Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson took the communicators and quickly finished equipping them.
As they prepared to set off, Cawl handed over several specialized devices, along with dozens of munitions about the size of bolt rounds.
"Phase Disruption Grenade Launcher," Cawl explained.
He picked up the bolt-sized munitions next to the launcher and motioned for them to be loaded inside.
"Since this thing can temporarily paralyze the Necrons' phase systems when fired, but the effect only lasts for thirty seconds."
"Enough," Lion El'Jonson hung the launcher at his waist and put the munitions into his small ammo pouch.
"Thirty seconds is enough; they won't be able to run, and it's plenty of time for me to slaughter them!"
Finally, Cawl pulled up a complete tactical map: "Remember, the equipment is the priority. If things go wrong, retreat immediately. The Warmaster is waiting for your good news."
The operation began as night fell on the Mathematical World.
To coordinate the operation, the Tyranid Swarm launched its largest offensive to date.
Countless Tyranid Mycetic Spores were scattered by the Swarm Tendrils, and even some massive spores were successfully deployed.
As the spores burst open, massive Titan-class units appeared on the planet's surface.
Dozens of Hierodules, over 60 meters tall, stood upon the Necrons' land; their armor possessed reflective capabilities, enough to deflect some of the Necrons' Gauss rays.
The genetic blueprints for these Hierodules were brought to Cawl by Noah; after some modifications by the Swarm Tendrils, these Titan-class units were deployed.
With the addition of these Titan-class units, the Necrons' previously intact defensive lines were torn open by the Tyranid Swarm.
"Overlord, the Tyranid Swarm's attack has intensified. They have deployed a large number of giant combat units—massive organisms over 60 meters tall—which are now leading a vast swarm in a charge against us!"
"There are now at least hundreds of billions of Tyranids on our Tomb World. They are rushing our lines like a tide, and our forces are struggling to hold. We need more heavy weaponry; I request that more troops be dispatched from the fortress."
The Necron Noble in charge of directing the defense against the Tyranid Swarm approached Overlord Huronar.
Hundreds of billions of Tyranids had appeared on the surface of the Tomb World, and the implications were immense; it meant their orbital defenses had failed, allowing the Tyranid Swarm to deploy forces on a massive scale.
This was unacceptable to the Necrons. Every Necron Tomb World possessed sophisticated orbital defenses. Previously, when the Tyranid Swarm attacked, most of their units would be completely destroyed in mid-air by these defenses.
But now it was different, though the Necrons were certain their orbital defenses hadn't malfunctioned.
The primary issue was likely that the Tyranid Swarm had increased their numbers, using saturation attacks to forcibly break through the orbital defenses.
Even as a research-oriented Necron Overlord, Huronar realized the severity of the situation.
"Has the Phaeron still not sent reinforcements? Does he intend to just watch as our Tomb World is overrun by the Tyranid Swarm?"
Huronar anxiously questioned another Noble beside him.
The Necron Noble wore an expression of utter despair.
"The Phaeron says the Imperial Army on the front lines is attacking even more frantically. The Dynasty's forces are completely pinned down and cannot come to our aid."
"Nonsense! That's absolute rubbish! Does our Dynasty only have those few troops facing off against the humans? Don't I recall many more forces stationed elsewhere?"
"Why won't the Phaeron mobilize those forces to support us? Why?!"
The Sautekh Dynasty naturally had more than just the troops fighting the Imperium of Man; they certainly had other forces, but those were currently in a standoff with the Necron Triarch Council's legions.
In response, the Noble responsible for contacting reinforcements merely looked at his Overlord with a sorrowful gaze.
Even if he didn't say it, the answer was already clear.
"Then what should we do? Retreat now? Are we to abandon our planet?"
"Are we to yield to the beasts before us? Absolutely not! I will never allow such a thing to happen!"
Huronar grew angry. Although he was merely a research-focused Necron Noble, it didn't mean he lacked the pride of an Overlord of the Infinite Empire.
"Go, activate all our factories, start up all our Canoptek forges, use all our resources, and bring out all our soul seed and finished souls to produce more troops! I need more Necron Warriors, I need more Canoptek-forged weapons, I need more soldiers!"
