"In the name of Hades!"
Black Butcher, the son of Pluto, roared, and the power axe in his hand directly smashed the head of the knife worm in front of him. As he retracted his elbow, there was a muffled sound, and another knife worm fell down immediately.
Hurry... Go...
In the jungle, Blake was gasping for breath. His helmet had long been thrown away after it was broken, and blood was dripping from his forehead. The corpses of knife worms and gun worms under his feet had already piled up into a small hill. Two Tyranid warriors who had not yet been buried were staring at him with their eyes wide open.
He stumbled down the pile of corpses and pulled up Barry, the think tank of the Celestial Lions, who was leaning against a tree behind him. The son of Dorne was already on the verge of suspended animation, but he was still struggling to stay asleep.
Mingzi knew there was an abandoned bunker nearby. If they retreated there, perhaps they could survive for a while longer, long enough for Barry to send out a psychic signal to tell the Empire that the planet had fallen.
Blake desperately opened the communication and tried to call the survivors over and over again, but in fact, they might be the only two people left alive on the planet.
Under the transformation of the Tyranids, the sky of this planet has long been scarlet, and the vegetation has withered in large patches. After killing the Imperial defenders on it, the Tyranids have been eager to transform all life forms on this planet into biomass soup.
Blake even saw the Zerg mothership slowly descending from the sky, and those huge shadows extended their tentacles toward the earth - they had begun to devour the planet.
He and Barry of the Celestial Lions were just the last two fish that escaped the Tyranid Zerg massacre.
Blank, Blake's mind is now blank.
But relying on his own instinct, he carried Barry the Lion on his back and fled from the Tyranids. He didn't want to die yet - or rather, he didn't want to die meaninglessly.
All ten people in his team, except him, had died in the battle.
If the last recruit in the team, Blake, also dies, then their team will completely fail in the mission of [Bullet of Fate].
No... this can't happen...!
Blake drew his gun and subconsciously fired a bullet at the Tyranid warrior who suddenly rushed out from the shadows.
He skillfully threw Barry on his back to a safer place, ducked to avoid the Tyranid warrior's bone knife, and swung his axe to intercept - perhaps because Blake's movements were a little rough, Barry uttered a painful groan after being thrown out.
Blake's axe dug hard into the warrior's chitinous armor, and the cysts on the insect appendages spewed worms at him at the same time. Blake dodged and struck again with the axe -
No... all of this... all of this is the fault of the Great Sage Jin!
Blake thought painfully as he pounced towards the warrior who was screaming hoarsely. He and the Tyranid warrior rolled on the ground, just avoiding the snakes and insects that suddenly jumped out from the ground beside him.
Every seven hundred years, the Sons of Hades will vote for ten of the "unluckiest guys" who will form a team with the mission of finding Hades again.
Then the Great Sage Jin will randomly set a parameter for the [Fate Slingshot] near the Barbarus Star Region to eject this unlucky team.
Up to the time of Blake's team, his unlucky predecessors would return to the Sons of Hades at some point in time - and often successfully wash away their bad luck, saving the empire in the process of searching for Hades and becoming heroes of the empire.
Some teams have successfully thwarted Abaddon's conspiracy, some have driven out the Tzeentch demon, and some have saved living saints...
Blake staggered to his feet. The Tyranid warrior beneath him had already been bitten to a bloody mess. He spat out the Tyranid flesh and blood in his mouth and felt that the flesh and blood was turning into small insects that were biting his mouth.
He turned around, and from the tremor under his feet, Blake knew that the snake had gone to find Barry.
… and so this tradition, which brought joy to the Chapter and benefit to all, was preserved: the Bullet of Fate.
Those who were thrown out were no longer limited to being "unlucky". The new soldier Blake was thrown out because he preferred to use an axe instead of a sickle and often remained silent.
