Cold puddles, a towering dome.
The stench of rotting flesh mingled with the acrid smell of gunpowder began to spread.
Yukiteru Amano jolted awake from a state of unconsciousness. The freezing water surrounding him snapped him out of the hazy illusion of death.
Where am I?
The surroundings were utterly desolate. Looking up, there was no sky, only a colossal dome. It looked like a massive landfill.
He stood up unsteadily. Before he could take more than a few steps, he saw them: countless corpses. Their bodies were twisted in agony, their faces contorted into hideous masks of pain. Severed limbs and broken organs were strewn everywhere.
"Holy crap! What the hell is going on?"
Yuki had never seen such a scene in his life. Terrified, he stumbled backward, only to be tripped by another corpse.
The stench and the gore made him retch violently, but his stomach was empty; nothing came out. The distant sound of gunfire and artillery only added to his physical distress.
He held his breath, forcing himself to analyze the situation calmly.
I probably got isekaid after being hit by that car.
Transmigration isn't necessarily a bad thing. Usually, the protagonists in novels get some kind of "cheat" or to dominate their new lives.
Surely my luck couldn't be this bad?
"By the Emperor! You're alive?"
Yuki looked toward the source of the voice. A young girl, looking quite disheveled and clutching a gun, cried out in alarm.
She wasn't speaking Japanese, or even English, but Yuki didn't have time to wonder why he could understand her perfectly.
What did she say?
What does she mean, "By the Emperor"?
Which Emperor is she talking about? Fumihito? The Emperor?
It couldn't possibly be... the Emperor of Mankind?
"Why haven't you evacuated yet! The Genestealer Cult has launched a counter-attack! I'm with the Adeptus Arbites—get up, now!"
Arbites... Genestealer Cult...
Yuki felt as if he had been struck by lightning. What other "Arbites" could there be?
Warhammer 40,000. An IP created by a township enterprise in Nottingham with massive global influence. Its setting was a hodgepodge of various tropes, but the overall tone could be summarized in one phrase: A giant cesspool.
In this universe where gods and souls truly existed, every race was nothing more than fuel for the Great Game of the Four Chaos Gods.
Here, living was a torment, and death was often worse.
And the Genestealers were one of the most terrifying threats—the vanguard of the Tyranid Hive Fleets. They were a species born solely to satisfy the Hive Mind, the eternal hunger of the Great Devourer.
"Don't just stand there!"
Yuki wanted to curse. He wanted to use ancient, pure High Terran (Mandarin) to scream obscenities at everything in this world. But as the sound of artillery drew closer, the girl grabbed him and started running.
"Dammit, they're advancing too fast! Follow me!"
The girl pulled Yuki along. As they ran, he noticed the flesh beneath his feet becoming softer. Maggots and black fluids oozed out with every step.
Corpses were half-buried in the soil, left to rot naturally. It was debatable whether they could even be called "human" anymore; he saw bodies with tentacles growing from their heads, others without noses, and one with a malformed eye protruding from its right cheek.
They were everywhere, packed tightly together.
Their bodies were all exceptionally gaunt—including the Arbites girl who was helping him. Due to malnutrition and wasting, they looked somewhat inhuman.
In contrast, Yuki was well-built with a ruddy complexion. His healthy, tanned skin made him stand out like a crane among a flock of chickens.
The girl spotted a small squad—a fire support point established nearby—and immediately rushed over to join them. "Hey! What unit are you from? Where's the armored support? Our people have been wiped out!"
Yuki saw the gaze of the Arbites soldiers shift toward him.
The girl began arguing heatedly with them.
"What are you saying? He's human! Look at him, he looks nothing like a Genestealer!" she argued desperately. "We've already abandoned countless people. Can't we save just one? Just this one, please?"
"Crap!"
Before Yuki could even process the situation, a slug whizzed past his face. The deafening crack nearly shattered his eardrums.
"What the hell is wrong with you people?!"
In that instant, Yuki established his first goal: escape from these lunatics first!
Disregarding the disgusting slime coating his body, he bolted.
The arguing girl and the Arbites pursuers were momentarily stunned. What? A peasant who can keep running after being shot at? Does he usually eat this well?
"You idiot! How did you miss?!"
Seizing the opportunity, Yuki fled like a stray dog off its leash. The Arbites behind him shouted for him to stop, but he didn't look back.
"Damn it, do you want to send us all to the Inquisition?"
The fire team didn't have time to scold the girl further. They immediately aimed their heavy bolter at Yuki, but he had already vanished into the shadows.
"We must catch him! A lone Genestealer is more dangerous than a whole pack!"
Yuki ran through a cluster of shanties surrounded by corpses. The roar of cannons and shrill shrieks grew louder. Suddenly, his foot sank into a swamp.
A swamp, in a broad sense, refers to any wetland—the result of surface and subsurface soil being saturated over time.
Two things are needed for a swamp: soil and water.
Even a college student like Yuki, who preferred slacking off, remembered one bit of common knowledge: at least sixty percent of the human body is water.
A swamp of corpses trapped Yuki. In the distance, he saw the Arbites closing in.
Looking at the corpse-fluid that had already reached his shins, his will to survive took over. He took a deep breath and crouched down, submerging himself in the foul liquid.
Stay alive. The only goal right now is to stay alive!
The stench and pain didn't dull his hearing.
"Dammit, did that bastard get away? You stupid bitch, what unit are you from?! I'll have you court-martialed and shot!"
"Sir! We should probably head back now."
"But looking at him, he didn't look like a resident of the Underhive. Even in the Mid-hive, you rarely see someone that healthy."
"Still talking back? Then tell me, why was he in the Underhive? Why did he appear right on our battlefield with the Genestealers?"
Yuki felt a surge of despair. The nausea made him want to gasp for air, but his survival instinct forced him to endure. In the world of Warhammer, if you die, your soul falls into the hands of the Warp—only to suffer more torment.
"Time is tight, the mission is... Watch out behind you!"
A series of whoosh sounds followed, then the sound of sharp blades piercing flesh and bone.
Yuki couldn't hold his breath any longer. He poked his head out of the corpse-water. Warm blood splashed onto his face—unlike the freezing fluid around him, it carried a touch of warmth.
He looked up. A girl, resembling a white-and-pink mandrake, appeared before him.
Pink hair, pink eyes, and skin as white as snow. She held a dark umbrella, shielding both herself and Yuki.
Several chitinous appendages extended from her back, impaling the Arbites soldiers and suspending them in the air. Their blood ran down the purple umbrella in steady droplets.
Yuki's heart thudded violently against his ribs. He had never met this girl before, yet he knew exactly who she was.
"Yuno?"
Why is my girlfriend in the world of Warhammer? And why did I recognize her instantly?
He instinctively tried to back away. He was covered in thick, stinking, dark-brown filth. But Yuno didn't seem to care; her skirt trailed in the foul swamp of corpses.
She reached out, wiping the grime and blood from Yuki's face. With a voice that carried both profound sorrow and immense joy, she spoke:
"You really did come, didn't you my love?"