This is the bonus chapter for reaching 1000 Powerstones
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Since the tunnel warfare on Cadia, Zeke had rarely dug holes.
He was a bit rusty now. If it were before, he would never have adopted this reckless "dig straight down" method.
"Your castle has already had a secret tunnel dug under it by the Tyranids. You'd better send someone to reinforce the Void Shield reactor unit. I'm going to meet this like-minded little bug."
Echoes drifted up from the hole, and Zeke quickly disappeared from view.
The first few layers were sand, which soon turned into dirt, and then into stone.
Zeke cast Invisibility on himself. Tyranids had sharp senses, so some precautions were necessary.
He zoomed out on the minimap, pinpointed the location of the red dot representing the bug, and dug towards it.
This bug's digging speed was much slower than his. It would stop every so often, likely trying to determine direction.
Zeke saw that behind the red dot, several more red dots had popped up in the tunnel excavated by the bug. It seemed to be bringing the whole family along.
Mining Rule #1:
Don't go mining without a pickaxe of sufficient level, to prevent encountering ore you can't mine.
Zeke took out a stack of Obsidian and began setting up on the path this little bug had to take.
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The Lictor was digging.
Unlike the mass-produced Hormagaunts and Tyranid Warriors, the Lictor was high-end goods. It was unique.
After a Lictor died, its consciousness would be reclaimed by the Hive Mind, then iterated and sent into a new body, becoming even more perfect.
So what was terrifying about a Lictor wasn't its physical body, but the intelligent consciousness hidden behind it.
Whenever a target that couldn't be conquered for a long time appeared, they would show up on the battlefield, seeking ways to shorten the war.
For the past few days, the Lictor had been gathering intelligence on the environment around the Arx Angelicum.
Its brain acted as a specialized node, collecting sensory data from over a million other organisms, and finally discovered an anomaly beneath the sand.
It was a tunnel equipped with fuel lines extending from the base of the Angel's Fortress.
This tunnel had collapsed, and even the Blood Angels had forgotten it. The Lictor seized upon this weakness.
Because of the collapse, the rock wasn't very hard, and the Lictor's claws cut through it relatively easily.
At its current speed, it would reach the underside of the Void Shield generator in another three hours.
When that time came, it only needed to release the bio-acid within its body to cause the Void Shield to completely collapse within thirty seconds.
The defenses of the Arx Angelicum would disintegrate in an instant, and the swarm would tear everything apart.
Perfect.
Its foreclaws dug through the rubble, and just as it was about to move forward...
A harsh clang rang out. Intense pain shot through the Lictor's claws. The tips of its first pair of scything talons—claws that could leave scratches on metal—snapped.
It looked down at the spot it was digging.
A pitch-black block was embedded in the rock layer. The surface of the block had a peculiar texture.
What material is this? The Lictor's memory banks began to search.
It had devoured countless planets and absorbed countless types of minerals and metals, but it had never seen this thing before.
The hardness exceeded its ability to dig. The Lictor issued a command to the Genestealers behind it to stop.
If I can't dig through it, can't I go around it? The Lictor decided to bypass it. It turned to the right and dug again.
Clang. Another block of Obsidian.
The Lictor's compound eyes began to flicker, and its six legs shifted uneasily.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
The Lictor began to dig around in a circle, discovering that it was blocked by this unknown black stone above, to the left, to the right, and in front.
Unable to dig forward anymore, the Lictor grew anxious.
The Lictor had already notified the Hive Mind in advance of the time it would bring down the Void Shield.
The swarm would seize the opportunity to launch an all-out attack on the Great Angel's Fortress. Once this opportunity was missed, it wouldn't be easily found again.
The Lictor quickly sought a way out. This time, it aimed beneath its feet.
Zeke, under the cloak of invisibility, quietly dug a tunnel from behind this pile of bugs, sneaked over, and hung on the rock wall above.
Watching the Lictor's actions, he gave it a failing grade. Mining Rule #2: Never dig straight down!
The Lictor dug downward. One claw, two claws.
There's hope. After digging about two claws deep, it didn't encounter that black stone again.
Joyful pulses erupted in the Lictor's insect brain. It turned back and hissed orders at the Genestealers in the tunnel:
Follow. Once I break through, follow immediately.
Like a beast eager to burrow, it frantically shoveled dirt and gravel behind it, its massive body sinking rapidly.
As it dug, the Lictor paused. The sensation was a bit off; the type of stone had changed too.
It was no longer the metamorphic rock mixed with slag native to Baal, but a smooth, block-shaped stone material.
Before the Lictor's brain could process this question, its claws were one step ahead, digging through the final layer of stone.
Scorching wind surged up from below. Gloop, gloop, gloop.
The sound of bubbling. The Lictor's instincts were already screaming. Below was a searing lake of lava.
Not too big, not too small, perfectly square. A gift Zeke had rushed to prepare with a blueprint, personally for this bug.
By sealing off all directions except downwards, the Lictor would panic and dig down indiscriminately, falling right into Zeke's trap.
Zeke had thought his plan wouldn't go so smoothly and had prepared backup plans long ago. He didn't expect this Lictor to be so cooperative.
The Lictor fell downward, the tip of its tail accidentally dipping into the lava.
Stinging pain shot up its tailbone to its brainstem, and the Lictor's entire body convulsed.
It was, after all, an elite infiltration unit of the Tyranids. Its physical and neural reaction speeds far exceeded those of ordinary creatures.
Before falling completely, its forelimbs armed with sharp hooks latched onto the edge of the rock wall, avoiding the fate of falling in.
It hung at the edge of the hole. Below was a boiling orange-red lava lake; above was the tunnel it had just dug.
The Lictor raised its head. Above the tunnel, the Genestealers were poking their heads out, emitting anxious hisses.
The Lictor followed their gaze to the roof of the tunnel. There was nothing there, but its Tyranid instincts told it that something was definitely there.
"Was I too close? Did you see through the invisibility?" A nonchalant voice came.
The Lictor and the Genestealers locked onto that direction simultaneously. A black anvil appeared in the previously empty space.
The anvil Zeke dropped pierced the air, smashing toward the Lictor below, vowing to pound it into the sea of lava.
Is one anvil enough? A question arose in Zeke's mind. Just to be safe, he separated a Holy Arrow from his inventory and drew his wooden bow.
The future would tell him the answer.
Zeke drew the Holy Arrow, and the phantom of the Angel emerged behind him once more.
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Next Goal = 1400