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

Page 275

Furthermore, Mortarion clearly harbored a desire for a drop of the Fire Dragon Lord's blood.

The arrival of reinforcements reignited the fighting spirit of the battered fire lizards, and the flames that ignited further fueled their fighting will! In an instant, the battle cry of Vulcan resounded throughout the rainforest, even drowning out the painful roars of the Eldar behemoths.

Although the Death Guards' silence puzzled them somewhat, and the Death Guards seemed to lack fighting spirit, their presence still greatly relieved the pressure. The Death Guards seemed quite willing to take damage head-on, which gave the Salamanders room to unleash their full potential.

The scorching heat and poisonous smoke were tortures no race could endure, but the Death Guard and the Salamanders were both legions established by the Empire for extreme environments. In this hellish place, the warriors felt an invigorating fighting spirit.

The rainforest withered, then burst into flames! Now it's their stage!

……

As the flames gradually died down, and the last vestige of green turned to charcoal, and the last behemoth was shot down by the Stormbird, all that remained around them were the charred, curled-up corpses of the Eldar.

At the last moment, the Death Guard's rear end launched three unusual missiles, completely detonating the key runes and gems on the building.

Vulcan felt a complex mix of emotions regarding the Eldar's cruel deaths. He vividly remembered the Eldar suffocating from poison gas and wished they were burned alive or struck on the head with a hammer—at least that would lessen their suffering.

But this exhilarating battle brought more joy to the Lord of Fire Dragons. In this area, the once impenetrable rainforest had been burned to ashes, and the sunlight shone brightly on the parched earth, a testament to their survival of the trial.

Vulcan was proud of his descendants.

Behind him, Mortarian glanced casually at Vulcan, who was clearly in a good mood. Based on the battle just now, the Lord of Death had a high opinion of his brother—Vulcan was pure and only wanted to fight when he was fighting, which meant he was easy to deal with.

Of course, Mortarian wasn't referring to being easy to deal with in a one-on-one fight; Vulcan was strong. He was referring to being easy to deal with tactically... no... verbally.

They are easy to fool and deceive.

Mortarion silently made his judgment, and the Lord of Death held a sharp and merciless assessment of his Primarch brothers.

The war was over, and the two legions began the post-war cleanup. Mortarian and Vulcan walked up to the obelisk—a monument far larger and more magnificent than the three nodes Mortarian had cleared.

However... just as they were observing the obelisk, Mortarian and Vulcan simultaneously received a message in their helmets.

Fenus's armor signal suddenly appeared nearby, but there was no Iron Hand code around him. Following the Primarch's armor signal, Mortarion and Vulcan found a door leading deep underground beneath the obelisk.

They stood before the gate, and after six or seven unsuccessful attempts to contact Fernus, Mortarian spoke.

My suggestion is to fill it with poison gas.

Vulcan's exclamation immediately rang out.

Brother, you can't do this! Even though it might be a trap, but—

Mottarian interrupted Vulcan.

[I can guarantee that this poison gas won't kill Fenus, but it can kill or incapacitate behemoths and Eldar. This is helping him.]

4.5k words, that's all for today!!!

Holy crap, I almost forgot again! Book recommendation! This is Dark Lady's amazing masterpiece!!

Chapter 329 Illusion?

Mortarion declared Fernus Manus to be his fourth most hated Primarch, with Conrad Coz first and Perturabo second.

Incidentally, Magnus is currently in third place.

Mortarian hates all inexplicable people and things, yet his brothers always seem to do inexplicable things in inexplicable situations.

His brothers would justify their actions with strange reasons: reason, intuition, prophecy, psychic powers... or simply madness.

For example, right now, Vulcan insists that they go into that strange tunnel, even though the foundry has guaranteed that there are no structural traps in the tunnel.

Bad news, hatred comes from Mortarion.

Even worse news came from the Steel Hand.

Upon receiving the signal from the Armor of Fenus, Vulcan immediately contacted the Iron Hand Legion. At first, these Space Marines, as tough as iron, hesitated when faced with Vulcan's questions, but under Vulcan's insistence, the Iron Hands told him that they did not know where the Primarch had gone.

In an attempt to quickly defeat the Eldar in the desert, Fernus chose to launch a surprise attack, but as the Iron Hand attacked a dry canyon in the desert, the Mist and the Eldar attacked them simultaneously.

As for what exactly happened in this canyon, the Iron Hands remained absolutely silent. Even when Vulcan repeatedly and sternly questioned them about what had happened, the warriors only told them that the Legion had suffered heavy losses, and that while the warriors were frantically fighting back, the Legion's Primarch disappeared into the layers of mist.

