Chapter Seventeen: Journey to Laphis

The Webway—this was surely the technology the Emperor most desired. With it, humanity could avoid the perils of Warp travel and move swiftly and safely among the stars. The Emperor had his own Webway project; beneath the Palace, he constructed a colossal human Webway. His intent was to free humanity from the dangers of the Warp, but Horus’s rebellion and Magnus’s disastrous Warp message utterly destroyed the Emperor’s plan.

Countless daemons, drawn in by Magnus’s psychic communication, flooded into the Webway. To halt their incursion into Terra, the Emperor led the Custodians and the Sisters of Silence into the invaded Webway, launching the “War in the Webway.” The Emperor’s Webway project was ruined beyond repair.

Though humanity’s Webway project ended in failure, there are still races in the 40k universe who possess Webways. The Eldar inherited the ancient Webway system from the Old Ones after the War in Heaven. Before the birth of Slaanesh, the Eldar and their inherited technologies made them rulers of the galaxy. Though their civilization has since declined, the Old Ones’ Webway still allows them to travel interstellar distances without the Warp.

Now, the human troops must rely on the Eldar’s Webway to escape Chaos’s pursuit and reach their destination: Macragge.

“Open this daemon’s mouth!” At the entrance of the Webway gate, Wang Xiaofa was clutching a bundle of explosives, forcing it into the gaping jaws of the greater daemon before him.

Hader Tohuti, a greater daemon who did not exist in the original canon, was pinned to the ground by dozens of transmigrators. Explosive rounds and power sword strikes rained down, but these attacks, though fearsome in appearance, could not truly harm the greater daemon. With the Imperial forces already through the Webway, only the transmigrators and a handful of Death Korps soldiers remained to hold off the Chaos horde. The transmigrators had no intention of letting the daemon live, yet their attacks were ineffectual.

Even though the daemon’s true name had been spoken, weakening it greatly, the transmigrators still could not inflict real damage. Amidst the group kicking the daemon, Wang Xiaofa had a sudden inspiration: if the outside couldn’t hurt it, what about the inside?

He had several transmigrators pry open the daemon’s jaws and stuff the massive explosive bundle down its throat. Then, using a power sword, he forced the daemon to swallow it. Finally, dozens of transmigrators hurled the daemon into the midst of the Chaos army and detonated the explosives. The frustrated Khornate daemon, along with several unlucky followers, was sent straight into the Warp.

With the greater daemon dealt with, the transmigrators and the remaining Death Korps troops entered the Webway.

Having crossed the Webway, the Imperial force and Death Korps emerged on the planet Laphis in the Macragge system, rather than being delivered directly to Macragge itself.

As to why the Webway didn’t lead directly to Macragge, the Eldar claimed there was no Webway gate on Macragge, making a direct route impossible.

However, Wang Ming suspected the Eldar simply didn’t want humanity to know of a Webway gate on Macragge, so they sent them only as far as Laphis.

Dealing with the Eldar always requires caution—you never know when you’ll be deceived.

Wang Ming gazed at the mountains of Laphis before him and drew a deep breath of air thick with the smoke of battle. The Macragge system, too, was now under attack by Chaos.

“Roboute Guilliman, I have arrived.”