"Check for any spectral misalignment or faint electromagnetic interference signals."
Hunk said calmly.
"We may have run into a Canoptek Wraith—or a Deathmark."
The other three froze at the words; they all knew from the briefing how terrifying both Canoptek Wraiths and Deathmarks were.
Krauser, standing by the instruments, immediately re-examined every reading.
Sure enough, something was off.
Because of the Necron tomb complex, the vast hollow was already littered with interference sources.
The squad had deliberately landed away from them.
Now, however, the scanner clearly showed an extremely faint EM interference signal right beside them—
and it was moving!
As though circling the team, biding its time to strike.
"It's a Canoptek Wraith."
At last they knew what had been stalking them from the shadows.
Time was short; as team leader, Hunk issued combat orders at once.
"Spread out, keep your distance. All of you, ready EMP Grenades. Krauser, stay by the instruments and feed us the interference source's position."
Canoptek Wraith—an assassin-class unit of the Necrons.
Using the Phase Shifter inside its frame, it can shift into an almost undetectable phased stealth and approach at will.
In that state it can pass through nearly any material in realspace.
Even if you hide inside an Emperor-class Baneblade, a Canoptek Wraith can still kill you effortlessly.
And it is virtually immune to physical harm.
Blindly firing back would only provoke it and probably get several of us hit at once.
The moment Hunk finished, the other three sprinted off in three different directions.
The next second a pair of coldly glowing green mechanical claws slammed into Krauser's chest as he stood his ground.
No—rather than "slamming in," those claws had already existed inside Krauser's body in phased form; they had simply rematerialised to interact with reality.
The sturdy armour—and the flesh empowered by Dominant Plaga—offered no more resistance than empty air to the living-metal claws of the Canoptek Wraith.
"Hack—"
Only when the agony hit did Krauser realise he'd been attacked.
Foamy blood poured from the gaping hole in his chest; in seconds his armour was dyed crimson.
"Emergency protocols engaged. Medical restoratives injected."
The suit's AI detected critical damage and pumped in a massive dose of medical serum, barely keeping Krauser conscious.
Meanwhile the Dominant Plaga inside him secreted special mucus to knit the torn tissue.
"Detonate!"
Hunk's voice rang over the comms.
The EMP Grenade Krauser had been clutching exploded, blue arcs of lightning blanketing a wide area.
The other three EMP Grenades landed dead on the same spot.
Stacked together, the EMP pulse scoured everything nearby.
"Zzzzt—"
Amid the crackling arcs, a hulking construct appeared in mid-air: spider-like upper body, a vertical tail below, all of black living metal.
The EMP had partly scrambled the Wraith's Phase Shifter, forcing it out of stealth.
Its claws spasmed and retracted from Krauser's chest.
Freed, Krauser sprouted a mass of fleshy tendrils that slammed into the Wraith; the blow failed to budge the machine but pushed Krauser several metres back.
"Open fire!"
No one waited for Hunk's order; every weapon rose.
Scorching Plasma bolts poured out as if ammunition were free.
The squad's Plasma rifles—refitted by Alliance engineers—matched Imperium firepower while running far cooler and more stable.
That let them spit far more charged Plasma in a short burst, shredding anything in front of them.
Even the living-metal shell that could shrug off standard Bolter rounds began to buckle under the barrage.
The silver living metal twisted, melted, and dripped to the floor as writhing liquid.
Under the bombardment the Canoptek Wraith shrieked.
As the EMP faded it regained mobility.
Fragments of living metal crawled back toward the Wraith, reassembling themselves.
"Don't stop the EMPs!"
Hunk shouted over the comms while charging straight at the Wraith.
In his hands he carried a master-crafted melt-rifle issued to Space Marines.
"Boom!"
More EMP Grenades burst against the Wraith.
But after repeated hits it had built a partial resistance and regained limited movement.
A sickly green sphere set in its chest glowed eerily.
An instant later a jade Particle Beam lanced out at the sprinting Hunk.
Hunk's armoured legs kicked off the ground, hurling him aside.
Backed by formidable Psionics, he barely dodged the first beam.
But the Wraith's projector fired three shots in succession.
Two more emerald beams followed, cutting off every escape vector.
The machine-body had already computed the optimal kill-box.
Hunk's eyes narrowed as he unleashed his terrifying Psionics again.
Piles of Blackstone nearby lifted and whirled, forming a shield in front of him in a heartbeat.
The Particle Beams struck the Blackstone, flared blindingly, and vanished.
"Bang!"
The Blackstone Shield burst apart; under the cover of flying shards Hunk finally closed the distance to the Canoptek Wraith.
Leaping up, Hunk dodged several pairs of swinging mechanical claws and landed on the back of the Canoptek Wraith.
He then raised the Hot-melt Rifle in his hand and aimed it at the area beneath his feet, which was crisscrossed with green energy conduits.
"Boom!"
A torrential flood of energy, akin to white-hot magma but even more powerful, poured out instantly.
Forget a Canoptek Wraith; even a proper armored vehicle or a Great Daemon of Chaos would be killed or crippled if hit point-blank by such terrifying melta-fire at such close range.
"There is nothing a single melta shot can't solve. If there is, just fire another one."
This saying was very popular among the Astra Militarum, and it was the same within the Union.
Melta weapons were the winning trump card for the weak to overcome the strong.
Most of the energy conduits on its back were instantly destroyed, and the Canoptek Wraith completely lost its ability to enter phase-shift invisibility.
After blasting out all the ammunition in the magazine, Hunk used Psionics to fly into the air again, putting distance between himself and the Canoptek Wraith.
