As the saying goes, when the Deathwatch sets its sights on a planet, the xenos and Orks on that world might actually be the easiest to deal with!
Not that Orks are easy to fight, but Orks never resort to underhanded tactics!
Or at the very least, they don't rely solely on subterfuge like the Genestealers do!
Standing in the very center of the rebel camp, Sith looked up, a slight parting of his lips as he gazed upon the massive image of the God-Emperor before him.
For the Four-Armed God-Emperor was a common tool used by Genestealers to infiltrate the Imperium of Man.
By distorting the faith in the God-Emperor, they bewitched the suffering populace of the Imperium.
The full name of these 'Genestealers' is Genestealer, and they are the vanguard scouts originating from another great enemy of humanity: the Tyranids.
Their primary methods involve assimilating planets, stealing technology, and inciting rebellions to secure worlds for the Tyranid Swarm.
Therefore, when the Genestealers on a planet reach sufficient numbers, it often signals the impending arrival of another terrifying xenos enemy: the Tyranid Swarm.
And the Deathwatch's primary duty is to counter the infiltration of Genestealers into Imperial worlds.
"No wonder the rebels here fight to the death without retreating. Controlled by Genestealers, it's debatable whether these rebels even possess free will anymore!"
Sith helplessly averted his eyes from the Four-Armed God-Emperor, his expression one of utter exasperation at how every step seemed to bring new misfortune.
After all, the difference between one to two billion rebels and one to two billion Genestealers was astronomically vast.
With the former, if you kill a hundred million, the rest will likely break.
But with the latter...
You'd better pray your ammunition reserves outnumber their population.
"Orks on the outside, Genestealers within, and Chaos on the way."
"The fact that Alert Star still ended up with nearly ten billion people left is a testament to Calgar's capable command."
Sith muttered these complaints to himself. But scarcely a moment after lowering his head, he immediately snapped it back up, looking ahead.
His eyes were filled with anticipation.
Davi Luo strode out quickly. However, instead of immediately heading for the elevator to return as Sith had hoped, Davi Luo spoke directly:
"Confirmed. The rebellion in this Hive City was indeed instigated by Genestealers."
Sith glanced at the Four-Armed God-Emperor hanging high behind Davi Luo, feeling an even deeper sense of exasperation towards him.
Did that really require a lot of time to determine?
Sith didn't voice his thoughts. Davi Luo's next words completely dashed the hope in Sith's heart.
"Based on the intelligence gathered, we need to proceed to the Lower Hive. That seems to be a branch of the Genestealer operation."
"There, we can collect information regarding the corruption across the entire Alert Star."
As Davi Luo finished speaking, a violent explosion erupted from outside the fortress.
The veterans on the walls also opened fire with fierce intensity.
Pulling his gaze back from the flames that painted the entire Lower Hive's ceiling dome red in the distance, Sith suppressed the urge to curse, simply raised his sidearm, and spoke through gritted teeth:
"Which way?"
Flames, Bolter fire, lasers.
Within the vast, deep expanse of the Lower Hive, amidst dense clusters of towering, illicit structures, Genestealers surged incessantly from above, below, and all sides.
And at the center of this endless tide of Genestealers, a small team carved a path with overwhelming firepower, charging madly towards the Lower Hive ahead of the passage.
With one slash, Sith cut down a Genestealer that had suddenly burrowed up from the ground.
Seeing its form, now completely mutated and no longer human in the slightest, Sith's finger squeezed the trigger even more fiercely.
"Hybrid Genestealers are starting to appear!"
Genestealers also have ranks. Beyond the outermost humans controlled by them, there are higher-level units like Hybrid Genestealers, Aberrants, and Purestrain Genestealers.
And the combat power of these units increases qualitatively with each rank.
Take Aberrants, for example. In terms of raw strength alone, they are not inferior to an Astartes.
And as they drew closer to the Lower Hive, the Genestealers appearing began to be of higher and higher ranks.
Sith shouted the warning to Davi Luo, who was swinging his Chainsword, cleaving a fearless Mortal and sending blood and gore flying.
In response to Sith's warning, Davi Luo not only didn't reply, but instead suddenly looked deep into the passageway. As if finally spotting his objective for this mission, he abruptly broke away from the formation and charged forward at high speed.
Another Deathwatch member immediately followed suit. The previously tight formation was now broken!
Sith stared in shock as Davi Luo charged ahead alone. He couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath, his face flushing with a rare intensity.
