They Really Had Never Seen Anything Like This

Two warships towed the white Craftworld behind the fleet on tractor lines, like hauling a giant white kite.

The two warships pulled the white kite through the dark-red nebulae of the Red Scar Sector, continuing toward Baal.

The farther they went, the deeper the color of the sector became, and scattered inhabited planets began to appear.

Lin En lay in a recliner on the bridge, staring out at the stars.

After quietly confirming the route with the navigator, Phoros came over to report to Lin En. "My lord, we've reached the Hades System."

Lin En sat up and leaned forward to look outside.

They had entered the Hades System.

A star system composed of multiple planets and two stars stretched out before them.

The Hades System was Baal's outer shield, and the first obstacle faced by the Leviathan Hive Fleet in its invasion of Baal.

Vitellia, the outermost planet in the Hades System, was the first to enter their field of view.

It was a civilized world, a planet of black glass terrain. It looked tranquil, like a piece of obsidian.

In the original story, Vitellia had been the first to encounter the Tyranids.

Leviathan's Spore Carriers had swarmed in, gnawing the entire planet clean from the inside out. Vitellia had only managed to send out a distress signal before it fell.

Vitellia's distress signal had raised the curtain on the entire Devastation of Baal.

Then came the Fortress Belt.

A large asteroid mining belt, it formed the outer space-defense barrier of the system.

Thousands of asteroids had been hollowed out and converted into hive-like mining stations.

The Imperium had deployed Macro Cannons, Lance stations, and space minefields here.

But when vast numbers of Spore Carriers flooded in, even the defenses they had set up could not stop