Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 195 "The Gravedigger"

Outside the silver spiral tower in the third level of the "Land of Chaos," Black Wolf, after countless nightmare cycles, had completely given up on the idea of ​​escaping.

It had been waiting for the black-armored giant to appear, but it never did.

The black wolf didn't know how much time had passed, but it could sense that time was passing here, but unlike the outside world, there was no boundary between light and darkness.

The place it is in is also influenced by certain rules, and is shaped into a constantly repeating scene.

This place, like the dream it creates, is an independent space where it's difficult to define what constitutes a day.

Black Wolf was in a daze, unaware of how much time had passed, when he heard footsteps.

It suspected it was still in a nightmare until the black-armored giant walked up to it, at which point it weakly turned its neck to look.

Black Wolf's eyes narrowed as he saw a scene completely different from before.

The black-armored giant appeared before him, holding up something that looked like amber in both hands.

The black wolf immediately sprang to its feet, both expectant and fearful. It hoped the nightmare would end, yet worried that a new nightmare was about to begin.

It stammered, "I really...I really want to be your pet."

"it is good."

Ning Lu spoke up, saying that he didn't feel Black Wolf's sincerity, but rather an invisible thread connecting him to Black Wolf.

He and Black Wolf have established initial contact.

Ning Lu's lips curled into a smile as he spoke to Black Wolf.

"You must be starving. I brought you some food."

"Compared to the humans in the dome, his dreams are richer, more multi-dimensional, and more delicious food."

Upon hearing this, Black Wolf felt a surge of turmoil within him.

It almost drooled like those wolf-like beasts, but it controlled its instincts.

It was once worshipped by millions of people as an eight-legged black wolf. It is not a wolf; it is a mythical creature.

Black Wolf tried his best to maintain his image and not appear like a hungry wolf.

"I am willing to serve my master."

Upon hearing this, Ninglu infused his spiritual energy into the power gauntlets, releasing Slau Da from his "imprisonment."

Si Zhan slowly woke up. Before he could figure out where he was, Ning Lu and the black wolf disappeared from his sight.

Slau Da finds himself in a colorful vortex, and an evil claw reaches for him.

Those were Sai Lansresh's evil claws.

After dragging Si Zhan into the dream, the black wolf discovered that creating a dream that evoked fear of food was not easy.

It consumes a great deal of energy to create the claws, and it is completely impossible to shape the food into a complete form.

If it weren't for the food's powerful effect on the mind, the dream it created might have already been seen through.

The food was so delicious!

Its fears are more diverse than those of humans. I discovered for the first time that fear can come in so many forms: the fear of prey against the hunter, the fear of mortals against gods...
The black wolf greedily "sucked" at the food, munching on the tender "steak" and fresh "vegetables," and the feeling of hunger quickly disappeared.

Ninglu noticed that the black wolf's body gradually calmed down from its initial slight trembling, clearly indicating that it had brought Slau Dara into a dream.

The Primarch began to act, its consciousness spreading towards the War God.

Trapped in a nightmare, Slau Da's mental defenses were rendered useless, and Nimrod's consciousness easily seeped into his mind.

As the Primarch began excavating the Warden's spiritual treasures, Adams of Necromonda also received news from Leandro Hemar that a large burial complex had been discovered in the Fourth Hive.

Adams considered that the burial complex was the final resting place of the Iron Lords, which might involve mechanical creations, and that the loot should belong to the Tech Sergeants, so he sent a message to Rosicky Cech.

Together they went to the fourth hive, and in the filthy bottom hive, they found Leandro Hemar.

The rising power of the Hermar family has led to them being increasingly regarded as the ruling family by the Necromonda people.

Governor Leandro became the most powerful Necromondan, and it was incredible that he, in his high position, would personally come to the filthy underbelly.

But Governor Hemar went to the lair on his own initiative, knowing that the "Shadow of Order" was the true master of Necromonda.

Leandro approached Adams and said respectfully, “My lord, I intended to send my men to bring out everything from the tomb and present it to you.”

"But once they entered the cemetery, they were attacked by the living dead, resulting in heavy casualties."