Mortarian remained expressionless. For the first time, the Lord of Death realized that besides Conrad Coz, his cooperation with his brothers would bring other, varied kinds of suffering.

He vaguely recalled that back in Macado, the other Primarchs had described Fernus as efficient and rational.

Motalian believes that their definitions of "efficiency" and "rationality" seem to be different.

...No...Motalian realized that their reference point for this assessment might be Conrad Coz.

He began to miss Hades, or Horus, or even Guilliman.

[Vulcan, you just chose to believe the Steel Hands' "uh," "sorry," and "we can't say"?]

However, Vulcan looked at Mortarian with a resolute expression, while Mortarian saw flames inexplicably igniting in the eyes of the Lord of Fire Dragons.

The flames seemed familiar, reminding Mortalian of the look in Guilliman's eyes when he discussed plans and policies.

Motarian decided to retract his assessment that Vulcan was easy to deal with.

My brother,

The giant, taller and stronger than Mortalian, spoke slowly, in a gentle tone that sent chills down Mortalian's spine.

[We should trust our brother, Mortarion. I believe our brother's offspring have something difficult to say about this. You see, aside from the details of that battle, they've told us everything they know. From their tone, I can hear their anxiety about the Primarch's disappearance.]

Motarian chuckled, though he didn't know if he was simply mocking Vulcan's foolishness or himself for always having to suffer unnecessary hardships.

The Lord of Death scoffed.

Then choose to believe.

Vulcan keenly sensed the unspoken meaning in Motalian's words, and he couldn't understand why his brother, who had just been cooperating so well, was suddenly expressing such a frightening attitude.

Motalian's unfinished business was... he didn't believe it.

Why didn't he trust his brothers' legions? Although there was indeed some unpleasantness between Mortarion and Fenus, they were both legions of the Empire and shouldn't have such thoughts.

If Vulcan knew about the friction between Motalian and Conrad Coz, he might understand Motalian a little better.

Unfortunately, the news was blocked.

As Vulcan continued his useless ramblings, Mortarian cautiously surveyed the obelisk and the gate beneath it, the rune-covered rocks.

Mortarian's eyes widened suddenly. Even though the Lord of Death couldn't understand the Eldar language, he recognized the familiar arrangement of the runes... This is... This is...

Mortarion stared intently at the blasphemous runes, Vulcan's words already a blur in his ears. The Lord of Fire Dragons seemed to be spouting nonsense about intuition, and upon realizing that something was wrong with Mortarion, Vulcan began to call upon his brother.

【Motalian? Mortalian!】

This is a teleportation device!

Beneath the gas mask, Mortarian took a deep breath. The Eldar's device had not been destroyed; it was merely its outer shell, some rudimentary defensive structures. Its true structure lay underground.

The teleportation could happen at any time. Mortalian wasn't sure how far the device could teleport or how it would teleport—but judging from the size of the building, he was certain the distance wouldn't be small.

This means that those near the building could be suddenly teleported away, and it seems a bit too late to retreat now.

"I'll go underground with you. We need to act immediately, Vulcan."

Mortarian's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Vulcan. The Lord of Fire Dragons was taken aback, but the Lord of Death only gave Vulcan a few perfunctory instructions without fully explaining the reason for his sudden change of attitude.

Just as Vulcan chose to trust the Iron Hand, Vulcan trusted Mortarian. Although he still had many doubts, he was glad that Mortarian would go with him to find Fernus.

It might be the dream he had just told Mortarian that had worked, Vulcan thought. Before this battle, he had a strange dream in which a stranger laughed and joked with him, telling him to follow his intuition.

The stranger called him "a child who needs guidance."

Or perhaps, Vulcan suddenly thought, maybe Mortalian had a similar dream?

----------

The tunnel was long and deep, and they plunged into the mouth of the venomous snake without hesitation. In the distance, something was making a faint sound.

A strange sense of familiarity crept over Mortalian. He gripped the scythe in his hand and confirmed that the damned Forge Death Guards were following behind him, their anti-psy weapons ready to fire at any moment.

Twisted patterns were carved on the walls, and glittering fragments were embedded in them. The place became increasingly eerie and hazy, as if they had stepped into a dream.

Motalian felt his patience and reason being worn down little by little.

The concentration of psionic energy here seems a bit high.

Mortarian glanced at Vulcan, whose expression seemed off. The Lord of Fire Dragons looked at the patterns on the wall with an angry expression.

