Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

"We should head back now."

Henry shook off the bits of meat clinging to the teeth of the chainsaw.

He took one last look at the metal passageway that was completely sealed off by the collapsed ruins.

The sound of the bell was blocked by the rubble.

But the war drums in their ears did not stop, and the malice remained unabated.

He knew that those things were only temporarily blocked on the other side.

Occasionally, the sound of impacts echoed from deep within the metal walls, constantly reminding them that the danger had not yet disappeared.

Balu braced his hands on his knees.

His chest heaved violently.

The exhaled mist fogged up the lenses of the gas mask.

"go back?"

Balu raised his head, finally regaining some energy.

"Um."

Henry nodded, his voice firm and resolute.

"We must inform the people on the upper deck about the situation here."

"We all underestimated the extent of the corruption beneath the ship... It's impossible for the people on board to recapture it."

He looked back at the deep, dark path he had come from.

Just one armory, number twelve.

It has already become a breeding ground for such a massive amount of filthy creatures.

Demons are hatched within them, plagues are cultivated...

And then there's the elusive Chaos Astartes.

  

If the entire lower deck of the ship had become this disgusting sight.

So, beneath this steel maze...

How many more identical warehouses are there?

In the darkness where no one has yet discovered, malice is growing.

Thinking of this, Henry's heart sank slightly.

Among the tens of thousands of survivors at the top, not all of them are mercenaries with combat capabilities.

There were also a large number of civilians, women and children, who settled on the merchant ships...

They are the easiest breach to exploit in chaos; the plague will grow stronger with the fear of mortals.

The only good news is...

That corrupted crown is, for the time being, an object without an "owner".

It also selects its own servants.

And I happen to be near the top of the candidate list.

The images of what I saw and heard in the hallucination flashed through my mind.

Henry squinted, his thoughts churning.

The legions under Nurgle's command must have known for a long time that the artifact was unclaimed.

In order to please their benevolent father and prove that they are worthy of bearing the weight of the crown.

These monsters will only get crazier.

They kill each other and devour one another.

Use a larger-scale plague and more enslaved souls as bargaining chips for advancement.

Perhaps they will first break out into internal strife.

But sooner or later, their greedy gaze will fall back on humans.

What other offering could please the gods more than the fall of tens of thousands of intelligent beings?

……

If we really reach a point where we have no way out and there is no way to retreat...

Perhaps I could willingly put on that sacred object.

It's better than falling into the hands of Nurgle's Legion.

Although Henry didn't know how long he could endure the Crown of Corruption, he would immediately launch himself into space once he put it on.

Perhaps this could also save everyone on the ship.

……

As long as none of this was a calculated scheme devised by Nurgle for him.

It hasn't come to the point where Henry has to sacrifice himself yet.

He was about to take a step when he noticed the doctor had stopped in place.

He was facing a constantly writhing wall of flesh, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

It's like they've lost their soul.

"I'm gone."

Henry walked over and patted the other man on the shoulder.

The doctor reacted as if he had been branded with a hot iron.

She screamed in terror, trembling, and scrambled to the side to get away.

"Don't touch me!"

Balu's hand instinctively reached for the weapon at his waist.

"What's wrong with you?"

The doctor had his head down.

"No...it's nothing."

"I was just... scared by something inside the wall."

He forced a smile, trying to prove that he was normal.

But her facial features were almost squeezed together, making her look even uglier than when she was crying.

"It's really alright, let's go quickly."

As he spoke, he staggered and tried to continue walking forward.

Henry grabbed his wrist.

Only then did everyone notice.

On the left arm of the doctor's hazmat suit.

I don't know when, but a crack the size of a soybean appeared.

At the edge of the tear, there was a little sticky fluid, and the surrounding fabric had been corroded and changed color.

"You're infected?"

The doctor's lips trembled, and he instinctively tried desperately to pull his hand back.

"No...it's not that serious."

