26: Chapter 26 Titans Deployed

The Titan moved!

This Titan had actually started to move!

In the Titan's head cockpit, the previously dark screens suddenly lit up again.

Following this, all the lights inside the Titan rebooted, and the massive plasma reactor emitted a deafening roar as it began to operate at full capacity.

The members of the Iron Heart Society below, upon seeing the Titan light up, immediately knelt on the ground, chanting prayers incessantly and loudly praising the greatness of the Omnissiah.

"I have succeeded." Nuwa's voice came from the pilot's seat.

"Good. From here on, you are in command. Whatever you say, I will immediately have everyone below cooperate with you." Xia Xingchen immediately entrusted full control to Nuwa, letting her operate the Titan completely.

Nuwa nodded and immediately began maneuvering the Titan, causing it to move slowly within the vast underground vault.

Even the most careful step it took on the ground was enough to send clear tremors throughout the entire underground space.

At this moment, the Tech-Priests below received orders from Leovitos and immediately sprang into action.

They laid out illuminated paths to guide the Titan and fully opened the gates to the passage leading to the surface, ensuring the Titan could pass through smoothly.

Nuwa communicated with the Titan's Machine Spirit while guiding it along the predetermined route.

Step by step, the Titan stepped steadily into the elevator.

This elevator had long since been expanded and could fully accommodate the entire Titan.

Xia Xingchen took a deep breath. Now it all depended on whether the elevator built by the Adeptus Mechanicus was sturdy enough; he prayed nothing would go wrong midway.

After a ten-minute wait, all personnel below completed a final comprehensive check of the elevator, and upon confirming everything was correct, immediately sent the ready signal: "Everything is prepared. You may initiate the ascent sequence."

The elevator gates slowly descended, and a red alarm immediately sounded throughout the elevator, signaling all personnel to move away.

Immediately after, the roar of thick steel cables being pulled sounded, and the elevator slowly left the ground, rising steadily upward.

It had to be said that the craftsmanship of the Adeptus Mechanicus was reliable; the entire elevator operated with incredible smoothness.

As the light above grew brighter and brighter, Xia Xingchen knew they were getting closer and closer to the elevator exit.

A loud metallic clang echoed, and the elevator came to a steady halt, finally reaching the surface.

And this Warlord-class Titan was revealed in its entirety under the sunlight for the first time, emerging from the pitch-black underground vault.

At this moment, the Titan could not move freely. Because the bottom of the elevator platform was suspended, if the Titan's center of gravity shifted even slightly or its angle became unstable, it was highly likely to cause the elevator platform to collapse.

At this point, the sound of welding crackled around the elevator platform as engineering personnel urgently reinforced the connection between the platform base and the ground.

After another ten minutes of waiting, Nuwa resumed control of the Titan's body.

Everyone held their breath, watching the scene before them. When the Titan's foot slowly moved and the massive sound of metal grinding echoed, everyone's heart tightened, fearing the platform had failed, but the platform remained firmly beneath the Titan's feet.

"Thud." With a dull sound, one of the Titan's feet had stepped firmly onto the solid ground.

The subsequent movements were much easier; the other foot also left the elevator platform, and it stood completely on the ground.

Seeing this, everyone below immediately erupted in thunderous cheers; their efforts over the past half month had not been in vain.

At this moment, Nuwa was in the cockpit, maneuvering the Titan step by step toward the drop pod.

With the situation under control, Xia Xingchen relaxed and began chatting casually with Leovitos.

"These past days have been truly busy. Once this is resolved, we can leave." Hearing this, Leovitos couldn't help but ask: "Are we really leaving everything else on this planet behind?"

"There are likely still some undiscovered creations remaining on this planet." "Forget it. What else could compare to a Twin-Headed Dragon Tank STC and a Warlord-class Titan? Let the rest remain buried underground."

The crowd below looked up at the Titan. Its height of thirty-three meters was roughly equivalent to the rooftop of a ten-story residential building.

You can imagine what it would feel like if that ten-story building in your neighborhood suddenly stretched out its legs and started walking.

You cannot see its full form because it is too massive. You can only see the hydraulic rods on its legs, each one thicker than an adult's body. What you hear is not just ordinary "mechanical noise," but the roar of hydraulic pumps, the creaking of metal under stress, and the crisp sound of gravel beneath its feet being crushed into powder.

When it passes by you, the air current it generates is not just a gust of wind, but a shockwave capable of knocking a person over.

