"What's this?"
Melissa asked softly, although she knew there was a wall of rocks ahead, but she wasn't entirely sure.
"The partition wall at the end of the tunnel."
The Inquisitor told her so.
"The excavators have removed all the collapsed stones, but these things are blocking us, and the style is too uniform. They cannot be natural. They may be part of a special-shaped building. The purpose is not clear, and we cannot get around it."
"Maybe one of the other tunnels..."
After looking around, the one-eyed mercenary said this.
"No."
Melissa shook her head, running her fingers along the rock.
Its presence filled her consciousness.
"...The surface has a curvature, it's a sphere, it's very large."
"Sphere?"
The tech-priest made a questioning sound.
"If it is true, there is no way my machine can't detect it——"
But the Inquisitor interrupted.
"Our interpretation makes no sense, she may not be sure, but it's very possible, and yes, we should believe Ms. Melissa."
Then, Lennart Meyers looked at Melissa and whispered in an unprecedented and respectful tone:
"Can you tell what's on the other side? What will we find if we break through?"
Melissa endured the pain, forcing herself to examine the terrain more fully. In a place that was more distorted than reality, she braced herself for the worst attack, convinced that she was about to encounter the heart of a disruptive force.
However, she found nothing.
This sphere is hollow.
Inside is a vast void, a void full of unknowns, but without enemies.
"There's nothing there."
Melissa's tone also became uncertain.
"This sphere... is an empty shell?"
"Empty shell?"
"No, it could be some kind of center."
With that, she took her hand away.
"It could be the source of the entire underground structure."
Lennart Meyers nodded thoughtfully and whispered:
"Like I said before, this is a machine."
The judge's words were more like talking to himself, but the choice loomed in front of Melissa.
This is something she shouldn't believe, and this is something she can't avoid.
However, she also wanted to know whether she agreed with the inquisitor's disgusting and crazy conclusion.
She wasn't so sure.
The judge was silent for a long time, and finally sighed and said to the people around him:
"Let's do this for today. Block this place. No one is allowed to enter or leave without my order. We will find a way tomorrow."
So, the day ended, and everyone returned to the camp to repair or rest.
The servants started to make fires to cook, while the soldiers and mercenaries maintained their weapons as always. Although they had not fired a single shot in the past few days, the Pavilion Star itself was a huge battlefield, and no one knew what would happen next moment. What happens, what comes out.
Being prepared never goes out of style for those of you who want to be prepared.
Melissa's choice is different from others.
She chose to sleep.
At first, her sleep was smooth, until night——
The shadow struck Melissa, and the attack happened so suddenly that she didn't expect it.
All defenses kept against themselves, a shield against which she surveyed her madness, but they were powerless against the power behind the shadows.
Its influence was breaking through the barrier between the warp and the physical universe, disrupting her dreams.
As a strictly trained legal psyker, Melissa tried in vain to search for echoes of herself at the first sign of ups and downs in her dreams.
But her soul's vision failed, the waves of the Warp swallowed up the light, and as she stared into the darkness, the attack came suddenly.
It came to her room, and as soon as it appeared, Melissa felt like she didn't exist.
But she was strong and agile, and she worked hard to control herself in the dream, decisively closing the connection between her mental consciousness and the subspace, getting rid of its clutches, and setting up her own defense.
Speed, strength and training, these seemingly useless daily exercises have helped her.
But the shadows still shattered Melissa's shield, they grinned ferociously, and their laughter turned into razors grazing her skin.
Then it roared again, the sound turning into a curse that drowned her consciousness.
When she woke up again, she was blind for the first time in her life.
"How could-"
Melissa panted, fighting against the suffocating sense of panic in the winter of senses.
She could feel the expansion of her chest, and gradually regained consciousness in her limbs. Then she bent her fingers and felt them scraping against the metal floor, indicating that she fell from the bed.
She also felt a stinging pain in her neck and nape, and it was obvious that she had not been in a good posture when she fell.
Slowly, she gradually understood her location and the situation around her, and her consciousness gradually awakened from paralysis.
A terrifying concept enveloped her——
She became fragile. She didn't know how long she had been in a coma, and she lost her responsibilities.
Worse things came from her knowledge of what happened.
She had been attacked, had an attacker.
Then, as she stood up and off the floor, her awareness of her surroundings returned to her, but less perfect than before, as if they had degraded.
She reached for her cane, which should be leaning against the seat.
Melissa grasped it, steadying herself, then braced herself and reached out cautiously.
"hiss--"
She grunted in pain, warm tears flowing from the corners of her eyes.
Sharp, jagged spots appeared on her retinas, and interference affected her perception.
They were like claws and broken glass, embodiments of some invisible pain, twisted madness superimposed on madness.
She was wondering if this was the aftereffect of touching the mysterious sphere during the day?
Melissa felt very thirsty, but there was no water in her house. She wanted to find some water outside the tent, so she walked to the entrance of the tent and gently opened the curtain.
I saw calm as water outside, and there were a few bonfires burning in the distance, which were the night watchmen.
Seeing the light, Melissa felt a little calmer. She was about to walk over when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow flashing in the dark.
"Um?"
In doubt, she concentrated her concentration and even used some of her remaining mental power to observe a vague figure walking cautiously towards the deep pit, but there was no one among the guards who were supposed to be on guard around it.
"he is--"
Melissa hesitated for a moment, and the word "traitor" popped into her mind.
There may be a spy in the team!
This was a big deal, and knowing that it was not simple, she intensified her vision again, and finally saw the person's identity clearly, but she was so frightened that her hands trembled——
"Judge!?"
