Warhammer Divine Throne
Chapter 976 - 426: The Deal
Kemler’s Ancient Tomb Legion is several times larger than this Chaos Warband, surrounding the entire warband within.
Besieged from all directions, Chaos Champion Hagelot-Butcher roared orders for the Barbarian Raiders to swiftly respond. About eight hundred raiders, abandoning their excavation site, wielding their War Axes, rushed toward the Undead Army under the command of the Chaos Champion.
The combat strength and individual prowess of the Barbarian soldiers far surpass Kemler’s Ancient Tomb Legion. Each Barbarian warrior requires at least five Skeleton Warriors to handle. Under the eyes of the Evil God, the Barbarians unleashed tremendous power, chanting the names of their gods, wave after wave joining the battle.
This Chaos Warband journeyed from the Brass Fortress within the Empire through the Drakwald Forest to this location under the will of the Evil God. They are bound to obey. As Chaos Champion Hagelot-Butcher roared the name of Khorne joining the fray, all Barbarian Raiders felt the crimson power of the Blood God.
The Long Spears of the Skeleton Legion tore apart before them, the crude swords and shields of the Skeleton Legion snapped and shattered in their presence. Initially, the Barbarian Raiders penetrated deep into the Ancient Tomb Legion, nearing Kemler’s position.
The Undead Grand Mage showed no reaction, Kemler sat steadily in the Central Army, silent.
The increasingly fierce red tide gradually faltered. As Chaos Champion Hagelot-Butcher approached Kemler, a unit of heavily armored, Long Halberd-wielding troops emerged, their halberd formation halting the Chaos Warband’s advance.
It was Kemler’s Desolate Grave Guard Legion!
Facing the fully armored Desolate Tomb Guards, the Chaos Warband struggled to conquer quickly. Conversely, the undead tidal wave, like a flood, thoroughly trapped the warband. Each Barbarian Raider found themselves facing six or more undead, those crude blades and rusted spears attacking from all directions. The fallen Barbarian Raiders were resurrected through Kemler’s spells, transforming into new Desolate Tomb Guards and Skeleton Warriors.
The undead grew in numbers as they fought, Chaos Champion Hagelot-Butcher noticed his army being overwhelmed but could not defy Khorne’s will. His War Axe swung wide, consecutively taking down several Desolate Tomb Guards. Hagelot noticed those he had felled were not truly dead, merely temporarily incapacitated. As Kemler resumed casting spells, these undead quickly recovered and returned to the front line.
Hagelot roared in anger, continuously drawing closer to Kemler’s location. Behind him, the Barbarian Raiders gradually fell, Tomb Ghouls and Tomb Evil Ghosts rushed into the raiders’ ranks, attacking wantonly, tossing them into the air, or crushing them into pulp.
Unknowingly, the Chaos Warband soon found itself down to just him. The undead could not breach Hagelot’s sturdy Chaos Armor, but Kemler commanded them to slaughter this group of Barbarians entirely, and they succeeded.
"Coward! Dare to face me!" Chaos Champion raised the War Axe amid the massed army, pointing directly at the nearby Undead Grandmaster. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
Kemler’s response was cold and despairing, he raised his Magic Staff: "Nagash’s Gaze!"
Undead Grandmaster’s eyes shot cold purple-red light, piercing the entire Undead Legion, striking the Chaos Champion. Hagelot retreated several steps in agony, his chest burned through, a gaping hole.
Worse still, Stone Tomb Binding Spirits and Spirit-Binding Knights joined the battle, their cursed Spiritual Scythes tearing apart Hagelot’s Chaos Armor. Blood flowed from shattered gaps in the armor, freezing within the Ice Lake atop the Gray Mountain Range.
Multiple scythes pierced the Chaos Champion’s body, a vile heart carved out by the Spirit-Binding Knights, offered to the always silent Heinrich Kemler.
Kemler did not even glance at the heart; it was but a trivial victory for the Undead Mage’s long life. He gestured for the undead to disperse, continuing toward the Ice Lake.
The mountain’s cold wind howled, blowing over the Gray Mountain Range’s perennial snow, across the Ice Lake’s eternally frozen surface, past heaps of Barbarian Raiders’ corpses, also over the tomb beneath the lake.
It was what Kemler has been arduously searching for, Guer’s tomb.
Who was Guer?
He was once the Northern Barbarian Kingdom’s King, the champion chosen by Chaos Four Gods. Before Charlemagne was born and established the Empire, Guer had already led the Norsca Tribes to complete formal unification, establishing a strong Barbarian Empire, and becoming its King. He was once Khorne’s Divine Chosen, commander of tribes believing in the Blood God, the other three gods also received due respect from him.
Much like the "Red Eye" Egil Steelbjorn slain by Laine.
The Northern Barbarian Empire quickly attacked the southern Dwarf Kingdom urged by the Evil Gods. During those dark years, the Dwarf Kingdom suffered severe losses, also confronting earthquakes, Green Skins, and Ratman’s attacks. Guer had alliances with Green Skins, capturing two Dwarf Fortresses in one stroke, slaughtering thousands of Dwarves, his name written multiple times in the Dwarves’ Book of Hatred.