Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde [306]

Let's just have Guilliman and Magnus squeeze in—Rhodes wasn't going to squeeze.

"Rhodes, Magnus and I must go. Sister Elena, you stay here with Archmagos Belisarius Cawl to command the fleet.

Living Saint Celestine, Custodes, Mephiston, and Grey Knights Grand Master and Titus will go too.

From our legions, pick 300 elite Space Marines. Is that doable?" Guilliman considered.

This force could rival several chapters in power—a powerful, streamlined strike force.

"I'll calculate!"

Rhodes summoned the gigantic Impriser at the fortress-ship's center.

Inpelaizer wasn't like King Joe, who could open his chest—he was just a solid hunk of metal.

But you could attach a module to his back, like a landing container—fitting 300+ people was no issue.

"This big guy can have a large container attached—about 500 people. You pick 250, I'll pick 250," Rhodes said.

Guilliman nodded at the giant black robot. With a container, 500 people would be no problem.

"There's another, but its transport method is special—it turns into a blue energy sphere for hyperspace movement. Each hand can hold one, and one more can be in the mouth, so three people max," Rhodes explained, summoning the giant Bemular.

Bemular's speed was one of the few that could match an Ultra Warrior—even faster than Birdon.

"Waaah!" Bemular roared when he appeared.

Seeing Bemular, Guilliman and Magnus glanced at Rhodes, speechless.

"Forget it, three passengers isn't worth it. Let's just take 500 people—that's enough. This big guy can fight too," Guilliman said.

It wasn't about dignity—being carried by this monster in space would be deeply unpleasant.

And if something went wrong and they lost combat strength, it'd be disastrous.

After discussion, Rhodes had Titus pick 250 from his team—150 old veterans from Rhodes's legion, and 100 new Space Shark members, all with Rhodes's gene-seed.

Guilliman's side also picked 250 elite Primaris Marines.

"Rhodes! Be careful—we'll move quickly," Elena said.

She wanted to go, but someone had to manage the mothership.

"No worries, use the coordinates I left and go FTL towards Terra. If the Warp storm ends, jump to the Warp," Rhodes reassured.

"Lord Rhodes! Please be careful! This Warp storm is almost as bad as the one over 10,000 years ago," Lelith said gravely.

She'd lived over 10,000 years; when the Eldar Empire still existed and Slaanesh had not been born, she was already an arena succubus.

So she knew about the Warp storm that once swept the galaxy, triggered by Slaanesh's birth. That storm lasted for centuries before calming.

 This one wasn't quite as bad, but not much better! Lelith even wanted to follow Rhodes—to help if things got dangerous.

"I know, don't worry! Maybe halfway through, the Emperor's power will recover, and the Astronomican will relight," Rhodes said.

If things went wrong, Rhodes could still retreat. He'd wiped out an Ork planet and dozens of Chaos ships in the Maelstrom and still had tens of thousands of system credits for emergencies.

"Lord Rhodes! Take me with you! I don't mind sitting in the monster's mouth," Lelith said.

These big, proud primarchs didn't want to, but for a Dark Eldar like her, it was nothing—just a bit sticky, nothing she hadn't seen.

"Alright! Elena, I leave the motherships to you. If you have questions, ask Salome, or Balt and Apool in the basement—they can always keep in touch with me," Rhodes instructed.

The storm was fierce, but his monsters were system-linked, and he'd checked with Mefilas for conditions.

His territory's links were down, but with Mefilas' psychic power and Rhodes's FTL ships, his domain was fine.

"Okay! Then Sister Lelith, I leave his safety to you—please protect Rhodes at all costs," Elena said, holding Lelith's hand.

"Don't worry, he's your man and mine! Anyone tries to hurt him, I'll cut them to pieces," Lelith said.

Soon, Titus and the Shark team's Chapter Master gathered the Space Marines.

Cawl's tech-priests welded a container onto Inpelaizer.

"Rhodes! You're sure bringing this Eldar lady is ok?" Guilliman asked.

Rhodes was fine in every way, except for his taste in xenos, which made Guilliman uncomfortable!

But on partners—before, no one could stand the primarchs, but now they could shrink to normal size and control their strength. Maybe he should consider a partner too?

"Trust me, Eldar are trustworthy. Even the Emperor works with their gods—we at least look similar and have similar aesthetics," Rhodes said.

Among xenos, only Eldar girls were attractive. Besides, the Emperor partnered with Eldar gods first; he was just copying.

"I'm just here to protect Rhodes! I won't sit with you—I'll go with Bemular. I think the mouth is safe. Isn't the monster cute?" Lelith said.

Guilliman didn't reply—just nodded, and together with Rhodes, Magnus, and the others, entered the container and shut the hatch.

Lelith entered Bemular's mouth, and Bemular shimmered and turned into a blue sphere.

The Inpelaizer activated its hyperspace movement, turning into a red sphere.

A blue and a red energy sphere streaked through space.

…

After about forty minutes, they arrived at Holy Terra.

From the Astronomican's extinguishing and the Warp storm to reaching Terra, less than a day had passed.

Now, Holy Terra was engulfed in war!

Countless daemon armies flooded the planet's surface, roaring toward the Imperial Palace.