Chapter 335: The Drifting Space Marines |
"The Palu Orks vanished?"
"Strange. Didn't the Eldar say there was a large number of Palu Orks blockading the gate here? Why is there no sign of them?"
On the bridge of the Hrafnkel, the senior officers whispered among themselves.
The dead silence of the empty Webway gate was truly baffling.
There were no Palu Ork ships, outposts, fighters, or warriors here. Only the dust of history drifted in the void—corpses of Eldar and humans, ship wreckage, and shrapnel.
"Don't let appearances deceive you," Leman Russ said in a deep voice.
"Intelligence indicates that the Palu Orks possess nearly flawless stealth technology. Run the Augur Array at full power. Scan every corner of this place and don't miss a single clue."
"Yes, my lord."
The tech-priest tapped the keys, operating the Augur Array.
Operating at full capacity, it could penetrate lead-lined walls over two hundred meters thick across a scanning range of tens of millions of kilometers.
While the Hrafnkel scanned this section of the Webway, the fleet's three other Gloriana-class battleships and several reconnaissance light cruisers fanned out to locate the enemy.
As time passed, more and more scanning results were presented to the four primarchs.
The situation grew increasingly bewildering.
No Palu Orks!
There were no enemies here at all!
Leman Russ stared at the tightly sealed Webway gate, running a tactical deduction based on the available clues, and arrived at a preliminary theory.
The Palu Orks had likely abandoned their defense of this Webway space entirely; they were all at the site of the ascension ritual in realspace.
Upon passing through the Webway gate before them, the Imperium fleet would face an incredibly dense artillery bombardment.
It was just like a water pipe.
The Imperium fleet was the water inside the pipe, the opening of the pipe was the Webway gate before them, and outside the opening was a raging inferno.
Whether that water could extinguish the flames outside depended entirely on its pressure and volume.
The Webway gate would become a ruthless meat grinder. At least a third of the Space Marines would die right at the exit.
Leman Russ's body began to tremble—not out of fear, but excitement.
His blood pumped faster, and his breath grew scalding. The imminent slaughter gave him the illusion that his blood was boiling.
He loved this feeling far too much.
A sharp blade slicing open an enemy's veins, letting the blood spray, and savoring their terror and wails to his heart's content.
This was the life that primarchs and Space Marines yearned for.
Battle! Battle! Battle!
Slaughter! Slaughter! Slaughter!
Leman Russ pounded the railing of the command deck with force and roared, "I have seen through the enemy's strategy! They will snipe us from behind the gate! Endless artillery fire, an overwhelming barrage of bullets, fighters blotting out the sky! What awaits us is both death and destruction! But we are the fearless wolves! Death is like the wind, ever at a wolf's side! Open the Webway gate, and carve our way out!"
The Eldar on the bridge pressed the button on the Webway Accessor.
A beam of light shot forth, and the tightly sealed Webway gate opened its embrace to the Imperium fleet.
The gate was pitch-black, making it impossible to see outside. This was normal; only by passing through the door could they confirm the situation in realspace, and only then would they face the enemy's attacks.
Leman Russ ordered the charge without hesitation.
Over three hundred Space Wolves warships burst forward like a swarm of bees.
Not to be outdone, the fleets of the other three primarchs followed closely behind in their established formations.
In a mere thirty seconds, over a thousand warships vanished into the Webway gate.
The Eldar fleet did not hold the Imperium of Man back, charging out alongside them.
Before long, only a dozen or so guard ships remained in the formerly bustling Webway space.
Then—
The walls of the Webway space underwent a drastic change.
Ancient-looking gun barrels extended from behind the walls as they slid open.
Before the remaining ships could react, deafening explosions detonated across every vessel.
Over a dozen brilliant fireballs bloomed in the dark.
At the same time, the Webway gate itself endured fierce artillery fire.
Webway disruption cannons, gravity cannons, and molecular cannons passed down from The Old Ones tore the warships and the Webway gate to shreds.
The ships were reduced to dust, and the Webway gate was covered in cracks. What lay exposed through the gaps in the shattered door panels was not the dark void of the exit, but a bronze Monocrystal outer wall.
