Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

On SATA One, the dark clouds that shrouded the hive city in the atmosphere were still thick, and the endless rain was still pouring down.

From a distance, it can be seen that the defensive force field above the hive has completely failed, and the rainwater has passed through the original protective force field and splashed recklessly towards the towering Gothic buildings below.

Among the spiers on the upper level of the hive city, the originally lively and prosperous scene was now replaced by a dead silence. Even the signal lights on the spiers did not light up.

Most of the top floor of the entire hive is composed of Gothic church-style buildings. In the original version, the cloisters and overpasses dotted on them were the channels for communication between them.

However, as the empire's technology progressed, these corridors and overpasses slowly turned into purely decorative buildings. The real transportation function had long been replaced by the highly mechanized elevators in the sky and the fast and efficient internal structures of the buildings. replaced by rail transit.

It is these machines concealed under the appearance of the ancient and gorgeous building that truly support the internal operating functions of the building. Their relationship with each other is just like the current ancient political structure of the empire and the various structures from the Cult of Mechanicus. The same equipment is hidden in a towering building called the Empire.

But now, under the intervention of perhaps a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, this hive city has finally lost this part of the core wealth that really drives the operation of the hive city under its gorgeous appearance.

What followed was the paralysis of the entire hive city and the living conditions that returned to almost those of the tribal era in a short period of time.

After losing its energy supply, the mechanical transportation system no longer works, causing this huge and unparalleled building to lose its gorgeous appearance, truly revealing its primitive and backward side.

Corridors and overpasses are far from meeting the needs of the real daily operations of the hive city. The transmission of complicated documents between various departments relies more on servitors taking these vehicles to shuttle between various towers.

The functions of the Imperial Governor's Office were the first to lose control in the face of such a disaster. At the same time, they also lost control and protection over the hundreds of millions of people in the entire hive.

Going forward, the upper-class residents who have lost their protection and guidance will be fine, as they at least still have basic material security; while the lower-class and lower-class civilians who have lost their basic living materials will encounter what kind of difficulties they will encounter after even the final order is lost. Disasters are no surprise.

Against this background, Calvin and his party were walking on the overpass between the top spiers of the hive city. The violent storms at high altitudes kept hitting them without any protection, but they had no better choice.

The inner-atmosphere flying transport vehicles originally configured in the hive city have all been paralyzed due to the loss of energy supply, and the underground rail transportation hub can only allow the Astartes who have taken a detour to move forward on foot.

The Gray Knights have no better way. Directly leaving the narrow overpass in the raging storm after losing the protection of the force field is already the most reliable option among the existing solutions.

If they gave up here and chose the track in the building below, it would take up to several times the detour. Not to mention the unexpected battles they might encounter while marching from inside the building, which would delay the completion of the mission, was unacceptable to them.

The heavy rain was still pouring, and the Gray Knights marched silently on the overpass, which was so narrow that only one person could pass, despite the heavy rain and strong wind.

The magnetic boots system under their feet has already been activated. Every step forward of the gray knights is firmly grasped on the ground by the activated magnetic system.

When these people walked all the way through the towers one after another in the peripheral ancillary buildings and came to the real top-floor building belt, the sight in front of them surprised and disgusted them.

Yes, the monster that was encountered in the mezzanine of the nest city appeared again.

At this time, they were entrenched in the center of the guards at the tops of the towers, closely surrounding the tallest and strongest tower.

These tentacles, which are countless at a glance and are tens of meters high, tightly wrap the tower from all directions without leaking any space.

Different from the human-sized tentacles that were only seen in the room before, what appears in the eyes of everyone now may be its full picture, or a part of the full picture.

These creatures with characteristics of both plant roots and animal tentacles are now entrenched at the end of Calvin and others' field of vision. The eye-like organs on their bodies that were previously observed by the Gray Knights also increase in size as their size increases.

The huge eyeballs are turning randomly towards the periphery of the spire. The purple pupils and green eyeballs make them look extremely blasphemous, and the force field similar to the psychic aura they carry is even more... Let mortals fall into confusion at the first sight of them.

The branches on their tentacles are all exploring inward, as if there are some treasures that they care about, or there are some enemies that they are searching for with anger.

They were so tightly wrapped that from Calvin's perspective, not a single wall on the entire tower was missing except for the spire.

Such an evil and frightening scene did not scare the Gray Knights, or in other words, the Gray Knights were born for this.

Their powerful will and spiritual energy, after being reorganized and strengthened by the blood of the Emperor, were born to kill and expel these evil spirits from the subspace.

Therefore, when seeing such a scene, the Gray Knights were not shaken by fear and confusion. On the contrary, this is not the first time they have seen such a scene in their service careers, and it will never be the last time.

Such weird and evil things will only make them clench the weapons in their hands more eager to kill and expel them.

"Is that where it is?" Tariq asked in the mind channel. The other Terminators also focused their attention on Calvin, waiting for his reply.

Calvin quickly gave an affirmative reply: "Yes, that's where it is. But if we want to get there, we'll probably have to walk a long way."

