Heaven-Piercing Mountain Road

31. Heaven-Piercing Mountain Road

Barbarus, Northern Mountains, the territory of Alien Lord Nac'Lare, the road to the summit.

Now.

.

Upward, upward, upward.

The poisonous mist grew denser and denser. With every step upward, they could feel the toxic fumes gnawing at their armor.

Visible to the naked eye, the anti-corrosion coating on their armor instantly peeled away, exposing the gleaming metal beneath.

But the moment the metal was exposed, patches of rust had already begun spreading and crawling across it.

Some of the Death Guard bodyguards had suffered deep gashes in their armor during the previous battle. Through those openings, the innermost cotton lining was now plainly visible. Blackish-yellow stains spread across the cloth, and the once-thick padding now looked like thin paper, as though it would tear at a touch.

They were already nearing the summit. Since the artillery bombardment earlier, Mortarion's group had barely encountered any enemy attacks. Occasionally, a few high-ranking puppets used the terrain to ambush them, but Mortarion killed them instantly.

It seemed that Alien Lord Nac'Lare, whose supplies had been cut off and who had then been surrounded and worn down, had finally reached the end of the road.

.

Yet compared to the enemy, Barbarus's own poisonous air seemed to be the greater challenge for the group.

Hazniel was the first to falter.

The poison seeped in through a large wound in his leg. It was hard to imagine that the skin on his leg had begun to peel away, revealing muscle bleached white by corrosion.

Labored breathing came from within his armor, clearly suppressing pain and endurance.

Mortarion spoke.

"Murnau, take Hazniel back down the mountain the way we came. Go rendezvous with Mozar and the others."

Murnau looked up at Mortarion. Hades sensed that he clearly wanted to say something, but Murnau's increasingly sluggish movements had long exposed his predicament.

"Yes."

Murnau supported Hazniel, who was visibly unwilling but already too weak from the poison's corrosion. The two turned back and limped down the mountain.

.

Yet farther upward, the poisonous air only grew denser.

Calas Typhon found it difficult to breathe. His breathing pack had been pushed to maximum output, and its buzzing sound warned him that it seemed ready to fail at any moment.

He picked up his gun and discovered that the joint between the grip and the body of the weapon had developed a clear fracture.

The breathing hoses began to melt, slipping down into the gaps within his armor.

And the remaining Death Guard had also reached their limits.

Their movements slowed more and more, their breathing grew increasingly heavy and stagnant. Beneath their armor, their faces were likely already deathly pale, yet they continued to endure.

"Calas Typhon, take the remaining Death Guard bodyguards and withdraw."

Mortarion's voice rang out, restrained and suppressed.

Even clad in the finest armor, even as a primarch, the poisonous air here was not something to be underestimated.

Calas Typhon knew that they had already reached their limits. One step farther, and they would enter an abyss from which there was no return.

But... could Mortarion truly kill Alien Lord Nac'Lare and retreat safely?

"Mortarion... are you still going to keep climbing?"

"Yes."

Mortarion gritted his teeth. He had to kill his father with his own hands. He had already come this far.

His father was openly mocking him. In places where the poison was densest, he had not even set up defenses—

He was mocking Mortarion for not daring to climb any farther, mocking him for being incapable of killing him.

The arrow was already on the string; it had to be fired!

Today, Nac'Lare, only one of us will survive!

Calas Typhon felt something pass by him, moving upward toward Mortarion.

Calas Typhon suddenly froze. Hades?!

"Hades, Hades, are you going to keep following Mortarion up as well?!"

"Yes."

Hades was not faring well either. Even though both he and Mortarion wore a second layer of Alien Lord hide sewn into their armor, he could feel that material slowly melting under the poison's corrosion.

He did not have much time left.

Not to mention that Hades's armor had no breathing circulation system, which made breathing even more difficult for him.

But Hades could still endure.

This was not yet the place to fall.

He could still climb higher.

.

As though he had heard something unbelievable, Calas Typhon shook his head. But he said nothing and led the remaining Death Guard down the mountain.

Before descending, he turned back and gazed deeply at Hades and Mortarion.

As though he wished to remember their figures forever, or as though he were mourning the dead before their deaths.

Mortarion's tall figure gradually faded into the mist. At his side, that uncomfortable presence also drifted away.

The summit was right before them.

The two continued climbing in silence.

"Can you manage?"

Mortarion's voice sounded again.

"Let's end this quickly."

Hades's bitter laugh carried over.

Clearly, even with the inner layer sewn from Alien Lord hide, this fully sealed suit of armor could not function normally for long in the poisonous air at the highest level.

Once the armor stopped functioning, even a primarch could not remain conscious in such an environment through physical strength alone.

"Just as I thought."

Mortarion turned and glanced in Hades's direction. As long as Hades could help weaken his foster father's Psychic Power, Mortarion was certain he could take his foster father's head.

"And... thank you."

Hades froze for a moment.

"It's nothing. I know fighting alone feels awful."

Hades had once fought alone in the south.

In many moments of crisis, having a comrade at one's side truly made things much easier.

Hopefully, he could pin down Alien Lord Nac'Lare's Witchcraft Psychic Power.

.

They had reached the summit.

It was a flat clearing roughly the size of a basketball court, as though an axe had sheared off a piece of the mountaintop.

That tall, bizarre figure stood there silently. Poisonous mist swirled around him, and the long, tattered cloak draped over his shoulders fluttered without wind.

In truth, Mortarion's foster father, Nac'Lare, looked far more human than those grotesquely shaped Xenos.

This humanoid was taller than Mortarion, yet broader and more powerful as well, like a giant.

He wore simple battle attire, covered in countless fine threads that embroidered exquisite ritual images and incantations.

His dark grayish-white skin was directly exposed to the poisonous air, yet showed no sign of corrosion, as though it shared the same origin as the poison.

His deeply sunken eyes were clouded with pallor, while thick yellow-red veins crawled over his eyeballs.

Ominous, oppressive black-green Psychic Power crackled around him.

In his pale, massive hand, he held a giant scythe—"Annihilation." Xenos technology gave it an eerie bronze-purple hue.

Nac'Lare had not waited in his fortress at a lower altitude. Instead, he stood alone atop the mountain.

The instant he saw Mortarion, he let out a contemptuous snort.

"So you've finally come, my cowardly son."

In a flash, Mortarion gripped his scythe and charged forward.

Happy reading~(￣▽￣~)~