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

Chapter 415: Meaningless (Part )
Although the fact that "monsters made of ether will not leave corpses after death" is the same in both Fujimaru Ritsuka's original world and this universe, for Pegasus and others, after killing the monster, they can immediately see it turn into glowing dust-like ether particles, dissipating cleanly without even a trace of blood left, which is also a relatively novel experience.

But this was not a very serious problem, and no one was delayed for more than a second. After the battle, the first person to speak was Pegasus, who was mainly responsible for output when facing the Queen Sphinx: "This doesn't seem to be very difficult."

If I were to describe the incident in more detail, after Fujimaru Ritsuka dodged the first round, he immediately hit the Queen Sphinx with a Gandr magic bullet that even a god would be controlled for a round. Then, Pegasus, who had the fastest reaction, rushed forward in one step, and with almost no running start, he jumped more than three meters high and chiseled the flaming sword in his hand directly into the top of the Queen Sphinx's head.

It seemed that the problem was not difficult to solve. At least Pegasus, who had landed again, was very relaxed. Fujimaru Ritsuka was not sure whether the opponent was making the same mistake as Fulgrim, so he could not help but remind him: "That's because we are only facing a lone one this time."

After retrieving the sword from the ether wreckage, Pegasus, who was holding the sword in a relaxed manner, froze for a moment: "What do you mean by 'the lone one'?"

"Um, I wonder if you have noticed that these little creatures we carry with us -" Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped beside Amit and gestured at the small animals that were previously assigned to the other three people, "- they are called 'Cosmic Sphinx Cub'? I know that everyone has read "Oedipus Rex", so it is normal to think that the Sphinx is a single monster that will block the road in the form of riddles. But in fact, the Sphinx is a group with many different subspecies, and it lives widely throughout the temple. It is not uncommon to pass by six or seven when walking along a road."

This statement made the other people in the team couldn't help but lower their heads and stare at the young Cosmic Sphinx beside them for a while.

"I want to draw the scene just now." Akurdona couldn't help but say, and then he held the belly of the little sphinx with one hand, lifted it into the air, and asked Fujimaru Ritsuka: "So, will these little guys grow that big in the future?"

"In theory, yes. They may even be bigger than the one just now." The latter replied, "But in reality, I have kept them for a long time. At least in my case, their size has never changed. But I have also seen an adult one. That species has long-range attack methods. If you really encounter one, you must pay special attention to its line of sight."

"But this thing doesn't even have a face, how can we confirm its sight?" Nasir said with disdain, and then he was hit by a cat punch from the top of his head. Although it had no face, the little Sphinx still cried twice in displeasure, sounding like a little lion that hadn't tamed its vocal cords yet.

"It depends on the angle of the head and how you feel." Fujimaru Ritsuka gave an ambiguous answer. "Theoretically, this species is considered to be the pharaoh's personal followers. We shouldn't encounter them in our next trip. But in reality, the temple has become like this. It's hard to say that my previous experience can be used as a reference."

Nasir wanted to continue talking about this topic, but at this moment, Amit poked his crocodile-like mouth near Fujimaru Ritsuka. The Space Marine changed the topic with a look of disgust: "Can you stay away from that thing, or let that thing stay away from you?"

"What? Because you are all called Amit, so you don't like Him?" Fujimaru Ritsuka said deliberately jokingly, then patted the Egyptian beast beside him, and gently signaled it to go to the direction of Dendera's Lantern first to lead the way for the entire team.

Nasir looked even more unhappy because of this sentence: "I may not know where it came from or what the background is, but my senses clearly tell me that it smells like death."

"Because Amit is essentially the rule of the 'Judgment of the Underworld', your feeling is not wrong." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "But I have no problem, I still have the protection of the God of the Underworld. I think Pegasus may need to pay more attention to this issue. It is best for the living not to stay too close to Amit for too long."

Pegasus, who was named, turned his head and took another look at Amit, who was walking slowly forward, and raised his eyebrows. He obviously had some thoughts on this, but he didn't say much on this issue. The topic he brought up next was obviously much more constructive than what Nasir had brought up: "You let it lead us to find the Dendera Lamp. Aren't we giving priority to the issue of the owner of the temple?"

"The current situation of Ozymandias does not look very optimistic, so I want to deal with the problems that are likely to be dealt with quickly first." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered, and took the lead to catch up with Amit's slow pace. "I wanted to ask Queen Sphinx about the current situation of Ozymandias, but unfortunately, after being polluted, she did not give me this opportunity. The Sphinx in the temple can be regarded as the spirit of Ozymandias to a certain extent. From this point of view, it is difficult to say the status of the pharaoh himself. Besides, I don't think that such a proud person would allow other armed forces to enter his territory to assist in defense, not even the Iron Warriors. In the worst case, I think he may have lost his self-awareness. Tzeentch, who was able to control the overall situation of the temple, must have made moves everywhere. Even if we can cheat with Amit and the little Sphinx and bypass these mechanisms to find the way to the throne room directly, I am not very optimistic about the outcome of this matter."

