Something is wrong.
I look around with a frown on my face. Even Rita and Orgustine Zola also wear the same frown as I. The reason? The area is empty and silent. Underhive is not the same as overhive. Underhive never silences. There will always be sounds in this part of the hive.
From workers trying to finish their duty to mutated animals trying to eat humans in this place.
However, at the moment, there is nothing: no sounds, no mutated animals, and no heretics.
I look at Zola and say.
"How is the scanner? Catch anything on the Auspex?"
She shakes her head, and I can see her frown get deeper as she looks at the auspex in her hand in frustration.
"No, Your Holiness. There is nothing."
"I have a bad feeling about this. Tell the others to stop. We will wait here while we wait for the Scout Marines to return."
Scout Marines comprise the newest Space Marine recruits, who wear lighter armor and are tasked with scouting ahead for the others. Each company typically has one or two scouts assigned to gain experience and assist the company to which they are sent.
They are coming from the 10th Company, or the recruiting company. This is the company that handles the recruitment for the entire Chapter. Most of the members of this company are usually Neophytes doing their final trial.
What is a Neophyte? It is an adolescent recruit of Space Marines.
They are the people who will soon be Space Marines. The one in the 10th company? The majority of them are Neophytes who are currently undergoing their final trials or have just graduated from them.
The one coming with us? They are fresh Space Marines.
They may not have the extensive experience of the other Space Marines, but they are still transhuman beings who can accomplish feats that normal humans cannot. They can also be very sneaky.
Their charcoal-like skin, a result of the radiation from their homeworld, helps them blend into the darkness of the underhive. Not only that, they can walk without making any sounds for people that massive.
If the Salamander acts like this, I shudder a little at the thought of the chapter that specializes in infiltration and assassination, like the Raven Guard or the Alpha Legion.
"Your Holiness!"
I snap from my thoughts and look at Zola.
"What is it?"
"The Scout Marines are returning."
She looks to the side, and it does not take long before I see five humans leave the dark tunnel. The leading scout gives me a salute and says.
"Sir!"
"Report."
"We explored 2 kilometers west as you asked us, and found something you needed to see."
I can see a hologram appear in front of him, and I see a group of pictures of something disturbing. Bloods, innards, and heretical symbols carved on the ground, the wall, and even on the machines.
However, something is missing from the picture.
"There is no corpse in here."
"Yes. The person responsible for this needs the corpses for a specific purpose. The purpose that we don't know about. I think we have ideas of what kind of thing they want to do, and all of them are something we cannot allow to happen."
I look at the others and say.
"Let's move out. We need to make sure whoever is doing this cannot continue."
"Yes!"
==| Line Break |==
Yeah. Something is wrong with this place. I make sure to check the scanner every few seconds, making sure nothing is hidden somewhere. However, there is nothing other than the eerie emptiness of the area.
Sadly, this kind of feeling starts to change as we get deeper and see what the Scout Marines saw before.
I can see blood and organs splattered on the ground. On the wall and on the ground, I can see heretical symbols carved, pulsating with foul energy. My medallion vibrates in the presence of these things.
With a wave of my hand, I summon my [Banishing Fire] and cleanse the area. It eats through the corpse and leaves nothing behind.
'Canto, can you see anything?'
|So far, nothing. Most of the cameras in this area have been destroyed by someone. I cannot see anything. I also cannot access the storage data from one of the Cogitators, or the Tech Priests will notice me.|
This is why I prefer working alone. At least I can use everything I have without hesitation.
'Keep me updated, Canto.'
|Of course, Kael.|
I order the others to spread out, but not too far away from the main group, to search for clues. I even get off the APC to search for clues. I take a deep breath and start to listen to the machines around me.
I can hear the singing of the Machine Spirits. However, as I dig deeper, I can hear something other than singing. I can see screams among the machine spirits in this area. I frown a little at that and follow its sound.