"I will never allow myself to surrender to these beasts from the void!"
"The Infinite Empire will not compromise with anyone, nor will it yield to anyone. We did not bow to the C'tan in the past, and we certainly will not yield to these beasts now!"
"But Overlord," the Necron Noble hesitated, "our soul stockpile can only produce at most eight million more combat units with souls."
The rest can only be the most basic Necron Warriors, and even then, our numbers will be limited.
And the Swarm's numbers..."
It went without saying—after breaking through the Necrons' orbital defenses and deploying hundreds of billions of units onto a single planet, the Swarm could deploy even more in the future.
Huronar couldn't care less about that. He snapped, "Then let every single combat unit prove itself worth ten times its value!"
Huronar activated the console. "Initiate 'Crisis Protocol'—awaken all dormant Tomb Guards, unlock the Forbidden Armory, and release all the test subjects!"
"Let our test subjects face off against these damned beasts first!"
Huronar spoke with a hint of madness, a Tesseract Labyrinth appearing in his hand.
"If necessary, I will use the power of those damned deceivers, those C'tan, to combat these wretched beasts."
The Necrons had shattered the C'tan—the pinnacle of the physical universe—into fragments and imprisoned them within various Tesseract Labyrinths. Nearly every Necron Overlord and Dynasty possessed their own trump cards.
As a major Dynasty among the Necrons, the Sautekh Dynasty naturally received a large number of star god fragments. At this moment, this Necron Overlord held one in his hand.
If things reached an irreversible state and conventional military forces failed, then the star god fragment would be his final resort.
Seeing the appearance of the star god fragment, the Necron Lord in charge of commanding the troops understood everything.
"Yes!"
Then, a piercing alarm resounded throughout the Tomb World. Deep underground, countless long-sealed tombs began to awaken.
What was even more terrifying was that several laboratories marked as "Dangerous" suddenly opened, and from them emerged experimental subjects fused with various forbidden technologies.
Massive biological constructs, mechanical entities, and even C'tan-influenced mechanical lifeforms rippling with immense psychic power began to pour out from the experimental facilities.
The Necrons made their most desperate move, preparing to activate their star god fragments and various forbidden experimental products to launch a counterattack.
As the Necrons' various silent experimental products were released and engaged the Tyranid Swarm, Cawl, who was monitoring the battle situation on the forge ark, keenly noticed this scene.
The Swarm Tendril OReel even took the initiative to contact Cawl.
"Those metal lumps down there have sent out more troops and are attacking me. They seem to be acting out of desperation, Cawl. I need more biomass. Can you give me more num-nums?"
"I want to create more powerful Ultralisks."
OReel was hungry.
To cover Lion and the others, OReel released a massive amount of swarm units at once. The Necrons' orbital defenses were no joke; to deploy hundreds of billions of swarm units to the planet's surface, he had to deploy at least 10 trillion units.
Although Cawl had brought him quite a bit to eat before, filling him up and allowing him to provide a large legion,
the intensity of the war against the Necrons still made OReel feel hungry again.
"I'll apply to Teacher for another batch of food for you later, but first, you have to let me see what those units the Necrons sent out are."
Swarm units were useful, and they were fearless, which made Cawl feel less distressed than using the Imperium's armies.
Moreover, Lion and Guilliman were about to set off.
Even if just for these two Primarchs, the combat capability of the Tyranid Swarm had to be maintained.
However, compared to this, Cawl was more curious about what these Necrons had sent out that caused the swarm battlefront, which had been steadily advancing, to start pushing back.
"If you want to see, then I'll show you," OReel agreed to Cawl's request.
Psychic energy from the Swarm Tendril began to reveal the scene to Cawl on the forge ark. The next moment, a vision of the battlefield appeared before him.
It was the perspective of a 60-meter-tall Ultralisk; before it was a giant Canoptek construct of similar size.
Unlike other giant Canoptek constructs, this one in front of the Ultralisk had all sorts of strange equipment on its body.
The most direct observation was that its entire body seemed capable of firing high-level Gauss beams.
Don't ask Cawl how he knew, because just as the Ultralisk on his side stepped forward to strike the giant Canoptek construct, the opponent released green Singularity Gauss beams that melted the entire Ultralisk... "The Necrons' gauss weapons are indeed effective. I wonder if Teacher can replicate them; they are truly useful when facing large combat units."
