After a brief glance at the map, Marcus confirmed his current location. He was currently located at the spire of an Ecclesiarchy church in the upper levels of the Central Hive. It was roughly tens of kilometers from the mission objective, the Thassean Temple.
Considering the Hive City, which was as massive as an entire continent, a distance of tens of kilometers could be considered close at hand. However, according to the battlefield situation provided by Acheran on the Severian, these tens of kilometers were precisely where the Imperial Guard and the Tyranid were engaged in fierce tug-of-war.
More importantly, Marcus had now lost contact with the Titus Squad, which meant he would have to traverse the dangerous combat zone alone. Upon realizing this, Marcus's expression turned a little grim.
While keeping watch on his surroundings, Marcus checked the equipment on his person. The only good news was that during the brief fall just now, all his equipment had been firmly bound to his body by Marcus using mind power, so there was no loss of gear.
After taking a deep breath, Marcus, now prepared, began to slowly descend the stairs. After traversing hundreds of meters of spiral staircase, adorned with carvings of the Emperor's glorious image and words of praise, Marcus arrived inside a dilapidated grand cathedral.
Inside the cathedral, the tall statue representing the Emperor was shattered and lay on the ground. The ritualistic items, such as incense and candles, originally used for worship in front of it, were also scattered haphazardly on the ground.
Holding his hellgun, Marcus cautiously surveyed his surroundings, with new psychic flying knives circling him, ready to strike at any moment. According to the markings on the map, this church was precisely on the edge of the Tyranid's occupied territory, having only recently changed hands from the Imperial Guard.
After a careful search, Marcus found no trace of the Tyranid, and his auspex also detected no biological signals.
Just as Marcus was about to push open the side door of the church and proceed along his newly planned route, a faint sound reached his ears. Marcus's superhuman hearing keenly caught the subtle noise and immediately pinpointed its source. It was coming from beneath the collapsed statue of the Emperor.
Under Marcus's control, two flying knives covertly converged on the statue from both sides. Marcus himself, meanwhile, approached the statue slowly, holding his hellgun. After slightly widening the distance and changing his angle, Marcus slowly lowered himself.
Beneath the collapsed statue, there was a closed secret door. After a moment of thought, Marcus maneuvered the psychic flying knives to silently approach the secret door, then used a knife to jam the handle of the secret door. Subsequently, with the force exerted by the psychic flying knife, the heavy steel secret door slowly opened after emitting a faint scraping sound.
After opening the secret door, Marcus did not rush forward, but remained in place for a few minutes, and seeing no movement, he prepared to move closer to observe. However, after only two steps, a laser shot out from the secret door, directly hitting the Emperor's statue above.
"Cohen! You hit the statue!"
A voice came from within the secret door.
Upon hearing the familiar Gothic language, Marcus's previously tense expression temporarily eased. "This is Lieutenant Marcus Aurelius of the Cadia Eighth, come out quickly!"
After a brief silence, just as Marcus was about to speak again, two dusty heads cautiously poked out from the secret door. Upon seeing Marcus's military uniform, the two immediately emerged from the secret door.
"Who are you?" Marcus asked, looking at the man and woman before him.
"I…" The woman was about to answer when she was interrupted by the man beside her.
"Sir, my name is Cohen, I am an acolyte of this church, and she is Katerina." The man named Cohen looked at Marcus and replied.
Looking at the two in front of him, Marcus frowned and asked, "Did the Imperial forces not evacuate the residents of this area in advance?"
Cohen patted the dust off his robe, and only then did Marcus see that he was indeed wearing an Ecclesiarchy priest's robe. "Sir, a few hours ago, Imperial forces just sent people here, and a group of filthy Xenos rushed in. We could only hide in the secret passage amidst the chaos." Saying this, Cohen pointed to the main entrance of the church. Following the direction of his finger, Marcus indeed saw signs of disarray, and several laser guns were lying on the ground.
While surprised by the good fortune of these two, who had not been discovered by the Tyranid, Marcus spoke with a look of suspicion. "Only the two of you? It's impossible for the Imperial forces to send people specifically to rescue just two individuals."
Upon hearing Marcus's question, Cohen spoke with a slight awkwardness, "Katerina's identity is a bit special…"
Marcus said with a hint of impatience, "If you don't want to say, then don't. You two stay here, I have a mission to carry out." Saying this, Marcus walked towards the side door of the church.
Marcus actually didn't care about the origins of the two in front of him, nor did he care if they were lying. As long as it didn't affect him completing his mission and rejoining Titus and the others, it was fine.
"Sir, Sir! Wait!"
Seeing Marcus about to leave, Cohen immediately rushed to Marcus's side and grabbed him.
"Let go." Saying this, Marcus raised his plasma pistol.
Cohen reluctantly let go, glanced at Katerina behind him, then whispered, "Sir, I hope you can take us back to the Imperial forces' controlled area."
Marcus stared at Cohen with a look that suggested he was looking at an idiot.
Seeing that there was no other way, Cohen could only relent: "Katerina is one of Governor Avarax's illegitimate daughters. If you can safely deliver us to the Imperial controlled zone, the Governor will surely thank you handsomely."
Marcus narrowed his eyes and looked at Cohen. "The Holy Scripture, page three, second sentence, what is its content?"
"What?" Cohen seemed not to have expected Marcus to ask that.
"Answer my question civillian!"
"Uh…"
Seeing Cohen unable to answer for a long time, Marcus sneered. "So you're not really an Ecclesiarchy priest either. You're most likely a private soldier kept by Governor Avarax, right? The Governor's illegitimate daughter couldn't possibly be associated with an Ecclesiarchy priest, no matter how you think about it. Those Imperial forces you mentioned who were supposed to meet you, they should also be the Governor's private soldiers."
Waving his hand impatiently, Marcus strode forward. "Even if your planet's Governor came personally, I wouldn't have time to deal with it. I am carrying out a mission from an Ultramarines Captain."
Cohen, whose deception had been exposed, stood rooted to the spot, still wanting to retain Marcus, but was deterred by the dark muzzle of the gun and dared not step forward.
"What will it take for you to help us?" At this moment, Katerina, who had been standing still, spoke up.
Under normal circumstances, Marcus wouldn't mind helping these two, and could even use it to establish a connection with a Planetary Governor. But now, Marcus's primary tasks were to reunite with Titus and the other two, and to proceed to the Temple of Thassean to find Morias Leuze.
"You two can continue to hide here. I will go to the Astra Militarum camp and explain your location. If the Governor you speak of truly cares about you two, then he will send his private soldiers over himself."
Marcus said, pushing open the side door of the church as he spoke, and left the church without looking back.