Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 473 Akahan: My calculations were wrong

Nimrod led his guards, who came from different routes, toward the assembly point. Arsène Dunne, Thomas, and Malena Scala each brought only two attendants.

Arkham Rand was accompanied by twelve Guardians and five machine gunners, with a mechanically modified monkey perched on his left shoulder.

"Let's go." Ninglu said, and took the lead towards the Volian Sandstorm Vortex.

The Volian sandstorm vortex appears bowl-shaped from a distance, with the outer portion expanding further upwards.

Ning Lu knew that this was the reason for the energy dissipation.

The team continued onward, and when they were about a kilometer from the edge of the sandstorm, Ninglu stopped.

His black armor rattled and creaked.

Freddy the black wolf and John the cat with the strong brain, who were on either side, also stopped in their tracks.

Freddy looked up at the swirling sandstorm before him, but his spiritual intuition did not detect any deadly threat from it.

But he felt an energy like a fog, distorting the real space, spreading out in layers, so that he could only see a range of five kilometers.

The Primarch keenly sensed that moving forward would be affected by subspace energy.

In the "subspace perspective," colorful smoke swirls, while in the "Corrupted Baron's" view, the lines of rules are twisted and tangled.

This energy intensity will not have any effect on him, but it will cause damage to the bodies of people like Akahan who have not undergone much mechanical modification.

Arkham understood and immediately gave instructions to one of his servants.

"Activate the energy suppressor."

The servant placed the spherical device he was carrying on the dusty ground, and placed his hand on the top of the metal device.

After a series of flashes of green runes, the spherical device popped out two antennas, and the energy flowed between the magnetic poles, emitting a piercing crackling sound.

Two mechanical claws extend from its lower body, stepping on the sand and moving forward.

Ning Lu's eyes flickered with light and shadow; he could see an invisible energy flow surrounding the magnetic pole antenna.

The dust and sand that were drifting around fell at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the surging subspace energy also calmed down.

In Nimrod's "subspace vision," the colorful smoke dissipated, and the "Corrupted Baron" saw the threads of the physical world unfurl and return to normal.

"[Truly worthy of being called Aqqan.]" he thought to himself, and continued on his way.

As the mechanical energy field touched the area of ​​the Volian sandstorm vortex, a waterfall of dust and sand fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground.

Everyone knows that psionic energy cannot be used under these circumstances, as it would interfere with the operation of mechanical devices.

Marlena raised her hand, and the vines in the gaps of the Hunter's Suit quickly spread and grew.

The "biologist's" spirituality spread, and vines layered upon each other, enveloping everyone's heads.

The dust and sand, weighing tens of tons, shot straight into the sky and slammed against the vines like a slid python, making a dull thud.

The vines trembled for a few seconds before settling down.

The group continued forward, and the vines seemed to move with the "biologist's" footsteps as if they were alive, blocking the dust that kept falling from above.

Aqahan, leaning on a cane and wearing a respirator, trekked through the desert.

The monkey on his shoulder holds a data tablet, its large eyes staring at the screen through its protective goggles.

The screen is divided into several areas, with the largest area extending from the top left corner to the right and bottom.

It is divided into five areas, with only the middle one lit up.

After confirming that the activated energy interference device was working properly, the monkey looked to its right.

In the upper right corner, the numbers are constantly fluctuating and increasing.

That's the distance they've traveled.

When the number jumped to 13.57, he suddenly saw the number representing the range of influence on the energy interference device flash once, changing to 999.4 meters.

The monkey immediately placed the data board in front of Arkham.

Akahan stopped, examined all the data on the data panel, pressed the communicator on his throat, and spoke into the team channel.

"Lord Ninglu, everyone."

"The closer we get to the center of the sandstorm, the higher the energy density. My jamming device has already begun to be affected, and the range of influence has shrunk by 0.6 meters."

"My previous calculations showed that if we continue for another five kilometers, the range of the jamming device will be compressed to within one hundred meters. This is the safe range I set. At that time, I will activate the second device."

“According to calculations, five devices are enough for us to complete this journey,” the “Knowledge Keeper” added, having gone through their operational plan.

“Five devices are the limit of what we can use,” Akahan added.

"The energy interference device will also release a certain amount of energy when it is in operation."

"The energy of different machines can interfere with each other; five machines are the result of balance."

