The war on Cortosa III Worlds came to an end.
The demons were banished back to the Warp, and the traitors were all executed.
The entire process was very short, mainly due to the immense power of Dora Workshop.
As the most powerful industrial group formed by Players, Dora Workshop possessed an incredibly exaggerated armed force.
Not only did it have the friendship of multiple Battle Groups, Knight Houses, and Titan Legions, allowing them to assist in combat, but it also recruited a large number of Players and organized local military legions.
Most importantly, their weaponry and equipment could only be described as inhumanly lavish.
Even the most ordinary logistics soldiers were clad in tech-armor, with maxed-out protection and firepower.
A mere penniless Chaos Warrior warband was easily annihilated.
After the battle, Dora Workshop even dispatched professional construction teams to rebuild the world.
This action brought the already grateful defending generals and rulers to tears, and they all expressed sincere thanks to Dora.
To show their gratitude for Dora Workshop's assistance, they also passed a resolution allowing Dora Workshop's products to enjoy tariff reductions and various industrial support policies on Cortosa III Worlds.
Such a good thing might have been boasted about in the past, but now, for Dora, it was merely another market requiring the distribution of industrial profits.
Due to the requirements of the Imperial Economic Act, if an enterprise or Forge World wishes to sell goods to a certain world, it must assist that market in achieving ecological status.
Simply put, you must allow that market to have opportunities to make money before you can enter it to sell.
Otherwise, it would be economic plunder, and the Imperial Legal Department would intervene.
For this reason, Dora was not particularly concerned about the resolution passed by the rulers of Cortosa III Worlds; he was more interested in the hidden quest mentioned in the chat channel.
A Player who does not actively seek out hidden quests is not qualified.
The demons and traitors were defeated too quickly; they died before any intelligence could be extracted.
This made Dora feel as if the sky had fallen.
He had finally come out for an expedition, only to accidentally eliminate a hidden quest.
With no other option, Dora could only seek Cortana's wisdom, hoping she could point out where Abaddon's desired key fragments were located.
Considering that this guy had created the Sky Punishment Colossus, Alex had Cortana respond to him, guiding him to an ancient artifact buried deep beneath the Hive City.
"Thank you, benevolent Cortana," Dora exclaimed, dancing with excitement. "Thank you, great Operation."
Dora had someone retrieve the ancient artifact and take a photo to post in the chat channel.
Warmaster: "Black box, definitely a black box. Why would Cortana Guide you?"
Zigman: "Nepotism should die!!"
Little Alpaca: "Resolutely resist nepotism."
Desert: "Disgraceful, utterly disgraceful."
"…"
Dora: "…"
"Envious, aren't you? Jealous, aren't you? I am a connected person, what can you do to me?"
"Cortana even said she would award me a golden eagle medal, the highest level, to be presented in front of the Emperor, and announced throughout the entire Imperium."
"…"
Alex also saw Dora's smugness and subtly publicized this guy's location, even allowing Players to teleport to his side.
He was absolutely not retaliating because the other party thanked the Operation but not the Guide.
It was merely to maintain game harmony.
Alex silently thought in his heart.
"Beat him."
"Don't let Dora escape."
Seeing an opportunity, the Players all activated their teleportation.
Upon meeting, they threw punches, aiming straight for Dora's face, intending to severely teach this show-off a lesson.
"Official, you * *," Dora scurried away, clutching his head, cursing the official.
Aside from the official, how else would these guys know his coordinates and instantly teleport over?
As soon as Dora finished cursing, with a bang, a dazzling bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere, striking everyone, including him, until they were charred on the outside and tender on the inside.
Warmaster: "…"
Tenjiro: "…"
Desert: "…"
"…"
The Players involved in the beating were also speechless; how could they be caught in the crossfire?
It was Dora who cursed the official, not them!
Why did it strike them too? Was there no logic anymore?!
Alex, seeing this, burst out laughing.
The official was the Emperor; he was, at most, a tool.
As a result, he dug a pit, the Emperor got cursed, and these guys even suffered a punishment.
"Master, I feel like you're a bad guy." Cortana rolled her eyes at Alex upon seeing this scene.
