Legend has it that in the era of the Great Expedition when the human emperor was still walking in the human world, tens of thousands of Astarte monks acted in groups on the scale of a legion, using earth-destroying firepower and raindropping capsules to slaughter all aliens, so that one world after another was subject to the steel torrent of the empire, leading mankind to expand among the stars.

Now, 10,000 years later, the Ultramarines on the planet Pamenio are fortunate enough to witness the grand scene of countless drop pods falling like a torrential rain that none of their dreadnought predecessors have ever seen. It's a pity that these drop pods are not made of alloy, and there is no U-shaped insignia of an Ultramarine.

Dense raindrops rubbed shoulder-to-shoulder, filling the otherwise open sky, and looking up, it was all black and oppressive scarlet, and countless creature drop pods wrapped in strange scale armor were scrambling to smash to the ground.

Following a loud piercing sound, it was like a giant standing up to the sky and the earth letting out a near-death moan. The occasional flare faintly illuminates the collapse of a steel-forged behemoth, Pamenho's most important space elevator that connects to the docked starport in orbit.

However, the once crowded dock has now collapsed, and the space elevator connected to it has also collapsed due to the excavation of the foundation.

"A bug that burrows into the ground has hollowed out the foundation of the space elevator! We can't go! "A blue-armored Astarte armed with a high-precision sniper rifle sat on top of the dome of the lobby of the planet's administrative headquarters with his back against the wall, panting.

Beneath his feet were endless waves of scarlet, insects swaying mountains and tsunamis, washing through the devastated structures in waves, extinguishing one by one the firepower points that the Ultramarines had set up throughout the building.

The executive hall is being taken over by bugs!

The vast majority of the defensive troops in the hall are only ultramarines who have not yet been officially armoured, and their combat power is only stronger than that of mortal elites, but they are still far from the regular Astarte.

In fact, even if the main force of the Ultramarines is stuck here, it may not be able to hold on for much longer.

Another flashbang streaked across the sky, and an Ultramarines recruit in basic armor rolled over the decomposing liquid thrown by the swarm to his combat brother with a sniper rifle.

"The space elevator collapsed, and we couldn't get out." The sniper reminded him again: "We can only hope that the previous call for help will be able to break through the blockade of the shadows of subspace." As for leaving Pamenio to go to Maculag to ask for help...... There's no chance anymore. ”

The recruit shook his head: "We still have a chance." I've investigated, and the end of the space elevator collapsed empty, presumably the orbital starport made an emergency disengagement before being dragged into the planetary gravity well by the collapsed space elevator. In other words, the starport is still barely operating outside the atmosphere, as long as we can find a way to break through the blockade of the swarm, fly out of the atmosphere, and enter the starport, there is a high probability that we can find a small boat! ”

The sniper's expression was solemn: "You may be right, but this is too risky, you don't even have a complete set of power armor......"

The recruit laughed: "Brother Astarte's strength lies not in the armor on his body or in the blaster in his hand, but in the faith in our hearts, and in the consciousness of dying generously for the emperor!" ”

With the dazzling light of the flares, the sniper looked at the resolute look on the recruit's face, and for a moment felt that his calm eyes were more dazzling than flares.

"I see." The sniper threw the spear in his hand casually, and took out a plasma pistol from the corpse of the fighting brother at his feet and held it in his hand: "I'll go with you, break through the blockade and fly out of the atmosphere!" ”

A hearty smile appeared on the recruit's face.

However, he had not laughed for a few seconds when suddenly, a dazzling tail of flame suddenly crossed the gloomy sky, and a blazing behemoth smashed through the sky and fell to the earth.

"Starport... Fell ......"

The sudden change left the recruit stunned in place, and his impassioned emotions and consciousness of dying for the emperor were extremely bewildered in the face of the overwhelming strength of the enemy.

Without saying a word, the sniper threw away the plasma pistol, picked up the sniper rifle that had just been thrown away by himself, and continued to snipe at the Zerg individuals suspected of being the command unit below the building. Even one is fine.

The scarlet tide rolls and rolls, and the arrival of the end is so sudden that it is unexpected. There are many people on the ground who still don't know what is happening on this planet, but they only see that the originally bright sky suddenly darkened, as if a huge celestial body was blocking them from the stars, obscuring all light.

The clear atmosphere of the planet was dyed an ambiguous pink by the spores of insect swarms flying everywhere, and the whole of Pamenio seemed to be completely covered in a dark red fog, which only felt oppressive and gloomy from the ground.

At this moment, only the dying people on the orbital starport that are falling can understand what kind of apocalyptic scene is outside the atmosphere and in space.

It wasn't the celestial bodies that blocked the light of the stars and plunged the entire planet into darkness, but a starry beast that was even bigger than the celestial bodies.

It roamed beyond Pamenio's orbit, the abyssal jaw large enough to swallow the asteroid slowly opened and spat out a mouthful of scarlet mist, an untold number of swarm spores and biological drop pods, completely submerging Pamenio.

This is a giant worm, an 'aether giant worm' that can swim freely in the aetheric turbulence of the sea of souls.

It was so large that the Ultramarines recruits on the ground felt as if their bodies had become lighter, as if they were about to float off the surface of the planet.

Its power is strong, and Pamenio's orbital defenses are vulnerable to its surprise attack, and a single tail swing is enough to kill a large part of the mighty battleship that the navy lords are proud of.

Its body was sturdy, and the countless orbital defense platforms that had been reduced to pieces and the harbor with torpedo firing arrays had launched a desperate counterattack before dying, and the concentrated fire of countless artillery pieces had not scratched even a single one of its scales.

Countless twisted and shattered pieces of metal were drawn by the enormous gravitational pull of the 'Aether Giant Worm', and slowly drifted around its body, like pieces of paper flying in the wind.

It's hard to imagine why such a behemoth didn't break its spine by its own weight.

The human empire is destined to be deprived of answers.

The Aether Worm just swam like this, wagging its tail patiently in Pamenio's orbit.

It waits for the destruction of the planet, for the countless swarms of ground forces to slaughter all the living creatures on the planet and boil them into a pot of organic soup that needs to be digested for its own indulgence.

(End of chapter)