Even though an Ultralisk on their side had been directly taken out by the Necrons, Cawl wasn't considering the battle situation at this moment, but was instead wondering if Noah could produce the Necrons' gauss weapons.
As for these 60-meter-tall Ultralisks, even if the ones OReel was producing now were just the initial versions and even cut corners in some aspects,
the Necrons' orbital defenses were too powerful. If elite or high-quality Ultralisks were dropped, they might be directly vaporized by orbital weapons.
That was pointless; it was better to deploy a large number of serviceable units.
But even with such things, the Imperium would need to deploy Imperial Knights to destroy them.
Furthermore, ordinary Imperial Knights couldn't even hurt these Ultralisks; it would require something at the level of a Giant King.
Yet, such powerful Ultralisks were things that could be dealt with by a single beam from the Necrons.
"Reel, move all the Ultralisks around this battlefield over here. Let's test this device's defensive power!"
"Understood!" OReel cooperatively mobilized the troops.
Several Ultralisks charged at the giant construct from different directions.
But shockingly, the construct acted as if it had gone mad.
It didn't aim; instead, its entire body released high-intensity Gauss beams, melting all the Ultralisks besieging it from all directions.
The power was so great that it even destroyed several nearby Necrons—Lychguards and Necron Warriors—who were in combat.
This indiscriminate form of attack made Cawl's eyelids twitch.
"How can this thing be on the battlefield? This must be a failure; it even hits its own allies!"
After staying with Noah for a long time, Cawl's standards had risen. Upon seeing this Canoptek construct destroy its own troops, he lost interest in it.
"Clearly, those areas could have been designed differently. I'm afraid this construct is just a minor inferior product."
In Cawl's eyes, there were clearly many ways to improve this device to prevent such consequences, yet the opponent still released it like this.
From a certain perspective, it was enough to prove that this Canoptek construct was a defective product.
"Yes, yes, I also think this thing is a defect, but its indiscriminate attacks are causing heavy losses to my troops."
OReel also agreed that it was a defective product.
But with such indiscriminate attacks, while the Necrons suffered losses, the losses to the mountain-filling Tyranid Swarm units would be even greater.
"Don't worry about those things. Isn't it just biomass? It'll be shipped to you soon. You just focus on continuing to release your legions here."
Swarm losses?
If the Astra Militarum or the Titan Legions were taking losses like this, Cawl would definitely be feeling the pain by now, but this happened to be the Tyranid Swarm.
Although it was also troublesome for OReel to produce powerful Ultralisks—from obtaining the genetic sequence and production methods to now, OReel had only produced a total of over 200 Ultralisks.
But ordinary Tyranid Swarm units were no trouble at all... As long as there was biomass, there could be as many as needed. Moreover, OReel's Swarm Tendril was currently producing more Bio-ships that could be used to produce Ultralisks.
For the Tyranid Swarm, everything was like a rolling snowball; as long as there was enough biomass, they could have as many as they wanted.
"You said it! Cawl, you'd better give me a full meal then!"
Cawl's words were still trustworthy to the swarm.
Even though Cawl hadn't provided the food yet, OReel unhesitatingly dispatched a large number of his swarm units to fight.
More of the swarm continued to be air-dropped. Only then did Cawl turn his head to look at Guilliman and Lion.
"Two Primarchs, it's about time to prepare to set off. From what it looks like, these Necrons have probably brought out everything they've been hiding."
"Be careful when you go down. You should be able to find those devices; at least there shouldn't be too much danger."
The Necrons have even released things that are obviously semi-finished products.
This is enough to show that the Necron elites below have all come out.
Now that Guilliman and Lion are going down to fight, their safety should be guaranteed.
"Mhm." The two nodded simultaneously, indicating they understood.
"Move out," Lion ordered succinctly.
Twenty Dark Angels Deathwing Terminators, ten Ultramarines Honor Guards, and six Custodian Tribunes assembled rapidly.
After ensuring everyone was ready, Lion activated his Warp talent—his Warp essence, The Lions Movement.