Since the opponent had lost its most fearsome phase-shifting ability, there was no need to engage in dangerous close-quarters combat with a monster possessing such powerful self-healing capabilities.
The four members of the squad had plenty of ways to deal with this Canoptek Wraith.
Even for the Canoptek Constructss of the Necrons, their self-recovery abilities had limits.
One only needed to output enough firepower within a short enough time to cross that threshold and destroy it completely, or force it to automatically teleport back into the tomb for reanimation protocols.
And clearly, the one thing the Union's combat units did not lack was firepower output.
"Keep up the suppression!"
Swapping out the short-range Hot-melt Rifle, Hunk raised a Plasma Rifle and began to fire continuously.
Soon, the Canoptek Wraith was beaten into a state where it completely lost its mobility.
Its long black tail had long since snapped off, its three pairs of segmented limbs were shattered across the ground, and the dark green orbs responsible for storing energy had all gone dark.
The only part of the Canoptek Wraith's chassis that remained intact was its largest pair of silver mechanical claws.
"Cease fire!"
Seeing that more than half of the Canoptek Wraith's body had melted, and even the living metal that had been gathering to repair it stopped squirming.
Hunk gave the order to cease fire.
Basic units of the Necrons like this didn't use psychological tactics like "playing dead."
This Canoptek Wraith was as dead as it could be.
"Collect the remains."
Hunk commanded as he walked over to Krauser.
The latter's chest wound had already fully recovered.
Under the dual effects of the Dominant Plaga and the Union's powerful recovery potions, the Canoptek Wraith's unexpected and terrifying strike still failed to kill Krauser.
"Good thing that thing attacked you. We aren't as tough as you are."
Leon also approached, speaking in a slightly joking tone.
A large part of why they were able to pull off that narrow counter-kill on the Canoptek Wraith was that the enemy chose the wrong target, attacking the tankiest member, Krauser, first and exposing its position.
"It wasn't a matter of luck, kid."
Krauser retracted the numerous exposed fleshy tentacles.
"Why do you think I was the one responsible for monitoring the readings next to the instrument?"
Leon understood; Hunk had directly used Krauser as bait to lure the Canoptek Wraith out from the shadows.
"Stop the small talk."
Ada Wong's voice reached their ears.
At this moment, Ada Wong was hovering in the air, using the targeting equipment on her armor to scan the surroundings.
"It's not just us; other squads have also come under attack by different enemies. The master of this tomb has awakened and is starting to welcome us."
At this very moment, within that massive Necron tomb ruin, a vast sea of Canoptek Constructss was pouring out incessantly.
From Canoptek Scarabss, which were only the size of a human head but moved in swarms and had mechanical mandibles strong enough to tear through armor.
To Constructor Spiders, which acted like aircraft carriers, constantly manufacturing and releasing Canoptek Scarabss.
And even larger ones, like the Canoptek Wraiths that resembled giant metal centipedes.
This was a legion of death composed entirely of Canoptek Constructss.
"Contact the surface immediately. We can't handle this many constructs with just our numbers."
Hunk was also observing the situation in the hollow.
"Take the remains of that Canoptek Wraith and that pile of Blackstone. We're evacuating to the surface first."
Since the primary mission goal of mapping the hollow in detail had been completed, evacuating now and waiting for the main force to descend was the best choice.
Because electromagnetic interference still persisted within the hollow, they could only report the current situation upward but could not receive signals.
After packing up the valuable items with extreme speed, the four of them boarded the sealed pod they had arrived in, preparing to return to the surface through the descent tunnel.
Outside the sealed pod, the ten Pursuers played a crucial role.
They were left behind to sacrifice their lives and stall the swarming Canoptek Constructss.
The organic bio-weapons carefully bred by the Union faced off against the Canoptek Constructs legion forged by the Necrons sixty million years ago.
The ten Pursuers, heavily armored, reasonably fast, and possessing terrifying firepower, did indeed successfully stall the Canoptek Constructss.
But soon, the group in the ascending pod saw it with their own eyes.
A swarm of Canoptek Scarabss, even more terrifying than Tyranid Rippers, surged forward, completely devouring several Pursuers along with their heavy armor, leaving not even a bone behind.
The remaining Pursuers were either stabbed through the head by the claws of Canoptek Wraiths, hit by the Particle Emitters of Constructor Spiders and instantly annihilated into ash, or hacked to pieces by the Gauss Flayers of the Canoptek Tomb Stalkers.
"Is that a black hole!?"
Amidst the exclamations, an Exile Cannon on the head of a slightly smaller Canoptek Tomb Sentinel opened fire.
A miniature black hole connected to a pocket dimension created by Crypteks suddenly appeared. The terrifying gravity instantly sucked in all the remaining Pursuers, exiling them completely from this material universe.
Compared to the Orks the Union had faced before, who liked to build things that looked crude but had unstable power.
And unlike the tyranids, known for their numbers, ferocity, and use of biological symbiotic weapons.
The Necrons were in a completely different league of style.
Even before seeing the true Necron main force, these Canoptek Constructss alone demonstrated many terrifying combat capabilities and a level of technology far exceeding that of the Union.
"They aren't chasing us. How strange——"
Through the porthole, Ada Wong saw that those Canoptek Constructss, which clearly had flight capabilities, did not pursue the sealed pod.
Not just them; the other squads evacuating the hollow area were not attacked either.
It was as if those constructs were merely driving out the invaders who had entered the tomb.
"Report! Multiple subterranean teams are sending intel—large numbers of Canoptek Constructss are pouring out of the tomb ruins, attacking and driving our forces back."
On the Surface, inside a rapidly assembling Forward Base.
The Fleet's Overall Commander listened to the incoming report.
