The center of the capital.
Apart from the fortifications, scattered debris was placed every few meters in all directions, a crude yet effective measure to thwart teleportation assaults.
Soldiers formed a defensive circle, their eyes wide with vigilance, scanning for any sign of attackers. Suddenly, the enemy appeared.
Qin Mo and his elite guards were teleported directly into the heart of the defensive line, materializing inside a tank.
During the teleportation process, Qin Mo had distorted the bodies of his guards and himself, rendering them temporarily intangible, ensuring they wouldn't merge with the solid matter upon arrival.
The crew inside the tank witnessed a sight that defied reality: six armored warriors appeared out of thin air, their bodies phasing through the vehicle's equipment and armor, yet their movements remained unhindered.
As each of them disengaged from the overlapping matter, Qin Mo raised his hand and unleashed a torrent of flames. The last thing the tank crew saw was the blazing inferno consuming them.
The tank was incinerated in an instant.
The sound of the tank's destruction drew the attention of nearby soldiers, who swiftly turned their guns toward the source, aiming at the six figures emerging from the molten wreckage.
"Open fire!"
"Kill them!"
Gunfire and shouts erupted, creating a cacophony that grated on Qin Mo's ears. He raised his hand again, releasing lightning that obliterated every enemy on the field in a single flash.
"There are more enemies beneath us," reported Grey, sharing the bio-scanner results. "And a lot of them."
The outlines of the enemy forces appeared on their visors, revealing a vast number of foes below, spread across multiple levels underground.
"Prepare for a landing," Qin Mo instructed his guards.
Before they could process why he had given that order, the ground beneath their feet rippled like liquid.
They plummeted through the first level, then the second, descending roughly seven hundred meters before finally reaching the lowest level. Their jetpacks fired, cushioning their landing, and all six touched down smoothly.
They found themselves in a massive underground chamber, teeming with thousands of soldiers and countless heavy weapons. At the center of the chamber stood a large device, radiating an ancient aura that immediately caught their attention.
The machine's design bore no resemblance to anything in the current Human Empire. It appeared as a smooth, translucent sphere, with an image of the entire capital city suspended at its core.
"Protect the relic!" The presence of Qin Mo and his guards had alerted the soldiers. Without hesitation, the defenders turned their guns toward the intruders and opened fire.
The gunfire echoed through the chamber, drawing more soldiers who opened the bulkhead doors and streamed into the room to reinforce the defense of the relic.
As the battle intensified, many soldiers couldn't help but wonder where these six armored figures had come from.
Qin Mo conjured bolts of lightning and torrents of flame, obliterating heavy weapons and melting the powerful hellguns wielded by elite foes.
The guards activated bullet time, dodging the incoming beams and bullets as they picked off key targets with precision, aiming at those who required special "attention."
To the enemies, these armored warriors seemed like unstoppable death machines, effortlessly aiming, firing, and then immediately locking onto the next target even as their shots were still in the air.
Within three minutes, only a hundred enemies remained standing. Anreda moved to deal with them while Grey and Yoren rushed to the bulkhead, raising gravity shields to block the entrance. Shoulder-mounted cannons and laser shotguns unleashed their full firepower.
At this point, aiming was unnecessary. They simply fired into the corridor, ensuring their shots either hit the enemy or ricocheted off the walls, effectively sealing off the passage.
Once the remaining enemies inside the chamber were eliminated, Anreda approached the translucent sphere at the center, gazing up at the ancient relic in awe. "This must be the technological relic. It's a marvel. I thought something capable of generating a void shield over an entire city would be far larger."
Qin Mo also approached the device, placing his hand on its surface. Instantly, he sensed how this ancient creation was devised and built. It became clear that its function extended far beyond merely generating a void shield.
The image of the city floating inside the sphere wasn't a mere hologram—it had an actual, tangible effect.
The entire city, shielded by the void, had been projected into another dimension, anchored there. As long as the sphere remained intact, the city itself could not be destroyed, not even by a nuclear blast detonated within the shield.
"This is nothing short of a masterpiece. The inventor must have been a genius!" Qin Mo was genuinely awestruck.
While the void shield aspect utilized warp technology, the rest of its functionality was rooted in dimensional science.
Qin Mo suspected that this relic dated back to humanity's Golden Age, though he couldn't be certain. If the high command of the Empire or the Mechanicus learned of its existence, they would undoubtedly seize it within days.
"What's wrong?" Anreda noticed Qin Mo's prolonged silence and feared the relic had somehow affected his mind.
"Nothing," Qin Mo shook his head. "I'm just astounded by this device."
"Shall we destroy it?" Anreda asked.
Qin Mo didn't answer immediately. Instead, he raised his hand, commanding the relic to detach from the ground.
"The enemy's technological relic is impressive," he said, "but now it's mine."