Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 147: The Zerg Descend

Rumors had begun to circulate in the underhive. In the abandoned zones and heavily polluted areas, a new kind of mutated creature had started to appear. These creatures were highly aggressive, and some people had even witnessed them eating humans.

However, cannibalism was a commonplace affair for the residents of the underhive. What mutated creature in this pit didn't eat people? The underhive was already teeming with mutated beasts, which were an important source of food for the locals. People chose to ignore the sudden appearance of the Zerg, and this gave them more time and opportunity.

In a heretic outpost, a large number of cultists were gathered around an altar, performing a sacrificial ritual. A deadly plague spread outward from the sacrifice. In a large cauldron, a thick soup, teeming with disease, was simmering.

One by one, followers of Nurgle piously accepted a bowl of the soup and drank it down, not only to fill their stomachs but also to allow their bodies to contain more of their Grandfather's blessings.

"Praise the Grandfather! I feel so full of vitality... Sickness can no longer torment me!"

Just as this Nurgle cultist stood up, he saw a compatriot who had been outside stumbling toward them. And beside him followed a massive, never-before-seen mutated creature.

This creature was a Zergling.

The sudden appearance put the cultist on high alert. But the creature wasn't attacking his fellow cultist, so the Nurgle follower, weapon in hand, asked with confusion, "Brother, what is this thing?"

"It's nothing, just a tamed mutated beast. Perhaps it can be of use to the cult."

The Zergling looked terrifying but was currently showing no aggression, so the other cultist lowered his guard. He watched as the Zergling walked over to the bowl of Nurgle soup he had placed on the ground. He even saw the Zergling stick out its tongue and lick the stew.

The plague spread through the Zergling's body, but its powerful life force allowed it to temporarily withstand the damage. A virus designed for humans had little effect on the Zerg. In fact, this special plague of Nurgle could even be partially absorbed by the creep as a form of energy.

"You want to receive the Grandfather's gift too? Good boy, drink up!"

Just as he reached out to pet the Zergling, it bit down, tearing the cultist's arm clean off. The Nurgle follower, still staring in a daze at his missing arm, was immediately pounced upon by the Zergling and easily killed.

"Kill this mutated beast!"

The sudden attack caused the surrounding Nurgle cultists to swarm the Zergling. A horde of Poxwalkers submerged it, though it managed to take a number of them down with it before it died. The surviving cultists looked with lingering fear at the Zergling's corpse. Having lived in the underhive for so long, this was the first time they had ever seen such a creature.

Before it died, the Zergling had sent a final message through the hive mind. The message was simple: prey found.

Not far from the outpost, twenty giant Infestors lay hidden, burrowed like spider mines. In the translucent, green-glowing sacs on their abdomens, dozens of humanoid shadows struggled ceaselessly.

The Nurgle cultists who had brought the Zergling to the outpost now began their true mission. They moved next to the outpost's heavy weapon emplacements and then suddenly launched suicide attacks, the bombs strapped to their bodies detonating in a massive explosion. The other Nurgle cultists couldn't understand why their beloved brethren would suddenly attack them!

These people had been completely controlled by the Zerg Infestors. This Zerg strain could produce a microscopic parasite that, upon entering a human body, would attach itself to the neural control center of the brain. The controlled creature could speak its native language normally and, from the outside, appeared perfectly fine aside from a slightly vacant expression. Without a full medical examination, it was almost impossible to discover these tiny parasites hidden in the central nervous system. It was a divine tool for infiltration.

"Are you insane? Have you betrayed the Grandfather?"

Seeing their former brethren turn on them, the Nurgle cultists immediately launched a counterattack, quickly killing the dozen or so traitors. But just then, green, slime-covered balls of flesh were suddenly launched from a distance.

These flesh-balls burst in mid-air, raining down corrosive acid. Anyone touched by it had their features melted away by the virulent substance. From the ruptured flesh-balls emerged more humanoid creatures.

These figures had once been Nurgle cultists here, but now their bodies, once full of disease, pustules, and rotting flesh, had been replaced by another kind of growth. Writhing tentacles and flesh that had multiplied several times over made them look even more Nurgle-like than the followers of Nurgle themselves. The waving tentacles were not only tools to control them but also a fleshy armor to shield them from harm.

These Nurgle cultists, now parasitized by the Zerg, could still use human weapons. Lasguns fired continuously at the surrounding cultists as they shambled like zombies toward the nearest enemies.

Besides using neural parasites, Infestors could also swallow creatures, stuff them into their abdominal sacs, infect them with a unique Zerg virus, and store them. When needed, they could then launch these Zerg-controlled puppets to act as cannon fodder for the Swarm. These pawns were slow compared to Nurgle's Poxwalkers, but their advantage was that they could still freely use technological weapons.

These controlled humans were not enough to destroy the Nurgle outpost. The Swarm Hosts, lurking nearby, began their own assault. The dense clusters of eggs on their backs continuously fell to the ground, and countless short-lived, expendable Zerg called Locusts joined the battle. It was as if a series of throbbing pustules covered the Swarm Hosts' backs, a sight that would make anyone with trypophobia die on the spot.

If the Swarm Hosts themselves were not dealt with, the endless, inexhaustible tide of Locusts would be enough to finish off the enemy.

The Nurgle cultists had no idea what these creatures were. Even now, they still thought this was just a never-before-seen type of mutated beast from the underhive.

One by one, the Nurgle cultists were killed, and the creep began to spread toward the outpost. The deadly plague spells cast by the Nurgle sorcerers were not so fatal to these Zerg; as long as their health bar wasn't empty, they could still attack. And with an endless supply of expendable Zerg, how long could a sorcerer's psychic energy possibly last?

Zagara moved her massive body, arriving next to the Infestors and Swarm Hosts. A massive number of Zerg followed in her wake.

"For the Queen of Blades, plunder biomass and grow the Swarm!" she commanded telepathically. "Swarm, remember that psychic signal. All humans tainted by that energy are targets for the hunt!"

When Zagara led more Zerg into the still-resisting Nurgle outpost, the surviving cultists saw the creature with its own clear will and finally understood. This was definitely not some mutated beast. This was an unknown, sentient xenos species!

Zagara's body continuously hatched a large number of Banelings, which easily destroyed the outpost's simple fortifications. The virus, their warp-corrupted bodies—all of it was digested by the creep and converted into energy to grow the Swarm. Even the blessings bestowed by the Chaos Gods were, in essence, just another form of energy.

The Infestors and Swarm Hosts provided the Swarm with a large number of expendable units that required no additional biomass or energy. Most importantly, their presence freed up more space in the Nydus Worms to transport even more powerful Zerg.

Under Zagara's leadership, the Swarm began to sweep through the various heretic outposts. No one had expected a Zerg army to suddenly appear in the underhive; no one was prepared for it. The scale of the Swarm began to snowball at a rapid pace. More and more Nydus Worms were hatched, bringing more Zerg to Malfi. After years of propagation, the number of Zerg on the planet Char was already uncountable. Even if the entire current swarm were to die, the hatcheries covering the surface of Char could replenish their numbers in no time.

Therefore, even though there were countless Chaos cultists in the underhive, the Zerg could still completely crush them in both quantity and quality. The Zerg could grow stronger through slaughter, while the Chaos cultists could not harvest any souls from them, nor could they gather any of the negative emotions the Four Gods required from these basic Zerg.

The Nurgle cauldron was knocked over, and the creep on the ground consumed every last drop of the soup.

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