mtlumby2d Chapter 292 Night Guard
Chapter 292 Night Guard
The Thunderhawk gunship crashed into the planet's surface with violent tremors, its engines belching black smoke that carved a gruesome scar across the crimson sky. The hatch twisted and deformed in the impact, and Casal kicked aside the metal debris, his White Tiger Blade tip slicing away the onrushing corrosive vines.
"The atmosphere is breathable, but contains trace amounts of subspace toxins." Arya's psionic tentacles swept across the surrounding environment, and the golden halo at her fingertips dispelled a worm-like mist that tried to approach.
Russell was carried out of the cabin by two White Scar warriors. The serrated edge of the Blood Drinker's entrenching tool still gleamed coldly, like an indestructible blade. His psionic overload had caused his capillaries to rupture, and spiderweb-like blood patterns snaked beneath his skin.
“Something’s not right here.” Casal’s White Tiger Blade sliced through the tendrils of a carnivorous plant, the sap splashing onto the power armor with a sizzling sound. “The vegetation has all mutated, and there are echoes of metal structures underground—like man-made structures.”
Arya suddenly knelt down, her psychic vision forcibly torn apart. She saw countless crows flying out from the ground, their wings obscuring the sky, each carrying a rusted key in its beak.
“The Raven…it’s the psionic mark of the Raven Guardians!” Her voice trembled with excitement. “Three kilometers to the northwest, the entrance to the underground fortress!”
The group traversed a swamp strewn with skeletons, where human arms protruded from the putrid water, still clutching laser guns from a hundred thousand years ago. When they reached the coordinates, all they found was a rock wall covered in mutated vines.
"Password." The rock wall suddenly opened its twelve mechanical eyes, and the synthesized voice carried electronic noise.
Casal's White Tiger Blade traced the White Scar Chapter's Gothic runes in the air: "Storm and Fangs."
The rock wall suddenly cracked open, revealing a downward alloy staircase. Dark blue fluorescent runes extended along the wall, and the cool scent of engine oil wafted in the air.
Commander Kyleon Shadowblade of the Dark Raven Guard Fortress stood before the holographic tactical console. His power armor was as black as night, and the raven relief on his shoulder armor had a stream of eerie blue data dancing in its eyes.
“Seven years ago we established an observatory here to monitor the subspace rifts in the vicinity.” Kyleon’s electronic prosthetic eye swept over Russell. “The chaos pollution you brought exceeded the standard by 47 times, and you should have been turned away—but you killed Gorgrash.”
Arya's psionic tentacles suddenly stiffened: "You were monitoring that battle?"
"From the very first psionic storm that erupted." Kyleon snapped his fingers to bring up a recording, showing Russell's Bloodseeker shovel cleaving through a Chaos mech. "The Raven Guards never waste valuable tactical data."
Casal slammed his White Tiger Blade into the tactical console: "We need supplies and a medical bay."
“Ready.” The gate behind Kelion slid open, and the Raven Apothecary held a bone china plate containing gene repair fluid. “But according to Article 13 of the Stealth Protocol, you must assist in the ‘Nest Cleanup’—Malkahn’s Chaos Beacon is hidden in the core of this planet.”
Russell struggled to grab the Blooddrinker entrenching tool, its serrated blade gleaming coldly: "Now... shall we set off?"
An electronic voice, almost laughing, came from beneath the Raven Commander's visor: "After the concentration of subspace toxins in your body drops below the lethal dose for 72 hours—the Raven Guards don't use madmen, only warriors."
Outside the fortress, the roar of a demonic engine echoed from the depths of the mutated jungle. Kylian's raven shoulder armor unfolded into a quadruple missile launcher: "By the way, your old friend Malkarn... has four hours to go before landing."
The vanguard of the Word Bearers landed first!
The metal dome of Raven Keep rippled with a deep blue light amidst the warp storm, and Kelion Shadowblade's electronic prosthetic eye swept across the holographic sand table. Thirty-seven crimson dots flickered on the surface—the corrosive drilling rigs of the Word Bearers vanguard.
"Activate the 'Raven's Beak' protocol." The commander's voice was cold and mechanical. "Disarm the optical camouflage from firing towers three through seven, and deploy gravity mines in sector B7."
Arya's psionic tendrils swept across the tactical interface: "They brought Nurgle Plague Throwers—the southwest groundwater flow needs to be recalculated."
Casal held his White Tiger Blade across his knees: "My warriors can handle the flank attacks."
“No need.” A stream of data popped up from Kyleon’s Raven shoulder armor. “The war of the Dark Raven Guard is a silent war.”
As the first wave of Word Bearers stepped into the minefield, the hum of the gravity mines was softer than a heartbeat. Six Corruption Drills were suddenly compressed into metal spheres, their pilots' internal organs spurting into a bloody mist from the gaps in their armor. Before the surviving cultists could even raise their bomb guns, poisoned armor-piercing rounds were fired from the shadows—the silencer runes engraved on the warheads made death quieter than a whisper.
"Sniper team, switch to phosphorus-based rounds." Kyleon's command was directly transmitted to the soldiers' brain synapses via data link. "Incinerate the filthy carriers."
Twelve streaks of ghostly blue fire pierced the battlefield, igniting the plague throwers' pus sacs before they could even burst. Amidst the putrid smoke, the black power armor of the Dark Raven Guard blended seamlessly with the shadows, and the sound of chainswords being drawn was deliberately modulated to resemble the cawing of crows.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent. The surviving Word Bearers discovered that all communication channels were reduced to static, and even the Chaos Wizards' psionic communications had been swallowed up by some force.
"Electronic confinement matrix activated." Kyleon's metal fingers swept across the holographic projection, and eight black stone obelisks rose around the fortress. "Time to clean up."
As the Raven Guards emerged from the shadows, the hum of their chainswords finally echoed across the battlefield. Their killings were as precise as scalpels: severing tendons to cripple heavy infantry, piercing helmet seams to shred wizards' brains. When the last Khorne mech was bound by an electromagnetic mine, Kerion himself pressed the detonation button—a three-thousand-degree plasma stream melted steel and flesh into a monument.
Although it wasn't the first time Casal had witnessed the Night Watchers in battle, he was still surprised by this fight. These Ravens were incredibly strong, deadly, dangerous, and chilling.
"A perfect battle!" Casal couldn't help but exclaim.
Kailian smiled and said: This is not very fast. I have a big gift to give to the Word Bearers.
They both laughed at the same time.