Rod gasped heavily.
Rainwater streamed down his soaked bangs and into his eyes, bringing a sharp sting.
But he had no time to wipe it away.
His mind was full of that black figure from moments ago.
Commissar Warren’s smooth, flowing killing movements.
That speed.
That explosive power.
So this is the physical quality of a modified body…
Leaving aside the difference in equipment, those two attacks just now had suppressed Orks weighing over three hundred pounds through physical strength alone.
He was practically a humanoid Gundam.
Rod lowered his head and glanced at his still-trembling arm.
Although he had just gained one level of Strength, this mortal body was still filled with fatigue and aching pain.
However…
The attribute gains from this system were real.
As long as he stayed alive, as long as he killed enough, time was on his side.
Forget wrestling Ork Boyz.
Sooner or later, he might even be able to go fifty-fifty with a Greater Daemon of Khorne.
“Come on, you dead Greenskins!”
Rod roared, as if trying to empty all the stale air from his lungs.
He grabbed the suppression lasgun braced on the sandbags, ignored the burnt smell still rising from the barrel, and pulled the trigger again.
Zzt!
Zzt!
Zzt!
Red fan-shaped death beams swept across the trench front once more.
This was a simple exchange of numbers.
The Greenskins traded bodies for ammunition.
Rod traded ammunition for experience.
Even though the gun had grown so hot that he could feel the burn through the handguard, he could not stop.
Once he stopped, this would be the end.
[Killed Ork Boy x3.
Experience gained]
[Killed Gretchin x5.
Experience gained]
[Skill Level Up: Lasgun Shooting LV6]
[Current Experience: 284/600]
[Special Effect Unlocked: Firearm Specialization (Rifle Type).
General hit-rate correction +5%]
Golden text flashed before his eyes.
The feeling that originally required deliberate aiming became even smoother, as if the muzzle had become an extension of his arm, striking wherever he pointed.
But the price was brutal.
Boom!
A crude stikkbomb exploded outside the cover.
Although it did not land inside, the shrapnel it sent flying spun in like razors.
Rod felt a sudden chill on his forehead.
A moment later, warm liquid ran down his cheek.
Immediately after, an Ork that tried to charge up was shot through the head by him, but the choppa it swung before falling still swept across his left arm.
Rip!
The flimsy Astra Militarum uniform sleeve was instantly sliced open, and a chunk of flesh beneath it was shaved away.
A piercing pain stabbed through him.
But Rod did not even look.
There were too many enemies.
That green ocean was already about to spill over the dam.
The standard power cells in the ammunition crate were also nearly exhausted.
“Fuck!”
Rod grabbed the last two grenades by his hand, bit off the pull rings with his teeth, and no longer cared about the throwing arc.
He hurled them directly into the densest cluster of Greenskins.
Boom!
Boom!
The blast waves pushed the enemy back by a few meters.
[Strength LV1.
Experience increased: 28/50]
Rod no longer had the energy to check.
He raised the lasgun and madly pulled the trigger at several shadows rushing in.
Zzt, zzt…
The muzzle spat a few weak sparks, then went completely silent.
The battery was empty.
Distance, less than three meters.
Rows of yellowed tusks and tiny eyes filled with bloodthirsty desire were clearly visible.
“Die!”
Rod threw away the lasgun and drew the bolt pistol at his waist with lightning speed.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The roar of bolts rang out again.
Every bolt round could tear an Ork in half.
The Ork Nob charging at the front had not even managed to raise its power klaw before Rod blew away half its head with one shot.
Its huge corpse fell like a wall, temporarily blocking the gap.
Click.
The slide locked back.
This one was empty too.
“Hehehe!
Die, humie!”
A tug suddenly came from his ankle.
A Gretchin that had somehow slipped into the trench was holding up a rusty knife, trying to stab Rod in the Achilles tendon.
Rod’s eyes turned cold.
He drew the combat knife strapped to his thigh with his free hand.
Pshk!
The blade pierced the Gretchin’s neck with precision and nailed it into the mud.
Before he could pull the knife free…
The ground suddenly shook violently.
Thud…
thud…
thud…
Along with the shriek of twisting metal and the hiss of hydraulic pumps…
A giant steel monster smashed through the barbed wire and squeezed into this narrow section of trench.
A Killa Kan.
It was a three-meter-tall metal nightmare, its whole body covered in welded patches and spikes.
Its two mechanical arms were fitted with a huge power saw and a hydraulic claw.
Beneath its massive mechanical feet was a section of sandbags still belching smoke.
Red light flickered behind the vision slit of its cockpit, and it emitted a piercing electronic cackle.
“WAAAAAAAGH!!!”
Its huge hydraulic claw swung down and scooped up a veteran who had been changing his magazine nearby.
It was the same veteran who had cheered Rod’s grenade throw earlier.
“Ah!”
The enormous metal pincer did not immediately cut him in half.
Instead, it lifted him into the air like a rag doll.
The veteran struggled twice, his feet kicking wildly in midair.
But he soon stopped moving.
On that stubbled face, there was none of the fear Rod had imagined.
Instead, there was a kind of extreme calm.
Almost relief.
As that tin can let out an even more piercing laugh and prepared to clamp down, cutting him in two…
The veteran’s hand moved to his waist.
Two glory grenades.
He skillfully pulled the pins and gripped them tightly in both hands.
He stopped resisting entirely and followed the force of the claw, throwing himself forward to hug the thick hydraulic arm joint.
“For the Emperor!”
That was his final voice in this world.
Boom!!!
Blood mist exploded.
Mixed with organs and metal fragments, it sprayed all over the Killa Kan.
The hydraulic claw arm that had been showing off twisted and deformed in the violent blast.
Several main hydraulic lines burst apart, and black machine oil sprayed out like blood.
The entire arm hung limply, completely ruined.
Even in death…
He had to break one of your teeth.
This was a mortal’s war.
“Roar!”
The Killa Kan seemed enraged.
Its remaining left arm, fitted with a massive spinning circular saw, let out an even sharper howl.
It turned its heavy body and locked firmly onto the only living person still standing in the trench.
Rod.
Thud!
Thud!
It began moving, charging toward Rod.
The wind pressure from the circular saw even stirred up the pooled water on the ground.
That brief instant…
Was time bought with the veteran’s life.
Rod did not shout, nor did he turn and run.
Using the time the veteran had won for him, he changed magazines.
Click.
The suppression lasgun finished reloading.
Click.
The bolt pistol was chambered.
He did not choose the more powerful bolt pistol that had no skill bonus.
At a time like this, tolerance for error was life.
He raised the suppression lasgun, the stock pressed firmly against his shoulder.
The bonus from [Lasgun Shooting LV6] ran at full force in that moment.
Even facing a steel monster weighing several tons…
Even with that circular saw less than five meters from his nose…
His hands were steady as stone.
“Die.”
Rod whispered.
The cockpit vision slit.
The place where red light flickered.
That was the only weak point.
Zzt!
Zzt!
Zzt!
High-energy laser beams sprayed precisely onto the vision slit.
Not the slightest deviation.
If this were a game, it should have been a killing blow.
However…
Reality struck him hard.
That seemingly fragile transparent glass only rippled when the laser struck it, leaving a charred black mark, but it was not pierced at all.
That was specialized ballistic glass!
It might even be high-grade material stripped from some Imperial vehicle!
No penetration?!
The Killa Kan unleashed an even more deranged roar.
It had already reached him.
The massive spinning saw rose high, carrying the stench of death as it chopped down toward Rod’s head!