Chapter 441 Legion Era: Lord of Secrets

Lokken looked at the golden statue. He was sure that it was the image of the Emperor, at least the prototype. The Emperor statue sat cross-legged on a platform similar to a throne, with the edges of several petals opening and closing around it, as if the Emperor was sitting on a flower, or was born from a flower.

The Emperor statue overlooked the world. He was extremely tall, wearing a slender monk's robe. The symmetrical edges were full of lines dragged down by the cloth. The dents were carefully polished and woven, making the robe on the statue look like a real piece of cloth.

Loken stared at the statue for a moment, and soon he found several soldiers standing in front of the statue. They were standing among the corpses around with their bolt guns. Obviously, there had just been a war here, or more accurately, a massacre. Most of the people left here were old people and children, and they had no power to fight back against the Astartes.

But don't rush to mourn for them. If you also see the faces of those "children", you will no longer have any sympathy and pity. I believe you will make the same choice as the Moon Wolf.

Loken walked down the stairs. He put the power sword in his hand into the scabbard and then walked among the warriors. Their sergeants stepped aside to make way for Loken. The warriors under his command also consciously stepped back a few steps with their guns. Loken came to the statue and looked up at the golden giant in front of him.

He was located in the center of the vast circular cave. The rocks above him were polished smooth. Countless silk cloths covered the sky horizontally and vertically on it. They fell layer by layer, making this place look like a dyeing workshop or a tailor's shop.

Loken looked up at the colorful cloths above his head, which were all painted with circles of moons. Those curved crescents with the same shape extended above his head, like a starry sky with moons all over the sky, and at the highest point, on the dome, a huge crescent symbol was painted.

"Captain Loken, what is this? A statue of the Emperor? I have never seen such a statue of the Emperor." The sergeant on the side asked in surprise. Loken also lowered his eyes to look at the golden statue surrounded by cloth. It is no wonder that the sergeant was so surprised, because under the hood was indeed the face of the Emperor.

And it seems that in order to prevent ambiguity, the builders did not carve the face of the Emperor into a human face like many churches, but directly carved it into a skull. That is the most unified image of the Emperor in the entire empire, and no one will have a different opinion on it.

The holy skull symbolizes the purity of mankind. It is hidden under the hood, and the robe falls from its shoulders. After splitting at the chest, the dry ribs are exposed. The skin is attached to the bones and is vividly carved with gold. Its shriveled hands are held in front of the abdomen, just like an unfathomable monk.

No wonder those people firmly believe that they believe in the Emperor. If it was the first time that Loken saw this statue, he would also think so. Except that its clothes are slightly different from the "throne" below, the statue of the Emperor in front of him is just like the Emperor himself.

"This is a trick used by the Tyranid infiltrators to deceive the locals. They use the name of the Emperor as their smoke bomb to spread pollution and gather believers. Many true believers of the Emperor cannot distinguish the true from the false, just like you before."

Loken said, pointing to a baby lying on the ground next to him. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and held tightly in the arms of a dead woman, but when you see the baby's inhuman face, you will sincerely be glad that "he" is dead.

There are many similar beings nearby. Locke pointed his finger at "them". "They deceived people and induced them to combine with Tyranids to give birth to these polluted offspring. Eventually, they will infect the entire planet. If we don't arrive at this planet in time, I'm afraid that in a few generations, the entire planet will be replaced."

"Replaced with... these things?" Another Shadow Moon Wolf said in astonishment. He looked very surprised, looking at the body of a gene stealer lying on the ground that had almost completed atavism.

"Yes, so it's a good thing that we stopped this process in time. You did a good job. These filthy offspring must be terminated, and this statue is also. We can't let him deceive the people of the empire anymore. Destroy it."

After Locke said this, he walked to the side. The sergeant behind him nodded to the soldiers under his command. They quickly took out the hot melt bombs from the tactical backpacks. Not long after, there was an explosion behind Locke. The golden statue collapsed with a loud bang, and the sound of its collapse was like the collapse of the sky and the earth.

But Loken was not attracted by this. He walked along the circle of the moon drawn on the ground. He involuntarily followed the trajectory of the moon and walked along the surrounding walls for half a circle. Finally, he stopped at the border of the crescent of the moon. That was the end and the starting point of the other end.

And opposite the crescent was a wall, a huge wall. It was part of the circular cave. There was an exquisite mural carved on it. It formed a complete story structure with other murals around it. It described the greatness of the Emperor, but the content of the narrative was different from the facts.

It described the Emperor descending from the sky. He led his angels to arrive here on a large ship that traveled through the universe. He came from the air to bring enlightenment and light to the people in the dark age. This part was not wrong. The Great Crusade was indeed carried out in this way, but problems began to arise in the latter part.

Along the second half of the scroll, it depicts that the emperor left a "divine messenger" who led the people to create a new era, build cities and the fruits of civilization. After hundreds of generations of hard work, the divine messenger was finally Created a great civilization under his leadership.

Loken knew that it must be false, because the envoy on it was definitely not a Primarch, and he did not remember any Primarch staying on the conquered planet for so long, even if it was famous for rebuilding and bringing development. Guilliman, and Lorgar, who was keen to spread doctrines and promote faith widely on the planet, they would not stay for so long.

