Chapter 112: A Simple Haymaker

Chapter 112: A Simple Haymaker

Lucan sat securely on the bridge of the Stellar Pioneer, looking down at yet another conquered planet below, filled with a myriad of emotions.

This was the third star system in Winterscale's Realm that Lucan had broken through.

Every system had seen countless tragedies.

The system they were currently in had a mining world. The enemies were not numerous, and a considerable portion of the world was still in loyalist hands.

They had used mining equipment and extracted minerals to craft weapons to fight against the Khornate cultists.

For Lucan, fighting Khornate cultists was perhaps his favorite type of battle.

There was no need to face the supernatural plagues of Nurgle, no need to deal with the reality-altering psychic sorcery of Tzeentch or play mind games with his followers, and even less need to painstakingly search for the desire-cultists of Slaanesh hidden within the populace.

Khornate cultists preferred to engage you in straightforward, no-frills combat.

When their strength overwhelmed you, they were an existence that brought despair. But when your strength, in turn, crushed them, Lucan knew to call this group of people truly foolish.

For a Khornate cultist, fleeing was also not permitted. This saved Lucan the effort of hunting for enemies all over a planet.

Sneak attacks were something Khorne particularly loathed.

However, Lucan also understood. After all, the lives of these mortal followers were of no consequence to Khorne; whether they lived or died held no meaning for Him.

As long as they fought to the death, they could provide strength to Khorne.

Thinking of this, Lucan also felt a nameless fire rise within him.

Mortals, it seemed, were just pawns to these so-called "gods."

No matter who won or lost, to them, it was just an insignificant game in their endless lifespans.

Looking at his Psy-crystals, his balance had once again returned to nearly a million.

And Lucan closed his eyes to inspect his projection in the Warp. The size of his projection had grown by another large circle.

The Emperor's cold sun still hung high beside him. Although his own projection still seemed tiny, it no longer looked so fragile.

But he was still very far from true power.

Half of the planets belonging to Winterscale's Realm had already been lost.

Lucan had already conquered a total of three planets.

A feudal world, a mining world, and an agri-world. These planets were all invaluable resources for the Mongorte Dynasty. However, even though Lucan's actions were swift, he was still much slower than the fleet led by Scyvilla.

There was still a large gap between the two sides in terms of fleet size and manpower. After all, they were an integration of several factions, and the star sectors where the Kourda and Winterscale dynasties had disputes were not far from their heartlands to begin with.

The moment Scyvilla deemed a world unsalvageable, he could directly issue an Exterminatus order and then proceed to the next star system.

However, Lucan's progress had also far exceeded the estimations of Scyvilla and the others, and his losses were also much smaller.

For a fleet to enter a star system, it had to pass through a Mandeville Point. Therefore, the defenders of a system would often deploy fleets and defensive installations near the Mandeville Point.

And when a warship had just entered or was leaving the Warp, it was often at its most vulnerable.

For the Imperial forces to enter a system, they first had to deal with these defensive forces, which would inevitably result in losses.

But Lucan didn't need to. The Gorgons would simply bypass the Mandeville Point and jump directly into the system, launching an attack from the rear.

And as the defenders turned their ships to deal with this attack from behind, Lucan's Stellar Pioneer would strike from the front.

The Stellar Pioneer would become the spearhead, crushing the enemy forces with firepower and shield strength far exceeding theirs, while any damage to the warship could be repaired by SCVs during the advance.

And the subsequent planetary landing battles still followed the same old routine.

The key was the information disparity. Lucan felt he could use this "haymaker" strategy for a long time before others figured out his tactics.

The enemy would have no defense against this whatsoever.

Harald, on his own warship, watched the battle unfolding and couldn't make head or tail of it.

Since when had conquering a planet become so easy? Lucan hadn't had the Astartes participate in the battle, so they also didn't know the specifics of the combat process.

But as they approached the Winterscale capital world, the combat effectiveness of the Khornate cultists also grew noticeably stronger.