Leandro, realizing that the Lord of Death might not be familiar with the local culture of Necromonda, began to explain to him.

“My lord, there is a local culture of the dead in Necromonda. If food is not delivered in time, starving workers will even eat corpses.”

"They formed a shamanic religion called the 'Corpse Crushing Sect,' and worshipped a being called the Lord of Flesh."

He sighed, manipulated the data panel, and showed Adams the images.

"The culture of the dead was brought by the earliest colonists more than 5,000 years ago. When nobles died, their servants and slaves would be buried with them."

“This burial culture has disappeared, so this cemetery must be at least four thousand years old.”

Adams saw in the video a rotting corpse, dressed in tattered clothes and with pale skin, staggering along.

"These people who were buried alive have turned into zombies for some reason. They are fearless and will continue to move forward even when bullets and lasers hit them. The people I sent down to explore suffered heavy losses."

“I dare not use weapons such as flamethrowers, as that would damage the things in the cemetery, and I don’t think that’s what you want to see.”

The gravedigger's eyes lit up upon hearing this; it was his first time encountering a living corpse, and he immediately became interested.

"You did very well."

Adams looked ahead at the cemetery. The entrance gate was circular, with eight metal spider legs spread out, revealing the deep tomb.

Adams sketched out the original shape of the door in his mind.

Inside the metal disc-shaped gate, eight spider legs were retracted, just like the symbol of the Orb Spider Alliance.

With the help of Lyman's Ear, the Shadow of Order could distinguish the staggering footsteps of the undead and the rustling of spiders crawling within.

He told Rosicky, who was inspecting the surrounding building structure, "The ability given to me by the Father of Genetics will make those zombies treat me as one of their own. I'll explore the inside by myself first."

The master of the furnace withdrew his gaze and nodded.

"Based on the armor teleportation technology that Mars is researching, and combined with the teleportation technology of the Orb Spider Alliance, I have developed a short-range teleportation device."

"I have conducted fifty-two experiments, all of which have been successful."

"After activating the teleportation device, it can complete directional teleportation within a range of ten kilometers."

Five hours later, Rosicky directed the technical sergeants and machine gunners to complete the placement of the three adamantite pillars in front of the cemetery gate and set up the teleportation device.

Adams removed his power armor and put on an experimental teleportation suit tailored to his body.

Without the suppression of the life support system, the gravedigger's sinister aura was fully revealed, making the thin layer of metal armor covering his body exceptionally cold.

The gravedigger strode into the main cemetery, the stench of decay and death assaulting his senses.

The gravedigger showed no discomfort; the dark graveyard was exceptionally clear in his eyes.

He saw a group of undead wandering ahead of the passage he was walking through.

The zombies' eyes were unfocused as they stumbled and staggered through the passage, sometimes bumping into the walls, sometimes colliding with each other.

The gravedigger walked into the horde of corpses, weaving through them, occasionally bumping into living corpses, but none of them attacked him.

When the Shadow of Order was still a "corpse collector," his body temperature was low, but not yet at the level of a corpse.

When he was promoted to "Gravedigger", his body was ice-cold, and he walked among the corpses, indistinguishable from them.

As the gravedigger continued forward, the passage gradually widened, and a circular burial plaza appeared before him.

In each of the corpse pits, some zombies crawled out, while others fell into the air.

　P.S.: The "Death God" pathway will be described, so there will be zombies and vengeful spirits. The source of the vengeful spirits has been posted before; the following is about the zombies.

　　Besides the infamous Nurgle Plague zombies, there are other undead in Warhammer.

　　Entry: The Zombie Plague is one of the many infectious diseases spread by Nurgle and his followers. This disease is a combination of Chaos Infection and physical illness; while infection causes degeneration, a portion of life essence remains even after physical death. Even more terrifying is that this plague is not only transmitted physically, but also to those lacking complete faith.

　　Plague zombies behave like traditional zombies: they stagger and feed on humans. They are also difficult to kill, but a severe blow to the head is usually enough to finish them off. Some psionicists have been observed seemingly able to control the movements of hordes of zombies.

　　I've also read it in the official novel, but I can't remember which one right now. I'll post it later when I find it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)