73. Dark Crusade (VII, Eldar and Monkeys)

Caspius warily eyed the pointed-eared creatures lurking nearby, while simultaneously making a tremendous effort to persuade his captain—well, the current captain—to calm down. ♢♦ 👽♢

Just ten minutes ago, the former captain died of a heart attack due to extreme shock. The suddenness of the event even surprised the Pointy Ears. They discussed it for a long time, while the crew was even more terrified.

They believed the Xenos had killed the captain, but Caspius knew the truth was different; the truth was his captain. No, his former captain had always been a coward and a lifelong womanizer.

If his family hadn't relied on this ship for generations, he would never have become captain. In fact, he had considered selling the ship and finding a suitable planet to enjoy life many times, but Caspius stopped him each time.

"You must calm down, Hild," Caspius said sternly. "Don't let anyone see your weakness or fear; it will expose your vulnerability, especially since we're facing Xenos right now. Calm down, and then negotiate with them."

His words were met with a scream.

"The Throne is yours!" Hild, the current captain of the Moose and the current patriarch of Harloksto, cried out as she collapsed into his arms. "You might as well just kill me, Captain! How can I possibly negotiate with these things?!"

Caspius released her without a word, letting Hild fall to the ground. Then he crouched down and slapped her without hesitation.

He didn't use much force, but it was enough to calm the young woman, who had been so well protected by her father, down temporarily.

Caspius was very good at this; in fact, he had honed this skill by fanning his father in the past.

"Because you must go," Caspius said.

He looked very seriously at Hild, whose face was already swollen, and softened his tone slightly. "As captain, you are responsible for all the crew members of the Moose."

"Your father was a terrible bastard when he was alive; he could even cause someone like your mother to die of grief, but he still fulfilled his duties as captain."

"And you, Hild, must also shoulder this responsibility. This is a sacred oath the family has sworn to the Emperor. Even though we have fallen from grace, an oath is an oath."

The young man stared at him blankly, covered his face, and remained silent.

Caspius sighed, pulled her up, and whispered, "From now on, you just say whatever I say."

He pushed the bewildered Hild toward the so-called Eldar who were lingering not far away. They were tall, and their appearance was surprisingly in line with human aesthetics—in fact, probably too much so.

Caspius thought that only the "pets" of the feudal world probably possessed such beauty, while the Eldar probably all had it. But then again, they were so arrogant that it was annoying.

"Monkey." A pointed-eared man looked at them disdainfully and uttered this derogatory term in a strangely accented, almost frighteningly High Gothic.

A surge of anger rose within Caspius; he knew the creature was doing this on purpose, judging by its accent.

He pulled Hild behind him.

"Take back your words, you damned Xenos."

The one with the pointed ears laughed and turned to his companion, "A monkey is threatening me."

His companion, lacking enthusiasm, uttered a string of words in a language that Caspius couldn't understand, which only fueled his anger.

Don't misunderstand, he's not a stupid person. If it were another Eldar speaking to him like that, Caspius would immediately choose a suicidal ending to avoid the possible torment that might follow, even though he would likely only end up being shattered to pieces.

But the Eldar he was facing now were clearly not the kind he had seen most often, and most of them had already evacuated through some kind of glowing door, their hurried steps almost as if they were fleeing some kind of terrifying beast.

Caspius keenly sensed something hidden within it.

He decided to retaliate.

"The monkey in your mouth killed a thousand Xenos like you." Caspius raised his chin defiantly. "Did you hear that, Pointy Ears?"

His words wiped the smile off the Xenos's face, but his listless companion became all smiles. He crossed his arms and began to wait expectantly.

Caspius glanced at him but still couldn't find anything that could be called a weapon on the guard—one of the reasons he was acting this way.

None of the pointed ears he could see were armed, which violated some ironclad rule of the galaxy.

"I won't argue with something like you," the Xenos said coldly, its previously deliberately imitated strange accent gone.

Caspius watched it with a cold smile, offering no further provocation. He appeared confident, but his back was actually drenched in cold sweat.

The captain he swore to protect remained silent behind him, her hands gripping Caspius's left forearm tightly, so tightly that one might suspect she was wearing a prosthetic.

The captain of the guard endured the torment and the scrutiny of the Xenos, trying his best to appear more valuable—he still couldn't guess what the remaining pointy-eared creatures wanted, but he had to give it his all.

Sitting idly by and waiting to die is the most foolish thing to do. If he still had weapons, he would have led the resistance by now, but unfortunately, all their weapons have been completely confiscated.

Unarmed, Caspius did not believe he could defeat a pointy-eared Xenos.

His sneer quickly had its effect.

The Eldar frowned uncomfortably, its strange yet handsome face displaying a mixture of disgust and annoyance. Then it rolled its eyes and shook its head as if it could no longer bear it.

"Stop making such Dreadnought but foolish attempts, humans." It said this with a slight bow of its head, its tone becoming almost sarcastic, its High Gothic accent now sounding even like that of an aristocrat.

"I can see through your tricks, but just like we promised at the beginning, as long as you cooperate, no one will bleed."

"So you do know who you've messed with," Caspius said, his heart, which had been pounding rapidly, now slowing down.

"We didn't provoke—" the Eldar sighed, as if speaking to an idiot. "—I beg you, human, go back to your ranks. I don't have time to train your intelligence to the point where you can communicate with us."