"How far are we from the Winterscale Dynasty's capital world?" Lucan asked the helmsman.

"Two more Warp jumps' distance. There is a garden world ahead. If you wish, we can skip this system and go directly to their capital."

Lucan wasn't very interested in the garden world. In comparison, he still preferred resource planets, and the population of a garden world wouldn't be very large.

"Leave two warships to deal with the traitors here. The rest of the fleet will proceed directly to the Winterscale capital!"

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The Emperor's Vow was docked in orbit. The capital of the Winterscale Dynasty had completely fallen.

And at this moment, three Chaos warships also suddenly appeared near the system's Mandeville Point and headed towards this corrupted planet.

Daemonic skulls and various constructs representing Chaos had been added to the warships.

One hive city on the planet's surface had been completely destroyed.

Hundreds of millions were buried beneath the collapsed hive.

And the remaining two hive cities had also been occupied. Bloody slaughter was occurring every moment.

Wolteng stood in the palace that had once belonged to Caligos. With more and more slaughter, the blessings from Khorne caused his body to undergo more and more mutations.

He was even beginning to show some signs of daemonhood. Bringing a dozen planets into the endless flames of war had already attracted Khorne's attention.

He infused more of His power into Wolteng. Wolteng's power had already surpassed that of ordinary mortals.

Among the Four Gods, Khorne was not one for scheming, but he was also the most straightforward. If you gave him what he wanted, he would give you power.

But believing in Khorne was perhaps also the most demanding path to daemonhood.

Perhaps you could sacrifice several worlds and only get some infusion of power, but if you showed unparalleled courage and killed an opponent you originally couldn't possibly kill, you might ascend to daemonhood on the spot.

The slaughter had already caused more and more things that violated the laws of physics to appear on this planet.

Lava inexplicably flowed from the wastelands, and the air began to be filled with a thick smell of sulfur.

Even the void above this planet seemed to have been torn open, the veil between the material universe and the Warp growing ever thinner. This planet was now on the border between the material universe and the Warp.

In a sense, it had almost become half a daemon world.

Within the spire of the hive city, a massive skull mound was being constructed. Fresh skulls were continuously being piled upon it.

The once-beautiful Spire District was filled with blasphemous symbols.

Beneath the skull mound, ritual circles drawn with blood continuously flickered with a strange, bloody light.

The holy relics and Warp artifacts that the Winterscale Dynasty had venerated and collected for thousands of years now served as aids for Wolteng's ritual.

Pure holy relics were defiled and turned into Chaos artifacts.

Under the enhancement of these defiled relics, this skull mound was accelerating the process of dragging the entire planet into the Warp. As the influence of the Warp deepened, Bloodletters tore through the veil between the Warp and reality and arrived in this world.

A daemon world held an unparalleled attraction for these abominations of the Warp.

Even Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes would be drawn to such worlds and begin to reshape them.

A small number of Bloodletters, leading large packs of Flesh Hounds, appeared in this world. They roamed the land, even fighting amongst themselves as if competing for this ownerless territory and searching for skulls to harvest.

Not a single normal human could be found on the entire planet.

Feeling the power surging from this body, Wolteng's emotions grew ever more ecstatic.

He might have the chance to cast off this frail body and become an immortal being.

Wolteng heard the sound of heavy footsteps. He looked towards the entrance. Astartes clad in blood-red power armor strode in.

The Skulltakers warband. This renegade chapter of a hundred Astartes had also been attracted to this world.

The Chaos fleet that had attacked the Imperial patrol fleet before was them.

Wolteng felt no joy at the arrival of these traitor Astartes. In his eyes, these individuals were here to compete with him for Khorne's favor.

Even though these renegade Astartes had become stronger under the power of the Warp, they were still of human form. Ascension to daemonhood was also their highest pursuit.

And if they could capture this nascent daemon world, they could attract more renegades to join their warband.

(End of Chapter)

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