The instant the Primus launched itself from the roof of the mining vehicle, the entire hall seemed to fall silent.
It was impossibly fast.
Its massive alien body became nothing more than a deep violet blur streaking through the air.
Its target wasn’t the Goliaths.
It wasn’t the Firebats.
It wasn’t even the Hellions racing along the flanks.
It was Leon Drake.
Rufus caught only a fleeting shadow.
The words, “Protect the Commander!” never even left his throat before his knees buckled beneath him.
Helena reacted faster.
She snapped up her bolt pistol, desperately tracking the Primus through her sights.
But the reticle simply couldn’t keep up with something moving that fast.
This wasn’t an ordinary beast lunging for prey.
It was the final assassination strike of a command organism.
The Primus understood the situation perfectly.
It couldn’t destroy the Heavy Factory.
It couldn’t save the mining convoy.
So it would kill the commander instead.
As long as Leon Drake died, those cold steel war machines would lose the one thing they depended on most.
Command.
It had wagered everything on this single leap.
Leon didn’t move.
Standing before the Heavy Factory’s defensive line, he calmly raised his gauss pistol and tracked the violet blur with the barrel.
Ada’s crimson prediction lines spread across his vision.
Calculating target trajectory…
Estimated impact in 1.7 seconds.
Recommendation: Retreat immediately.
“Too late.” Leon spoke quietly.
“Goliaths.” All three Goliaths pivoted simultaneously.
Their autocannons spun to life as the twin barrels elevated.
In midair, the Primus twisted violently.
It actually dodged the first firing solution.
Several autocannon shells grazed its chest, ripping away chunks of chitin and spraying green blood across the battlefield.
But they failed to knock it from the sky.
The creature wasn’t merely fast.
It could predict incoming fire.
One Goliath pilot cursed over the comms.
“Damn thing’s reading our firing lines!” Leon’s expression never changed.
“If it can dodge straight lines…” “Then don’t give it one.” He pointed toward the half-collapsed wreck of a mining vehicle.
“Goliaths.” “Shoot the ground.” No one questioned the order.
All three Goliaths lowered their weapons.
Instead of tracking the Primus, their autocannons hammered the titanium-steel floor directly beneath its projected landing point.
BRRRRT!
Explosive shells ripped apart the flooring.
Steel fragments, dust, and molten slag erupted into the air.
The Primus’ landing zone simply disappeared beneath the barrage.
Its descending body faltered.
That tiny hesitation…
Was fatal.
The Firebat seized the opening.
The Firebat on the left stepped forward.
Its Hellfire Flamethrower swept sideways.
A crimson wall of fire rolled across the ground.
It wasn’t aimed at the Primus itself.
It was aimed at the path the creature would need after landing.
When the Primus hit the ground…
Fire blocked the front.
The shattered mining vehicle blocked the rear.
A blazing trail left by the Hellions sealed the left flank.
The Goliaths’ firing lane covered the right.
Its charge died before it could even begin.
Leon smiled.
“Nice jump.” “Terrible landing.” The Primus shrieked.
All four arms slammed into the ground as it tried to launch itself again.
The Marines opened fire.
None of the four C-14 Gauss Rifles targeted its chest.
Every shot struck joints.
Knees.
Shoulders.
The powerful muscle bundles along its spine.
The gauss rounds slammed into it like steel spikes.
Its right knee exploded.
The creature dropped heavily.
Still…
It refused to fall.
Its body was unbelievably resilient.
Dragging itself through the hail of fire, it drove one bone blade into the ground and crawled toward Leon inch by inch.
Helena stepped directly in front of Leon.
Her bolt pistol roared.
A single bolt shell detonated against the Primus’ shoulder, blowing away another section of its armor.
Her voice rang out like a formal Imperial sentence.
“Xenos command organism.” “Cease your advance.” Leon glanced sideways at her.
“You’re quoting legal code to it?” Without turning around, Helena replied, “This is the notification issued before execution.” A second bolt shell detonated against the Primus.
The blast knocked it sideways.
Even so…
Its eyes never left Leon.
Almost all intelligence had vanished from its gaze.
Only hatred remained.
It couldn’t understand.
Why couldn’t it consume him?
Why couldn’t it infect him?
Why did those steel soldiers become more accurate the longer they fought?
