The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2685: Assassins and Lost Souls (Middle)

In the end, the assassins arrived at the entrance to the underground laboratory. Macardi cautiously deployed a hidden servo-skull first—assassins must be proficient not only with weapons but also with tools.

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Soon, a huge, high-arched chamber appeared on the miniature screen in Macardi's hand. It was unchanged from the last time he saw it. Many of the lights were still on, and the massive blast doors were open. The Adeptus Mechanicus archaeologists stationed here received heavy protection—both to shield them from the outside world and to ensure that the outside world was not affected by anything they might accidentally discover.

After confirming that there were no anomalies, the team silently entered the hall from the tunnel, their superhuman senses keenly alert for any threats, but nothing else appeared here.

Rows of cogitators lined the walls of the hall, some shattered, others still running quietly. The array of cogitators extended into another huge vaulted chamber. Armored glass cases, workbenches piled with data-slates, and fragments of shattered sample tubes on the floor indicated what had once been contained here. Macardi knew what it had been—the remains of those metal fiends.

"The remains of those metal fiends have been taken away."

Macardi observed as he walked towards a damaged glass case, his telepathic communication never ceasing.

"The metal fiends came to retrieve their own kind. The Mechanicus slavemasters disturbed them."

He touched the broken device and then looked at other parts. There were signs of hasty evacuation and battle everywhere. Tools and instruments were in disarray, with scorch marks and scratches everywhere.

"Once those slave soldiers lose their masters, they should either enter a state of stasis or return to their designated evacuation points, but that group just now was clearly in a state of frenzy."

"Captain, look here."

Receiving the signal from a team member, Macardi immediately walked towards the location indicated, in front of an open metal container.

He followed his teammate's finger and saw a corpse lying in the empty container.

He cautiously walked inside, nudged the corpse, and turned it over.

It was a young woman wearing Adeptus Mechanicus robes. The only remaining part of her body in flesh and blood was her face which was a mass of mangled flesh and broken bones. It seemed she had intended to hide inside when the incident occurred but hadn't had time to close the container before something broke in—

Death was swift and sudden.

Macardi pondered for a moment and then gathered his team to move on. So far, they hadn't found any metal fiends. Now they had to find an entrance.

According to the bishops' deductions, the metal fiends reacted so violently to the Mechanicus slavemasters' underground laboratory because they had touched something important or a key area, possibly the metal fiends' true nest. From here, they might be able to enter the enemy's core area and scout out crucial intelligence—the Order now lacked intelligence the most. Without accurate intelligence, all subsequent decisions would likely be wrong.

Subsequently, they entered the next room, a place Macardi had never seen before.

"A slaughter."

The place was a scene of purgatory. The blood and oil on the laboratory floor had not yet dried. These liquids flowed from the horrific wounds on the bodies of the Adeptus Custodes, servitors, and menials. They didn't know whether they had been brutally killed by the enemy or had slaughtered each other in a violent frenzy. In any case, there was no trace of the metal fiends here either.

Passing through the laboratory, the silent assassins walked into a huge domed hall. Sets of beams, cranes, and gantries filled most of the cave's space. A set of scaffolding was erected around it. The blocky cockpit of a four-legged tank was partially stripped, covered with hoses and fuel lines, and placed in a repair shop on one side.

Limp servo-arms swayed around the bracket, and everywhere were equally lifeless corpses, splattered with blood and oil.

Among the corpses, Macardi saw a corpse that was only half left. Its upper body had disappeared directly from the waist, and the incision showed some kind of dissolving state. He couldn't think of what weapon had such destructive power for a moment, but looking at the gold-edged red robe of this guy, he knew that he was a high-ranking existence among the Mechanicus slavemasters. They are generally called sages.

Following the channel that emitted a static hum, the assassins finally arrived in a triangular hall. At the end of the hall, black stones glittered, and the writing on them was like flowing silver. Arches appeared on the black stone rock, tall and slender, with perfect geometry and straightness.

"This is it."

Macardi walked over, and the powerful floodlights around him pierced the darkness inside. The lights illuminated the complex trajectories of silver metal embedded on every surface of the black rock—the walls, floor, and ceiling shimmered with captured starlight.

"Let's go. For the Order, we must figure out the origins of these metal fiends."

Taking a deep breath, the assassins leaned towards the corridor covered with silver patterns.

After walking for more than ten meters, knee-high steps began to descend, followed by hundreds of meters. The alien assassins nimbly leaped over these huge steps. Macardi was thinking about what these magnificent steps were used for. Did these metal fiends have even larger individuals?

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Occasionally, they would stop and use the miniature photography equipment in their hands to record everything around them, mainly those symbols, geometric figures, and circles arranged in a row, formed by continuous lines.

These symbols hung on the walls, on the ground, and high up, giving the feeling that the meaning of this unique language was conveyed by the whole rather than individual elements.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, the black passage in front of them, shimmering with ancient civilization-style etchings, extended into the darkness, beyond the reach of their vision.

After walking for a long time, the corridor sloped in two directions, but left a rather large vestibule. The five assassins now occupied this place. In front of the new barrier, they seemed insignificantly small. Once those huge gates were opened, they might herald some ancient and terrible thing that would bring them doom.

But Macardi did not flinch at all. He stepped forward and began to study how to enter.

Also at this time, all the assassin species heard a rapid sound, coming from the passage they had passed through.

"Watch out behind!"

The assassin species guarding the rear of the team raised his personal weapon, an ancient and exquisitely crafted dart short gun, a relic of some Mechanicus priest.

Soon, the dart short gun's unique puffing sound rang out. The angry red scourge was both sharp and real. It pierced something, and the green glimmer was blown away in a dazzling flash, as if a candle had been blown out.

However, more "candles" were lit along with it.