In front of Cawl, Lion's The Lions Movement simulated the forests of Caliban, enveloping Guilliman, the Custodians, and the Dark Angels and Ultramarines units within it.
Only after the Primarch and the Custodian Tribunes vanished before his eyes did Cawl turn to communicate with OReel.
"I'll leave the rest to you. Deploy more troops to attack!"
"You must pin down those Necron forces. As long as you can hold them, Teacher will give you another hearty meal."
"After all, your appetite is truly massive. To the Imperium, you are a significant burden; many within the Imperium's borders would like to see you dead."
Cawl turned his head toward OReel. He knew this Swarm Tendril was feeling hungry, but for a Swarm Tendril, wasn't being hungry a common occurrence?
To ensure this fellow continued to work with all its heart and soul, Cawl added a threat.
"Teacher is keeping you because you represent a fighting force. But if you cannot demonstrate combat power that matches your appetite, then Teacher might just abandon you."
"Reel, this is for your own sake. Work hard."
As Cawl's voice fell, a sense of urgent crisis arose in OReel's mind.
"Understood, Cawl. I will prove myself!"
The Swarm Tendril quivered incessantly as more Tyranid units began to be dropped onto the Tomb World.
The Necron Tomb World, already unable to effectively intercept Tyranid units due to anti-air fire overload, suffered an even greater invasion at this moment, further stripping away their original defenses.
A massive swarm of Tyranids flew straight down, undoubtedly tying up more Necron forces and buying enough time for Lion and the others.
When Lion used his The Lions Movement talent to transport Guilliman and the others to the Necron's Silent Archives, two-thirds of the Necron units originally stationed there had already been drawn away.
Various posts were now slightly undermanned.
"Good luck," Guilliman said, scanning the surroundings quickly. "Most of the guards have been lured away by the Tyranid Swarm."
"Don't be careless," Lion said, hand resting on his sword hilt. "As the site of the Necrons' research institutions, the defensive forces here will definitely not be sparse. Have you forgotten how many Custodians were in the Warmaster's laboratory above the palace?"
Having seen how heavily guarded Noah's laboratory on Terra was, Lion had a natural respect for the security of such facilities.
Hearing this, Guilliman also grew serious, his hand similarly pressing down on the emperors sword at his waist.
Just as the two were ready, a dark green Gauss beam shot directly toward them.
Following that, a large number of Necron Warriors appeared ahead, firing their Gauss rifles at the spot where Lion and his team had emerged.
"Scatter!" Lion shouted, simultaneously activating The Lions Movement to appear directly at the side of the Necron squad.
Fealty traced a golden arc, instantly severing three Necron Warriors at the waist.
But shockingly, these Necron Warriors did not fall; the severed parts quickly reorganized, turning into two smaller combat units.
"Phase reorganization technology," Guilliman analyzed quickly over the comms. "We need to destroy all energy nodes simultaneously."
"Dark Angels, concentrate fire!" Lion ordered.
The roar of Bolters echoed through the corridor.
But a more troublesome threat appeared—the walls suddenly cracked open, and several giant Canoptek constructs stepped out.
"Intruders detected."
"Executing purge protocol."
A torrent of purple lightning immediately blanketed all surrounding structures, but this time, an attack that should have annihilated the intruders met a setback before Guilliman.
A dark energy shield enveloped the entire Imperial Army's position, forcibly absorbing the entire torrent of lightning.
"High-energy shield detected. A higher-level civilization has joined the battlefield."
"Enemies locked. Positively identified as Humans..."
The Necrons possessed many top-tier technologies that would be overkill against more primitive civilizations.
Simultaneously, in the entire galaxy, only Humans could contend with Necron equipment. When the dark matter shield successfully blocked the lightning,
The Necrons had already realized exactly who these intruders were.
"Humans, this is not a place you should be. Leave now, and we shall let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, die here!"
The Canoptek constructs had intended to destroy Guilliman and Lion directly, but upon discovering they were human, Huronar, the Overlord of this Tomb World, took over command.
A Tomb World currently facing an invasion by the Tyranid Swarm did not want to draw the Humans in as well.
Who knew if those human armies currently enjoying their fight against the Storm King on the front lines had the spare capacity to send a fleet to his Tomb World and plow his world apart with Orbital Bombardment?
