The Creators: From Night City

Page 480

But a fiery will burned brightly, dispelling the chill for this steadfast warrior.

"Forged in the flames of war, forged on the anvil!"

A steadfast prayer miraculously brought strength, propelling the salamander forward.

The Thousand Sons Wizard could only increase his psionic output, attempting to force his opponent back with even more ferocious frost.

He succeeded, but he also failed.

Urzan himself was a deliberately placed target; the real culprit was someone else.

With his superb body control, Titus managed to suppress the weight of his several tons of body weight, discarding his precious Storm Shield without hesitation, all so that he could approach the wizard silently from the side.

By the time the Thousand Sons Wizard, who was casting the spell, discovered Titus's whereabouts, the Astartes had already crept up to him.

A distance of a dozen meters is just a flick of the finger for an Astartes going all out; the bone-chilling psionic storm had no effect on Titus's assassination attempt.

Charge forward, shoulder armor slams through shield, chainsword slashes through scepter block, a heavy punch stuns the opponent, and finally, the sharpshooter teammate, who had been patiently waiting on the cliff, precisely blows the opponent's head off with a long-range laser gun.

The battle began abruptly and ended just as abruptly.

"[Cave!]" A hoarse voice from the Black Shield Think Tank rang out in the team's communication.

The two Terminators, excluding the Salamander, immediately charged forward.

The Terminator's built-in defensive force field is virtually invincible in confined spaces, while two multi-barreled thermobarrels are a nightmare.

They stood side by side like gatekeepers, forming an impenetrable steel barrier, and raced forward along the passageway that should have been a maintenance route into the mountainside.

Soon, the two fought their way to the depths of the cave, and their astonished reports came through the communication channel.

[By the Emperor, what is this thing?!]

Chapter 973 The Right Way to Deal with Tzeentch

"I think we need support, we need real psionic experts."

Deep within the underground cavern, in a massive cavity filled with blue light and whispering voices, the Black Shield Think Tank gazed at the enormous, unclean entity before them and spoke solemnly.

A deep blue light, like the patterns on a circuit board, shone before the Astartes' eyes and continued to spread into the void.

These patterns flow from the earth's veins, pass through this massive psionic node, and flow deeper into the earth's veins.

The violent psychic energy flowed through these lines, so much so that even those without psychic talent could sense something amiss in the space.

"Is things really that bad, Elias? Can we just blow it up?" the commander asked.

"This is futile." The think tank's eyes gleamed outwards as it observed a node in this vast system from a higher dimension, attempting to glimpse its entirety and understand its essence.

"This is just a node, an insignificant intersection in a vast spider web. Destroying it won't do any good. On the contrary, using it to find the truth behind the scenes is the best option."

The think tank reiterated: "Please call for help, Commander. This evil ritual has far exceeded our capabilities. I suspect that the planet's subsurface has been completely overrun by this evil witchcraft, and the planet may have been hollowed out."

Professional matters should naturally be handled by professionals, and Commander Cassius Valkan did not hesitate to immediately request assistance.

The chapter 【Anti-Entropy】 is like a thick fog, constantly shrouding the minds of all Astartes.

This problem arose not only because of their abundant weaponry, but also because of many other aspects that differed from those of the empire.

Take the support methods as an example.

The reinforcements that the killing squad was waiting for did not arrive at their side via airdrop pods or Thunderhawk transport ships, but rather via a more convenient, faster, and more 'heretical' route.

Spatial fissure.

The little-known warband, 【Anti-Entropy】, seems to possess a stable spatial rift technology and uses it with great skill.

As the spherical 'beacon' was activated, a spatial rift quickly and quietly opened before the eyes of all the Astartes.

Jiang Bing stepped from the mechanical temple into this underground chamber.

"Lord Sabur, I didn't expect this matter to alarm you," the commander said, bowing his head.

This matter would naturally alarm Jiang Bing, after all, he has the highest level of 'psychic energy' in the entire [Anti-Entropy].

The blue aura illuminated Jiang Bing's face, making it appear as if dyed blue. He did not respond, but instead began to analyze the magical nodes in front of him with great interest.

"What a grand gesture!" Jiang Bing's first words successfully drew everyone's attention.

"Your Excellency Sabur, what have you discerned?"

Jiang Bing tapped his cane lightly, and a golden hue began to slowly permeate the constantly flowing blue spiritual energy.

"This is a 'recorder' for psionic magic."

The golden light spread rapidly along the surging veins of spiritual energy, extending swiftly along the planet's ley lines to the next node in Jiang Bing's perception.

