Chapter 42: The Helbrute
Fu Qinghai hurried back to the hole in the floor where he had fallen.
After climbing back up, he quickly made his way toward the altar, needing to find out what had happened.
Before he even reached it, he heard the sounds of intense fighting. Fu Qinghai crept to the corner of the corridor and peeked around.
A Possessed warrior, leading two Word Bearers, was overwhelming the Sting Squad.
Fu Qinghai pulled his head back, quickly assessing the situation and formulating a plan.
Once ready, he charged out from the corner, catching one of the Word Bearers off guard. With a powerful slash, his power sword cut through the weak point between the traitor's shoulder armour and helmet, burying itself deep into the Chaos Space Marine's chest.
Fu Qinghai rolled away, letting the dying Word Bearer's body block the bolter fire from his comrade. He drew his bolt pistol, ready to return fire.
'Clang!' A massive crab claw swung at him, knocking the pistol from his hand.
The Possessed warrior had turned its attention to Fu Qinghai.
"Qingshan! You're alive!"
Gurt's excited shout came from behind the Possessed. The Sting Squad had recognized their unexpected ally.
'Stop yelling and help me!' Fu Qinghai thought, frantically dodging the Possessed's powerful strikes.
This wasn't part of his plan. He had intended to ambush the two Word Bearers first, then join the Sting Squad to take down the Possessed. But now, he was the one being overwhelmed.
His timing had been off, and he'd become the frontline instead.
With the Possessed distracted by Fu Qinghai, the Sting Squad seized the opportunity to counterattack.
Fu Qinghai, knowing his chest armour was on the verge of failing, resorted to desperate dodges and rolls.
The Possessed roared in frustration, its attacks growing wilder. This slippery Astartes, with no sense of warrior's honor, infuriated it.
The remaining Word Bearer, now without the Possessed's protection, was quickly gunned down by the Sting Squad.
After a fierce battle, the Possessed finally fell.
Unlike Fu Qinghai, the Khornate Possessed didn't know the meaning of retreat. It fought to the bitter end.
Standing over the Possessed's corpse, Gurt clapped Fu Qinghai on the shoulder. "Thank the Emperor you're alive. We thought you were dead."
'Shut up, you jinx…' Fu Qinghai thought, catching his breath.
"What's going on, Gurt? Why was the teleportation canceled?" Fu Qinghai asked.
"I don't know. The enemy might be using some kind of psychic power or ancient tech. Whatever it is, the teleportation's down."
"Have you contacted Flavorus?"
"Internal comms went down when the teleportation failed."
Fu Qinghai nodded. "We need to get outside and see what's happening."
Gurt agreed, and the squad quickly regrouped and headed back the way they came.
***
Fifteen Minutes Earlier
Krolfa stood in the lower decks of the 'Bloody Worm', staring at a twisted, half-human figure suspended in a specialized apparatus.
"Wake it," Krolfa ordered the Dark Mechanicum tech-priest beside him.
Krolfa knew this was the most valuable cargo on the three transport ships. Desperate, he decided to use it early.
The tech-priest nodded, its mechanical tentacles tapping buttons on the apparatus. Transparent tubes filled with various liquids began draining, injecting their contents into the twisted figure.
"Ugh…" A deep groan echoed through the chamber. The figure's eyes flickered open.
"Krolfa…" it rasped.
"You remember me?" Krolfa asked, looking up at the grotesque figure.
"Of course… I remember the bastard who put me in this coffin… I've dreamed of tearing you apart every second!"
As the liquids flowed into its body, the figure's veins bulged, and its flesh writhed like a hermit crab searching for its shell.
"Aaaah!" The figure screamed in agony.
Krolfa sneered and turned to the tech-priest. "Open the lower deck hatch. Load it into the Helbrute and release it."
"Yes, my lord."
The apparatus moved sideways, carrying the writhing figure like a piece of meat.
Its destination: a massive, twisted, and terrifying Helbrute.
***
Outside the Bloody Worm
Flavorus led his squads as they finally broke out of the transport ship.
The teleportation failure had caught him completely off guard. In centuries of warfare, he had never encountered such a situation.
But he didn't panic. He immediately regrouped his scattered squads and led them out of the ship, avoiding a prolonged battle inside.
As a commander, Flavorus knew that urban combat negated numerical and firepower advantages. A stronger force could easily suffer disproportionate casualties against a weaker one.
No matter the outcome, if a Lunar-class cruiser suffered equal casualties against three transport ships, the Ultramarines would have lost.
The three transport ships, their coordinates known and engines disabled, were sitting ducks. Flavorus wanted to get his men out and call for orbital bombardment.
But the Word Bearers weren't letting them go. They counterattacked from outside, using Possessed warriors to pin the Ultramarines down, forcing them into a brutal close-quarters fight.
Flavorus, in Terminator armour, smashed through a bulkhead door. The dim canyon and dark sky came into view.
They were out!
But outside, the Word Bearers continued their relentless assault. Bolter fire from all directions pinged off Flavorus' armour.
The Ultramarines poured out of the ship, forming a defensive line.
Then…
'ROAR!' A bestial howl came from the left.
Flavorus turned just in time to see several Word Bearers being flung aside. His eyes widened.
There it was.
A massive, crimson monstrosity, as if risen from the depths of hell.
"Helbrute! Spread out!" Flavorus shouted.
Before the words left his mouth, a massive plasma blast roared toward them.
'BOOM!'
*****
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