Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 88 "Corpse Collector"

As soon as Nimrod arrived at the meeting point, he sensed a heavy, cold aura emanating from the city ahead, which could be considered a majestic city by Ogryn's standards.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Horus in golden armor.

“You have indeed discovered it.”

"The life signals in this city are very strange, exceeding 100,000 in number. They are different from those in other Ogryns. I have sent a reconnaissance team."

Horus walked up to him and motioned to Tarik Torgaddon, the Second Captain of the Luna Wolves, who was beside him, to give a briefing.

Nimrod remembered that he and Abaddon were the only two members of the Council of Four Kings who survived to the end of the life of this unofficial organization. The other two members had been passively replaced several times due to death.

Torgaddon, who loved to joke, spoke seriously to the Primarch.

"My Lord, I previously sent a reconnaissance team to infiltrate Ogryn's city. The intelligence they brought back is worth noting."

He operated the system inherited from his left arm and projected the images captured by the scout's helmet monitor in front of the two Primarchs.

Ningluo's black pupils shrank, and the two Ogryns in the projected image looked very strange.

A body covered with 40-centimeter corpse-eating bugs, but they did not eat the corpse, but the flesh and blood of Ogryn.

The other Ogrin, carrying a sledgehammer on his right arm, grabbed a corpse-gnawing worm from his body with his left hand, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it in big gulps.

Nimrod thought for a moment, then spoke based on his memory of Ogryn.

"Ogryn is a simple creature, or more accurately, a single-minded one."

"Once they pledge their allegiance to someone, they won't betray them."

"But they are also easily corrupted and influenced. This tribe should be influenced by living with insects, coexisting with them and serving as each other's food."

As he spoke, the image of Plague Ogryn flashed through his mind. The fallen Death Guard infected Ogryn with the Nurgle Plague, and they were naive and smiled foolishly while enjoying the blessing of their kind father.

After thinking for a second, Horus agreed with Nimrod's judgment and said to Torgaddon.

"Tell your warriors to be wary of the changes in those stupid giants. I don't want to see the Luna Wolf warriors die at the hands of these mutated Ogryns."

The corners of Torgaddon's mouth twitched, and he caught the hidden humor in the Gene-Father's concern. He spoke in a way that was not rude in front of another Primarch.

"The Luna Wolf will not let Wolf Father down."

Horus laughed loudly and looked at Nimrod.

"My brother, what do you say if we attack from the east and west?"

Nimrod's eyes flashed, and he realized that this was an observation and evaluation of him by Horus, his "teacher".

"as you wish."

During the conversation, Adams, who became increasingly cold, remained silent as he followed Nimrod to the fourth company.

Nimrod said in a low and calm voice, "In the last battle, you have already overcome your bloodlust for the first time. This time, I hope you can do better."

He raised his left arm, swung it vigorously, emphasized his tone, and instilled faith into the shadows of order.

"I believe you can do it. You are the Shadows of Order!"

"Set off."

After saying this, Ningluo led his descendants towards the attack point on the east side.

After a moment, the Primarch still handed over command to Adams, but this time he did not act alone, but selected a small team to follow him.

In the previous battle, the Ice Blade Team, who were the first to lose control but also the first to overcome their bloodlust, received this honor.

This was also the beginning of Nimrod's implementation of his unique honor guard for the XIth Legion.

Nimrod wanted to gradually train the warriors of the "Shadow of Order" Legion into extraordinary people.

But he will still conduct certain reviews on his genetic offspring, focusing on loyalty and ideals.

Nimrod already had a plan. He would not simply select the best warriors in the legion to form a stretcher team like other primarchs.

No, it's the Honor Guard. He will adopt a recommendation system, where each company commander will recommend outstanding men to be examined by him.

At the same time, he can also instill his own ideas into the candidates, and after they return to their own companies, they will gradually influence other Order Shadows.

Although this system does not have the best members of a fixed legion always staying by his side, it may be slightly weaker than the honor guards of other legions, but extraordinary abilities can make up for this gap.

The Primarch also believed that this would give his descendants more motivation. He had observed through "warp insight" and spiritual vision that the blue light of calmness and thinking in the high morale of the Ice Blade Squadron was even brighter.