He still remembered the battle senior who had captured him and joined the group, patting his shoulder earnestly and saying to the great sage Jin respectfully,
"This kid isn't very smart, and doesn't look like Pluto's blood. Staying in the group isn't suitable for his development - maybe he has his own experiences."
"good."
The huge golden sage, who was as big as a mountain, controlled the cables, entangled the already dazed Blake, and dragged him into the spaceship.
His combat predecessor stood behind him, waving goodbye to him happily and hoping that he would bring back some travel gifts for him.
Jin tied Blake to the seat and whispered, "It's really different from others..."
Blake knew that he was going to die soon. He bravely asked, trying not to tremble, "What's... what's different?"
"You're the first one who didn't try to escape after being thrown out."
Is it still possible to escape... Blake thought desperately, and then his fate was randomly thrown out as the slingshot of fate was activated.
Bang!
The snakes and worms under Black's axe stopped struggling. He let out a long sigh, staggered to his feet, and continued walking towards the bunker among the corpses on the ground.
But Blake knew that it was all in vain. He had almost burned out in the battle with Tyranids, and was now relying solely on the desperate fight and tenacity brought by the gene seed of the Son of Pluto to hold on.
He would collapse on the way to the bunker, or worse, even if he got there... so what
Blake vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments, and shook Barry, the Heavenly Lion, on his shoulder again.
Barry is the Soul Walker of the Celestial Lions, the think tank.
"Barry..." Blake began hoarsely, "Can you send a psychic communication now?"
Barry on his back squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
Failed, Blake thought.
This unlucky team of theirs was thrown directly into the star field that was fighting with the Tyranids, and immediately engaged in a fight with the surrounding Tyranids.
They held out for five months, but the few poison blade tanks they were able to repair were not enough to stop the entire swarm. The Sons of Pluto, the Lamenters, and the Celestial Lions retreated again and again, and finally retreated to this jungle planet.
This star field may have been abandoned long ago, so apart from the branch squads of these three chapters, Blake did not see any other chapters coming to support.
At the last moment, in the name of leaving hope, Blake's comrades used their lives to buy Blake the opportunity to retreat. They told Blake Butcher that their unlucky team could not be the only one to fail in the past thousand years.
The Hades believe that no matter where the [bullet of fate] throws them, they will gain their own glory and success under the favor of Hades.
But… But…
Blake felt only endless despair.
The Weepers had been completely wiped out, with Tianshi and Mingzi being the only two survivors.
But now, they are going to die too.
Barry's voice sounded like a ghost.
Blake stopped abruptly and looked around vigilantly. Barry was a think tank, so he was generally more sensitive to psychic-related existences.
In his peripheral vision, in the blood-red sky filled with countless Tyranids, Blake glimpsed something strange falling rapidly there - but it was not that!
In front of Blake, three brain worm tyrants slowly floated in the air, their exposed blue brains flashing with crackling arcs of psychic energy.
The Zerg realized that Black had abilities that could be subconsciously ignored by them!
This is a gift from Hades. Pluto's descendants usually show very mild soulless characteristics, and in Blake's case, it means that he is often ignored and neglected.
Now, the Zerg specially dispatched psionic units to offset the insignificant soulless characteristics in Blake.
Hades, Hades...
Blake swallowed, knowing where he was going to end up.
He released Barry's hand, and with a dull thud, the Son of Dorne fell to the ground, groaning in pain.
Blake felt his vision begin to twist, which was a sign of the beginning of a psychic attack, so he began to pray to Hades with all his heart, asking him to grant his enemy a final rest.
Then he raised his axe and faced the tyrant before him—
Bang!!!
In the distance, the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground suddenly rang out!
Darkness rises!!!
The lifeless darkness spread, as if the darkness that did not exist in this dimension was rapidly expanding and instantly enveloped the entire planet!
—Buzz—
At that moment, Blake's eyes went dark and all his senses seemed to be cut off. He seemed to be dragged into the deep sea from which there was no escape, screaming silently and suffocating.