Mortarian tentatively called out to Vulcan, and the Lord of Fire Dragons turned around blankly, as if asking the Lord of Death why he had suddenly called him.

After confirming that the life values ​​displayed on the Vulcan armor were normal, Mortarian changed the subject ambiguously.

But Mortarian quietly slowed his pace, walking behind Vulcan, always on guard against his brother.

As a small, shimmering dot appeared in the distance, the first house appeared beside the tunnel, from which shouts and screams came. Vulcan, who was walking in front, glanced at it from the outside, then roared and led his Firewood Guards inside.

Just as the last member of the Firewood Clan rushed in, a psionic barrier lit up at the entrance, separating the two Primarchs!

Mortalian immediately threw a black bomb towards the door, but it was useless; the psionic concentration here was too high.

The Lord of Death strode forward angrily, and through the fluctuating psychic energy, he saw a group of disheveled savages shouting and yelling around a dying Elven witch, while a priestess was torturing the Elven.

Vulcan charged forward, the Primarch angrily shoving aside the others and heading straight for the Eldar witch—the witch's attire was unlike that of the Eldar on this planet that Mortarion had seen; the only clothing she wore seemed even darker and more blasphemous.

[Vulcan!]

Mortarion called out the name of the Lord of Fire Dragons, but Vulcan seemed to have forgotten Mortarion, and he tried to approach the witch in a somewhat desperate manner.

Does Vulcan know that Eldar? Mortarian recalled a casual conversation with Macardo. Vulcan came from Nocturne, a planet frequently raided by the Dark Eldar. It was Vulcan who ended the history of the Nocturne people being enslaved by the Eldar.

...Motalian seemed to know.

Mortarian cursed inwardly without batting an eye. He knew it was a psionic illusion—and Vulcan was trapped in it.

Those damned Eldar.

Because the tunnel was too narrow for the knights to enter (and Mortarion couldn't release the Wraith Knights in front of Vulcan), Mortarion only brought the Death Guard, a number of Soulless Knights disguised as Hades, and missiles from the Foundry.

He began to miss Hades.

After a brief assessment, Mortarian believed that Vulcan could hold out, at least for an hour, and that the Death Lord would save his limited ammunition for what was to come.

Mortarian confirmed once again that the foundry guys were following him.

Still, no Eldar came out to attack him.

He and the Death Guards continued forward, a thin mist appearing, and after a short distance, a second room appeared beside the tunnel, from which came Phenus's roar.

This time he was mentally prepared. Mortarian looked in through the psychic-distorted space and saw Phenusmanus struggling desperately against a monster with a human upper body and a snake lower body.

Mortalian didn't know why Fernus looked so devastated, which might be related to some of his memories.

Compared to Vulcan, Finus's situation seems much more dangerous.

But it seemed he was close to victory. Mortalian pondered for a moment and concluded that Fernus would at least not die—an illusion powerful enough to kill a Primarch was extremely rare, especially since it was currently holding off two Primarchs.

If this is an illusion, Mortarion only needs to destroy the psionic power source of this device; there's no point in trying to get entangled with the illusion.

In the initial exploration, the Foundry had confirmed that the tunnel had no large side structures, so the source of psionic energy could only be deeper inside the tunnel. The Lord of Death imagined what he might see next: the witches being burned as batteries, which made him feel a little better.

So he continued deeper into the fog, which grew thicker and thicker.

The third room appeared in the fog.

The Lord of Death walked calmly through the tunnel, turning his head to look at the illusions in the room.

Mortarian was very curious about what his illusions were.

Hades on the verge of death? Or the corrupted Death Guard? Or perhaps the dying figure of Carathiphon?

He had already experienced all of this, and Mortarian wanted to see what else could scare him and make him lose his mind.

But after seeing what was in the room, Mortarian staggered back a step, his face turning pale.

He saw himself.

No, not the corrupted version of himself he once imagined.

The illusion couldn't even fully replicate him; its blurry and eerie form was fragmented.

He saw it... he saw it...

No, no, no, no, this is fake, this can't be... He won't accept it...

He won't accept it! Mortarian absolutely cannot accept it!

Mortarian began to back away, then he turned around abruptly and realized that the tunnel had now come to an end. On the other side of the room was a large hall, where arcs of psionic energy leaped and arches drooped down.

Mortarian knew where that sense of familiarity came from… He had seen something similar before, deep beneath the Terra Palace, where Mortarian had stumbled upon the Emperor’s secret.