Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 364 Noble Treasury
Doom touched the gilded gate, inside which lay the ancient treasures of the Grae family.

The governor's gauntlet touched the gate, and the sensor system transmitted back the analysis results: the vault was cast from a single piece of refined gold several meters thick, with extremely high structural strength, enough to remain intact during orbital bombardment.

"How do I open it?" Harlan knocked on the door, but the adamantite didn't respond, demonstrating its incredible sturdiness.

“We need the genes of the Gra family.” Obelisk slung his sniper rifle over his back and pointed it at the gene lock next to the door, which was powered by an independent device.

He took the teleportation beacon from his waist buckle, planted it in the ground to activate it, and explained to the champion swordsman, "And we happen to have one."

Harlan slowly nodded and stepped back, leaving the beacon's transmission range.

The psionic beacon activated, emitting a unique psionic energy fluctuation. Onboard the Glorious Old Days, a warrior pushed the teleportation target into the teleportation chamber.

Clad in prison clothes, Grah trembled uncontrollably, the biting cold of the psionic energy causing him to hug himself tightly. Then, a flash of white light, and he felt the world spin.

The environment suddenly changed, and the familiar air, carrying the smell of gunpowder, entered his nostrils. He twitched his nostrils and knew he was home.

The surroundings were extremely familiar. In front of the family treasury lay alien corpses, and three tall warriors stood before the adamantite gate.

"I pay homage to you, my lords." He was quick-witted and immediately knelt down to kowtow, knowing why the warriors before him had summoned him.

Gra witnessed the entire battle, was still shaken by the horrors of the aliens, and learned about the war capabilities of the Nur Stars.

In his heart, the stars of Nur had become an irresistible ruler.

In the hazy star field sector of the Milky Way, Nur's authority will be unshakable for the next thousand or even ten thousand years, and his powerful strength can make everything submit.

Knowing this, Gela became even more humble, subconsciously hunching his back and not daring to overstep his bounds.

"Don't beat around the bush," Harlan said, unable to contain his eagerness to see the treasures inside the vault. Pointing to the gene lock, he urged, "Open the door quickly, I want to choose my spoils."

Even in the Age of Stars, the Night Watch retains its tradition that anything a warrior touches on the battlefield is his unique loot.

The champion swordsman has a slight collecting habit, and naturally can't wait for the moment of reward at the end of the battle.

"Oh, oh." Gra quickly replied, a shrewd glint in her eyes. She carefully considered her options, wondering who among the three present was truly in charge.

The tallest warrior, after teleporting over, hadn't uttered a single word, standing by the gate with his arms crossed.

The black-armored warriors subtly led him, their positions somewhat distant but protective, allowing them to assume a guard stance immediately.

The white-armored warrior leaned casually against the side of the gate, holding a peculiar pistol in his right hand and a spear in the crook of his left arm, issuing commands to himself.

"As you command." Not yet knowing their specific identities, and with no one else objecting, Gra did not dare to ask and walked familiarly to the entrance of the treasure vault.

As he reached into the gene detector, a wave of bittersweet emotion washed over him.

The wealth accumulated by the family over generations was first manipulated by Mrs. Clara, leaving them with no choice, and now they are oppressed by authority, which is also not what they truly desire.

Unfortunately, circumstances ultimately dictate that one must act against one's will.

“Boy,” Harlan growled as he walked to Glar’s ​​side, his tall figure exuding an imposing aura. The dim light from the vault doors cast shadows over Glar. “Are you unwilling?”

The champion swordsman appeared relaxed and casual, but was actually very perceptive, noticing the regretful look on Gera's face.

“No… no, sir,” Gra’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, a fawning smile spreading across his face. “Our family accepts the rule of the Nur Stars, and everything belongs to King Norwick.”

"I'm just very sorry..." He suppressed his inner fear and shook his head with feigned regret.

"What's there to regret?" Harlan looked down at the person in front of him, his extremely dishonest behavior accompanied by constant fidgeting, his calculations making a clattering sound.

“Unfortunately, the treasures in the vault are not all,” Gra said, trying his best to control his facial expression under immense pressure, his face filled with heartbroken hatred. “That wretched Lady Kra has stolen a part of the glory that belongs to King Norwick.”

His face was filled with hatred, and his expression of grief and indignation didn't seem like an act.

Harlan remained silent, looking down at Gela without saying a word. Gela's expression gradually stiffened, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Grala dared not speak and focused on unlocking the treasure vault door.