"It is directly 'compiling' and 'inscribing' a massive spell into the planet's crust and even mantle, attempting to transform the entire planet into a giant magic circle, battery, and magical summoning base."

Jiang Bing's words greatly surprised everyone.

"You cunning devil, you've finally shown your true colors." Jiang Bing looked at the complex magic array in front of him and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As the god of intrigue and change, Tzeentch's stature cannot be as simple as merely conquering a planet and slaughtering billions of humans.

He and His retinue were not blind, foolish, and bloodthirsty tyrants; death and slaughter were not their pursuit.

So until just now, Jiang Bing still couldn't quite figure out the real reason why the other side was making such a big fuss on this planet.

The mystery has finally been solved.

"Lord Sabur, do you mean the demons are trying to corrupt this planet?" Titus asked proactively, eager to fulfill his mission.

"It's worse than that."

Under the watchful eyes of the think tank members, Jiang Bing, like a customer picking and choosing vegetables at a market, easily and comfortably kneaded and disassembled the complex array patterns in front of him, observing them at will.

“Psionic energy, one of the four gods of the subspace, is permeating the critical nodes of this planet. Once the sorcery is inscribed, and with hundreds of billions of souls as ‘ignition sources,’ this planet can be ignited instantly.”

"Light it?!" the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

"You should know that this is a bustling industrial world, located right at a subspace route node in the seventh sector."

"If Tzeentch's plan succeeds, the magnitude of the psionic torrent that ignites the explosion will be enough to turn this planet into a psionic cannonball, blasting open the 'veil' between the real world and the warp."

In the deathly silence, Jiang Bing continued to deduce the next steps.

"Its power is sufficient to create a stable, super-large subspace rift through which the Tzeentch army can pass on a large scale."

Jiang Bing looked at everyone and continued, "Of course, based on my understanding of Tzeentch, what emerged from the crack might not be Tzeentch's army, but could also be the armies of Khorne, Nurgle, or Selene."

"But in any case, this outcome is not one that the Empire can tolerate."

"We must stop them!" the commander replied immediately, his expression resolute, his determination leaving no room for doubt.

“We can destroy these psionic nodes one by one, disrupting the structure of this sorcery. As long as enough psionic nodes are destroyed, the enemy’s despicable intentions will not be achieved,” the think tank offered its answer.

“Of course that’s possible,” Jiang Bing tapped his cane with his fingers, a slight smile playing on his lips. “But that would be too slow, and we might not be able to muster that many manpower in such a short time.”

With a wave of his hand, he used golden flames to draw a miniature map of the entire planet in the air. A large amount of golden psionic flames surged, analyzed, and drew along this vast magical vein.

Soon, the golden power spread across the entire planet along the psychic energy pathways in a non-Euclidean geometric pattern, eventually converging at a certain point near the planet's equator.

"The Governor's Palace?!" the commander exclaimed, voicing the information this location represented.

"To shoot a man, shoot his horse first; to capture a thief, capture his king first," Jiang Bing uttered an ancient Terran proverb, much to the surprise of the Astartes.

"Playing tricks with the treacherous retinue is an extremely unwise thing to do," Jiang Bing said casually, dispelling the planet's miniature map and turning back to where the beacon was.

"I can guarantee that countless malicious schemes and plots lurk within these magical nodes, just waiting for the Empire's loyal warriors to walk right into their trap."

A spatial rift quietly opened, and the 'Apostle' guards responsible for protection began to evacuate in an orderly manner.

Before Jiang Bing's figure disappeared into the crevice, he finally revealed his final plan.

"So I plan to blow up the entire Governor's Palace, the core of the ceremony, along with the Shangchao area. Anyway, there probably aren't many survivors there."

Chapter 974 Taking the Unconventional Path

If we're simply talking about destruction and the tools associated with it, the Empire of Man has a lot to say.

Shipborne cyclone torpedoes, virus bombs, crust bombs, nova cannons, vortex cannons, apocalypse-class missiles, obsidian killers, and the volcano cannons, vortex explosives, two-phase shells equipped by the Titans of the Imperial Titan Order, and even the Akhenaten Law artifacts, black hole weapons, and gravity weapons left over from the Dark Ages, can wipe out large areas of the planet's surface in an instant.

A weapon called a star manipulator can even destroy all worlds in a target galaxy at once by triggering the star in the target galaxy into a supernova phase.

However, while it is easy to indiscriminately unleash disasters, it is extremely difficult to deliver precise and destructive blows.

Raze the buildings near the governor's palace to the ground without affecting most of the hive's structure. This kind of surgical precision strike is best left to the Star Fleet.

The light spear arrays, missile arrays, and other weapons carried on the Empire's various strike ships, cruisers, and battleships are all well capable of performing this task.