Spread before him was a detailed map of the Underground Cavern zone.
"That cavern housing the tomb ruins is nearly a thousand kilometres below the Surface; we can't deploy a major force quickly."
A Staff Officer reminded him.
For now, the only links between Surface and cavern were the dozen bore-Tunnels drilled earlier.
Clearly, those cramped tunnels—plus the distance—made it almost impossible to commit Alliance troops en masse.
And feeding them in piecemeal would be suicide against so many Canoptek Constructss.
"Order the Orbital Fleet to drop more Engineering Gear. If a dozen Tunnels aren't enough, drill a hundred—no, a thousand!"
The Commander clenched his fist.
"For now, the Necron Canoptek legions haven't pursued upward; we still have time to act."
the Universal Union's objective was the blackstone deposits, and on Nelvokov those deposits clustered in the cavern zone around the Necron tomb.
Conflict was inevitable; the Universal Union had to leverage its strengths.
"Yes, sir!"
Orders issued, the vast Alliance Fleet in Nelvokov orbit dispatched droves of transports loaded with the most advanced Sub-surface Boring Rigs.
Attacking underground from the Surface is far harder than striking the Surface from orbit.
The sky is wide; flood it with troops and some drop-pods will slip through gaps in ground-based fire.
But hundreds of kilometres of solid rock form the toughest shield imaginable.
"Commander, we must still send an Elite Vanguard down—otherwise our drills will be destroyed by Constructs before they break through."
With every cavern team driven back by the Constructs' onslaught, the Universal Union was blind to conditions inside the tomb.
Someone had to protect the boring heads.
Yet Tunnel numbers limited head-count, and we couldn't send only Tyrants or Pursuers—B.O.W.s—down alone.
Underground Electromagnetic Interference was worsening; the Universal Union could barely control those units, and left on autopilot they were too dim-witted.
It was practically a suicide mission.
"Send the Charcarodons."
The Commander said calmly.
Someone hesitated.
"Won't that mean unacceptable casualties?"
The Makos themselves would jump at the chance to spearhead the assault, battling Necrons underground with no regard for losses.
But the Universal Union had to weigh far more factors.
At present, the Universal Union couldn't mass-produce Space Marines quickly.
Each dead Mako meant at least twenty to thirty years before a replacement could be raised.
Their deployment had to be cautious; they could not be treated as expendable.
"Don't lose sight of our goal, gentlemen."
The Commander rapped the table.
"Makos or us—we're all here to finish the mission. Nelvokov directly affects the Universal Union's next expansion and the lives of hundreds of billions."
With that, staff and junior officers voiced no further objections.
Among the Fleet, the Charcarodons' Battle-barge, the leviathan, stood out starkly.
Not just because a standard Steadfast-class Heavy Cruiser was barely a tenth her length, but because of her singular, alien aura.
That ancient void-leviathan had not tasted slaughter alongside the Makos for far too long.
Inside the leviathan, a vast Chapel—brighter than most compartments and dominated by a statue of the Emperor—hosted a pre-battle rite led by the Chapter's Chaplain.
Beneath holy flames symbolising the Emperor—the void father—two hundred Mako warriors knelt in unison, helmets off, revealing death-pale faces.
"What is our duty?"
"To give our lives for the void father's will!"
"What is the void father's will?"
"War and death!"
"What is death?"
"Our duty!"
Only on such occasions did the habitually silent Makos answer with iron resolve.
Leading the two hundred was still the hulking Chapter Master Tyberos, seldom seen without his terminator armor.
With the "Alien vs. Predator" campaign concluded, the Universal Union had recalled every Charcarodon, flinging them back into Warhammer World's critical theatres.
Even within the Sabbath Star Cluster alone, endless war awaited them.
"Nelvokov is a Necron tomb-world; the Universal Union must extract its blackstone deposits."
The liaison officer summarised the situation and transmitted the freshly drawn cavern map.
"Your task: spearhead the assault, pin the Constructs long enough for the main force to carve a path."
"Size of the tomb complex?"
Tyberos asked the key question.
"Exposed area alone covers nearly a hundred thousand square kilometres."
Meaning the true extent remained unknown.
"But intelligence says this is only a fringe world of a minor dynasty—enemy numbers won't be overwhelming."
Tyberos gave a curt nod.
Minutes later the rite ended.
Every Mako stood ready, assembled in the leviathan's ancient grand Teleportarium.
A flare of light—then darkness—and the Sharks materialised on Nelvokov's Surface.
Even the leviathan's Dark-Age-era array couldn't shunt them a thousand kilometres straight into the tomb.
Necron tombs sport full teleport-jam systems; blind jumps would fuse the Makos into solid rock.
"Hmph, facing those Necrons again?"
Third Company Captain Shaar wasn't as excited as expected.
Fighting a bunch of fleshless, bloodless, and incredibly tanky metal skeletons really wasn't much fun.
Furthermore, in the past, the Charcarodons had raided many planets of minor Necron dynasties in the Outer Darkness, digging up numerous xenos artifacts to hand over to the Adeptus Mechanicus in exchange for grey tithe supplies.
It could be said that the Charcarodons were one of the Chapters that understood the Necrons best, enough to be called "professionals."
"Do not lower your guard."
Tyberos looked at his Third Company Captain, who was somewhat reckless due to using World Eaters gene-seed, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Current intelligence cannot predict the scale of the Necron dynasty on this planet, and so far, only Canoptek Constructss have appeared in those ruins; no Necron infantry units have been seen yet."
This was strange; logically, the Alliance Fleet had made such a huge commotion on the planet's surface that even if he were in the deepest sleep, the Necron Overlord ruling this planet should have awakened by now.
