Corvu frowned. His years of experience fighting the Emperor's enemies had made him well aware of the cunning and viciousness of the aliens.
The previous tunnels all had flickering lumen lights, but this tunnel was pitch black, and it was obvious there was something wrong.
Corvu raised his bolter and aimed at the source of the sound and the light.
The servos in the helmet hummed, and the helmet's display panel simulated the trajectory.
As long as he pulls the trigger, the explosive bullet in the gun chamber will be fired, killing the target or even blowing it into pieces.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger.
A skinny man walked out of the darkness, trembling all over, holding a mining lamp filled with inert gas and designed to be shaped like a portable kerosene lamp.
The man shuddered with fear when he saw the warrior wearing power armor and hidden in the shadows.
When he saw the gun in the other person's hand, which was thicker than his wrist, he was so scared that he collapsed to the ground.
"Compatriots?" Korwu was stunned for a moment, then put down the mask of his helmet, revealing a determined face with hideous wounds.
"Emperor...Emperor...Angel??"
Seeing the face under the helmet, the man was stunned for a moment, unable to believe what he saw.
Surprise flashed across his face, followed by deep fear.
Korwu keenly sensed that something was wrong.
"Run!" the man yelled.
At this moment, deep in the dark tunnel, a bright plasma light emerged, followed by a heat wave.
Eight consecutive basketball-sized plasma balls shot out from the depths of the tunnel, as fast as lightning.
"Find cover." Korvo shouted, and pulled the trembling man to hide in a sunken pit.
The plasma ball swept through the air, and the faint smell of ozone was wafted.
The air is decomposed by ions to form ozone.
Korwu lay on the ground tightly, and the sensor module on his back sent a high temperature warning.
Once hit, the plasma ball is powerful enough to melt ceramic alloys.
Corvu saw a comrade's signal rune flash a few times, then turned red, and then disappeared from the team's communication channel.
He looked towards the position of his comrade. The standard power armor made of ceramic alloy was directly pierced and melted into molten iron.
The broken body fell to the ground, twitching unconsciously.
Sadness welled up in Corvu's heart.
The voices of other team members came over the comms.
"No, Ducos."
"Poor Dukos, I hope he can return to the Emperor's arms."
"Damn greenskin."
Everyone mourned their lost companion.
"Pay the price, greenskin."
Korvo let go of the man and stood up with a roar.
He raised his bolter and fired at the enemy position.
He has been fighting for one hundred and twenty years, and all of his companions who entered the battle with him have been recalled by the Emperor, but he is still fighting.
The fire of revenge made Korwu's hand holding the gun extremely steady.
A century of combat experience allowed him to easily determine the enemy's position.
The other soldiers followed him and opened fire.
After a moment of fierce gunfire, the tunnel returned to peace.
Korvu walked over and saw three damaged dual-track parallel plasma cannons and several orc corpses.
"These are vicious guys. Every alien is despicable."
Korwu angrily kicked the orc's corpse, which had lost all signs of life.
After venting his anger, he walked back to where he was just now to see how the man he had rescued was doing.
The man had behaved well, being coerced into acting as bait and not betraying the Holy Emperor.
When they walked back, they found that the man was also dead. The debris that was accidentally blown away during the battle pierced his eyes and killed him.
Ordinary human life is so fragile on such a battlefield.
Any piece of rubble, which is insignificant to a Primaris Space Marine, can cost them their lives.
"May your soul be able to ascend to the throne of the Emperor." Korvu knelt down and prayed for the man, then stood up.
"keep going."
After walking a little further, a faint light appeared in the dark tunnel.
They reached the gathering place of humans.
A large number of mining machines are still running, making rumbling sounds.
There were also some humans digging something with primitive tools like iron pickaxes.
They ate a kind of half-plant and half-meat food provided by the orcs, and drank the sewage in the mines.
There are still a large number of snow-white human skulls left in the gathering place, obviously they are all humans who died here.
"In the name of the Holy Emperor, we require you to send a representative to speak to us."
Corvo walked toward the trembling men, his tall steel figure looking down upon the crowd that was trembling with fear.
"The Emperor's...Angel." A white-haired old man walked out.
The old man's face was covered with wrinkles, and his clothes were so tattered that they were equivalent to strips of cloth.
Korwu looked at the other person and felt a trace of pity in his heart.
"Is everyone here?"
"Yes, sir, are you here to save us?" The old man stroked his palms, which had thick joints and only a layer of skin left, and asked in a frightened and humble tone.
"We are reclaiming systems lost to the Orks, and this is one of them," Corvu said.
"Are we saved? Has the Holy Emperor taken pity on our suffering and sent salvation?" said the old man.
"The Lord of Ultramar has awakened, and he is leading his army to reclaim the Empire's lost worlds." Corvus described the expedition and then asked, "What is your name?"
"Dan Lunsi, the Emperor Angel, my name is Dan Lunsi." The old man said tremblingly.
Korvu said, "Very good, Denrens, you are the temporary leader. The orcs on the surface have not been cleared out yet. We need an orbital bombardment to clear the orcs across the entire planet. You go and organize those people and let them take precautions to avoid casualties."
Denrens nodded, turned and walked towards the ragged survivors, and spoke out the orders of the Emperor's Angels.
"Thank the Emperor, they are finally here."
"Aren't they here to save us? Don't they bring clean food and water?"
"I'm almost dying, can't they put other things aside and save me first?"
"Are they really here to save us? Or are they going to execute us all? Gather us together and kill us, so that they can easily erase this history."
Some of the survivors' eyes were filled with joy, some with anger, and some with doubt.
They stayed in despair and darkness for twenty years.
The empire ignored this.
It was undoubtedly a betrayal to them.
After the galaxy was occupied by the orcs, they were driven into the tunnels to mine.
Every day, the orc boys whipped those little bastards with whips to force them to work.
Long-term labor left them bruised and emaciated.
The situation is terrible for both men and women.
Now, they encountered the Emperor's Angel and were naturally shocked and frightened.
Considering the many rumors I've heard before, the imperial politicians issued extermination orders on some planets in order to cover up the scandal of their own mistakes.
It’s the poor unfortunates they fear for themselves.
The Primaris Space Marines had extremely sharp senses, and they could capture every word and action of the survivors.
Even if those people lowered their voices, they could still hear it clearly.
Corvo didn't pay much attention to it.
He opened the mission communication panel and said on the public channel: "The first action team has completed its mission. The target has been confirmed to have entered the underground tunnel."
"These guys have no gratitude at all." A comrade heard the survivors' discussions and shook his head, his tone full of frustration and anger.
They sacrificed their companions to save them, but were met with suspicion and distrust.
"Be lenient with them. They have suffered so much that they can no longer tell good from bad." Corvus picked up his weapon, glanced at the flickering tunnel, and said, "Be prepared for battle. We have to be careful of those greenskins entering the tunnel."