The bombardment stopped exactly when necessary, destroying just the Webway gate without piercing the Monocrystal outer wall behind it.
Once the artillery fire subsided and the gun barrels retracted into the walls, a portal leading to the Universal Hall opened within the Webway space.
The Palu fleet, which should have been out in realspace, flew out leisurely from the portal.
Biomeships, engineering vessels, and Warp-shadow ships were protected at the center by a massive number of greenskin warships.
On the bridge of the Steel Ingot, Li Nuo, having possessed a Shaman Boy, looked at the sight before him with profound satisfaction.
Haha.
A bunch of idiots.
Li Nuo's mood was fantastic.
About three hours ago.
When Li Nuo learned that the Space Marine legions were coming to deal with him, he discussed countermeasures with Beast and Palcador.
After inquiring about the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, Palcador proposed a wildly imaginative plan.
Simply put, it went like this:
The ascension location Li Nuo had chosen was extremely remote.
It was fully five thousand light-years away from the southern edge of the galaxy. The light of the Astronomican could not reach this place, meaning the Imperium of Man could not navigate The Warp normally.
Furthermore, there was only one Webway exit here.
The nearest alternative Webway exit was over six thousand light-years away.
In other words, once the Webway exit here was destroyed, the enemy would be left with only one choice.
They would have to use "triangulation" to force a jump through The Warp.
Whether returning to the galaxy or heading for a nearby Webway gate, it would take months.
Forcibly halting the ascension ritual and destroying a Webway gate would trap the enemy's main force for months.
This deal was simply too much of a bargain!
In the biomeship formation, not a single one of the Paru Boyz used to supply faith power was missing.
Li Nuo could easily change locations and restart the ascension ritual.
"Are the scanning results out?"
"Boss Shaman, da scan's done. Ain't no survivors 'ere. I'm wipin' our electromagnetic signals so da enemy can't track us."
"Good, hurry up." Li Nuo looked at Palcador, who was studying the Webway map and star charts.
"Oi, boy, found a proper ascension spot yet?"
"Boss, i fink dis place ain't bad." Palcador magnified the star chart and pointed to another region outside the galaxy.
Li Nuo leaned in for a look and nodded.
Not bad. That place was his backup option; it seemed Palcador had a good eye.
This second ascension site, located five thousand light-years west of the galaxy, was a small trinary star system. No Trisolaran civilization existed there.
Its three stars were somewhat unstable and could potentially interfere with the ascension ritual, which was why Li Nuo had designated it as a backup rather than his primary choice.
Palcador analyzed from the side, "Boss, the star structure and Webway distribution here are similar to the first ascension spot. We can shake off da follow-up enemies da same way. But, considerin' da humies ain't fools, they might not fall for it easily. We gotta prep a few more tricks up our sleeves."
Li Nuo nodded.
"Got any ideas?"
"Yeah, Boss. Look 'ere." Palcador pointed to one of the suns in the star system.
"Da findin' gizmo's scans show dat dis star's surface matter has formed a clear dust cloud. Da silicon in da core is droppin', and da iron is risin'. It's trendin' toward a supernova. i fink if we lob a few dozen big-yield Earth-Shattering Big Booms at it, we can speed up da iron buildup, trigger a chain reaction, and set off a supernova.
"If da plan works, however many humies come is however many humies die. Same for da knife-ears. If da plan fails, i fink da humie and knife-ear mekboyz ain't fools; they'll see our goal from what we're doin'. They'll be scared witless and push their fleet to scarper, and we can shake 'em off dat way too.
"So, whether we trigger a supernova or not, we got over a ninety percent chance to calmly handle da next wave of enemies."
Palcador pressed a button on the holographic device, switching to a new view, and clattered away on the controls.
"By my reckonin', da Shrimp Empire and da knife-ears got three cards left to play at most. We can smash 'em one by one, wait till they got nuthin' left, and then calmly hold da ascension ritual. Dis'll take 'bout three months, and da ritual's success rate will jump up to..."
Palcador smacked the enter key, and a number popped up on the holographic screen:
99.98%!
Li Nuo exhaled softly, calming his surging emotions.
He wasn't easily swayed by the plan Palcador drafted; instead, he calmly reviewed and analyzed it.
