Danger Before Reincarnation

The howls from the Warp portal grew louder and louder. Within a few short seconds, more Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds poured out.

Some of them were even centaur-shaped Forgefiends.

A few Chaos Astartes slowly emerged as well. Skulls were impaled on the tips of the spikes behind their bright-red armour.

The skull-and-crossbones insignia across their bodies made their identities unmistakable.

The traitor legion—the World Eaters.

They shouted, "Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!" Then, wielding bolters, they opened fire on the surrounding Imperial mortals and Blood Angels.

Some of the World Eaters, wielding Khorne Chainaxes, even charged excitedly toward the positions occupied by the Astartes.

The mortals along the way were cleaved in half by their swinging weapons. Nourished by blood and blossoming slaughter, the World Eaters with Butcher's Nails implanted in their skulls instantly grew excited and frenzied.

Quan Tiehua, however, had no intention of getting bogged down. After exchanging one blow with a Bloodletter, he pretended to be outmatched and retreated.

This infuriated the Bloodletter, which roared repeatedly. The surrounding Chaos Astartes also mocked him, calling him a coward.

But in a situation like this, only someone with a fried brain would dare charge in. Anyone else would have fled long ago.

There were so many daemons of Khorne, not to mention the Chaos Astartes. And beyond all that, the Greater Daemon floating in midair was the greatest danger of all.

It could swat an Astartes to death with a single blow. If Quan Tiehua did not run, he would truly have been an idiot.

Chapter Master Affos was no fool either. The moment Quan Tiehua charged forward, he had already ordered everyone over the Chapter's communications network to begin retreating.

The moment the mortals saw those daemons, their eyes turned blood-red, and they began fighting and slaughtering one another.

Some mortals who had killed enough people even began to grow the daemons' distinctive horns from their heads.

The Blood Angels also had no intention of getting bogged down. They fought while retreating, taking turns covering one another.

The main streets of the hive city were spacious, but some side streets were extremely narrow.

Moreover, those side streets were densely packed and tangled together. Anyone unfamiliar with them would get lost in the enormous hive city after wandering in without caution.

"Chapter Master." Because Quan Tiehua had exchanged a blow with the Bloodletter, he was at the rear of the formation. At that moment, he shouted over the communications channel.

Everyone understood what he meant.

"Find advantageous terrain." The Chapter Master's reply instantly gave everyone a shot of confidence.

The people who had still been retreating in formation began slowly spreading out in every direction. The systems in their combat helmets allowed them to regroup with nearby Battle-Brothers within a certain range.

Right now, they simply could not find any advantageous terrain.

And for some reason, most of the daemons and Chaos Space Marines were all chasing Quan Tiehua.

Quan Tiehua was extremely agile. After several twists and turns, he shook off the enemies pursuing him.

But the Flesh Hounds' sense of smell was astonishingly sharp. Since Khorne himself had ordered them to pursue their target, the scent on Quan Tiehua was clearer to their noses than chilli powder.

Almost every few daemons—or rather, Chaos Astartes—had one or more Flesh Hounds searching beside them.

One of the Bloodletters, the very one he had fought at the beginning, watched the Flesh Hounds crouch into attacking stances, their eyes fixed on the bend ahead.

It bared its teeth and mocked him for a moment. It had never expected an Astartes to use such a clumsy method of evasion.

With a wave of its hand, the Flesh Hounds shot toward the bend like lightning.

It followed close behind, swinging its Hellblade.

But the instant it rounded the corner, its Hellblade swept out and smashed into the wall, producing a collision that echoed throughout the passage.

The noise rebounded through the steel corridor. In an instant, it disrupted the hearing of both the Flesh Hounds and the Bloodletter.

The Bloodletter looked around furiously.

"Coward! Craven!"

Bang!

A bolter round struck the Bloodletter squarely in the face. Its terrifying power erupted, blowing half the Bloodletter's face into bloody ash.

The Flesh Hound at its feet immediately charged forward, barking wildly.

Meanwhile, the daemons and Chaos Astartes searching in other directions instantly turned toward the sounds of battle. Then they followed the Flesh Hounds and hurried over.

Hiss—

Quan Tiehua abruptly threw a flashbang smoke grenade. A burst of light erupted, instantly disrupting the Bloodletter's and Flesh Hounds' vision once more.

The only sound was the Flesh Hound's howl. Then, all went silent.

Quan Tiehua dropped the Flesh Hound whose neck he had snapped. Without slowing, he continued charging toward the Bloodletter, whose hearing and vision had been disrupted.

The instant he burst from the smoke, the plasma pistol he had already readied unleashed several attacks. They struck the Bloodletter's upper body.

The impacts made it stagger, its body becoming riddled with holes.

The Bloodletter truly lived up to being a daemon under Khorne. Even after sustaining such injuries, it remained filled with fighting spirit, while its wounds rapidly regenerated.

Though two of its senses had been disrupted, it relied on its innate battle instincts and swung its Hellblade at Quan Tiehua's head.

The Chainsword roared as it abruptly caught the descending Hellblade. With a powerful front kick, Quan Tiehua sent the Bloodletter sprawling.

The plasma pistol followed immediately. Several shots struck the joints of its legs in succession, bringing its attempt to rise swiftly to an abrupt halt.

The Chainsword followed the final plasma shot and thundered forward. It bit directly into the Bloodletter's shoulder blade and cleaved its head off at an angle.

After finishing the job, Quan Tiehua did not even look back. He quickly ran toward the rally point the Battle-Brothers had begun selecting.

But the enemy had already formed a surrounding formation, surging toward him from every direction.

He eliminated several daemons along the way.

Then, at a bend, four World Eaters and two Flesh Hounds locked eyes with him.

"Fuck!" Quan Tiehua spun around and ran. But they were Astartes too, and their reaction speeds were no slower than his.

The instant Quan Tiehua turned, a dense barrage of bolter fire struck the shoulder plates and power pack of his Power Armour.

The power pack was damaged instantly, but as a product of the Adeptus Mechanicus, its quality was still excellent.

Even after being damaged, it retained its basic functions.

Watching the system lights and most of the panels in his helmet abruptly go dark, Quan Tiehua felt like cursing. If I'd known this would happen, I would've just charged straight through.

Quan Tiehua ran in front while the World Eaters chased behind. With the Flesh Hounds present, he could not shake them off at all.

Feeling the sluggishness in his Power Armour caused by the damaged power pack, Quan Tiehua pulled a Melt Bomb from his waist and threw it into a corner of the pipe. At the same time, he flung grenades into various corners along the way.

"Heh-heh." Quan Tiehua gave a slightly sinister smile. It didn't matter whether the trick was old-fashioned. The only thing that mattered was whether it worked.