"Humans are approaching. They have unleashed their eyes—primitive, backward unmanned machines. We abandoned such things tens of millions of years ago."
"Humans are walking our old path."
Within the shadowy forest, an Aeldari Ranger clad in a stealth cloak hid perfectly among the vegetation. He held a massive long rifle, its scope trained on the advancing Space Marines.
His keen senses quickly detected the tiny objects flitting through the trees. Though their engines operated at the lowest possible volume, the noise still could not escape the specially sharpened ears of the Aeldari.
As a reconnaissance drone swept past, the Ranger drew his cloak over himself. Its powerful camouflage effect immediately evaded the drone's scan.
The Ranger held his breath. His powerful biological lungs could sustain breath-holding for hours, while under the control of his will, even his heartbeat slowed to its limit. Then his slender finger slowly pulled the trigger of his long rifle.
Ranger long rifles were weapons cultivated through psychic growth. Their firing crystals granted them greater range and more formidable killing power.
In his sight, the heavily armored human warriors advanced in loose formations of three. They moved cautiously; even a Ranger would find it difficult to seize an opportunity to kill all of them at once.
But he was not the only Ranger in this dense forest. The Rangers who had voluntarily followed Illic Nightspear had set their ambush here.
At a single command, several nearly imperceptible psychic laser beams tore through the dark forest and struck the nearest squad of cobalt-blue Space Marines at light speed.
Unlike human lasguns, Ranger rifles fired a tiny needle from their barrels, the needle suspended within a laser beam. Their accuracy far surpassed Imperial laser weapons, and their beams were far more concentrated.
The Space Marines only felt their