Chapter 67: The Suicide Squad

Chapter 67: The Suicide Squad

"Bro… we're gonna make it back alive, right?" Harper asked Barry, who was walking beside him.

Harper and Barry had voluntarily joined the squad. Both were originally refugees who had fled the underhive into the uphive.

Just as they were despairingly watching their children about to die from illness, it was the Rogue Trader's Medics who had saved them. Later, when they had no food and were on the brink of collapse, it was the benevolent Rogue Trader who gave them rations to sustain their lives.

If Lord Ludwig were still the Rogue Trader, who would have cared about underhive dwellers like them?

To repay the Rogue Trader's kindness, they chose to join the army.

It had to be said that after enduring so much hardship, even things Lucan considered trivial or his basic duty were seen as immense acts of grace by these people.

And when Lucan offered high rewards to recruit volunteers to enter the hive bottom, they joined without hesitation. All one hundred of them were volunteers, not only to repay his kindness but also for the rewards the Rogue Trader promised.

The promise that their children could enter the Schola Progenium – they didn't want their children to remain in the underhive.

The squad advanced into the hive bottom in combat formation. The uphive and underhive were different worlds, and the underhive and hive bottom were even more so.

If the underhive still resembled human society, then the hive bottom was a complete garbage dump and a hellscape.

Countless tons of trash and industrial waste from the uphive and underhive were all dumped here.

The squad continuously advanced, meticulously scanning and recording the paths and environment they passed through. This information was transmitted back via the auxiliary systems in their combat suits and compiled into a tactical map.

Fortunately, the night vision systems on their combat suits allowed them to move through the dark, pitch-black hive bottom.

From time to time, severely mutated creatures would dash past them. The pipes were covered in plants they had never seen before.

Mutated rats the size of calves even dared to swarm them in packs.

Sheathing his chainsword, Harper left the corpses of a dozen mutated rats lying before him.

He glanced at the tactical panel on his visor; the interface showing the radiation level was constantly flashing with warnings. The radiation level here was dozens of times higher than in the underhive, which was one of the reasons why there were so many mutants in the hive bottom.

Only they could survive in this environment.

The hive bottom was like hell, simply not a place where normal people could live.

"I really don't know how these sump-scrappers live here."

"No idle chatter! Pay attention to your surroundings and keep an eye on the IFF system on your tactical visor at all times!"

"Yes, Captain!" Harper immediately responded to the squad leader's reminder.

Harper knew that every squad leader was a Dynasty veteran. These soldiers were willing to lay down their lives for the Rogue Trader without any need for promises. Harper took the reminders from these veterans very seriously. He had come in here prepared to die, but that didn't mean he actually wanted to.

When passing a fork in the path, Harper noticed life signs on his visor that didn't belong to their squad.

"Captain! I've got people here!"

As the tactical visor magnified the distant figures, several raggedly dressed scavengers were busy nearby, collecting mutated mushrooms growing on the pipes. These fungi were also an important food source for the people of the underhive.

"Are you masters from uphive? Please, masters, spare some food and water! We can provide you with intelligence, lead the way for you!"

"Captain! They're underhive scavengers!!" Harper reported to his squad leader.

However, the captain immediately walked in front of Harper, pushed him aside, and then opened fire on the dozen or so scavengers.

Spike rounds instantly tore their bodies apart and also detonated the bombs these people were carrying. The combat suits resisted the impact of the explosion, but the scene before him left Harper frozen in place.

"Soldier! Have you forgotten the Rogue Trader's orders? All life in the hive bottom is the enemy! There are no civilians here!" the captain reprimanded Harper.

Lucan didn't think there were any normal humans left in the hive bottom. Would the Genestealers have spared a single ordinary person? To light the psychic beacon, a sufficient number of Genestealer cultists was necessary.

"Continue advancing!"

The squad explored forward again, but the countless forks in the path and derelict spaces seemed endless. In the settlements within some open areas, they didn't find a single sump-dweller.

However, the traces of life here indicated that many people had lived here not long ago.

If not for the system recording the route they had taken, they would surely have gotten lost here.

"We can't go any further! We've already advanced a sufficient distance. If we go any deeper, we won't be able to transmit information back. Turn around and explore the other forks!"

