What Could Be Done? Only Kill

Dragon Rider Kien’s declaration of war was met with a laugh from Lox.

What fairness or justice remained in this universe? Perhaps there had once been, but now, in the dark thirty-first millennium, only naked violence and military might held the truth.

Humanity needed Blackstone to save its species’ fate. This miraculous substance, capable of reversing aetheric power, was worth immense sacrifices to obtain.

As for the primitive Eldar, they had lived here for tens of thousands of years. Pandora was their homeworld. They were born here and died here, and after death, their souls returned to the World Soul to sleep forever.

Both sides fought for the fate of their own species. None of it could be divided into simple right and wrong.

Lox sat in the deepest part of the forward base. He had not left for the safety of the orbital warship.

He had absolute confidence in his troops. No matter how those ferocious beasts surged around them like a tidal wave, he felt not the slightest fear.

Since awakening on Isstvan V, he had experienced many wars and witnessed the deaths of countless humans. His beliefs and thoughts had long since changed.

In terms of mental fortitude, Lox had long become a qualified war veteran.

"We have irreconcilable contradictions. What can we do? Only kill!"

He sat upright upon his throne of steel, his left hand curled beneath his chin while the fingers of his right tapped rhythmically against metal. His gaze remained fixed on the holographic projection before him.

Kien delivered his righteous declaration before the beast horde and his comrades. The primitive Eldar dragon riders sensed the turbulent emotions in their leader’s heart, and the Eldar’s delicate, keen empathy made their blood surge with fervor as well.

His gaze swept across those brave warriors, and the unease in his heart gradually faded. At first, he had indeed felt lost and helpless. He had not known whether he could truly shoulder such a heavy responsibility.

But now, as he led those beasts and dragon riders, he finally had his answer.

"Humanity will not retreat. All I can do is inspire my warriors as much as possible."

He felt a vast power stirring from the void and the earth beneath his feet, flowing into his powerful Eldar body.

At that moment, a feeling of omnipotence welled up within him, and he gave the order to the entire army.

"Eywa is watching us! Charge! Crush the humans!"

Amplified by the sacred tree Eywa, Kien’s roar nearly resounded across the entire battlefield. Even the surrounding air actively vibrated to carry his voice farther.

In everyone’s eyes, their leader seemed like a hero reborn from ancient myth, leading them in resistance against the tyranny of the Eldar gods.

The first to answer the dragon rider’s call were the hammerhead thunderbeasts surging forward like a tide. These herbivorous behemoths were the most numerous. Earlier, merely dozens of them had caused the White Scars’ advance force considerable trouble. Now, hundreds of thousands of hammerhead thunderbeasts appeared on the battlefield.

It was an exceptionally terrifying number. These beasts, which could stand 6.5 meters at the shoulder and exceed 11 meters in length, could easily snap trees with a swing of their hammer-like heads. When they ran, they resembled enormous siege engines.

With them leading the charge, even all the carnivorous beasts could not help but feel fear.

The densely packed hammerhead thunderbeasts formed into battle lines. The strongest beast kings served as their spearheads, while the rest spread out behind them on either side, forming a sharp wedge formation.

The instruments beside Lox were issuing warnings. Seismic tremors of at least magnitude six had appeared all around them.

"To make herbivorous beasts with pitifully small brains form a battle formation, these primitive Eldar do have some tricks. So, is that thing hidden within the mist controlling them?"

Lox had sensed something was wrong as early as when the planetary vegetation had invaded the forward base like madness. This damned planet was very likely alive. Some ignorant Gaia consciousness—or something called a World Soul—was mobilizing the powers of nature.

Otherwise, how could they explain those primordial forests that seemed to have gained sentience, or these beasts forced together to charge to their deaths?

"That is the characteristic of the primitive Eldar. They possess an extremely powerful degree of control over the planets they inhabit. They can even drive a planet’s natural forces for a short time, using nature itself against their enemies."

"They do have some skill. As expected, no kind of Eldar can be underestimated. Not a single race capable of surviving in the dark galaxy is simple."

The sound of the charging hammerhead thunderbeasts truly resembled roaring thunder. They crushed everything in their path until they reached the trench blasted out by orbital bombardment.

The old, weak hammerhead beasts led the way. A faint trace of terror flashed through their eyes, but then their pupils turned a ghostly blue, and they leaped down without hesitation.

One hammerhead beast after another threw itself forward, using their flesh and blood to fill the trench.

Thousands upon thousands of bodies were crushed together, releasing an overwhelmingly thick stench of blood. Blood flowed from their bodies and pooled in the deep channel, forming a moat of crimson.

"Charge! Charge!"

Standing atop his dragon’s back, Kien urged the beasts onward in a ringing voice.

On such a brutal and bloody battlefield, his few remaining fantasies and concerns were all crushed to pieces. His heart danced wildly, and the blood it pumped nearly turned his pale face scarlet.

"Do not fear sacrifice! Eywa will receive all who are sacrificed. Your souls will ascend to the World Soul."

From the moment these beasts of Pandora began as fertilized eggs, they formed an inseverable bond with this planet.

They were part of Pandora’s World Soul. The entire macroscopic ecosystem was Eywa.

As for the sacred tree Eywa, it was merely the embodiment of that macroscopic concept, an avatar formed from the worship and faith of the primitive Eldar.

Eywa replaced the beasts’ limited intelligence and self-awareness. It ruthlessly controlled these bodies of flesh and blood, advancing the war in the coldest and most efficient manner.

As for whether the beasts wanted to die, that was utterly unimportant to Eywa. So long as it endured, an endless stream of beasts would be bred.

The reserved trenches were filled in the most barbaric fashion. The corpses of the dead beasts became the finest filling, and the later Pandora beasts stepped over their predecessors’ bodies onto the battlefield.

"Sentry cannons are in position. Full firepower."

"Tesla magnetic storm towers fully charged. Prism towers fully charged."

A series of complex messages passed through the communications channel. The Ultramarines stationed within the fortresses and atop the high walls carried out the countermeasures sent down by their superiors in an orderly fashion.

These warriors of the Emperor felt no fear whatsoever, only excitement and fervor at the prospect of great battle and slaughter.

"Russ and Allfather, what a magnificent sight! This is the hunt of the wolves, the greatest hunt!"

Fafnir Blood Pact stood atop the high wall with his wolf pack. Waving Fenrisian great axes with their disintegration fields activated, they let out long howls like wolf-men.

This grand and impassioned scene of war completely awakened the blood within them. Their blood boiled, and their minds burned.

At Hill’s command, tens of thousands of sentry cannons turned their barrels. The large-caliber anti-vehicle shells fell like a curtain of metal rain, their violent thunder drowning out even the charging roars of the beasts.

Every one of these sentry cannons was automatically controlled by the Cogitator, requiring no assistance from the Space Marines. The Cogitator precisely controlled the cannon barrels for targeted fire. Backed by the nearly limitless computing power of Red Alert, the base’s artillery was as accurate and deadly as though it had eyes.

Before each shell was fired, the Cogitator analyzed the target’s weaknesses and vitality through augury instruments and scanning arrays. If one shell could solve the problem, a second would never be wasted.

Swathes of hammerhead thunderbeasts crashed to the ground. The metal storm drilled into their vulnerable eye sockets and blasted their brains into pulp.

By then, blood had long flowed across the battlefield like a river.