Antimar Subsector, World 33-59.
After the smooth submission of the Hive World, black transport ships descended from the sky, disgorging their cargo.
Following the commands of the Primarch, Legion serfs piloted Termite excavators into the sand seas between the hives.
The Squats had also answered Nareth's call, deploying Centaur all-terrain vehicles.
After receiving their orders, two Centaurs rolled out from the heavy iron gates of Hive Tertius.
The Squat alliance employed a Centaur formation for exploration, identical to the two-vehicle coordinated tactic used in combat.
The two vehicles descended a mountain of scrap metal piled high with steel residue, heading towards the target area marked by runes.
The young Squat driver, visiting a Hive World for the first time, looked out curiously.
The vast curved surface inside the ring lighting system refracted dazzling light under the star's rays, like sparkling diamonds, illuminating the hive hidden beneath brown smoke and scorched-yellow exhaust fumes.
Illuminated by this light, the two Centaurs, running side-by-side, sped down a slope of piled steel residue and onto the main road leading to the shantytown surrounding the hive.
Industrial sludge had become a quagmire after countless vehicles had traversed it. Sewage from the hive city covered the ground, surrounded by dilapidated, filthy buildings.
The Squat examined the images captured by the sensors on his viewscreen.
To the west of the shantytown, the rooftops of hive buildings rose and fell in ridges, countless streetlights dotting the mountains of garbage.
To the east lay the shantytown's agricultural processing plant, with chimneys and workshops stacked upon each other. The foul, sludge-grown fungal colonies, once harvested, were piled high.
To the south, on a dense farm 'plain,' several gigantic harvesters, assembled from structures of various origins, resembled colorful, mismatched beetles.
Drainpipes trailed behind the harvesters like tails, emitting not the sound of flowing water but a series of thuds as they expelled their contents.
Atomized clouds of mixture were sprayed into the atmosphere, condensing into sticky raindrops that fell.
Slimy rain pattered down across the entire shantytown.
Both drivers roared in disgust simultaneously, their vision and sensor feeds lost.
BOOM! BOOM!
The emergency brakes squealed as the wheels locked.
Green runes flickered, and the decontamination systems activated.
Dozens of seconds later, vision returned. Inside the left Centaur, the driver was about to start the vehicle when he saw a completely naked woman standing in front of it.
A gaping mouth grew where her navel should be, rotating as she writhed.
In the right Centaur, a man with a swollen, blotchy body, eyes bloodshot, extended a jet-black, long tongue, coiled between sticky, rotten teeth filling his mouth.
On the viewscreen, figures covered in goose-yellow barbs emerged from around a brazier.
From dark ventilation shafts poured people with grotesquely enlarged facial features and rippling, muscular bodies covered in folds.
Each one bore glaring yellow runes that flared up.
Warning runes signaling radiation.
Each person was a radiation source.
"Prepare to repel attack!"
After alerting the warriors in their vehicles, they issued a warning on the already adjusted, secure communication channel, using the local language provided by the Shadow of Order.
"We are on a mission for Lord Nareth, heading to the wasteland."
"Clear the way immediately!"
"Nareth?" Among the mutated crowd, a mutant with horns and an enormous head let out a bizarre shriek through his artificial vocal implant.
"Never heard of him." As he shrieked grotesquely, the sensors flickered with dense, flashing yellow runes.
Countless types of radiation mixed together; he resembled a monster more than a human.
He held a foul-smelling gun assembled from trash in one hand, a rusted broadsword on his shoulder, and a spiked club wrapped around an extra, coiled arm on his back.
His body was densely covered with swollen scales and bony plates, like an upright crocodile.
The thick spiked club looked exceptionally heavy, studded with dozens of nails, with sharp spikes embedded between them.
His fourteen eyes, hanging across his face, blinked in unison. His green pupils greedily examined the two unfamiliar vehicles.
The mutant twirled his spiked club, his fleshy nose tensing.
"It and it, stay. You, go."
As he spoke, hundreds of mutants with severely cracked skin surrounded the Centaurs in layers.
Both drivers simultaneously pressed the twin-linked bolter cannons on their vehicle fronts. Concentrated barrages flew out, pounding into the grotesque bodies.
Grotesque horse-like faces exploded, distorted, bent bones and fused soft tissue splattering.
Roar!
The crocodilian giant covered in scales spat a stream of bullets from his left arm, which clanged against the steel hull and ricocheted off.
BOOM!
The heavy spiked club smashed into the right Centaur. The hull, capable of withstanding destructive plasma explosions, cracked.
Near-solid mucus seeped into the cockpit, and the stench of liquefied cellulose flooded in.