He gestured with his hands to see the distance between them. It was more than three kilometers away, and there were no directly connected overpasses or verandas in the middle.

It seems that if you want to pass, you must follow the will of the designer of this hive city and pass through the palace gates and passages under the towers that were originally guarded by the hive city law enforcers.

"Let's go, don't keep them waiting..." Calvin patted Tarik in front of him to stop the latter from falling into a frenzy of eagerness to fight.

Calvin walked first, leading the gray knights towards the bottom of the tower. The gray knights behind him also stared at the tentacles in the distance when they passed by Calvin's previous position.

The Gray Knights were unable to fight against the targets that were so close yet so far away. They could only remember the appearance of the evil spirits before them when they left, so that they could be killed and destroyed more completely in a later battle. .

The Gray Knights strode downwards along the spiral staircase in the tower. They had no time or inclination to look at the oil paintings or sculptures on the walls of the tower about the historical changes in the hive city.

The marble-like steps under their feet looked very expensive, but they were meaningless except that the strength was guaranteed to allow the Gray Knights to stride forward with more confidence.

We soon arrived at the bottom of the tower, looking past the end of the main road not far away, we saw the palace gate of the Hive Governor in front of us.

They did not hesitate and walked directly towards the gate that originally symbolized the highest authority on the planet.

The thick and gorgeous door is cast in one piece from a tough copper alloy. This material and structure allowed Calvin and others to give up direct violent destruction.

After all, it is too wasteful to easily give up a precious melt grenade for such an obstacle.

We are already doing our best to support them in orbit, and various difficulties in missions are still common. For example, not having any supplies before completing the mission is completely as it should be.

Tarik took the lead in inserting the data interface on his Terminator power armor into the device next to the door.

In their impression, no governor would be so luxurious as to install a set of wet parts from the Mechanicus on this kind of equipment to accommodate the possible machine soul.

Therefore, there is a high probability that the machine soul on the Terminator power armor can solve the problem of access rights on the door, and the fact did not disappoint them.

In other words, they discovered something here that far exceeded their expected return.

A piece of data, to be precise, a piece of data record encrypted with the Imperial Astra Militarum routine was unexpectedly placed in such a location that does not belong to any core area.

In order to prevent possible electronic demons or viruses, Calvin and others carefully uploaded it intact to the strike cruiser in orbit, and then marched while waiting for a response from above the orbit.

Results came quickly.

In less than half an hour, it will probably be enough time to perform a simple prayer ceremony of purity before the data is turned on.

The reply from the strike cruiser above the orbit has been conveyed to the data terminal held by Calvin.

The reply from above the orbit was also strange. Captain Tabers said to Calvin in the communication channel with a complex tone:

"The files you uploaded are very valuable. What you are facing is the contamination and conspiracy from the evil god Nurgle that we previously suspected! Grand Master Aidan's concern here now seems to be very necessary! You will indeed face it head-on. Disease and Corruption from Nurgle! According to the information you provided, we now at least understand some of the possible reasons for the current state of SATA One, which will be helpful for your subsequent processing. In addition, you'd better take some of it out. Time, take a look at the contents of the document... As for the authenticity or impact of these contents, you may need to evaluate it yourself, but remember, no matter what, the enemy is the enemy, and he can't come back."

Calvin did not stop moving forward while communicating. He was currently in the corridor outside the palace. Looking up, he could already vaguely see the presence of the tentacles on the top floor of the palace.

The first half of Captain Tybus's words were not unusual in Calvin's ears, and his analysis of the enemy he was about to face also corresponded to the previous direct witnessing evidence of the Gray Knights on the tower.

He also delegated the information authority to the voice system of the entire team while listening, so that his comrades around him could immediately understand the results of the speculation about the ground above the orbit.

But the second half of what he said about Captain Tabers made him stop abruptly.

After he ended the call with Tabers, he clicked on the light curtain on his left arm. The decrypted files that had just been transmitted by the strike cruiser were floating there quietly above the light curtain.

Calvin thought about Tabers' words and decided to accept the advice from a veteran and spared precious pre-war marching and preparation time to take a look at what kind of document would make a veteran like Tabers do the same. Emotion.

After he clicked the cursor on the file, he converted it into voice mode and played it on his communicator, and then motioned to the people around him to continue moving forward.

He himself continued to walk in the quiet and heavy steps of the power armor, until the sounds in this document attracted him bit by bit...

"Eternal cancer and everlasting sores. What I want to talk about is this. I hope that if anyone in the outside world hears this term, they will not listen any further. You must find any information as soon as possible. An Imperial Inquisition department, and other departments of the latter can also hand over this document to those who are qualified to receive it. I have made a total of forty copies of this document, thirty of which have been confirmed to be on track. were destroyed by unknown forces during the delivery, and ten copies of me have been hidden in various key places throughout the palace. I hope that the relevant personnel who will come to deal with it in the future can get these things. My waking time is getting shorter and shorter. It can be helpful to you. I also hope that if you can see me... please give me a relief. God Emperor, I am the Minister of the Ministry of the Holy Human Empire appointing the 255th Governor of the SATA Sector and SATA Galaxy. , Hailan.”