LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 49 - Akh'Ret's Mercy
If I still had body hair it would stand on end upon seeing the hospital. This place felt wrong, and not just because I visited a mediaeval shithole village the previous day. There was something about that building that felt wrong. There was a certain aura to it. Made even worse by the fact we were in another pocket of silence. This time the quiet felt oppressive.
I turned to Caei.
‘You’re a follower of Akh’Ret, aren’t you?’ I asked. ‘Any hints from him?’
She shook her head.
‘You know the Old Gods don’t work this way.’
That was true. For all the help I got from Ereshkigal, she did not provide much in terms of “practical advice”.
‘I think we should check it out,’ Aki suddenly said.
We both turned towards her surprised.
‘Could there be items there from your times?’ she asked.
I furrowed my brow and thought.
‘Maaaybe. It’s a hospital. There could be medical supplies there. Not sure whether they would still be good, god knows how old this place is, but… it’s worth a try, I guess.’
‘There could also be some Life Arcana runes there,’ Caei added. ‘I could use more spells.’
That was a very valid point. As far as I understood, our healer only knew three spells from that particular arcana: Soothe Pain, Sleep and Lesser Heal Wounds. All of them were useful but had their limitations. Like… I wondered whether the reason Caei was unable to restore Deirdee’s wings was because she lacked the correct spell.
‘Let’s do this then,’ I sighed and started to put on my armour.
Despite their apparent weight, the doors opened smoothly and effortlessly. Predictably, the first room we could see was a reception. There were some chairs under the walls, a gurney and of course, the receptionist’s counter in the middle, behind which there was a double wooden half-glass door, though both windows have long been shattered. The floors were covered in badly damaged wooden panels and the walls were painted white, with some faded writing on them. I could see open passages to the left and right of the entrance. And, perhaps most importantly, a skeleton wearing body armour and a helmet was slumped against the counter. There was a hole in his forehead, and on its lap, there was… a magitek gun, which looked to be something between a larger submachine gun and a carbine. It was around eighty centimetres long and had a folding stock and a pistol grip. The handguard was part of the upper receiver and had those weird long holes drilled into it, while the barrel was short and had a muzzle break.
Do they have to worry about recoil with these?
The magazine was straight, which I guess made sense, given it was meant to hold mana crystals. The whole weapon was painted black, but there were gold lines carved into it, which I was starting to suspect to be magical circuitry. Finally, there was a carrying handle on top of the thing with iron sights built into it and a leather sling at the bottom. Eyes around my head, I started making my way towards the soldier, when a message popped in the centre of my vision.
New Quest Acquired: Akh’ret’s Mercy
Type: Dungeon (Historical)
Difficulty: Hard
Description: You’ve discovered ruins of a hospital dating back to some ancient era of Dwynveia. There are secrets to discover here, but is the reward worth the price?
Objectives:
Discover the secrets of the hospital
Rewards:
2000 experience points
1 Perk Point
Of course. Nothing can be easy.
I sighed and picked up the gun.
Item: The Storm
Class: Weapon - Magitek - Carbine
Rarity: Artifact - Extremely Rare
Durability: 24/40
Charge: 60/150
Ammunition: Medium Mana Crystals
Effect: Launches a magical bolt of any of the arcana types the user is proficient with. Each shot consumes fifteen charges and a small amount of mana of the user.
Pretty nice.
The gun fit nicely in my hands, it was a bit heavy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. It’s not like I haven’t been waving a sword around. I found the magazine release button and clicked it. Inside it, there was just one mana crystal, but there were spots for three.
Item: Medium Mana Crystal
Class: Magitek - Power Source
Rarity: Coven-made - Common
Durability: 5/5
Charge: 60/150
Traits:
Rechargeable (limited) - You can channel mana through the object to restore its charge. (1 recharge remaining)
Fourteen shots.
I slammed the mag back into its place.
‘Like handling long and hard objects?’ Caei asked.
‘What can I say?’ I laughed. ‘I like big guns, I cannot lie.’
That made both my girlfriends cackle.
‘Can I see it?’ Caeileera asked.