"Who cares? Let's just tear these metal skeletons into pieces, just like before!"
Shaar didn't care about any conspiracies; he just wanted to hack monsters.
While they were talking, Alliance staff walked over.
"The drop pods are ready. You can begin the drop assault."
Additionally, to preserve the Charcarodons' precious combat power as much as possible...
the Universal Union also equipped three hundred Tyrants and Pursuers to serve as cannon fodder, intended to use their bodies to block bullets for the Charcarodons at critical moments.
Tyberos nodded, then led two hundred Charcarodons to board a dozen drop pods modified from orbital drop pods, capable of traveling rapidly along tunnels nearly a thousand kilometers long.
*Click—*
The hatches locked; everything was ready.
Three hundred Tyrants first entered the tunnel in drop pods, followed closely by the Charcarodons.
Rock and soil layers outside the portholes flashed by; this vanguard team, burdened with a heavy mission, was rapidly falling toward the giant cavern where the Necron Tomb Ruins were located.
The cavern, which had gained a hint of life due to the Universal Union scout team, had now fallen back into a deathly silence, just as it had for the past tens of millions of years.
A large number of twenty-meter-tall Canoptek Reanimators were wandering everywhere, spraying green light from their tops.
This light contained a vast number of nano-scale Canoptek Scarabss, which could effectively speed up the recovery of injuries for other Canoptek Constructss.
Although the Canoptek Constructs legion had just driven out the Universal Union reconnaissance forces with an almost unstoppable sweeping force...
The nearly hundred Pursuers left behind had also caused significant damage to some Canoptek Constructss.
Swarms of Canoptek Scarabss began picking up the blackstone scattered on the ground, spraying repair beams from their abdomens to perfectly reattach them to their original positions.
Some equipment that had been urgently abandoned was carried into the Tomb Ruins by the Canoptek Scarabss, for unknown purposes.
The traces of the Universal Union's arrival were being rapidly erased; everything was returning to how it was.
But today was destined to be an unusual day.
These Tomb Ruins were about to undergo an unprecedented upheaval, the likes of which hadn't been seen in sixty million years.
Several thousand Canoptek Scarabss were still sourcing materials on-site to repair the tunnels drilled by the Universal Union.
But the next moment, a violent tremor arrived.
Drop pods filled with Tyrants and Pursuers crushed the obstacles that had just been repaired and slammed onto the ground.
BOWs were thick-skinned and didn't need to worry about cushioning, allowing them to be deployed into the battlefield much faster.
Machine guns roared, rockets howled.
The landed Pursuers, following their limited autonomous capabilities, attacked every Canoptek Constructs in front of them with heavy firepower.
Meanwhile, the Tyrants, wearing thicker armor and specializing in melee combat, guarded the Pursuers, frantically hacking at the swarms of Canoptek Scarabss rushing in like a tide with their exaggerated giant axes.
*Pshhh—*
Scorching flames sprayed out; a few Pursuers equipped with promethium flamethrowers were providing cover, roasting the metal bodies of the Canoptek Scarabss with intense heat, which effectively slowed their self-healing abilities.
The attacks of the Tyrants and Pursuers were swift and fierce, catching the Canoptek Constructss off guard.
Before the latter could launch a counterattack, they successfully cleared an area to serve as a bridgehead.
*Rumble!*
A loud noise echoed from the rock layer overhead again as a dozen drop pods slammed down heavily.
This time, emerging from them were the better-equipped and more lethal "professionals," the Charcarodons.
The Charcarodons' orders were to draw as much attention from the Canoptek Constructss as possible—the more the better, for as long as possible, by any means.
Logically, at this time, they should have established a position on the spot and consolidated their defense.
But the Charcarodons were not sons of Dorn; they were better at sudden raids and brutal close-quarters combat.
"Assault."
Tyberos's flat voice rang in the ears of all the Charcarodons.
The Charcarodons did not intend to sit and wait for death or take hits passively.
An active assault could likewise draw the attention of a large number of Canoptek Constructss, clearing more tunnels for the engineering equipment on the surface and buying time for the main force's arrival.
"I've been waiting for this!"
Shaar revealed a bloodthirsty smile, drew two chainaxes, and charged toward a Constructor Spider like a crimson whirlwind.
Amidst the roar of chain blades, the giant Constructor Spider was torn into a pile of fragments in seconds.
Only the writhing, aggregating living metal proved that it would recover its combat capability in a short while.
The remaining Charcarodons also followed Tyberos's order and began assaulting the Tomb Ruins themselves.
The elite Charcarodons served as the tip of the blade, while the Tyrants and Pursuers followed closely behind, covering the flanks and providing fire support.
Tyberos himself was at the very front of the charge, his massive terminator armor crushing countless Canoptek Scarabss.
Countless beams of eerie green Gauss weapons and particle weapons blasted toward this assault force.
The Charcarodons naturally knew the terrifying power of these weapons and dodged as much as possible.
But under such dense attacks, there were bound to be situations where they couldn't dodge in time.
Whenever this happened, a Tyrant would use its own flesh and blood to meet the attack head-on, acting as a meat shield to block the strike for a Charcarodon.
The final result was naturally being turned into a pile of ash by the Gauss weapon's disintegration beam or being blown into chunks of shredded meat by a particle weapon.
All the Canoptek Constructss in this giant cavern were successfully drawn over.
The first step of the plan had been achieved.
Next, the Charcarodons needed to stall for enough time.
"The situation below is still unclear; we have to move faster."
While the Charcarodons, Tyrants, and Pursuers were underground locked in bloody combat with the Canoptek Constructss.
On the surface, the Union's engineering corps also sped up their work.
