How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 395: Steel Inside and Out (Physical)
The entire complex of Hera Fortress is located on the highest mountain in Macragge. This brings many inevitable consequences, such as the roads inside the complex are more complicated than those commonly seen under the influence of the three-dimensional dimension of the mountain, and the "underground facilities" of Hera Fortress are quite far away from the "ground" in the sense of the body.

How far exactly? When Fujimaru Ritsuka took Guilliman's warrant and said she wanted to go see Fulgrim, who was temporarily under house arrest underground, and was successfully released, she found that the Ultramarines had decorated this originally bare elevator to some extent, and equipped her with a soft chair and a small coffee table, on which there were fruit bowls of mixed dried and fresh fruits, as well as a small record player for entertainment. Of course, the journey of this elevator would not be longer than that of similar products used in the airport, but according to the estimate, Fujimaru Ritsuka would still be locked up in this elevator for twenty-three minutes.

In this case, when it is possible to make her life better, Fujimaru Ritsuka will never treat herself badly, not to mention that she does have a significant difference in physiological structure from the big guys around her. After the elevator started running, she sat on the soft chair without any psychological barriers, and took out a golden apple from the King's Treasury in front of everyone and ate it. After using the "subspace props" to restore her physical strength, she took out a small round mirror and a powder puff and slightly suppressed the bad complexion on her face. Then, she paid attention to the gifts she had submitted to the Ultramarines for inspection and were going to give to Fulgrim's clone. She was satisfied to learn that those things had been placed not far away, and she could use them at any time if she needed them.

Later, Fujimaru Ritsuka chose to use the time to talk to Santo about some technical matters. The Imperial Regent wanted to detain the captain of the Iron Hands during the Great Crusade as a technician. This sudden decision was indeed beyond Fujimaru Ritsuka's expectations. She had not made any plans for this, but anyway, she had no plans for "meeting Santo in the real universe" at the beginning. Therefore, she thought that she only needed to do her best here, and let Ferrus and Guilliman coordinate the rest.

Speaking of coordination between the Primarchs, it is impossible to say that Fujimaru Ritsuka does not care about the current relationship between Dorn and Guilliman. Unfortunately, time is too tight. Her expectation for this matter is that she will be successful if she can get a report from Sigismund that is questionable in accuracy. Anyway, as long as the two of them do not have a quarrel that will affect the operation of the Empire (based on Fujimaru Ritsuka's experience from the illusion, this is also difficult to happen under non-extreme circumstances), the only designated psychological counselor of the Empire's First Family will naturally be happy to be free.

Twenty minutes passed quickly, and before Fujimaru Ritsuka had time to start with the mixed fruit plate, the elevator had already reached the bottom. When the girl came out, she looked very energetic, and it was completely impossible to tell that she had just been dragged by Macragge King to stay up all night. She had just descended from a height that was almost halfway up the mountain, and immediately found that the corridor was somewhat dull - after all, this was underground. Even if the Ultramarines decided to treat the prisoners who were currently under house arrest with courtesy as much as possible, the "underground" environment, in addition to the practical problems of stagnant air and temperature and humidity, often gave people a preconceived dull impression psychologically. Coupled with the suppression of psychic power by the black stone, even people without psychic talent would feel a little creepy when walking in this area built for the detention of psychic prisoners. This is not something that can be solved by regulating the air itself. The contemporary fresh air system really cannot do anything beyond its capacity limit.

This subtle difference in the environment did not arouse anyone's suspicion, including Akuldona, who had been running back and forth between the ground and the ground in recent days. In his perception, this layer deep in the Hera Fortress was just like this, and there was no difference from the last time he visited, the time before that, and the many times before that.

Outside the elevator door is the guardhouse - a high-level prison is still a prison, and even if the soft furnishings look much better than normal, the functional facilities are still the same. Mortal servants have been waiting here with a cart. On the cart are a complete set of fifty woodcuts of the fake "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji", matching paper and ink, and printing tools. These were taken down from the Storm Edge by Chaldea before. Except for a circle of decorations on the side of the cart, the appearance seems to have not changed much compared to that time. Fujimaru Ritsuka happily came forward to see if the order of the engravings had changed, but as soon as she raised her foot, she was pressed to the ground by Santo's hand.

"Where is Brother Lincenus?" he asked the mortal servant beside the cart.

Linsenus was the think tank archivist sent by the Ultramarines to guard this level. Not only was he ordered to stay here to guard the prisoner deeper inside, he also assisted in the long-distance communication device built by Santo based on water mirror magic. Because of this, Akurdona and Santo had become familiar with this man, so they knew that if nothing special happened, even if Linsenus, as a psychic, was uncomfortable staying in this area that restricted psychic power, he would never leave his post.

