Warp Insight

Nimrod had barely conquered Grosseto Island when he received Szczesny's request for aid.

He immediately boarded a flyer and headed for Trinio.

When he saw the giant sea monster called Zhangya, he could not help but marvel at the immense size of the Tooth-Devouring Octopus.

Malena's eyes brimmed with hatred. "Zhangya is the largest Tooth-Devouring Octopus. It has devoured countless Sicilians."

No sooner had she spoken than she saw the giant leap down.

After Szczesny severed one of the sea monster's tentacles, it began attacking him frantically. He dodged about miserably, but unlike ordinary octopuses, the Rodent Octopus did not have only eight arms. It had dozens of tentacles.

He had been sent flying several times. Fortunately, his subordinates opened fire in time to ease the pressure on him, allowing him to barely hold on until now.

This also provoked the sea monster's frenzied counterattack. The 4th Regiment suffered grievous losses. At least dozens of Warriors who had undergone less steel augmentation, along with more than a hundred candidates, had been devoured by the Tooth-Devouring Octopus.

The people of Trinio lost all morale. They scattered and fled, shouting in terror in a local Low Gothic Szczesny could not understand.

Only Jorginho remained by the regiment commander's side, loudly berating his fellow tribesmen and rallying thirteen recruits who had passed the selection.

Just as the 4th Regiment fell into crisis, a massive figure descended from the sky and smashed onto the Rodent Octopus's long, narrow head.

Szczesny's eyes lit up as he saw Nimrod drive his heavy halberd deep into one of the sea monster's compound eyes.

The Iron Warriors watched as the Rodent Octopus, as if struck by a meteor, was smashed into the sea, throwing up monstrous waves a hundred meters high.

They gazed reverently at the majestic figure standing atop the sea and erupted into thunderous cheers.

"Perun, God of Thunder!"

"Svantovit, God of War!"

"..."

Each of them associated Nimrod with gods from Old Night, charging into the sea like pilgrims and launching frenzied attacks on the tentacles.

Nimrod pulled out his heavy halberd, and blood dyed the sea red as Zhangya let out a pained wail.

The Primarch keenly sensed that the previous attack had not dealt the Rodent Octopus a fatal wound. This enormous sea monster possessed vitality to match its size, and its eyes were not its fatal weak point.

The sound of whistling wind came from behind him. Nimrod flipped forward, his heavy halberd simultaneously carving a deep gash across the sea monster's long, runway-like head and torso.

He activated Spirit Sight and attempted to observe Zhangya as he had when he captured Mother of the Sea, seeking weaknesses his physical senses had failed to detect.

More than a dozen python-like tentacles thrashed wildly. Zhangya had not been injured in over a thousand years, and it furiously sought to swallow the detestable prey on its head.

On the flyer, Malena raised her staff with both hands, aiming it at the hateful creature that had devoured countless members of her people.

Two dazzling beams of light shot from the skull and streaked toward the tentacles.

Cells boiled and burned, and the gray tentacles instantly turned into the bodies of red-hot snakes, writhing madly.

With a sharp explosion, the tentacles burst into thousands of pieces and sprayed in every direction.

Her strike had landed, but Malena frowned delicately.

Zhangya's vitality is so strong. My attack only blew apart one of its tentacles.

At the same time, Maria and the other two injected House Kournikova's combat stimulants into their bodies.

Tsvistna rapidly pulled the trigger in her hand, emptying the energy magazine in an instant as a curved rain of light bombarded the sea monster's head.

The other two Assassins leaped down. Dementyeva turned sideways, gripping her riot shield tightly, and viciously slammed it into the Rodent Octopus's head.

Maria swung her curved blade, drawing an arc through the air and cleaving apart a tentacle Zhangya had whipped at her. As she landed, she fiercely drove the Flao Glass Blade into its slick head.

The Overlord of the Coral Sea let out an earth-shaking roar. Its remaining compound eyes bloodshot, it angrily raised its head.

Maria and Dementyeva raised their weapons, intending to drive them into the sea monster's head. Just as they swung their arms with force, tentacles tore through the air and struck their arms.

As the two women were flung away, Zhangya's head had already risen to its highest point, though it was still dozens of meters from the flyer.

Tsvistna, having changed the energy magazine, pulled the trigger and sprayed the open maw with fire.

Malena inwardly cried out in alarm. She shouted in Vostonia Low Gothic, "Get out of the way! It's going to spray ink!"

The pilot had no time to think. He instinctively pulled the controls and frantically maneuvered to evade.

Pitch-black ink splashed against the bottom of the flyer, and the streamlined airship spun out of control in midair.

The pilot struggled desperately to stabilize the flyer, cold sweat covering his body. The ink had nearly struck the airship's nose.

While everyone else was left in a sorry state by Zhangya's attack, Nimrod found an opportunity.

He entered that wondrous state once more. It was as though he stood in the air, overlooking the entire sea, with the whole battlefield brought into his "sight."

What he saw was not each person's movements. He saw each person's projection in the Warp, the ripples stirred upon the Sea of Souls.

The fear of the people of Trinio and the pilot, the faith of the Iron Warriors, Malena's towering hatred...

Most crucially, Nimrod saw Zhangya's projection in the Warp.

Within the octopus's body, its most peculiar organ was its ink sac. It displayed two opposing lights: radiant life-light wrapped around pitch-black darkness filled with the anguished wails of countless lives.

With Spirit Sight active as well, he also saw the flickering spiritual radiance upon it.

Nimrod understood. The Tooth-Devouring Octopus's ink sac is both its weakness and a Beyonder material.

Zhangya's turn completely exposed its weakness. Seizing the opening, he allowed his body to fall naturally.

Nimrod swung his heavy halberd fiercely in midair, driving it precisely into the upper edge of the Rodent Octopus's ink sac beneath its head.

He twisted his body, and the heavy halberd in his hand cut an arc as it slid down toward the lower right.

The Primarch's body seemed to have escaped gravity's control. Together with his heavy halberd, he was like a butcher's blade, cutting along the edge of the ink sac.

Zhangya felt the area beneath its head being cut open. It desperately tried to reverse its backward fall, but it could not control its body with the inhuman precision Nimrod possessed.

Its immense body tilted slightly to the right before crashing heavily into the sea.

Amid the buffeting wind and waves, Nimrod strode forward in an arc.

He cut away the entire ink sac intact, skin and all. The Primarch reached out, grabbed the slick Rodent Octopus skin, and tore hard.

Zhangya's tentacles waved weakly. As the ink sac left its body, its life rapidly drained away.

In Nimrod's perception, when he fell into the sea, the point of light that was Zhangya in the Sea of Souls went out as well.

Having successfully unearthed his own potential, the Primarch could not help but smile.

I should give this ability a name. It differs from a Psyker's Aetheric Sight and a Beyonder's Spirit Sight.

When I use this ability, seeing a creature's emotions is merely incidental. Its more important function is locking onto an enemy's weaknesses.

It is somewhat similar to the Sequence 5 Red Priest Beyonder ability, Weakness Detection, but it is not activated through mysticism. Instead, it observes directly through the Warp. In that case, I'll call it Warp Insight.

Nimrod thought of the Eleventh Legion he would soon take over from The Emperor.

I wonder how many of my gene-sons will uncover and inherit my Warp Insight ability.

The people of Trinio watched the giant drag back the ink sac, their eyes filled with worship. He had actually slain Zhangya, the Beast of the Coral Sea, ending the Sicilians' nightmare of over a thousand years.

Malena stepped down from the flyer and walked toward Nimrod. She bowed deeply.

"Thank you for killing Zhangya. With its head, the Sicilians will offer you their loyalty."