancers in space.

But when it comes to space necromancers... Hades has a different idea.

The Necromancer Kingdom in Space is awakened by an "alarm clock" set by the Silent King ten thousand years ago, such as when two stars collide, using the impact to awaken the Necromancer Kingdom.

That means, could Hades disassemble all these alarm clocks beforehand?

A sleeping space necromancer is a good space necromancer.

The revival of dynasties takes time. Even if the Silent King were to take the initiative to awaken the sleeping dynasties afterward, it would still require him to expend energy and time.

This part can then be assigned to the sages.

So—to put it bluntly, it's about quickly entering Terra and seizing power. Once in power, you can use religion, personal charisma, knowledge, and money to develop human technology and devise contingency plans to deal with future enemies!

At the same time, we should try our best to find talent and original sources.

Hades downed another cup of wine, the poison trailing down his throat. Why did this feel so familiar? Didn't that Neos do the same thing back then?

The only difference is that Neos went to attack and reclaim lost territory, while Hades is now defending and consolidating his territory.

Hades also had to find a way to solve his own problems.

Having figured out what to do next, Hades became absent-minded and fell silent, eating while pondering what might happen next.

Seeing that Hades had begun to think, Booz also decisively fell silent, only occasionally instructing his servants to replenish supplies and wine.

Outside the room, which had been quiet for a moment, the underworld children continued their noisy fighting. Knowing that Hades was watching, they fought even more fiercely.

Under the room light, the painting of Hades looking at something strange stood forlornly, with a distinctly postmodern style. The haphazardly smeared black ink covered the lines beneath, where there had once been a suit of armor, a scythe, and then... and then the artist's furious scribbling.