‘I think it’s yours, anyway.’ I said and handed her the carbine.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
‘You haven’t gotten any loot so far,’ I shrugged.
‘That’s not how it should work,’ she protested. ‘I saw how your eyes lit up upon seeing it.’
‘I just don’t want you to think I am hogging everything.’
‘Don’t worry, if I want something I will tell you…’
She checked out the gun, like I did.
‘This thing I don’t.’
Caei passed it to Aki to examine who then gave it back to me.
‘Very well,’ I said and slung the carbine across my chest.
It will be hard to fight with it and the sword, but I’ll figure something out. Still… a gun will make exploring this place easier.
That handled we’ve had to decide where to go next. The first idea we had was to check the open passages. The route to the right led to the general access bathrooms. We entered the female one first and, to my surprise, I discovered that the plumbing there worked. Apparently, you could use mana crystals to power water and fire runes to create functional sinks and showers. Aki told me Löwe had one too, but she pillaged it for ammo for guns. I threw her an incredulous look of “Why the fuck would you ruin a perfectly fine sink?”, but, ultimately, I understood her reasoning. Ammo was more important than running water in that hellhole.
The bathrooms were what you would expect. Three stalls and two sinks. The floor was covered in ceramic tiles and the walls were painted in what was once yellow paint. We used the latter to refill our water supply, and in my case, wash my hands and face. It was something I really needed. I missed being able to brush my teeth, but I don’t think mine were real. So it was just the freshness in my mouth that I was craving. Oh, the little things.
There was nothing else of note in either of the bathrooms.
The other passage held two doctor’s offices, probably once meant to handle outpatient cases. One of them was converted into an infirmary of sorts, with two cots covered in dried blood inside. The other still seemed to have retained its initial purpose. It was furnished in a very familiar way. A desk with a chair on both sides, an examination cot and a bookshelf. The only thing missing was a PC. Inside the desk, we found a Large Mana Potion, which we gave to Caei, no questions asked. The other thing of note was a ledger of some sort. It contained a general list of patients treated by the doctor in the office, along with occasional notes, and seemed to have covered the last year or so of the hospital’s operations.
I sat down on one of the chairs and started skimming through it.
2/10/1126
Patient #1 - Jerra of Millir Farm
Physician: Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: Runny Nose, Cough, Low-Grade Fever
Diagnosis: Common cold
Treatment Prescribed: Bed rest, Fluids
‘Aki?’ I asked. ‘What year is it?’
‘1643 Imperial Calendar.’ she answered. ‘Why?’
I did quick mental maths.
‘This is from 1126 IC. The Tower of Trials started operating in 1109. So… this structure dates back to the fall of the Vandarian Empire. And so must the battlefield.’
I could tell by their faces that to my companions these were just mostly meaningless factoids.
I sighed internally and went back to the ledger. It was mostly run-of-the-mill stuff, like colds, sprains, and diseases I didn’t recognize, though some did have Earth equivalents, so I ended up skipping most of it. Midway through the ledger, in April of 1127 or whatever the fourth month was called, I found something interesting
16/04/1127
Patient #5 - Helian Farthus of Ror-Bhyk.
Physician: Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: Tissue necrosis, Muscle atrophy, Brain fog, Light sensitivity
Diagnosis: Unknown
Treatment Prescribed: Admitted to the hospital
Note: This is the third case of the mysterious sickness we’ve had in the hospital. The previous two cases have died with neither healing potions nor Life Arcana having any effect. The disease does not appear to be contagious, which is a small mercy. Investigation into the causes of the mysterious pathogen is being carried out by the Doctors from the Royal Medical Institute, as a few isolated cases have also occurred in other parts of the Empire.
I couldn’t find the previous two cases, maybe they were ‘treated’ by a different physician. The ledger seemed to only cover cases by Doctor Vaan Lohren. I needn’t have worried as in the coming months more and more cases of this mysterious disease have been diagnosed, with it receiving the nickname of the “Smiling Death”, due to the rictus grin the victims often developed during the final stage of the disease due to their lips rotting off.
In July of 1127, Jerra of Miller Farm appears to have made a return.
