In the last two hours before dawn, the last transport planes landed.
The rows of battle regiment servants began to stir slightly, as if they were summoning all their attention from the meditative silence to welcome the arrivals who slowly emerged from the last batch of Thunder Eagles.
The injured were the first to exit the cabin. The bodies of the Astartes who had been severely injured in the Soul Drinker Civil War were placed on anti-gravity levers and were carefully cared for by Apothecaries.
Then came the Honor Guard, led by Soshyan, whose tough and unyielding face was hidden under his helmet.
The members of the Honor Guard have changed their old dark purple paint to a simple silver gray, and the hem of the robe outside the armor is decorated with a symbol of crossed swords, representing the wearer's dedication to the chapter.
The entire honor guard except one person.
Thor, following Soshyan ten steps behind.
Like Soshyan, his face was also covered by a helmet, and his armored hands hung under his simple and simple robe.
The Honor Guard followed their wounded brethren with cautious steps of respect.
The injured slowly passed through the standing queues and were taken to the medical area.
At the other end of the landing site, a Thunderhawk also lowered its landing tailboard with a roar of hydraulic pressure.
Ruby-colored lights poured out, casting a slender, brave figure on the scorched landing field.
Alone, the armored figure slowly walked into the raging stormy night without anyone noticing.
Returning to the monastery fortress again after more than a year, Soshyan sighed a lot - he can still recall the time when these open spaces were still covered by dense forests.
In the past, there were more than twenty villages, towns and settlements within hundreds of kilometers surrounding the Astral Knights' monastery fortress. They supported the neighboring hives with food, clothing, metal ore, machinery and all supplies.
But now all this is gone.
The land around the fortress peak has been leveled and converted into a huge military supply chain. Soshyan has to work hard to recall where those villages and towns once were.
In addition, there are more auxiliary military training centers, barracks, armories, storage warehouses, maintenance areas...
All the buildings as far as the eye can see extend infinitely in all directions. They serve the Chapter wholeheartedly and provide them with manpower and material support in the great expedition.
Even though it was so late at night, the huge queue still did not attract much attention amidst the surrounding noise - loaders and transport planes were taking off and landing constantly, frequently traveling back and forth between the various regional platforms.
From the heights of the monastery, one can see a whole convoy of trucks loaded with ordnance whizzing past on the newly built road, heading to the meeting point in the south of the fortress and the training ground of the Chapter's Auxiliary Army.
Even the battle group servants, many are newly recruited.
The young men and women in brand-new military uniforms stared dumbfoundedly at the march of the giants, staring at the figure at the head of the team leading the giants.
They walked into the depths of the monastery in the wind and rain, walking between curtain walls covered with solid gold, protective shields and arrays of automatic weapons.
As the soldiers gradually approached, the main fortress of the monastery became taller and taller.
In the end, the Astartes began to move forward along an artificial path illuminated only by artificial light spheres.
A fortress that expresses strength and tradition, standing between the rain and fog as vast as the ocean.
The granite base around it has been dug out and exposed by construction machinery. Even late at night, the excavation machinery is still racing against time to throw away the earth, melt out the path, bury the pipe, and continue to extend the fortress itself into the depths of the mountains.
Some of the project plans were arranged by Soshyan, such as building a series of mountain gates at the foot of the mountains to facilitate underground access.
But some of them are not, such as adding elevators to the fortress that can transport passengers to the core of the fortress in just seconds.
Although everything is for efficiency, in his opinion this proposal is a bit too narrow.
The road leading to the gate should be the road trodden by warriors with both feet, and should be polished and polished by generations of warriors after thousands of years.
The other monks could take the ladder into the castle if they wanted to, but he would never do that.
Whenever he returned in triumph, he wanted to walk on the path trodden by the soldiers again and again until he could no longer do it.
However, he still felt relieved because the construction of the fortress continued in an orderly manner while he was away from home.
At the foot of the mountain, at the end of a road that separates two sentry towers, a stone statue stands on each side, marking the starting point of the warrior's path.
The concept of the stone statue is also very good.
The image on the left is a majestic warrior holding a bomb and a chain sword, walking into the world with his head held high.
On the right side is a warrior covered in scars. His armor is broken and his weapons are broken. He is weakly kneeling on his knees, but his head and back are raised high, and his eyes are looking deeply at the door of his home.
The beginning of a warrior and the destination of a warrior.
When passing these two statues, Soshyan saw Thor reaching out and gently touching the stone statue on the right - the ancient warrior's thoughts seemed to drift to thousands of years ago, recalling his former brothers.
As they walked through the long and winding road, the storm had dissipated, leaving only the breeze gently lifting their robes.
The night and heavy clouds in the distance have also dispersed, and the first light of dawn has arrived.
Soon, the climb ended. Although it was long, it was shorter than Soshyan expected. It seemed that he walked from the landing site to this flat and open square in just an hour.
The gates of the fortress had been opened for the return of the soldiers, and Soshyan saw that the courtyard in the center of the fortress was filled with young servants, forming a welcoming queue between the gate and the outer tower of the castle.
They were apparently seeing for the first time the master they were about to serve for the rest of their lives, and many of them were looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and surprise.
Soshyan led the soldiers through the welcoming queue calmly.
As he had expected, two figures were waiting at the far end of the queue. One of them was as tough as a mountain under the temper of the years, and the huge iron coffin was covered with traces of past battles.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The other one is wearing a white battle armor, and his robe is decorated with silver jewelry.
Soshyan stopped in front of them, leaving a respectful distance, and the Astartes' footsteps behind him stopped in a thunder.
"Venerable Said, Soshyan Alexey has completed his mission and annihilated the empire's great enemy. Now he leads all the warriors who went out to triumph."
"Welcome home, Chapter Master Soshyan."
Brother Seid's loudspeaker sounded, his voice hoarse and worn, making his tone even more old-fashioned and outdated.
"But I remember that you only had 19 soldiers when you set out, and when you returned -"
Soshyan immediately felt the tension hidden in the venue, and Sol, who straightened his shoulders slightly, also showed that he was aware of the same feeling.
Brother Said took a step forward, as if inspecting the "new warriors" in the formation who had changed their livery.
"Brothers! Let me introduce myself. My name is Said. I am an old man who has lived for about seven or eight thousand years. I watched the destruction of the Astral Knight, and now I am also watching its rebirth. No matter where you are from,
I expect you to perform great in the Chapter, and I believe you are worthy of this expectation! Glory is waiting for you, brothers, and do you have enough loyalty and reputation to win them!"
An ancient venerable man was a mountain that had to be looked up to for the Soul Drinkers, a battle group that had lost its last fearless force six thousand years ago.
If Soshyan's words still made them slightly doubtful, then Brother Said's words really convinced them.
"have!"
The former Soul Drinkers roared in reply.
"That's how it should be."
Said said with satisfaction:
"But time does not wait for us, and there are still many tasks that need to be completed, and the empire still has many enemies that need to be eliminated. The empire needs you, and we also need you. From today on, you will accept a test that is completely different from the past!"
The challenge issued by the Divine Fear to the new entrants changed the atmosphere in the courtyard in one fell swoop, and even Soshyan was infected by the faith in Said's voice.