The combat suits' signal connection with the underhive had begun to become intermittent; they had reached their maximum range.

However, just as they turned back, a large number of life signs instantly popped up on their tactical visors, and these life signs were rapidly approaching them.

"Enemy contact! Defensive formation! No one retreats! For the Dynasty, for the Rogue Trader! The God-Emperor is watching us!"

Seeing this scene, the captain immediately gave the order. The number of enemies was terrifying.

To survive, they could only rely on suppressive fire. If anyone were to flee out of fear, it would only accelerate everyone's death.

In the darkness, countless Genestealers charged towards them. They began firing even before they saw Harper's squad.

Solid projectiles and las-beams fell like rain. The soldiers at the front, using the power of their combat suits, directly planted the blast shields they carried at the forefront of the squad, blocking most of the attacks.

However, the enemy even had boltguns and plasma weapons in their hands.

The Medic couldn't even keep up with repairing the blast shields; the power of the plasma weapons was simply too great.

"Hold on! Cover each other and fire! Kill these xenos!"

The figures of the enemy also appeared in the light of their tactical flashlights. One purple head after another appeared exceptionally grotesque. The C-14s began to roar, their powerful penetration fully demonstrated at this moment.

Each spike round would pierce through several enemies before losing its kinetic energy. But the Hybrid Genestealers on the other side seemed endless.

As long as they weren't completely dead, they would continue to attack. A Marine was hit squarely in the face by a plasma blast. When the Medic tried to treat him, she found he was already dead.

Harper didn't know how many mutants he had already killed, but the enemy still seemed inexhaustible. And as the ammunition on their bodies was depleted, the figures of the Genestealers drew closer and closer.

"Firebat! Block them with fire!"

The Firebat stepped forward, and plasma flames instantly filled the entire corridor.

Ordinary flesh would be severely burned just by being near these flames. The entire corridor was momentarily filled with the stench of charred and roasted meat.

Just as everyone thought the wall of fire would give them a chance to breathe, a strange sound came from the pipes overhead.

Something was crawling at an extremely high speed!

A derelict metal pipe was easily sliced and torn open by a sharp claw, and then a Purestrain Genestealer charged out from within.

Wielding its chitinous talons, it easily cut through the Firebat's combat suit protection. These Purestrain Genestealers not only possessed monomolecular-sharp claws, but a disruption field, similar to that of a power weapon, was also distributed on their talons.

Even Astartes in Terminator armor wouldn't fare much better against the claws of these Purestrain Genestealers.

That armor was laced with adamantium.

Harper watched in despair as the captain, who was trying to deal with this monster with a chainsword, was easily cut in half.

The Purestrain Genestealer had been waiting for their ammunition to run out. Its appearance caused the squad's numbers to be halved within seconds. After slaughtering the nearest soldiers, the Genestealer also looked towards the surviving Harper.

Harper saw what looked like a smile on the Genestealer's gaping maw, as if mocking their weakness.

And this expression ignited a courage in Harper from somewhere unknown.

"Xenos! Don't underestimate humans! For the Rogue Trader! For the Mongorte Dynasty!" He raised his chainsword and launched a final charge.

A second later, the Genestealer was still alive, though it now bore a wound from the chainsword. Harper and his comrades were all on the ground. They had completed their mission with their lives, letting Lucan know the current danger level of the hive bottom.

At this moment, at the staging area outside, Lucan watched as the life signs of all squads disappeared, along with the final images they transmitted back. He now had an understanding of the danger level in the hive bottom.

Many of the passages leading deep into the hive bottom were very narrow, completely unable to accommodate his army for a proper deployment. If he couldn't leverage his firepower advantage, then he could only fill the gap with a large number of lives, just like the squad he had just sent in.

"If only… if only I knew where that original Genestealer Patriarch was!

Ludwig, you damn fool, how did you not notice this during your reign? Bolters, melta, plasma – whatever the PDF has, this group of Genestealers has. This is really tough to deal with!"

The combat effectiveness of these Genestealers was even better than the PDF before their refit, not to mention they were fearless of death, and the hive environment closed the engagement distance, magnifying their advantages.

(End of Chapter)