The team arrived before the stone chamber door at one corner of the pyramid. The door was about ten meters high, densely covered in glyphs.
Like the main door of the Ymga Monolith, it also bore the Sautekh Dynasty sigil, though much smaller, only four meters high.
Thomas activated his "Eyes of Mystery Prying" to examine the glyphs upon it.
After a moment, he noticed the glyphs were slowly changing, moving like black ants crawling.
The glyphs of triangles and circles, one moment in the upper left corner, the next moment moved downwards and to the right respectively.
The original position in the upper left was replaced by a rectangle enclosing an ellipse.
...
Thomas said in surprise, "Except for the Sautekh Dynasty sigil, the other glyphs are moving."
Gabriel stepped up to the door, his eyes gleaming.
"The glyphs utilize living metal technology. They are moving and rearranging according to some pattern."
"I've researched the Golden Garuda. Their technology is very peculiar."
He said, puzzled, "But unlike the main entrance, there are no dozens of Gauss Cannons guarding this place."
"Is forcing the door open feasible?"
Arsena Dunn's gaze was profound: "It should not be. Although this place seems to lack defensive measures there might be some kind of defense mechanism inside the door, especially since we are so close to the energy source."
Miguel Cuesta's eyes were deep. He raised his Mindforge Staff, aiming it at the door.
After a moment, he frowned.
"The green mist and the black energy field both interfere with my psychic probing."
"I cannot determine what is behind the door, but I do sense glyphs harboring danger."
After listening to everyone, Nareth approached the door.
In the eyes of the "Baron of Corruption," the chaotic rule-lines were as disordered as a deliberately tangled ball of yarn, preventing him from pinpointing the control core as he did at the main entrance.
More troublesome was that as the living metal moved on the door, the xenos glyphs reconfigured, and the rule-lines also changed.
Before the "Baron of Corruption" could sort out the mess, a new chaotic situation had already formed.
The Primarch pondered for a moment, then spread his consciousness across the first three layers of the Enumeration.
Most Thousand Sons used Enumeration rather crudely, pushing it only to the highest layer they had mastered; even the Chief Librarian was no exception.
In Nareth's memory, Khalophis of the "Pyrae" and Hathor Maat of the "Pavoni" both only maintained the 8th layer during combat, striving to unleash powerful spells.
More refined application had two directions.
One direction was switching between layers of the Enumeration based on the situation faced.
Ahzek Ahriman and Sanakht, the foremost swordsman of the Thousand Sons, excelled at this.
The other direction was simultaneously spreading consciousness across multiple layers of the Enumeration, maximizing the computational power of the mind.
Ignis, Chief Void-war Specialist of the Thousand Sons, the Master of Ruin, was most adept at this.
Hailing from the Raptora, he, along with the Order of Ruin, used psychic links to possess computational power rivaling that of a Cogitator Array, while simultaneously transmitting commands instantly to every part of a warship.
The Primarch now spread his consciousness to the lower layers of the Mental Fortress. He hadn't invested much time in this aspect yet, but he could already manage spreading it across three layers simultaneously.
At the same time, through a psychic link, John the "Robot," whose computational ability rivaled that of the augmented Iron Hands, joined the calculation.
The "Baron of Corruption"'s processing speed of the rule-lines increased dramatically. The tangled yarn was quickly sorted out, outlining clear paths in his mind.
Within a few breaths, Nareth discerned the method used by the Sautekh Cryptek on the door.
'The living metal changes according to the Cryptek's design, causing the glyphs to reconfigure.'
'The alteration of the glyphs recombines into new control nodes.'
'The control nodes change every second.'
Nareth captured the control node for the next second. With a beat of his golden wings, he flew to its position before the glyphs changed.
It wasn't the center of the lower circle, but a point between the horizontal line from the center of the upper circle and the left arc.
Nareth pressed his right hand against it. The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly as the ten-meter-high door slowly opened.
Simultaneously, through the psychic link, he felt as if stars were shattering within John.
'John has become a true "Robot".'
In the damp green mist, Miguel followed the xenos glyphs around the door and found they converged at a point in the center of the hall.
Within the dazzling green light, a black crystal hovered in mid-air.
The power contained within the black crystal made him apprehensive.
Miguel said with relief, "The door is connected to the Necron energy crystal. If we had used violent force earlier, the energy balance would have been disrupted, causing an explosion."
After landing, Nareth led the group into the stone chamber.
He saw memory crystals suspended in black devices within the chamber.
Besides the memory crystals, there was also an energy crystal further inside the chamber.
Between the two energy crystals was a mesh matrix.
Gabriel stepped forward, circled the mesh matrix, and finally fixed his gaze on the glyph at its upper center.
"The two energy crystals power this chamber. The Crypteks use the glyphs to control the matrix and execute their commands."
He followed the glyphic links of the mesh matrix to the downward-sloping staircases on both sides of the chamber, leading below.
"The end point of the commands acts downwards."
