Webway was swallowed up by killing and war.
This network of channels that was once woven by the Aeldari ancient civilization using unimaginable technology has now become an endless slaughterhouse.
The network tunnel extends in the void space of Non-Euclidean Geometry, like an infinitely stretched spider web. Each thread is a trunk road for the army to pass, and every node is an open dome Hall.
The exquisite patterns once carved on those walls are now covered with traces of Bolt bombardment and ablation.
The air was filled with the smell of burning propellant, blood and engine oil mixed together.
Hundreds of millions of Orks poured into this network.
They spewed out from the torn Aeldari portals deep in Webway. The number of Orks was suffocating, and every passage node was filled with green-skinned figures.
They roared, roared, and rushed towards the wave composed of Daemons coalition forces.
Orks is born with the ability to identify the direction of war, just like a group of sharks that smell blood and gather around their prey.
The Daemons coalition forces were also eager to kill, so the collision between the two forces created an endless strangulation in this huge structure of Webway.
Orks rushed into the Daemons array without stopping for a moment.
Those huge Ork Overlord wielded the metal Choppa, chopping every non-humanoid silhouette that appeared in front of them into pieces.
Daemons's Claw pierced Orks's head, and Orks's fist smashed Daemons's torso.
Green blood, red blood, and black scum left layers of traces on the tunnel wall.
They are like a running Meat Grinder, repeating the same cycle at every node in Webway.
Charge, kill, fall, and charge again.
The original fierce offensive of Daemons coalition forces against Imperium Defense Line was disrupted by this sudden force.
They discovered that a new front had appeared in front of them, a new group of prey, and those prey were more bloodthirsty than humans and more suitable than humans to become long-lasting opponents.
Adeptus Custodes stood dozens of kilometers away, silently watching all this.
They did not intervene in the melee between Orks and Daemons.
They stood on a Defense Line reinforced by ancient structures, observing the indescribable war in the distance with cold silence.
They know that Orks is not an ally and cannot be an ally.
Orks may just happen to appear here to engage in a long fight with Daemons, and those Daemons were originally intended to attack Imperium Defense Line.
The appearance of Orks reduced their pressure a lot. The Daemons coalition seemed to be attracted by Orks and weakened its offensive against Imperium Defense Line.
But no one let down their guard.
Adeptus Custodes still maintains the highest level of alertness, because the war between Orks and Daemons may deviate from Orbit at any time and draw them into the battlefield again.
Behind Adeptus Custodes, there is a huge Aeldari City.
This City once belonged to a Aeldari branch of Webway, and has now been transformed into a cutting-edge Fortress by Imperium.
Hundreds of kilometers of City roads were transformed into Fortress built one after another by hundreds of fire points.
The unique curves and spiers of the Aeldari buildings are covered with Imperium style bunkers.
Every wide square has been turned into a multi-layered fire position, and heavy Bolt cannons and Lascannon are erected at every commanding height.
The originally exquisite suspension bridge was reinforced into a steel channel for Armoured Vehicle to pass through. Garden of Nurgle, which was originally half-buried in the pool, was filled in, exposing the metal base underneath.
This City is transforming into a Fortress, where every surface exists for defense.
Tens of millions of Imperialis Militia are stationed here.
Their barracks are concentrated in the old mining area in the central area, and the spacious spaces left by the buildings built by Aeldari have been transformed into large camping areas that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.
The soldiers of Auxilia rotated in batches. One group withdrew from the front line of Defense Line to rest, and the other group went to the front line guarded by Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence.
Most of these people are professional soldiers of Imperium, with decades of combat experience, and can even be said to be the most elite group of Mortals troops among Imperium.
But even this kind of troops must survive and fight in the cruel Meat Grinder of the Daemons war.
And often, in every confrontation, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people are wiped out in ashes.
Custodian Tribune Helios is guarding here.
He was on the high platform of the military Command Center overlooking the entire Fortress.
Adeptus Custodes's golden armor doesn't have a single stain on his body, but that's not because the battlefield is far away from him.
In the past dozens of Daemons attacks, Helios personally went to the front line and killed countless Warp creatures with Spear.
He just cleans the armor back to its original state after every battle.
