Cecilia’s pupils dilated slightly.
“Thank you.” She nodded slightly, as if receiving an unexpected but very precious gift.
The fire burned for a while longer.
The planet rotated to its dark side, the grayish-white light gradually disappeared, and night fell on the Hive City.
Only this fire shone in the darkness, providing a little light and warmth.
Cecilia suddenly spoke, her voice somewhat gentler than before: “Actually, I saw light just now.” Lynn was taken aback for a moment.
“What?” “Light.
Before you came, I occasionally saw a bit of light from that direction in the distance.
It was very weak, but very bright.
Not the red light of the cultists, but white light.” Cecilia looked at Lynn.
“Was it you?” “Oh, that.” Lynn scratched his head and then smiled in embarrassment.
He thought he had hidden himself very well but had forgotten that light is extremely conspicuous in the darkness.
He had been using the flashlight inside the Hive City these past few days.
Even though they were far apart, Cecilia must have discovered him long ago.
Cecilia asked, “Is that your ability?
What abilities do you have?” Lynn said, “My psychic power is very weak right now; I don’t have much of an ability.
I can only turn on a light.” Saying this, Lynn summoned the flashlight to demonstrate willing it to light for Cecilia.
Cecilia had already assumed he was a very weak Psyker, so she wasn’t much surprised by Lynn saying he was very weak.
She had already prepared for Lynn to be completely useless, but Lynn summoning this ability actually gave her a pleasant surprise.
She looked at the stable, clean, impurity-free white light in Lynn’s palm.
“…Not bad; this ability is quite good.” “What’s good about it?
This is all I can do.” Lynn turned his hand over, and the light moved with his hand.
Lynn made a fist, and the light became a beam, like a lightsaber, but only good for bluffing.
“It can’t hit people, can’t block knives, and has absolutely zero attack power.
I’m just a human-shaped flashlight.” He raised the flashlight next to his face, shining it from bottom to top, and made a funny face: “Look, Sister, it’s like a horror movie effect.” Cecilia didn’t laugh.
She looked gently at the orb of light and reached out her hand.
The light fell on her fingers, illuminating her skin until it looked translucent.
“It’s a very clean light, without the smell of the Warp.” Lynn had no idea what kind of light could have the “smell of the Warp,” but sounding like it had no Warp smell was probably a good thing.
But.
“A good light is useless if I can’t fight.
I’ve been chased all over the place by those cultists these past few days.” Cecilia said, “Incorrect.” Actually, this ability is somewhat useful in an underground cave world.
The cultist camp was in the underground cave system; the cave system was very large, and many places had no light.
Although light is not a weapon, not something that can be directly used in combat, it can illuminate the darkness.
On this planet polluted by the Warp and swarming with cultists, the mere ability to illuminate the darkness was already a massive luxury.
Humans cannot survive in the dark.
Only by being able to see the path, the exits, or their patrol routes could they survive the encirclement of the Chaos cultists.
Listening to this, Lynn felt it kind of made sense.
Cecilia then continued: “Furthermore, cultists are accustomed to the darkness.
Their eyes are very sensitive in the dark, and encountering bright light suddenly will cause temporary blindness.
Although your light isn’t considered strong, suddenly shining it in complete darkness is enough to make them flinch for a moment, and that’s enough time to move.” “That makes sense too.” Lynn cheered up.
In some respects, a flashlight is also a hard necessity.
If his first entry draw had actually been a combat skill, his situation might not be any better than it is now.
…
After exchanging pleasantries, Lynn had no combat ability, and Cecilia had no light.
If the two of them acted alone, it would be very inconvenient.
So, the two of them decided to form an alliance.
Cecilia would act as Lynn’s bodyguard, and Lynn would be Cecilia’s illuminator.
They would cooperate to break through the Chaos cultist encirclement outside, escape, and find an exit.
As long as they could leave this godforsaken underground cave, they would try to find a spaceship, contact the outside world, and definitely find a way to escape from Isstvan III.
Lynn and Cecilia shook hands again.