“I understand,” Ning Lu said. “Let’s move on.”

The second device was launched, initially positioned 950 meters away from the first device.

The team moved accordingly, reforming its formation around the midpoint of the line connecting the two machines.

Just as the team was about to move forward, Ninglu suddenly shouted into the communication channel, "Marlena, prepare for the attack!"

The "biologist" immediately spread spirituality, and the vines grew wildly.

A giant armored transport vehicle fell from the sky and crashed heavily onto the vines.

The vines trembled softly for several seconds before stopping.

With a thought, the biologist extended dozens of vines from the top of the vine, like ropes, grabbed the transport vehicle, and tossed it aside.

The biologist's face turned pale; the depletion of her spiritual energy forced her to reduce the coverage area, and the vines shrank to a range of one hundred meters, like venomous snakes returning to their nests.

“There’s more.” Ning Lu’s eyes flashed. He knew that the Volian sandstorm vortex would lift any approaching tanks and giant armored transport vehicles into the air.

Driving based on experience is not entirely safe; fluctuations in subspace energy can trigger storms.

He had keenly sensed that armored transport vehicles were falling in this direction as the dust and sand dissipated, clearly indicating a convoy.

Several flight paths flashed through the Primarch's mind: two armored transport vehicles crashed into the troop, and another one crashed into the energy interference device in front of them.

"Open the vines."

"Freddy."

Black Wolf followed Ning Lu and ran quickly, arriving in front of the vines in an instant. The "biologist" opened a door for them.

With a flap of its wings, the Primarch appeared above the energy interference device. It swung its left arm, and its powered gauntlet struck the giant armored vehicle.

The armored vehicle was smashed into a pile of scrap metal, flying dozens of meters before crashing to the ground.

Black Wolf shook his legs and leaped into the air. He raised his paws and pushed hard.

He knocked the two giant armored vehicles away one after the other, and they crashed into the desert.

Black Wolf looked at his master, Ninglu, who had already smashed the other fallen vehicles into scrap metal and left them in the distance.

After clearing the obstacles, the black wolf followed its master back into the vines, walking proudly past John.

The team continued forward, and after the third energy interference device was released, the stable triangular structure allowed them to travel smoothly for five days.

On the tenth day, all five devices had been released, but they had been contained within a safe range of 100 meters.

Akahan's voice suddenly came through the communication channel.

"Lord Ninglu, everyone."

“I made a mistake…” Akahan admitted his mistake bitterly for the first time in his life.

"According to the data board, we should have completed our journey and arrived at the center of the sandstorm."

Upon hearing this, Arsène's expression changed, and he immediately snatched the data panel to examine the data.

He saw in the lower right corner the black dot representing their unknown location, and the green dot that had reached the center of the yellow circle.

The "Guardian of Knowledge" racked his brains, and after a moment, a possibility came to mind.

"Energy interference devices cannot completely eliminate disordered energy. The distance we travel and the distance recorded by sensors are not the actual distance."

The Primarch's eyes flickered with light as it looked around through the vines.

In the Corrupted Baron's vision, the lines of rules were also tangled and disordered.

In the "subspace vision," a faint mist swirled around.

Nimrod thought for a moment and then spoke.

“Arkham’s machines are not entirely useless; we have already completed most of the journey.”

"But the closer you are to the Void Claw, the weaker the device becomes."

"Moreover, the Void Claw can distort spacetime and, combined with the interference of subspace energy, has caused the current result."

“It’s my fault for not taking this change into account,” the proud Akahan said remorsefully.

"We don't always go in a straight line."

“My action plan also had flaws,” Arsena then added.

"It doesn't matter, I have a solution."

Nimrod did not attribute the failure to Arkham; he did not even notice the slight shift, indicating that the shift was quite small.

He believed that after exiting the sandstorm vortex and repeating the exploration several times, Akahan would be able to correct the error.

But Nimrod didn’t want to waste any more time, so he glanced at the prophecy dice.

[It should be fully charged in about a day.]
Without knowing the exact extent of the offset, only the prophecy dice can find a path through the sandstorm.

Just as Ninglu was about to find a place to wait, a voice echoed in his mind.

“Master, I think I can find the Watchtower.”

Upon hearing this, Ninglu looked at the Brainy Cat.

(End of this chapter)