"Captain, what do we do?"
A veteran quickly asked upon seeing this. Sith gritted his teeth, steadied his mind, and shot a Hybrid Genestealer that had leapt from the darkness beside him.
"Follow him!"
What else could they do? Davi Luo held the access codes for the elevator!
Gritting his teeth, Sith led the charge at the forefront. Now without Davi Luo, Sith pushed the team's speed to its limit.
The surrounding darkness teemed with an increasing density of Genestealers. The enemy seemed to have discerned the humans' intent and was frantically redeploying defensive forces from other areas.
He didn't know how long they had fought in the darkness, nor did he even notice when they had entered the Lower Hive.
When Sith pulled his combat blade from the eye socket of a massive Aberrant, and as the creature crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact, Sith finally raised his arm.
The team immediately halted. After fighting for so long, the hundred-strong force they started with was now down to ninety.
These were thousand-battle veterans. Although only ten had fallen, it still pained Sith.
But now, Sith had no time to dwell on his losses. For in the darkness ahead, a group of Genestealers scattered in panic from a corner. Where they had been gathered, an Astartes lay on the ground, his chest cavity completely caved in.
Sith nodded to the medic beside him. The medic rushed over, performed a quick examination, and then simply shook his head.
Sith couldn't suppress a shuddering exhale. With the surrounding Genestealers nearly converging into a sea, to lose another Astartes at this moment!
He stepped forward and opened the helmet's faceplate. Only after confirming it wasn't Davi Luo did he let out a slight sigh of relief.
Gunfire continued unabated around him. Sith scanned the area, then looked in the direction the fallen Deathwatch member was facing.
"That way!"
Sith commanded, and the veterans immediately followed him forward.
However, as they neared that area, the previously surging tide of Genestealers gradually stopped pursuing. Instead, they began to mill about anxiously just outside a certain perimeter.
The veterans exchanged glances, then all looked to Sith.
And Sith, staring into the profound darkness before him and the deathly silence within it that was utterly different from the outside, gritted his teeth, reloaded a fresh magazine into his sidearm,
and took the lead, stepping inside.
The Lower Hive was a darkness devoid of any light.
Underfoot was a soft, squelching muck of unknown substance.
The surrounding air carried a strange odor—not exactly pungent, but not exactly stifling either.
The veterans moved with extreme caution, their gun muzzles aimed in all directions into the darkness, guarding against any enemy that might be lurking within.
But the first thing to break the deathly silence, as they tread on the soft muck, was a roar that was abruptly cut short:
"Iron within, Iron without!!!"
Sith's head snapped towards the source of the voice.
Davi Luo, his helmet discarded and damaged, leaped into the air, his Chainsword held high, bringing it down in a cleaving strike towards a blurred figure in the darkness.
But Davi Luo's roar froze on his face. A strange spatial distortion held him suspended mid-air.
Simultaneously, the fury in Davi Luo's eyes began to waver, replaced by flickers of fear.
This sight made the veterans tense up. Then, a wave of decayed aura washed over the group, and an inexplicable whisper sounded directly within the depths of their souls:
"What... are you afraid of?"
A floating creature with an enormous head slowly drifted out from the darkness.
And seeing this specialized psychic unit of the Tyranid Swarm, Sith began cursing vehemently in his heart.
If they could directly spawn Swarm units, then probably everyone in this Hive City, except those at the very top spire, had already become Genestealers!
And not just this Hive City. Who knew how many Genestealers lurked in the darkness of all the Hive Cities across Alert Star.
But Sith had no mind to worry about other Hive Cities now. He simply watched the approaching Psychic Brainworm, bracing himself for a psychic assault.
Yet the psychic attack did not come. Perhaps the fight with the two Deathwatch members had temporarily drained its psychic reserves.
The Brainworm instead continuously emanated waves of decayed aura, launching psychic assault after psychic assault against Sith.
But as the confident Brainworm drew closer, after repeating its question several times with no effect—not only from Sith, but even the veterans remained expressionless—it finally sensed something amiss and halted in place.
Beneath that enormous head, it displayed a confusion not present in lower-tier Swarm units.
And Sith, feeling the laughable impotence of this psychic assault against the hundredfold willpower of himself and his soldiers, raised his blade, his eyes finally glaring at the creature:
"What are we afraid of?"
"We're afraid you'll run away!!!"