Yes, that's right.
It was that most classic of tactics in the Warhammer world—the boarding action.
Whether it be attacker or defender, human or xenos, it was the tried-and-true maneuver that everyone swore by. However, this time, both the boarding party and the target being boarded were a little... different.
Recalling the previous experience of a Devourer Cruiser being boarded, the Hive Mind immediately began redirecting its elite units at full capacity, preparing to make those loathsome golden-armored figures pay the price.
But then, it happened.
The small boarding torpedo pierced the vessel's hide, sinking deep like an unstoppable javelin. Before it could even stabilize, a surge of majestic psychic power—so vast it sent a shock through the Tyranid Hive—suddenly erupted, billowing out like a tsunami.
In the next moment, all was silent.
Everything in the vicinity froze.
With a serene expression, Sybilla stepped slowly out of the boarding torpedo. Her demeanor was worlds apart from her past self. Dressed in her Inquisitorial trench coat, she showed not a trace of psychic fluctuation, appearing as nothing more than an ordinary human.
Yet, the anomalous sights occurring around her proved this was a total illusion.
Sybilla looked around and walked up to a Hormagaunt that was mid-pounce. The creature was completely suspended like a bug trapped in amber; the drool dripping from its hideous fangs hung motionless in the air, as if time itself had stopped.
Indeed, this was her current level of progression.
Since Adam promoted her to a Level 2 Reality Warper, she had utilized this increasingly potent warping ability to channel her Alpha-level psyker powers, allowing her to manifest spell effects that were previously impossible to achieve.
Furthermore, the current Sybilla could treat the Tyranid "Shadow in the Warp" as if it were non-existent. She could push through the debuff with sheer brute force, even manifesting terrifying spells like Stasis.
She gave a faint wave of her hand. An invisible scan swept across the dense cluster of bio-signatures nearby, followed by a firm clench of her fist.
In the next instant, as if a silent wind of death had blown through, the life signals that had flickered like candle flames in her perception were extinguished one after another.
To the Tyranid Hive Mind, this was starting to feel like a horror story.
Everything nearby went dead. Whether they were synapse creatures or mere fodder, they all died without distinction.
How is this possible?
The Hive Mind was utterly bewildered. However, it did not hesitate for a single second. It immediately began accelerating the accumulation of massive amounts of biomass, preparing for a desperate last stand to hatch even stronger, more violent bio-units.
Sybilla had no interest in its potential reaction. She pointed her fingers and made a clean, sharp slicing motion in the void, opening a rift between reality and the Warp.
Adam reached out, gripped the edges of the rift, and stepped through, looking at the Inquisitor and the deathly silence surrounding her.
"True to form. How does it feel?"
"It is by your greatness," Sybilla nodded earnestly. "Now, I can better bring a more terrifying destruction to the enemies of Mankind."
"That's for the best, then," Adam nodded with satisfaction. "By the way, can you sense where the strongest concentration of this xenos swarm-will is located?"
For a gestalt like the Hive Mind, every organism was its extension. In a sense, its true body was a gargantuan collective existing in the Warp, while the swarms under its command were both somewhat independent and yet part of it, forming this unique consciousness structure.
Adam, however, was not without recourse. As long as he could catch the strongest synapse creature, he could use that point to strike the whole, dealing a heavy blow to the entire Hive Mind. Of course, the prerequisite was finding such a unit.
"Found it." Sybilla pointed in a specific direction.
"Alright then, let's go," Adam nodded.
Sybilla asked, "Do you require other personnel to guard your safety?"
"No need. Let's make this quick." Adam gave a light chuckle. "I hold the bow, you hold the spear. In this galaxy, who is left to stand against us?"
Deep within the Tyranid Hive Ship.
Further in, walls were being torn apart and corroded. One biological bulkhead was gnawed to dust by a swarm of fiery red moths. Another became shattered pieces of rock candy.
The deeper and more complex the area, the more fierce the Tyranid resistance became—yet simultaneously, the reality of their conquest became increasingly bizarre.
A Lictor was being crushed by a Tyrannosaurus Rex made of plasma.
A Hormagaunt definitely shouldn't have been crumpled into a ten-meter two-dimensional circle in reality, then rolled up until it ceased to exist.
The body of a Carnifex hung in mid-air, folded into its own bones.
A Malanthrope melted into a puddle of cheese.
Sybilla walked silently through the corridors. The sights before her likely had never appeared even in the most absurd dreams, yet they were happening in reality. She saw Adam beside her waving his arms lightly, like a true conductor completely immersed in his art, oblivious to all else.
Sybilla sighed softly. She gripped her force sword, her focus absolute, dedicating her entire being to Adam's safety. As it stood, there was no need for her to use her own terrifying psychic powers to sweep and destroy the surroundings.
The two of them moved forward as if no one else were there. The enemies before them were wiped out as quickly as if washed away by a rainstorm. After passing through a long corridor, they finally arrived near their destination.
Coincidentally, in Sybilla's perception, the creature with the strongest psychic resonance was also rapidly approaching them.
"Oh?" Adam rubbed his chin thoughtfully after hearing Sybilla's report. "It's not trying to flee from us, but is actually moving closer?"
This, however, was exactly what he wanted.
Suddenly, both of them stopped.
Behind a massive wall of flesh wide enough for a Knight suit to pass through, a gargantuan beast with a mountain-like body was crawling toward them. Guarding it were fifty Zoanthropes radiating immense psychic energy.
This was—a Norn Queen.
A self-aware Tyranid bio-form, the core that commanded the vast swarm. Through asexual reproduction, it could birth all manner of Tyranids—from basic species and combat weapons to bio-ships. It could also manipulate the Tyranid fleet, relaying the Hive Mind's orders through various biological nodes.
For Hive Fleet Gorgon to send such a pivotal creature to stop Adam's advance meant it was truly out of options.
At this moment, the Hive Mind was staring fixedly at the enemies before it. It could somewhat understand the psyker beside the man; though her ability to resist the Shadow in the Warp was abnormal, it fell within known parameters.
But the being before her who could manipulate reality was draped in an eeriness it had never encountered. Even for Hive Fleet Gorgon, which excelled at adaptation, there was no immediate way to respond. It could only integrate the limited intel it had gathered.
By calculating the speed at which those synapse creatures were being warped, it immediately bolstered the Norn Queen's psychic power, pouring its vast will into her in hopes of gaining resistance.
However, the Hive Mind discovered a single fact.
The "organism" in front of her—a flash of excitement crossed his eyes, as if he had just seen a delivery order arrive right at his door.