Warhammer: Saving Humanity Begins with the Resurrection of Horus

Page 48

That means the other party is currently loyal to Star Claw. If that's the case, then there's no problem.

But then again...

Eric stroked his chin, thinking of something.

It seems that Lord Lynch hasn't formed his own Honor Guard yet, has he?

He glanced at Asford, then gently shook his head.

Never mind, I won't think about it anymore.

Chapter 63 Changes Within the Warband

A week has passed since Ryan and Lynch's meeting.

This was an incredibly peaceful period, for every Astartes of Star Claw. After that speech, each combat squad, as announced, held elections within their own ranks, selecting a suitable candidate to meet with Lynch privately and be assigned the duties that are now known to everyone.

Supervision, counseling, and cohesion.

These combatants were not battle priests, nor were they subordinates directly under a priest. However, when faced with this responsibility that should have been borne by a priest, they did not back down and all chose to accept it without exception.

As for the reason, it's very simple.

Because they all knew this was a responsibility that Lynch, or rather, their genetic father, wanted them to undertake.

Seven days is just the time it takes for a personnel system to demonstrate its initial results. Although it has not had any major impact, some subtle phenomena have begun to emerge in certain details.

For example, now, the other companies in the battle group no longer have any rejection or hostility towards the first and third companies, and have returned to the state of their relationship before the coup.

Standing in the training field, looking at the training servant he had knocked to the ground, now basically a pile of scrap metal, Leo's muscles gradually relaxed. His back was no longer taut, and the fighting stance and aura he had maintained disappeared, replaced by a feeling of exhaustion that spread throughout his body after strenuous exercise.

His chest heaved as his Astartes superhuman physique began to take effect. In just three seconds, Leo felt his stamina significantly restored, causing him to take a long breath and then exhale sharply.

It was as if I had expelled the remaining fatigue from my body and the lingering resentment in my heart.

Leo turned around and walked towards the weapon rack in the corner. He put the longsword he was holding back in its original place, but at that moment, looking at the state of the longsword, he was stunned for a moment.

After being attacked by the machine servant in its maximum power mode, the once sturdy iron sword is now riddled with holes. Its blade is covered with all sorts of cracks, and even the edge has several chipped edges.

However, this is not the most damaged part of the sword; the most damaged part is its hilt. The hilt, which could originally be held with both hands, is now twisted beyond recognition. Apart from the upper half, which could accommodate one hand, the lower half is almost completely bent, turning into a hammer-like shape.

Leo fell silent, recalling the scene from the later stages of their sparring session where he held the machine servant in a one-handed lock while frantically striking with the hilt of his sword with the other.

If I hadn't done that, this servant probably wouldn't be the way it is now.

You used too much force. Be more careful next time, but...

I guess I'm going to be told some weird things by the technical sergeant in a strange tone again.

Leo sighed, shook his head, and tried to stop thinking about those upsetting things. A servo skull flew over, scanned the ground servants with its electronic prosthetic eye, and then flew straight out of the training room, along the corridor, towards a location inside the royal court.

Fifteen minutes later, accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps, Leo turned around, looked at his gloomy-faced fighting brother behind him, and a deliberate smile appeared on his face.

"The Owen brothers meet again."

"Yes, our dear Company Commander, what a coincidence! This is the third time we've met this week. Again, at this training ground, and again because a fighter servitor was shot and unable to continue working. It forced me to take a break from all my current troubles to come and provide you with a private 'special service'."

Shrek Owen emphasized the last few syllables of his words, which made Leo look away and pretend that none of this had anything to do with him.

However, the technical sergeant had no intention of continuing to argue with him. After venting his anger, he went to the damaged servant, squatted down, and began to check its condition.

As it turned out, the damage to the servant was much more serious than he had imagined.

"Oh my god, are you treating him like an alien? Or some traitor who has completely betrayed humanity?"

The test results are in. According to Irving's assessment, it will take at least three days for this servitude operator to return to the training ground and continue performing his duties.

