Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

Page 717

Nyor would never admit that on that afternoon, as he stood before Dorne's fortress, listening to Rogue Dorne's pronouncements to the Greenskins, he, uninvited, found himself amidst a vast expanse of Greenskins, a scene that felt somewhat awkward.

Roger Dorne's castle also refused psionic access from the Lord of Man.

There are several possibilities. One is that Dorn has finally entered his rebellious phase, but this is obviously impossible.

Secondly, Dorne's defense mechanism excludes all psionic energy of similar scale to Khorne's; thirdly, Dorne is guarding against beings whose psionic energy originates from the same source as Neos's.

The Emperor did not find the answer to this question; at that time, he was still on the throne, and the news of Hades' return was as impossible as Macardo's change of heart.

So Neos had no choice but to leave for the time being. The only good news for the Lord of Man might be that even if he left, Dorn would not be corrupted by the Greenskins or Khorne in his dreams.

Those who attempt to corrupt the power of his seventh son will only repeat their futile efforts time and again, while the rock will never move.

The Emperor wisely chose to retreat; he no longer needed to call upon Dorn repeatedly, for Rogue Dorn would awaken on his own when the time was right.

And now, the opportunity has come.

While Neos was pleased with the Primarchs working so hard on the Mountain Array, he also felt a pang of sadness for his own misfortune and overtime work.

However, he now understands why Khorne appeared in Dorn's dreams, and why his offspring rejected him.

....................................

【Dorn!】

【Dorn!!】

[Rogdo - Aaaaaaah!!!]

The dragon lord's roar tossed and turned in the air, and the last shout was tinged with lingering fear. But this was perhaps not Vulcan's fault, because Mortarion's flying skills could hardly be described as "proficient".

Yes, after a silent exchange of glances, the two Primarchs decided to try the least likely helipad.

Therefore, they need to fly high to avoid the Greenskins and the automatically tracking missiles launched from inside the castle. At the same time, this also places new load requirements on Mortalian.

Fortunately, Hades had already greatly trained Mortarion's maximum load capacity for flight beforehand, so Vulcan didn't have to worry about being thrown off by the Pale Lord during flight due to his own weight.

Mortarion swore this would be the third stupid thing he'd ever done, flying through a crowd of onlookers and gasps of gasps, dragging the Lord of Dragons along with him, while Vulcan foolishly shouted Dorne's name—

They hoped that Roger Dorn would recognize them in advance.

Mortarion was displeased, and the Primarch immediately made a new decision. In an instant, white mist representing death poured down from between his flapping wings, like a waterfall from the sky.

White mist descended to the ground, and the greenskins covered in it immediately collapsed silently. This scene successfully frightened the rest of the greenskins who were standing there, mouths agape, drooling, looking up at Mortarion and Vulcan.

Mortarion was pleased to see the greenskins scatter in all directions, which greatly relieved his displeasure. Even Mortarion, the Primarch, knew that his actions were somewhat undignified and should not be seen or recorded.

If possible, they should all be silenced.

Motari thought with a sense of utter despair that the Vulcan in his hand had become even more spiritually heavy as a result.

Fortunately, the Vulcan is not yet as heavy as the Hades.

Forcing Hades into the air was the real challenge for Mortalian. Most of the time, Hades needed the Star Gods' ascension to help them gain altitude in the early stages of takeoff.

I think our brothers recognized me.

Amidst the howling wind, Vulcan spoke, interrupting Mortalian's focused contemplation.

[...we were not intercepted by his missiles.]

Motalian responded to Vulcan, saying that to avoid being locked onto by tracking missiles, the Bone Moth had been preparing for high-altitude, high-difficulty flights—

If necessary, Mortarian had already decided to let Vulcan freefall for a while to make it easier for him to shake off the missile's pursuit.

Fortunately, he no longer had to torment Vulcan, just as Dorn did not intend to torment them.

Isn't he planning to come out and greet us?

Vulcan's somewhat disappointed voice rang out. Mortarian ignored the fire dragon; it was better not to come out to greet it than to greet it with cannons.

He squinted; they had already flown above the fortress, and Mortarian prepared for their landing.

【preparation.】

Motarian said, while Vulcan, whom he was holding, uttered a single syllable in confusion.

【? ——? ! 】

The next moment, the two enormous objects, with acceleration greater than that of free fall, crashed into the ground!

boom! ! !

Thick smoke, several meters high, billowed up, and two dark figures stood up. A white helmet broke through the smoke and dust, a wisp of smoke passing by, and Mortarian stood calmly on the tarmac.

I hope our brother won't resent me for slightly damaging his helipad.

"Motalian said calmly, a coughing sound coming from behind him. Vulcan staggered out, hunched over and covering his mouth and nose. Hearing Motalian's words, Vulcan hesitated and looked back.

He felt that it wasn't just "somewhat" damaged, but also not because the building wasn't sturdy enough; it was simply because the two of them were "somewhat" too heavy.

[To clarify the reasons, Dorn is not an unreasonable person.]

Vulcan said, "But actually, Dorne can be terribly troublesome at times," which brought back some unpleasant memories for the dragon.

During the Great Crusade, sometimes a vague remark from him could draw righteous criticism from Dorne, and Vulcan could not explain it clearly. This resulted in either Fulgrim coming to his rescue or Guilliman diverting Dorne's attention.

Today, as Vulcan glanced at Mortarian striding deeper into the fortress, the fire dragon belatedly realized something—

Perhaps it shouldn't have been just him and Mortarion who came; they should have at least brought Guilliman, or perhaps Angron.

