Chapter 245: Star God Fragment

The Fourth Legion Warriors guarding the entrance saw countless humanoid creatures crouching on the ground.

They were in the freezing snow, wearing no clothing, their bodies covered in thick hair.

They could no longer be identified as having any human features; some had sharp claws protruding dozens of centimeters.

Others had fangs jutting out, like vicious wild beasts...

The "Gravedigger" commanding the entrance guards shouted loudly.

"Degenerate, corrupted mutants, open fire!"

The Order Shadows raised the bolters in their hands and fired a dense rain of bullets at the mutants.

Bolters roared, and the mutants were blown to pieces.

Inside the ruins, the "Psychic" reported to the Primarch.

"Father, the foolish mutants have been repelled."

"But deep within these ruins, there are still undead creatures; they broke in because the Void Shield was deactivated."

Ninglu already recalled what those were; when Ferrus Manus excavated the underground ruins, he encountered corpse-like creatures.

They were half-flesh, half-machine monsters that plundered the machines within the ruins.

He, along with Adams and Arsena, rushed quickly toward the depths of the ruins.

Machine equipment was left behind them one by one.

The Primarch would not allow the spoils of war to be taken away; he sprinted with all his might, leaving the two behind, and reached the depths of the ruins in a few breaths.

He saw dozens of bizarre creatures walking over with heavy steps.

Some had bare upper bodies, while their lower bodies resembled eight-legged spiders.

Others had drills and chainsaws mounted on their arms, their stiff, rotting heads emitting cold air.

The flesh-and-metal hybrid corpses stumbled forward, charging toward Ninglu.

The Primarch drew the Sword of Vaul and charged into the group of monsters, blue-white light flickering as he destroyed the monsters one by one.

He charged into the mountain belly and saw countless surging half-metal, half-flesh corpses.

Adams arrived second; the "Gravedigger" activated the "Death Eye" to overlook the undead monsters from a higher level.

He charged into the group of half-metal, half-flesh corpses, swinging the Charged Blade in his hand, striking the hearts of the undead creatures—that was their power core.

The Disruption Field shredded the energy hearts, and the "Gravedigger" rushed toward another undead creature, using the Charged Blade to chop off its frozen, rotting head.

Arsena Dunn arrived last; he raised his staff with his right hand, and the Fire Dragon Rune shone.

A blazing fire dragon devoured over a dozen undead creatures.

The silver-haired psychic raised his left hand again, releasing a "Huihuowoliu" to drag a Knight Mech-sized undead monster into the rift he had created.

After Ninglu and the others cleared all the half-machine, half-flesh undead monsters, he issued an order: the "Archaeologist" would lead the Techmarines to excavate the ruins and dismantle the machine equipment.

The Death Lord led the team responsible for protection; he let Arsena and Strong Brain Cat John stay behind as well, taking only Heilang Fulai Di with him to the Xenos ruins.

The mountain where the Xenos ruins were located soon appeared in Ninglu's line of sight, and he slowed his pace.

Ninglu's eyes were deep as he looked toward the mountain.

A moment later, his eyes returned to normal.

【The power inside has nothing to do with the Warp.】

His Spirit Vision range could not yet reach that mountain five kilometers away; extending his consciousness might trigger unpredictable changes.

The Primarch looked around again, seeing no lava lake or any landmarks named after Medusa in the vicinity.

【Also, if this place were conspicuous, Ferrus Manus should have discovered it long ago.】

Having found nothing, the Primarch continued forward.

Ninglu climbed this mountain; from the outside, the mountain beneath his feet had nothing peculiar about it, and it could not even be called black snow.

The Primarch still keenly sensed a trace of abnormality; the temperature of this mountain was several degrees higher than those snowless mountains.

Moreover, as he walked deeper into the mountain, the temperature rose slowly.

A drop of sweat occasionally dripped from Freddy's body.

Ninglu arrived in the depths of the mountain range; the bronze gate of the ruins was wide open, and golden parts were scattered sporadically on the black marble passage.

Some were sharp in shape, others were broken claws; they were all parts of the Golden Mechanical Eagle's body.

The Primarch stopped in front of the gate, a drop of sweat falling, and after inspecting it for a moment, he thought to himself.

【The black marble has no special energy; it is not Blackstone.】

【But there are no traces of mutants coming here; if those mad people had been here, there would definitely be traces.】

【No mutants came here simply because the temperature is high?】

As Ninglu pondered, he stepped inside.

He discovered that inside the ruins, the exposed rock layers shone with a metallic luster, just like a giant mirror.

After moving forward for about one kilometer, the passage widened, and a circular platform appeared before him.

There were many stone pedestals on the platform, but most of the Golden Mechanical Eagles placed on them had been moved away, with only one in the center remaining.

"So hot," Freddy whispered; he had only stood for a moment, and a pool of sweat had gathered beneath him.

Ninglu felt that the temperature here was nearly forty degrees.

The Primarch looked around; surrounding the platform were all rock layers with a metallic luster, as if these ruins consisted only of the circular platform, existing solely to store the Golden Mechanical Eagles.