He stood on a high platform, the Spear in his hand was not leaning on the ground, but was held firmly by his side. The fire on the spear blade reflected the flash of the battlefield in the distance.
Helios looks serious.
He has noticed anomalies in Imperialis Militia.
The morale in the garrison area is declining at a speed that is visible to the naked eye. Many soldiers can barely maintain their formation in front of low-level officers, but if you look at them for a moment, you can find that something seems to have been taken away from their eyes.
They began not to argue, complain, or make vulgar jokes with their peers like ordinary people.
They just sat quietly, looking in a direction that didn't exist.
Soldiers taking a break often report hearing a whisper.
Some people said that the sound was like a language they had never heard before, some said that it was just a buzzing sound that came and went, and some said that the sound could change into the intonation of friends or relatives and call their names.
The initial reports were scattered and vague, and were dismissed as auditory hallucinations caused by long-term stress.
But then more and more soldiers began to show the same symptoms, and the non-commissioned officers in the team began to notice that some people would sit up in the middle of the night, looking at their hands silently, or slowly touching the throats of their comrades next to them when no one was paying attention.
Some soldiers even went crazy and attempted to murder their comrades.
The first time this happened, the soldier was subdued on the spot.
During the interrogation, he could not explain why he did this. He just repeated "I was told to do this" over and over again.
The second incident occurred under almost identical circumstances, but three people were killed in that bunker.
When the third incident occurred, the officers finally realized that this was not ordinary fatigue and stress, but whether it belonged to Warp interference, they could not judge for the time being.
These symptoms were cited by officers as excessive stress and combat stress reaction.
Junior officers did not dare to report too many abnormalities, because in such a long war of attrition, such situations could easily be regarded as a loss of the ability to maintain morale.
So they chose to suppress those reports and use strict discipline to suppress the spread of symptoms.
The symptoms improved briefly after a group of soldiers who attempted to murder their comrades were executed and appropriate supplies were distributed.
After all, these are the methods of low-level officers.
Senior military officers are not completely unaware of this phenomenon.
Their staff team has held many meetings for this purpose, and the personnel from Adeptus Mechanicus have also given their own analysis and tactical assessment reports.
Finally, they named this symptom "Murder Syndrome".
But naming it doesn't take away the fear it brings.
As for the instigation and whispers from the darkness, even Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence don't know what they are.
Adeptus Custodes people can withstand mental pressure that ordinary people cannot bear. They are not sensitive to such whispers, but they can perceive the existence of certain ripples through their senses.
Sisters of Silence is at the other extreme of the Warp effect. As Blank, they will not be directly interfered by Psychic Energy attacks, making them the most reliable detectors.
However, even they could not find the specific source of the whispers.
It seems to exist among the stones of Webway, in the air, in the shadows of the light.
That's an older, deeper low-frequency beat.
"This is not the way to go." Queen Blank and Lord Sisters of Silence Kohler said in sign language.
She wears a golden full body armor and uses her movements to express her tone.
She stood next to Helios, her eyes also cast towards the wave of war between Orks and Daemons in the distance.
"I know." Helios nodded.
He understands Kohler's concerns. Defense Line has not collapsed, but this mental erosion is slowly hollowing out Imperialis Militia's core combat effectiveness.
When the soldiers began to doubt their comrades in their Fortress, only Shell was left intact in this Fortress, and the interior was riddled with holes.
"When can Emperor lower his power?" Kohler continued to sign.
The master of Sisters of Silence doesn't often ask questions like this.
Her usual sign language is more about instructions, warnings and tactical deployments, and rarely involves questioning on the level of faith. But at this moment, she needs to know the answer.
"Master of Mankind will have his own plan, and all we can do is play with the existing cards." Helios replied.
Helios's voice was smooth and did not reveal any hesitation that might shake people's hearts.
He is not avoiding the problem, but he really believes that Emperor is dealing with more important things.
The huge conflict in Webway, the orders coming from Terra Throne room, everything was running according to some plan that was far beyond his ability to understand.
His role is to guard this Defense Line before the order arrives, and use Adeptus Custodes's will, Sisters of Silence's silence, and the flesh and blood of tens of billions of Imperialis Militia who are still in the world to build a high wall to keep the enemy in Webway.