"Hahaha, Master is not a bad guy," Alex said. "I'm just adding to the game's fun."
"Excuse," Cortana said. "It's all an excuse."
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Alex waved his hand, changing the subject. "Are the slots for the fourteenth batch of Players ready?"
"They are ready, Master." Cortana nodded. "Do you want to check?"
"Not this time, I trust you." Alex finished speaking, then added a few more words, "Remember to filter them; don't let those disloyal to the Emperor in."
"Understood, Master." Cortana nodded.
"Oh, by the way, several expansion packs have been released recently." Alex asked about the expansion packs.
During this time, he had been busy, and Cortana had been handling the expansion packs.
"A total of 26 have been released, 18 have concluded, and all rewards have been distributed."
"Very good. Release another one: 'Prevent Abaddon from collecting the Webway boring machine fragments.'"
Alex knew why Abaddon was collecting those so-called key fragments: it was for Vashtorr's plan.
And that bad seed, Vashtorr, definitely wanted to synthesize the Unharmonious Engine to find the treasure trove left by the Old Ones.
They absolutely could not be allowed to succeed.
"Okay, Master, I'll get right to it." Cortana nodded.
She was very fast; in a short while, she had prepared the new expansion pack, "Prevent Abaddon."
Alex reviewed it, confirmed there were no issues, then had Cortana upload it to the Warhammer OL official website, setting it to be released promptly at 6 PM.
"Okay, Master." Cortana immediately followed his instructions.
After the new expansion pack was released, it, like previous ones, sparked heated discussion.
Comments surged, reaching 999+ in no time.
The comments from the young netizens were the same as before: half were happy about the new expansion's release, and the other half lamented why they still hadn't received a slot.
And the Players actively discussed it.
Subsequently, they organized themselves and continuously launched attacks on Abaddon's Pale Fleet, preventing them from continuing to collect fragments.
The Sky Punishment Colossus created by Dora Workshop was immensely powerful, with all-around performance crushing the Ark of Omen, but its production was too low, requiring a long time to build one ship.
The construction speed of the Ark of Omen, however, was much faster.
The raw materials were all salvaged from the Warp, combined with Chaos evil power, allowing one to be created in a few days, making the production efficiency terrifying.
The Players tried their best but failed to prevent the Chaos forces from collecting enough key fragments.
For this, different Player organizations united and headed to the ruins of Planet Caliban, hoping to prevent Abaddon from truly synthesizing the Unharmonious Engine.
As the Players were busy preparing for the impending major battle, on the Bridge of the Vengeful Spirit, Abaddon stood before Falkus Kibre, issuing a new round of combat missions.
Falkus Kibre, this Chaos Warrior, was a former cadre of the First Company of the Sons of Horus, now still loyal to Abaddon.
His shrewdness and competence allowed Abaddon to confidently entrust many important tasks to him.
Most of the missions to collect key fragments were commanded by him.
Vashtorr, composed of steel and molten iron, stood beside Abaddon.
Only after Abaddon finished issuing the mission did he speak.
"Now we have gathered two-thirds of the fragments, but the most crucial Tuchulcha Engine is still missing."
"It should have been in the Rock Fortress, but now, there's nothing there."
"We will find it," Abaddon said calmly. "As long as it exists in this universe, it's impossible not to find it."
Just as Vashtorr and Abaddon were discussing the Tuchulcha Engine, a subordinate came to report that an Alpha Warband requested an audience, claiming they had accidentally seized the Tuchulcha Engine.
"This warband should be rewarded. What are their names?" This made Abaddon overjoyed; he had originally thought it would take a lot of effort, but who would have thought it would be delivered right to his doorstep?
"They said they are the The Sitting-and-Forgetting Dao," the reporting warrior said.
Abaddon frowned.
He felt there was something wrong with the warband's name.
So, he had someone inquire with the nearby prophetic sorcerer.
However, after divination, the sorcerer stated that this warband was completely normal, without any issues.
Abaddon still had doubts, so he ordered the sorcerers to divine several more times.
Only when the results were consistently the same did he dispel his suspicions.