On the one hand, they really didn't know how many monsters would block them along the way; on the other hand, the magic resistance of the entire team was really worrying. If they were greeted by Sphinxes mixed with Iron Warriors and Tzeentch Demons on the road to the temple; or if Tzeentch simply sent two wizards to the side of Ozymandias' throne, she would have a hard time clearing the field with just cannons, let alone finding a way to solve the mechanism...

It's not that he couldn't fight, but Fujimaru Ritsuka still felt that it was not safe to fight like this. It would be better to wait until Arjuna, who was walking alone and clearing out the Iron Warriors' positions one by one around the outer perimeter of the temple to clear the way for the Ultramarines' support, completed his task, and then use a Command Spell to call him over before starting this instance.

But Akurdona obviously disagrees on this issue: "Isn't that perfect? ​​This way, you don't have to hesitate when facing Ozymandias. I don't think our team can't kill anything under this premise."

Indeed, after all, there is a Pegasus who is almost equal to the Primarch in the team. But Fujimaru Ritsuka still looked at Akuldona with sorrow: "Unfortunately, many magical issues cannot be solved by a sharp sword. If the Grand Temple had not been contaminated by Tzeentch, I could boldly summon the Spiritual Shadow, and of course I could rush straight to the throne room without hesitation. But in this situation, facing the immortality of Ozymandias, I can only use two or three special attack resources through Ortenaus in a short period of time, so I must plan more carefully."

"Two or three." Although Akurdona caught up, he still didn't give up. "Isn't that enough?"

"That's enough, Akuldona." It was Pegasus who stopped him. "Not every bullet fired can accurately hit the weak spot that will kill it with one shot. Miss Fujimaru is obviously more familiar with how to fight the current enemy than us, whether it is the master of this temple or the Chaos Demon."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded gratefully to Pegasus, who returned the greeting gracefully, with no emotion on his face. After this sentence, Akuldona barely calmed down, but still couldn't help muttering: "I have killed many Tzeentch demons."

Apparently, both Pegasus and Nasir heard these mutterings. The latter sneered at this, but didn't say much. But the former kept frowning, as if he was holding back something to say. Moreover, after a short period of hesitation, Pegasus finally chose to speak:
"Akuldona, are you being a little frivolous in your attitude towards your current chief officer?"

Judging from the identities of both parties involved in this sentence, as well as the subtle relationship between the purple Phoenix clone and the eldest son of the Phoenix, Pegasus's words could be understood as a question or a reprimand. However, because this relationship was so subtle, he deliberately spoke in a very gentle tone, and to those who were not involved, it seemed that this was just a slightly exaggerated joke in the choice of words and sentences: "If the real Fulgrim had treated Ferrus Manus in the same way when he sent the Second Company to the Iron Hands Alliance, then even I would probably have screamed for him."

After hearing this, Akuldona shuddered and immediately reflexively retorted loudly: "Your Majesty, I swear to the Emperor that I have never done anything disrespectful to the Primarch of Iron Ten!" After saying this, he immediately realized what the first half of Pegasus's sentence was accusing, so he turned to Fujimaru Ritsuka: "Madam! I have absolutely no intention of disrespecting you!" Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had climbed onto Amit's back again, turned around and smiled for a while at Akuldona, who thought he had fallen into a trap of death and was panicking, before explaining: "Of course I know, Akuldona, I don't think there is anything wrong with the attitude you used when talking to me. I am not a Primarch, but I am honored to be the Saint of the Empire thanks to the Emperor. If you really speak to me with the same respectful attitude as you spoke to Mr. Ferrus, I would feel goosebumps on my back."

After Fujimaru Ritsuka finished speaking, he confirmed that Akurdona had indeed heard it, and then turned to Pegasus: "Thank you for pointing out this problem, Mr. Pegasus. After returning, I will pay attention to it when attending public occasions."

Pegasus nodded awkwardly, not intending to go down the stairs directly and pretend that the whole thing had never happened: "Sorry, I am nosy."

"It's normal to want to correct something that doesn't match your experience when you see it happening." Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at the gate of a temple that was getting closer and closer to the team, and comforted them in a relaxed manner, "When you first arrive in a new environment, even a Primarch will definitely take time to adapt. If you don't believe me, go ask Mr. Robert later. The Emperor told me that he had a very painful time adapting to the Empire in the past hundred years."

Pegasus nodded randomly and said nothing. Thinking of what happened between Fulgrim and Guilliman in Thessara, he felt that he could not respond to this - he was indeed not Fulgrim, but the touch of Fulgrim's scimitar cutting Guilliman's throat was still clearly retained in his memory.

Even if there was no response, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't mind singing a little monologue, and this voice just happened to pull Pegasus out of those memories that didn't belong to him: "But when it comes to adapting to the new environment, I think Lord Dorn can adapt faster than Mr. Robert. Do you want to bet?"