Their Sautekh Dynasty had destroyed two human colony worlds; it was hard to guarantee the humans wouldn't use the same methods against them.
Huronar didn't know that if it weren't for the equipment Noah needed on their planet, this world would have long since been destroyed by a massive number of whirlwind torpedoes.
Though it was possible whirlwind torpedoes couldn't directly destroy a Tomb World,
The Cawl fleet that had followed the Imperium of Man could certainly deliver the final blow.
"Leave?" Guilliman sneered. "After you destroyed two human worlds, you expect us to leave in peace?"
"That was the Phaeron's order," Huronar's voice transmitted through the construct.
"But we do not necessarily have to be enemies. As long as you withdraw now, I can guarantee your safe departure."
"This is the opportunity I am giving you, Humans. Do not think the Infinite Empire fears your Imperium of Man; I simply do not wish to increase my burdens."
"Hand over the equipment," Lion said, cutting straight to the point. "Then we can talk."
????
Lion's words left Huronar stunned.
In his view, these humans coming to his Tomb World should have been there for revenge. Why were they suddenly mentioning equipment?
After searching through the data in his mechanical brain, he locked onto exactly what equipment the humans wanted.
The star god fragments?
That Warmaster of the Imperium of Man, Noah, had never hidden how much he valued star god fragments. So, these humans were here to ask him for star god fragments?
Huronar flatly refused.
"Impossible. I will never hand over what you want; it is the foundation of the Infinite Empire!"
"As an Overlord of the Infinite Empire, if I were to hand this treasure to you, how could I stand among the other nobles? Don't even think about it!"
How could he possibly hand over a star god fragment to humans? It was the very foundation of his existence as a Necron Overlord.
"Then there is nothing left to discuss." Guilliman raised the emperors sword.
Lion simultaneously raised the lion sword high and issued the command: "Dark Angels, attack!"
Gigantic Dread Constructs were destined to be beyond what ordinary astartes could withstand.
But who would have thought this special vanguard unit possessed other high-level weaponry?
The Emperors Children launched a charge, the phase Power Swords in their hands easily slicing through the limbs of any Dread Construct.
This was the favorite weapon of the Imperial Army when operating deep behind enemy lines.
Melee weapons only consumed a small amount of energy, which lasted a long time, unlike ordinary ranged projectile weapons or special one-time explosive weapons.
The Dark Angels struck, rushing toward the Dread Constructs in a strangely eerie manner, but the constructs were no pushovers either.
The Dread Construct reacted immediately, energy flickering across its surface as it released a distorted phase field.
However, the Dark Angels displayed astonishing tactical proficiency.
They split into three groups: one group performed a frontal feint while the other two broke in from the flanks.
"Watch its energy nodes!" Lion shouted during the battle. "Attack all three cores simultaneously!"
The Emperors Children executed the order with precision. Their phase Power Swords struck the construct's three energy nodes at once, but as expected, the attacks were deflected by an invisible shield.
"phase shield!" Guilliman analyzed the data. "We need higher-frequency attacks!"
"Then let's give it higher frequency!" Lion activated The Lions Movement, appearing directly above the construct and striking down with the full power of the lion sword.
This strike finally took effect. The moment the shield shattered, the construct's movements became noticeably sluggish.
Immediately after, the construct's counterattack arrived as dark green Gauss rays shot directly at the human forces, though they were almost all blocked by blue shields.
In a clash between civilizations of the same level, the Necrons' once-overwhelming weapon advantage no longer existed.
Guilliman took action himself; with a swing of the emperors sword, raging flames engulfed the entire Dread Construct.
The terrifying Emperor's fire burned on the surface of the Dread Construct until it was completely reduced to a pile of ash.
But before Guilliman and the others could celebrate the destruction of such a massive object, an even more troublesome threat appeared—
Deep within the archives, countless stasis pods suddenly opened, and more advanced combat units stepped out.
"Warning! Tomb Guardian awakening detected!" The alarm in Guilliman's armor system blared.
"These are the true guardians," Huronar's voice rang out again. "The Dread Construct you just destroyed was merely my crudest creation."
