"Isn't this thing pretty easy to deal with?" Korax was likewise crouched atop a steel beam. An invisible Shadow Barrier isolated him and Sandman in a separate space, where they could speak freely without using sign language.
"It's certainly not hard for us to deal with, but it's a problem for everyone else. One burst from a Cluster Laser Gun, and it'll be a bloody mess," Sandman said.
"I'll deal with the pilots driving those Sentinel Mechs." Korax did not say anything more. Clearly, he knew that compared to ordinary people, his level of absurdity was beyond comparison.
Well, the capable ones had to do more work.
"Wait, let me try." Sandman grabbed the Primarch, who was just about to dash out and finish off the Sentinel Mech pilots, and pulled him back.
"Huh? How are you planning to deal with them?" Korax asked in confusion.
In his view, the easiest method was naturally to kill the pilots of those mechs.
"Don't you think using these Sentinel Mechs against their own side would be a very cost-effective move? It's much more efficient than killing them one by one," Sandman said to Korax.
The two of them were powerful, but they still had to kill people one at a time. There were so many people in the Tower, and they were not pigs that could not run. Even if there were fifty thousand pigs, it would still take a long time to catch them all.
But now things were different. As long as these bipedal war machines fired a burst from their Cluster Laser Guns, or a single shot from their Laser Cannons, no matter how many pigs there were, they would all die.
Even the bulletproof vests worn by Kiavahr's regular troops could not withstand attacks from weapons of this caliber.
"Machine Spirit, punish these sinners who have defiled the glory of the Omnissiah!" Sandman stepped out from the Shadow Barrier, raised both hands, and chanted a prayer he had made up on the spot.
Three black beams shot from Sandman's hands toward the mechs that were gradually moving farther away.
Inside the Sentinel Mechs, the previously calm Machine Spirits suddenly became enraged. The machines began shaking wildly, trying to fling their pilots from their frames.
"Damn it, did those technicians skip the prayer ritual to soothe the Machine Spirit?" The pilot equipped with a Sentinel Chainsword cursed in panic as he tried to shut down the mech's entire operating system.
Machine Spirits were a unique phenomenon within the Imperium of Man. They could be understood as a form of mechanical essence, or as the operating systems of weapons that possessed a certain degree of self-awareness. Not only large warships and Main Battle Tanks, but even loyal Bolters had their own Machine Spirits.
When a Machine Spirit was pleased, ammunition seemed inexhaustible. When it was displeased, jams and malfunctions were common.
"Ah..." Unable to shake the pilots off, the Machine Spirits took matters into their own hands. Amid flashes of electricity, the three pilots patrolling in their Sentinel Mechs immediately let out incomparably miserable screams. In the blinding white light, Korax vaguely saw the shapes of human skeletons.
He could even sense the Machine Spirits growing increasingly violent, as though every additional second those pilots remained inside the machines was a desecration of themselves.
"Kill all those sinners who have defiled the glory of the Omnissiah!" With a leap, Sandman pulled the pilots' corpses from the cockpits and tossed them out, then affectionately stroked the Sentinel Mechs' frames.
"Mmm... ah..."
Korax wore an expression as though he had seen a ghost. He vaguely heard the Machine Spirits moaning under Sandman's touch...
"Boss, this is way too outrageous. How come I never knew you had this ability before?" Korax asked as he watched the Sentinel Mechs happily charge forward to slaughter their enemies.
"Which device in our camp has a Machine Spirit?" Sandman asked in return.
In the era of 30k, Machine Spirits had not yet reached the deranged extent of 40k, where even Bolters needed incense. Only certain warships and vehicles possessed Machine Spirits.
(Strictly speaking, Machine Spirits should not have been capable of acting entirely on their own. However, records showed that once they reached a certain age, they could indeed do so. The most famous example was the Castellan Robots, which operated independently before reaching the battlefield, allowed Tech-Priests to control them once they entered it, but severed that control as soon as the battle ended.)
Machine Spirits themselves also grew stronger with the passage of time. The most famous Machine Spirit in Warhammer was that of the Gloriana-class battleship Glory of Macragge, belonging to the Thirteenth Primarch.
After Guilliman awakened, Huron of the Red Corsairs captured that glorious warship during Guilliman's journey to Terra. When Huron tried to corrupt it, the Dark Mechanicum informed him that corrupting its Machine Spirit would take at least ten thousand years. Huron promptly "returned" it to Guilliman.
"Alright, I was indeed overthinking it." Korax considered the miners' miserable living conditions. They did not even have decent machinery, much less anything capable of giving birth to a Machine Spirit.
Machine Spirits required routine maintenance from the Mechanicus. Incense, sacred oil, prayers—after an entire process, there was still no guarantee they could be soothed. Sometimes, if they were not properly appeased, they simply would not go to war with you.
Take the Titans of the Machine God, for example. Without a Machine Spirit's approval, the pilot could not even board the Titan. Machine Spirits had both advantages and disadvantages.
"Let's go. The breach is open. You need to go up and meet the Lord of the High Tower." After speaking to Korax, Sandman headed in another direction.
The Lord of the High Tower would naturally be left to Korax. Sandman had more important matters to attend to, as they had discussed beforehand.
Sandman's target was the Gravity Well.
After ore was mined on Lycaeus, it was transported by ship to the region containing the Gravity Well, then accelerated through it and sent directly to the Smelting Factories on Kiavahr.
The Smelting Factories smelted standardized metal ingots with various material ratios according to the needs of the different Forge Factories, continuously supplying other factories for production.
There was a major loophole on Kiavahr: the ore transport ships from Lycaeus possessed extremely high clearance. The identification codes inside these transport ships allowed them to travel back and forth between Lycaeus and Kiavahr at ultra-high speeds without being intercepted by the air defense systems.
To be honest, this loophole was not considered much of a problem, because Lycaeus had always been under Kiavahr's control. What could a mere group of miner slaves possibly do—rebel against the heavens?
Even now, news of Lycaeus's rebellion had not reached Kiavahr. The Lord of the High Tower had controlled all information.
"Nekser, take some men and bring the Mining Nukes from the arsenal to the Gravity Well." Sandman issued a new order to Nekser through the communicator.
A breach had already appeared in the middle-level Defense Node area, so Shadow Kill could spare forces to carry out other tasks.
They did not need to paralyze every defensive position.
Before you continue