"At our current pace we'll need at least another hour to drill enough tunnels, and deploying follow-up forces will take at least thirty minutes more."
The head of the engineering team was reporting.
"Too slow."
The fleet Commander frowned.
"I believe the Charcarodons can hold that long, but even with the Tyrants and Pursuers covering them, losses will exceed what we can bear."
"This is already the limit of our present equipment."
The chief spread his hands helplessly.
A rock stratum a full thousand kilometres thick isn't easy to penetrate.
"Isn't there any way to speed it up?"
The Commander excelled at leading troops, but he knew little about engineering gear.
The chief hesitated a moment, then finally spoke.
"There is a way, only it carries some risk."
"Speak."
The chief scratched his head.
"Our engineering department took inspiration from the Predators' destructive laser weapons. Recently we've been working with the Tech-Priests on the—
on the Median to develop an ultra-high-power laser weapon specifically for boring through solid matter. It might help in this situation."
At this point the chief added, slightly embarrassed,
"Previous tests showed each charged shot can punch through dozens of kilometres of rock and keep firing to extend the tunnel. But because of that, the laser might injure the Charcarodons below or damage the tomb complex itself."
The Union's engineers were always coming up with new gear; the fleet Commander was a combat officer, so it was natural he hadn't heard of it.
"No matter—time is the pressing issue now."
The Commander immediately ordered the engineers to deploy the laser weapon the chief had mentioned.
Because the weapon was still experimental, it hadn't been mounted on any warship.
First the engineers had construction robots erect several hundred-metre-tall steel towers at lightning speed, countless conduits twining around them.
Then they installed the laser weapons on the tower tops, with barrel mouths dozens of metres across pointing straight down.
After intricate calibration,
a terrifying red glow slowly gathered at each huge muzzle; the special-alloy barrels endured a radiance as searing as a star.
Large arrays of fusion reactors fed the lasers a ceaseless torrent of power.
"Everybody get clear!"
Seeing the charge complete, the engineers fled to a safe distance.
They knew better than anyone how apocalyptic the coming blast would be.
As the firing switches were pressed, three blazingly thick laser beams lanced downward along the tunnels already opened.
Lasers aren't kinetic weapons; they fired almost silently.
Yet even on the surface everyone could hear the eerie roar from below—
the sound of countless tonnes of rock being burned, melted, and finally vaporised.
Moreover, unlike conventional lasers, these beams did not pulse and vanish.
So long as the reactors fed them power, the beams of ruin would continue until the barrels themselves melted.
"Boom—boom—boom!!!"
The roar of a chain-axe never left Shaar's ears.
The gene-seed of the World Eaters granted him inhuman stamina and killing instincts.
Every slash split a Canoptek Scarabs's power core; the thing spasmed, collapsed, and began to reassemble.
Each Bolter round snapped a distant Constructor Spider's legs, stopping it from releasing more Canoptek Scarabss.
"There's no honour in smashing these constructs!"
Unlike the usually silent Charcarodons, Shaar was talkative.
By now the assault force of Charcarodons, Tyrants, and Pursuers had pushed deep.
They stood very near the Necron tomb complex.
But near-endless Canoptek Constructss blocked every step.
More and more Constructor Spiders released sky-blotting swarms of Canoptek Scarabss that would humble even a Tyranid ripper swarm.
The air around them shimmered with phase-cloaked Canoptek Wraiths that ignored armour and harvested Tyrants on the perimeter.
Canoptek Doomstalkers—refitted Canoptek Reanimators carrying terrifying doom-blasters and twin gauss flayers—stalked the ground.
Every viridian sphere fired from their overhead cannon erased an entire area,
Tyrants, Pursuers, even other constructs.
A veteran Charcarodon in terminator armour, if caught, would be deleted along with his plate.
Only armoured units could face such things.
Even with the Tyrants and Pursuers covering them, the Charcarodons had taken losses.
Yet this small cost would not stop them; they would fight to the last.
Chapter Master Tyberos, whirring chain-fist and lightning-claw shredding every construct before him, studied the battlefield for vital data.
As Tyberos had said, the tomb was strange: far too many constructs.
Canoptek Constructss were meant for maintenance, not war—household tools to keep a Necron tomb intact across millennia.
Their numbers should have been limited.
But now the horde flooding from the tomb carpeted the entire subterranean cavern, outnumbering anything the Charcarodons had met among the minor dynasties of the outer dark.
If this continued the Sharks would be swallowed by the endless tide.
The only solution was to charge deeper, into the tomb itself, and destroy the Reanimation Chambers that repaired the constructs.
"All hands—"
As Tyberos began to give the order, a deafening roar sounded overhead,
and with it a searing heat that drove back the cold spread by the constructs.
In the next instant, several blazing, thick beams of light descended from the stone vault and smashed downward.
One of them happened to strike a towering Constructor Doomsday Walker.
The Doomsday blaster mounted atop the Constructor Doomsday Walker melted instantly into a pool of silver liquid that ran down its heavy plating.
The twenty-meter-tall Constructor Doomsday Walker, massive as it was, looked tiny beneath the planet-scorching laser.
In fact, the thick beam wrapped the entire Constructor Doomsday Walker inside it.
A temperature rivaling the core of a star vaporized everything in its path; even the living metal of the Necrons could not slow it.
After resisting for only a heartbeat, the laser annihilated the Constructor Doomsday Walker, reducing it to a puddle of silver sludge that could no longer writhe or reassemble.
The self-repair systems meant to teleport the machine back to the tomb upon fatal damage never even activated.
The beam's fury unabated, it kept drilling downward, only thinning and fading several seconds later.
