Who Opened My Free Looting?

Humans who survived the Old Night Era all possessed some sort of unique skill; after all, without a set of tricks up their sleeves, they would have long since been crushed by aliens appearing from who knows where.

As the front line continued to advance, Atlas began to suffer random casualties, but thanks to their excellent self-regeneration capabilities and the support of the Auxilia, the casualty rate was kept within a small range until they breached the Hive City.

Regardless of the era, urban warfare is always an infantryman's nightmare. Even with the assistance of heavy armored units, it is difficult to deal with the Old Schemer ambushes appearing from every direction.

When Mordred took the lead, charging into the interior of the Hive City with his soldiers, even a madman like him was shocked by the scene before him.

Vines—vines everywhere—spread throughout the entire space. At the source of these twisted vines stood a golden giant tree that reached beyond sight, piercing through the entire Hive City.

"Holy shit, it's beautiful!"

As Far as the Eye Can See, every corner of the Hive City was covered in branches, filled with beautiful leaves shimmering with golden light. Under the glare of the artificial Lights, it nearly blinded Mordred's 24K titanium alloy eyes.

Fortunately, the enemy did not give them time to admire the beauty. The garrison, Long Prepared, opened fire instantly, and countless scorching plasma bolts rained down, Slammed into their charging spearhead.

An Atlas Space Marine aimed and fired. The bolter shell drew a straight white line from the muzzle, then accelerated again under the propulsion of a small rocket, piercing directly through the heretics' ridiculous cover.

Aim, fire. Every bolter shell claimed a life. As long as there was enough ammunition, combined with their own super-reflexes, ambushes were nothing but a joke.

In the blink of an eye, the battlefield, which had been roaring with gunfire, fell silent. Only the acrid smell of ozone mixed with gunpowder smoke proved that a one-sided skirmish had occurred here just seconds ago.

However, just as the enemies were cleared out and Atlas began to establish a forward outpost, a corpse that should have been dead crawled back up, looking at them with hateful eyes:

"Despicable aliens, you are not human at all, just a group of monsters stealing the name of humanity."

The Khan wanted to pull the trigger and finish off this blasphemous heretic, but he was stopped by a hand. Watching this soldier, whose lower body was gone and whose intestines were spilling out, Mordred felt a hint of curiosity—curiosity as to how he was still alive.

"Don't move. I want to see what this thing is. Leave this enemy to me."

The Primarch had spoken, and the Space Marines, as his progeny, naturally dared not disobey. They withdrew their weapons and stood guard, ensuring their father had a perfect opportunity for a duel.

But Mordred's command was taken as arrogance by the soldier. With a roar, dense vines surged from his abdominal cavity, piercing through the surrounding shattered flesh and limbs, fusing into a Symbiote monster in a very short time.

Regardless of its strength, just for this cool design comparable to a mutated Tyrant, Mordred was willing to give it a passing grade, continuing to observe every move of the opponent.

In the blink of an eye, the Symbiote monster devoured all the flesh and blood around it. Those shattered limbs pierced by vines seemed reborn, picking up weapons in a twisted posture that defied biological evolution, and Pointed At the World-shaking giant who was watching it all with cold eyes:

"Ancestors! Witness this! You arrogant beast stealing the name of humanity, remember my name, I am..."

Bang—

A dull sound of flesh exploding rang out. Before the elite monster could finish its lines, its Skull shattered, and its entire spine was ripped out by Mordred, who had teleported behind it.

Looking at the fleshy spine in his hand, where the neural network had been completely replaced by vines, Mordred said with a mocking tone:

"Idiot. I thought it was some kind of mini-boss; turns out it's just a piece of trash that looks good but is useless."

Casually taking the sealed canister handed over by his progeny, Mordred kept the human fragment as a sample, uploaded a combat record to the internal network, and ordered the Goff:

"Forward outpost established. Send more support troops. The enemy has Symbiote soldiers with immortality; their weaknesses are the head and energy weapons. Kill every one you see, leave no survivors."

"Understood!"

The Second Company Captain's reply was as concise as ever, making him sound less like a chatterbox from Atlas and more like a Ultramarines Cogitator come to life.

As Expected, following Mordred's orders, more and more units encountered these Symbiotes. As the altitude increased, the closer they got to the top of the Hive City, the higher the proportion of Symbiotes among the enemies.

By the time they reached the upper Hive City, the enemies Atlas faced were no longer human at all—they were all Symbiotes. It was fortunate that their Warp neighbors were reliable, otherwise, there would have certainly been massive casualties.

