"We're aboard a Deathwatch Strike Cruiser. The hull ended up like this because the Deathwatch got ambushed by Chaos Space Marines while pursuing Drukhari pirates at the Mandeville Point, then got rammed by some Ork metal hulk that had just jumped in."
"As for the crew inside, they were taken over by a Chaos cult, killed the Navigator, activated the Warp Engine, and held a cult ritual aboard. And this cult happened to worship Chaos Undivided, so the ship became all sorts of colorful. They even stirred up the lurking Genestealers."
Before a sealed iron door, Romulus calmly laid out the ship's current situation.
Arthur merely shrugged as if he had expected it, though inside he felt like he had swallowed shit.
This was way too on-brand. It was practically a gathering of legends.
"What do we do next?"
Not bothering to wait for the possibly virus-infected Logis Engine to respond, Arthur swung his sword and cut through the iron door blocking the way.
"First, we'll rendezvous at the central elevator and head to the Geller Field Generator with the 43rd Cadian Regiment. Chaos Space Marines have infiltrated that area. We need to assist the Deathwatch kill team stationed there in clearing out the enemy, then check the Navigator Sanctum to see whether we can jump out of the Warp."
Romulus tossed a Melta charge behind him to block the route. Molten plasteel cut off the cultists' pursuit, trapping them together with the frenzied Orks.
"There's a Cadian Shock Troops unit aboard, the 43rd Cadian Regiment, as well as Sisters of Battle. The situation is still under control. Oh, spend some points and record High and Low Gothic from me, so communication won't be a problem later."
"How do I exchange them?"
Arthur looked utterly baffled.
"You have a cheat and you haven't studied it at all? Have you been writing webnovels for nothing all these years?"
Romulus paused, unable to resist complaining again.
Then he shook his head lightly and explained.
"You only need the intention to spend points to exchange for those two languages. You can edit this exchange system yourself—strictly speaking, it isn't really a system. It adapted into a form that we can better accept. But we don't have much time for you to study it right now."
"Oh, oh, oh."
With his buddy's guidance, Arthur immediately pulled up a panel in his consciousness and found that he could record the languages.
There were plenty of things he recognized and plenty he did not. If he wanted to use it conveniently, he would really need to spend time studying it.
Arthur examined the cluttered data and the many items that had begun sorting themselves according to his subjective thoughts. After hesitating briefly, he gave up on exchanging anything.
"By the way, who else came over besides us?"
As they moved down the corridor, Arthur cautiously watched every shadow that might conceal an enemy.
The enemy density here was much lower. Numerous corpses lay along the way, struck by Bolter rounds. Every shot had hit a vital point; it was practically certain that Space Marines had done it.
"There are two others."
Arthur's question made Romulus think of that troublesome fellow.
"Let me guess."
Arthur pulled a Volkite Gun from the small of his back and aimed it at an Ork Nob, giving the brute a veteran's barbecue as he tested the waters.
"Karna and Ramesses?"
The four of them were old Luna friends. You could tell from their names alone—they were all named after historical heroes. They usually made plans to play games together, so since Romulus was here, the other two were not hard to guess.
"Mm."
Romulus did not deny it.
"Damn, does conscription come with collective punishment now?"
Arthur looked unlucky, but honestly, he felt much better than when he had first transmigrated.
He had already stepped in shit, sure, but he had three good friends with him. That was far better than struggling alone.
"Maybe our IDs looked too human. Should've listened to you and named ourselves after the Emperor's ass. I'd dare to use the Emperor's name, but he definitely wouldn't dare take me."
Romulus sighed again, but he did not feel too negative about it. Having three other unlucky bastards with him was still better than being alone, wasn't it?
Eating shit alone was suffering. Eating shit with a bunch of people you knew made things feel much more balanced.
"Where are they?"
Arthur asked curiously.
"One's holding the line over at the Navigator Sanctum. The other..."
Romulus glanced at the time.
"Should be killing his way over here about now."
"Hm?"
A large group of Orks suddenly appeared ahead. Arthur was just about to charge in and go wild when someone grabbed him.
Romulus stared at the time and muttered.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Horus!"
A crimson figure flashed past. Arthur did not even see it clearly; only that savage roar echoed through the corridor below.
Riiip!!!
The scarlet warrior hit the ground. His Power Spear bloomed with a brilliant blue disruption field, and propelled by the powerful thrust of his jump pack, he plowed a bloody path through the battlefield.
Whoosh!!!
Unending slashes swept back and forth until everything before him had been ground into pulp. The Blood Angel below looked up at the two of them on the passageway, then at the Astra Militarum soldiers across from him who were firing down from above to provide cover. With a roar, his jump pack burned Promethium and carried him through another bulkhead.