The awkward problem is that the surface air defenses have been taken over by the Chaos forces. Forget about making a direct forced landing in the atmosphere, any warship that dares to approach the edge of the magnetosphere will be subjected to fierce air defense attacks immediately.

With the Planetary Defense Fleet's crappy firepower, anyone who dares to come is basically just asking for trouble. Even if they send in another Deathwatch Imperial Strike Ship, it won't make a difference.

Fortunately, it is difficult to break in from the outside, but it is much easier to break out from the inside.

Destroying these anti-aircraft defenses from inside the planet is not a difficult task, at least not for [Anti-Entropy].

In the upper levels of the hive, the most powerful ground-based air defense positions on the entire planet are usually deployed around key political and economic centers.

The macro-gun array, the ground-to-rail laser cannon, and a large array of missile silos are distributed along the edge of the upper nest.

Once they are destroyed, the remaining air defense firepower of the orbital and near-orbital defense layers will be insufficient.

Upper City, Religious Ritual District, Sacred Thorn Empire Monastery.

Colonel Lelida, commander of the 12th Regiment of the PDF, leaned against an empty supply crate, looking very worried.

It is now the third day since the 'Demonic Calamity' broke out. His soldiers have suffered heavy casualties and are exhausted, even with the solid monastery beneath them as their backs.

In Vessos, an industrialized region, the state religion flourished, but due to its remote and impoverished location, its influence was not as strong.

The most obvious example is that there are no members of the Battle Sisters stationed in the Holy Thorn Monastery; there are only some ordinary clergy and support staff.

However, as an important place for practicing the imperial state religion, the monasteries of the empire were built to be extremely luxurious and sturdy.

Colonel Lelida had more than once grumbled about the towering spires, flying buttresses, enormous gargoyles, and countless towers pointing to the sky, and lamented the thick outer walls, the tall and narrow windows, and the huge gates. These majestic inanimate objects devoured a lot of tax revenue, but did nothing of substance. After all, the Crown of the Martyrs Cathedral was right next door, and no one would pay attention to this unremarkable monastery.

But at this moment, he was incredibly grateful for the builder's piety.

These thick brick walls became the most effective barrier for him and his soldiers to resist the 'demonic calamity'.

"Colonel, the enemy has launched another attack," his deputy suddenly burst in while he was half asleep.

The commander could only muster his strength to stand up and stay on the defensive line with his soldiers.

The towering towers, like the most solid fortresses, blocked the surging crowds. Several crisscrossing laser beams streaked across the sky, landing in the crowds without causing a ripple.

"That rookie fired the shot, save your ammunition, wait until these lunatics start charging the position before you fire!" a company commander roared at his men.

Several days of fierce fighting had depleted their ammunition reserves. After all, the 12th Regiment was responsible for the defense of the anti-aircraft positions, and when they were driven into the monastery by the demons, they did not have time to carry too much supplies.

"Remind everyone again: let the enemy get close and fight them; conserve every last bit of ammunition," Colonel Lelida emphasized repeatedly.

Just as he was feeling agitated, the messenger rushed over.

"Colonel, communications! Communications! They're back!" The communications officer ran excitedly to his regimental commander to tell him the good news.

During the three days of siege, the communications officer desperately tried all channels to call for help, and his voice became hoarse from exhaustion and tension.

Fortunately, just when he was almost in despair, he suddenly received a response.

"May the God Emperor protect us!"

Colonel Dalia rushed to the command center immediately.

Although it was called a command room, it was actually just a small prayer hall that had been requisitioned as a temporary command post.

A large table was scattered with some topographical maps and disorganized documents, while a portable high-power communication radio was placed in the most conspicuous position.

This is the 12th Regiment's hope for survival.

The colonel's voice was so excited he was almost incoherent. He grabbed the microphone and shouted, "This is the 12th 'Standby' Regiment of the Planetary Defense Force. I am Regiment Commander Lelida. Requesting a response! Requesting a response!"

A loud static crackling sound rang out, but it was quickly drowned out by a cold, clear, yet unusually firm voice.

[Received, PDF12 Regiment. This is the temporary command post of the [Anti-Entropy] Astartes Legion. We have confirmed receipt of your distress signal. Immediately report the current status of your forces, enemy deployment, and current coordinates.]

In the makeshift command post, everyone was stunned.

The communications officer, who was adjusting the machine, suddenly turned to the commander, his eyes filled with unbelievable ecstasy and awe.

Colonel Dalia never imagined he would receive a message from the Imperial Angels. He was so excited that he was almost at a loss for words. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady and professional.