Why had every piece of industrial machinery it dragged into battle become nothing more than resources in this human’s eyes?
It was the Father’s Blade of the Genestealer Cult.
A supreme node within the Underhive’s psychic network.
Now…
It was nothing more than a beast trapped inside a slaughterhouse.
Every path had been calculated.
Every desperate counterattack collided with another waiting gun.
Ada reported calmly.
Target behavioral model degrading.
Available movement options significantly reduced.
Recommendation: Terminate target.
Leon didn’t give the order immediately.
Instead, he surveyed the battlefield.
Mining vehicle wrecks sealed the rear.
Firebats held the flanks.
The Hellions continued burning down hybrid reinforcements approaching from the perimeter.
The Goliaths had already finished reloading.
The Primus still appeared to be charging.
In reality…
It had nowhere left to go.
That was a true dead end.
Not killing something with a single bullet.
But closing every possible escape route until death became inevitable.
“Rufus.” Still hiding behind an armored carrier, Rufus nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard his name.
“Y-Yes, Commander!” Leon pointed toward the battlefield.
“Remember this.” “The next time you encounter something like this in the Underhive…” “Don’t try to out-brave it.” Rufus swallowed.
“Then…
what do we compete with?” “Terrain.” “Firepower.” “And whoever thinks faster.” Leon slowly raised his pistol.
“Courage isn’t worth much.” Rufus froze.
The words were harsh.
But he would never forget them.
Suddenly, the Primus spread open its jaws.
A low-frequency screech erupted across the battlefield.
Every wounded hybrid cultist still clinging to life suddenly had their eyes glow violet.
An invisible force dragged them upright.
They charged toward Leon.
Dozens of them.
Some had lost half their bodies.
Some were completely engulfed in flames.
Others dragged their own intestines across the floor.
They weren’t trying to kill anyone.
They only wanted to become shields.
Helena’s expression changed.
“It’s using the survivors to block our firing lanes!” Leon had already seen it.
“Firebats.” The two Firebats advanced together.
They didn’t unleash wide streams of flame.
Instead, they fired short, controlled bursts.
Their fire ignored the Primus completely.
Every blast engulfed the cultists forced forward by the psychic command.
One after another…
They collapsed into the flames.
The moment they fell…
The Primus lost every living shield protecting it.
“Marines.” “Left shoulder.” All four Marines shifted their aim simultaneously.
Gauss rounds hammered into the Primus’ left shoulder.
The arm bearing its bone blade had barely begun to rise before it snapped backward under the barrage.
“Goliaths.” Leon’s voice dropped.
“Head lock.” All three Goliaths’ targeting reticles converged on the Primus’ upper body.
Sensing imminent danger, the Primus twisted violently, attempting to dive behind a burning mining vehicle.
A Hellion raced past its flank.
The vehicle skidded sideways, sweeping plasma fire beneath the mining vehicle.
The remaining coolant tank exploded.
The massive vehicle toppled sideways.
It landed perfectly…
Blocking the Primus’ escape route.
The fat SCV pilot burst into laughter.
“Commander!” “Escape route sealed!” “Good work.” Leon raised his hand.
“Fire.” All three Goliaths roared.
Twin autocannons unleashed blazing streams of white-hot shells.
The first barrage tore open the Primus’ chest.
Its dark violet armor shattered.
The second barrage ripped through its abdomen.
Organs and green body fluids exploded from its back, splattering across the glowing floor and instantly filling the air with foul-smelling white vapor.
Still…
The Primus crawled forward.
Only two arms remained functional.
Even so, it dug its bone blades into the floor and dragged itself toward Leon one agonizing inch at a time.
Watching the scene, Rufus felt his scalp crawl.
“How is it still alive?!” Helena raised her bolt pistol to finish it.
Leon gently lowered the barrel with one hand.
“Save your ammunition.” She blinked.
“It’s still moving.” “Exactly.” “That’s why we save ammo.” Leon kept his eyes fixed on the monster riddled with bullet holes.
“Creatures like this…” “Always try to take someone with them before they die.” The moment he finished speaking…
The Primus’ chest suddenly swelled.
Dark violet veins lit up beneath its cracked armor.
Ada’s warning immediately sounded.
Warning.
