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"Woo... pssh, pssh..." Amid the distinctive whistle and roar of the steam train, a train that looked no different from an ordinary ore transport train departed from Tower's ore reclamation center and headed toward the miners' camp.

This was an utterly ordinary sight on Lycaeus. From sunrise to sunset, transport trains constantly traveled back and forth between the various mines and Tower's ore reclamation center.

The thick dust piled atop the weathered train had nearly solidified into hard-packed dirt. Even the oldest miners could not remember how long these ancient trains had existed.

The train slowly headed east toward the largest mine. The moment it started moving, several dark figures silently climbed aboard the train as it belched black smoke.

The dark figures said nothing as they searched forward one after another, some from the roof and some along the sides of the cars. Unlike Tower's vast grounds, all they had to do on the train was move forward to find the Heavy Howitzer. Given its size, anyone who was not blind could easily spot it.

Woo, woo, woo...

The speeding train sounded its deep whistle again, signaling that it had entered its deceleration phase.

"Found it!" A cold glint flashed across Nekser's face. When they reached the foremost car near the locomotive, they finally found the Heavy Howitzer, along with two squads of overseers.

"Kill them all!" Nekser did not have the bad habit of villains dying from talking too much. The instant he found the target, he acted. Time was not on their side. Every second sooner they moved meant one more brother behind them might survive.

As for where the weapons and equipment sufficient to arm another entire company of overseers had gone, that was not his concern.

The instant Nekser gave the order, the Shadow Kill members clinging to the cars or crouched atop them moved like ghosts, either leaping down from the roof or vaulting in through the sides.

The combat daggers and Power Claws forged from Adamantium in their hands instantly tore apart the armed overseers who were nervously adjusting the firing parameters.

"Enemy attack!"

The remaining overseers immediately shouted a warning and raised their Short-barreled Laser Guns, opening fire on the enemies who had suddenly appeared.

Though these overseers reacted quickly enough, they were still slower than the battle-hardened Shadow Kill.

"Pew..." The distinctive sound of Short-barreled Laser Guns rang out as incomparably scorching laser beams cut straight paths through the air.

The powerful Laser Guns instantly left deep scars in the thick steel train cars. The heat radiating from the places they struck even warped the air inside the cars. Had these been ordinary sheet-metal cars, the Laser Guns could have easily pierced through several layers of carriages.

But these were specialized cars built to transport iron ore. Their defining trait was durability.

The instant the brawny overseer raised his gun and fired, Nekser bent low and sprinted. The high-energy laser nearly grazed his spine, and its heat set his clothes ablaze. For a moment, he could already smell the charred stench of roasting flesh.

Crack!!!

There was not the slightest trace of pain on Nekser's face, as if the thing injured were merely a piece of rough rubber. The combat knife in his hand drove upward from below, piercing through the man's jaw and skull.

"Detonate these shells. Kill everyone else on the train!" After his teammates killed the overseers, Nekser casually issued a new order.

Though the Heavy Howitzer could inflict widespread casualties on the miners, it was of negligible use against Tower. It could not even break Tower's shield.

Tower had deployed a fortress-grade Void Shield system here.

The Void Shield was an ancient technology from the Imperium of Man. The powerful shields fitted to heavy vehicles, starships, and fortresses could divert powerful energy weapons and ultra-high-velocity solid projectiles into the Warp. There were two ways to destroy such shields.

Either overwhelm the Void Shield system with immense firepower, or use Boarding Torpedoes or other vehicles to breach inside and sever its functional cables.

The existence of Void Shield systems meant that both space naval battles and fortress sieges required an extremely long time to determine a victor. Sometimes, demons traveling through the Warp would suddenly have melta or plasma redirected into their faces by a Void Shield, earning themselves the privilege of waiting in the Warp to resurrect.

When that happened, the demons could only blame their bad luck. Though they possessed exceptional resistance to long-range firepower, that depended on the grade of weapon involved. Everything had its limits. A demon capable of withstanding bolter fire was not necessarily capable of withstanding a tank's main cannon.

"Go. Help the other brothers." Nekser left his teammates outside to assist the miners who had already begun attacking the patrolling overseers, while he himself headed once more toward Tower.

As the leader of Sandman's most powerful Shadow Kill unit, after dealing with the Heavy Howitzer that could have brought ruin upon the camp, he naturally would not miss the battle for Tower.

Time rewind

"Hey, boys, check your equipment and get ready to patrol. Stay sharp!" As the leader of this squad, Derrick once again delivered his daily reminder.

As for how much the others took it to heart, that was up to them. In any case, he felt that the atmosphere on Lycaeus had been a little off lately. As someone from the bottom ranks, he had always trusted his instincts, especially since the deaths of so many overseers could not possibly be concealed within their circles.

"Got it, boss." The other team members responded while checking their gear, some laughing and joking, others merely going through the motions.

Derrick could only say that he had warned them.

The group soon began their routine patrol according to the usual daily procedures.

"Get out, get out!" Upon reaching their destination, the group began patrolling and supervising the areas their vehicle could not enter.

Beyond their line of sight, several pairs of eyes watched in the shadows like hunters prepared for the kill, observing their prey walk into a carefully prepared trap.

As usual, the armed overseers patrolled with whips in hand. Whenever they saw miners with too little ore piled before them, they would lash out without explanation, delivering a harsh warning.

Miners whose flesh had been split open by the lashes were everywhere. As the date for the Second Dome's activation drew near, these overseers had begun reverting to their old, arrogant ways.

"What are you looking at? If you don't hand in enough ore today, I'll skin you alive!" One of Derrick's overseers viciously lashed a miner slave beside him, one who appeared stronger than any miner he had seen before. The snakeskin whip licked across flesh and sent a spray of blood flying.

The way the man looked at him made him deeply uncomfortable. There was no emotion at all in that gaze—empty, numb, like he was looking at a dead man.

But you're the ones who should be dead, the overseer thought resentfully.

The miner slave did not beg for mercy, nor did he fawn over him like the other miners and promise to complete today's quota.

The surrounding miners merely continued digging in silence. Apart from the clanging of picks, the atmosphere throughout the mine tunnel was oppressively heavy.

"Get digging, or you'll regret it!" Seeing the especially chilling looks in the miners' eyes, the overseer fiercely waved his whip despite his inward fear, cracking it through the air with sharp sonic booms.

"Beep... beep... beep-beep." Just as the overseer waved his whip to bolster his courage, an unfamiliar sound suddenly echoed through the mine tunnel.

Still confused, the overseer saw the ground drawing closer and closer, almost about to slam into his face. Only then did he realize that his head had fallen off. His consciousness then sank into darkness.

Thud... Amid the dull sound of flesh striking the ground and the blood spraying continuously from his severed neck, the overseer never understood why these slaves had suddenly acted. Were they not afraid of Tower's retaliation?

"Take their weapons. We're leaving!" An tossed aside the shovel in his hand.