"A truly strange name, but it doesn't matter. They must be heavily rewarded. Whether it's gene-seed, slaves, or weaponry, it can all be given to them."
The warrior responsible for the announcement conveyed Abaddon's words to the The Sitting-and-Forgetting Dao warband, and they quickly replied.
"No, we don't need these. We want to see what kind of creation these key fragments will become once synthesized. Please allow us to observe this grand event up close."
"The Alpha Legion is always so cunning, so unfathomable." Hearing the The Sitting-and-Forgetting Dao warband's reply, Abaddon paced back and forth.
Based on his experience dealing with the Alpha Legion, these guys were probably brewing some evil scheme.
But after considering his own strength and the great endeavor that was about to be completed, Abaddon felt that no matter what conspiracy these Alpha Legionnaires had, they couldn't stir up trouble.
With a mere flick of his hand, he could wipe them all out.
"Grant their request. When the keys are united, they are worthy of observing from up close."
Abaddon agreed to their request.
"We agree," the representative of the The Sitting-and-Forgetting Dao warband said. "Thank you for the Despoiler's benevolence and generosity."
Soon, the Tuchulcha Engine was delivered to the Vengeful Spirit.
After multiple rounds of inspection, confirming there were no issues, Abaddon and Vashtorr showed satisfied expressions.
Thus, their plan was nearing its end, with only one final step remaining: uniting the key fragments.
"What exactly is this thing?" Before executing the final plan, Abaddon decided to first clarify the full story of this plan.
He didn't want to be fooled by Vashtorr as a muddle-headed fool.
He had to firmly grasp the initiative.
He must never be led by the nose by these Warp creatures like Horus was.
"If you don't reveal all the truth, then I will not execute the final step of the plan for you."
Hearing Abaddon's questioning, Vashtorr let out an unpleasant laugh.
He watched the Despoiler, silent for a moment, organizing his thoughts, wondering where to begin.
"I know what you desire, Abaddon. You yearn to see the galaxy burn, to see the Emperor fall from his shattered throne."
"And the plan we are executing will grant you an ancient creation guaranteed to bring victory."
"Once you possess it, you will easily win victory and fulfill your ten-thousand-year-old ambition."
"So what is it?" Abaddon asked. "I don't wish for a shattered galaxy; I wish for my era to dawn after ending the Emperor's rule."
"The Unharmonious Engine," Vashtorr provided the answer.
Abaddon, however, frowned; he had never heard of this thing.
Perhaps seeing the plan on the verge of success, Vashtorr patiently recounted the history of the Unharmonious Engine.
"Before your race even possessed civilization, many ancient races had already emerged, and some of them were powerful enough to rival gods."
"One faction was called the Old Ones, and the other was called the Star Gods. Due to some reasons, a war broke out between them, unleashing terrifying power."
"Stars fell, and all things were destroyed. That great war was terrifying, and the cost was incomparably tragic, with these gods falling one after another. And their kin, fearing the creations left behind by these gods, sealed them away in a realm that was neither Immaterium nor material."
"After sealing these creations, they then broke apart the keys and placed them in different parts of the galaxy to prevent anyone from opening the sealed place."
"Do you know where this treasure trove is? Do you know how to open it?" Abaddon's heart stirred.
If he could obtain those powerful creations, he could not only deal with the Emperor but also with the gods.
Whether it was the Warp or the Reality, both should be ruled by Abaddon.
Those so-called gods should either become his servants or be annihilated by him.
"These fragments we have collected are for finding the sealed place and opening the seal," Vashtorr said. "Now, we have collected all the fragments; it's time to merge them and forge the Unharmonious Engine."
"The Unharmonious Engine possesses unimaginable power, capable of easily penetrating the Warp and the mortal realm."
"The Webway!!" Abaddon's face showed surprise.
Vashtorr nodded. "The Old Ones' Webway was built relying on it."
Abaddon's face showed ecstatic joy.
The Imperium had already lost the Nakmund Corridor; if he also destroyed the Webway, wouldn't they be completely finished??
Without the Webway, the Imperium would be completely split in two, forever losing half of its territory.
"Let us begin as soon as possible. I can't wait to see the despairing expressions of those Primarchs and the Emperor Saint."