After a little more than ten minutes, Marcus, whose height had dropped to the lowest point, reached out and closed his gravity parachute, then landed heavily.
After stepping onto the land of Demerium, all four of them could feel that every inch of land here had been permeated with the power of the Warp. Large sections of the land were floating in the air under the influence of the Warp's power, and the already rugged terrain of the tomb world was now completely impassable by normal means. Only by using jump packs and gravity parachutes could the four of them pass through.
"We're still two kilometers from the target location, and the Warp reaction around us is very intense. At any moment…"
Before he could finish his sentence, several Warp Rifts opened around them. Hundreds of Fiends and even more mortal rebels surged out from them. With his psychic flying knife unsheathed, Marcus quickly reaped the lives of these cannon fodder units.
"Keep moving forward, don't get bogged down in battle."
Titus said in a deep voice. Given the current level of Warp contamination on Demerium, even if they blunted their chainswords, more demons would still pour out of the Warp Rifts. Immediately, the group began to advance towards the target location. They didn't need to get completely close to the Tzeentch Silver Tower; they just needed to place a navigation beacon at a specific location.
Soon, they arrived at a ruined Ecclesiarchy church. This was the designated navigation beacon location. Titus took out the navigation beacon and inserted it into the ruins. The navigation beacon activated, flashing a red light that pointed towards the Tzeentch Silver Tower in the distance.
"Talasa, navigation beacon deployed, transmitting directional signal."
"Signal received, Sword of Atreus activated! You need to stay around the navigation beacon to ensure the signal continues to transmit!"
Vespasia's voice rang out in the communication channel. Marcus could clearly hear the enormous roar coming from the other end of the communicator. That was the sound of the battle barge starting up.
"Hold this position until the demonic abomination is destroyed!"
As soon as his voice fell, a dozen Warp Rifts suddenly appeared in the shattered church. Countless Fiends and mortal rebels, along with a small number of Red Sorcerers, surged out from them. If they were on flat ground, these numerous Chaos forces would be very difficult to deal with.
However, thanks to the large amount of land floating in the air within the shattered church, Marcus and Titus were able to use their jump packs to continuously maneuver and avoid being surrounded. The most important thing was that there were no Thousand Sons Sorcerers commanding these Chaos forces, so there was no real strategy. They were just mindlessly charging and firing.
Soon, these surging demons and heretics were cleared out by the group.
After clearing out the last Fiend, the roar of a massive engine echoed from the distant sky. Marcus looked up and saw a magnificent battle barge—the Sword of Atreus—crashing through the clouds and all the Tzeentch Screamers and Hell Drakes in its path. It was heading straight for the Tzeentch Silver Tower.
"The Sword of Atreus truly lives up to its name." Gadriel, who was in the team, couldn't help but say.
Before the Sword of Atreus even collided with the Tzeentch Silver Tower, dozens, even hundreds, of thick magical beams shot from the tower's surface, bombarding the battle barge. Each beam was powerful enough to destroy a Baneblade super-heavy tank. But in front of the battle barge, these attacks were nothing more than a tickle. Even if the Sword of Atreus hadn't activated its void shields, these attacks couldn't even penetrate its outer armor.
Guided by the navigation beacon, the Sword of Atreus slightly adjusted its flight posture. Then it slammed into the Tzeentch Silver Tower. The Silver Tower, protected by magic, was no match for the battle barge's impact, instantly being broken in half. Eerie blue flames erupted from the shattered opening, instantly covering a large area, engulfing the remaining parts of the Silver Tower and the Sword of Atreus.
Immediately, the broken fragments lost their psychic power and crashed down from the sky.
"Target destroyed. This will buy us, and other Imperial forces, time. We must act quickly."
The group activated their jump packs and began to advance towards the entrance of the Aurora Facility. The underground entrance to the Aurora Facility was still tens of kilometers away from their current location. Even at their fastest speed, it would still take some time to reach it.
Half an hour later, the group arrived at an open-pit mining area. According to the data, this was the entrance to the Aurora Facility. Raising his hellgun and looking through its scope, Marcus could clearly see a large number of demons and heretics gathered together, seemingly guarding the underground entrance.
"Clear them out, then keep moving forward. Our target is underground."
With that, Titus, Chairon, and Gadriel activated their jump packs and leaped down. Marcus remained in place, adjusting his hellgun to maximum power for long-range output.
While Titus and the other two were engaged in close-quarters combat and had no time to pay attention to him, Marcus secretly opened his system panel and summoned a lictor. He then gave it an order.
"Infiltrate the cave ahead and find this guy." As he spoke, Marcus projected Leuze's image with his auspex. "Once you find him, don't engage. Just lie in wait."
The lictor's eyes scanned Leuze's image, then it quickly entered stealth mode, bypassed the fierce battle below, and sped towards the underground entrance. Neither Titus and his two companions, nor the numerous heretics and demons, managed to detect the lictor.
Watching the lictor depart in the distance, Marcus raised his hellgun and pierced the head of a shield-bearing Fiend. This was a hidden move he had prepared. To ensure he recovered the psychic disaster energy source here, he would use every power at his disposal. Even if it meant revealing his trump card of being able to summon Tyranid, he wouldn't hesitate.
After a little time, the group cleared out all the enemy forces guarding the underground entrance. Marcus jumped down from the high platform and rejoined Titus and the other two. Then, the four of them walked into the cave.
Not long after entering, a tightly closed steel door blocked their way. Looking at the door in front of him, Marcus wasn't worried that the lictor would be stopped by it. According to the faint psychic link, the lictor had already found another way to enter the cave.
"Entering quarantine zone, biological purification required." The machine spirit's voice rang out.
Marcus stepped forward and pressed the disinfection switch, and white disinfectant mist immediately sprayed from the surrounding walls, enveloping the group.
A few minutes later, the machine spirit's voice rang out again. "Microbial index has dropped to zero point zero one percent. Safe to proceed."
The door in front of the four slowly opened.