Warhammer 40: The Wandering Merchant

Chapter 53 Oh no, it's the Black Sanctuary

Below this is the lower deck area, the deep abyss at the bottom of the ship.

Fortunately, his family were traveling merchants and wandering ronin, as were his crew.

Therefore, many areas of the lower deck area were thoroughly cleaned by the lower-ranking crew members and even some junior officers, and they even set up a ship-style black market.

The crew members bartered with each other, and they could even find a lot of good stuff, including some contraband.

Although the family initially cleaned up the area regularly, it only addressed the symptoms, not the root cause. In the end, they had no choice but to turn a blind eye and even started charging taxes on it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go to those places; to be honest, some of the tavern lounges there were just as nicely decorated as officers' quarters.

But he was afraid of being recognized by acquaintances.

Tie Hui silently took a bite of the elf cookie, then stopped chewing the next second.

The surrounding environment was so quiet that his heartbeat could be heard clearly.

I could even feel my upper body swaying slightly back and forth with my heartbeat as I sat up.

The next second, his face turned cold!

He suddenly rolled to his side.

A sharp sound like a blade slicing through the air rang out!

Tie Hui dared not gamble, so he rolled several times into the distance before launching a fireball.

The flames instantly illuminated the narrow passage and also struck the person who attacked him.

The thick, black, curved armor flashed by in the explosion of flames, and the black armor came into view in an instant.

Astartes!

Tie Hui gasped for breath and his heart pounded when he saw it clearly.

How did the Astartes end up on the bottom of its own flagship?

Especially in the firelight, he could clearly see the black cross mark forked at the end of its white shoulder armor.

Black Sanctuary.

Tie Hui's breathing became heavier. He remained defensive, raised his hand to indicate that he meant no harm, and said respectfully, "Respected Brother Astartes, I am just an ordinary mortal."

But Astartes did not reply; instead, he uttered two words in a muffled voice, filled with anger.

"heresy!"

Tie Hui: "!?"

The next second, the tall figure rushed over like a ghost, the combat dagger in his hand aimed directly at his neck.

Tie Hui was so shocked by this attack that he instantly activated his psionic shield.

With a loud bang, the dagger became firmly stuck in the shield.

But Astartes didn't care. He raised his other hand, clenched his fist, and slammed it down.

The shield cracked again with a loud bang. He followed up with a powerful frontal kick, sending the opponent staggering back several steps!

Then another fireball was thrown, but Astartes nimbly dodged the attack and pressed forward again.

He was also in bad shape at that moment, having just taken a direct hit from a psionic fireball.

Although it did not cause him any overt wavering or injury.

However, the impact of that psychic energy also affected his internal organs.

Furthermore, the armor that was attacked also developed a charred black color that differed from the black of the surrounding armor.

This made him very angry!

A psionicist living in the lower decks of a merchant ronin family's ship, a dangerous psionicist not recorded by the Empire.

This is an existence that must be eliminated.

Moreover, he couldn't use his gun because he was there to investigate the psionic anomalies that had suddenly appeared in this subspace some time ago.

If we startle others, I'm afraid a whole bunch of people will come and try to get a piece of the pie.

The war on Raphael was nearing its end. Their squad was on their way to wipe out the Chaos and Heretics who had taken advantage of the Zerg invasion to infiltrate several nearby star sectors.

But during their subspace journey, they sensed something unusual about the place.

Moreover, this anomaly was related to the Emperor's power, and they acted on the assumption that it might be a sacred relic.

Intending to take advantage of their proximity, they sent him over to probe the situation first.

I never expected that I would be sensed by a mere mortal.

This was an immense humiliation for him.

Tie Hui dodged the series of close-range attacks and quickly used psionic magic to glide away, creating distance between them.

He could tell that Astartes had a bomb gun on his waist, but he was using a combat dagger, clearly not wanting to cause a big commotion.

That would make things easier.

Tie Hui stood in the distant passage, looking at the Black Temple's Astartes.

My temper flared up.

"You're allowed to wear armor and carry a sword, while I'm all bare-bones. That's really unfair, isn't it?" Tie Hui said, stretching out his hand and a heavy sword appeared in his grasp.

The mithril armor crafted for him by the dwarves instantly appeared on his body.

The person was instantly encased in a large iron can, resembling a miniature Astartes.

The warriors of the sanctuary were enraged even more upon seeing this scene.

The other side completely disregarded him and even brought weapons and equipment!

The other party was clearly someone of great importance and was well-prepared.

But for some reason, the moment this mortal donned armor and drew his weapon, he did not sense any chaotic evil, cold danger, or corrupting aura emanating from him!

Unlike the warmth and security he felt when interacting with psychics blessed by the emperor, he only felt a sense of peace.

As he pondered this, his hand reached for the explosive pistol at his waist.

But the next second he gripped the combat dagger in his hand and charged forward again.

Tie Hui smiled, Tie Hui was not afraid, Tie Hui raised his sword, Tie Hui slashed!

Tie Hui...

Tie Hui flew away—

"Holy crap!"

Tie Hui touched his chest, looking at the faint fist marks on his armor.

Although it was shallow, it had already taken shape.

Moreover, the impact made his chest feel as if it had been hit by a heavy hammer.

"Heretical!" But the warrior from the Black Templar did not step forward again, and his tone had lost its previous anger: "Who are you?"

Tie Hui stood up and looked at the Astartes from the Black Sanctuary.

He grinned and said, "I am the Emperor, the chosen one personally selected by him. A living saint!"

"..."

Astartes fell silent instantly, and the surrounding air seemed to fall silent as well.

"Ugh!"

Then came a sigh from inside the helmet, followed by the raising of the combat dagger in his hand, stroking the sharp blade: "I thought you were a sensible psyker, but I've found out I was wrong... You are a heretic among heretics."

After saying that, the magnetic boots stepped onto the armor plates and charged forward.

Tie Hui was not afraid at all; within this space, his body was just the right size to launch an attack.

But for Astartes on the other side, it was a bit too difficult.

The dagger swung straight at his throat. With Tie Hui's speed, he couldn't dodge it at all and could only use his shield to block the attack.

At the same time, the greatsword was swung upwards, and spiritual energy was attached to the blade.

Seeing that his first attack had failed, Astartes immediately tried to kick him.

But he caught a glimpse of the heavy sword that was slashing up from below at an angle. Even as an Astartes, he could sense the danger emanating from the sword's spiritual power.

……