"No!" Nasir answered firmly, "No one here will play these 'bat games' with you."

Fujimaru Ritsuka made a frustrated sound because of this answer. At the same time, the shadow cast by the intact Dendera Temple had already covered the entire team's head. Considering the sun's altitude angle shown by the false sky of the Great Temple, these shadows can only barely exist at the foot of a high enough building. The towering walls are decorated with gems and pigments, and there are intricate and exquisite murals on the huge lintels. The inscriptions on the stele originally recorded some stories or deeds related to the temple itself in hieroglyphics, but now, these words seem to come alive, sneering and running around, wantonly tampering with the original records, or simply making the entire text disappear from its original position, refusing to be so easily interpreted.

But it didn't matter, since there were no archaeologists in the team anyway. Outside the door, no one paid attention to the missing words on the stone tablet. After entering the door, no one in the team had any extra interest in the murals that made distorted whispers. But they were still forced to notice that the flames in the braziers set up in the corridors for sacrifice and lighting had turned into the blue of the Usurper Heaven, and the symbols and murals symbolizing Tzeentch overshadowed the Egyptian gods. The erosion of the Lord of Change seemed to be more serious inside the temple, at least it felt that way. Although the little sphinxes were still well-behaved and obedient, they also seemed a lot more nervous after entering the temple. Amit even walked and stopped, and carefully weighed every intersection. The Dendera Lamp was originally stored in the underground structure of the Great Temple. Fujimaru Ritsuka had already informed everyone in the team of this before setting off. But now, Amit seemed to be leading the entire team to climb up one level of stairs after another.

"Is this really the right path?" Nasir was the first to speak, unable to hold back. "Or have the laws of physics changed here? Are we actually walking upside down?"

"I don't know either." Fujimaru Ritsuka said frankly, "But at least in the temple, I trust Amit and the little sphinxes' perception more than our own sense of direction."

"Don't you really think it's taking us in circles sometimes?"

"Nasir, I suggest you be more aware of the weight of a Space Marine with the Terminator armor."

"how?"

"No one needs to accidentally trigger the mechanism. When someone like you walk on the pit trap, the floor will be crushed and you will fall into the pit full of spears below. The trap is magic and conceptual damage. I'm not sure your armor will be useful."

Nasir wanted to say more, but before he could open his mouth, the subtle movement of the auspicious instrument in his helmet first attracted his attention. Although the walls of the Great Temple had a defensive power that was inconsistent with the characteristics of its building materials, they did not have the shielding ability to prevent the auspicious instrument from exploring through the walls. Therefore, he caught a glimpse of a lone Astartes running past them in another corridor separated from them by a wall.

"What happened?" asked Fujimaru Ritsuka, who did not carry any similar equipment. Pegasus answered the question: "Someone ran down the corridor next to it. Astarte, it doesn't seem like a normal marching speed."

Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka cautiously slid down from Amit's back and took out the Sky Eagle Scepter from thin air: "Is there any intersection between the corridor next to us?"

Amit didn't respond to the question in any form, but it seemed to grow a little bigger, took two more steps forward, opened its crocodile-like mouth, and roared towards the seemingly empty corridor ahead.

Almost at the same time as it roared, the temperature of the entire space dropped a little out of thin air - not the physical heat loss caused by the psychics in this universe when they drew power from the subspace, but a kind of sensory cold that would penetrate into the souls of the living. By this, Fujimaru Ritsuka already knew that the enemy they would face next was probably something like a living mummy or a ghostly undead, so he called Akuldona and Amit. As a cursed army in a broad sense, their long-range weapons can basically be regarded as firing bullets blessed by the Emperor, and they also have some special attacks against undead creatures.

However, before the mummy or the undead appeared in their sight, the empty sound of power boots hitting the bluestone floor appeared out of thin air and approached quickly. From the darkness deep in the corridor and the blue-green firelight on both sides, the first to appear was a lone Iron Warrior - without a helmet, revealing his face covered with hideous scars, running for his life with a string of wailing ghosts, and no one knew what he had bumped into before.

Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others did not expect to see a lone Iron Warrior in the temple, so they were somewhat stunned. But the Iron Warrior obviously did not expect to see such a group of people in the temple, so he was stunned for a longer time. Unfortunately, the latter did not have the capital to delay for so long - after just a moment of delay, the vengeful spirits behind him quickly approached him, and the naturally generated vengeful spirit phenomenon caused frost to form on his armor, and his life was in danger.

On one side was the deadly attacks of the Undead, and on the other side was a team that was clearly not friendly. For any Space Marine, this meant a very difficult decision. Fujimaru Ritsuka originally wanted to make a choice for the other party, to be the first to speak up and save people, to talk first and see; but at the moment of life and death, this Iron Warrior was obviously not trapped by this difficulty - he made the decision even faster than Fujimaru Ritsuka:
"I surrender!" This man's decisive attitude went straight to the heart of the matter: "I'll tell you whatever you want to know! Save me!"

(End of this chapter)