Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [18]

"Primarch? Pfft!"

"Hahaha! That's a hilarious joke—half a Primarch standing in front of me!"

Elena clutched her stomach, laughing uncontrollably.

A Primarch—those were ancient historical figures from ten thousand years ago.

To Elena, the days when the Emperor still walked among men—the Primarchs, the Great Crusade—felt like stories from a mythical age.

Even though the Emperor's Death Angels remained, Holy Terra stood firm, and the great Astronomican continued to guide all of humanity,

she still couldn't believe that the person standing before her was a Primarch—let alone that he claimed to be only half a Primarch.

It was like someone saying they were half a human—so what was the other half supposed to be?

Just yesterday, she had performed a genetic test on this guy—he was as purely human as one could be.

Rhodes chuckled at her reaction. From her perspective, what he had just said was indeed quite ridiculous.

It was like someone suddenly claiming, "I am Kuffy, give me some meat!"—who would believe that the person in front of them was the real Luffy?

But Rhodes was about to use this identity to deceive humanity. The fact that he could control monsters had to remain an absolute secret—or rather, in the future, he could create a false identity specifically for controlling the monsters.

For now, though, his ability as a human to command a monster army had to remain hidden—at least until he was strong enough to ensure his security.

"I'm not lying. My current appearance is just a disguise. If you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you." Rhodes looked at the young Hospitaller Sister in front of him and spoke.

"Pfft! Alright then, great 'half-Primarch'—how do you plan to prove it to me?" Elena covered her mouth, looking at Rhodes with amusement.

"Then watch closely, little girl!"

It was time to activate his monster power enhancement—Rhodes was looking forward to experiencing even one ten-thousandth of Red King's physical capabilities.

Now that the Tyranid swarm had abandoned their assault, Rhodes needed to push Red King to his peak condition and begin implementing his new plan.

Rhodes opened the system shop and immediately spent over ten thousand system coins to fully upgrade Red King—

3,000 points for height enhancement,

4,000 points for weight enhancement,

4,000 points for another height enhancement.

As for the final 5,000-point height enhancement opportunity, Rhodes decided to save it for later—to keep a last-resort recovery option and allow for some margin of error.

In the outside world, Red King once again radiated a golden glow—evolving further.

Height: 53 meters

Weight: 32,000 tons

"Roar! Roar!"

The Tyranid swarms that had been fleeing from Red King saw the transformation and immediately increased their distance, trying to get as far away from this predator as possible.

Even now, the Tyranids had not come up with an effective way to deal with Red King—but one thing was certain: they could not allow this behemoth to grow any stronger.

So under the command of the Hive Mind, countless Tyranid creatures were now desperately retreating.

At this point, aside from a minor two-meter height boost he could still apply, Red King had been enhanced to his absolute limit.

Rhodes then activated a free monster power enhancement granted by the system—gaining one ten-thousandth of Red King's physical strength.

An unimaginable power surged through Rhodes' body. He could feel his bones, muscles, organs—every single cell in his body—being reinforced by some mysterious energy.

At this moment, Red King's arm strength alone had reached a terrifying 200,000 tons—a level of monstrous power beyond comprehension.

This, in turn, granted Rhodes 20 tons of arm strength—still an overwhelming force.

Furthermore, with his enhanced physique, Rhodes' body and skin had become incredibly resilient.

His height shot up from 1.75 meters (5'9") to 1.95 meters (6'5"), and his entire body was now packed with dense, rock-solid muscle.

Additionally, he had gained another of Red King's abilities—[Monster Strength Burst]—which allowed him to temporarily double his strength with no side effects.

Elena stared at the transformed Rhodes in utter shock, unable to say a word.

"For certain reasons, I chose to conceal my strength and disguise myself as an ordinary person. But this—this is my true form."

Rhodes clenched his fists, feeling the unparalleled strength coursing through his body.

Right now, his normal arm strength was already 20 tons, meaning he could easily lift at least 70 to 100 tons and throw punches with well over 100 tons of force—without even using Monster Strength Burst.

If he did activate it, Rhodes could effortlessly lift 200 tons and throw punches exceeding 200 tons of impact force.

In theory, he could now bare-handedly kill a fully armored Space Marine—

...as long as the Marine didn't use a chainsword, kinetic weapons, or a boltgun against him.

There was still a gap between his abilities and those of a true Primarch, but in time, he could undergo a second, or even a third or fourth, monster enhancement.

Reaching the physical level of the Emperor himself was not out of the question. As for psychic abilities, he could compensate for that in the future with monsters possessing special abilities.

For now, the only thing separating him from a Primarch was the lack of Warp-based talents.

The origins of the Primarchs had always been a mystery—

Why had the Emperor created exactly twenty of them?

 Why had two been erased from history?

 Why had half of them turned traitors?

Some theories suggested that the Emperor had struck a deal with the four Chaos Gods in the Warp, exchanging something for twenty embryonic lesser Warp deities.

Others speculated that the Emperor had outright tricked twenty lesser gods into inhabiting artificially created human bodies.

Still, others believed that the Primarchs were humanity's own naturally born Warp gods—brought into the material world by the Emperor.

After all, the Tau had their Aun'Va, the Eldar had numerous gods, and even the Orks had Gork and Mork. It would be strange for humanity to have none.

Regardless of the truth, one thing was clear:

The creation of the Primarchs was inextricably linked to lesser Warp gods.

That was why Rhodes called himself "half a Primarch"—after all, nobody alive today had ever personally witnessed the true power of a Primarch.

As for the Custodes, Rhodes was confident that his current physical strength surpassed theirs.

The only beings stronger than him were the actual Primarchs and the Emperor himself.

Of course, Rhodes still lacked combat experience—but that could be trained over time.

And as the saying goes:

"Pure strength overcomes all technique."

If technique alone could overcome raw power, then the Custodes would have been able to defeat the Primarchs—which they couldn't.