Moreover, there was not only one think tank stationed here, but also a 10-man combat formation led by an adjutant. Even if something unexpected happened inside, these 12 people would not disappear from the guard room collectively. In any case, there should be at least a 5-man team stationed at the door.

Faced with this question, the mortal servants looked at each other tremblingly. One of them took a step forward, ready to answer Santo's question, but in fact, everyone present already knew that the situation was different - it was not likely that the mortal servants of the Ultramarines would show such an attitude for no reason.

At the moment the other party opened his mouth, the Ultramarine who was responsible for bringing Fujimaru Ritsuka down to this floor had already pulled out a bolter from his waist. The sound of metal friction and the black muzzle pointed at the servant's head blocked all the words that the other party wanted to say. When the other party was stunned, Santo took his hand away from Fujimaru Ritsuka. The latter obviously realized that something was wrong and did not continue to move forward. Instead, he slowly retreated, trying to retreat back into the elevator to evacuate from this space that seemed obviously wrong.

Akuldona naturally stood in front of Fujimaru Ritsuka, holding the hilt of the sword at his waist, and also retreated step by step. Without any communication, Santo consciously stood in the rearguard position, and on the eve of the retreat, he heard the Extreme Warrior beside him holding a gun and sternly asking: "What happened?"

The servant pointed at by the gun twitched his lips unnaturally, his eyeballs trembled uncomfortably, and he couldn't say a word. At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had not taken a few steps forward, had returned to the elevator and circled behind the soft chair, as if he wanted to use it as a cover that was better than nothing. Akurdona blocked the elevator entrance - they had confirmed the safety of the elevator before coming down, and in this area where no one else had approached in a short period of time, theoretically, safety was still guaranteed.

"Sergeant Maxius, it's time to go." Ritsuka Fujimaru in the elevator urged the host, "If something really happens, with just a few of us——"

"—the elevator is not safe!" A desperate shout came from the side of the cart, "They—"

——A teeth-grinding sound of metal breaking completely drowned out the unknown servant's words. The entire elevator car was shaking violently, and the anti-fall damper was screaming loudly under the floor, fulfilling the last bit of responsibility in its service life. Something - the cut traction cable on the top of the elevator - hit the ceiling with a bang, causing the entire car to sink dangerously. Half a second later, there was another sound, and a clear step had appeared between the floor and the floor of the elevator. The psychic prison was not located at the bottom of the underground facilities of the Hera Fortress. The reaction time left for the passengers in the car was no more than five seconds. After the damper was completely scrapped, the entire elevator would continue to fall into the seemingly endless underground well under the fortress.

Ritsuka Fujimaru lifted up her skirt in the shock, not caring about her manners, and rushed out from behind the chair. Akurdona nimbly moved aside the door, but because he was unsure whether his weight would have a negative impact on the situation in the elevator, he just stretched out his hand inside. The third cable hit the top of the elevator, and the entire elevator tilted dangerously to one corner in the shock, and various things in the fruit plate were scattered all over the floor. Ritsuka Fujimaru was indeed tripped by her own skirt, but she still grabbed Akurdona's gauntlet in time and was lifted up from the ground by the other party -

Another complex and loud noise, with equally terrible wind pressure and smell, hit Fujimaru Ritsuka's eardrums, causing her to reflexively close her eyes and curl herself up. The elevator car fell with a sharp metal scraping sound, and Fujimaru Ritsuka could feel it from the wind blowing behind her, but now, it was clear that more than just these things were happening near her - there were also several loud noises coming from the direction of the guard room, which were extremely short and almost overlapping.

She was dragged to the ground by Akultona. The raised areas on the man's arm armor hurt her ribs, but now was obviously not the time to complain. A strong smell of blood hit her face and first entered her nose. Fujimaru Ritsuka opened her eyes and found that the air was dyed a subtle yellow-green color. She couldn't help but dry heave, but felt that this feeling of nausea did not seem to come entirely from the overly strong blood. "Captain Santo? Sergeant Maxius?" While calling the roll, Fujimaru Ritsuka observed Akultona closely, and after confirming that he was fine, he turned his gaze to the inside of the guardhouse, "Is everything okay?"

"Still alive." Santo's angry voice came from the rapidly spreading yellow-green mist, "Pay attention to the airtightness of the armor, there is some poisonous gas from the explosion."

Fujimaru Ritsuka originally wanted to ask "what exploded", but after getting around Akurdona and taking in the whole view of the guard room, she naturally realized the answer to this question: the three mortal servants who were originally guarding the cart "exploded" as the elevator car fell. Now, all that was left was a mass of bloody and smeared meat all over the floor and walls. The single molecular fine wire that expanded in an instant carefully cut them into indistinguishable pieces, no longer in human form. In addition, the toxic smoke that spread rapidly and stubbornly lingered in the air and refused to fall, as well as the overturned cart and the poison crystal chips that stuck like hedgehogs on the nearby walls, also showed the determination of the party who set the trap to kill.