Where it vanished, a bottomless pit yawned; nearby disabled Constructor Constructs slid in and, after a long while, still sent back no sound.
Because of this sudden laser column, the orderly Constructor Constructs—until now an unliving legion—abruptly changed course.
Swarms of Canoptek Scarabss rose into the air, trying to seal the great tunnel the laser had bored.
'Press the assault—into the tomb ruins!'
Tyberos seized the moment of slackened pressure and gave the order.
Past experience against the Necrons told him that, to the constructs' logic cores, tunnel repair ranked below guarding the tomb itself.
The Charcarodons obeyed with rising frenzy; two hearts, three lungs, and every other transhuman organ drove them far beyond their limits, unleashing still more savage strength.
Everything before their chain-teeth was shredded.
Nothing could slow them.
Leading the charge, Tyberos tore apart a Constructor Spider and glanced back.
As he had foreseen, the closer the Charcarodons came to the tomb, the more constructs abandoned the tunnel repairs and turned to meet them.
He looked away and ordered the handful of remaining Tyrants and Pursuers to hold the rear, buying time against the surging Constructor Constructs.
The Charcarodons used that opening to smash through the last defense before the ruins, burst through a tomb gate flickering with green light, and plunged inside.
Within moments, the rearguard Tyrants and Pursuers were obliterated by concentrated fire; most of the Constructor Constructs followed the Charcarodons through the gate.
Only a few Constructor Constructs remained outside, slowly repairing the devastation left by the battle.
'Tunnel breached!'
On the surface, the engineering crew monitoring the laser reported at once to the Commander.
Countless troops, already sealed in drop pods, were committed into the wide tunnel the laser had melted.
—
A tunnel dozens of meters across could take many pods at once.
There were three such tunnels.
The once-impossible operation now felt no different from an orbital drop assault.
All that remained was to throw the waiting surface force down the shaft.
To speed things up, every pod mounted high-thrust engines capable of driving it to several times the speed of sound.
Barely ten minutes later, nearly a hundred pods shot down the long shaft, braked by retro-thrusters, and slammed onto the ground.
First out were the Tyrants and Pursuers, far more numerous.
Against Necrons, Tactical Robots—so easily turned against their masters—had no place.
BOWs were the safer bet.
Bolter rounds and flame swept the cavern, the Tyrants and Pursuers rapidly clearing the handful of Constructor Constructs left behind.
Perhaps distracted by the Charcarodons, no more constructs poured from the tomb.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More pods struck home; fully armored Alliance Soldiers stepped out and began securing the field.
To coordinate the battle, the fleet's Commander had even come in person.
'Where are the Charcarodons?'
Sweeping the empty cavern, the Commander saw only a few fallen Charcarodon warriors.
Alliance Soldiers solemnly collected the bodies, ready to return them to the Charcarodon Chapter.
Soon someone brought footage recovered from a slain Tyrant's recorder.
After watching it, the Commander understood everything that had happened.
He also grasped Tyberos's purpose in entering the tomb.
Draw away the bulk of the Constructor Constructs so the main force could land.
And break the resurrection protocol inside the tomb; once shattered, no Necron unit could teleport out, regenerate, and return.
With a shake of his head, the Commander did not order his troops into the ruins.
'Dig in here. Defend against anything that comes out!'
The tomb itself was colossal—its exposed area alone covered nearly a hundred thousand square kilometers.
The Charcarodons had gone in only moments ago, but who knew where that tomb gate had flung them.
All they could do was pray the headstrong Charcarodons achieved their goal without crippling losses.
'Bunch of mad dogs…'
The Commander rubbed his temples, already dreading the after-action report.
Shaking off the thought, he refocused.
More men and materiel dropped through the tunnels overhead; smaller shafts drilled by conventional borers multiplied.
A vast ring-shaped defense line was taking shape, encircling the entire tomb.
'We've made this much noise and the tomb's master still hasn't shown itself?'
Many found it odd.
Whether Greenskin Orks or tyranids, past foes had always greeted them 'warmly.'
Yet these Necrons had never appeared in person—only their automated Constructor Constructs had fought.
'We need to find out why, and fast.'
The Commander spoke gravely to his senior sergeants.
'Once the perimeter's set, we advance into the tomb.'
The Necrons, this ancient race, have a very simple and clear hierarchy.
At the very peak is naturally the Triarch, whose leader is the Silent King Szarekh.
Below that are the various scattered Necron Dynasties, where the supreme ruler of a Dynasty is the Phaeron.
Below the Phaeron is the Overlord, responsible for overseeing one, or even several, star systems for the Phaeron.
Below the Overlord is the Lord, the lowest leadership rank, specifically responsible for a single Tomb World.
Nelvokov is an extremely remote world, even among the Necrons.
A Tomb World like this naturally couldn't have a Phaeron, and even the next rank down, an Overlord, might not be present.
The one ruling this Tomb World is a Lord—
In the depths of the originally pitch-black Tomb Ruins, a faint green light slowly began to glow, barely illuminating the surroundings.
"Click, click—"
The sound of mechanical gears turning echoed continuously in the empty hall before finally settling into silence.
A body that had been slumbering inside a metal sarcophagus was waking up.
Beside the sarcophagus, several Canoptek Scarabs were carrying out the awakening procedure according to mechanical programming.
"Ugh—"
A sigh, seemingly from sixty million years ago, emanated from the sarcophagus.
After a moment, the metal sarcophagus automatically stood upright. Amidst the flickering green light, a sturdy, three-meter-tall metal skeleton stepped out of the coffin.
The Necron Lord of Nelvokov had awakened.