Although the idea was somewhat offensive, Vulcan didn't really trust Mottarian's language skills.

..............................

【Mountain Formation】

"You were born during the time when Primarch Dorne led the Fists of the Empire to reclaim the lost planets of the Empire's Dark Side?"

Hades stood alone in the command room, having temporarily asked the Imperial Fist and his crew to leave. He wanted to talk to this machine spirit alone.

Before speaking with them alone, Hades briefly inquired with the Imperial Fist's technical officers, who confirmed that the Mountain Array did indeed believe it possessed a degree of consciousness of its own.

However, this will has always been unwilling to communicate directly with them.

…………

"But when we are in crisis,"

Hades looked at the veteran Imperial Fist soldier in front of him. This was a technical sergeant from the Mountain Guard. Even with a helmet on, Hades sensed that the soldier seemed to want an autograph.

Hades's legendary status among the technical sergeants of various legions is well-known for his strategies on Mars.

“We can feel that the Mountain Array is alive and it is helping us.”

Hades nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

………………

"Yes."

The response from the Mountain Array brought Hades back to his senses. Hades was not surprised at all; the dark side of the Empire at that time was already in a state of warp disorder, so it was very likely that machine spirits were born.

"So, ever since then, you've been serving the Imperial Fist Legion?"

"That's not correct."

Hades watched the indicator lights on the command platform flash with a cold light.

"At first, I couldn't determine who I was or my condition; I couldn't even control the Mountain Array."

Unable to control the Mountain Array?

Hades blinked, his expression remaining unchanged, but alarm bells were already ringing in his mind.

This is obviously not right.

A machine spirit, born from people's faith in a certain machine, has full control over that machine from the moment of its birth. When people say that a machine spirit is "weak," they usually mean that the machine spirit has a weak self-awareness and cannot communicate or manifest itself to humans, rather than that it cannot control the machine.

However, it cannot be ruled out that the Mountain Array was too large, or that there was a device on the Mountain Array that suppressed spiritual energy, causing the Machine Soul to be unable to control the entire Mountain Array.

Hades pondered, there was another possibility: the machine spirit he was currently speaking to was not a true machine spirit.

Instead, it was some external subspace entity that attached itself to the Mountain Array and, by a twist of fate, eventually became the Mountain Array's "machine soul".

"So, are you sure who you are now?"

Hades asked cautiously, waiting for an answer. This time, the machine spirit's reply was 0.13 nanoseconds slower than he should have.

After a “long” silence,

"I request an audience with the Lord of mankind."

"The machine spirit replied."

"???"

Hades was filled with questions. For a moment, he hallucinated a scene where an innocent person, being interrogated by an evil force, was shouting that he wanted to see the righteous and just magistrate.

Although the sense of déjà vu was strong, Hades quickly figured it out: it was probably some kind of subspace entity that possessed the Mountain Array and became its new "machine soul".

Based on the behavior and responses of this machine spirit, Hades is more inclined to believe that it is the spirit of a hero of an empire, or the collective will of the heroes' spirits.

And it is very likely that he is a fighter from the Imperial Fist.

By chance, he possessed the body of the Mountain Array.

In the ensuing battles, this "machine spirit" grew and developed in the high-intensity and unstable subspace environment. At the same time, the Imperial Fist's faith in the Mountain Array also nurtured him, ultimately making him the "machine spirit" who defended the Mountain Array.

Thinking about this, Hades roughly understood that this "machine spirit" transformed from a certain heroic warrior might have some secrets, which is why he wanted to find the Lord of Humanity.

Hades was about to call Neos, but decided to ask a few more questions before doing so.

"You mean the Emperor? Of course I can call him the Emperor for you—but I'd like to know why you want to find him."

Hades said he considered it a reasonable request, and if the machine spirit originated from the Fist of the Empire, then he should respond to it.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

?

Before Hades could even utter another question, the Mountain Formation Machine Spirit spoke again, its radio waves reaching Hades's mind.

"Who is the true ruler of the empire now?"

"Is it you, or the Lord of Humanity?"

That was a good question, Hades couldn't help but smile, then he shook his head mysteriously.

"neither."

He said that Killieman, who was on the other end of the Mountain Array, suddenly felt a chill.

"The current ruler of the empire is Robert Guilliman."

To Hades' surprise, the Mountain Formation Machine Soul fell silent again, and this time the silence lasted much longer than he had imagined.

Hades could only stand in front of the control panel and wait for the machine's soul to answer. The stars looked at him from the porthole, and all he could hear were the indicator lights and the faint hum of the engine.

Finally, the machine spirit uttered something Hades would never have expected.

[If it's a loyal Robert Guilliman,]

The radio wave fell silent for a brief moment, but Hades was already deeply shocked. What did it mean to say, "What if it's the loyal Guilliman???"

Does "Machine Soul" mean there's still a disloyal Guilliman?

Therefore, I am truly proud of him.

"Mountain Formation," the machine spirit said. Hades frowned, realizing that the origin of this machine spirit seemed to be far more complicated than he had imagined.

"Who are you anyway?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

........................

Why is the Khornean force even stronger here?

Mortarian frowned and muttered to himself. He and Vulcan stood in the corridor of the fortress, which looked like it had been completely soaked in blood, and Death suddenly had an ominous feeling.

[Dorn, are you alright?!]

Vulcan shouted, but only the echoes reverberating through the corridors answered them.

Yay, it's gone!