Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 563 Going deep into the ruins
Before the dizziness from passing through the twisted entrance of the "Pioneer's Throat" had fully subsided, the two teams, forced to cooperate, found themselves trapped in an even more complex labyrinth inside the ruins.

The passageways do not follow the geometry understood by humans; they intersect, loop, and even have visual breaks at bizarre angles. The walls are covered with a dark composite material that absorbs almost all light, etched with dense honeycomb or scale-like patterns.

Occasionally, the faint pulsation of an unknown energy source in the distance would cause these patterns to briefly light up with a cold violet light, outlining complex circuit patterns before disappearing back into the darkness.

The air was thick with ancient dust, ozone, metallic coolant fumes, and a cold, deathly stillness, like a vacuum leaking out, making it hard to breathe.

The servo arms of the Sage Oregana are like tentacles that sense the outside world, with their end-sensor arrays flashing a ghostly green light as they constantly scan the environment.

"The gravitational field continues to fluctuate abnormally, and the dimensional folding readings far exceed the limits of the standard model... Warning: Strong spatial distortion effect detected ahead, suspected to be a trap or defense node." Her synthesized voice sounded in the encrypted channel, like the precise chime of a clock.

Ferrus's silver-gray eyes swept over the high-dimensional distortion points marked on the tactical hologram.

"Maria, prepare the molten metal cannon. Think Tank, suppress potential phase shifts. Left Wing of the Inquisition, be on alert for energy backflow from the rear." Her commands were concise, cold, and left no room for argument.

Warren's face twitched slightly in the shadow of his helmet, but he merely gestured to the captain of the combat nuns beside him, who immediately directed the nuns to adjust their formation, their incendiary guns pointing warily toward the back of the dark passage.

The passage ahead was not blocked by physical obstacles, but rather the space itself presented a strange "phase misalignment".

Visually, the passage seems to continue forward, but the sensors show that the spatial coordinates of the area ahead are completely out of sync with the team's location. Forcing their way in could result in being randomly thrown into a deadly corner of the ruins or being torn apart by spatial turbulence.

"Trying to bypass it?" Guterres's voice was low.

“Calculations show that all physical paths are blocked by this twisted node. It is the only logical gate leading to the core area,” Aurejana responded quickly, her mechanical cats emitting a high-frequency hum of computation.

“The node’s energy characteristics are unstable, and there is a logical flaw in the core? It doesn’t seem to be fully activated.” She paused, her prosthetic eye flashing rapidly. “Speculation: The system is severely lacking in energy, which has prevented the advanced defense mechanisms from being fully activated or maintained stably.”

Just then, at the edge of the "empty" force field supported by Liz, a faint, non-chaotic psionic fluctuation, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, gently touched the node of spatial distortion.

This isn't an attack; it's more like... a tentative guidance?

The Carleon think tank suddenly opened its eyes and looked at Liz, who shook her head slightly, indicating that she had not released it voluntarily.

The source of the fluctuations seemed to be deep within the ruins.

Something amazing happened.

On the surface of that distorted spatial barrier, the violent energy ripples representing dimensional folding showed a barely perceptible... stagnation? Like an overloaded engine suddenly losing power.

"An opportunity!" Aurejana instantly seized this one-in-a-million-second window: "Knight Maria! Coordinates Theta-9, High-Energy Focused Bombardment! Physical impact superimposed with energy overload! Captain Guterres, synchronize! Think Tank, mental impact on its logical core!"

No hesitation.

Maria's "Radiant Sentinel" knight mech displayed unwavering stability under turbulent gravity, its molten cannon muzzle instantly blazing like daylight, and a devastating incandescent beam of light precisely struck the weak point in the physical structure marked by Aurejana!

Almost simultaneously, Guterres's explosive gun fired a specially designed Gauss pulse bullet, while Carleon focused his mind, transforming it into an invisible, coldly ordered hammer that slammed into the chaotic energy flow at the core of the spatial node.

Boom! Sizzle—Buzz!

The physical explosion, energy overload, and mental shock triggered a catastrophic chain reaction within the spatial node. The distorted "barrier" vibrated violently, emitting a piercing sound like metal tearing apart, and streams of purplish-black energy darted about like uncontrolled lightning.

Finally, with a tooth-grinding metallic groan, the spatial structure was forcibly "reset," and the passage regained its physical continuity, although strong spatial disturbances and a scorching metallic smell lingered in the air.

The view beyond the distortion point was revealed—a wider passageway leading into the shadowy depths.

"It...is letting us in?" Warren's voice was filled with disbelief and astonishment, his knuckles white as he gripped the Hellfire Gun tightly.

He also caught the guiding fluctuation just now.

"Logical conclusion: The core of the ruins possesses an autonomous control system, but due to energy depletion, it cannot maintain a complete defense." Feralus's tone was devoid of any emotion, as if stating a known fact: "Objective unchanged, accelerate the advance. Beware of remaining traps."

The journey that followed confirmed Felus's judgment; every step was on the dying pulse of the ruins, every step was like dancing on a knife's edge.

The passageway suddenly fell into a suffocating stillness.

The gravitational field spiked abnormally, each step feeling like it was ripping the boots out of the solidified metal ground, producing a piercing scraping sound. But this was only the beginning.

What's truly terrifying is the distortion of time.

Their movements were dragged out to an incredibly slow pace; a simple action like raising a gun required several times the usual amount of willpower.

In stark contrast to this is the unusual clarity of thought.

Every drifting dust particle's trajectory, every faintly shimmering violet pattern on the wall, seems to be magnified in slow motion.

The heightened senses and sluggish movements created a soul-rending torture. Liz's "emptiness" force field struggled to maintain a relatively stable, pale area, like a lone lamp in a blizzard.

The force field fluctuated violently at its edge, struggling against the viscous spacetime, emitting a low groan of being overwhelmed.

The Carleon think tank stood beside her, veins bulging on his forehead. His powerful psychic energy wasn't directly attacking the force field, but rather transformed into countless tiny guiding threads that seeped into the sluggish spacetime structure, painstakingly creating a "channel" for the team to barely synchronize their thoughts and actions, as if untangling a tangled mess.

Even so, traversing this area took a long time, each second feeling like being tortured in a mental furnace. Sweat soaked through their inner lining, and their heavy breathing was clearly audible in the encrypted channel.

As the passage widened, the scene became increasingly horrifying.

The walls and dome on both sides are covered with huge wounds and embedded mechanical structures.

Those were the remains of an autonomous defense unit.

They come in various shapes and sizes. Some resemble multi-legged metal spiders torn apart by immense force, their broken limbs hanging twisted and contorted at the structural fractures. Others look like floating gun emplacements frozen in rock strata, their once deadly gun barrels corroded and broken, covered with thick, shimmering ice crystal dust.

Deathly silence was the dominant theme here, with only the heavy footsteps of the procession echoing in the empty space.

(End of this chapter)