Abnormal increase in high-energy biomass detected.
Assessment: Self-detonation imminent.
Rufus cursed loudly.
“It can explode too?!” Leon’s expression darkened.
This…
Was its final move.
If it couldn’t kill the commander…
It would become a biological bomb.
If it detonated beside the Heavy Factory…
Poisoned blood, spores, eggs, and psychic contamination would blanket the entire defensive line.
The StarCraft forces could probably withstand it.
Rufus’ Arbites officers certainly couldn’t.
Even worse…
The corpse would be blown apart.
Less salvage.
That, more than anything else, annoyed Leon.
“Goliaths.” “Cease autocannon fire.” The guns fell silent.
Helena looked at him in confusion.
“My lord?” Leon had already opened the Heavy Factory production interface.
“We can’t blow it apart.” He watched the increasingly violent energy reaction building inside the Primus’ chest.
“That thing is still valuable.” Ada responded immediately.
Available solution detected.
Produce one Marauder.
Use concussion grenades to suppress the target’s core reaction.
Sufficient resources available.
That was exactly what Leon had been waiting to hear.
He tapped the production icon.
“Perfect.” “The Primus delivered such an expensive package.” “It’s only polite…” “To send something back.” A crimson warning light illuminated the Heavy Factory’s deployment bay.
The warp matrix activated.
A figure far bulkier than a Marine stepped out of the blue warp column.
A bald soldier clad in massive powered armor.
Shoulders as broad as a fortress wall.
A heavy Punisher Grenade Launcher rested in his hands.
The Marauder glanced down at the Primus, whose body continued to swell.
“Commander.” “This ugly bastard looks like it could use a beating.” Leon pointed directly at the creature’s glowing chest.
“Interrupt the reaction.” “Don’t blow it apart.” The Marauder grinned.
“Now that’s my specialty.” Boom!
The concussion grenade launched.
Instead of exploding violently, it struck the Primus’ chest and released a heavy shockwave.
The rapidly escalating energy reaction inside the creature was violently suppressed.
The Primus threw back its head and screamed.
A second grenade slammed into its abdomen.
The third struck its spine.
Three overlapping shockwaves rippled through its body.
The Primus was pinned to the ground as though crushed beneath an invisible hammer.
The violet glow beneath its armor gradually faded.
Ada reported.
Self-detonation sequence interrupted.
Target combat capability reduced to 3%.
Recommendation: Execute termination.
This time, Leon didn’t hesitate.
“Goliaths.” “Finish it.” The Goliaths raised their autocannons once more.
This time…
They ignored the chest.
Every barrel locked onto the head.
Three intersecting streams of fire converged simultaneously.
Within the first second…
Half the Primus’ skull disappeared.
By the second…
Its armored neck shattered.
By the third…
Its entire upper body had been nailed to the ground.
The Genestealer Cult’s elite command node…
The creature that had nearly destroyed the Heavy Factory and led the entire armored assault…
Finally stopped moving.
Only the crackling of flames echoed through the underground hall.
Along with the sharp metallic pops of cooling mining vehicle wrecks.
Ada’s emotionless voice broke the silence.
Target life signs eliminated.
Primus.
Kill confirmed.
Leon didn’t relax immediately.
He looked down at the enormous dark-purple corpse, still smoking.
Then he looked across the battlefield.
Crippled mining vehicles.
Shattered coolant tanks.
Broken laser turrets.
Alien corpses scattered everywhere.
A few minutes earlier…
All of it had nearly sent him back to square one.
Now…
Everything lay at his feet.
Rufus stared at the ruined battlefield for a long moment before quietly asking, “Commander…” “Are we…
dismantling all of this?” Leon bit down on his cigar and finally smiled.
“Everything.” “Not even a single screw gets left behind.” He opened the production interface, glanced at the newly deployed Marauder, then looked back at the Primus’ corpse.
“We start with the most valuable one.” The rumbling tracks of the SCV echoed from behind.
The fat engineer laughed.
“Commander…” “I’ve been waiting to hear those words.” Leon raised a hand and pointed toward the Primus.
“Drain it dry.” “Then dismantle every one of those mining vehicles.” Within the glow of the burning battlefield, the SCV extended its heavy extraction hose and drove it deep into the still-bleeding corpse of the Primus.