This gave him a headache, since the situation was very different from before—in the Huron faction back then, many of the technical soldiers were on the other side because of the forging master Almenus.

Most of these technical sergeants were not the kind of people who had been misled; many of them had participated in the chaotic ritual structure and were outright traitors.

Fortunately, they were all gathered on the third floor of the main building on the night of the coup, holding a meeting, and were promptly sent to their deaths by artillery fire.

However, this has led to a serious problem.

That is, after the coup ended, the entire Star Claw's technical sergeants numbered only thirteen.

The small number of people was already a strain even for a thousand-strong battle group that adhered to the sacred texts, let alone the Star Claws, which were severely overstaffed.

The maintenance of equipment for over three thousand people, along with the daily task of calming the war machines in the armory, all fell on the shoulders of thirteen individuals. Even with the emergency mobilization of artisans from among the mortal servants and the assignment of more work to the assistant priests, they could barely ensure that daily operations would proceed without problems.

Owen, who was designated as the new Master Foundryman, has begun to fulfill his responsibilities. He selected a group of people from the recruit company and, through a combination of coercion and persuasion, brought them to the armory as apprentices. He plans to send these people to the nearby Foundry World for thirty years of technical sergeant training once Terra's decree is issued.

However, the technological soldiers of the future are, after all, of the future. In the present, Star Claw relies on these thirteen people to carry out their work.

It's fair to say that Irving once considered whether he should undergo some mechanical modifications to gain a better brain for thinking and calculation, as well as a tireless body.

Under these circumstances, their company commander has increased his workload three times in one week.

"You really have too much free time. I suggest you apply to go to the bottom level of the nearby Nest City and wander around. The feeling of cleaning up garbage will probably help you relax a lot."

"........"

"Didn't you look for those people in your company... those who were given responsibilities by Lord Lynch? I remember that in private, everyone called them the Watchmen, the Watchmen of Loyalty, the Watchmen of the Warband, and the Watchmen of Unity."

"........"

Faced with Leo's silence, Owen sighed helplessly. He roughly knew what was going on with this company commander, after all, after returning to the company camp that day, the commander had privately spoken to all the sergeants of the company twice, expressing his determination to wash away the shame with his actions.

To put it bluntly, until they take an action that can wash away their shame, the other party will probably remain in this state, this state of holding their breath.

So, should we tell the other party that message?

Irving lowered his head and fell into thought. After a while, he shook his head slightly and made his decision.

I'll just consider it a way to reduce my workload for the next few days. Hopefully, after they find out about this, they'll calm down and stop damaging so many training machines.

"Let me tell you some inside information. A few days ago, Ryan came to me and asked if the Chapter had enough Terminator power armor and weapons for the Honor Guard."

"you mean......."

"Yes, stop torturing the servants lately. See if there are any veterans in the company with sufficient strength, and train them together. If I'm not mistaken, it shouldn't be long before some people are selected to serve as Lord Lynch's Honor Guard."

Owen nodded, confirming Leo's unspoken suspicion.

"After all, once Terra's personnel arrive, it would be somewhat inappropriate for Lord Lynch, as the current 'Chapter Leader,' not to be accompanied by a Honor Guard. Do you understand?"

"I also believe that as members of the Honor Guard, following and protecting Lord Lynch is a good way to prove your loyalty."

Chapter 64 A Day Traveling Through the Land of Cattle and Horses

Inside the room, Lynch was signing a document.

He has been living like this for almost half a month now, which makes him seem to be getting quite adept at doing this now.

With Horus's assistance, although his brain was still only at the level of a mortal, he still managed to browse, review, and finally sign his name on the 120-page document with accompanying materials in front of him within 15 minutes.

The quill pen wrote out the spelling of "Lynch" in High Gothic, and the font didn't look very pretty, but it represented the highest power symbol of Badab at this time.

After finishing, Chuan Chuan Niu Ma put down his pen and stretched out his other hand. He tapped the table with his index finger knuckle, and the crisp sound echoed in the small room, waking up the servant who was standing motionless in the corner.

