The Irongray was a testament to industry, built right atop a magnificent, white-hot active volcano. Red-hot magma flowed out on the side closest to the ocean. Compared to Sintila's two main Hives, Irongray was the new kid on the block, but it was still a formidable industrial capital. Many believed it had the potential to become Sintila's crown jewel one day.
Its massive spire shot skyward from the volcano's peak, while its foundations plunged deep into the planet's crust. The geothermal heat from the volcano's heart powered countless massive foundries throughout the city, but this came at a cost: the air quality was a dumpster fire, often choked by thick smog.
In this city, fresh air was the ultimate commodity. For those living here, air filtration units were a necessity, not a luxury. The most extravagant status symbol was having air imported directly from a Garden World and piped into your lavish home.
After the Battle of Sibelius, the Imperial Army split up, fanning out across the planet to mop up the remaining rebel pockets, and Irongray was no exception. Four hundred thousand heavily armed Atoman soldiers and two full companies of Astartes were systematically cleaning house. The traitors occasionally tried to get a counter-punch in, but the Imperial forces blew them away every time.
With Daniel's direct approval, Kaiding quickly put together a team to investigate the Dark Horn Brotherhood.
It didn't take long to discover the cult was holed up in Irongray. After some intense interrogation, several rebel leaders spilled the beans, confessing they had sheltered the cult and providing the exact coordinates.
A squadron of Valkyrie transports immediately scrambled from the temporary airport, flying across the war-torn zone where artillery fire still echoed. Many buildings were scorched black as asphalt.
Tattered flags hung everywhere, and symbols of corruption were spray-painted onto the walls. Plenty of people were still alive in the city, hiding out in those very buildings.
The Valkyries navigated the chaotic cityscape and finally arrived at a magnificent foundry.
"We are approaching the target," the pilot announced over the comms.
"Alright, let's roll." Mordecai looked at his teammates. "The MVP trophy is riding on this one."
"For the MVP, we need to show them that Daemon Hunters are the GOAT" one player chimed in.
"Yeah, they need to know that a Daemon Hunter's worth is second to none," added another.
White Wolf, Don't Eat Beef Noodles, and the other players of the Daemon Hunter Corps all nodded in agreement.
"Foundry data packet sent. Please check your feeds."
Mordecai shared the holographic map of the foundry's internal structure. The Daemon Hunter Corps was small—a direct result of Mordecai only recruiting Nulls, who were already a rare breed. This limited their overall size.
However, the comprehensive war ranking was based on average score, not just volume. If they could take down a Great Daemon, their score would skyrocket, leaving the other warbands eating dust.
The Valkyrie slowly descended, the roar of its engines softening. The hatch opened, and Mordecai and the Nulls jumped out to secure the perimeter.
To ensure the mission's success, Inquisitor Kaidin had also brought several armed teams, kitted out in exoskeleton armor and carrying deadly Gauss rifles. As the Valkyries landed, the troops formed up quickly, occupying high ground and taking cover, locked and loaded. Kaidin and Uxo stood behind the armed squad, also fully kitted out.
Inquisitors were no joke. They received the best enhancements and gear, and those who fought on the front lines year-round were often more lethal than Space Marines.
"The Warp is churning," Kaidin, a powerful Psyker, said gravely. "We need to step on the gas."
The Null players, like Mordecai, felt nothing.
The team entered the factory, which felt like a massive mausoleum—its tall, empty roof lost in the gloom. Scorch marks and bomb craters hinted at a prior conflict. A huge, blasphemous eight-pointed star was slathered onto the wall in the blood of the massacred. Human bodies were strung up from the high ceilings with chains, or tied to the blasphemous racks: scalped, skinned, eyes gouged out, and sharp nails driven through their limbs. Bright red blood dripped slowly to the floor. Most of the victims were dead; the few still breathing were on their last leg, waiting for the end.
"What a pack of savages," the officer in charge of the armed squad muttered.
"Every cultist deserves to die. No quarter for these people," Mordecai agreed wholeheartedly.
