Melee

Time passed, second by second.

Lu Jin remained standing on the hangar deck.

Huron had left alone, leaving the Space Marine who had accompanied him behind to keep an eye on Lu Jin.

That Space Marine was also a veteran. Based on his understanding of the one he served and the recent events, he could roughly tell that there was something off about Lu Jin.

Yet Lu Jin's current reaction showed not the slightest sign of anything being wrong.

He simply stood there and waited, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Beneath Lu Jin's calm expression, his mind was carefully considering the situation.

Huron's reaction just now had looked like he had learned the truth about Aels. His attitude had been that of someone facing an enemy, yet the orders and words he had given made Lu Jin feel that was not quite the case.

When he had first begun waiting, Lu Jin had thought that if a large group of Space Marines came to surround and attack him within a few minutes, it would confirm that Aels had awakened. If not, then the opposite was true.

Half a solar hour passed, and Lu Jin grew ever calmer.

Footsteps sounded.

They were not the impact of Space Marine magnetic boots striking the floor.

Huron returned, his face grim. "Interrogate those two idiots in the Medicae. Ask them why they interfered with my deal with the Cunning Hounds."

The veteran saluted and hurried away.

"What happened to Aels?" Lu Jin asked.

"He nearly became a mindless corpse!" Huron suddenly shrieked hysterically. "The botulism has a grudge against the Cunning Hounds! They came to sabotage the deal!"

Lu Jin remained composed. He slowly closed his eyes and quietly let out a breath of relief.

The next second, Huron calmed down again and considered the matter carefully. "Board the ship. I'll handle the deal myself. You can leave afterward, but the Fierce Angels Legion cannot. The agreement Ninos reached with me was that the Fierce Angels would remain with the Red Corsairs as their guests."

Lu Jin thought of Huron's earlier attitude—he had probably been afraid Lu Jin would board the ship and flee.

He merely nodded.

The sixth day after the Chapter Master's ritual began.

Angel of Salvation.

That was the name of the Strike Cruiser Huron had loaned Lu Jin, given by its crew.

Since the Angel of Salvation was in good condition, the crew members with professional skills soon got the warship functioning normally.

Carly was not a professional servant. Her responsibilities within the Fierce Angels Legion had leaned more toward logistics, and she arranged the personnel in perfect order. With several crew members sent by Huron, the entire warship could sail and fire...

At the heart of the warship, the command deck.

Lu Jin stood with his hands behind his back before a holographic display.

A ring of Space Marines in black armor stood around him.

Nearly a hundred men—this was the warband Huron had lent Lu Jin.

They were called the Slayers, a Khorne worshipper warband and an affiliate of the Red Corsairs.

These warbands that truly embraced Chaos occupied the lowest rung among the Red Corsairs. Unless necessary, Huron would not associate closely with those who had truly fallen into Chaos.

"Our boss is dead," one of them said to Lu Jin. "You give the orders in a moment."

Lu Jin swept his gaze across them. "But I have no experience commanding in battle..."

"To hell with battle command!" someone snarled at Lu Jin. "We only listen to whoever fights best! So what if you're better at battle command than Huron? If you can't fight well enough, we'll chop you apart!"

Lu Jin looked at the speaker. His right hand came out from behind his back, two fingers extended like a sword and pointed at the man. "Watch your tone, lackey of that old, weak, woman-and-child skull collector."

"That's how we talk, bastard!" the man growled. "Do you want to lead us into battle or teach us etiquette? And you are not allowed to insult our Blood God! Even you... with power as great as yours, you must have received the Blood God's blessing!"

"The Blood God's blessing?" A muffled laugh came from beneath Lu Jin's helmet. "I wouldn't stoop so low as to chop off the skulls of the unarmed. I'll ask where the blood and skulls came from to prove I haven't received its blessing."

"If you insult it again, your orders will be carried out at a discount!"

"..."

The Slayers gave Lu Jin the impression that they obeyed while grumbling and cursing.

Lu Jin's attitude, meanwhile, was what he considered necessary when dealing with Blood God Cultists. Before these worshippers of strength, he could not back down even verbally. He could not say anything that they might interpret as weakness.

Besides, Lu Jin wondered why these people trusted him so much.

Until several of them mentioned what had happened in the Arena.

Lu Jin also learned that the three Space Marines he had killed were members of the Slayers.

"Angel, the Maelstrom Lord requests communications!" a Mortal crew member on the command deck reported.

Lu Jin nodded. Then Huron's face appeared before him and the Space Marines.

"Get ready. You can make your move," Huron said.

"Your deal with the Hound Clan..."

"I had someone treat Aels. He woke up once, then told me the location of the trade goods."

Huron raised a hand.

"Communication terminated."

After the comm window vanished, Lu Jin swept his gaze over the hundred Space Marines present. Both hands reached behind his back and drew out the Power Hammer and Chainaxe. Little Damian's mechanical arm also reached behind him and gripped the Chapter Master's Sceptre.

