Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 239 Losses
Chen Xi soon received an urgent battle report - an archaeological team of the Mechanicus accidentally activated a dormant Tomb Sentinel while conducting a routine investigation and technology recovery on a destroyed macro-tomb.

This ancient war machine launched an indiscriminate massacre the moment it awoke. Its built-in Gauss weapons and decomposition rays instantly tore apart the unsuspecting research team.

The Jihad troops responsible for the escort were the first to bear the brunt of the attack, and two entire companies of soldiers were wiped out within the first thirty seconds.

The Celestial Lions that came to support also suffered heavy losses. Two battle-hardened Astartes warriors were turned into ashes by the Tomb Sentinel's Gauss rays the moment they came into contact with them.

Finally, after paying a heavy price of seven Space Marines killed and wounded, they managed to paralyze the war machine again.

The battle report specifically noted at the end that the ruins of the Grand Tomb, which was thought to be "safe", might contain more undiscovered deadly defense systems.

(Tomb Sentinel, this thing is quite abnormal, it can pass through walls. If it is attacked by surprise, the Astartes will also suffer heavy losses)

"What happened? How was the Tomb Sentinel activated?" Chen Xi rushed to the scene in a shuttle, his voice filled with suppressed anger.

The staff officer beside him quickly pulled up the data tablet and explained, “Underneath that macro-tomb is a complete Necron production workshop, with a half-finished war construct inside.

The mechanical priests in charge of the investigation... well, they showed an unusual interest in that alien technology, and started the production line without authorization, assembling the construct..."

"Idiot!" Chen Xi punched the bulkhead, and the metal bulkhead made a dull echo.

Even though this was considered relatively mild compared to the messes the Mechanicus had done, he still couldn't help but get furious.

After all, this matter is really outrageous.

The battle in that area was over, and the enemy buildings were reduced to ruins. However, recovering the war debris could lead to such a mess, causing the troops to suffer casualties for no reason. Anyone would be furious.

Especially on the Tianshi Regiment's side, under his deliberate care, the casualty rate has been maintained at a low level. The company participating in the expedition has gradually tended to support his proposal.

Now that this has suddenly happened, it is hard to say whether it will affect the group's choice.

"Fuck, are the codes of these oil guys open source?! They are causing trouble for me all day long!" Chen Xi cursed in Chinese. The staff officer did not understand this ancient language from 40,000 years ago at all, but did not dare to ask more questions.

But no matter how angry you are, the mess still needs to be cleaned up.

"Has Sage Cawl been notified?" Chen Xi turned to the staff officer. He had to give an explanation to the Mechanicus.

The staff officer wiped his sweat and said, "This investigation team was sent from the Forge World of Gria. Sage Christen is also on his way to the scene. According to the communication records, she seems to be even more angry than you."

"Okay, Gria!" Chen Xi pinched his nose heavily.
-
When Chen Xi's shuttle landed at the scene of the accident, the scene before him made him frown.

The Gria Crusaders brought by Sage Christen have surrounded the entire area. Heavy combat servo skulls are hovering in the air for alert, and red-robed Crusaders are guarding every entrance with weapons in hand.

This display wasn't intended to suppress information—information within the Mechanicus was always difficult to suppress—but rather to prevent Archmagos Cawl or his colleagues from the Forge World of Mariupol from "getting there first." Within the Mechanicus, this kind of technological scramble between factions was a common occurrence. It was not uncommon for two Forge Worlds to mobilize Titan Legions, Ordnance Arrays, and even Hundred Fleets for "academic exchanges" over archaeological discoveries.

But at this moment, Chen Xi felt that this routine factional struggle was like dancing in his minefield. He suppressed his anger and strode towards Sage Christen who was commanding the Crusaders.

"Sage Christen, what's going on now?" Chen Xi's voice was filled with suppressed anger.

The Mechanical Sage's prosthetic eye flashed a dangerous red light. "A bunch of idiots activated the Alien Factory's production line and assembled a semi-finished construct that could have been fully recycled! Now the underground facility and that construct have been reduced to scrap metal!"

Her voice synthesizer was slightly distorted due to anger, and her mechanical tentacles were waving angrily in the air. It was obvious that she wanted to dismantle the troublesome mechanical priest into parts and make a cleaning robot servant.

Unfortunately, the clumsy guy was torn into pieces by the tomb guards in the first place, and half of the research team was also lost.

If the Tianshi Regiment had not covered their evacuation in time, the entire archaeological team responsible for the recovery would have been torn into pieces by the Tomb Sentinel.

Although the priests of the Mechanicus possessed considerable combat power, things like the Tomb Sentinels were still beyond their ability to deal with, especially when the opponent launched a sneak attack.

These mechanical priests, who were not considered high-level, indeed found it difficult to withstand the attacks of such large war machines.

In particular, the Tomb Sentinel is comparable in size to an Imperial Knight or a super-heavy tank, and is also capable of phase teleportation, allowing it to move freely through complex undead tombs as if it were sneaking through water.

In addition, it can sense the heartbeat and pulse of living creatures from hundreds of meters away, which makes it extremely terrifying to use it for sneak attacks and hunting.

So even if those mechanical priests fought back, they were still torn apart. Many of them could not even recover the memory on their bodies, resulting in the loss of a large amount of precious knowledge and data.

This undoubtedly increased Christen's anger.

But Chen Xi didn't care much about it. He just asked again: "What about other situations?"

Chen Xi was already unable to control his emotions at this point, and he couldn't help but sound angry when he spoke.

Chen Xi's question finally calmed Christen down. She replied, "The Jihad Army lost about three companies, two of which were directly wiped out. The reason there weren't any greater losses was that they only had one regiment on the scene, with the remaining two companies on guard on the ground.

The Space Marines went underground in time to intercept and successfully destroyed the alien construct, thus preventing the increase in casualties.

But they lost seven men, and five more were seriously injured and needed medical attention or to be taken to the Dauntless."

"I hope that the Griya Forge World can compensate the Tianshi Legion for its losses in this matter." Chen Xi did not pursue responsibility, but still emphasized the issue of compensation.

"Beep—" Christen cursed briefly in binary language, then said, "I understand. I will compensate the Tianshi Regiment for their losses this time."

(End of this chapter)