"I believe the area below must be one of the functional modules of the Ymga Monolith."
Arsena nodded in agreement. He said:
"The pyramid has four corners, with four stone chambers."
"They should each control a specific functional module."
"According to our Lord, among them should be modules for generating the anti-psyker field and physical replication. To operate the Monolith, besides the central power supply area, there should also be a maintenance module, and one whose function cannot be deduced."
Nareth nodded, acknowledging the "Student of Ratiocination" logical deduction.
He did not proceed to the central area immediately, instead deciding to go downwards first.
According to Arsena's reasoning, they should find something below, and it would be easier to obtain compared to the Trascendent C'tan shard.
The team descended the steps, green mist drifting around them.
The stairs spiraled as they descended. Irregular arcs of jade-green lightning crackled within the surrounding walls.
After descending nearly a hundred meters, Nareth suddenly shouted.
"Enemy contact!"
The Shadows of Order immediately raised their weapons, ready for combat.
Necron constructs materialized from the mist one by one. Tomb Stalkers, hanging from the walls by their long tails ending in scythe-like barbs, launched assaults from various angles.
When they reared up to attack, they moved like swiftly slithering snakes.
Arsena swung his staff, sending a series of fiery spheres shooting towards the Tomb Stalkers.
Compared to the bridge where they first encountered Tomb Stalkers, the suppression of psychic power here was stronger; his fireballs were only a quarter of their previous size.
The fireballs slammed into the Necron constructs, passing through their bodies like piercing through mist.
The newly appeared Tomb Stalkers were more formidable than the previous ones; their bodies existed between solidity and the Necron phase-shift technology.
A thought flashed through the "Student of Ratiocination's" mind.
'After those Tomb Stalkers were destroyed, new, stronger ones were manufactured to deal with us.'
As Arsena pondered, he raised a force shield. The Tomb Stalker's tail whipped down hard onto the shield.
Invisible ripples spread, and the force shield shook.
A pair of sharp claws stabbed fiercely at the force shield. Just as the sharp claws were about to strike Arsena,
the protective orb hanging at his waist flashed. The Tomb Stalker's claws collided with the rising protective barrier.
Arsena raised his left hand, and his ring weapon shot out a metal spear, deeply embedding it into the construct's chest.
The Tomb Stalker convulsed and gradually disappeared. Arsena scanned the battlefield.
Compared to the bridge where they fought earlier, their combat environment here, descending along the passage, was more disadvantageous.
Tomb Stalkers could emerge from overhead and either side, utilizing their swift speed to attack.
Four Tomb Stalkers charged the Honor Guard. The perceptive Shadows of Order, having detected the enemy early, managed a close-range volley.
Two Necron constructs fell. The remaining two broke into their lines.
One Shadow of Order thrust with his bayonet attached under the bolter, but the monomolecular blade that should have pierced the enemy instead struck empty air, sliding into the mist.
The Tomb Stalker swung its claws, tearing through the power armor.
Just as it was about to shred the black-armored enemy, its arms suddenly slipped, the claws grazing past the side of the power armor without injuring the Shadow of Order's body.
Another Shadow of Order drew his power sword, pressed the rune, the energized blade humming as he slashed at the xenos construct.
Nareth used "Force" to alter the Tomb Stalker's claw direction, saving his gene-son. He noticed the Shadows of Order were locked in a difficult battle.
The swarming Tomb Stalkers were much more powerful than before, and they fully utilized the terrain and their speed advantages.
He beat his golden wings, soaring into the air.
A shower of golden flames fell. The power of the Flayer's fragment caused the living metal to melt rapidly.
One after another, xenos constructs were burned by the flames into puddles of mercury-like liquid, then liquefied and vanished.
"Continue advancing!"
Nareth issued the command, and the team continued descending.
Their field of view gradually widened. Gabriel's eyes gleamed as he looked down below.
He saw metal being pushed by Tomb Stalkers into strange black devices. Green light flashed, and moments later, a new Tomb Stalker emerged.
After inspecting the area below, Gabriel said:
"Below is a Necron manufactorum, producing Tomb Stalkers. They are then used to maintain the Ymga Monolith and attack intruders."
"They are purely automated constructs. I mean, they aren't like true Necrons requiring reanimation protocols."
"They are just mass-produced creations."
Nareth thought for a moment and said, "Fall back to the control chamber. Research the memory crystals inside."
"Find a way to halt the manufactorum producing the Tomb Stalkers."
The team then retraced their path back to the stone chamber.
Sanchez led a team to bring more Techmarines into the control chamber.
The Marshall of Ordnance led the Techmarines, along with Miguel, to begin researching the memory crystals.
The Chief Librarian led the Librarians in assisting their research while recording data.
Arsena also joined the research with great interest; he was very interested in ancient races.
Nareth left the gyrinx John behind, taking only the black wolf Freddy, and headed towards the passage leading to the pyramid's center.
The Trascendent C'tan shard was too dangerous for the others.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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