Chapter 629 Differing Views (1/2)
”What will we do with them?” Morrelia's voice was subdued.
t.i.tus stared unblinking at the five bodies arranged before him.
”They will be returned to their families for burial. If their families do not claim them, or if they requested it themselves, they will be taken to the surface and buried in the Legion memorial in Tanna.”
Morrelia turned her head to gaze up at her father.
”There's a Legion memorial?” she'd never heard of such a thing. She hesitated for a moment. ”Is that where brother…?”
He nodded grimly.
”We don't bury our dead in the Dungeon. They deserve the light of the surface, not this cursed world below.”
The commander stood with his full guard as watch for the fallen Legionaries. Found outside the camp, there had been little mourning, or even surprise when their comrades had been found. Death was part of war and the Abyssal Legion was always at war.
Alberton approached from one side.
”Interesting that they were not eaten,” he observed, ”most monsters won't pa.s.s up the opportunity for Bioma.s.s, especially social insects.”
Morrelia was shocked by the man's callous att.i.tude but t.i.tus merely nodded.
”This was the abomination's work,” he said.
”You are likely to be right,” the loremaster agreed. ”Either it wanted to send a message, or wasn't ready to feast on its former species.”
As someone who had spent a considerable amount of time with that 'abomination', Morrelia felt sick at the idea of Anthony being responsible for what she saw in front of her.
”How can you be sure it was the… reincarnator?” She protested, ”all of the ants are smart, couldn't it have been any of them?”
Alberton shook his head. The commander's daughter was a fierce warrior, but she was still too green as a Legionary.
”There would be no reason for a regular monster not to eat the bodies,” he pointed out, ”it's sad to say, but most Legionaries who fall within the Dungeon do not get buried. No, your father and I believe it was a lingering sense of humanity within the abomination that caused it to act this way.”
She tried to digest the thought, but struggled to accept it. Ever since the campaign had begun, she had been trying to understand what the right thing to do was. The Colony was peaceful, she knew that, yet the Legion insisted that they be wiped out before they became a greater threat. The ants were peaceful for now, but what about in the future? What if Anthony died, and the Colony were left without the leader that held them back? What then?
”I still don't understand why you refer to them as 'abominations'”, she said, ”aren't they just people? Humans, like us? They didn't choose to come back this way, right? The Dungeon did that to them.”
t.i.tus and the loremaster shared a look.
”Don't think of those who have been reborn in this world as monsters as people,” he warned her, ”they may have been something like a human in their past life, but each and every one of them is twisted, broken. The records tell of numerous occasions where we encountered such beings. In every case they were eventually put down at great cost. The Dungeon chooses the souls it does with good reason, each of them is chosen to further its purpose. That is just another reason why they should be killed as swiftly as we can manage.”
The commander backed him up.
”The moment they were born inside a monster, that is what they were. Not human, monster. Truth be told, the abominations are the most dangerous of all monsters. All the drive, experience and intelligence of a sapient packed into an evolving killing machine.”
”Why do you think it decided to strike now?” Alberton thought out loud.
”Revenge,” t.i.tus grunted, ”that's the easiest to understand. We pushed hard into the ants and killed many, so it decided to strike back. In a way, this is my fault. We could have predicted this and doubled the size of the scout teams.”