Mortarion violently crashed into the xenos lines. His scythe spun rapidly in his hands, reaping xenos in swathes.
Calas Typhon led a small contingent of elite warriors, whom Mortarion had named the Death Guard.
The Death Guard had already followed Mortarion into the toxic mists several times, repelling xenos attacks and securing victories.
The Death Guard charged into the breach Mortarion had torn open, attacking the xenos with their scythes.
Most of the people remained guarding the edges of the fields, the food they depended on for survival.
In this impoverished world, food was something to be defended with one's life.
"It's him!" cried a xenos, its skin completely ashen from living in the most toxic mountainous regions, its voice filled with terror.
Mortarion had led his followers to storm several mountain fortresses controlled by the Overlords.
The tales brought by fleeing kin were varied, but all agreed: the Pale King's Death-Son possessed superhuman combat prowess.
But there was only one Death-Son, while the Overlords had an endless supply of undead troops.
The Overlord commander issued orders to the captive humans, transformed into shambling corpse-soldiers.
A common tactic of the Overlords was to drive their psychically-altered human corpses to attack the enemy first.
After weakening the foe, they would launch the decisive strike.
Against the Death-Son, this tactic was to be employed especially well.
"Servants of the Undying God, hold him back!"
Upon the commander's order, over a dozen Overlord sorcerers, bodies swathed in robes, raised their staves.
Green light shot from the tips of the staves. A weird light ignited in the eyes of the shamblers as they lurched towards Mortarion and the Death Guard.
Green pus oozed from their bodies, falling to the ground and raising foul, green-tinged smoke.
Mortarion swung his scythe with immense force, a sweeping horizontal slash.
He shouted to the Death Guard: "Target the shamblers first!"
If the shamblers reached the field areas, not only would the crops be damaged, but the land itself would be contaminated.
Arable land was already scarce on Barbarus. If the soil were polluted, countless would starve to death.
The Death Guard clashed with the shamblers. Scythes swung; severed limbs and rotten chunks of flesh pattered to the ground.
The Overlords snarled as they charged the militia, brandishing their weapons.
In the first moments of contact, the militia's weapons were sent flying by the Overlords' immense strength.
Mortarion swept his blade, felling over a dozen shamblers.
Even in combat, he had the capacity to monitor the situation behind him.
Typhon and the other Death Guards swung their scythes left and right, strenuously cutting down one shambler after another. The situation was still manageable.
But the militia were being routed by the Overlords. Dozens had already fallen in moments, and over a hundred more had succumbed to the sorcerous fumes.
'After the battle, hundreds, thousands will die. More will be captured, transformed into mindless shambling corpses.'
'Damn it!'
'Hateful xenos! Despicable sorcery!'
Mortarion's eyes filled with rage. He swung his scythe like a windmill, stirring up the green smoke.
The Death Guard felt their master's fury. Silently, they swung their scythes, hacking into the shamblers.
Scythes split shambler skulls; blades sliced through necks and chests.
Rotten flesh splattered; pus and blood clung to the scythes.
The scythes hissed and grew heavier.
On one Death Guard's scythe, near the handle, a sharp crack sounded.
The wood, as if buried in a swamp for millennia, rotted and shattered.
The scythe fell to the ground. Shamblers lurched towards him from both sides.
The Death Guard hastily used the broken wooden shaft as a horizontal bar, holding it before him to block the shamblers, retreating step by step.
The next moment, another Death Guard's blade curled upon impact, wedged in a shambler's skull.
Two shamblers rushed him. He released the scythe and stepped back.
Yet another shambler charged from the side, crashing into the Death Guard.
Just as it was about to grab him, Typhon lunged from the flank, swinging his scythe and cutting the shambler in two.
Among the people of Barbarus, his scythe was the largest. Though not as great as Mortarion's, it was far larger than the others.
"Stay close to me!"
Typhon growled low. He freed one hand, gripping the lodged scythe, and forcefully hacked the shambler apart.
"Gather on me!" Mortarion commanded coldly. The shamblers sent by the Overlords far exceeded his expectations.
Now, they could only abandon the fields and lead the Barbarans in retreat.
Typhon and the others immediately converged on Mortarion, forming the spearhead of a scythe formation.
Mortarion swung his scythe; shamblers fell rapidly. He led the Death Guard, charging towards the fields.
The striding giant suddenly halted.
His ears twitched. He looked skyward.
In the distant thick fog, a thousand meters high, a large flying object sped towards them.
It was larger than any bird Mortarion knew, yet it did not fly by beating wings like ordinary birds.
Mortarion quickened his pace. Whether it was a new creation of the Overlords or not, it clearly did not belong to the enslaved humans.
Mortarion attacked the Overlords to rescue captured humans.
The Overlord sorcerers raised their staves. Light enveloped the shambling corpses. Their sluggish steps immediately quickened somewhat.
The shamblers surged relentlessly towards Mortarion and the Death Guard. Mortarion growled low. He heard the aerial monstrosity descending.
At his fastest speed, he swung his scythe, cutting a path through the corpse-horde.
He swung his scythe, bisecting an Overlord through the chest, while simultaneously looking at the landing object.
It was a dark metal aircraft.
The moment it landed, a black-armored giant emerged.
Mortarion saw that the giant was taller than he was. It was the first time he had seen a humanoid being taller than himself.
A pair of golden wings spread from its back, more dazzling than the brightest thing visible on Barbarus, the pale sun.
Its face was covered by a mask of the same metal.
"Do you need help?" Nareth asked. While searching for Mortarion, Nareth had already penetrated the minds of the Barbarans, mastering the local language.
Before landing, after injecting the potion prepared by the "Biologist," he had cautiously allowed living metal to spread over his face.
'Help?' Mortarion was taken aback. He looked at the black-armored giant.
'It seems... human.' Mortarion thought. At the same time, he saw several of his own staggering and falling. He had no time to ponder where this being came from or its purpose.
He quickly said.
"Please, help me."
"Very well," Nareth replied. His right hand drew a plasma pistol, while his left arm rose.
Beams flashed; bolts roared.
Nareth deliberately avoided the Overlords' heads. The shimmering psychic glow reminded him that these xenos heads were clearly potion ingredients.
Diamond-hard bolts struck the Overlords' chests but did not penetrate their ashen hides.
A series of bolts hammered the same spot on an Overlord's body. Amidst the continuous explosive reports, the Overlord's resilient form was finally blasted apart.
The plasma culverin forged for him by Perturabo fired a brilliant beam, striking an Overlord's abdomen.
The beam pierced straight through the Overlord's belly. Its green innards burned within the energy stream.
Mortarion watched in astonishment as the black-armored giant swiftly killed Overlords, even faster than he could. In moments, several xenos had fallen.
His gaze lingered on the weapons in the black-armored giant's hands.
.....
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