Dominic suddenly looked up, gazing at the area beneath the dragon-shaped statue.
The four-armed figure that had been sitting still had opened its eyes at some point.
His pupils were deep blue, like a frozen deep sea, calmly watching Dominic and the other two.
From the moment they pushed open the ice door, that gaze had been fixed on them, observing them silently for a long time.
Divine Messenger, Part Four.
One of the ten divine messengers under the Dragon of Frost Throne, and also one of the earliest commanders of the Frost Soldier.
He had already stood up, his nearly three-meter-tall frame exuding an intense sense of oppression. His four arms hung naturally at his sides, his fingers gleaming with a faint, icy-blue aura.
The believers who rushed forward immediately stopped and respectfully stepped aside, leaving a path for them.
"I'm still wondering who dares to trespass on the Dragon God's slumbering place."
The divine messenger, Si, spoke in a low, hoarse voice, his gaze sweeping over Cassandra and Dominic before finally settling on him, accurately locking onto the target under optical cloaking.
"People of the Imperium... or Blanks, no wonder they managed to get this far."
Dominic gripped his pistol tightly, his heart pounding, but he forced himself to remain calm.
"What are you? And what is Dragon of Frost?"
The divine messenger, Si, did not answer his question, but merely tilted his head slightly, as if sensing something.
A moment later, a look of understanding flashed in his blue eyes.
"The connection with the matriarch is broken; the will of the colony is severed."
"If not every 'believer' possesses Psychic Power fluctuations, these two Blanks would have interfered with those fluctuations."
"Perhaps I really wouldn't have discovered you."
He murmured to himself, so softly it was almost inaudible.
He then looked at Dominic, his tone devoid of anger, only displaying a programmed coldness.
"I had intended to retreat into seclusion and await the return of the mistress, but since you have delivered yourselves to my doorstep, then I shall stay here and keep the Dragon God company in his slumber!"
The moment he finished speaking, he raised all four arms at the same time.
The temperature in the entire ice room suddenly dropped.
The icicles on the dome began to break, and fine ice spikes condensed on the ground. Even the moisture in the air turned into sharp shards of ice, sweeping towards the three of them.
At the same time, the figure of the divine messenger Si transformed into a blue afterimage, carrying a chilling aura, and rushed straight towards Dominic.
A dragon-shaped statue stood silently behind him, the eerie flames of Ice Lotus flickering and illuminating the awakening believers throughout the hall.
Like a nightmare that had slumbered for a thousand years, it finally descended into reality at this moment.
Even with his life of military service, having broken through the blockade of the Chaos Fleet and traversed the slaughterhouses piled high with Orks, Dominic couldn't help but feel a pang of regret for having gone too far.
He accurately predicted that the savage tribe lacked advanced detection equipment, and that optical cloaking devices could deceive the naked eye.
They also knew that the Sisters of Silence's untouchable force field could block Psychic Power perception, and they never even took off the sapphire ring on their middle finger that shielded them from Psychic Power traces.
With double concealment, let alone a primitive savage tribe, even the hunting dogs of the Inquisition might not be able to locate them at such close range.
But despite all his calculations, he hadn't anticipated that what slept deep within the ice hall was not an ordinary human believer.
The moment thousands of bluish-gray pupils turned towards us, the air seemed to freeze.
"Walk!"
Finally recovering from the shock, Dominic gave a low shout, the Laspistol already in his right hand.
High-energy beams fired in succession, three blinding red lights piercing the darkness of the ice hall and precisely striking the heads of the three believers in the front row.
Cassandra and another nun Sisters of Silence, stood guard on either side of him.
An invisible, inaccessible force field was deployed at full power, acting like an invisible barrier that completely dissipated the surrounding surging Psychic Power fluctuations.
Among the believers, some raised their hands and fired ice spikes and Psychic Power rays, but those attacks, imbued with Warp energy, were extinguished as soon as they touched the edge of the force field.
Like snow falling into a campfire, melting instantly.
Their Psychic Power is suppressed, but their close-combat prowess is overwhelming!
Sister Elaine quickly made a hand gesture.
Then, her Power Sword drew a silver arc, cleaving a believer who lunged at her in two at the shoulder.
Even with its severed upper body still baring its claws, the opponent lunged at her face until she smashed its head with a backhand sword strike, at which point it finally collapsed.
These believers were all ridiculously agile, with strength far exceeding that of ordinary people. Their joints could twist at angles that defied human anatomy, and their pain receptors seemed to have completely degenerated.
If they weren't mostly still in human form, fighting bare-handed without any standard weapons, relying solely on their bare hands, the three of them would probably have paid the price in their very first encounter.
"Continue the retreat!"
Dominic made a decisive decision.
This is their home turf. Thousands of Genestealer Hybrid are surrounding him. Even if he wore Terminator Armour, he would be torn to shreds.
His mechanical prosthetic arm popped out of its latch, and the miniature thrusters on his back, shoulders, and calves simultaneously lit up with pale blue flames.
This is the propulsion device that comes with the stealth suit. Originally designed to traverse ice crevasses and cliffs, it has now become the perfect choice for increasing mobility.
The two nuns simultaneously activated the thrusters, and the three figures used the recoil to suddenly leap backward like three cunning rabbits leaving their burrows, heading straight for the hidden door at the entrance of the Ice Hall.
Ice shards were swirled around by the thruster's airflow, sending them flying everywhere. The cultists' claws behind them missed their mark, managing only to tear apart a few afterimages.
Most believers cannot keep up with this speed; their bodies are better suited for close combat, with sufficient short-range bursts of speed but insufficient long-range raids.
But there was one exception.
Divine Messenger, Part Four.
The nearly three-meter-tall, four-armed figure glided almost parallel to the ice, his blue robe fluttering wildly at high speed.
His speed was no slower than that of the three people whose thrusters were at full power, and he used his feet to gain leverage on the ice wall.
Using the recoil, he was lifted into the air, soaring over the believers' heads and blocking the exit.
"Want to leave?"
The voice of the divine messenger, Si, rang out coldly.
He raised his right hand, and the ground in front of him suddenly rose up. Amidst the surging cold air, an ice wall several meters thick rose from the ground.
The crystal-clear ice surface gleamed with a metallic sheen, effectively sealing off the only escape route.
The instant the ice wall rose, Dominic's prosthetic arm had already launched a stun grenade.
A powerful shockwave and a piercing hum exploded in the confined space, shattering the solid ice wall and sending countless ice shards flying like bullets.
Smoke and ice fog spread out, obscuring visibility.
Dominic and his two companions were just about to use the explosion as cover to rush towards the exit...
But the instant the ice wall shattered, a sharp blade of light pierced through the icy mist, heading straight for Dominic's head.
It's that Guan Dao (a type of halberd).
The divine messenger, Si, had already anticipated their escape route. With a slash, the icy blade energy even preceded the blade itself.
A line of blood appeared after it landed on Dominic's face.
That's too fast.
Dominic's pupils contracted sharply. The thrusters didn't have time to change direction, and his mechanical prosthetic limb hastily rose to block, but it couldn't keep up with the speed of the blade at all.
He could even see clearly the pair of bluish-gray, emotionless pupils behind the icy mist.
This is definitely not something a human being can see.
But the next second, a silver figure slammed into Dominic's side, shoving him away violently.
The sharp blade sliced across at an angle, easily tearing through the light armor like butter, cleaving from the nun's left shoulder all the way to her right waist.
The Ceramite and fiber bundles were utterly useless against this blade; red blood gushed out, splashing onto the cold ice surface, blooming into dazzling flowers.