After running multiple deductions, Palcador's plan finally won Li Nuo's approval.
Without delay, the fleet transferred and resupplied through the Universal Hall, immediately heading toward the next ritual site.
Meanwhile.
In the void outside the Webway gate.
A massive cluster of voidships drifted between two stars, lonely and bewildered.
Leman Russ stood on the command deck with a darkened face, repeatedly urging the Magos below him, "Hurry up. Are the scan results out? Why are there no Orks here? Answer me!"
"My lord, the scan results are consistent with the previous ones." The Magos sweated profusely in his panic.
"There truly is no trace of Palu Ork activity within this small star system. The Augur Array hasn't even detected coolant exhaust from their ships. It's as if the Palu Orks were never here at all. Were it not for our unquestionable intelligence source, I would genuinely suspect we had arrived at the wrong coordinates."
Leman Russ snorted in displeasure and glared at the Eldar operating the Webway Accessor.
"You didn't open the wrong door, did you?"
"My lord, I am a professional Webway navigator. I do not make mistakes. Furthermore, Lady Elina is also with the fleet; surely she wouldn't misidentify the direction."
The Eldar broke out in a cold sweat, a deep sense of shame gnawing at him for actually addressing a human as "my lord."
If word of this got out, the greenskins would certainly laugh their teeth off, and he would be deeply ashamed among his own kind.
"Call Elina. I want to question her face to face."
"Yes, my lord." The vox-officer sent out the communication request.
A holographic screen popped up, and Elina, wearing a Taijitu emblem on her chest, appeared in the display.
Before Leman Russ could speak, Elina cut in.
"The Webway gate was destroyed from the inside. The fleet I left in the Webway failed to escape. It must be the handiwork of the Palu Orks. Calm down for now; I will return and confirm the situation immediately."
"Return? How will you return? Wasn't the Webway gate destroyed?" Russ asked, irritated.
Elina said, "I can open a portal leading to the Obsidian Archive."
Russ's eyes lit up.
"The Obsidian Archive is inside the Black Library, right? Doesn't that mean we can get back to Terra through it? Can you teleport us all back?"
Elina shook her head regretfully.
"I'm afraid not. After completing a meditation, I can teleport a maximum of fifty personnel, which must include myself."
"Dammit..." Russ muttered.
Elina ignored him completely.
"Enough chitchat. I'm going back to confirm the situation now."
The communication ended.
Elina handed command over to her deputy, opened a portal, and stepped through.
Returning to the Webway from outside the galaxy was quite strenuous.
The teleportation process, which usually took almost no time, dragged on for a full dozen seconds.
The dizzying spin and pitch-black vision briefly made Elina fear she would be lost in the passage of spacetime.
Fortunately, she eventually arrived at the Obsidian Archive.
Ignoring the dizziness, she immediately hurried to the reading stand and flipped through the Book of Destiny.
The disappearance of the Palu Orks from the ritual site severely contradicted the revelations previously provided by the Book of Destiny.
Panic gripped Elina's heart. She needed guidance immediately; otherwise, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being played by fate.
She turned the pages.
Elina looked at the page concerning herself. Upon it was written:
"Li Nuo's cunning far exceeds imagination. He utilized a counterattack to force back your fleet, seizing the opportunity to interrupt the ascension ritual and transfer his entire fleet to the Universal Hall.
"Once you and the fleet of the Imperium of Man charged out of the Webway, he activated the attack capabilities of the Universal Hall, destroying your guard formation and the Webway gate.
"Thus, you, your Eldar fleet, and tens of thousands of human warriors are trapped in a corner outside the galaxy. If standard means are employed, it will take you months to return to the galaxy.
"Fortunately, fate favors the Eldar and is also willing to assist the Imperium of Man.
"When you use 'triangulation' to navigate The Warp, after a certain attempt, you will be astonished to find that a minor Warp storm has returned you to the Segmentum Solar!"
Elina's eyes widened, her face full of disbelief.
She continued reading further down.
"Praise The Warp. Although it is unreliable most of the time, when fate smiles upon you, it will still illuminate the path forward."
Elina gripped the page. Flooded with the relief of a disaster averted, she murmured:
"Praise the True God of the Eldar... Praise The Warp."