"that is……"

"It was just a fly that flew in. It really was just a fly."

His voice grew softer and weaker.

It's like comforting someone else, but also like futilely deceiving yourself.

"It will be alright soon..."

"It definitely will..."

"As you know, I've treated all sorts of wound infections before, I have experience."

"Just go back and swallow two strong antibiotics... and drink it with some alcohol..."

"Take two naps..."

That's good.

As he was talking, he suddenly noticed that his arm was a little itchy.

It's very itchy.

It's like thousands of carrion ants crawling around under your skin, gnawing at your nerves.

The doctor couldn't resist reaching out and grabbing a handful.

He scratched himself through the fabric of the hazmat suit.

But the itching didn't subside; instead, it intensified, like adding fuel to the fire.

He grabbed it again.

One more time.

The movements became increasingly rapid, and the force in his hands increased.

The hole in the hazmat suit, which was originally only the size of a soybean, was cruelly torn wider by his sharp fingernails.

scoff.

The fabric ripped completely.

The skin exposed to the air had turned a chilling bluish-green.

Several deep, flesh-exposing scratches ran across his forearm.

But what flowed from the wound was no longer just red blood.

Thin, green, slimy fluid mixed with foul-smelling blood dripped down his elbow.

pat.

It splattered onto the deck, mingling with the pus on the ground.

The doctor stared blankly at his arm, his eyes unfocused.

The color drained from his face.

"No……"

"impossible……"

He continued to scratch desperately, as if he wanted to tear that cursed piece of flesh off alive.

That will make you healthier.

The more it struggled, the faster the green toxins spread.

Climb upwards along the protruding blood vessels.

soon.

It had already climbed up to my elbow.

Continue extending towards the shoulders.

Fear became the perfect nourishment.

Neurotic toxins spread rapidly with his despair.

The doctor didn't even care about the pain; he just mechanically and desperately tried to pick and scratch.

His skin was torn open, and his fingernails were filled with foul-smelling blood and bits of flesh.

His face became haggard and terrifying.

"stop……"

"If the itching stops, then everything is fine..."

"I'll be alright..."

Hot tears fell down.

He stammered an explanation to the two people in front of him, trying to grasp at the last straw.

"real……"

"I swear I won't become a monster... I'm human!"

"I know what this illness is, and I can cure it..."

"I can definitely cure it..."

But his voice grew weaker and weaker, losing all its strength.

Because Balu had already turned his face away.

Experienced mercenaries have seen far too much.

I also know exactly what I should do...

The doctor finally broke down.

His knees buckled and he fell to his knees with a thud, grabbing Henry's hand tightly.

"Don't……"

"Please..."

"Don't leave me alone in a place like this..."

"I don't want to die..."

"I still have family, they're waiting for me to come back..."

His words were fragmented, incoherent, and illogical.

One moment she's talking about how pitiful her mother is.

He cursed those who had fallen into chaos, wishing them a terrible death.

Then he muttered a few more names he had never heard of before.

Tears mixed with cold sweat from his forehead, blurring his face inside the filter mask, making it impossible to see his features.

Balu watched him quietly.

A long time passed.

He drew the pistol from his waist, pulled the slide, and chambered a bullet.

The gun was raised and aimed at the doctor's forehead.

The doctor lay sprawled on the ground like a rag doll, as if his spinal cord had been drained, and looked pleadingly at the one-armed mercenary.

"Don't be afraid."

"Pull the trigger, it'll be over quickly."

"at least……"

"You don't have to stand by and watch your body be desecrated."

The dark muzzle of a gun was so close; death was so easy.

"No……"

"don't want……"

Just as Balu was about to fire...

A hand blocked the muzzle of the gun.

Balu frowned and turned his head to the side.

"Henry?"

Henry did not look at him.

He looked at the doctor's arm, which had turned black and was even starting to develop small pustules, and said.

"Maybe I can save him... I should at least try."