715.M41 Hephaestus’s Nest, Capital World In the dim, cramped underhive ruins, thick with the smell of engine oil and blood, an extraordinarily brutal battle was unfolding.
“WAAAGH!!!” Accompanied by deafening war cries, a horde of green-skinned Ork youths wielding crude choppas charged toward the center of the battlefield like a tidal wave.
Standing alone was a burly man about 1.8 meters tall, completely naked—Roya.
Facing the frenzied xenos, Roya did not retreat.
Twisting his waist, he threw a simple yet devastating straight punch into the chest of the first Ork Boy charging toward him.
Bang!
A heavy impact echoed through the ruins.
The Ork Boy, weighing several hundred kilograms, was launched backward as if struck by a speeding vehicle, crashing into two more Boyz behind him.
The surrounding Orks surged forward.
One brutal choppa after another hacked toward Roya from every direction.
There was no suspense.
Two fists could not overcome dozens of blades.
Roya was quickly overwhelmed and hacked to the ground.
Yet something bizarre happened.
His corpse did not grow cold in the pool of blood.
The instant it hit the ground, it dissolved into countless faint particles of light before vanishing completely.
The next second, several dozen meters away, a ripple distorted the air.
Roya reappeared out of thin air.
Completely naked.
Completely unharmed.
He had respawned.
Rubbing his aching head, Roya looked toward the group of Ork Boyz who had already spotted him again.
Their eyes lit up as they roared excitedly and charged once more.
“Damn it!
Am I seriously going to repeat this forever?!” He had already lost count of how many times he had died.
Even so, a ruthless glint flashed across his eyes.
Without hesitation, he charged straight back into the green tide.
“Die!” His fist exploded forward.
The terrifying force instantly crushed the chest of the leading Ork Boy, sending broken bones, flesh, and green blood flying in every direction.
Like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep, Roya barreled through the mob, smashing one Ork after another with overwhelming strength.
But under the relentless rain of countless choppas, he soon let out another muffled groan.
His body collapsed.
Then dissolved into particles once again.
“WAAAGH!
Dat humie’s dead again!” The Ork Boyz raised their choppas triumphantly, bellowing in celebration.
At that moment, an Ork noticeably larger than the others shoved his way through the crowd.
Brandishing a massive bloodstained axe, he roared, “I’z did it!
I’z da one who killed da humie!
I’z bigger!
I’z stronger!
WAAAGH!!!” As the roar echoed through the ruins, the surrounding Waaagh!
energy seemed to converge upon him.
His body began to swell.
Bones cracked.
Muscles tore apart and reformed.
Within seconds, the Ork, previously only around 2.3 meters tall, had grown into a towering Ork Boss well over three meters in height.
Just as the newly evolved Boss reveled in his newfound power, particles of light flashed nearby.
Roya had respawned once again.
The surrounding Ork Boyz immediately pointed at him.
“WAAAGH!
Boss!
Dat humie’s back!” “If I’z killed ‘im once, I’z kill ‘im again!” The Ork Boss charged like an armored tank.
Roya narrowed his eyes.
Instead of retreating, he sprinted straight toward the monster.
Whoosh!
The massive axe screamed through the air before crashing into Roya’s arm.
Yet the expected spray of blood never came.
His arm remained completely intact.
At the edge of his vision, however, seven of the ten red hearts in his health bar instantly disappeared.
The devastating blow neither crippled him nor filled him with unbearable pain.
Taking advantage of the brief opening after the Boss’s swing, Roya unleashed a punch like a cannonball.
Bang!
Splatter!
The punch landed squarely on the Ork Boss’s face.
The massive green head exploded like a watermelon struck by a sledgehammer, scattering blood, brains, and bone fragments across the battlefield.
The gigantic headless body staggered before collapsing with a deafening crash.
Roya exhaled deeply.
His eyes remained fixed on the three remaining hearts in his health bar.
His muscles stayed tense.
He was fully prepared to die again.
And respawn again.
Yet several seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Looking up, Roya realized every remaining Ork Boy had frozen.
The sudden death of their freshly ascended Boss had shattered the local Waaagh!
Without a dominant leader to unite them, the Orks immediately descended into chaos.
Some began fighting one another over weapons.
Others started brawling simply because another Ork had bumped into them.
Many more screamed and fled deeper into the underhive.
Roya blinked.
Fragments of knowledge about Orks surfaced in his mind.
That was exactly how Orks behaved.
Kill the Boss, and the local Waaagh!
collapsed with him.
The surviving Boyz either fought each other for dominance or scattered.
Looking at the headless corpse beneath his feet, Roya grinned.
“Brother…
thanks for the assist.” Before finishing the sentence, he lunged forward.
His fists smashed through the skulls of several Ork Boyz still busy fighting among themselves.
That final display of strength completely shattered their courage.
The remaining Orks fled screaming into the darkness.
The battle was over.
Roya finally relaxed.
He collapsed onto the blood-soaked metal floor, breathing heavily as the pungent smell of oil, smoke, and gore filled his lungs.
“Damn…
that was intense…” He looked around.
Severed limbs.
Green blood.
Twisted corpses.
Broken weapons.
The entire battlefield resembled hell itself.
Back on Earth, as an ordinary modern man, such a scene would have made him vomit.
But after dying countless times, he had long since become numb to it.
At that moment, something unusual entered his field of vision.
Focusing his attention, Roya discovered two familiar rows of icons at the bottom of his sight.
On the left was a row of red hearts.
Only three remained.
On the right was a row of drumsticks.
His hunger bar was completely full.
Roya’s eyes widened.
He slapped his thigh.
“Isn’t this…
the Minecraft HUD?!” Everything suddenly made sense.
Why could his punches unleash such absurd strength?
Why could he fight tirelessly without feeling exhausted?
Why did he lose hearts instead of bleeding or suffering crippling injuries?
Why did his body disappear after death before instantly respawning at his spawn point with full health, losing only his inventory?
This wasn’t some genetic mutation.
He hadn’t awakened a psychic ability.
He had transmigrated with Minecraft’s gameplay mechanics as his cheat.
In the grim darkness of the far future—the universe of Warhammer 40,000—he possessed the utterly unreasonable rules of Minecraft.