Chapter 57: The Ship of Demons (III)

To return to the landing platform as quickly as possible, Soshyan did not choose the path they had come from, but instead decided to take a shortcut.

Although he was not intimately familiar with the structure of this cruiser, the general design of Imperial warships did not vary wildly; entering the landing platform via the fuel stores would undoubtedly be the fastest route.

They fought their way through, battling those semi-substantial monsters as they charged toward the nearest fuel pump room.

Because their formation was tight, the Space Marines could only employ rhythmic bursts of fire to prevent friendly fire.

As they moved, the tactical lights on their helmets continuously sliced through the darkness, casting light upon the steel ventilation pipes and vent covers overhead.

While fighting, Soshyan noticed that the area appeared well-ordered and polished, as if it had been meticulously maintained.

The massive pistons on the walls were meant to circulate air across the various deck levels, but they were now silent, motionless.

"Move forward! Watch your rear and flanks! Crossfire cover!"

He shouted commands as he continued deeper into the ship.

Soshyan thought he had heard a strange sound inside his helmet—something like a pained groan or the murmur of chanting—emanating from a room to the right about a hundred meters ahead, but when he passed it, he found it empty.

There were no traces of people, no signs of life.

The squad quickly broke through the monsters' blockade and entered the main hall of the fuel pump room.

In the intervals between combat, Soshyan repeatedly tried to manually switch the communication frequencies on his helmet, but there was nothing but the hiss of static.

He felt that something was there; though it was difficult to comprehend, it was lurking within that expanse of metal.

Suddenly, a shout from behind caught Soshyan's attention—the roar of a flamer.

A Neophyte was roaring as he sprayed fire in all directions, venting promethium everywhere, igniting walls and pistons.

"Watch out! There might be residual fuel here!"

Despite the warning, Soshyan noticed that while the flames caused the creatures some distress, the effect would not last long.

They struck the bulkheads in waves with primal, angry shrieks, tearing the fragile ventilation system to shreds.

At that moment, an even more massive entity manifested from the ceiling.

This beast was an indeterminate, blurred, nightmare-like existence; it could shift freely between reality and the warp, appearing more like an emotion than a physical form.

At first glance, it gave the impression of having long limbs, tentacles, and heavy claws, yet no natural creature corresponded to it, and nothing could be used as a point of comparison.

Bolter shells passed through it as if passing through thin air.

Yet it could touch, it could lift a Space Marine, and it could even kill him.

More crucially, it seemed to possess intelligence; it had noticed Soshyan's dangerous presence from the start, so it appeared above the squad, targeting Armin, who was bringing up the rear.

The squad leader countered firmly with his chainsword.

When he slashed through the phantom, the whirring teeth of the blade passed straight through, merely biting uselessly at the air.

"What!?"

Then, the creature seized Armin. It seemed to feed on the soldiers' fervor, deriving a particular pleasure from tearing through armor.

Its claws ripped through Armin's chest as easily as tearing through cardboard.

Air rushed into the breached armor, and liquid sealant dripped from the mangled plating as Armin let out a pained grunt.

Immediately after, the warrior wielding the flamer turned his weapon toward the massive beast. He let out a roar, hoping Armin's power armor would be enough to temporarily withstand the intense heat.

He had practiced this close-range flamethrower technique many times; after modulating the spray from a fan pattern to a linear stream, the warrior pulled the trigger.

An orange-yellow line of fire roared past, passing through the ethereal beast like a hand sweeping through thick fog.

Before he could fire again, the thing let out a terrifying scream—one that pierced through the entire body, felt in the heart and intestines rather than just through the ears and brain.

Before the second line of fire could arrive, the entity had already begun to dissipate, leaving behind only a group of enraged soldiers and the echo of a chainsword hitting the floor.

"Damn it—!"

A blood-soaked Armin scrambled up from the ground, and a Techmarine immediately rushed to repair his power armor to prevent the vacuum from causing secondary damage.

At that moment, Armin saw something and immediately roared at the flamethrower user

"Behind you!"

The warrior turned around, and in the next second, he felt something pierce his chest.

He looked down, feeling dizzy, and saw a void-like claw piercing his power armor. However, it could not penetrate further, as a searing longsword cut it away.

The warrior felt a sudden chill, as if he had been thrown into deep space. He could still hear the monster's roar, but the sound had changed, turning entirely into a wail of agony.

Soshyan swallowed the cold blood rising in his throat and gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, hacking savagely at the massive beast like a tireless woodsman.

It tried to retreat, but the soul-black hole exerted a suction-like force that trapped it within ten meters of Soshyan.

Lacking any way to dodge, the beast lunged at him in a desperate final struggle.

However, in the next second, the Holy Flame Sword pierced its skull, shattering its essence.

This time, it truly dissipated, turning into a pile of mindless emotional fragments.

"Ugh—!"

Having annihilated the powerful foe, Soshyan's legs suddenly went weak. He only avoided collapsing by bracing the sword against the ground, but he could no longer suppress the chill rising in his throat.

A mass of dark red liquid sprayed from the grille of his helmet; the moment it hit the ground, it turned into a cluster of frozen droplets of blood.

"Sir!"

Seeing this, Armin immediately stepped forward to support Soshyan.

"I'm fine. Keep moving!"

Though they had destroyed a major threat, the smaller ones continued to pursue them relentlessly. Soshyan held onto his last breath and ran with all his might; he could feel the chill spreading to the back of his head.

If they delayed any longer, he would pass out, if not freeze to death.

"Sir! There are too many ahead!"

The flamethrower warrior had chosen to lead the formation this time. Blood constantly slid off his power armor, but he continued to fight.

However, the promethium in his flamer was running low.

"This way!"

Soshyan scanned the surroundings and found a corridor that was unexpectedly free of monsters, so he led the squad in that direction.

Logically, they should not be far from the landing platform; the key was finding the exit to the fuel pump room.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Soshyan stopped in his tracks, leaving the others looking at him in confusion.

But at that moment, Soshyan was staring at the auspex on his arm. If the feedback was correct, that life signal had already overlapped with theirs.

In other words, something was already right upon them.