(The Warhammer World is a universe of space opera and idealism. Unlike hard science fiction, its worldview is somewhat different.
Your old housekeeper is back again. Warhammer, Cloud Hammer—just a world setting for someone who likes Warhammer, with that jarring sense of being both advanced and backward.
Boarding actions and counter-boarding actions are a must-try.
Brain placement area. Many thanks.)
The Art Student stared blankly at the seemingly endless space around him. Multicolored torrents of energy surged and ebbed through it. Five of them were the most powerful: black, green, red, blue, and pink. They collided silently with one another, then dissipated into the void, like sworn enemies locked in an endless struggle to the death.
Countless continents floated throughout the space. They were broken and battered, formed from the bones and flesh of all kinds of terrifying creatures into one dreadful landmass after another.
Countless terrifying monsters also roamed the continents. They looked wild and free-spirited, utterly indifferent to what ordinary creatures thought of them.
To the Art Student, an ordinary person, the best he could make out was that the monsters were humanoid. The terrifying creatures were still slaughtering one another.
Terrifying blue birds circled overhead, unleashing bolt after bolt of fearsome lightning and fire at the huge green, rotting monsters below, sending countless ripples through the air.
They spoke in incomprehensible words, their voices like whispers.
"Praise the Lord of Wisdom."
The lightning and fire rained down like missiles, blasting the disgusting green monsters into clouds of ash.
Some of the green monsters survived the attack and retaliated, firing terrifying streams of green energy into the sky, mixed with all manner of tiny rotting creatures.
With ugly faces and the fervor of fanatics, the green monsters charged the birds overhead, attacking without the slightest regard for their own lives.
They roared loudly.
"Praise Grandfather."
Some of the blue birds circling through the sky failed to dodge and were struck by the green energy. Their bodies, which had seemed perfectly normal moments before, began to rot away in an instant.
Their flesh decayed and festered with maggots, leaving them horribly disfigured. Their bloodshot eyes turned toward their still-normal companions, and they launched themselves at them in a suicidal frenzy.
The blue birds in the sky descended into chaos in an instant. Some still attacked the green monsters below, while others fought their mutated companions.
Elsewhere, all sorts of bizarre monsters fought one another with melee weapons. You slashed at me with a sword, and I answered with an axe, like children brawling without a trace of the solemnity one might expect in battle.
Each side roared incomprehensibly.
"Skulls for the Skull Throne, Blood for the Blood God!"
"Praise the Lord of Pleasure!"
Even as they were attacked, they kept making crazed, nerve-jangling laughter and obscene moans. Like people high on drugs, they taunted their opponents and said things the Art Student couldn't understand, waiting to see who would collapse first.
Huge creatures fought other huge creatures, while the small ones faced off against those of similar size. Some little monsters accidentally stumbled into the battles between the big ones. The hulking brutes, annoyed at having their fun interrupted, casually swatted them into bloody pulp, splattering them across the ground.
A group of humanoids wearing heavy armor and wreathed in black flames prowled the edges of the battlefield. They carried oversized guns, constantly picking off the gravely wounded monsters. Their massive weapons were devastating: any creature they hit exploded, its corpse falling onto the continent of flesh and bone.
When the monsters still fighting realized that their opponents had been shot dead from afar by a third party, they grew furious. Raising their great axes, they charged at the armored warriors.
The armored warriors didn't panic. They kept firing at the monsters, but each shot vanished into thin air a few meters before it could hit. Their guns couldn't stop some of the monsters from closing in, either.
Calmly, the armored warrior slung the massive gun back onto his utility belt and drew a one-handed sword that buzzed with grinding teeth.
He shouted,
"For the Emperor!"
Then he charged the monsters as well. He dodged their incoming attacks a few times, seized his chance, and split one of them in half with a Chainsword. After dispatching his opponent,
the armored warrior didn't linger in the fight. He quickly ran back, took out his massive gun again, and continued taking potshots from a distance.
The Art Student stared blankly at the bloody slaughter. For his small worldview, it was a tremendous shock. He had grown up in a peaceful country, and the worst thing he had ever seen was a traffic accident.
Although the Art Student usually liked searching the internet for bloody scenes, there was a huge difference between seeing them online and facing them in person.
The Art Student struggled to control his bladder and his trembling legs, trying desperately not to embarrass himself.
But his legs wouldn't obey him. They had a mind of their own. The Art Student could no longer stay on his feet and dropped onto the ground of flesh and bone.
The Art Student sat there, staring blankly at the battlefield. Gradually, he came back to his senses and realized the fighting monsters were still a long way off. None of them came within a certain radius of him.
The Art Student roughly estimated that there wasn't a single monster within about a kilometer of him. Even if some monsters were sent flying into that radius, they would go from lively and vigorous to weak in an instant.
They would move sluggishly, their faces contorted with pain. Like fish washed ashore, they would lie on the ground, writhing in agony. In less than ten seconds, they would fall still and die in pain.
"Hmm? A kilometer?"
"Smack!"
At the thought, the Art Student couldn't help giving himself a hard slap.
"I can feel pain. I'm not dreaming. This is real."
The Art Student couldn't help murmuring to himself. He knew himself best. When had he ever been able to see things a kilometer away? His eyesight wasn't even 5.0—just average for a normal person. There was no way he could see that far.
Besides, he was just an ordinary wage earner. He had never learned how to estimate distances. Without any tools, he shouldn't have been able to do something like that.
As the Art Student gradually calmed down, he noticed a few other things. Although his legs were still weak and he couldn't stand, some strange force was acting upon him.
It felt as if someone he really disliked had invited themselves into his home. He wanted to drive them out, but they were bigger and stronger than he was, and forcing them out would be terribly difficult.
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