A swarm of Canoptek Scarabs flew in mid-air, carrying a Lord's Blade, and brought it to the Lord's side.
Taking the long blade, a flood of data surged wildly in the Lord's mind.
Fortunately, the metal skull of this Necron Lord had not rusted due to the sixty million years of slumber, and the Primary Thought Matrix, Secondary Thought Matrix, and Memory Core were all functioning normally.
This was rare, perhaps because the Canoptek Scarabs maintained it properly, or perhaps because Nelvokov's remote location meant that almost nothing had changed over sixty million years.
"Lord."
Under the illumination of the eerie light, a Technician, surrounded by several Canoptek Wraiths, approached the Lord and paid his respects.
A Technician is a branch of the Cryptographer class, whose core mission is to research and maintain Necron machinery and technology.
Here, we must briefly mention the division of power within the Necrons.
Whether it's a Necron Lord, an Overlord, or even a Phaeron, the reason they hold that position is that they were already nobles or rulers within the Dynasty back when they were still Necrons.
And clearly, the noble class is not associated with "science and technology."
Whether during the Necron era or after their collective conversion into metal bodies, the technological core was mastered by the Cryptographer collective.
This granted these technicians considerable status and power.
Some Dynasties would even grant Cryptographers specific noble titles, giving them power no less than that of an ordinary Lord.
And the Necron Dynasty to which Nelvokov belongs is one such case.
Of course, in practice, the Lord's power is still slightly greater than that of a Cryptographer.
"Sixty million years have passed, Technician."
The Lord's sharply defined metal mandible kept opening and closing, emitting a hoarse, mechanical sound.
"Why have you awakened me? Technician, has the day of our race's resurgence arrived?"
Before the Silent King Szarekh used the Master Control Protocol to put all Necrons into slumber, he had proclaimed to all Dynasties that the Necrons would usher in an opportunity in the future—an opportunity for their race to achieve great revival once more.
At that time, all Dynasties should answer the call, reassemble under the Silent King's banner, and fight for him.
"No, my Lord."
The Technician denied it, then waved his hand to display an image.
It was a scene from recently, showing the Charcarodons, Tyrants, and Pursuers battling the Canoptek Constructs.
"Our tomb has been attacked by unknown forces. They breached the defenses, and vermin have already entered the tomb interior."
That's right. Due to its remote location, the Necrons on Nelvokov have remained almost completely unaware of what has transpired in the outside world over the past sixty million years.
Forget recognizing the Charcarodons or the Universal Union, they didn't even understand the species known as humans.
The Lord's metal head showed no expression, but his thought matrix had already simulated feelings of displeasure through extremely complex code.
"You woke me up for this trivial matter?"
"Those—"
The Technician was about to explain but was interrupted by the Lord raising a hand.
"Where is the Canoptek Construct legion you command? Before I slept, I granted you the authority to manufacture more Constructs."
Generally speaking, a Lord would deliberately curb Cryptographers, preventing them from manufacturing too many Canoptek Constructs to avoid an imbalance of power.
But Nelvokov was a special case. Due to its remote location, this Tomb World didn't have many regular Necron soldiers. To ensure the normal operation of the Tomb Ruins over such a long period, the Lord had no choice but to grant the authority.
"I was also in slumber. The Canoptek Construct legion was in automatic patrol mode, and I only recently woke up myself."
The Technician felt quite innocent; he had even woken up once about a thousand years ago to maintain the Canoptek Construct legion. Who knew a problem would suddenly arise now?
"Hmph, I will report these matters truthfully to the Overlord."
The Lord snorted coldly, gripping the long blade, and walked toward the tomb control console.
As the sound of metal feet stepping on the black stone floor echoed, more eerie green indicator lights illuminated.
Metal sarcophagi, where Necron soldiers had been slumbering, rose up from the ground one after another.
Upon sitting on his throne, the Lord's thought matrix immediately connected to the control core of the entire Tomb Ruins.
Everything, from the operation of a nano-level Canoptek Scarab to the situation currently faced by the entire Crypt and even the whole planet Nelvokov, surged into the Lord's thought matrix.
Over a dozen secondary thought matrices were rapidly operating, receiving and analyzing streams of data.
The Lord saw the two hundred Charcarodons rampaging inside the Tomb Ruins, causing destruction everywhere.
He also saw the large numbers of Alliance forces outside the Tomb Ruins and the solid defensive line they had established.
Furthermore, he saw the considerable Alliance Fleet in orbit around Nelvokov.
"These vermin!"
The Lord's anger rose again, accelerating the operational speed of all the thought matrices in his mind.
All the sarcophagi in the tomb opened, and Necron Warriorss stepped out of the coffins, their eyes flashing with eerie light.
Higher-level combat units like Immortals, Scarab Destroyers, Locust Destroyers, and Royal Wardens also stepped out one by one from the hidden, gigantic sarcophagus chambers of the Tomb Ruins.
The Lord had now gathered all the military strength within the entire Tomb Ruins, determined to completely wipe out the vermin who had disturbed his long slumber!
Somewhere within the Tomb Ruins, the Charcarodons Techmarine Hicadi was walking alongside his Chapter Master.
As a Techmarine, Hicadi was well-acquainted with the structure of the Tomb Ruins and had also noticed the changes that had just occurred.
"These Tomb Ruins have awakened. We'll be facing more than just mindless Canoptek Constructs now."
Hicadi said to Tyberos.
"The master of these Tomb Ruins may have awakened; there's a high probability it's a Lord, and a slight chance it's an Overlord."
"Continue advancing."
The hunger and slaughter in Tyberos's hands had momentarily gone quiet; he was currently using Punisher Grenades to continuously blast the various Canoptek Constructs emerging from the tomb corridors.
