Chapter 371: Slaying the Daemon with a Sword
Just as the surviving Black Templars warriors were about to be driven to the brink of despair, and the Greater Daemon's blasphemous claws were about to tear through the last line of defense—
Heavy, swift footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Sigismund's figure, like a sharp blade tearing through the shadows, abruptly burst into the battlefield.
He did not hesitate in the slightest, not even letting out a battle cry. The power sword in his hand seemed to come alive, erupting with an unprecedented, searing light.
Facing the Greater Daemon's swinging claws, which were powerful enough to smash Leman Russ armor, Sigismund displayed the demeanor of the Imperium's foremost master of swordsmanship.
He did not choose to meet it head-on, but slid sideways with steps precise to the millimeter. Following his momentum, the power sword drew a simple, deadly arc, aiming straight for the joint of the Greater Daemon's wrist.
This strike forced the monster to retract its offensive, instantly breaking its combat rhythm.
"Reform formation!" Sigismund's voice was as cold as iron, transmitting through his helmet. "Flank and pin it down; do not look directly into its eyes!"
His arrival immediately changed the tide of battle.
The power sword danced in his hands, transforming into a continuous curtain of light, actually fighting the Greater Daemon to a standstill.
Every swing of Sigismund's sword accurately pointed at the weak links in the Greater Daemon's attacks. His masterful swordsmanship even faintly suppressed this terrifying entity, forcing it to let out furious shrieks.
However, even someone as strong as Sigismund revealed a lack of experience when facing this terrifying physical manifestation from the depths of the Warp.
He could rely on his extraordinary martial prowess to contend with it and even gain the upper hand, but he did not know how to completely obliterate this blasphemous existence.
Although every one of his slashes left a wound on the opponent, those wounds were repaired almost instantly by writhing flesh and fel energy.
Just as the battle fell into a stalemate, Ryo's massive mechanical body finally arrived at the battlefield.
He was a step slower than Sigismund, but the item held in his hand immediately attracted everyone's attention—it was a triangular stone pillar, shimmering entirely with a bizarre, fluorescent green glow.
Embedded in the center of the stone pillar was a sphere covered in fluorescent green patterns, currently emitting a peculiar energy field.
The moment this energy field spread out, the Greater Daemon let out a shriek of agony.
The fel energy halo around its body visibly dimmed, and those constantly rolling eyeballs experienced a momentary stagnation.
Even more surprisingly, the Black Templar warrior nearby who had sprouted light-blue fuzz—the abnormal mutation on his body actually began to slowly recede!
Under the suppression of the null field, the Greater Daemon's power rapidly declined, and its movements became sluggish.
Sigismund's offensive instantly grew sharper. The power sword sliced open the Greater Daemon's defenses time and time again, leaving deep wounds that exposed bone upon its body.
But even so, those wounds were still healing at a visible rate.
"This thing cannot kill it!" Sigismund growled lowly amidst the fierce clash. His sword edge tore through the Greater Daemon's wings once again, but the wound began to close in an instant.
Ryo's synthesized voice sounded steadily in the gaps between clashing weapons and blasphemous shrieks: "The null field can only temporarily suppress its regeneration and Warp connection."
His massive mechanical arms did not raise a weapon. Instead, from a concealed storage compartment on his chest, he precisely took out a special bolter round—slightly larger than standard, its casing engraved with complex geometric patterns and faintly flowing with a gloomy light.
He did not use it himself, but handed it to a Black Templar warrior beside him, whose armor was damaged but whose movements were still agile.
"Use this," Ryo's command was concise and clear. "Aim for its core."
Although Sigismund was in the midst of a fierce battle, his outstanding combat awareness allowed him to instantly catch Ryo's actions and intentions.
Without needing verbal communication, the momentum of his sword abruptly changed. The curtain of light cast by the "Emperor's Wrath" became denser and full of oppressive force. A series of exquisitely marvelous slashes and thrusts wove together like a net of death, forcefully drawing all of the Greater Daemon's attention and counterattack routes, locking it down right in front of him.
In the very instant the Greater Daemon revealed a brief opening due to Sigismund's fierce assault, the Black Templar warrior who received the order had already raised his weapon, aimed, and fired.
That specially made bolter round drew a highly unusual trajectory, silently burying itself into the Greater Daemon's eyeball-covered chest.
There was no violent explosion.
Instead, an unnatural, gloomy ripple that seemed to absorb light erupted from the point of impact.
The Greater Daemon let out a twisted, pitch-shifting wail. Its massive body, constructed of fel energy and malice, began to tremble and distort violently, like a holographic image with a poor signal.
The Warp energy constituting its existence became extremely unstable, and the terrifying bird-headed monster form flickered and collapsed madly between reality and illusion.
In this brief instant, deep within that continuously twisting, nearly disintegrating blasphemous form, a blurry but faintly discernible withered humanoid outline belonging to the old Navigator surfaced like a drowning man.
How could Sigismund miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
His movements were as fast as lightning. The power sword, carrying the resolute will to purify everything, drew a cold arc of light—
The blade swept past, and that twisted head—somewhere between a bird's head and a human skull—still wailing, was severed cleanly.
Sigismund slightly adjusted his breathing, the servo systems of his power armor letting out a faint depressurization hiss.
He looked at Ryo, pointing at the twisted remains gradually dissipating on the ground, and asked in a deep voice, "That bullet you used, what was it?"
Ryo's synthesized voice responded steadily: "A specific type of ammunition targeting Warp entities. The core is sealed with the ash and dust of an Untouchable. This is one of the results of my research on how to effectively counter Warp threats during the era of the Great Heresy."
Sigismund immediately realized the value of such ammunition, especially when facing terrifying entities like Greater Daemons of Chaos.
"The Black Templars need this weapon," he stated firmly, rather than requesting.
"The manufacturing process of the ammunition itself is not complex; the key lies in the materials," Ryo explained. "Untouchables themselves are extremely rare, and suitable individuals can only be encountered by chance, not actively sought. I only obtained one by chance, ultimately crafting about two hundred of these special bolter rounds."
Sigismund looked at the shattered doors of the Navigator's spire, his gaze heavy: "I'm afraid we will very much need them for the remainder of our voyage."
Ryo said no more. His mechanical hand reached into the storage space once again, taking out a metal magazine containing twenty neatly arranged special bolter rounds shimmering with a gloomy luster, and handed it to Sigismund. "Use them cautiously."
Sigismund took the magazine and stowed it securely.
Subsequently, his gaze once again fell upon the twisted breach of the Navigator's spire, his brows furrowed tightly.
Losing the Navigator meant that the Eternal Crusader had lost its eyes and compass in the Warp.
"We must drop out of the Warp immediately," he made his decision. "Blindly navigating without finding a new Navigator is tantamount to suicide."
(End of Chapter)