He almost thought he was dead, but then the light returned to his eyes. Blake's pupils dilated and he was shocked to find that he was now hunched over in pain and fear, gasping for breath.
He was already in tears.
The Son of Hades raised his face tremblingly, staring at everything in front of him in amazement. As far as his eyes could see, all the Tyranids were limp on the ground, and in the air, countless giant beasts were crashing to the ground like rain.
The brain worm tyrant in front of him was like scattered noodles, its tentacles twitching, and its blue brain exploded and flowed all over the ground.
Blake had trouble understanding what was happening; his ears were ringing violently and his heart was pounding.
But those Tyranids lying on the ground were not dead, Blake soon realized. They slowly stood up and almost the next moment, they started to bite the closest members of the same tribe!
Even though he was almost completely exhausted, Blake slowly leaned over and carried Barry on his back with difficulty. He didn't know what was happening, but he witnessed a miracle with his own eyes.
He limped along, following the guidance of his consciousness, and moved in the direction of the strange object falling from the sky.
The Tyrans who were biting each other ignored Blake. He only needed to avoid the Tyrans who were falling from the sky. He walked among countless corpses, one step deep and one step shallow. Finally, the forest became sparse, and in an open space in the jungle, he saw the strange black coffin.
A knife worm that regained consciousness didn't seem to find any of its kind to kill. Blake watched as the knife worm scurried toward the black coffin.
No!
Blake subconsciously wanted to draw his gun and shoot, but something in the coffin was one step faster than him. Almost at the moment when the tip of the knife worm's sickle claw just touched the coffin -
A huge emerald green lightning exploded! Thunder rose up like a dragon, roaring violently in the air, arcs of electricity spread out from the black coffin as the center, opening and closing, but accurately hitting every Zerg!
The continuous crackling sounds rang out like raindrops, and heavy rain poured down!
The scarlet sky was dyed green, and countless flying species were burned to charcoal before they even had the chance to hit the ground. Blake even saw a huge boat in the distance being hit by thunder, wailing and slowly falling.
Blake didn't even realize when his mouth opened in surprise. He was afraid of the arcs, but they seemed to have intelligence and avoided him, reflecting a faint green on his dull black helmet.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, perhaps fourteen seconds or perhaps a lifetime, the lightning disappeared.
In the dead silence on the battlefield, the charred corpse of Tyrone made a hissing sound.
A hand, a human hand, was clinging to the side of the black coffin.
Blake Butcher was trembling all over, almost shuddering, and he let go of Barry again. The unconscious Barry fell to the ground, without making a sound this time.
He stood at the very edge of the forest and saw with his own eyes a monster, a giant standing up from the black coffin. He could not see Him clearly, and the absolute darkness enveloped Him like rolling waves, with those strong lightnings mixed in, crackling.
A scarlet red light shot out from His left eye, looking straight at Blake.
Blake felt like his heart was about to explode, his mind was blank, something was screaming and pulling at his soul, his thoughts, beating him, roaring at him - but maybe his brain was not very clear, Blake just stared blankly, frozen in place.
He watched as the being walked towards him.
The black tide hit Blake, and Blake felt a strange sense of familiarity. He trembled and stared at the giant walking towards him.
The giant stopped in front of him and looked down at him.
Bang!
Blake fell to his knees, his brain completely unable to function, but as always, his instincts buried in his blood saved him.
In a trance, Blake seemed to see the great sage Jin flashing before his eyes. The sage tied him to the seat and knocked on his head, "Stupid, remember your mission is to find Hades, don't just stare blankly."
He held the axe with both hands, supported it on the ground, and bowed his head reverently.
The dried blood on his forehead had long stopped dripping.
"Father, your son, the new blood of the Sons of Hades Chapter, Black Butcher, pays you the highest respects."
The darkness faded before him.
"What?"
Hades, who was wearing a flowered old man's shirt and slippers, made a puzzled sound.
(End of this chapter)