Chapter 482: Breach
Above Junktown, the smoke and dust torn apart by the orbital strike had yet to disperse before a denser howling pierced through the murky canopy.
Dozens of drop pods, resembling black meteorites trailing plasma wakes, forcibly penetrated the thin atmosphere at a near-vertical angle, smashing precisely into pre-calculated open areas and near critical nodes within the town.
The moment these drop pods impacted the surface, their cushioning devices emitted muffled bangs, and the exterior armor plating of the pods rapidly sprang open under hydraulic pressure.
The first to step out of the hatches were the Skitarii soldiers.
Clad in standard dark red armor and wielding galvanic rifles or arc weapons, the optical sensors behind their masks flickered with a cold red light.
Closely following were the more massive Legio Cybernetica automata—Thallax cohorts leapt out with agile postures, the weapons in their hands rapidly spinning up; Castellax-class automata marched out with heavy steps, the heavy weapons they carried beginning to lock onto any targets displaying hostility the moment they appeared.
They encountered almost no organized, effective resistance.
The paralysis of the external defenses and the internal chaos triggered by the exploding energy nodes had reduced the organizational cohesion of the House guards to its lowest point.
Sporadic lasgun fire shot out from behind cover, leaving only faint scorch marks on the Skitarii armor or bouncing off the armor plating of the automata.
Answering these attacks was an even more furious barrage of firepower.
Charged particle beams fired from galvanic rifles carbonized the guards behind cover along with the cover itself; the hail of fire unleashed by rotor cannons tore apart squads attempting to rally; the searing jets of melta guns melted sturdy alloy fortifications into boiling metallic slurry.
The Skitarii and automata rapidly formed up into standard assault wedge formations.
The automata acted as mobile fortresses and pillars of firepower at the vanguard, their thick armor withstanding the majority of the attacks while using overwhelming firepower to clear obstacles ahead.
The Skitarii soldiers followed closely behind, precisely picking off enemies attempting to approach from the flanks, and using specialized equipment to breach sealed corridors or reinforced blast doors.
Their advance route precisely followed the path Ryo had mapped out using Elias's intelligence, bypassing potential traps and heavily fortified zones, driving straight into the primary underground entrance located at the bottom of the massive bow wreckage in the center of the town.
The entire advance was efficient and ruthless, like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Although the resistance of the House guards was heroic, having lost unified command and energy support, and caught in the chaos of being attacked from both within and without, their efforts appeared futile and scattered.
Leaving a path of broken corpses, melted equipment, and burning wreckage in the streets, the assault forces closed in on their target at a steady pace.
Meanwhile, deep within the complex corridor network of the underground facilities, Ryo's massive mechanical body was leading an elite detachment composed of two Thanatar-class automata and four Castellax-class automata equipped with heavy melee weapons, surging forward.
This squad pierced through Junktown's final defensive line like a chisel.
The route they chose was not a main artery, but a maintenance corridor shortcut marked on Elias's blueprints. This passage directly bypassed several defensive nodes still putting up stubborn resistance.
Heavy blast doors were torn apart like paper under the phase claws of the Thanatar automata or the hydraulic heavy fists of the Castellax.
The elite House guards attempting to use the narrow corridors to mount a defense were often headshot by Ryo's precise bursts the moment they exposed themselves, or completely swallowed by the automata's heavy firepower.
The air was thick with a mixed scent of ozone, cordite, and blood.
The corridor's lighting systems flickered on and off due to the previous overloads and ongoing combat. Beneath the strobing lights, only the hum of operating machinery, the explosive roar of firing weapons, and the brief wails of the dying composed a symphony of destruction.
Finally, they reached the end of the corridor—an alloy blast door far thicker than any they had encountered before, its surface carved with complex House heraldry and ancient warning runes.
This was the final barrier to the STC Core Sanctum.
A relatively open area in front of the door became the final battlefield.
The leader of the House, Patriarch Van Saar III, stood before the door clad in a suit of ancient power armor that had clearly undergone meticulous modification, pulsing with ghostly blue energy veins.
He was surrounded by his final eight, most loyal personal guards. These guards were equally well-equipped, their eyes bearing the madness of a desperate last stand.
Relying on makeshift barricades hastily constructed on both sides of the door, they formed the final line of defense.
"Desecrators!" Van Saar III's voice boomed through his helmet's speakers, carrying anger suppressed to its absolute limit and a trace of imperceptible despair. "Do not even think about laying your hands on the Ancestral Heritage!"
Almost at the same time his words fell, the mechanical tentacles on Ryo's back had already risen, the mounted Arc Scourge emitter instantly fully charged.
He had no interest in responding to such nonsense. A devastating arc energy beam pounced toward the enemy position like a twisting giant python.
The personal guards fired back with all their might. Las-beams and bolter rounds struck the armor of the vanguard Thanatar automata, showering dense sparks, yet failing to destroy them instantly.
Two Castellax automata cut in from the flanks with an agility unbefitting their size. Their phase claws tore through the air, easily slicing the personal guards attempting to block them into pieces, armor and all.
The battle entered a white-hot state in an instant.
Witnessing his personal guards rapidly dwindling under absolute firepower superiority, a flash of madness crossed Van Saar III's eyes.
He abruptly stepped back half a pace. The armor plating on the right arm of his power armor slid open, revealing a hidden control interface underneath. His finger moved rapidly to press a crimson button—the final command to activate the Final Oath, overloading the STC core and all energy nodes!
However, just as his fingertip was about to touch the button, the confirmation runes on the control interface screen suddenly exhibited violent jittering and gibberish. The execution progress bar fell into a bizarre standstill right before reaching the end.
The miniature jammer Elias had installed at Central Control Sub-station B-12 was currently operating at its maximum output, stubbornly interfering with the transmission and confirmation protocol of this final command.
This fatal delay lasted for less than two seconds.
But for Ryo, it was enough.
In the split second that Van Saar III showed shock due to the command failing to execute immediately, Ryo's massive body had already erupted with a blistering speed unbefitting his size.
His heavy mechanical feet crushed the floor, and the hydraulic systems on his back let out a low roar, instantly closing the distance of less than twenty meters between them.
Van Saar III was also a veteran of a hundred battles and reacted extremely fast. He immediately abandoned the initiation of the self-destruct and raised his arm-mounted plasma cannon to fire.
But Ryo's movements were faster. An auxiliary mechanical arm precisely parried the raised cannon muzzle, while the Omnissian Axe held in his main arm, humming with its power field, had already cleaved a deadly arc of light.
The blade of the axe bit precisely into the armor seam at the neck of Van Saar III's power armor.
The built-in disruption field collided violently with the ancient alloy, emitting a deafening tearing sound.
The massive kinetic energy and power field instantly destroyed the motive transmission and life support systems below the neck.
Van Saar III's body suddenly stiffened. The raised plasma cannon slumped powerlessly, and the light in his helmet's eyepieces rapidly dimmed.
Ryo wrenched out the power axe, and Van Saar III's corpse fell heavily to the ground, emitting a muffled thud.
The remaining personal guards were simultaneously wiped out completely by the Thanatar and Castellax automata.
The corridor briefly returned to silence, leaving only the soft hum of the automata's servo systems and the faint sound of distant explosions.
Ryo's gaze passed over the corpse on the floor, landing on that tightly shut alloy blast door carved with the House heraldry.
The STC system was right behind the door.
He raised a mechanical tentacle, signaling the accompanying Tech-Priests to step forward and begin bypassing this final barrier.
(End of Chapter)