Cecilia led Lynn all the way out of the cultists’ main lair area.
Lynn thought that outside the exit passage would be the surface of the planet, but it turned out that beyond the cultist lair’s cavern was an even larger cavern.
This was a massive underground world, and the part occupied by the cultists was just a small fraction.
“The surface of Isstvan III was completely bombed and destroyed during the Exterminatus; the current Isstvan III only has an underground world.” The Sister of Battle beside him lifted her visor to answer Lynn’s doubts.
The face beneath the visor was indeed Sister Cecilia.
She stood in the middle of the passage, the power sword resting by her side.
The blue light on the blade slowly dimmed, and her expression was the same as always.
Lynn was still holding that bent steel pipe in his hand, wearing Imperial Guard leather armor that looked like holey, distressed fashion, his face completely covered in dirt and dust, and his toes poking out from the holes in his boots.
He looked exactly like a pitiful little vagrant.
Seeing Sister Cecilia again, he practically wanted to let out a tear.
“Sister.” Cecilia looked at him, her expression gentle as she said, “I told you I would come back.” Lynn leaned toward the majestic Sister in her power armor, who looked like an eagle, and gave her a big thumbs up!
Truly worthy of being my Big Sister!
Sister of Battle, simply strong!!!
However…
Cecilia was originally about the same height as Lynn, but after putting on the power armor, she was a head taller than before.
Lynn craned his neck to look at her, feeling like a little chick nestling beside a mother hen.
“Sister, you’re so tall now.” “There are height-boosting insoles inside the power armor’s combat boots.” “…There are height-boosting insoles inside power armor combat boots?” “Yes.” “Designed by the Emperor?” “Designed by the Emperor.” Lynn was silent for three seconds.
“The Emperor truly has great taste.” So what if there are height-boosting insoles in power armor?!
Bigger is better, bigger is stronger!!!
Cecilia sheathed the power sword on her back.
She cast a glance in the direction the cultists had retreated.
“The cultists won’t pursue for the time being.
I scouted the area before coming; this outer sector is still quite safe.” Lynn let out a sigh of relief.
Fantastic, it was safe for the time being.
God knows what kind of life he had lived these past 15 days; even a Daemon of Khorne would shed a tear for him.
Another person approached from behind Cecilia.
He wasn’t tall, and he was wearing a deep red robe, and also wearing a hooded cloak.
However, his deep red cloak was different from the tattered robes of the cultists.
His deep red robe was very neat, bearing the insignia of a cog and skull.
He wore a respirator that looked like a gas mask over his face, and his waist was covered with tools and cables.
He was an…
Adeptus Mechanicus, Tech-priest.
Or rather, a Wandering Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Wandering Magos poked his head out from behind Cecilia.
His face was mostly obscured by the gas mask, revealing only a pair of grayish-blue eyes tinged with curiosity.
His belt was hung with all sorts of wrenches, screwdrivers, welding torches, and dataslates, clinking and clanking as he walked.
“Are you the guy who was chased by hundreds of cultists for fifteen days?” His voice was young, holding the peculiar curiosity of an Adeptus Mechanicus apprentice—a bit goofy to the ear, but devoid of malice.
“You’re actually not dead?” This Sister of Battle had been in such a frantic rush, absolutely insisting on coming back to save someone; he thought she had gone mad.
Having seen all sorts of sacrifices in Warhammer 40k, he had never seen someone push a companion away to stay behind and cover the retreat, and still be alive when the companion came back to find them.
Lynn looked at Cecilia.
Who is this?
Cecilia introduced him.
“This is Brother Helix Hammer.
A wandering Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus; I met him outside.” Cecilia had found the Wandering Magos outside; he was a wandering Wandering Magos and also alone, so they could team up together.
Hammer took off his gas mask, revealing a young, somewhat freckled face.
He had grayish-blue eyes, a shallow scar across the bridge of his nose, and messy blonde hair sticking out from the edges of his hood.
He looked like he might be a few years younger than Lynn, and he still looked human, not having extensively modified himself into some bizarre cyborg.
Hammer hooked the gas mask onto his belt and nodded friendlily at Lynn.
“Hello, my name is Helix Hammer, from the Forge World of Agripinaa on the western border of the Ultramar sector.” Hmm?
Lynn’s ears perked right up.
“The Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar?
Isn’t that the Ultramarines’…” Ultramar is the Ultramarines’ sector, the Ultramarines’ happy home, encompassing thousands of planets, collectively known as the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, currently the domain of the Lord Commander of the Imperium and Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, Roboute Guilliman.
In Warhammer, the Ultramarines Legion represents “reliability,” “rationality,” and “civil servants.” Because most of their power armor is painted blue, they are affectionately called “Blue Cans” or “Smurfs” by players.
Hammer smiled; it was obvious he was also very proud of the Ultramarines, saying happily, “Yes, we are a Forge World directly under the jurisdiction of the Ultramarines Legion.” Lynn’s impression of him became extremely good in an instant.
The Ultramarines are one of the few reliable legions in Warhammer 40k that don’t casually treat civilians as cannon fodder.
Dude, someone from Ultramar, the home of the Ultramarines, must be completely solid.
Hammer went on to explain that he came to Isstvan III to search for minerals unique to this place.
Isstvan III’s underground cave system had produced some unique crystalline formations due to the Warp contamination from back then.
Those crystals couldn’t be found anywhere else; they only formed in rocks permeated by Warp energy.
He had come down with three Combat Servitors, but as a result— Sigh, he underestimated the strength of the Chaos forces here; there were far more cultists than the intel suggested.
The Combat Servitors broke down one after another, and the last one was scrapped three days ago.
He, too, was almost trapped, unable to get out.
Cecilia had been searching for reinforcements outside, but there truly was no Imperial garrison on Isstvan III.
She happened to run into Hammer, and Hammer used some materials found outside along with the wreckage of the Combat Servitors to hand-rub a rudimentary set of power armor for Cecilia.
Fortunately, the power sword and bolter used by the Combat Servitors were completely fine; the power armor being a bit rudimentary wasn’t a big problem.
Clap, clap, clap.
Lynn looked at this young wandering Wandering Magos with utmost respect and reached out to applaud him.
Hand-rubbing power armor in the middle of nowhere was impressive.
Hammer was a bit embarrassed.
“It’s just the humanoid armor plating taken off the Servitors and assembled together.
It’s not complete; it only has a basic power servo system, protective armor plates, and life support.
It doesn’t have helmet integrated displays or communication array devices.
It’s very rudimentary.” That was already impressive.
No wonder the Warhammer lore lovers called the Adeptus Mechanicus “Doraemon.” Wandering Magos plus Combat Power plus a Flashlight—very good.
The core members of their group were basically assembled.
They had everything they needed, a hexagon stat warrior team.
The three of them decided to team up.
They would walk out of the caves together, and after exiting the caves, they would hitch a ride on Hammer’s ship.
Hammer’s ship was still left outside, and then they would leave together.
Whether going to Ultramar or somewhere else, anything was better than staying here.
And the most amazing thing of all was that Hammer had a detailed map of the underground caves!!!
Hammer pulled a dataslate from his belt, tapped the screen twice, and pulled up a map.
It was exactly the map of Isstvan III’s underground caves.
“The exit of the Isstvan III underground cave system is in this direction.” Hammer pointed to a location on the map.
“This is an abandoned mineshaft leading to the surface; it’s where I came down from.
By taking this route, we can leave the cave system and return to my exploration station.” Great!
Thaniel_a_goodchild.