Chapter 947 Deep Corruption
The heat exchange device in the mine makes the air inside hot and humid, and from time to time there will be a gust of wind blowing, like the breath of a hungry giant beast.
Red emergency lighting dyed the passageway crimson, outlining billowing clouds of steam, and overhead pipes and ductwork glistened with droplets of condensed water.
Bahram also smelled the bitter smell of metal corrosion and freshly splattered blood.
“I thought the heat exchanger had stopped working, but it clearly didn’t.”
Sabourin said as he pulled his auspicious device from his belt and tested it.
The screen flashed for a moment, and then filled with a series of data. He tried several different detection modes, then shook his head in disgust and put the instrument away.
“Nothing is showing, or at least no meaningful results, there is a lot of interference nearby.”
“Somewhere.”
Li Lin agreed.
"Who knows where, this instrument is working sometimes and not working. I think our company needs a technical sergeant."
"Stay alert and watch for possible ambush."
Bahram He briefly interjected, unwilling to let this series of speculations continue. During this process, Talos remained silent.
After a while, the team formed a rough pentagonal formation, with 2 warriors in each direction, and Talos stood at the center of the team.
This is a solid formation, suitable for dealing with close range attacks from any direction.
After making sure that all the warriors were in place, Talos waved the team forward, while Bahram and Sabrin walked at the front of the team.
According to the map obtained from the Thinker Array, the team passed through the winding corridor surrounding the bottom of the thermal tower and headed straight to the key area.
Visibility was very limited along the way, and even the Astartes were hindered. The fog and dim red light created illusory movement trajectories and blurred vision, blurring the field of vision for more than two meters.
Bahram suspected that they had gone far.
As they went deeper into the mine, the terrible heat wave and the stench of decay became stronger and stronger, and the air became more and more hostile to these outsiders, becoming more and more concentrated on them.
Bahram could feel the weight pressing down on him, like a suffocating cloud poking its way through his armor.
Despite the unbearable heat, a layer of black frost condensed on the hilt of his sword.
There are four elevators that can enter the mine, but in Bahram's view, they are more like deadly traps.
If the enemy uses explosive weapons, anything can destroy the team in such a small space.
Talos apparently thought so too, so the team gave up on using the elevator and began descending on foot from one of the four long stairs.
The stairs do not transform on their own like most buildings, instead they spiral down in a long arc.
There is a filthy atmosphere in the air, which becomes stronger with every step.
Bahram focused on putting one foot in front of the other, recalling the maze of steps that snaked through the monastery fortress.
As he walked, he recalled the past: joining the battle group, and being plunged into darkness for a long time due to transformation.
The memory is vague, only half appears, like a scene in a dream.
Suddenly, Bahram felt a faint sensation rolling on the back of his head, and finally he had to push these thoughts away.
What is even more worrying is that cracks are beginning to appear in the exterior walls of the stairwell, and these cracks are getting deeper underground.
Something, like black tree roots, forced its way through the soil, spreading to the inner surface of the curved wall, sprinkling black, unpleasant-smelling soil onto the stairs. Red light illuminated the bodies of insects squirming among the tree roots, and as the Astartes passed, each ghostly spider as big as a hand crawled out of its lair, waving its long legs to Show challenge.
When they reached the lowest floor, the stairs turned into a pitted tunnel, crawling with chattering life.
Strange, misshapen insects, bloated and filthy, squirmed in a dense network of decaying root matter.
There's even a long, segmented millipede, almost as long as Bahram's forearm, that unfurls like a spring from the crook of the root ball and jumps onto his shoulder, needle-like The stinger stabbed at the armored steel plate crazily.
Astartes swept the filthy thing away with his hands, pressing it beneath his boots.
Nonetheless, the team pressed on, through ever-narrowing tunnels, until Bahram began to think they would be forced to use their chainswords to clear their way.
Finally, Talos ordered the team to stop.
The air was suffocating, filled with the smell of heat and putrefaction, and the red emergency lights had long been extinguished.
Vaguely, Bahram could feel a blur of green light passing over Talos's shoulder.
“We have reached the bottom of this layer of mining area.”
Taros arrived calmly, and then looked at the swarm of insects that kept rustling above his head.
“What’s next, sir?”
"Go forward."
Sabrin nodded and walked into the darkness without hesitation, Bahram followed, and the rest of the team were holding weapons in preparation.
Heavy feet stepped on the thick gravel, vines like cables stretched across the floor of the stairwell, and bursts of stinking air whizzed past everyone's helmets, surrounding the soldiers' heads. The cacophony of insects swelled into a frantic life.
They walked forward for more than a hundred meters along a corridor with a low ceiling, passing many intersecting corridors along the way.
In the aisle, the clinging plants showing no signs of diminishing, Bahram realized that the pale green light came from a group of swollen larvae clinging tightly to the twisted tree roots.
Uneasy movement echoed around them, seeming to grow louder as time passed.
At one point Bahram heard the clicking of claws behind a string of pipes half-hidden in a web of vines that ran along one of the walls, but he could not see the creature making the sound. .
"How far away?"
A soldier suddenly spoke, his voice a little nervous. The constant screams and rustling made the whole team of recruits nervous.
They haven't really come into contact with the devil yet.
"More than fifty-"
As soon as Sabourin spoke, the air was suddenly filled with terrible screams, and something with armor erupted from the plants around them.
A segmented monster emerged from the thick network of pipes overhead and descended to attack the Astartes.
It is as agile as a tree viper, has hundreds of chitin-wrapped legs, and has half a dozen compound eyes embedded in its broad head.
In an instant, it wrapped around Sablin's body, lifting the giant warrior off the ground and biting the back of his helmet with its curved jaws.
Pistols and chainswords roared in the tight space as the team was surrounded from all sides, and Sabourin writhed in the monster's clutches, slashing at its body with his fighting dagger.
In the chaos, Bahram blasted the monster's head open with a single shot from his bolt pistol, freeing Sabourin.
(End of this chapter)