"Now, witness the true power of the Infinite Empire!"
Tomb Guardians possessed massive carapaces composed of living metal and Necrodermis, structured like centipedes, usually as large as a dozen men, and covered in mechanical limbs.
Utilizing mysterious phase generators, they could move freely through solid ground.
Tomb Guardians were equipped with dimensional exile weapons and exile cannons, capable of banishing enemies to other dimensions.
They also possessed blades and claws for close-quarters combat.
Some Tomb Guardians might be equipped with Tomb Scarabs to enhance regeneration or Gloom Prisms to resist Warp powers.
They could detect life pulses through built-in sensor clusters, allowing them to precisely locate prey even in total darkness. Their regenerative abilities made them nearly indestructible; only large-scale firepower could potentially eliminate them.
When Guilliman and Lion saw these things appear, they both saw a hint of a headache in each other's eyes.
Tomb Guardians were enormous, and neither Guilliman nor Lion had expected Necron Tomb Guardians to appear here.
"Humans, I will give you one last chance. Get off my land. As long as you leave my territory, I will overlook everything that happened today as if it never occurred."
Huronar's holographic projection appeared before Guilliman and Lion once more.
Just like the initial communication, Huronar still wanted to persuade Guilliman and Lion to get out of his world.
He didn't want to clash with humans right now; the Tyranid Swarm alone was enough of a handful for him.
That fellow Noah was a complete madman.
The Necrons knew very well that when Noah attacked ordinary planets, he always used planet-destroying methods.
He rarely ever sent ground troops for a landing.
Their orbital defense facilities could withstand attacks from most powers in the galaxy, including those damned long-ears of the Aeldari.
But only when facing Noah did they lack sufficient confidence.
If that guy brought the world engine over and opened fire on his Tomb World, it wouldn't take many hits for his Tomb World to be blown apart just the same.
Huronar didn't want to provoke Noah, and he didn't want to provoke humanity.
"No need to rush, humans. I will give you two minutes to consider carefully. During these two minutes, my Tomb Guardians will not act, provided that you don't act either."
Huronar very considerately withdrew his holographic projection.
"Overlord, why don't we just deal with these humans instead of planning to let them leave? There's absolutely no need for this; our Tomb Guardians could easily finish them off."
As the communication ended, the Necron Noble subservient to Huronar couldn't understand what his Overlord's actions meant at all, so he asked.
"Stupid!" Huronar was somewhat dissatisfied that he had such a fool among his subordinates.
"Do you know the identities of those two humans? One is the imperial regent of the Imperium of Man, Guilliman."
"The other... the other one isn't important."
"I can tell you this: if we dared to kill that imperial regent named Guilliman right now, that madman Noah would 100% bring his moon of war over and wipe our entire planet out!!"
"Anyone in that group can die, but that one named Guilliman absolutely cannot have anything happen to him."
"Since nothing can happen to Guilliman, why shouldn't I do them a favor and let them leave?"
"This galaxy isn't just about fighting and killing; it's also about social graces and relationships. Although we stand with the Storm King Imotekh, it doesn't mean we must wage this kind of war against humanity."
"The Tyranids above our heads are already enough of a problem. Do you really want us to gain even more enemies?"
A Necron Overlord should be loyal to the Phaeron.
However, Imotekh himself was originally supposed to be an Overlord and had only become Phaeron through a military coup.
If he could continue to achieve a string of victories, then these Overlords would naturally continue to offer their loyalty to the Phaeron.
But now? The Tyranid Swarm was already right above his Tomb World. The Storm King hadn't sent reinforcements, so why should he make an enemy of humanity?
The prerequisite for loyalty is self-preservation. His status as a Necron Overlord was research-oriented, so he only had this one Tomb World.
If the Tomb World was gone, would he even still be a Necron Overlord?
Furthermore, would that human really let him go?
What if they hunted him down with all their might?
"I see, I see. Your subordinate understands. The Phaeron is wise," the Necron Noble said with a look of sudden realization, bowing repeatedly.
"Mm," Huronar grunted. Having spoken, he ignored his subordinate.
He now only hoped that Guilliman and the others would be sensible and leave immediately. It was impossible for him to hand over the star god fragment.