LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 111: Chapter 111
---Two Hours Later---
Walking out of our tent feeling refreshed and satisfied, the four of us strolled over to the campfire where everyone else had already gathered. Noticing our arrival as they discussed breakfast plans, my soldiers stood up and saluted me with relieved expressions. Visually scanning everyone to see their injuries, Luxion's report had left out quite a lot of grotesque details. Several members of our joint team had severe burns where their skin had been exposed during battle, and even more individuals had deep gashes from where shrapnel had pierced their armor.
"Good to see you up and around, Victor. Your poor wives have not left your side since your medics treated you.", Samus said, with a warm smile, "You sure it is alright for you to be up and around? They said your internal organs and muscles were in tatters from overexerting yourself."
"I have forty pounds of nanobots within my body that can repair even the most gruesome damage, assuming I survived the ordeal. Other than being a bit sore, I am perfectly fit to continue moving further into the fortress.", I answered, glancing over at several piles of ashes a short walk from our camp, "It appears you have already given our fallen comrades a proper burial, you have my gratitude for that. Have we had any issues with monster attacks?"
"Not in the slightest, your statement about this being a safe room a few days ago was accurate. We have been able to safely regain our strength with the various supplies you left us before passing out.", one of the Eldar replied, "You have our utmost gratitude for treating our warriors as well. Your medics did a splendid job considering the circumstances."
"Yes, thank you very much for rendering aid. I would have lost more people without their assistance.", Ionica stated, looking at her Sisters, "That said, I am afraid we will be more of a hinderance than an asset to you now. We took heavy losses in that last battle, and out of the nine of us that survived, only four are fully combat ready. It will take some time for our other members to grow accustomed to fighting partially disabled. If…if you so desire, they have accepted being executed here to spare everyone the burden…"
Clenching her fists and scowling as she uttered those words, Ionica was clearly not happy with this. As the nine remaining members of their Order, Ionica did not want to lose any more of her Sisters, but she recognized they were a liability to everyone's safety in their current state. Seeing their commander's distain for the thought of killing them, the five women assured her they knew what they were signing up for when they joined the Sisters of Battle.
"Superior Sister Ionica, we have done all that we can to further the God Emperor's plan and slay his enemies. We can die with a smile on our faces knowing we have fulfilled our duties.", one of the disabled Sisters said, using her only arm to pat Ionica on the back, "Lord Victor, would you please do us the- "
"Your stupidity is being to wear thin on me.", I groaned, looking her in the eyes, "Before you start asking me to kill you to spare everyone your burden, how about asking if I can make you whole again? You have two groups of technologically advanced people here with you, and the first resolution you come to is putting a bullet in your head. Please take a moment and think before you open your mouth."
"Are you saying you can heal my comrades completely?!", Ionica asked, her face lighting up with relief.
"Very easily, yes.", I acknowledged, "Just sit back and watch."
Casting High Heal and Regrowth on all those present, burns, missing limbs, and scars all quickly healed up perfectly. Stunned by what they were seeing, aside from my group, everyone began checking themselves to see what all had been healed. As armor and clothing began coming off, my group turned away to give everyone some privacy. Overwhelmed with emotion, a few people began crying as they felt such great relief from being healed.
"Victor, what sort of sorcery did you just perform?! I have never seen such flawless repairs done to a body before!", Mane asked, examining the Sisters' regrown limbs, "Is this sort of thing commonplace amongst your people?"
"It is uncommon, but those who possess this type of magic are almost exclusively in the service of the Temple. In my family, only my wife Olivia and I possess Healing Magic.", I answered.
"Interesting, very interesting.", Mane commented, "This will require further research as such abilities could prove invaluable on the battlefield. Being able to quickly heal severe injuries and replace limbs would be a great boon for the war effort."
"So everyone is clear, there is a cost associated with the spell. The materials used to repair the damage comes from the spell's target. You will need to replenish your nutrients quickly if you want to fight at full strength.", I stated, "Once you are clothed again, I will prepare our meal to revitalize your reserves."
Pleasantly surprised that I was not trying to sneak a peek, like many others would try, everyone got dressed again and told me once they were good to go. Increasing the fire's temperature, I placed a massive cast iron skillet over the fire and began cooking breakfast. Starting with fresh bacon, hash browns, pancakes, and toast, the chamber we were in quickly began to smell amazing. Portioning everything out equally for everyone, the last thing to go on the skillet were eggs. Adding diced green pepper and onion, grated cheese, and seasons to the eggs, as soon as they were finished cooking, I piled it on top of the rest of their food. Handing everyone their eating utensils and plates, the last thing I did was pour everyone a tall glass of orange juice to wash everything down with.
Shakily holding their plates, the Eldar and Imperial groups stared at the pile of food in amazement. Having likely never had such a large meal in their lives, they were all extremely hesitant to touch any of it. Coming from meager backgrounds, the two groups of people must have felt guilty about accepting my generosity and kindness.
"Lord…Lord Victor, are you certain it is alright for you to share your meal rations with us?", a male Eldar inquired, almost drooling on his plate, "We should not take advantage of you, you have already done quite a lot for our team as it stands."
