Sarekh Dynasty

"Cough, cough, that was true enough, but it probably had nothing to do with those four, right?" Mai Mai knew what Chen Xi meant, but he still felt it might just be a psychological effect.

But Chen Xi shook his head. "Even if that isn't the case, we can't let our guard down. Who knows whether something might really turn up? Once the Great Rift opened, anything could happen, couldn't it?"

"That's true. So what should we do?" Everyone present was a Warhammer fan, and they all knew a thing or two about numerology, so naturally they took the matter seriously.

After all, the Warhammer universe was a place where believing in a political system could create a Warp entity. It was better to have some faith in things like Chaos sacred numbers.

"Blow up a mining planet and turn it straight into ore." Gutierrez proposed a rather radical strategy.

"I'm afraid we can't blow it up. When we scanned the Rostov System, we found an array of Blackstone Obelisks on one of the planets, along with this..." Twilight placed a projection device on the table, then projected two symbols made up of circles and lines.

The two symbols were one large and one small. It was clear that the smaller one belonged to the larger.

"Emperor's balls! This is the Sarekh Dynasty?" Chen Xi felt as though he had hit the jackpot.

"I'm not familiar with the Necrons. Which dynasty does this emblem belong to?" Mai Mai looked at the emblem and curiously asked Chen Xi and Gutierrez.

Of the four, those two had both played Necrons and were relatively more familiar with them.

"The large one is the Sarekh Dynasty, one of the foremost great dynasties among the Necrons. If we really dug up this dynasty..." Chen Xi carefully considered his wording, but in the end he could only say helplessly, "Let me put it this way. The Necrons may consist of thousands of dynasties large and small, but they have an organization that leads all dynasties, called the Triarch Council, jointly formed by the Phaerons of three dynasties.

The three were not equals. One held a higher status than the other two and was known as the Silent King.

Throughout Necron history, the Silent King had always been the Phaeron of the Sarekh Dynasty, including the last Silent King, Szarekh—the thing that cost 420 points on the tabletop and was bigger than an Imperial Knight."

(The mutilated body hanging from the rack behind him is a Shard of the Star Gods. The Silent King's cloak is made from the skin of a Star God.)

"Doesn't that mean we're sitting on a powder keg?" After hearing Chen Xi's explanation, Twilight's scalp immediately began to tingle.

"Not quite. See that smaller emblem? It means we're dealing only with a minor dynasty subordinate to the Sarekh Dynasty. Digging up their tombs won't bring the Silent King down on us." Gutierrez reassured Twilight, but then said solemnly, "Still, we'll need to be more careful excavating Necron tombs. It would be best if we could bring in an Expeditionary Force. Otherwise, the problem could become very serious."

"Are Necrons really that dangerous? Seventeen, when you used to play Necrons, your win rate wasn't anything special!" Mai Mai did not understand and curiously asked Chen Xi.

Chen Xi merely spread his hands, indicating that Gutierrez should answer.

"The gap between tabletop combat and real combat capability is enormous. By the rules, even a Gretchin can stab an Adeptus Custodes to death, but in reality, even a Warboss would have trouble defeating an Adeptus Custodes." Gutierrez offered no further explanation. He merely told Mai Mai and Twilight, "As for how dangerous Necrons are, I'll mention just one thing. The only real setback Kai Xiaobao ever suffered in his life came when he went tomb-raiding with some reckless Adeptus Mechanicus Sage. He lost two fingers that time."

As one of the Imperium's three great chosen Commissars, Commissar Ciaphas Cain had defeated an Ork Warboss in a single battle before taking on two Chaos Space Marines. Later, he had faced Tyranid Hive Tyrants—two of them! He had even wounded them before reinforcements arrived!

His other achievements included blowing up a Daemon Princess—a female Daemon Prince—with Jurgen's help; defeating Genestealers in melee—one of them could kill two Word Bearers within seconds and severely wound a third; and matching strength with a Genestealer Patriarch, among other feats.

(Brother Yunlong was also one of the luckiest characters in all of 40K when it came to romance. His dates included a curvaceous Inquisitor, the generously endowed daughter of a Sector Governor, a stunningly beautiful female Tech-Priest, and more.)

Yet even someone as fortunate as Kai Xiaobao had suffered badly when he went poking around a Necron tomb with an Adeptus Mechanicus Sage. He sustained the most serious injury of his life and lost two fingers.

This showed that poking around Necron tombs was never a good idea.

If it was a minor dynasty, things would be manageable. They could contact the local Forge World, bring in several macroclades of Skitarii, call in a Titan Legion and Knight House, and have the Tech-priests pull out all their hidden treasures. Wiping out a minor dynasty would not be much of a problem.

But if they stumbled upon some great dynasty... even an entire Strike Group from the Indomitus Crusade might not be able to defeat a Necron Dynasty.

After all, if they could, the Imperium would not have suffered such a crushing defeat in the Nullifying Death Field.

"Looks like we need to be more cautious about tomb-raiding." Chen Xi looked at Gutierrez and asked, "Can you apply to establish a new Watch Fortress under your identity as a Forge Master?"

"I can. The identities the Emperor gave us are legitimate and officially backed. It's just..." Gutierrez seemed hesitant about the request. "Applying to build a Watch Fortress is no small matter. Even if we can get approval, it can't be built in a short time.

"By comparison, I suggest applying for a Kill Team. A Deathwatch Kill Team would provide enormous help for the situation we currently face."

The Kill Team Gutierrez referred to was not the tabletop Kill Team, but a Deathwatch formation. This was also where the term Kill Team originated.

After Roboute Guilliman broke up the Legions following the Great Heresy, Space Marines operated across the Imperium in Chapters of a thousand men. However, they usually had many responsibilities and could no longer deploy large numbers of Space Marines as they had during the Great Crusade.

Therefore, Space Marines normally carried out various missions in squads of five to ten men, and a Deathwatch Kill Team was one such mission unit.

Given the current situation, if a squad of Space Marines were deployed to Rostov II, they could indeed solve most of the problems Chen Xi and the others faced.

But considering the current situation on Rostov II, deploying a Space Marine squad would be an enormous waste.

Cruel as it sounded, until they completely woke the Necron tomb beneath their feet, Rostov II was not worth deploying Space Marines for.