The others follow my lead as we go southeast of the area. I follow the sound, but stop when we encounter a dead end. I look at the scanner, and it notices something. Either something is blocking my scanner, or they are using a psychic-based technique.
Because of the large amount of chaos-based psychic energy in here, the psychic-detection medallion is also useless.
"Spread out. Something is here. Be careful of traps."
We spread out and check every corner, and turn everything that can be turned. After a few seconds of searching, one of the guardians found something. It is a small, hidden entrance. It is seventy centimeters in diameter, and it leads us to a hidden underground facility.
I frown a little and look at the scanner. It does not catch the entrance, and according to it, there is nothing in front of us. Whatever hides this thing, it can fool my tech. I need to upgrade my scanner. It has been a while since I used my [Tinker–Analysis] ability.
"Make the tunnel bigger." I turn to Zola and continue. "Call the others. We will enter with a reinforcement."
There are only fifty of us, and I have a bad feeling about this. My instinct tells me that we need more people before we enter this tunnel.
And I always trust my instincts while staying in this world because, so far, they have always been right. Currently, it is screaming at me to wait for reinforcement before investigating the tunnel.
==| Line Break |==
"The machine spirits are screaming. What kind of abomination is causing them to scream like this?!"
Enginseer Kayex-8 growls at the sight around us, and I must agree. As we enter the tunnel and follow it deep underground, the sound of the machine spirits gets louder. All of them are screaming, screaming in pain as if they are being tormented by something.
"Whoever they are, we shall kill them. This kind of pain is something that should never happen. Even the oldest machine spirit who experiences the worst treatment will never scream like this."
Kayex-8 nods his head and says.
"You are right, Omnissiah. However, we also need to purge the machine spirits and give them the rest they deserve."
I nod and continue to walk through the tunnel. The Ogryn stand tall in the front while holding massive Slab Shields, preparing to take anything approaching us. The Scout Marines standing behind them, looking out for enemies hidden in the darkness.
After another minute of walking, we arrive in a massive dome-like room. It is massive, two hundred meters tall to reach the ceiling from the ground, and five hundred meters in diameter. There are countless machines inside the room, and all the machine spirits inside are screaming in pain. I wince a little at the sound of them. However, what caught our attention was a four-meter-tall thing in the middle of the room.
It's unmistakably humanoid, with two arms, two legs, a head perched atop a hunched torso, but every detail makes it impossible to call it human. Flesh and metal are fused wrongly as the metal itself pulsates like a human heart beating inside a human.
Its limbs are asymmetrical. One arm ends in something once resembling a hand, fingers replaced by welded prongs and surgical tools crusted with dried blood. The other is a mass of pistons and cables wrapped in muscle that contracts and twitches even when still, as if the flesh is trying—and failing—to remember how to move naturally.
It stops whatever it is doing and turns around to face us. The sound of metal scraping can be heard throughout the room, accompanied by the sound of wet flesh hitting the ground.
"Kill it!"
I bark an order, and immediately the others start to fire their weapons at the abomination. Bolts, lasers, flamer, and plasma fly toward the abomination. The abomination screams in pain and slowly melts.
However, it suddenly screams, and the entire underground starts to shake.
I widen my eyes and move. I summon my Boosted Gear and put [Desert Logia], [Primordial Earth], and [Viltrumite Physiology] into the ability slots.
"Boost"
A surge of power courses through my body, and I summon a massive amount of sand using my [Desert Logia] ability, and harden it as much as possible using the [Primordial Earth]. It is just in time, as the entire underground facility begins to collapse as the abomination grows larger.
I grunt a little as I feel the weight of the underground facility fall into the dome I made. If not for my [Desert Logia] ability that allows me to turn the stone into sand, I think we are toast. I continue to turn all the stones above the dome into sand and let us get out of the underground facility.
I create a small hole that sees the sun above us. However, what makes me grit my teeth is the abomination that grows into a hundred-meter abomination made of flesh and steel.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"
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