chsdbacks Chapter 15 The Formation Was Destroyed
Chapter 15 The Formation Was Destroyed
Before the two could recover from their shock, a sharp whooshing sound suddenly broke the silence.
Dozens of silver-blue streaks of light shot out from the secret passage, precisely embedding themselves in the gaps of the Thousand Warriors' power armor.
The three soldiers didn't even have time to scream before they fell straight down, their power armor as thin as paper under this tricky attack.
"Enemy attack!"
Li Wei roared, and a golden-purple psionic barrier instantly unfolded, protecting the remaining people behind him.
He looked up and saw dozens of strange creatures dressed in silver-white bone armor silently landing on the rocks on both sides of the passage.
They were slender and graceful, moving as lightly as ghosts in the forest, holding oddly shaped short guns whose muzzles gleamed with a cold, eerie blue light.
Li Wei frowned, staring intently at these uninvited guests.
They had near-perfect human features, their armor was engraved with intricate and beautiful patterns, and their bodies were surrounded by faint, pure psionic energy fluctuations.
He suspected these were the Adarin, for only they could easily defeat the Thousand Sons, and only they would be dressed so exquisitely and magnificently.
Then, the swarm of aliens slowly parted, and a female alien dressed in a moon-white robe stepped out.
She wore a sapphire-encrusted crown, held a long staff wreathed in eerie blue flames, and her pale golden eyes were filled with undisguised contempt.
"You filthy, inferior race, get out of this sanctuary immediately." Her voice was clear yet chilling. "The Soul Resurrection Array is a sacred object of our Aidaling race, not something you can lay a finger on."
"It's the Eldar." Ahriman's voice deepened, a hint of seriousness flashing in his eyes. "The former rulers of the galaxy, possessing the most ancient psionic technology. We fought against them before finding the Primarch. These elves are cunning and powerful, and they never appear in places that are not worthwhile."
He gripped the staff tightly, his voice trembling with excitement:
"Even they went so far as to cross galaxies to seize this formation... it really can resurrect the dead!"
"Ignorant." The female spirit scoffed, and with a wave of her staff, countless dark blue psionic arrows rained down like a storm.
The battle erupted instantly.
These Eldar were incredibly fast, leaping and darting nimbly between the rocky walls of the chamber, their starbursts easily piercing the weak points of their power armor.
But the Thousand Warriors' counterattack was equally fierce. Azure creature lightning and crimson fireballs raged through the passage, and Eldar were constantly hit, seriously injured and forced to retreat into the shadows.
Li Wei suddenly raised his power axe and cleaved away the Eldar raider who lunged at him, then unleashed a psionic fireball that slammed into the ground.
Boom!
The shockwave from the exploding psionic fireball, empowered by the Abyss Resonance Technique, forced the three Eldar warriors to retreat repeatedly.
His doubts, however, grew stronger and stronger.
Perfect timing.
Less than ten minutes after they discovered the formation, these spirit race members accurately located this hidden underground space.
"Aliman, protect the formation!" Li Wei suddenly shouted.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw two Spirit Race members circle around to the back of the formation, condensing blinding orbs of spiritual energy in their hands, their target terrifyingly clear.
"Don't touch it!"
Ahriman charged forward like an enraged lion, purple psionic lightning dancing wildly on his psionic staff.
His psychic powers had touched fragments of the future, so clearly they were terrifying, telling him he had to exert all his strength, or the formation would crumble instantly.
He raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of purple lightning that reduced one Elven race member to ashes. Another Elven race member also perished under his enraged attack.
But fate played a cruel trick; the sphere of spiritual energy emitted by the Spirit Race member before his death slammed into the core of the formation.
boom--!
The violent explosion engulfed the entire underground space.
The golden runes shattered inch by inch under the impact, and the originally flowing soft golden light was extinguished instantly, leaving only a patch of scorched cracks and scattered rubble on the ground.
"No……"
Ahriman's voice stopped abruptly. He stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as the last bit of golden light dissipated into the air.
The next second, he suddenly pounced on the scorched ground, frantically digging at the rubble and dust with both hands, as if trying to dig something out of the ruins.
"Mission accomplished, retreat."
The female spirit glanced coldly at the devastated Ahriman and snapped her fingers.
The remaining spirits immediately transformed into streaks of silver-blue light, disappearing into the entrance of the secret passage without a trace, leaving behind only corpses and chaos.
The underground space fell into a deathly silence.
Only the soft rustling of Ahriman's quarrying echoed through the air. He had his back to everyone, his shoulders trembling slightly, and no one could see his expression.
Li Wei walked to his side and gently patted his back: "Don't be too sad. We've already scanned most of the rune structure. We'll go back and piece it together slowly. Maybe we can restore it."
He thought Ahriman had collapsed because his hopes had been dashed, and he felt a little heavy-hearted.
Unbeknownst to him, Ahriman's hand, which had been chipping away at the rubble, suddenly paused. His fingertips swiftly picked up a piece of rubble about the size of a fingernail, engraved with runes, and silently slipped it into a hidden compartment in his power armor wrist.
"I'm fine."
After a long while, Ahriman slowly stood up and dusted himself off.
He put his helmet back on, his voice returning to its usual cold calm, as if the person who had just lost his composure was merely an illusion.
Li Wei frowned, feeling that something was amiss, but a more pressing issue immediately occupied his thoughts.
"Wait, how could these Eldar arrive so quickly?" He walked to the entrance of the passage, gazing in the direction of the dense forest where the Eldar had disappeared, and muttered to himself, "Valnum II is a remote frontier planet, not on any known shipping routes. Unless... there's a secret passage for them here."
He suddenly remembered the network system that the Aedaling often used, which spanned the entire galaxy.
The Webway is an ancient passageway that allows for jumps between galaxies, avoiding the chaotic contamination of the subspace and evading the monitoring of all conventional technologies.
Apart from the Eldar and a very few beings who know the secrets of the ancient times, no one can find these pathways hidden in the cracks of the real universe.
If there really is a Webway entrance here, it means that these Eldar can come back at any time, or even launch a surprise attack on the Thousand Sons Fleet parked on the track.
"Take the soldiers back to the castle first, take stock of the casualties, and strengthen the defenses."
Li Wei made a decision immediately. He tightened his grip on his power axe. "I'll go after them and see if I can find out how they got here. We'll never have peace on this planet until we eliminate this threat."
"Okay." Ahriman nodded, his voice sounding perfectly normal. "Be careful. If you can't win, retreat. Don't fight head-on."
Without much thought, Li Wei leaped out of the passage, transforming into a golden-purple afterimage as he chased into the depths of the dense forest.
He unleashed his full psychic senses, locking onto the faint traces of psychic energy remaining in the air, single-mindedly focused on finding the dangerous entrance to the net passage.
Ahriman watched as Levi's figure disappeared, then slowly raised his wrist.
In the shadow of his helmet, his gaze fell on the hidden compartment, his eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions—pain, longing, and a hint of desperate resolve.