As Strong as an Angel

A Greenskin standing two and a half meters tall stood in the corridor.

It was the biggest, most WAAAGH Greenskin on the entire ship.

A Greenskin boss.

Only it could drive the other Greenskins to keep attacking Lu Jin.

Lu Jin's armor had been ruined until only the groin piece and half of his right leg armor remained.

The Greenskin boss held two blades, strolling forward as it carved its name into the walls with them.

Amid the flying sparks, the Greenskin boss slowly approached.

Lu Jin was already walking toward the Greenskin boss.

The crew watched from behind, their legs stiff as lead, wondering if Lu Jin truly did not feel even a trace of fear.

"WAAAGH!!!"

The Greenskin boss broke into a sprint.

Lu Jin sprinted as well, roaring as he charged.

When they closed in, the large blade chopped into Lu Jin's waist, while the Heavy Hammer shattered the boss's skull.

After the Greenskin fell, Lu Jin's wound gradually healed.

Beyond the Greenskin's corpse was the hatch leading to the Navigator's Sanctuary.

Lu Jin blasted open the hatch with the Sceptre and stepped inside.

There were corpses all around the Navigator, another by the hatch, while the Navigator had collapsed amid a pile of obstacles.

The Navigator's guards had presumably driven the Greenskins from the sanctuary at the cost of their lives, then sealed the hatch.

Hearing the sound, the Navigator first poked his forehead out from behind the obstacles.

The Navigator was a mutant with three eyes.

When the eye used to discern routes through the Warp saw Lu Jin, it recognized a human rather than a Greenskin, but it still gave him quite a fright.

A scream came from behind the obstacles.

"It's all right now," Lu Jin said. "Every part of the ship is ready. Start navigating, and we can head somewhere safe."

The Navigator shakily rose from behind the obstacles, glanced up at the ceiling, and pointed outside. "Someone's coming to get us... we don't need to leave."

Lu Jin ran to the porthole and looked out into the void.

There was nothing in the void.

Several seconds later, a swath of purple unfolded through the void, and then a ship emerged from it, swiftly closing in on the Strike Cruiser.

Lu Jin saw the symbol painted on that ship—a black hand.

"The Red Corsairs."

The Red Corsairs were the largest warband in the Maelstrom...

But in terms of scale, they were less a warband than a quasi-Legion, because they had over ten thousand Space Marines.

The master of the Red Corsairs was Blackheart Huron.

"They won't help us!" Lu Jin looked at the Navigator, his tone severe. "They'll only take our ship! Navigate for me!"

"No... they won't." Frightened by Lu Jin's attitude, the Navigator retreated two steps. "They have a deal with the Chapter... I was the one who helped the Chapter Master contact them... they're here to save us..."

As he spoke, a flash appeared within the Navigator's Sanctuary.

Then a Space Marine was teleported in.

His armor was blood-red, and a black hand was emblazoned on his shoulder plate.

The Space Marine first scanned the surroundings, then fixed his gaze on Lu Jin.

"Fierce Angels," he said. "Where is your Chapter Master?"

"We were attacked." After some thought, Lu Jin answered, "The Chapter Master has already..."

The Red Corsair Space Marine suddenly tilted his head, as though receiving something, then said to Lu Jin, "The Psyker says there are no other Astartes aboard your ship besides you. Looks like everyone else is dead."

Lu Jin was not surprised that he had been mistaken for an Astartes.

That was because he was now around two and a half meters tall.

An ordinary Space Marine was only somewhat taller than that, while many Iron Warriors stood below two and a half meters due to their Gene-seed.

"Come with us." The Space Marine spread his hands helplessly. "Your Chapter Master once saved mine, so my Chapter Master promised to protect him."

From those words, Lu Jin could tell that the other man was not merely a Red Corsair, but one of the Red Corsairs' core members.

In other words, Huron's confidant.

Before his rebellion, Huron had been the Chapter Master of the Astral Claws. After he rebelled, some veterans had followed him into the Maelstrom.

As Lu Jin pondered...

The Space Marine suddenly raised his Bolter and shot the crewman who had guided Lu Jin into the sanctuary.

Lu Jin reacted and lunged at him, but he was too late.

"However, your Chapter has already lost its combat value." Gripping his gun, the Space Marine said, "Only Astartes may come with me. Afterward, you'll be incorporated into the Red Corsairs."

After saying that, he tilted his head again and ordered the warship, "Blow the Strike Cruiser apart once I get the Navigator and survivors out."

The other side seemed to ask something.

The Space Marine continued, "This ship is already a xenos nest. It has no value. What use are those Mortals? Bring them back to be shit-making machines?"

After he finished speaking, the Red Corsair warship outside the porthole aimed all kinds of weapons at the Strike Cruiser.

Lu Jin stood beside the blasted remains of the crewman.

The Space Marine looked at him. "Don't cling to your worthless traditions. Come with me..."

Before he could finish, Lu Jin charged at the Space Marine.

The latter reacted swiftly, stepping back and firing at Lu Jin while drawing his Chainsword. When the bolt failed to hit, he swung the blade down in a slash.