Ningluo activated the energy field generator with anticipation, and the power gloves flashed with golden light.

Rumble!
A stone wall as tall as two ordinary Ogryns collapsed with a loud bang.

The Primarch walked into the city first, and the soldiers of the Fourth Company rushed into the city with the Malcador heavy tank as the center.

The Ogryns turned stiffly and looked at the Space Marines.

The corpse-gnawing beetles on their bodies began to get restless, and the Ogryns rushed towards the soldiers of the Fourth Company with a more rigid pace than other tribes.

The machine spirits of the Malcador heavy tanks roared in anger, disgusted by the stench of blasphemy.

The gun body trembled and rose up, a dazzling arc of energy burst out from deep in the barrel, and the shell tore through the atmosphere with a sharp scream.

Dozens of Ogryns, along with the corpse-gnawing bugs on their bodies, were torn to pieces by the shock wave.

The Order Shadows of the Fourth Company fired explosive bombs, and Adams noticed that dozens of Ogryns whose arms and abdomens were shattered by the explosive bombs did not fall down.

The Corpse Collector's clairvoyance allows him to directly see some evil spirits and gain insight into the characteristics and weaknesses of such creatures.

Adams now saw that the bugs on the mutated Ogryns were driving them to continue stumbling forward.

The Corpse Collector's black eyes narrowed, and his spiritual vision had already discovered the weakness of the mutated Ogryn.

There is a bug lying at the back of the head of each mutated Ogryn, driving other bugs and Ogryn to move.

The fourth company commander gave a concise and powerful reminder in a cold voice on the company communication channel.

"Head, weakness!"

Dozens of explosive shells were fired, and the heads of the Ogryns were pierced by the hardened diamond bullets, and their bodies fell to the ground with a bang.

At the same time, Ningluo also chopped off the heads of the two mutant Ogryns with a single blow.

The Primarch, who had been observing the actions of his descendants, was delighted to see the soldiers of the Fourth Company taking advantage of the mutated Ogryn's slow speed to perform tactical maneuvers.

He also used long-range firepower to accurately kill Ogryn.

Even if someone is occasionally driven by the desire to fight, the non-commissioned officer commanding the squad will react immediately.

Command two or three Shadows of Order to stop the out-of-control warriors, while the other Astartes guard them.

A warrior who has lost control will also recover when his battle brothers remind him to "calm down and don't let the Primarch down."

The Primarch thought to himself with joy: [This is the offspring I want. The evil habits of the Reapers are beginning to be eliminated, and order is beginning to take shape.]
Just as Nimrod was rejoicing, an earth-shaking roar was heard in the center of the city.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a mutant Ogryn, about the same height as Horus, rushing towards him.

His speed is not as slow as that of other mutants, and is even faster than normal Ogryn.

Horus also noticed this huge monster, and when he saw him rushing towards Nimrod, he couldn't help but frown.

[Idiot! All you think is that bigger means stronger!]
He strode forward, wielding the golden hilt of the power sword burning with blue flames, and cut a path through the Ogryn, heading towards Nimrod.

His brother might need his help.

　PS1: The Claw of Horus was only completed by the Dark Mechanicus before the Heresy.

　　PS2: Some readers may not have noticed the existence of undead creatures such as ghosts in the Warhammer world. After all, it is not the focus. Here are two examples:
　　A. Torgaddon, who appears in this chapter, dies at the hands of Simander, while Loken witnesses the scene in horror. Later, Erebus uses Torgaddon's corpse as a medium (it's important to note that Torgaddon has been dead for a long time and now meets the definition of a ghost) to create a demon known as Thummegaron. A strange side effect of this summoning ritual is that a portion of Torgaddon's spirit remains sentient and free, and later communicates with his old friend, Garviel Loken, in Luna.

　　 B. Text from Warhammer 40: Rogue Trader: "The ghost stared mournfully at Wyz. Its deep whimpering was almost palpable as it drifted towards the Choir Master, enveloping Wyz within it."

　　Actually, the official novels do feature quite a few undead creatures (though they're not crucial plot points). Warhammer is a hodgepodge, after all. Those interested can look them up on their own; I won't list them all here. This is just to clarify that the relevant content doesn't seem out of place in Warhammer.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)