A menacing sound came from the depths of the dark factory.
"Brace for impact." Mordecai switched his armor to combat mode. The others drew their weapons.
Several cultists, with eight-pointed stars carved into their foreheads, shuffled out of the darkness, utterly oblivious to the punishment about to rain down on them.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Gauss rounds cut the air, instantly hitting their targets and reducing the corpses to dust. Human Gauss weapons were different from the Necrons'—Necrons fired beams; humans fired bullets wrapped in a potent force field. Both were comparable in raw power and shared the same deadly effect: upon impact, they dissociated the target's atomic bonds, turning them into a pile of dust.
"Pick up the pace! We need to break through before they can organize a defense."
The team started running, advancing as fast as they could. Every cultist they encountered was shot on sight. Several Chaos Sorcerers tried to use psychic powers to halt the Imperial forces, but the Null players shut them down instantly, turning their spells into duds before they were vaporized by Gauss fire.
The team finally burst into the former assembly hall, where over a thousand enemies were waiting. The soldiers' heavy weapons opened up, the dense fire instantly saturating the hall. Screams and wails erupted everywhere.
Mordecai and the other Nulls raced to the front line. The enemy's return laser fire glanced off their armor's projected shield fields. The massacre was swift. After ten minutes, the hall reeked of burnt flesh and spilled blood. The dead lay scattered, while the wounded screamed in agony.
On the altar, a man in a black robe looked at his tragically dead followers, showing not panic but a bone-chilling grin.
"You are too late," he croaked.
Kaidin pointed his gun at the man and yelled, "On your knees, hands behind your head! Now!"
"Feel the terror brought by my Lord..." The black-robed man didn't finish his sentence.
Bang! The bullet ripped through the cultist's chest, making him stagger before he finally fell, dying.
Kaidin walked up to the altar and found a powerful, muscular man lying prone on the platform, surrounded by blasphemous runes and patterns.
"He's here! He's here!" The dying black-robed man spat blood and shouted madly, "Feel the fear!" The air temperature plummeted instantly, and the free moisture condensed into a visible frost.
Space seemed to stretch and warp to an infinite distance. A burning hellscape appeared before Kaidin and the others. A strange, mocking laugh echoed from the depths of the inferno.
Balvermel, the Lord of Dark Flame, one of the seven Daemons of the Calixis Sector, had arrived.
Mordecai and the other Nulls did not see the burning black hell; they only saw the space distort and a black-flame-wreathed Daemon instantly enter the body of the mortal on the altar. Daemons cannot remain in the real universe for long—that's just the way the cookie crumbles. After years of trying, the Dark Horn cultists had found a solution: a mortal container to allow the Lord of Dark Flame to move freely.
The sacrificed man quickly transformed into a Daemon. Black flame patterns crawled across his skin, daemonic horns sprouted from his forehead, and his eyes became hollow sockets burning with black fire.
"My Lord!" The cultists still breathing were ecstatic. They had succeeded! They had dragged the Great Lord of Dark Flame into the real universe. Now, it was time for these ignorant servants of the Corpse King to pay the piper.
The foundry began to tremble. Cracks appeared in the steel. Strange whispers echoed in people's ears, trying to eat away at their sanity and emotions.
Kaidin's face was pale. The psychic energy in his body was almost ripped out of his control by the Daemon's presence, making him want to scream in agony.
The players behind him, however, were pumped.
"Let's go, guys!" Mordecai raised his arms and yelled, "The MVP Goddess is calling!"
White Wolf, Noodles, and the other Nulls charged like bulls. The Daemon's sorcery was useless against them; only steel and brute force could hurt it.
Balvermel, having gained a physical body, was overwhelmed with excitement. It had been far too long since he'd been able to walk the real world. He was completely unaware of Mordecai and the others until the Nulls attacked.
"Sons of Calamity!"
Balvermel backhanded the first Null player who rushed him, sending him flying. But the second player, Don't Eat Beef Noodles, immediately closed the gap, grabbed Balvermel in a tight bear hug, and wrestled him off the altar.