Only that terrifying roar lingered in their ears, refusing to fade.
"Horus!"
"...You're actually better than him."
"...That's true."
With the help of a certain Blood Angel who only knew how to shout "Horus!" before hugging cultists' heads and chewing on them, Arthur's group soon reached the Geller Field Generator.
As Space Marines—superhumans with two hearts and three lungs—they exchanged quite a bit of information along the way. But in the eyes of those mortal heretics, all they could see in reality were two blurry figures, one black and one blue, flashing through the corridor before their heads flew off.
It was hard to imagine how such heavily armored giants could move so swiftly.
Bang!
Arthur did not wait for the door to slide open. He cut straight through the door panel and washed the enemies' faces with his Volkite Gun before they could react. After instantly killing the enemies that could not be dealt with in melee, he raised his shield to block a Chainaxe blow.
"Waaaaagh!"
Before Arthur could counterattack, gunfire from behind the Ork converged on it in an instant.
In a flash, searing Lasgun beams pierced its tough hide, tearing through the xenos's body. To Arthur's surprise, after passing through flesh and blood, the shots precisely avoided him as he wrestled with the xenos.
He had been about to raise his arm and take the xenos's head, but at the sight he lowered his sword in disbelief. His expression turned complicated as he looked toward the soldiers who were already firing at other xenos, clad in red Carapace Armor over dark camouflage combat uniforms.
At the front of the position, a smaller number of shield guards in heavy armor held key passages with sturdy Boarding Shields. The corpses of traitors and xenos had been torn apart by all manner of unidentified attacks. Blood and scraps mixed together, becoming a sticky carpet across the deck beneath the shield guards' boots.
At the center of the position, fire teams precisely suppressed the corridors. A Genestealer that had just torn open the ceiling was melted through more than half its body the instant it poked out.
At the side of the position, the Heavy Bolter fell silent for only a moment before someone dragged away a corpse that had been blasted in half and took over the firing position. That reassuring, dull thunder soon rang out across the battlefield again.
At the rear of the position, batches of transport troops carried crates upon crates of ammunition and power cells between firing points, replenishing the soldiers pouring out fire so that the barrage never ceased.
Everyone had their own duty. Countless bodies of flesh and blood relied on their own exceptional skill to forge this defensive line into an impregnable fortress, even in the face of every monster and freak imaginable.
"This is the Cadian Shock Troops."
Romulus seemed to have witnessed the Astra Militarum's combat power long ago. Without the slightest surprise, he cleared the enemies in his sight and entered the position first.
Indeed, although the Astra Militarum were often treated as stepping stones and background fodder for countless monsters in Warhammer works, in Realspace they were soldiers selected from the best of an entire planet's population.
What was more, the warriors before them wore blazing red uniforms and came from Cadia, a world where even six-year-old children could use Lasguns with precision. They were elites even among the elite-filled ranks of the Astra Militarum, so such performance was hardly surprising.
Compared to the Space Marines, who had gradually shifted toward special operations due to their limited numbers after the Codex Astartes was implemented, these vast numbers of mortal soldiers were now the Imperium's main force against every kind of heretic and xenos.
Arthur silently swept his gaze around, committing the surrounding information to memory. He focused on listening to the soldiers' conversation, then followed Romulus.
This was the ship's transport elevator guarded by the Cadian 43rd Regiment. Less than thirty seconds after they entered the position, another group of Orks charged into the battlefield that had only just calmed down.
But beneath this elite unit's fire net, the Orks that had been filtered through waves of Demons, cultists, and Genestealers no longer had much fighting strength left. Facing precise and dense firepower, only death awaited them.
The Astra Militarum had organized a tight battle line here. Apart from the soldiers still handling xenos at the front, some even had the energy to give the Imperium's Angels an Aquila Salute.
Amid the position, which had grown noisy again with the sounds of Bolters, Lasguns, grenades, and flamethrowers, Arthur nodded lightly in reply.
"For the Emperor!"
Low Gothic was somewhat like a mixture of many symbolic languages, and it bore quite a few similarities to languages Arthur knew. Combined with his superhuman brain after transmigration, he quickly understood many of its words.
Perhaps because he had gained a superhuman body, whenever Arthur focused on something, his learning speed became absurdly fast—just as it had when he was cutting down all those monsters earlier.
"For the Emperor, my lord!"
The Astra Militarum soldiers were flattered. After shouting the slogan, they returned to guarding their defensive line.
It was obvious that the exhausted soldiers' spirits had risen considerably.
Before you continue