The Primarch turned to study the circular platform beneath his feet; a few seconds later, his pupils constricted.

The Primarch discovered that many runes were branded on the platform; these runes appeared in different forms, but they had one thing in common.

Each rune was outlined in a red material that resembled silk threads.

Their forms were all related to burning flames.

There are linear and radial shapes, as if they were flames spewing from a flamethrower.

There are also torch shapes...

Ninglu is lost in thought; he gazes at the ground.

The Primarch's brain spins rapidly, deconstructing the runes one by one and committing them to memory.

After memorizing all the runes, he walks toward the center of the platform, to the only remaining Golden Mechanical Eagle.

The Golden Mechanical Eagle is nearly ten meters tall, its wings spread wide, lifelike, as if about to take flight.

The Primarch extends his right hand to touch it; the temperature is nearly one hundred degrees.

Ninglu's black eyes shine; he discovers that red runes are branded onto the Golden Mechanical Eagle.

The Primarch examines them carefully and finds that all of these runes can be found on the ground.

In his brain, all the runes on the ground and their corresponding positions immediately emerge.

The Primarch notices that the runes on the ground can outline a soaring eagle.

A flash of inspiration strikes Ninglu's mind; he examines the Mechanical Eagle before him again and, sure enough, discovers that the runes on the platform, when scaled down proportionally, correspond to the runes on the Mechanical Eagle's body.

The Primarch bends his legs slightly, leaps up, and touches the single rune on the top of the Mechanical Eagle's head with his right index finger.

He does not stop his movements, lightly tapping his index finger across the Golden Mechanical Eagle, each tap landing on a rune.

A moment later, all the runes are lit up.

The Golden Mechanical Eagle erupts with dazzling golden and fiery red light.

The platform rumbles and shakes, and the Golden Mechanical Eagle slowly flies upward.

The spot where it stood reveals a passage spiraling downward.

Ninglu looks at the passage, his thoughts wandering.

【Hmm, perhaps the technicians discovered the connection between the runes and the Golden Mechanical Eagle, which is why they didn't move it away.

It's just that, due to certain circumstances, the research was forced to stop; perhaps they were attacked by a hostile force and died.

The parts of the Garuda they replicated were taken away by the hostile force and spread to the various clans of Medusa.】

Ninglu gathers his thoughts and casts his gaze toward the passage below.

He keenly senses that as the passage opens, heat rushes toward him from below.

The passage seems to lead to the center of the earth.

Ninglu activates "Warp Insight" and then uses Spirit Vision to observe, but finds nothing.

He steps onto the black stairs and walks downward.

Ninglu observes his surroundings carefully; he finds that the diameter of the spiral staircase is becoming wider and wider.

After walking several dozen steps, a platform spreads out before him, with a Golden Mechanical Eagle about one meter tall standing in the middle.

He continues to descend, passing one platform after another, just like walking down the edge of a pyramid.

The Mechanical Eagles on the platforms become more numerous and larger.

But he never encounters the sleeping Necron he had anticipated.

Just as Ninglu steps onto the tenth level, he suddenly feels the ground beneath his feet tremble.

The Primarch keenly senses that a powerful creature is struggling below.

Beads of sweat drip from his forehead; he grips the Sword of Vaul and continues walking downward.

Ninglu follows the spiral passage into the next level.

He discovers that it is as if he has walked into a new world; with just one step, the surroundings have changed.

On the rock of the passage walls, cracks are arranged like spiderwebs, with molten flames flowing within them.

The Primarch feels threatened by the molten flow; he has no doubt that if he were not carrying the Ring and other Magical Items, and were exposed to the molten flow for a long time, his body would be carbonized.

【Carbonized!】

When this thought arises, he remembers the arm of Ferrus Manus that was carbonized after falling into magma while killing Asimos, who was suspected to be a C'tan Shard.

Ninglu feels the trembling beneath his feet become more violent; he steps forward and continues to descend.

After a few steps, he sees a Golden Mechanical Eagle.

It is several kilometers tall, with a wingspan exceeding ten kilometers.

Its body is covered in cables, and it is surrounded by dense clusters of Xenos Machines of various sizes.

The eyes of the Golden Eagle flicker with fiery red light as it looks toward Ninglu.

Ninglu meets the fiery red gaze and senses the energy of destruction within it.

He also sees a glaring, brilliant Spirituality on the Golden Eagle.

A C'tan Shard!

A flash of inspiration strikes Ninglu's mind: 【The Necron did not build the pyramid as a tomb, but to bind the C'tan Shard.

The function of those runes is to extract energy from the C'tan Shard and then transmit it upward layer by layer.】

After realizing this, Ninglu suddenly understands.

【After those Mechanical Eagles were moved away, the C'tan seal weakened, and the power of the C'tan Shard overflowed, affecting the magma lake.

The shard of the Void Dragon, the silver dragon Asimos, was suppressed inside by Ferrus Manus and could not escape.

And I have unlocked the runes of the platform's Mechanical Eagle; the C'tan Shard is about to break free!】

As he thinks this, the entire underground space shakes violently.

Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, magma erupts.

(End of chapter)