Viewed from the air, Nuwa maneuvered the Titan like a giant, walking slowly toward an even larger drop pod.

The drop pod was not far from Nuwa. In the cockpit's view, she could clearly see that the drop pod's doors were fully open, and its massive internal capacity was sufficient to house the entire Titan.

By now, the Tech-Priests and Servitors working near the drop pod had long since retreated to a safe distance.

The scene before them was like a moving mountain slowly walking into another, even larger mountain.

The moment Nuwa maneuvered the Warlord-class Titan into the drop pod, the scene bore a striking resemblance to a great Buddha statue embedded in a cliffside.

After stabilizing the Warlord-class Titan's stance, Nuwa immediately shut down the engines, and the Titan returned to silence.

The lights that had relit inside the cockpit slowly extinguished as well. Nuwa disconnected her neural link with the Titan, then left the pilot's seat and came before Xia Xingchen.

Xia Xingchen looked at Nuwa. She stood there still full of energy, as if she had just operated a toy model.

Leovitos nodded to Xia Xingchen, indicating he needed to go down to direct the Tech-Priests to reseal the drop pod.

"Do you need a rest?" Xia Xingchen asked Nuwa with concern, as piloting a god-machine like a Titan was an immense drain on mental energy.

"No problem at all, because I just chatted with the Machine Spirit inside, and it voluntarily agreed to cooperate with me."

"You chatted with the Machine Spirit and convinced it to help you? How do those words even form a coherent sentence? Shouldn't you have used powerful psychic energy to suppress and control the Machine Spirit?" Xia Xingchen looked at Nuwa with a puzzled expression. Could it be that this was mutual aid between Machine Spirits?

"In fact, the Machine Spirit of this Warlord-class Titan has been in a dormant state for ten thousand years, but its heart has always longed to return to the battlefield."

Nuwa recounted to Xia Xingchen what had happened during the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago.

"After the Horus Heresy broke out, the rebel forces attacked this planet. After failing to take it for a long time, they directly utilized an exterminatus-class weapon and dropped viral bombs on the planet."

"This Titan and the Twin-Headed Dragon Tanks that had just been excavated and had not yet entered mass production were hidden together in the deepest part of the underground. The rebels were in a rush to march on Terra and had no intention of searching thoroughly."

"Furthermore, the Imperium did not know of the existence of these creations, so they were permanently buried deep beneath the planet's surface. If not for us, this Warlord-class Titan would likely have remained asleep forever."

Understanding the sequence of events, Xia Xingchen sighed to himself; he hadn't expected that their previous guesses had been entirely correct.

Xia Xingchen and Nuwa re-entered the personnel elevator. With the sound of rotating mechanical gears and the scraping of steel cables, the two soon arrived at the bottom of the Titan, pushed open the doors, and stepped out.

Standing on the open ground, Xia Xingchen looked at the Titan before him, an overwhelming sense of pride welling up in his heart. This Titan now belonged to him.

If he were to deploy it on the battlefield in the future, it would surely become the nightmare of all his enemies. Xia Xingchen eagerly looked forward to the day this Warlord-class Titan would wreak havoc on the battlefield.

"My lord, everything is prepared. We are just waiting for your order to transport the Titan into space, where the warship will receive it." Leovitos had completed all preparations and was just waiting for Xia Xingchen to issue the final command.

Xia Xingchen waved his hand: "Begin."

After the order was given, all personnel on the site immediately began to move away from the drop pod. Numerous fighter craft and transport ships quickly departed, and personnel and supplies were urgently evacuated. They had to leave a safety distance of at least one kilometer from the drop pod to ensure the rising flames would not roast them into charcoal.

Everything was ready. Leovitos and the people from the Iron Heart Society completed the final adjustments and checks. After confirming everything was foolproof, Leovitos handed the activation panel to Xia Xingchen.

"My lord, press this button, and the entire drop pod will automatically launch into space and reach the designated orbit," Leovitos said respectfully to Xia Xingchen.

Leovitos knew very well that he had made many demands of Xia Xingchen during this time, so naturally, he had to let Xia Xingchen see tangible results, letting his lord know that the assistance the Iron Heart Society could provide was irreplaceable.

Xia Xingchen looked at the fifty-meter-tall drop pod before him and whispered: "See you in space, baby." With that, he raised his hand and pressed the activation button on the screen.