The Charcarodons would certainly not retreat just because a Lord had awakened.
Firstly, they were already deep inside the Tomb Ruins, and finding a way back would be no easy task.
Secondly, even if they failed to destroy the Reanimation Protocols in the end, this vanguard could still significantly tie down the Necrons' forces, facilitating the main Alliance force's assault.
The Charcarodons never prioritized their own safety; they were always thinking of how to tear the enemy apart with their serrated teeth.
If the Universal Union Commander outside knew, he would surely criticize the Charcarodons in private for being a bunch of reckless brutes.
"We've detected the energy readings of the Tomb Ruins themselves rising rapidly—this site has fully awakened!"
Outside the Tomb Ruins, an engineer holding a fresh detection report rushed straight into the operations command room.
The Commander had a solemn expression as he slammed his hand on the table.
"Send the cannon fodder units into the ruins first to scout the internal situation!"
Originally, the Commander had planned to send the main force into the ruins to explore, but since this sudden development had occurred, there was no need to take that risk; they only needed to defend along the already established defensive line.
The military strength of a single Tomb Ruins was ultimately limited, and the Universal Union held an absolute numerical advantage.
"Yes, sir!"
Soon, a cannon fodder unit composed of BOWs was deployed in front of the Tomb Portals at the entrance of the ruins.
These portals, large and small, were distributed regularly across the exterior of the ruins; no one knew where they would be sent upon passing through.
This kind of scouting mission, which was essentially a suicide mission, was best suited for BOWs.
The sole task of this cannon fodder scouting unit was to use their bodies to ascertain the current situation inside the Tomb Ruins and send the intelligence back the way it came.
The autonomous intelligence of the Tyrants and Pursuers was sufficient for such a simple task.
"Have everyone prepare for battle! Advance further based on the existing defensive line and take control of those Tomb Portals!"
After the scouting unit entered, the Commander immediately issued orders.
At this moment, a massive circular defensive line had been established outside the vast Tomb Ruins.
Through an increasing number of tunnels, the fleet in orbit was continuously transporting more troops into this hollow.
Counting all combat units, the Universal Union's strength here had already reached hundreds of thousands.
The Necrons' Tomb Ruins had no physical entrances or exits; they relied entirely on portals flickering with green light for entry and exit.
These Tomb Portals were naturally the key defensive nodes.
Heavy vehicles like tanks and armored cars led the way, with Tyrants and Pursuers providing cover on the flanks, while Alliance Soldiers in CMC and Type 5-4 Armor brought up the rear.
Units were quickly seizing the Tomb Portals and beginning to construct new defensive lines.
In the command post, the Commander and staff officers stared intently at the Tomb Ruins themselves, trying to catch exactly when the Necrons would launch their attack.
On the instruments, the energy readings of the Tomb Ruins continued to rise.
A few minutes later, the Alliance Soldiers in the hollow suddenly felt a slight tremor beneath their feet.
And the source of the tremor was the Tomb Ruins themselves!
A large amount of fine gravel fell from the rocky dome, hitting the soldiers' heads.
Everyone knew the moment of battle was imminent.
Inside the Tomb Ruins, the Lord personally led his Necron forces to the Tomb Portals.
The Lord raised the Lord's Blade in his hand and slammed it heavily onto the ground.
"Crush those vermin who dare to invade this place!"
The orb-like object in his right hand burst with a dazzling light, covering all the Necron forces.
This would further enhance the combat capabilities of the Necron forces—simply put, it was a pre-battle buff.
Boarding a Catacomb Command Barge, the Lord slammed his blade down heavily once more, announcing the start of the death march.
"Their number is legion, their name is death eternal."
This phrase was the best interpretation of the Necrons.
Dense, unquantifiable Canoptek Scarabs crawled out from every crack in the Tomb Ruins, converging on the ground to form a silver-black tide.
With a flicker of green ghost-light, hundreds of new Tomb Portals suddenly appeared.
This was the masterpiece of the Technician.
The existing portals outside were merely reserved for the Canoptek Constructs to maintain the tomb; the Technician could open closed Tomb Portals at any time.
Not only that, but over a dozen towering Tomb Obelisks also emerged from phase stealth, abruptly appearing outside the Tomb Ruins.
These Tomb Obelisks served the dual purpose of both barracks and vehicles.
Endless Canoptek Scarabs poured out from the Tomb Portals and Tomb Obelisks, lunging straight at the Universal Union positions.
Stepping over the tide of Canoptek Scarabs beneath them, a large number of Necron Warriors followed.
These slow-moving metal skeletons seemed harmless enough, but the Alliance Soldiers in the positions knew all too well how terrifying the power of the Gauss Flayers they held was.
Countless green beams of light sliced through the air, striking at the Alliance Soldiers.
"Get into the bunkers!"
Fortunately, the engineers had built a large number of Steel Bunkers before the battle began, though even the hardest metal would be decomposed into an atomic state by the Necrons' Gauss weapons.
But this time was enough for the Alliance Soldiers to launch a counterattack.
The fire from tanks and combat vehicles began to roar, as shells slammed into the midst of the Necron Warriors, blowing them to pieces.
But those fragments slowly crawled and aggregated on the ground; as long as they weren't too far apart, the Necron Warriors could regain their combat capability in just a few minutes.
The combat units of the Necrons were just that disgusting.
High attack, high defense, and strong recovery—they were all stat monsters.
"Increase firepower suppression!"
The Commander continued to issue orders over the communication channel.
Most Necron units had only one weakness: their relatively slow movement speed.
Saturated fire bombardment could effectively suppress the advancing pace of the Necron Warriors.