Cutting Down Aliens Single-Handedly

Chapter 15 14. Slaying Aliens Single-Handedly

Barbarus, Southern Swamps, Diderot Highlands.

Hades' first year in the South.

Wielding his scythe, Hades moved fluidly through the horde of Puppet Aliens.

The aliens surrounding him seemed oblivious to his presence. As Hades approached, the loathsome monsters, drooling, would unconsciously shuffle aside, automatically forming a spherical space with a radius of about three meters, clearing a path for Hades.

An ordinary man, fully armed and carrying a scythe, swaggering through a throng of Puppet Aliens that automatically made way for him—the whole scene was bizarre and absurd.

Indeed, a powerful Untouchable could even become completely invisible to creatures with souls.

It's like hacking the game to get a vision cheat, Hades thought silently.

But there are pros and cons, Hades mused, recalling a badass Silent Sister who, with her stealth mode activated, brazenly infiltrated the World Eaters, preparing to reap heads—

Only to have her head blown off by Karn with a single axe swing. Karn was even puzzled as to why the number on his head counter had just increased by one.

Now that's some true Warhammer dark humor.

Twenty, forty, sixty… Hades counted the puppets as he stealthily moved through their ranks.

This was the territory of a small to medium Alien Lord, Dursley. Initial observations suggested that Dursley commanded three to four hundred low-level puppets, along with a pack of about fifty Foul Hounds.

Based on his reconnaissance within the territory, Hades estimated that the numbers were roughly as he had predicted.

Hades had no intention of going berserk and hacking his way through the monster horde. That would be an unwise choice.

Besides Mortarion and his alien foster father, no one on Barbarus was crazy enough to do that.

Hades' strategy was to strike at the head, to stealthily decapitate the Alien Lord.

This was a lesson learned from countless battles against small to medium Alien Lords.

Compared to medium and large lords, especially the large ones, these smaller lords typically use low-level puppets as their army. They lack more advanced puppets or intelligent beings to serve as generals.

As a result, once the small lord's head is removed, the puppets controlled by its Psychic Sorcery, lacking higher-level management, would quickly collapse and scatter. Furthermore, for the lowest-level puppets, once the sorcery controlling them vanished, Hades could simply expose them to the Null Field, and their grotesque, flesh-stitched bodies would disintegrate on their own.

These fleeing, individual puppets were no match for a well-trained Death Guard.

Moreover, Hades had strategically placed mines near all the entrances and exits of the territory. As the puppets fled, the explosions would further weaken their forces.

As for the Foul Hounds… they were indeed a bit tricky, but Hades had some ideas for dealing with them.

All of this, however, hinged on Hades successfully killing Alien Lord Dursley.

Through his thick gas mask, Hades' breathing hissed.

A tough fight was ahead, but he certainly had a chance of winning.

In fact, this extermination of the small to medium lord Dursley might be one of the easier ones.

After arriving in the Southern Swamps, Hades spent his days sleeping in the wheat fields near the villages, and his nights patrolling from village to village. If he encountered monsters hunting for food or slaver parties, he would engage them in battle.

Although the Death Guard had since established a presence in most of the Southern villages, people still chose to defend themselves within the villages at night, rarely venturing out to fight.

One reason was that it could lead to even more devastating casualties. Another was that the poisonous fog was even denser at night, and rudimentary gas masks couldn't withstand its corrosive effects.

Hades had modified his gas mask hundreds of times. Without using any advanced electronic components, Hades' gas mask was sufficient to withstand the poisonous fog of even the high-altitude mountains of Barbarus.

Persevering, Hades, who went out to kill monsters every night, gradually became known as the "Wraith."

[The Wraith with the giant scythe moves through the poisonous fog, reaping the lives of aliens. He is the punisher, he is the destroyer. Any creature that looks at him feels unease in their soul.]

—by nearby villagers

Along with that came the small lords who, after being beaten into seclusion, holed up in their territories.

In reality, most small lords primarily relied on the poisonous fog environment and Psychic Sorcery to suppress the common folk.

Some of the poorer small lords would even personally descend the mountains to capture slaves.

Before Hades arrived, these small lords, hidden by the poisonous fog and wielding Psychic Sorcery, were the villagers' nightmare.

But after Hades arrived, his highly poison-resistant mask and the Untouchable Null Field were tailor-made to counter them.

Psychic Power? I'm here to beat Psychic Power!

After several small Alien Lords personally descended the mountains only to be slaughtered by Hades, the remaining Alien Lords decisively shut their doors and stayed home.

After not killing any aliens for several weeks, Hades pondered to himself, then went to the nearby Death Guard and told them that he was going to take his blade up the mountain to slay some lords.

And so Hades went to provide door-to-door beheading services to the various small lords.

Dear customer, door-to-door service, please remember to leave a good review~

Hades still remembered the first time he tried to proactively enter an alien territory to grind for experience—

And then he was brutally beaten thanks to the enemy's home-field advantage, nearly dying. Only the Null Field eruption before his near-death experience barely saved his life.

Cough, all ancient history now. Besides, he didn't actually die.

With each battle, Hades' manipulation of the Null Field became more refined. He could now use the Black Field to conceal himself and inflict control, silence, and sluggish debuffs on his opponents.

Hades' flanking decapitation strikes were far more suitable for these small to medium-sized Alien Lords than the Death Guard's direct frontal assaults.

Hades was single-handedly cleansing the Southern Swamps.

And now, he continued his work.

Hades continued to move through the endless stream of Puppet Aliens, the poisonous mist and the monsters' hot breath scattering with his movements.

The small fortress shrouded in poisonous mist loomed before Hades.

Hades took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his great scythe, and prepared to begin.

Hopefully, I can successfully kill it this time without losing my life.

While writing this chapter, my house caught fire, and I was the one who smelled the burning and ran out first.

Fucking hell.

So this chapter, and the next few, are a bit of a mess. I'm very sorry.

Also, all the Alien Lords on Barbarus are Psykers, according to official lore.

Here's a simple Barbarus power ranking:

Nac'Lare, Mortarion's foster father

Mortarion

Large to medium-sized Alien Lords

Hades

Small to medium-sized Alien Lords

Death Guard

Puppets

Low-level monsters

Ordinary villagers