The next day, when her body clock stirred her awake, Gaia opened her eyes.
As she looked up, she met the gentle, smiling gaze of her adoptive father.
Only then did she realize that he had not slept at all the entire night. He had remained in the same position the whole time, holding her in his arms.
Feeling both guilty and heartbroken, Gaia immediately got to her feet, wanting to let her adoptive father lie down and rest for a while. But at that moment, Myles's voice came from outside:
"Mask, the other four warbands have already moved out. We should get going too."
A little helplessly, Gaia put on her mask and stepped out of the tent.
...
The other four warbands moved ahead in an almost taunting manner, drawing the bloodthirsty madmen toward themselves in great numbers, and they did their job extremely well.
Aside from a few crippled monsters on the ground that needed finishing shots, the First Warband was hardly harassed at all by mutated freaks.
Gaia looked at the road ahead, a little surprised by how calm she felt now.
Just last night, she had panicked because of that prophecy of death, so why was she so calm today?
"But really, it was just a dream. What's there to fear..."
"Taking ten thousand steps back, judging from what a certain Primarch did, even if that prophecy is real, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. At the very least, it means I won't die before then."
With that extremely relaxed mindset, Gaia resolutely continued leading the First Warband on its penetration mission.
Although they did not run into any immediate danger along the way, the psychological pressure on everyone in the First Warband was immense.
Because as they advanced through the North District, they witnessed scenes so horrifying they turned the stomach.
Towers made of skulls. Withered trees draped in stitched human skin. Strings of bodies skewered from end to end and pinned in place...
The deeper they went into the North District, the more numerous these inhuman scenes of blood and cruelty became.
Those bloody and savage sights were like blasphemous paintings, as though they expressed some kind of art no mortal could possibly understand.
Gaia and the others could not understand it, nor did they want to.
While they felt fear at such brutality, fury also rose within their hearts.
What kind of monster could subject their own people to such merciless torment?
Suppressing the nausea in their hearts, they kept walking step by step across land stained red with blood.
If they wanted to end all of this, if they wanted the ones responsible to pay the price, then they had to reach the West District and destroy the node Raven had mentioned.
The baiting operation carried out by the other four warbands went very smoothly. Until the First Warband returned to the Wild Dog Gang stronghold where they had failed last time, they still had not encountered any large-scale groups of mutated monsters.
But although they had not been attacked by enemies, strange developments still caused losses within the First Warband.
The most serious of them was the increasingly frequent outbreaks of infighting.
For some reason, ever since they entered this silent land steeped in blood, the tempers of these Tearblood Gang scum had become as explosive as if they had swallowed gasoline.
A tiny verbal clash, or even a slightly unusual glance, could trigger a vicious argument or even fists flying.
Harelip alone nearly caused dozens of violent brawls.
Fortunately, Myles's intimidation and Gaia's command ability were still enough to keep these restless men under control.
But Gaia noticed with concern that as they went deeper, the situation was steadily getting worse.
Several times, Harelip had nearly been shot dead by the others.
Although a roll of tape had effectively eased the tension inside the team, if things kept deteriorating like this, Gaia could hardly imagine what would happen next.
Watching these changes and thinking of those deranged lunatics, her eyes flickered slightly.
Thankfully, in the short term, the First Warband was not yet at the point of turning on itself.
...
After several days of travel, the First Warband successfully reached the border between the North District and the West District.
Throughout the journey, they had encountered almost no obstruction at all.
That smooth progress only made the warning bells in Gaia's heart ring louder.
Because it meant a large number of enemies were gathering in the West District.
The fighting after entering the West District would be the real main event.
She opened the map the gang leader had given her and studied every possible route.
In the end, after careful consideration, she selected three viable paths.
The first was to use an underground tunnel to bypass the surface entirely and emerge from the middle of the West District.
That would avoid fighting the enemies on the surface, but whatever lurked underground might be even more dangerous...
The second was to break straight into the West District across an open stretch of ground along the edge of the North District.
That would avoid ambushes, but such a direct frontal approach might cause devastating losses to the First Warband.
The third was to take a road that ran close to the hive city.
Notably, that road passed near the transport elevator that connected to the Underhive and the Lower Hive.
And as an important transportation hub, the transport elevator would definitely be guarded by the Planetary Defense Force.
Passing through that area should be safer.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Gaia still chose the third route.
After all, even if the Planetary Defense Force was not on their side, as long as they were still guarding the transport elevator, that would still benefit the First Warband.
"I just hope they aren't still angry about the water purification tower... though they probably don't know we were the ones who did it, right?"
After settling on the route, Gaia immediately led everyone onward.
In a situation where safety was uncertain, speed was essential if they wanted to reduce unnecessary trouble.
She stayed in the center of the formation, calmly directing each squad on reconnaissance.
Normally, by Gaia's usual habits, she preferred charging at the front and leading the fight herself.
But ever since that strange atmosphere began hanging over the warband, she had chosen to stay in the center in order to protect her adoptive father.
Soon, as the group advanced, an enormous and majestic tower appeared before the First Warband.
This was the transportation artery that connected the Bottom Hive, the Lower Hive, and the Middle Hive: the hive elevator.
Strangely, the massive elevator car hung motionless in midair, as if someone had cut the power halfway through.
Still, since none of the reconnaissance squads had discovered any trace of enemies, Gaia ordered the warband to continue forward.
As she arrived beneath the side of the elevator, a strange sense of deja vu suddenly washed over her.
Why did this feel so familiar?
Frowning in confusion, she raised her head, and her pupils instantly contracted.
Accompanied by a blinding burst of fire, the upper section of the elevator tower began to collapse. Countless burning fragments rained down from the sky.
"Take cover!"
After shouting the order, Gaia immediately pushed her father's handcart and dodged in every direction, completely failing to notice Raven casually smashing a huge falling chunk apart with a single punch.
When the dust finally settled, Gaia raised her head, preparing to count the survivors.
But in that instant, her mind went blank.
The place where she stood was now surrounded by a vast stretch of blazing tower ruins.
Exactly the same as the scene in her dream.
And then, as if to confirm her guess, deep within the West District, a terrifying crimson pillar of light filled with savage violence shot into the sky, as though it wanted to tear the heavens apart.
Under the aftershock of that blood-red energy, Gaia felt a chill run down her spine.
The death foretold by prophecy was about to arrive.
(End of Chapter)
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