Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 832: Pelle’s Move

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A couple of years passed by, and soon, the stalemate in the Space Marines Frontier will be broken.

Pelle had been watching very closely.

He observed, watched, tested, and learned how the space marines responded to situations.

Throughout the years, he’d been planning. He probed the space marines several times over. And while he had never been able to truly push them back permanently, Pelle wasn’t too concerned. He also didn’t mind sending millions of his siblings to their deaths because, in his mind, their sacrifices were for the cause and therefore justified.

Pelle organized and began recognizing the patterns of the space marines’ deployment. He had learned the holes in their formations, what delays them, what stops them, and how to corner them.

He also solved the problems of the massive weapons aimed at them. He had learned how they worked, how to dismantle them, and how to even potentially use them against the space marines.

After all this preparation, Pelle felt that he was ready.

’It’s time to knock these puny humans down a peg,’ he declared to himself.

So, today, Pelle stood before his army.

They all lined up in a neat formation. All are waiting for his signal. They didn’t think much of this, not because they didn’t want to but because they couldn’t; they didn’t have enough brain capacity to do that.

Knowing these, Pelle didn’t bother with speeches to rally them. Instead, he gave them orders through the hive mind. Clear, concise, and direct.

Then, with a push of an arm, he sent them off.

Crash!!

A horde of bugs, billions in count, came crashing through the dimensional gap and rushing toward the space marine frontier.

Alarms screamed in red, alerting all soldiers. The human army scrambled to man their weapons, faces taut in strict discipline as they aimed at the massive swarm of bugs heading their way.

Behind this swarm was Pelle. Both pairs of his arms were folded behind his back as the swarm carried him forward. His eyes gleamed with excitement, anticipation, and righteous fury.

He won’t personally make a move. Not just yet. It’s not yet the time for that.

But he accompanied the swarm to infiltrate the frontier so that he could personally see how this goes.

In hindsight, he should’ve known that something’s wrong.

Nobody could stare at the giant tsunami of bugs and stay calm. Nobody. Not demons, mechanoids, dragons, or even more so, humans.

But the Space Marines didn’t panic. It’s like they’re completely unable to feel that kind of emotion. They just sensed the threat and responded in ways that they know how to, and that is to kill as many as they can.

Their shields went up. Barriers were deployed and barricades were raised. The space marines showed remarkable discipline as they came out of their camps and rushed to their formation.

They mowed down the swarm like tractors on a wheat field. Their weapons glowed bright orange, nearly overheating with how much they were firing.

As the swarm crashed into their first layer of defense, it was stopped cold, unable to advance even a single inch forward. Meanwhile, as they struggled to advance, the space marines sat comfortably at their formation, firing away as if they had a limitless source of ammunition.

Bullets, shells, bombs, laser beams, salvos…anything that could be launched through their weapons, they fired. They obliterated huge chunks of the swarm in large swathes.

Pelle’s expression turned somber at this sight. He had missed the first clue and the next one after that when he completely ignored the sign.

’This isn’t how it’s supposed to go,’ he thought to himself.

Pelle’s plan was to watch the swarm crash into the barriers, shields, and barricades. Breaking all of them under its weight.

Sure, the weaponry of the space marines was built to neutralize the Horde’s numbers, but it shouldn’t have been sturdy enough to endure the weight of a swarm.

There were billions of bugs here. BILLIONS of bugs, of all shapes and sizes. As soon as they landed, they went into a full-blown sprint and never stopped. Their impact should’ve at least cracked the first layer of the space marine’s defenses.

But it stood tall, unbroken and unmoved. It took the crushing impact of the swarm steadily and protected those behind it.

To Pelle, this doesn’t make sense at all. But he wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

He waited, deciding to be patient. Maybe this was just a bluff. Maybe, the space marines were just keeping up appearances. Maybe, the truth is that they’re panicking inside, and they’re just doing an excellent job at hiding that because they didn’t want to show weakness, especially to Pelle since they know he’d catch it and exploit it.

At least, that’s what he thought. That’s why he stayed patient.

He ordered the swarm to keep pushing forward. He didn’t mind the fact that the space marines were literally obliterating their numbers in millions at once. He ignored all of that and kept advancing anyway.

But then, hours passed.

Pelle went from confident to aghast in the span of hours.

He was dumbfounded because how…how was his swarm unable to break even the first layer of defense? This doesn’t make sense at all!

It’s not like the swarm he sent was weak. Pelle went all out with this! He overclocked the spawning of bugs from nests. He exerted remarkable patience by accumulating them first, not sending them to attack as soon as they were hatched.

He came in excited, thinking about dismantling the frontier. He spent years perfecting his strategy, probing, learning, and observing, all for this moment. And more importantly, he wanted to personally send the good news to his mother, earn her praise and love, and put her in her right position as the Empress of all things.

But he didn’t expect that before he could even taste any semblance of success, he would be stopped cold in his tracks. He couldn’t even manage to penetrate the first layer of defense!

How is that acceptable!?

How many bugs have died at this point? Billions, easily! Although the swarm still looked large and menacing, it’s only because the nests kept producing them and replenishing their numbers.

Pelle knows the truth, though. That even if the nests doubled their production miraculously, nothing would change.

It’s been hours. If this first layer of shield they have were destined to collapse under the pressure and constant assault of the bugs, it should’ve already happened. But no, it’s still here, still standing tall and absolute.

And the Space Marines were still firing away, showing no signs of slowing down at all.

If this wasn’t a clear sign of Pelle’s failure. Then what happened next certainly was.

Pelle felt its threat even before he saw it. And as soon as he did, he felt himself being pulled out of the Dimensional Gap—this was his mother’s protection springing up in response to the threat in his life.

He hadn’t even had enough time to figure out what was going on before he was momentarily blinded by a strong flash of light.

It flashed briefly. Then, silence…

And to Pelle’s abject horror, when he opened his eyes, he discovered that the tall swarm of bugs that had been gnawing at the shield to no avail had been completely vaporized.

The only ones left were the nests, and only half of what he brought survived whatever that thing was.

Even the surviving ones didn’t come out unscathed. They were burned, damaged, and terrified. So much so that it hindered their rate of production.

The battlefield went awfully silent after that. And Pelle? He was sweating coldly, pale-faced as he stared at the gigantic muzzle that was still smoking after firing the beam that vaporized his swarm in seconds.

That came out of nowhere. He didn’t even see it emerging at all.

If the protection of his mother wasn’t triggered, he could’ve been caught by that thing, and who knows what would’ve happened to him?

Pelle’s mouth was parched. He would rather die than admit this out loud, but deep down, he was terrified.

He nearly died. Again.

That gigantic muzzle was a painful reminder that he wasn’t truly immortal. It’s the crystallization of humanity’s dreadful aspect: progress.

The Human Sovereigns didn’t even need to be around to kill him. Just one of those things would do just fine. And isn’t that just terrifying?

When did they even build this?

As much as he was thankful for his mother’s foresight, Pelle was also struck by grief and an overwhelming sense of failure.

Shame flooded his veins. And now, he understood why the Space Marines had never been afraid. It’s because the swarm was a joke to them now.

It’s no longer a threat that could break them and devour them whole. It’s just a small infestation, one that they could solve by spraying them with pure annihilation beams.

’Retreat. Save yourselves.’ He ordered what remained of the army through the hive mind.

And retreat they did. It’s a walk of shame because the space marines stopped firing the moment they saw them retreating.

The mark of failure weighs heavily in Pelle’s mind, something that he won’t recover from anytime soon.