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

Chapter 396 I know Zhuge Liang is a man of strategy and Zhou Yu is wise
If it were me, I would hide a team of super-powerful assassins in the elevator shaft. Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at the deep well behind him, thinking darkly. This way, whether it is realizing that the target in the guard room is dying and coming down to finish him off to ensure the success of the mission, or realizing that the current round of attack has failed and waiting for the target to walk into the trap on the only way forward, it would be very convenient to suddenly appear and attack from both sides.

Santo's voice came from a little distance away. From this sentence, it can be heard that Iron Hand and Fujimaru Ritsuka are obviously thinking the same thing: "Akuldona, you will cover the rear in a moment."

The Emperor's Child nodded in agreement, and drew out from the void the Shanabal long sword* that he had been using all his life. At the same time, Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at the deep well, carefully moved towards the door on the inside and the direction where Sergeant Maxius was, and said:
"Before we go, let's check our conditions. Under the psychic power restriction environment, I'm afraid none of us can perform at our best. By the way, in my case, I can only use minor magic with questionable effects. Don't expect my combat ability to be higher than that of an 'unmodified average person'."

The Ultramarines who were still struggling with the access control system looked around blankly. After confirming that he was not among the target of this sentence, he quickly turned back and continued to pretend that he had not heard anything. When he accepted this mission, he had been informed in advance that "there is something wrong with the Imperial Saint and the guards around her. What you need to do is listen more, watch more, and don't talk." These "mission instructions" were given. He was just listening as a routine and did not take this as something that needed to be taken seriously. Who would have thought that things would come true after all these twists and turns?
He kept his mouth shut obediently, and even though the access control had been successfully lifted, he quietly waited for others to finish speaking. The Iron Hand, whose armor had changed drastically in front of him, and whose entire body looked more than one size larger than before, said: Although their current essence is subspace creatures, the shell forged with ether by Fujimaru Ritsuka's technology is very close to the nature of matter. According to his previous experience of "passing by", in the area ahead where psychic power is restricted to a certain extent, as long as he involuntarily spiritualizes, the impact he will suffer is just the long-lost restriction on the number of ammunition he can carry. Considering the narrow space of the battlefield he will face next, and the fact that he is wearing Iron Cavalry-style armor and his main weapon is the retractable power claw on his hand, Santo believes that this restriction will not hinder his combat effectiveness.

Akuldona said nothing, but raised the sword in his hand. As someone who had Sigurd's plug-in installed in his spiritual base, he didn't even use the more powerful Dawn of Destruction, which was a big problem. Perhaps it was because of this that the suppression of spiritual energy by the Black Stone had a much more obvious effect on him than on Santo, but Akuldona himself was quite optimistic about this - for him, the existence of Sigurd's spiritual base only made the strong vitality of the demons blessed by the evil god ineffective in front of him. As for the bonus in strength and skills, it was dispensable in his swordsmanship, which had already reached perfection.

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded and said nothing. In his heart, he silently cut the effectiveness of the two Space Marines (mainly Santo) who were used to showing off in front of each other to 120% and ordered them to move forward. What she didn't know was that both Akuldona and Santo had already raised her self-reported effectiveness to % based on her historical performance in the Webway.

Maxius, who really knew nothing, entered the command to open the door, and the huge and heavy golden door slid open to both sides. There was nothing unusual in the scene in front of him, and the magnificent and neat carvings on the walls on both sides of the corridor did not even make people think that "this is a prison", but considering what had just happened in the guardhouse, "no abnormality" was actually the biggest abnormality.

No one present had any doubt that this quiet corridor had been turned into a sinister killing field by the enemy. Santo, who currently enjoyed the heaviest protection, took the lead without hesitation; Maxius looked around and briefly read the atmosphere, then followed silently and stood in the second auxiliary position of the team; Fujimaru Ritsuka, the only one in the team who needed protection, followed Maxius, obviously maintaining a position that would not hinder the opponent's combat and allow the opponent to respond immediately in case of emergencies with his rich experience; Akurdona, who was the last, looked at the direction where the cart was originally located with some regret, as well as the woodcut that was now scattered on the ground and destroyed by plasma and poison crystal fragments, sighed, and followed the end of the team as Santo had just said.