"Agreed, I cannot begin to imagine how much money you spent procuring such ingredients. In the Imperium, just a quarter of this plate would be a year's salary for a normal guardsman.", Ionica said, as she and her subordinates struggled to push the plates back to me.
"I understand that both of your nations may have trouble feeding your people, but I solved that problem in our country several years ago. Animal products, fresh fruit and vegetables, and grain are very affordable and widely available in my territory. The food I served each of you is right around fourteen to sixteen credits in my territory.", I said, with a smile, "I genetically modified the crop seeds to be hardier, more weather resistant, and produce over five hundred percent more food per acre. Prior to that, our nation grew enough food to sustain ourselves, but a bad harvest could lead to mass starvation."
"Fourteen to sixteen credits…", Ionica repeated, looking at her plate again, 'A small can of Corpse Starch costs nearly three times that in the slums!! I readily admitted I doubted Primarch Guilliman when he said this man was sent to us by the God Emperor himself, but now I see how wrong I was. He has the knowledge and means to set us back onto the glorious path the God Emperor set before us. If we give Lord Victor our full support, no child will have to starve in the slums like I did.'
Surprised to hear that we had food coming out our ears, the others looked a bit envious of our situation. The Eldar produced enough food to sustain their people, but they had to plan population increases decades in advance to ensure they did not face food shortages. In the Imperium's case, they produced nowhere near enough food to sustain their population, so they resorted to turning dead bodies into a food staple called Corpse Starch. Just thinking about humans eating dead human bodies made my skin crawl, but for most poor Imperial Citizens, it was either Corpse Starch or starvation.
"Thank you for feeding and healing us, Lord Victor.", a female Eldar stated, before taking a nervous bite of food.
Taking a moment to briefly savor the taste, her expression lit up like a Christmas tree. Scarfing her meal down like it was about to run away, everyone looked at her like she was insane till they took their first bite. Quickly realizing why she was acting like a mad woman, soon her comrades and the Sisters of Battle were shoveling food into their mouths as tears streamed down their faces. Grateful to be alive and able to savor my cooking, I barely got started on my meal before they were asking for seconds.
---Twenty Minutes Later---
Eating till their stomachs were on the edge of rupturing, the Eldar and Sisters of Battle let out satisfied sighs while everyone else chuckled at them. Cleaning everyone and everything with magic, I stowed the cooking equipment away and suggested we start tearing down camp. Agreeing that it was time we got moving again, everyone rose to their feet and stretched a bit before getting to work.
Getting everything torn down and put away, I told the team to take some time to do maintenance on their equipment. Wanting us to be fully prepared for the rest of the labyrinth, everyone heeded my words and thoroughly checked everything on their person. Giving my troop's equipment a thorough once over, any broken armor plating or internal components were replaced with spare parts I had in my inventory. Having them do a full diagnostic scan of everything once I was complete, I wandered over to the teleportation pad to investigate something that had been nagging me in the back of my mind since I first saw this place.
Thanks to the destructive power of the Metal Gear RAY, the chamber we were in had dozens of small holes punched through the hardened metal floor. Selecting one near the teleportation pad, I forcibly ripped the paneling apart and engaged the floodlights on my helmet. Expecting to see all manner of unknown Old One technology below our feet, instead my concerns that this place was under the control of Demons was confirmed. Uncovering an unholy amalgamation of electronics and flesh beneath the floor, the flesh pulsated and wriggled uncomfortably under the intensity of my lights.
"Help…us…", a pained voice cried, "Kill…us…"
'Oh god…they did not even bother killing the people before turning them into parts…', I thought, as the rest of the group walked over to me.
Glancing over my shoulder to see what I was looking at, the Tech-Priests let out horrified screams as they backed away in fear. Having never seen such a heretical abomination before, they fell to their knees and began praying to the Omnissiah to cleanse this place of the unholy technology.
"That is because it is not entirely Old One technology, this…this is technology of an unknown origin.", one of the male Eldar remarked, well versed in what their technology looked like, "It would appear someone has already taken control of the fortress and used some sort of organic material to make repairs."
"My sensors are saying it contains a variety of different race's flesh…", Samus stated, with a disgusted expression, "I have never seen this sort of technology before either, what about you Victor?"
"Yeah…I have seen it before; this is Demonic Technology from Hell.", I answered, rising to my feet, "The organic material you are seeing is likely the flesh of the poor souls who died in this labyrinth. Demons are probably using the strange signal from the fortress to lure people so they can use them to bring this place back online. It is a good thing you burnt our ally's corpses as they would have probably become part of this too."
"When you say Hell, you mean the Warp right?", Ionica remarked.
"I…I honestly could not tell you. What little information I have came from a relic our nation had in our King's Treasure Room.", I answered, looking back at everyone, "From here on out we cannot afford to stop till we capture this fortress. Keep your heads on a swivel and watch every potential angle of attack as we complete the last leg of our journey."
Promptly priming their weapons, all of us stepped onto the teleportation pad and proceeded onward to the next level.