Warriors clasping forearms; then it was settled.
…
** …
They got right to work.
They sorted out the remaining supplies, carried everything on them, and stood at the entrance of the cave system once again.
Their main task now wasn’t to fight those Chaos cultists, but to avoid them and evade combat as much as possible; as long as they could find the exit in the end, that would do.
Lynn looked at the Sister of Battle, who was about the same height as him, and felt a bit more at ease in his heart.
A Battle Nun was an experienced and capable teammate whose faith was harder than steel.
The Battle Nuns are among the top-tier ruthless warriors of the Imperium of Man; they would definitely be able to get out!
Cecilia turned and asked Lynn, “Ready?” Lynn said robustly, “Not ready, but I can still hold on.” Cecilia smiled slightly.
What’s so funny?
Lynn felt he was just being very honest.
He was just a bit panicked but could still hold on.
Cecilia’s sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, revealing sturdy forearms.
Her vertical pupils glowed faintly in the dark, producing a weak night-vision effect in low-light environments.
The golden pupils looked like two polished copper beans.
Cecilia’s weapons and equipment had been confiscated before she was dropped down.
Now she held a piece of rebar picked up from the abandoned Hive City in her right hand.
One end of the rebar had been sharpened.
With Cecilia holding it and standing there, that piece of rebar looked like a holy sword in her hand.
Before moving forward, Cecilia prayed in a low voice: “My Emperor, grant me Your righteous fury and raging strength.
May I become a storm, and thoroughly purge the enemies from Your sight.” It was a Sister of Battle’s war prayer.
Reciting this prayer seemed to give her strength, and then she took a firm step forward, stepping into the darkness of this cave.
Lynn was originally still watching the Sister of Battle pray; seeing Cecilia walk away, he suddenly snapped back to his senses, hurriedly followed, sticking closely behind her, and promptly turned on his light.
The flashlight remained stable, the white light paving a small circular field of illumination around them.
Outside the field of illumination, there was still bottomless darkness.
But he had to admit, having the Sister of Battle by his side this time, Lynn truly felt much safer.
He was truly just an ordinary kid before; the most rebellious thing he had ever done was skipping school to play video games.
He’d never experienced true darkness, and he was afraid of everything.
For a kid like him, who grew up in a peaceful era under the red flag, to suddenly become so adept at Warhammer would be truly abnormal.
…
The cave was still the same cave: dark and damp, with slippery moss growing on the stone walls, and the air filled with that foul, fishy stench like rotting and spoiling blood that Lynn never wanted to smell a second time in his life.
Chaos cultists, ptui!
Cecilia walked in front, her footsteps very light, like a feline’s, so quiet they were almost inaudible.
While walking, she would stop from time to time, turning her ear to listen to any movement around them, and then continue walking.
Lynn had absolutely no objections.
When Cecilia walked, he followed; when Cecilia stopped, he stopped.
A Sister of Battle’s ears are trained; it’s said they can distinguish the sound of an enemy reloading a magazine amidst the roar of gunfire.
This claim might be a bit exaggerated, but Cecilia could indeed hear things he couldn’t, like the Chaos entities that occasionally popped up in the dark.
Lynn also tried hard to identify the route.
He had been chased by Chaos cultists before and roughly remembered the way.
They walked for a while.
Then, at the end of a passage, Cecilia stopped and noticed something.
“There’s wind.” Lynn felt it too.
The air carried a faint, cool scent of dirt and grass leaves, flowing over from a cave entrance ahead and gently brushing past his face.
Fresh air was flowing; it was outside air.
As everyone knows, the best way to walk out of an underground cave is to chase the wind.
Lynn’s heart gave a violent leap; he raised the flashlight a bit higher and shone it forward.
This cave entrance wasn’t large either, about two meters high and two meters wide.
The passage inside extended diagonally, its end out of sight, but the wind was blowing from exactly that direction.
The exit—it had to be the exit!
At the very least, it had to be an underground river or a cave ventilation shaft!
Thaniel_a_goodchild.