The buzzing sound produced by the sharp blade cutting through the air gave Maxius a sense of danger, but he restrained himself and did not look back. This Akuldona was the guard of the Imperial Saint. As a guard, it was only natural for him to unsheathe his long sword and start to find the feel of his hand. However, Maxius's experience accumulated in the fierce battle still made him feel uneasy reflexively: a son of the emperor, holding a Shanabar long sword, with a sword flower behind him, this scene sounded very dangerous. According to past experience, if he did not do something immediately, he would probably be split in half in the next second.

Because the person involved did not show obvious symptoms, no one paid attention to the PTSD of the rebellious Primaris warrior. The whole team moved forward slowly and cautiously, so as not to be too late to react to the sudden ambush or trap. During this process, Santo asked casually while exploring the way: "Madam, you just repelled the Eldar and encountered such an assassination. What do you think about this?"

"My opinion is not important." Fujimaru Ritsuka's thoughts were obviously different from Santo's. "What matters is what the regent thinks. This is the decisive factor in deciding whether the Death Army stays or goes, or whether the Eldar survive or die."

"I don't think that's what Santo is asking." With his familiarity with the other party's experience, Akuldona successfully guessed Santo's current mood. "You may not know that this is not the first time that the Eldar have tried to make a move on his commander in front of him. He is furious now."

The last victim was Ferrus Manus during the Great Crusade. The Iron Hands Primarch was teleported away from the sight of the Morlock Guard led by Santo on the battlefield by an Eldar trap. Of course, the Primarch himself was fine and was quickly found by the Legion, but this did not prevent Santo from unilaterally regarding this as a strong shame.

Akuldona could only make rational inferences about this, and could not quite empathize with them, but he also knew that Fulgrim had also been stopped by the Eldar in some circumstances in his early years, and had been told some prophetic riddles. At that time, he was already dead, and the one who followed the Primarch was Vespasian, who in the Astronomican was not willing to mention the past before their Gene-Father betrayed him, so Akuldona only knew a rough outline. Vespasian once regretted that if they had not regarded the Eldar's prophecy as nonsense and been vigilant at the time, the result might have been different. But the die is cast, there is no if in the world...

"Then I understand what you want to ask." Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice brought Akurdona back to reality. "Normally I like to hold back, but this is a battle between humans and the elves, so I won't tolerate mercy. Kill if you have to. I've seen big scenes before."

Upon hearing this, Akurdona at the end of the team couldn't help but look back. The corridor behind him was empty, and the lumen lights emitted a bright white light amidst the faint crackling sound that only Lehman's ears could catch. Even if he didn't immediately think of the possibility of an ambush behind him, after Santo asked him to cover the rear, he certainly could have thought of this. But looking at the corridor behind him that was deliberately designed to be visible at a glance, even the decorative carvings were just marble reliefs that were close to the wall with few undulations, and even when the door was open, he could see through the guard room and the empty elevator shaft behind it. He really couldn't figure out how the enemy was going to ambush them from the rear.

Just as Akurdona was thinking about these things, Santo's voice came from the front of the team again: "Actually, that's not what I wanted to ask. Aren't you angry?"

"There's nothing to be angry about." Fujimaru Ritsuka was a little puzzled by this question. "There's no need to be angry about something that is bound to happen. But I didn't expect them to act so quickly. I'm a little surprised about that."

She paused for a moment, then decided to change her words: "Okay, I won't pretend to be magnanimous anymore. I am indeed angry. What does it mean to involve people who have nothing to do with him in the matter between Aidalad and me, Chaldea? This is not even the first time!"

"There are also destroyed woodcuts," Akuldona said quietly at the end of the line. He is not very good at drawing, but this does not prevent him from understanding the artistry of the finished prints when he sees them: "This is a loss to human civilization as a whole."