Balvermel lashed out at Noodles' helmet, but the player held on tight, making it impossible for the Daemon to escape. Another player rushed over and ran a sword through Don't Eat Beef Noodles, skewering him and the Daemon together.
"For MVP!" With a shattered helmet, Noodles grinned fiercely.
Balvermel: "..."
Seriously? You've been run through, and you're smiling?
The other players followed suit, rushing over and stabbing and slashing at Balvermel and Noodles until they looked like a human-daemon hedgehog. But the Daemon's vitality was astonishing. Even under the influence of the Nulls, it was healing at a ridiculous rate.
It violently shook off the already dead Noodles and tried to stand. The moment it got its footing, Mordecai delivered a massive kick to its knee joint.
Wham! The Daemon crashed to its knees.
The other players immediately swarmed him again, punching, kicking, and striking with swords and knives.
Kaidin seized the chance and shouted, "You keep him pinned! I will use a ritual to bind the Daemon within that mortal and imprison it!"
The Inquisition had done its homework on the Seven Daemons. As a Grand Inquisitor, Kaidin possessed powerful psychic abilities and techniques to fight Warp entities. With Uxo's assistance, Kaidin began carving spells and prayer rituals onto Balvermel's prone body.
"By the bond of daemonic enslavement, I bind you to this flesh, forever."
Balvermel screamed, but the ritual's power was too great, forcing him to remain tethered to the mortal's body. Unable to return to the Warp or escape, he was imprisoned—unless the mortal prison was broken one day, he was stuck for good. Kaidin then cast several binding spells to suppress Balvermel's power.
After it was all said and done, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"No!" The black-robed man, who was somehow still alive, looked utterly despairing. All their planning, all their preparation, and this was the payoff.
"Humanity is invincible," Kaidin said, walking up to the cultist and pointing his gun. "Go to hell, beast."
A gunshot rang out. The black-robed man's head exploded.
When the other competing battle groups saw the updated ranking list, they felt like their world was caving in. The Daemon Hunters had shot from the bottom of the barrel to first place, leading the second-place Soaring Eagles by a massive margin.
Blood Dove: "Is the ranking broken?"
Daigo: "I told you to slow your roll! Now look, you blew it."
Fred: "It's not broken. The Daemon Hunters are holding all the cards. I don't know how Mordecai and his crew captured a Daemon Host."
Warmaster: "Daemon Host?"
Yuji: "I'm livid! Why didn't we get a piece of that action?"
Mordecai: "It's just MVP. If you want it, put in the work and come take it."
Blood Dove: "That pretentious jerk! He needs to be executed with an explosive bomb!"
The Daemon Host was imprisoned by the Inquisition, and all factions connected to the Dark Horn Cult were now being systematically liquidated. The Battle of Sintila was winding down, with the Daemon Hunters temporarily on top of the scoreboard.
Daniel used the lull in the fighting to launch Version 2.1, addressing some of the issues that had surfaced.
Update Notice:
Hello everyone, Arale is back! Thanks to our hard work, Warhammer OL has undergone a new upgrade. Here are the highlights:
Optimized War Score Model: Adjusted for greater fairness and justice.
Loot Distribution Mechanism Optimized: "Finders keepers" is out the window. In the same battle, the player with the highest War Score gets first pick of the loot. Internal Warband distribution and individual team loot distribution remain unchanged for now.
Technical Upgrade—Time Flow: The flow rate of game time has been adjusted, tentatively set at 1:2. One day in the real world now equals two days in game time.
Mission System Upgrade: The Guide will now issue EXP-based missions. Players will have more ways to earn EXP points beyond just killing enemies.
+++Daily Thought: Life is a prison, death is liberation+++
The announcement was posted on the official website, along with video clips of the Sintila battle, the Daemon Host capture, and other scenes. As soon as it went live, people immediately shared it on video sites and forums, causing a massive spike in forum activity.