28/07/1127
Patient #37 - Jerra of Millir Farm
Physician: Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: Tissue necrosis, Muscle atrophy, light sensitivity, Brain fog, High level of aggression
Diagnosis: Smiling Death
Treatment Prescribed: Patient Restrained. Sergeant Gend of the 273rd Royal Infantry Division executed the patient.
Note: Jerra was admitted with 3rd stage Smiling Death symptoms. While arrangements were being made to find a bed for her, she suddenly experienced a sudden burst of energy and pounced at Dr Sainyr. She inflicted severe lacerations on his face and then vomited on it. The action appeared to have been deliberate. Soldiers from the 273rd caught the patient and attempted to restrain her. She broke free and attacked one of them, Private Hafnr, and caused severe damage to the soft tissues of his stomach. Once again, Jerra attempted to vomit on the wounds but three further soldiers finally managed to restrain her long enough for the good Sergeant to “put her out of her misery” and “prevent further damage. Private is expected to make a full recovery. Doctor Sainyr has lost his right eye and will likely have permanent scars on his face.
Then, a few days later:
01/08/1127
Patient #12 - Augustus Sainyr
Physician - Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: Rapid-onset tissue necrosis, Rapid-onset muscle atrophy, Very high level of aggression.
Diagnosis: Smiling Death
Treatment Prescribed: Patient executed
Note: Dr Sainyr has initially displayed no symptoms of the Smiling Death. Suddenly, he started to change. His face began to rot on our eyes and his muscles began to disappear. When he made moves to attack he was shot by the soldiers from the 273rd. His body was incinerated.
After this, Hakon recorded more cases of aggressive patients over the next two weeks, until someone decided enough was enough.
19/08/1127
Patient #17 - Seria of Lim-Vyme
Physician - Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: The usual
Diagnosis: Smiling Death
Treatment Prescribed: Patient executed
Note: Soldiers from the 273rd, acting on their new orders, shot Seria upon observing her suffering from the Smiling Death. Body incinerated.
21/08/1127
Patient #9 - Wylam Hafnr
Physician - Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: Lacerations, Burns
Diagnosis: N/A
Treatment Prescribed: Patient healed with magic
Note: Private Hafnr sustained wounds during the cleansing of Miller farm. No survivors among the inhabitants
Eventually, the number of patients with the Smiling Death dropped to zero, and the hospital resumed normal functioning, though the number of patients was noticeably lower. Then it skyrocketed due to a sharp increase in cases of “combat wounds” in October of 1127. Several pages from the second half of the month were torn out, leaving only the last entry of the journal.
27/10/1127
Patient #4 - She walks
Physician - Hakon Vaan Lohren
Symptoms: She walks
Diagnosis: She walks
Treatment Prescribed: She walks
Note: She walks
Lilyth’s addendum: She walks
I closed the Ledger and packed it into my backpack. It felt like a vital piece of some puzzle. Aki and Caei looked unhappy and bored with me spending a better part of an hour going through the records. I had to wave them off numerous times.
‘Couldn’t you have done it after we were out?’ the Sanguine asked.
‘Nope,’ I replied, gave them a short version of the events and concluded with:
‘There is no way I am entering an abandoned hospital without researching as to why it was abandoned.’
‘Yeah…’ Aki muttered, very perturbed by the story of the hospital’s final days. ‘I’m not so sure we should enter it, after all…’
‘Ya think?’ I spat.
Unfortunately, our decision to “Fuck this shit and go home” was cut short when we discovered a sickly green sigil on the exit door, which clearly read: “Sorry fuckos, but you can't check out of here just yet.”
This was further reinforced by the quest update we got:
Quest Updated: Akh’ret’s Mercy
Type: Dungeon (Historical)
Difficulty: Hard Deadly
Description: You’ve discovered ruins of a hospital dating back to some ancient era of Dwynveia. There are secrets to discover here, but is the reward worth the price?
Objectives:
Discover the secrets of the hospital
Find the source of the magic preventing you from leaving
Rewards:
2000 3000 experience points
1 2 Perk Points
‘Well… fuck,’ I muttered.