"I would rather burn them all, in exchange for the three legion servants living." Fujimaru Ritsuka said without hesitation, "Civilization is created by people. If the woodblocks are destroyed, new ones can be carved, but when people die, everything is gone. Besides, it's not a very precious thing. If it doesn't match the current situation, I would never have thought that it was a fake-" "-That was also a fake made in the second millennium." Akurdona couldn't help but interrupt, "It's less than two hundred years away from the original, and it was made by the direct descendants of the original author. I beg you to have some idea of ​​the difference in time. What you think is 'unworthy' would have become a sensational archaeological discovery even in my time. Each version is an absolutely priceless treasure."

Maxius adhered to the principle of "listen more, watch more, and don't talk". On the surface, he was very quiet, but in fact, his heart was bleeding slowly. As a Primaris Space Marine, he really didn't understand things like artistic value, which were dominated by emotional judgments. However, historical value could be easily quantified through age.

But fortunately, he was not idle on the way. None of them knew what happened in the corridor of this underground prison some time ago, but no matter what happened, the Ultramarines stationed nearby at least had a certain amount of reaction time. The most obvious sign was that the safety doors every twenty meters in the corridor all fell to the ground according to the emergency procedures, and Maxius had to manually raise each door at close range.

When they approached the first door, everything was calm and nothing happened, but although there was still nothing behind the slowly rising door, fresh battle scars had begun to appear on the walls and floor of the corridor; when the second door opened, the battle scars and broken stones were even more dense, with a large amount of blood that had just splashed out and solidified in place, obviously belonging to Space Marines; the whole team walked towards the third door with the expected heavy heart, and were not surprised to find the Ultramarines combat team originally stationed there behind the door.

- After being shattered, they were carefully and profanely arranged in a deterrent manner and evenly placed on both sides of the corridor.

"Calm down." Fujimaru Ritsuka was the first to warn, feeling very worried. She was also very angry, but she was able to control her emotions. "They just want to provoke us, so that we become reckless and lose our composure. This means that their trap is very close, so we must be extra careful next time."

Among the four people present, the one who was the most stable in the face of this situation was Maxius, who was also an Ultramarines. The cold nature of the Primaris Space Marines played its due advantage in this situation, allowing him to even stand still and calmly visually inspect the remains of all his brothers, and report: "There are only eight people here, not including Brother Linsinus. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing."

"Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, we have to keep moving forward." Fujimaru Ritsuka put her right hand into her pocket - Maxius just discovered that the skirt she was wearing actually had pockets hidden on the side - as if she was holding something, and said vigilantly, "Captain Santo, keep moving forward. You know what to pay attention to."

Of course, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't need to say much. Santo had already ordered the auspicious instrument built into the helmet to detect in all the bands he needed. Regardless of whether the Haemonculi joined this assault, it was an indisputable fact that three mortal servants had bombs buried in their bodies alive. After a brief inspection, Iron Hands was very sure that the remains of these cousins, which were roughly hung and placed on both sides of the corridor with the unique blasphemous technology of the aliens, were also placed with similar things.

"Preliminary investigation shows that there are no physical trip mines in the open space, but there are some trigger switches on the bodies on both sides." Santo made a brief comment before taking the first step forward. "In this environment, the Eldar probably can't use any witchcraft tricks. The straight line in the middle is safe."

"Is it possible to consider mine clearance?" Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't really want to move forward. "This corridor is simply putting a banner saying 'I'm going to attack from both sides here' in all of our faces."

Akurdona looked back again suspiciously, but all his senses told him that the corridor behind him, where he could still see the dark elevator shaft, was calm and nothing had happened.

Santo's voice sounded a little regretful: "The conditions are too primitive. If it were on the ground, I might be able to give it a try, but in this corridor, I lack a lot of professional equipment."

Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed and followed him resignedly: "If we were on the ground, even if all the mines nearby exploded, I could still withstand it with my psychic shield... Akurdona, especially keep an eye on the back."

"This is sixty meters away." The person who was named complained, but he was also on edge. "If we walk to the next door, it will be eighty meters away."

He did not add any further emotional explanation to this fact, and no one else spoke to refute it. In fact, no one spoke during the next short journey, and everyone held their breath until -

——There was indeed a gentle fishy breeze that was invited to flow through this straight corridor.

(End of this chapter)