Using the combat techniques taught by the Apothecary, Lu Jin dodged the slash, circled behind him, and struck toward his head and sword arm with his left and right hands respectively.

Yet the Space Marine anticipated Lu Jin's move through experience. His sword-wielding right hand shifted in an uncanny feint and severed Lu Jin's axe-wielding left arm.

When their first brief exchange ended, the Bolter was pressed against Lu Jin's forehead. As it fired, Lu Jin tilted his head aside and smashed the Space Marine's right leg apart with one blow of his Heavy Hammer.

Lu Jin threw away the Heavy Hammer. With a savage expression, he seized the Space Marine by the neck in a fit of rage and slammed him to the ground, then kept hauling him up by the neck and smashing him back down, repeatedly driving his head into the floor.

Before the other man could recover, Lu Jin tore off his helmet and repeatedly stomped the back of his head.

The Navigator hid among the obstacles again. She watched Lu Jin beat the Space Marine half to death, then watched him release the man's head, turn around, pick up the Heavy Hammer, and raise it high to finish him.

But just as the Heavy Hammer was about to fall, Lu Jin calmed down and stopped.

The Space Marine's head was split and bleeding, but he was not dead.

Lu Jin first sensed his own body.

After slaughtering Greenskins continuously without sleep or rest, his current strength could only be described with one phrase.

As strong as an angel.

Then Lu Jin began considering what he should do next.

If he killed this Space Marine, the people aboard that ship would open fire once they discovered it, and no one aboard this vessel would survive.

Then he considered Blackheart Huron himself...

Lu Jin unearthed something from his memories: an Adeptus Mechanicus woman had saved an Astral Claws veteran and was treated favorably by Huron because of it.

Moreover, Huron was not some Chaos madman. He was wary of the Chaos Gods and resisted their corruption.

A plan gradually surfaced and took shape in Lu Jin's mind.

"Knock out the Psyker aboard that ship!" Lu Jin turned and shouted at the Navigator.

There was a Psyker aboard that ship. He had seen that there were no other Space Marines aboard the Strike Cruiser besides Lu Jin, so he might also have seen what was happening in the sanctuary.

"I... before you acted... I used psychic power to blind his eyes." Trembling, the Navigator said, "My younger brother is a crewman. I... I couldn't possibly want them to kill all the Mortals..."

Lu Jin breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the Space Marine.

"Kill... all of you..."

"Kill... all of you..."

The Space Marine muttered brokenly to himself as he crawled toward the helmet that had fallen nearby.

Lu Jin had just been about to rush over and kick him hard when the Navigator raised her hand. He did not know what psychic technique she used, but the Space Marine's legs jerked once and he fell unconscious.

"I didn't kill him..." the Navigator said timidly. "I turned him into a vegetable."

Lu Jin gave her an approving look, then asked, "What's your name?"

"Onaas."

"All right. Clever Onaas, I need you to be strong. Do you see the Greenskins outside the door? You know what to do next."

"Yes, warrior."

Lu Jin nodded and walked out of the Navigator's Sanctuary.

Without their boss to lead them, the Greenskins were milling around. When they saw Lu Jin suddenly emerge, they scattered in all directions, but were ultimately caught by the flames released from the Sceptre.

Lu Jin turned and returned to the sanctuary, picked up his severed arm, and pressed it against his shoulder.

Sensation gradually returned, and the wound gradually healed.

About a minute later.

A squad of Red Corsair Space Marines teleported into the sanctuary.

They saw Lu Jin sitting beside the fallen veteran.

Some unknown force was affecting Lu Jin. Flesh was gradually growing from his shoulder, reconnecting the severed limb.

"Did that xenos kill him?!" the leader demanded sharply.

"No." Lu Jin glanced toward the sanctuary entrance, where the Greenskin boss's corpse lay.

"Hah..." The lead Space Marine let out a sigh of relief.

Before coming, he had ordered the Psyker aboard the ship to inspect the situation within the Strike Cruiser.

The Psyker had said, "The Lone Wolf was defeated by the xenos, and that Fierce Angel is defending him."

This was because Onaas had used psychic power to influence the Psyker, making him see an illusion.

No matter what, at least the veteran was not dead.

The Space Marine motioned for the Apothecary in the squad to step forward and examine Lu Jin's wounds.

As the Apothecary walked over to bandage Lu Jin, one of them said, "The Lone Wolf is a confidant of the Maelstrom Lord. You helped him, and the Maelstrom Lord will reward you."

Lu Jin looked up. "Take everyone away, including the Mortals."

"Your Chapter's tradition of defending Mortals?" The Space Marine nodded helplessly. "Everyone aboard can come with us. We'll leave this ship to you as well. How you take it back from the Greenskins later will depend on your own ability."

Then he pointed at Lu Jin. "Your Fierce Angels' tradition of keeping xenos aboard your ship cannot continue. At least, not aboard my ship."

Lu Jin nodded.

When the Red Corsair ship began dispatching Transport Aircraft, Lu Jin turned to look at Navigator Onaas.

The girl was pale, but she still forced out a smile that looked almost like crying.

Psychic power was so useful.