To better eliminate the enemy, Atlas began switching to plasma weapons, even the Spartan squads had them, which made the Fourth Legion, who had heard the news, quite envious.

For Mordred, Atlas lacked everything except second-hand equipment, so he simply had someone give these Canned Ones a batch of plasma weapons.

Watching the Primarch leading the charge in front, displaying the posture of a king, the Grinder Boys, who were receiving care from their elders for the first time, felt a warmth in their hearts. Even if they knew this was just a substitute meal, a substitute meal could still satisfy hunger!

At this moment, five standard Terra hours had passed since Atlas joined the battlefield. Thirteen thousand Space Marines were weaving through various parts of Inkarati, clearing the battlefield alongside 300,000 Auxilia.

At this very moment, the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. One Void Shield array after another was destroyed, and Atlas, having gained complete air superiority, quickly cleared out the enemies scattered everywhere.

And the Black Knights guard led by Mordred finally broke into the Hive City spire.

By eating human brains, the leader of the Black Knights, The Khan, locked onto the enemy command center and breached the adamantium gate with a melta bomb.

But even with their own crystal shattered, these so-called remnants of the Federation did not surrender. Instead, they began a desperate resistance and unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse at Mordred:

"Monster, pseudo-human, we are the true orthodoxy of humanity... go eat shit."

He had originally intended to spare their lives for brainwashing and modification, but he didn't expect them to be so ungrateful. Even if what they said might be the truth, Mordred would not suffer from Internal Strife; he simply ordered them to open fire.

When the last Symbiote was burned to ashes, Inkarati had completely fallen into the hands of Atlas.

Looking at the Forge World that had been reduced to ruins, Mordred, who had been patient for long enough, could no longer hold back and led everyone on a looting spree.

Lost technology, discarded weapons—everything that could be taken was packed up, and for what couldn't, they found a way to take it, especially that giant Golden Tree that looked quite extraordinary.

Mordred studied it for a long time without figuring out what it was, only feeling that it was very valuable, with an inexplicable urge to make it his own.

According to his hypothesis, since the people here could coexist with vines, it meant this thing was an artificial product.

However, after checking the planetary governor's log, he found that the facts were the complete opposite of what he had thought; the history of this tree was longer than the Hive City itself.

According to the data, when the Old Night descended, Inkarati was still a savage world, and an unlucky colony ship crash-landed there.

After discovering that this tree could coexist with the human body and grant the host immortality beyond that of a normal person, they built their lives around the Golden Tree, eventually developing into a galactic power.

It didn't matter if he hadn't found the answer; at worst, he would just take it back to study slowly. It wasn't like it could run away.

It was a pity that this thing was simply too massive, comparable in size to a destroyer, and it had grown so thoroughly into the Hive City that it was impossible to extract.

But gold shines wherever it is placed, and Frix, eager to prove his worth, sought out Mordred:

"Your Highness, I have a way. Just give me a month, and I can use explosives to cut this tree out and present it to you, Uncle!"

How could such a sensible subordinate not please Mordred? He immediately granted Frix full authority, ordering him to pull this prize out for him.

They say Civil Engineering Brother has the best craftsmanship for a reason; in just one week, he had perfectly cut out the Golden Tree, spending the remaining three weeks entirely on installing the Plasma Engine.

Watching the massive plant soar into the sky, carried toward the stars by powerful propulsion, Mordred Began to Consider where to plant it. Perhaps right at the entrance of his home Hive City would be best.

A month was enough time for the Department of Administration fleet to arrive. Mordred left behind a company of Space Marine to garrison the site, then absconded with the loot the day before the Department of Administration ships arrived.

Perhaps remembering that he still had the unstable bomb that was Alpharius back home, the company Mordred left behind happened to be that group of Hydra.

As for A-Fa, he was kicked out as well, but not before having a full vat of blood drained from him, leaving Alpharius cursing Mordred for being a heartless bastard.

When the people from the Department of Administration arrived and looked at Inkarati, which had been stripped down to the bare earth as if some monster had licked it clean, their minds went blank. Didn't the Department of the Munitorum say this was a Forge World? Where was everything?

It didn't matter that Atlas had run off, but the loss of the Golden Tree drew the gaze of another faction.

An illusory gate, seemingly constructed of white bone, rose over Inkarati. The uninvited visitors bypassed the blockade and slipped silently into the Hive City, where they beheld the massive pit left by the barbaric excavation:

"Damned savage Monkeys, daring to dig up my ancestral grave. No, this won't do; I must capture a few prisoners for interrogation."