"Facility has been emergency sealed. Please provide Archmagos level or higher access code to open the facility."
As soon as everyone arrived at the steel door of the facility, a mechanical voice emanated from the loudspeaker above.
"It's the machine spirit of this facility."
Evidently, no one had a Archmagos level access code. The deceased Archmagos, was already the highest-ranking Adeptus Mechanicus figure in the Recidious Star System.
"We need explosives," Gadriel said quickly.
Chairon shook his head. "Even a melta bomb won't be able to break through an alloy door dozens of meters thick. We need to find another way in."
Marcus checked the map on his auspex. "The ventilation tunnel on the floor below should still be unsealed. We can go in through there." As he spoke, he marked the route.
Everyone immediately took action, heading down a side path nearby. They walked forward along the planned route, stepping over the Tyranid corpses covering the ground. Soon, a massive ventilation tunnel appeared before them. The gigantic fans within were still slowly operating. After passing through the ventilation tunnel, everyone successfully entered the facility.
Walking through the dark corridor, Gadriel, from within the team, proactively brought up the death of Nozick. "Nozick's thunderhawk had blood writing on it: Imurah."
Chairon immediately stopped Gadriel's words. "Don't speak that name, brother. The words of the Chaos Gods contain dangerous power." As a Cadian who had personally witnessed the Word Bearers Legion perform a Chaos ritual on his homeworld ten thousand years ago, Chairon deeply understood the dangers of Chaos.
"We shouldn't ignore any possible clues." Gadriel did not stop.
Titus, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "Have you ever faced the Chaos Gods, Sergeant?"
"Fortunately, no."
"Then you'd best heed our brother's advice," Titus said in a deep voice.
Gadriel looked at Titus. "If the Chaos Gods are involved, will we encounter them here?"
Chairon took over: "I hope to meet them, and then have a good 'talk' with them using the flamer in my hand."
"Just thinking about them fills me with rage," Gadriel also said.
Titus reminded them: "Calm down. The Chaos traitors are just waiting for you to lose your heads. Don't let them use you."
Originally, these topics should not have been discussed in front of Marcus, an "outsider." But after Kadaku and the recent battle, the three of them—Titus, Chairon, and Gadriel—had already come to view Marcus as a combat brother they could temporarily trust, so they did not hide anything. Marcus also knew that he had now somewhat integrated into Titus Squad. He felt like an Astertes 'squire'.
After continuing to advance for a distance in the dark facility, everyone jumped down from a broken floor section and arrived in front of a closed door, behind which lay a large pile of Tyranid corpses. After opening the door through identity verification, everyone slowly entered with their weapons raised in an alert stance.
According to the map on the auspex, they were still some distance away from the Cogitator system storing Morias Leuze. Moreover, there was no direct route, so they had to pass through the dark, Tyranid-infested facility to reach their target location.
Everyone moved quickly yet quietly, listening to the low growls of the Tyranid echoing throughout the facility. For some reason, these Tyranid were not gathered together at this time, nor were they swarming towards the group. Perhaps they hadn't discovered their prey, or perhaps they were brewing some conspiracy… The faint sense of threat emanating from his "Combat Instinct" constantly reminded Marcus of the dangers around him.
After advancing for another distance, everyone discovered an energy supply room not far behind a group of dead Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii. According to the map's guidance, they needed to pass through this energy supply room.
Upon entering the room, Marcus stepped forward and pressed the activation switch for another door within the room. Unfortunately, the door did not respond.
"Try restarting the power."
With that, Chairon restarted the entire room's power system. Immediately after, the reactor in the center of the room, which had been emitting a blue light, instantly erupted in a burst of violent sparks before ceasing operation. As the room plunged into darkness, the sounds of Tyranid running and roaring immediately echoed from the broken walls around them.
Everyone immediately raised their weapons, ready for battle. Although the room was pitch black at this moment, Astartes themselves possess excellent night vision capabilities. As for Marcus, although he did not inherently have night vision, the full carapace armor helmet he wore also provided a certain degree of night vision.
The four of them could clearly see Tyranid continuously pouring into the room from gaps in the walls on all sides.
"Use melee. Be careful not to attack the reactor." Titus said in a deep voice as he charged towards the surging Tyranid with his chainsword. Since ranged attacks had a high probability of damaging the reactor array in the center of the room, everyone could only choose to engage with melee weapons at this time.
In the pitch-black room, chainswords roared continuously, crushing the bodies of the Tyranid under the Astartes' inhuman brute force. In a short while, a large number of Tyranid corpses had accumulated in the room. Even the reactor core in the center of the room was splattered with a large amount of foul-smelling Tyranid ichor.
Marcus also participated in this close-quarters, intense slaughter. Close-quarters combat is a major feature of the Warhammer Universe, an unavoidable part to experience. After activating the human-grade chainsword in his hand, Marcus also charged towards the Tyranid in front of him. Even with dozens of kilograms of armor and equipment on his body, Marcus's flexibility and strength were not affected in the slightest.
A Hormagaunt that lunged at Marcus was instantly slowed down by Marcus's mind power, then he brutally swung his chainsword at the Hormagaunt's neck. Accompanied by the roar and smoke emanating from the chainsword in Marcus's hand, under nearly a ton of brute force, the rapidly spinning teeth on the chainsword easily tore through the Hormagaunt's carapace, tough skin, and muscles, until finally, it severed the latter's head.
The former Marcus still needed to constantly dodge and attack weak points to kill a Hormagaunt. But now, with just brute force and the chainsword in his hand, Marcus could easily kill a Hormagaunt as if crushing an ant.
Just as Marcus had slaughtered dozens more Hormagaunt with his chainsword, a Tyranid Warrior, wielding bone blades, roared towards the sky upon seeing this, then rapidly charged towards Marcus, poised to strike.