The noble treasury was designed to be extremely complicated, with various steps linked together, but it had no lofty purpose and was simply intended to buy time.

Because delaying is the best form of insurance.

The process of opening the vault was extremely lengthy, requiring a considerable amount of time even with the correct steps, thus delaying the raiders and allowing reinforcements to arrive. Time ticked by, and the complex opening procedure made Harlan pace anxiously. Finally, he could only sit cross-legged on the ground, close his eyes, and wait for the vault to open.

Doom also leaned against the wall, arms crossed, meditating quietly, listening to the communications in his mind-to-mind connection to predict the course of the battlefield.

Obelisk did his job well, using his dimensional blade to slice through the steel and set up a position in front of the vault, setting up a sniper rifle to guard the way.

Only one person was busy working non-stop. Gela was constantly operating the equipment in front of the gate, his face pale with exhaustion.

The door, which originally required dozens of people to open, was now being opened by him alone. Naturally, he was in a flurry of activity, running around and panting heavily.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the process was only halfway through.

During this time, Harlan couldn't resist and hunted down several Lady Krats. He piled their corpses in front of the vault gate, took out a knife, skinned and dismembered the aliens, and carved their skulls as souvenirs to hang on his waist.

As the external battle intensified and the shields failed, the Nur AI army was fully deployed, clearing out the scattered Lady Kras in the planet's wilderness and locking the battlefield in the capital region.

Lady Kra is extremely difficult to deal with. She has taken up residence underground in the city and has begun a guerrilla war against Nur.

Even in many hidden rooms, Lady Kra sacrificed large numbers of humans and held summoning rituals, hoping to summon powerful beings from the warp to come and help her, but there was no response.

Faced with Lady Clara's guerrilla tactics, Li Tang was not in a hurry. He first sealed off the surface of the city to prevent Lady Clara from making a desperate breakout.

Then, establish factories on the planet, use local support to build consumable smart machines, and steadily and surely clear out every underground structure and plug every gap.

The two sides have entered a tug-of-war, and a fierce battle may break out over a corner.

Lady Clara's psionic energy is incredibly versatile, but it is countered by the Doom Soldier, resulting in a significant reduction in its power.

The Nuer Legion used every means at its disposal to inject chemical poison gas into the pipelines, release a wide range of corrosive viruses, and fill every inch of space with intelligent machinery.

Despite employing every means at her disposal, Mrs. Clara resisted fiercely, and the two sides were locked in a stalemate, proving to be evenly matched.

Although the battle was close, Lady Clara's defeat was foreseeable.

Nur's teleportation technology was so advanced that wounded warriors could immediately leave the battlefield, be treated, and then rejoin the fight.

So far, the legion has suffered no casualties, but almost all of the combat personnel were injured and went in and out of the treatment room multiple times.

The Imperial Guard was the same, but they were not as fortunate as the Destroyer.

Some Imperial Guard warriors were bombarded by psionic energy, and regenerative healing was insufficient to repair their damage. They were forced to be buried in the Fearless Stone Coffin to continue fighting.

With their forces constantly being worn down and Lady Clara's controlled territory shrinking, the war has now reached a point where progress is extremely difficult.

They considered using psionic teleportation to escape, but found it difficult to cast spells.

At the center of the Chaodu sinkhole, Nur deployed a giant device with the soulless as its core. The energy loop amplifies the soulless force field. Although it cannot completely suppress psionic energy, it can interfere with the stability of psionic energy.

Psionic transmission requires stability; unstable psionic fluctuations would be a terrifying disaster.

She couldn't win, and she couldn't escape. Mrs. Clara was in a life-or-death crisis.

They whispered amongst themselves in the shadows of their nest, plotting attack after attack, desperate to escape the world of Gra...

"opened!"

The exclamation sounded exhausted, yet revealed a sense of relief.

Gela was deathly pale, with a sickly bluish tinge around his eyes. He collapsed heavily to the ground, breathing in the gunpowder-filled air.

After a week of non-stop work, he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep when he relaxed.

The adamantite gate slowly opened, and Doom gave Obelisk a wink, signaling the latter to keep an eye on Gera and protect the gate.

"Finally it's open..." Harlan cried out as he stood up from the ground, stretched his body briefly, grabbed his weapons, and followed Doom.

The two shut down the vault's security measures and entered one after the other. What they saw before them was the accumulated wealth of a noble family from a distant planet, accumulated over centuries.

(End of this chapter)