Nimrod, Who Had Aged a Thousand Years, Felt Weakness and Pain for the First Time

879.M30.

In the underground center of Craven, by the Primarch's order, the Third Legion took over the battle lines of three other Legions and assumed responsibility for the assault on the archive.

The Primarch hoped to obtain the Hrud's data as intact as possible.

Oleksandr, the First Company Captain who had just become a "Requiemist," advanced through the tunnel.

In the darkness, the "Requiemist" surpassed the perception of the Shadow of Order and the aid of his armor. He could see everything, and could even catch sight of the warped, distorted Hrud.

Oleksandr looked around. The tunnel walls were uneven, but their surfaces were as smooth as glass.

A Termite Drill couldn't dig a tunnel like this.

As the thought flashed through the "Requiemist's" mind, he suddenly felt a suffocating heat surge through the tunnel.

He knew the Hrud had come. Time walked ahead of them.

Their influence tore at the very structure of spacetime, and the strange accelerated motion surrounding them altered the composition of the atmosphere, making it heavy.

The speed of light exceeded its natural limit, and the hues subtly shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum.

The "Requiemist's" eyes turned completely black. He raised his Plasma Flintlock, and the Hrud swinging twin lightswords came to a halt at the same time.

The members of the Honor Guard beside him raised their Archaeotech Pistols, and beams of energy gathered from stars lanced into the Hrud who had been forcibly dragged into the dream.

The darkness in the "Requiemist's" eyes receded, and Oleksandr continued forward, passing through one secret chamber and corridor after another.

There were no doors in Hrud buildings. Every corridor and every secret chamber connected to the next.

Oleksandr followed the raised path toward a large room.

A group of Hrud had just surged