"Go to hell!" Caspius cursed vulgarly. "You're using us as bargaining chips on the scale. Do you think I'm stupid enough not to see it? Don't think your race is any more noble or superior than ours. Do you know how disgusting your degenerate brethren are?"

The Eldar seemed to be provoked; he withdrew his gaze, but still answered his last question, "Yes, I know."

He pulled his companion away and turned away, no longer paying any attention to Caspius. Thus, the captain's attempt ended in failure. With a sullen face, he led his new captain back to the crew.

They instinctively moved a little further away from them, seemingly out of fear of the argument that had just taken place and worried about being caught in the crossfire of the Eldar's wrath. Caspius didn't even bother to laugh at their foolishness.

The fleet outside the porthole was slowly approaching; the gleaming golden Aquila and powerful artillery arrays were so prominent they were almost dazzling.

The Eldar had already evacuated, leaving only a few scattered individuals behind on the lower decks or in the hangars to guard them, some of whom were not even armed.

Such a good opportunity to riot, he certainly wouldn't have let it pass if he could have stayed with his brothers, but unfortunately he's currently with a bunch of fools.

But he had sworn to protect them.

"What do we do now, Caspius?"

The captain of the guard raised his head and looked at his still trembling new captain. From that overly young face, he could read a worry mixed with fear.

A warmth filled his heart. The fact that young Hild was worried about him temporarily pulled his rigid thoughts away from those imaginings and restored his patience.

"We can only wait," Caspius said. "And pray that these Xenos won't betray us at the last minute and kill us all, as they often do, Hild. All Xenos are despicable traitors."

His words elicited a sob from the young captain, who then fell into a terrifying reverie. Caspius did not disturb her further, for he too had things to ponder.

He didn't understand why Hild's father had died of a heart attack. He was a man who valued his life and had the ship's doctor give him a check-up every month.

This man, who enjoys life to the fullest, possesses a healthy and strong body, partly due to genetics and partly due to his own exercise.

He was indeed timid, but he had been through thick and thin with Caspius for decades, and this was not the first time they had been robbed by the Eldar.

Logically speaking, there are many ways he could have died. Dying from fear to the point of cardiac arrest is the least likely way, but this is what Caspius witnessed firsthand.

He was deep in thought, his mind filled with worry, when suddenly a gust of cold air sent shivers down his spine. Caspius turned his head and saw the two Eldar closest to them clumsily operating the hangar's lifting doors in manual mode.

He turned his head sharply and found that the outer armor plate had been lowered, and that was where the cold air came from.

A streamlined, advanced shuttle quickly glided into the outer layer of the hangar. It featured the iconic blue and gold color scheme, with the Ultramarines' U-shaped insignia shining like stars beneath Aquila.

Caspius straightened up, completely bewildered by the situation. The Eldar had so easily allowed the Ultramarines to board the ship? And only such a small number of Ultramarines had shown up?

Your the Emperor, what exactly is going on today?

First, the Eldar arrived, neither killing nor torturing them, and not even carrying weapons. Then, an Ultramarines' shuttle inexplicably and easily boarded the ship. The Eldar not only did not stop them, but even personally piloted the aircraft to open the outer hangar door.

Caspius frowned deeply, staring at the shuttle through the observation window with a puzzled look. He watched it come to a stop, shut off the engine, open the hatch, and then a man in a cloak stepped out.

There is no Ultramarines, only him.

"What the hell?!" He almost roared in anger, but suddenly there was a tugging behind him, and Hild screamed, "What are you doing? Let him go!"

Caspius stumbled and fell to the ground, seeing two slender figures pass by him. Who else could they be but the Eldar guarded them? Their previous arrogance had vanished without a trace, leaving only an astonishing humility.

The crowd shrank back or murmured at their arrival, but the two men paid no heed. They simply knelt on one knee, bowed their heads deeply, and behaved with extreme humility.

The deck vibrated, the outer armor plating of the hangar was being lowered, the air pressure began to recover rapidly, the temperature rose, and the machinery started operating.

Soon, the only barrier separating them from the man who stepped off the shuttle began to slowly part. Jagged steel cleaved through the darkness, and the cloaked man arrived on the Moose amidst the heavy hum of machinery.

Caspius saw his eyes, eyes as black as fallen stars or silent black holes.

"Welcome," the Xenos speaking to Caspius said in a very soft tone. "We have been waiting for a long time, Great Darkness."

The cloaked figure glanced at him, said nothing, and strode past the two men. He displayed an incomprehensible arrogance, leaving the crew completely stunned and bewildered, not understanding what was going on.

Caspius was still able to think, but he was completely baffled by the current situation—until the cloaked man walked up to a corpse.

The corpse was Hild's father, Bell Harloksto. His cheeks were swollen and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Reveal," the cloaked figure said, his tone almost commanding.

"We offer you our sincere intention to cooperate, Lord of Darkness," the Xenos shouted, its back to him. "We offer this lurking shadow to you as a sacrifice!"

"Silence." The cloaked figure commanded without turning his head, his tone utterly flat, as if he were speaking to two wisps of dust.

At the same time, Harloksto's corpse began to swell and emit a sickeningly loud creaking sound. Amid the terrified screams of the crew, Caspius saw his best friend's body transform into a tall, avian monster.

The thing suddenly knelt down.