The Helbrute

Fu Qinghai hurried back to the hole in the floor where he had fallen through.

After laboriously climbing up through the hole, Fu Qinghai hurried toward the slaughterhouse altar. He needed to find out what was going on.

Before he could reach it, he heard the sounds of fierce fighting.

Fu Qinghai softened his footsteps and peered around the corridor corner.

A Possessed Marine was leading two Word Bearers Space Marines in beating down the Stinger Squad.

Fu Qinghai pulled his head back, briefly assessed the two sides' strength, and formulated a plan.

Once he had it figured out, Fu Qinghai charged out from around the corner and, catching one of the Word Bearers off guard, slashed at the Space Marine's back.

"Argh!" A cry of pain rang out. Fu Qinghai's long-planned, full-force strike drove the Power Glaive into the Word Bearer's body through the weak point between his shoulder armor and helmet. The blade sank deep into the Chaos Space Marine's chest.

Fu Qinghai rolled aside and let go of the hilt, using the Word Bearer's body to block the bolt rounds fired by his teammate as he turned around. He drew his boltgun, ready to return fire.

"Crack!" A giant crab claw swung over and knocked Fu Qinghai's boltgun to the ground.

The Possessed Marine had also turned and was charging at Fu Qinghai.

"Qingshan! You're alive!"

Gult's excited shout came from behind the Possessed Marine. The Stinger Squad warriors recognized their reinforcements.

Quit shouting and give me a hand... Fu Qinghai cursed inwardly. Unarmed, he could only dodge and fend off the Possessed Marine's powerful blows in a miserable scramble.

Fu Qinghai's original plan hadn't been like this. The Possessed Marine was tough as nails and healed quickly. He'd planned to take out the two Chaos Space Marines by surprise first, then join forces with the Stinger Squad to wear down the durable Possessed Marine.

But he hadn't expected that after killing just the first one by attacking from behind, all the enemies would turn around and focus on him.

He'd mistimed his dive into the fight and ended up on the front line instead!

With Fu Qinghai's surprise attack drawing the Possessed Marine's attention, the pressure on Gult's Stinger Squad eased considerably. They seized the opportunity and charged in.

Fu Qinghai knew the armor on his chest was on the verge of giving way. Daring not to take a direct hit, he resorted to every ungainly dodge he could think of.

The Possessed Marine stomped and roared in fury. This slippery Space Marine was as cunning as an eel and had not an ounce of a warrior's dignity. Such cowardice, so utterly contrary to the Blood God's creed, left him raging helplessly.

Without the Possessed Marine's protection, the Word Bearer was shot to pieces by the Stinger Squad's concentrated fire. The others rushed to Fu Qinghai's aid.

After a fierce battle, the Possessed Marine finally fell too.

Unlike Fu Qinghai, the Possessed Marine, a follower of Khorne, knew nothing of retreat. He would only fight to the death.

Standing on the Possessed Marine's corpse, Gult steadied Fu Qinghai by the shoulder armor. Panting, he said happily:

"Thank goodness, Qingshan. You're alive. We all thought you were dead."

Shut up, you dead crow... Fu Qinghai grumbled inwardly, his chest rising and falling slightly.

After catching his breath, Fu Qinghai asked:

"What happened, Gult? What's going on outside? Why was the teleportation canceled?"

"I don't know. The enemy may have used some kind of psychic spell we've never seen before, or perhaps some ancient technological device. Whatever it was, the teleportation failed."

Fu Qinghai asked, "Have you managed to reach Vlahos?"

Gult replied, "When the teleportation device failed, our internal communications went down too."

Fu Qinghai nodded. "There's no time to lose. Let's get outside the transport ship and see."

Gult nodded. Everyone checked their equipment and ammunition, then retraced their steps along the way they had come.

A quarter of an hour earlier.

Klofa arrived in the lower hold of the transport ship Bloody Worm.

He looked at a twisted, humanoid creature suspended from a specially made device.

"Wake him," Klofa said quietly to the Dark Tech-priest beside him.

Klofa knew this was the most valuable cargo aboard the three transport ships. To save his own life, he had decided to use this "cargo" ahead of time.

The Dark Tech-priest, its face hidden behind a mask and green mechanical eyes, nodded. Several mechanical tentacles extended from beneath its robes and tapped the buttons beside the device.

On the device, the colored fluids in several transparent tubes slowly drained away. They flowed through the infusion lines and into the twisted humanoid's body.

"Mm..." A deep sigh echoed through the dim, empty lower hold.

The twisted creature hanging from the device slowly opened his eyes a sliver.

"Klofa..." he sighed.

"You remember me?" Klofa looked up at the twisted, indescribable remains.

"Of course... Of course I remember the bastard who put me in a stone coffin... Every moment, every moment, I've wanted to tear you apart!"

As the fluid entered him, the creature's eyes bulged and his veins twisted and swelled. His ugly flesh contracted and relaxed all over, like a hermit crab that couldn't find its shell.

"Ahhh—" The twisted creature howled in pain.

Klofa snorted and turned to the Dark Tech-priest beside him.

"Open the lower hold's hatch, load him in, then release him directly from the hold."

"Yes, my lord."

The specially made device carried the writhing half-body sideways, suspending it like a slab of rotten meat.

At the end of the track stood a huge, twisted, terrifying Dreadnought.

Outside the Bloody Worm, Vlahos was leading the various squads. They had just broken through to the exterior of the transport ship.

The failed teleportation had been entirely beyond Vlahos's expectations. In his hundreds of years of combat, he had never encountered anything like it.

But he didn't lose his composure. His first move was to lead his men in an attempt to regroup with the Tactical Squads scattered throughout the transport ship.

Once the squads had joined forces, they pushed hard to break out of the transport ship, refusing to give the Word Bearers a chance to fight them in close quarters inside the vessel.

As a commander, Vlahos knew that close-quarters fighting in complex terrain nullified numerical and firepower advantages. The stronger side could easily suffer a nearly even exchange of casualties against the weaker side.

Whatever the final outcome, if a Lunar-class Cruiser suffered the same casualty exchange as three transport ships, the Ultramarines would already have lost.

The three transport ships, their positions identified and their propulsion systems destroyed, were sitting ducks. At that moment, Vlahos only wanted to get his men out of the fight quickly and call in the cruiser in orbit to bombard them from above.

However, the Word Bearers seemed determined not to let the Ultramarines regroup and escape.

They were encircling the Ultramarines from the outside, using their powerful Possessed Marines as the vanguard and setting up successive defensive lines. They were determined to keep the Ultramarines locked in combat.

Vlahos, clad in Terminator Armor, smashed a hatch open with a mighty blow.

Beyond it, a dim, rugged canyon and a darkened sky came into view.

They had made it outside!

Yet the Word Bearers outside the transport ship were still throwing themselves at Vlahos and his men.

Bolter rounds fired from every direction clanged against the Terminator Armor.

The Ultramarines streamed out through the hatch, then quickly spread out to either side and formed a firing line.

Just then—

"Raaagh—"

A beast-like howl came from the Ultramarines' left.

Vlahos had only just turned his head when he saw several Word Bearer warriors sent flying.

Vlahos's pupils suddenly narrowed.

He saw it.

The deep-red behemoth looked as though it had emerged from the depths of hell.

"It's a Helbrute! Scatter!" Vlahos shouted.

Before the words had left his mouth, a massive column of plasma came roaring toward them.

"Boom!"