And the divine messenger finally established the church, which is where the church is. The mural depicts believers worshiping him, accepting his enlightenment, taking the carved Holy Grail that released the light from his hand, drinking it, and then drinking it in the next scene. In the picture, the person who drinks the object in the Holy Grail stands side by side with the divine messenger and becomes an otherworldly being who is worshiped by everyone.

Loken speculated that the person who carved this mural might know at least part of the birth process of the Astartes. Therefore, he carved it in this way, adding another layer of so-called truth to everything that was full of deception. Born to sanctify what is in the Grail.

"What a well-woven lie." Loken said and walked to the statue. His eyes glanced over it, and finally stopped on the divine envoy in the center, on the relief of the envoy, and on his forehead. There is also a crescent moon symbol everywhere.

Loken stretched out his hand and pressed the relief, and then the entire body of the divine envoy sank. With a rumble of rocks sliding, a mechanical sound of operation came from inside the entire wall, and soon the stone surface The wall immediately opened, split in two in the middle, and then sunk inward to open a passage.

It was an extremely long staircase extending into the darkness underground. Only the long-lasting candles lit in the shrines carved on the walls on both sides provided the light source. Loken stood in front of the door and looked at the bottomless abyss below.

"It's strange that we didn't find that there is a road here before. The sound waves of the scanner seem to be blocked." The sergeant who came from behind Loken said so. His soldiers all gathered around Loken and stood next to Loken. Looking from the end of the deep stairs.

Loken looked at the bottom of the stairs, then walked up with his head held high. He bent down and got into the cave that was not dug for the Astartes. The short space forced him to bend down and squat on the ground to enter.

"Contact the marshal and tell him about this tunnel. Remember to keep it secret and report it directly to the marshal." Loken said and turned on the light on his helmet. The pale light penetrated the darkness inside and illuminated the bottom. Part of a long staircase that extends downwards seemingly endlessly.

"I'll go down and take a look alone. You go contact the marshal and no one is allowed to enter here. Do you understand?" "Yes, sir."

After the sergeant said that, his voice echoed behind Loken. Behind him came the footsteps of the soldiers leaving. The sound echoed in the deep corridor, echoing again and again. Loken bent down and walked down the stairs. As he walked down, the searchlight above his head illuminated the ancient stone walls on both sides.

There are many grottoes carved on the walls on both sides, in which many small statues of gods are enshrined. Candles are burning around them. The grottoes are filled with traces of melting after the candles burned out in the past. There are still candles burning here. Some are long and some are short, and it looks like someone is responsible for replacing them.

The light of the candle lit up the faces of the statues. Most of them had collapsed and damaged, or their faces were severely worn, and it was difficult to distinguish their appearance. Various bottles and jars were placed in front of the statues in the grottoes. It looks like some kind of sacrifice.

Loken's eyes under his battle helmet scanned the grottoes on both sides. He walked down. The stairs were very long and it took a lot of time to finally reach the end. Below it was a wide underground cave.

Loken bent down and drilled out of the cave at the end of the corridor. He stood up and stepped into this tall cave. The top of his head was filled with a large number of fallen stalactites. The humid environment caused water droplets to continuously fall and beat on it. On the ground, there was a snap.

On the ground of this huge cave is a shallow water surface, which seems to be part of the underground water. Loken is standing in it, the stream water is submerged up to his ankles, and in front of him, sitting on the ground in the center of the cave is a Most of the altar has been submerged by groundwater, and only part of it is still exposed.

And on top of it stands a statue, which is a tall and thin being, with six hands spread out in all directions, each holding a dagger, and the ends of the slender legs turned into hooves. It also has two horns on its head and a curved tail hanging down behind it.

Loken stared at the statue and frowned. It was definitely not a statue of the Tyranids. It was a statue of a person. He was half a man and half a woman, with symbols similar to magic patterns carved on his abdomen.

Loken walked forward. He walked towards the direction of the statue. In front of the statue sat a tall body. It sat cross-legged, with giant claws on its legs, and a hard chitin carapace covering it. On the head, a paw was held on the face, covering its face.

On the ground around it, there was also a circle of creatures doing the same thing on the water. A large number of purebred gene stealers sat cross-legged around the giant beast.

Lokken walked forward, his footsteps wading through the water. Suddenly, his footsteps stopped because he crushed a skull in the water. As the sound of the skull breaking spread throughout the cave, the giant beast sitting in front of the statue moved. The giant claws that blocked his face slowly loosened, and the slender claws fell down to reveal his face.

The head that looked like a human and a dragon slowly raised, and a light flashed in its orange-red eyes. It opened its bloody mouth that spewed white mist. After the sharp teeth slowly opened, the beast stood up. His claws supported the ground and let his huge body slowly stand up. He looked down at Lokken and his four arms slowly opened.

"Genestealer Patriarch, the newborn." Lokken looked at the patriarch who had not yet completed the transformation and still had the exposed skin on his body. His slender tail swept in the water on the ground, splashing a piece of water on the surrounding purebred Genestealers, and they all moved.

The herds of beasts put down their claws and turned to look at Loken. They opened their mouths full of sharp teeth and growled at Loken. The latter looked at the giant beasts in front of the statue and slowly drew the sword from his waist.

"Before the Marshal arrives, you must be cleaned up."