*crunch...! *crunch...! *crunch...! *crunch...!
Several soldiers moved quickly, their boots crunching against the icy ground as they placed multiple black steel runes around the base of the towering monument.
Each rune was etched with strange markings and sharp-angled curves, spaced precisely as instructed, forming a ring that shimmered faintly in the cold light.
As they completed the circle, five tall rods were brought forward—each one taller than a man and covered in joints and ancient clamps.
The soldiers positioned them in a loose pentagon formation surrounding the monument, their tips angled slightly inward.
With a final grunt and a heave from the front-line pullers, the massive device—the same one they had dragged through the snow for hours—settled into place just a few meters from the monument's base.
The snow beneath it compressed, and the sharp hiss of steam rising from its joints followed as its metal frame cooled under the open sky.
Berkolex didn't waste time.