The Slayers breathed heavily. Beneath breaths that sounded like roaring engines, surging battle intent and bloodlust were being suppressed.

"Ready to slaughter to your hearts' content, you cowards?!"

Lu Jin raised the axe and hammer and shouted sharply.

"Don't call us that!"

"But we are ready... quit the nonsense!"

After the transaction was completed, the Cunning Hounds Strike Cruiser headed toward the edge of the star system.

The Red Corsairs fleet remained where it was. A few minutes later, a Strike Cruiser bearing the symbol of the Imperial Fists suddenly moved, slowly emerging from within the Red Corsairs fleet.

The port gun deck and the prow lance batteries were packed with gun crews.

The surviving gun crews of the Fierce Angels could only ensure that one gun deck functioned properly. That was thanks to Imperial Fists Strike Cruisers not requiring manual loading; otherwise, even twice their number could only keep two or three weapons operational.

On the gun deck, loaders roared as they carried Macro Cannon shells into the breeches.

The Macro Cannon was a ship-mounted projectile weapon with astonishing power. In a surface bombardment, one shot was enough to obliterate an entire city.

Beneath the towering weapons at the lance emplacements, people ran back and forth busily, monitoring every reading from the weapons.

As on the Ragefang, a lance emplacement was usually manned by an entire family. Dozens or even hundreds of blood relatives jointly operated a single lance.

This weapon did not fire physical projectiles, but it was even deadlier to enemy ships than Macro Cannons.

Once all weapons were ready, the gun crews reported to the weapons officers, who then reported upward.

Information traveled through the Fierce Angels Legion's traditionally streamlined command structure before finally reaching the command deck.

"Weapons are ready!" the ship's communications officer rose and shouted to the person before the deck's viewport.

Lu Jin was not commanding this void battle. Carly was.

Her understanding of void warfare command came at most from what she had seen and heard. She was far from the level of the command personnel who had died, but under these circumstances, no one but her could fulfill that duty.

"Open fire with all weapons." Carly tried her best to sound composed. "Launch Boarding Torpedoes after three volleys."

"Yes!" The communications officer sat back down.

The order was relayed through every level.

Ten minutes later, the port gun deck and prow lances opened fire simultaneously.

The Cunning Hounds Clan Cruiser came under bombardment. Only after its stern took a solid hit from a Macro Cannon shell did a device called a Void Shield get urgently activated by its slave crew.

All subsequent attacks were intercepted. Energy and shells created ripples of purple light in the void before vanishing.

This was because Void Shields worked by transferring attacks into the Warp. The vanished shells and energy had been transferred away.

However, under ordinary circumstances, Void Shields could not intercept slowly approaching objects.

The two warships exchanged fire behind their Void Shields. A void battle could last weeks or even more than a month, but if the trait that slow-moving objects could pass through Void Shields was properly exploited, personnel could enter an enemy warship and destroy its Void Shields.

That was why boarding tactics existed.

Lu Jin, who was not on the command deck, was carrying out those boarding tactics.

The Boarding Torpedo held thirty Space Marines, including Lu Jin.

Lu Jin stood at the very front. Though the Slayers, who had always occupied the front position, objected, they merely grumbled and yielded it to him. Lu Jin's performance in the Arena had won them over.

The inside of the Boarding Torpedo was pitch-black.

Machinery roared. The torpedo was lifted and carried into the launch bay.

With a dull thud, the launch bay sealed, and the torpedo entered its firing sequence.

"I'll take the lead in a moment," Lu Jin said.

Another roar sounded as the torpedo sped forward, crossing the exchange of fire between the two sides and racing through lances and Macro Cannon shells flying back and forth.

In the end, it plunged into the damaged section blasted open at the enemy ship's stern. It did not stop, instead continuing to charge forward through the force of impact and the drilling mechanism at its front, piercing layer after layer of warship structure.

With a boom, it came to a halt, and red lights lit up inside the torpedo.

Lu Jin took a deep breath. Before the torpedo hatch could descend, he smashed it apart with a hammer blow and sprinted out.

"Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!"

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!"

Every Slayer ran past Lu Jin, charging off in every direction to kill.

The Cunning Hounds Clan's Mortal servant army greeted the boarders. When the Boarding Torpedo had flown toward them, they had predicted the landing point and rushed nearby to establish defensive positions.

Before Lu Jin even noticed them, the Slayers armed with boltguns precisely picked off the various heavy weapon crews.

The nearby Mortals, arranged in dense concentrated-fire formations, were scattered and butchered by Slayers wielding Chainaxes and other melee weapons.

After clearing out the Mortal servant army, Lu Jin walked at the front while the Slayers followed along his left and right Wings, pushing deeper into the warship together.

As they moved through the corridors, they occasionally encountered side passages that needed to be cleared to prevent the enemy from forming an encirclement.

At such times, one or two Slayers would leave the group. A moment later, they would emerge from a side passage the formation had passed, the blood on their bodies proving that they had eliminated every enemy they encountered and had not fallen behind.

That was the combat power of a Space Marine.