Decomposed plant fibers mixed with metal shavings drifted down, dripping onto their void suits with a crackling sound.
The Squat's chest was corroded by the mucus, burning several finger-sized holes. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his foot on the accelerator.
Rumble!
The rotten fence panels shattered, and the hideous shantytown collapsed with a roar.
The mutants roared, drool dripping from their mouths, as they crazily chased the Centaurs.
The scaled, crocodilian giant ran, brutally shoving aside a dozen mutants. The coiled arm on his back swung rapidly, hurling the huge spiked club.
BOOM!
The heavy spiked club whistled through the air and smashed onto the top of the left Centaur.
CLANG!
Amid the dull impact, a high-energy beam cannon crashed to the ground.
The scaled crocodilian mutant roared in triumph, dropped his trash gun, and sprinted to retrieve the high-energy beam cannon.
"Prepare for explosion!" the driver shouted loudly, raising his hand and pressing a deep red button on the remote weapons station.
Dazzling red runes flared.
A blinding light engulfed both Centaurs.
Rumble!
Amid the massive explosion, a sound like a landslide erupted as countless mutants were torn to pieces.
The shantytown churned like a giant serpent turning over.
Foul sludge, dilapidated houses, and decaying machinery shot into the air before slamming against the armored hulls.
The two Centaurs lurched out, tilting and swaying. The viewscreen reflected the crocodilian giant, its body melted into a soft, pinkish fleshy tone.
Leaving the shantytown behind, the two Centaurs disgorged their five Hearthkin warriors each, all wearing void suits.
The Hearthkin warriors stepped onto the crystalline sand ground, and streams of information immediately flashed on their helmets.
[Corrosive industrial crystalline sand.]
[Corrosive threat level: Moderate.]
[Toxicity level: Moderate.]
[...]
The Hearthkin warriors glanced at the warning messages, unconcerned.
Their void suits were designed for various extreme environments and could handle the toxic sand seas of the wasteland.
What they needed to be wary of were those bizarre humans; radiation-mutated, they posed a considerable threat.
Within the defensive perimeter, the two drivers rapidly repaired the damaged Centaurs before setting off again.
The Centaurs sped across the endless sand sea, the target runes plummeting.
When the numbers shrank to 0.9 kilometers away, a strange shriek suddenly rang out.
The sound echoed, accompanied by a nauseating, sticky feeling, as if swollen, tumorous tentacles were burrowing into their brains.
"Enemy!"
The driver quickly glanced at the viewscreen, only to see a red glare. They seemed to have charged into a crimson swamp.
BANG! BANG!
The two Centaurs were caught by a tremendous force and hurled into the air, colliding with a loud crash.
The impact knocked out the damaged vehicle's control panel, leaving it black.
In the other Centaur's cockpit, red and yellow runes flickered amidst exploding sparks.
The driver slammed his fist onto the panel's emergency rescue rune. A vivid red beam suddenly shot up, piercing the murky yellow clouds.
BOOM! BOOM!
The two Centaurs spun and crashed into the sand sea. The world spun before the Hearthkin warriors' eyes as screams echoed in their heads.
Their faces pale, they crawled out of the vehicles and raised their bedrock-type boltguns, ready to attack the assailants.
The hunter modules on their void suits showed no response.
There was no enemy.
Eight Hearthkin warriors immediately formed a perimeter around the Centaurs, while the other two began rescuing the drivers.
Silently, a shadow materialized at the feet of one Hearthkin warrior.
WHOOSH!
The shadow suddenly surged upward. Invisible, spinning blades shredded the void suit layer by layer, flaying the Squat's tough flesh to reveal white bone.
"Ah..."
The Hearthkin warrior, suffering the death of a thousand cuts from the Blade of Shadowss, let out a piercing scream. The other seven warriors quickly scanned the surroundings.
The hunter modules still showed nothing.
A shadow rose at another warrior's feet, seizing his shadow.
WHOOSH!
The Hearthkin warrior was violently yanked down, his legs sinking into the sand sea.
He turned his bedrock-type boltgun and fired a concentrated barrage into the ground between his feet.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...
The other six Hearthkin warriors aimed around him, firing into the sand sea.
Amid the roar, crystalline sand flew. The warrior sank rapidly downwards.
Two Hearthkin warriors sprinted over, grabbing his body and pulling with all their might.
BOOM!
The sand sea suddenly collapsed, like a giant maw, swallowing the three men.
Four Hearthkin warriors looked around. Amidst the silence, dust and sand swirled.
BOOM!
A sudden explosion erupted from nowhere, and they all turned their gun barrels in unison.
....
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