After reaching the area where a large number of Aberrants had gathered, the infantrymen who had been calm moments ago now wore grave expressions and barely dared to breathe.
Before and after the counteroffensive, these monsters—extremely difficult to kill and devastatingly destructive—had left a terrifying impression on everyone.
But Grot's only impression of these things was that when Aberrants were crushed by the Gravity Shield, they ended up thicker than the other enemies it had crushed.
"BOOM!" Grot stood behind the Aberrants and made a sound to draw their attention.
The Aberrants numbly turned around. Upon seeing Grot, they seemed to remember something, suddenly becoming frantic as they roared and charged at him.
"Come on, bastards." Grot gripped his gravity hammer and charged forward as the Jump Pack on his back propelled him.
He smashed through two Aberrants and swung his gravity hammer in a wide sweep.
The gravity hammer could not be blocked. Every Aberrant within its arc was swept aside by crushing gravity, then slammed into the walls, where they remained stuck.
Grot proceeded to demonstrate his skilled close-quarters combat and control techniques.
At times, he dodged and weaved; at others, he rammed Aberrants with his shoulder.
Whenever he charged, he controlled the Jump Pack behind him to provide thrust, allowing him to send the Aberrants staggering.
This seemingly simple move was actually difficult to perform, because the Jump Pack was controlled by detecting movements. If he could not assume a motion resembling a forward leaping charge during a shoulder ram, the Jump Pack would not provide propulsion.
Every Aberrant he struck lost its balance, then had its head smashed by the gravity hammer and compressed straight down to its waist.
When another Aberrant attacked, Grot would nimbly crouch, brace his left hand against the enemy's waist, and fire shotgun lasers.
As dense orbs of light pierced its body, its organs and blood were instantly heated to boiling by thermal energy, and another Aberrant fell.
Grot killed Aberrants with practiced ease, activating the Gravity Shield only at the most critical moments.
Only after this close combat began to tire him did he hang the gravity hammer behind his back and fire the weapons in both hands and his Shoulder Cannon at once, wiping out every Aberrant within his field of fire in an instant.
"Done." Grot admired the "masterpiece" he had left behind with satisfaction.
"You should first see what's inside there," the officer reminded him, pointing toward the room that had previously been surrounded by Aberrants.
"Sorry, I forgot about the important business." Grot immediately walked toward the room, pulled out his gravity hammer, and struck the door.
The door was made of iron plates, the sort commonly welded together from scrap metal in the underhive. Yet after Grot struck it once, it did not budge.
"Huh?" Grot was baffled. He retreated twenty meters and assumed a charging stance.
The Jump Pack roared, its thrust even making Grot slide forward across the ground.
Then Grot sprinted at full speed and, upon reaching the room, slammed his shoulder hard into the iron-plated door.
The instant the shoulder of his Power Armor struck the door, Grot actually felt resistance. He then activated the Gravity Shield directly, attempting to crush it with gravity.
The iron-plated door did not break under the Gravity Shield, but the wall did.
Grot stared in astonishment at the iron-plated door still standing within the Gravity Shield's range, then went around it and entered the room.
The room was simply furnished, containing only a bed.
There was no terrifying enemy inside either—only an unconscious blonde woman.
The woman wore a tattered, ill-fitting Rebel uniform, but she was human.
In the HUD of Grot's helmet, the woman's body was outlined. Her head was compared with that of a normal human, and the display within the outline read: Human.
"By the Emperor. What the hell is going on?" Grot felt as though he had seen a ghost.
"I don't know who she is, but I think we should send her somewhere safe." The officer stepped forward and draped his coat over the woman.
Grot strongly agreed with the officer. He immediately slung the woman over his shoulder, carried her out of the underground air-raid shelter, and took her to his transport craft. He then ordered the craft to return to the 47th Regiment fortress.
To ensure the woman's absolute safety, Grot even summoned Fire Support Drones to escort her.
"We don't know what is going on with this lady. She was unconscious when she was brought here."
"I don't wish to interfere with your research, Legion Commander, but you truly need to know about this."
In the fortress corridor, a soldier who had remained behind to garrison the place led the way while Qin Mo silently followed him through the halls.
They eventually arrived at a room on the top floor.
This room had one of the better environments in the fortress. It had previously been used as Laun's living quarters.
Soldiers stood guard outside the door.
Qin Mo pushed the door open and entered, seeing the woman sitting on the bed and an officer questioning her in front of it.
The officer spoke softly and had even prepared a cup of relatively clean water for the woman.
"Legion Commander, she just woke up." Upon seeing Qin Mo, the officer immediately rose and gave an Aquila salute, then silently left the room. Before leaving, he cast the woman a worried glance.
Qin Mo watched the officer in confusion until he left and closed the door.
There could have been many reasons why those rough men treated a woman with such respect, but Qin Mo saw only one possibility: this woman was a Psyker, and she was influencing the minds of those nearby to make them treat her well.
Qin Mo walked over to the woman and sat before her.
At that moment, Qin Mo could sense that the woman truly was a Psyker. However, she showed no hostility, so although he still felt disgust toward Psychic Power, it was not as intense as it had been at the Rebel position.
"You're a Psyker." Qin Mo spoke. "Civilians are rare in the underhive. Are you part of an underhive gang, or are you a bounty hunter?"
"You may call me Vanessa," the woman answered without addressing his question.
Qin Mo immediately felt displeased.
Just as he was about to repeat his question, Vanessa suddenly smiled and said, "You have led an army that should have been completely wiped out to fight until now. Well done... prisoner."
Those words struck Qin Mo with a powerful mental shock. It was the effect of the words themselves, not Psychic Power.
After a brief silence, Qin Mo reached out, seized Vanessa by the throat, and demanded in a low voice, "How do you know my identity? Answer within three seconds, or I'll burn you into charcoal."
"F-from... from..." Vanessa struggled, striking Qin Mo's arm. "From the mind of that guard of yours called Grot..."
"Looks like I'll have to move up my plan to research a Psychic Power inhibitor." Rather than releasing her, Qin Mo tightened his grip. "Any last words, Psyker?"
Before you continue