The servant moved with a stiff posture, reaching out to pick up the thick document on the table, and uttering a brief, urgent confirmation with a cold quality from its throat.

Without giving any further orders, it left the room with the document in its hand. About three minutes later, the document appeared before the warband's mortal assistants, who would then relay the specific commands it represented.

There were about a dozen more documents on the table, just as thick as the ones he had just signed. Lin Qi was confident that once the servant returned, he would be given new tasks. So, for those brief three minutes, he simply chose to slack off and wait for the servant to return before continuing his work.

"So you guys are really freaks. I'm already exhausted managing a warband of three thousand men, plus dealing with things in the surrounding hives. And you guys were managing legions of over a hundred thousand men, plus a whole bunch of mortal support troops... tsk tsk tsk..."

Lynch complained to Horus that during the time he had been working, the more he worked, the more he could feel the terror of the various Primarchs, especially Guilliman.

With Horus's soul assisting him, he could even say that he didn't think about many of the decrees at all; Horus simply spoke, and he was responsible for recording them.

Even so, he still felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Your body is too weak. There is no genetic modification technology. Although your psionic energy level is okay, it is still not enough to make up for this deficiency."

Horus spoke calmly, explaining the reason for Lynch's current state.

"As an ordinary mortal, you have already done quite well to reach this level, but it is not enough, especially in terms of your future responsibilities."

"What can I do then? Go and undergo Astartes modification? The apothecaries of the Star Claws aren't that skilled. Back then, Luther of the First Legion had to be handled by specialists, and even then, he was only a partially Astartes."

Lynch shrugged helplessly at Horus's words, but he did think of someone. If that person were to perform the surgery on him, he might be the one in the Empire with the best chance of success in this era.

Belisarius Caul.

This is the name of that person, who is a great sage of the Mechanic Church on Mars in the present era.

He is also a scientific genius who has been fulfilling his mission for ten thousand years, but according to Martian doctrine, he should be judged as a heretic.

As a great sage of the Mechanicus, Kaul accumulated countless pieces of knowledge over ten thousand years.

Based on this knowledge, he also created a series of things that were considered groundbreaking and extraordinary even by the standards of the entire galaxy.

But among all these things, if there is anything that is the most dazzling, then without a doubt it is the original Astartes that will appear in the future.

Through millennia of research, Kaul successfully improved the Astartes procedure, and the Astartes produced through this improved procedure became the original Astartes.

They are taller, bigger, stronger, and more powerful than the original Astartes, and even have a higher success rate in terms of modification.

This is enough to prove how powerful Caul's biological knowledge is; probably all the biological sages in the Mechanicus combined would not be a match for him.

This is why Lynch believes that if he were to perform the Astartes modification on him, it would be the most likely success in this era. He might even be able to transform himself into a Proto-Astartes with a single move.

However, at this point in time, the other party is still in a phase of appearing and disappearing unpredictably, spending their days roaming the entire galaxy in their mechanical ark. The probability of finding them is about the same as winning the lottery.

Unless the Emperor gives the other party a revelation so that they come to him, Lin Qi doesn't expect to actually encounter them.

Lin Qi shook his head slightly, stopping his wild thoughts. The door to the room opened, and he instinctively assumed it was the servant returning, so he immediately picked up the pen on the table and straightened his back.

Office mode activated!

"grown ups."

The familiar voice made Lin Qi pause slightly. He looked over and found that the person was not the servant assigned to his side, but Asford, who had disappeared for several days.

The soldier stayed by Ryan's side for the first few days, but then suddenly disappeared.

At first, Lin Qi talked about the other party for a while, but later, according to Ryan, the other party had awakened spiritual power, so Eric took him away to train and supplement the think tank power that was also scarce in the battle group. After that, he stopped paying attention to him.

After all, following me would only mean running errands; it would be better to go to the think tank for training and make some practical contributions to the future of the chapter.

Asford wasn't wearing a helmet, leaving his dark eyes exposed to the air. They appeared calm, yet seemed to be brewing some unreadable emotions.