The one who took the most damage from the explosion was Santo. When he realized that something was wrong with the three servants, he quickly switched to his Spiritual Mode, swapped out the Iron Cavalry Terminator armor of the Morlock Guard, took a step forward on his own, opened the magnetic lock and withstood the most impact and shrapnel damage. The Ultramarines who came with him as a guide did not have this confidence, but the Primaris's reaction allowed him to make defensive evasions in time, and he only had to bear the damage that had been weakened by Santo. In the absence of particularly unfortunate coincidences, he did not suffer any damage more serious than the damage to his self-esteem.

"Sir?" Maxius looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was unprotected in the poison gas, with great concern. Then he was very confused to find that the other party did not show any signs of being affected and was actually caring about others:
"You're covered in poison crystals." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Santo, who turned around and looked like a hedgehog, and said worriedly, "Is there no problem with the toxins?"

"This will not affect my combat effectiveness." Santo said calmly with a hint of pride, "These physical injuries are not enough to penetrate the steel defense. The actual damage caused to me is very minor."

"But you look really scary now." Akurdona sighed in his helmet, and the loudspeaker amplified the trembling in the airflow, making his words sound like a mockery that had nothing to do with him. This made Santo turn his head and throw him an angry look.

Maxius looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka in confusion. Not only was she not in any abnormality, her two guards took it for granted that she was not in any abnormality. Even Santo, who had warned him that the air was poisonous, was the same. He stood there for several seconds, watching the little girl complain while circling around Akuldona, trying to pull out the combat dagger (to Fujimaru Ritsuka, it was a two-handed sword) from the Space Marine's belt, and began to deal with the hem of her skirt from the knee. It was not until the sound of tearing silk that he realized what he should do amid Santo's cold snort.

In any case, Hera Fortress is the fortress monastery of the Ultramarines Chapter. As an Ultramarines, Maxius should naturally take responsibility in such an emergency. He walked around the mess in front of him and walked towards the control console in the guard room amid the regretful complaints of Fujimaru Ritsuka while he was fixing the hem of his skirt. This console can only be regarded as a regional control terminal, and the central control is farther away from the prison itself. He wanted to use the internal communication above (wireless signal transmission is difficult in underground facilities) to call for support, but when he accessed the system with his own identification code, he found that all the lines connected to the console, including but not limited to the internal communication, had been physically cut off in advance.

"I suggest that we leave here now, go to the adjacent area through the passage inside the prison, use the control console there to call for support and leave by elevator." The Ultramarines proposed what he thought was the best strategy at this stage, and then was mocked by Iron Hands:

“Given that we are unlikely to be able to climb up the elevator shaft, this is of course our only option.” Santo sounded unhappy, and this was clearly a displeasure directed at the Ultramarines. “I guarantee that the people who set this trap to ambush us thought the same thing.”

Akurdona's thoughts were not on this line. He did not speak, but looked a little worried. The person who answered was Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had finally changed his long skirt into a half skirt manually and returned the combat dagger: "But considering that we - mainly me - really can't climb up the elevator shaft, we have no choice but to go this way. Captain Santo, considering that we will definitely have at least one tough battle to fight next, I strongly suggest that you wait until we return to the safe area before expressing your negative opinions on other aspects."

The next step was thus determined. Everyone no longer minded the mess in the guard room, and Maxius began to approach the door leading inside. Because the control console was completely out of order, all the doors at the checkpoints along the way had to be opened manually on site. Maximus, who did not belong to this system, did not have the identification code to open the door, but the warrant issued by the Primarch during this temporary visit mission was barely usable.

"I don't think you need to be too nervous." While waiting for the Servitor to recognize the command to open the door, Fujimaru Ritsuka comforted him in a relaxed manner, "I'm sure that the situation in the fortress is much more tense than ours."

"...What do you mean?" Akurdona couldn't help asking, "Have you made any plans?"

"No," Fujimaru Ritsuka replied calmly, "but Sigismund is still upstairs, isn't he?"

——The thick rock layer under the ground will block the transmission of electromagnetic signals, but it cannot block the distance-ignoring contract telepathy. Fujimaru Ritsuka has already informed the black knight who did not follow him down about his experience, and he will contact support from the upper level of the fortress. But things are not as easy as she said. After all, the road ahead of them will pass through the Black Stone Prison where psychic prisoners are imprisoned.

Rock layers cannot block contract telepathy, but black stone can.

(End of this chapter)