Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 106: The Candidates (4)

"We found the path toward Greycliff Town and continued walking without stop. But the forest was just as evil as the creatures residing within it. The trees would alter our direction, tempt us, and prevent us from finding a way out. The mountain black wolves blocked our path like thickets. They continuously obstructed and slowed down our speed until the pack could succeed. The only way was to persevere and keep walking onward."

Bahram glanced at the wounds on his arm and shook his head.

"But even so, the wolf pack would still catch you."

"Wolves really are nothing good."

Haomo suddenly spoke up, deep fear still visible in his eyes.

"The elders often say they are predators; they devour everything."

For the first time, Soshyan paid attention to this boy who looked full of ruffian air.

"Are you afraid of carrion vultures?"

Hearing Soshyan address a question to him, Haomo shuddered with excitement, and then shook his head.

"I'm not afraid. But they are very ugly, and their pecks hurt a lot.""What about Grox?"

The boy nodded.

"They are also very dangerous."

"But you don't fear them?"

"If I encounter them, I will be careful."

"Are you afraid of venomous lizards?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because they are all animals."

As the boy spoke, he shifted his feet. They had been standing for a while.

"What?"

"Those things you just mentioned, like carrion vultures or Grox and such. I think they are all animals, and some of them are very dangerous... I don't like spiders, nor scorpions, especially those big red scorpions, but I'm not afraid of them."

"Not afraid at all?"

"I caught a big red scorpion and kept it in a glass jar in my locker. I'm not afraid of it, but I am afraid of wolves, because they are not animals."

"Oh? Then what are they?"

The boy frowned, as if finding it difficult to decide how to properly describe them.

"They are... how to say it. They are ghosts or something like that. They are evil demons, just like the kind the elders talk about."

"You mean they are supernatural?"

"Yes. They only know to destroy and devour, because that is their nature, their only nature... Furthermore, they can take the form of wolves, or take the form of humans and walk upright."

Soshyan looked at him, nodded thoughtfully, and said:

"Perhaps you will have a chance to meet them."

"What?"

"Wild wolves that walk upright."

Then he turned to Bahram, gesturing for him to continue his story. By this time, the Thunderhawk had been landed for a while, and the warriors were waiting for their Chapter Master.

"By the time they entangled us, I had already spent two sunsets."

Bahram recalled that scene while panting.

"There were two of them. One pure black, and one dark gray. They were massive, scarred, and roaring. I knew it was impossible for me to dodge them, and it was impossible for me to shake them off."

Soshyan turned his gaze to the other two, who frantically waved their hands and said:

"We were also dealing with one each!"

Soshyan shifted his gaze back to Bahram.

"So, if you couldn't escape or hide, what did you do?"

"I stood my ground."

Bahram said softly:

"Gripping my dagger and gun, maintaining a defensive posture, waiting for them to come to me."

Afterward, he took a deep breath, as if that bloody moment had happened only recently.

"They growled low with their bloody jaws clamped shut. They tried to make me run, but I wouldn't do so. I yelled at them until my voice grew hoarse. This made the black wolf cautious, and it started keeping its distance from me. But the gray wolf was enraged by me; it pounced straight at me. I emptied all the bullets in my gun, but before it died, it still knocked me down to the ground."

He laid his right hand flat across his left chest, touching his collarbone, almost reaching his throat.

"The black wolf saw me knocked down and immediately lunged. It bit onto this part of me and kept trying to shake its head, intending to snap me to death or tear me apart."

As he spoke,

he pulled out his dagger.

"But I also had my teeth to use. So I stabbed back. The howl it let out sounded as if it had screamed out all its pain at once. Even though the damage it inflicted on me was greater, it still fled from my body."

Recalling that scene, the boy shook his head.

"I don't know how I managed it, but in any case, I stood back up. It looked at me first, and then looked toward the pack."

"They didn't roar or growl; they just watched me. The blood of the gray one flowed onto the ground like a creek, but I myself was no better off either."

"This is their nature."

Soshyan said with approval:

"They are afraid of paying a greater price."

"That's right."

The boy responded with unrestrainable exhaustion:

"Perhaps this was already enough. Because when I took a step forward, the wolf pack turned around and quickly vanished. After that, we continued moving east... All I remember was walking and bleeding. The wolf's teeth ripped a hole in my body, making it difficult for me to even breathe."

He pulled back the collar of his shirt, revealing a terrifying wound. The torn flesh hung on the edges of the incision, and the scarlet meat was already beginning to fester.

Soshyan knew that feeling. Gunshot wounds or severe trauma would also be like that.

He couldn't help but recall his past. When he was wounded for the first time after his enlistment, he had struggled for the surrounding air, his pierced lungs wheezing through the ruptured hole.

He still remembered it to this day.

"But you still made it here."

This boy was indeed very tenacious. Soshyan was ticking more and more boxes for him.

"Although the sun has descended to a very low position, it has not yet sunk into the earth."

He paused for a moment, his gaze unconsciously softening.

"You did not miss the registration time."

"Awesome!"

Vayu and Haomo hugged each other and jumped up. Bahram, however, couldn't utter a single word; due to the pain, hunger, and thirst, he was on the verge of passing out.

"However."

Soshyan looked toward the other two.

"This time does not belong to you."

"Huh!?"

"Why!"

Haomo forcefully shoved Vayu away, quickly walked up to Soshyan, and asked loudly with unwillingness:

"But we came together with him! If it weren't for our climbing equipment, he couldn't have even gotten up here! Why do you only want him!"

But the Astartes merely stared at him apathetically, offering absolutely no response.

"I won't accept this! This isn't fair!"

Soshyan cast a glance at Bahram, who was already swaying on his feet, and then said to the guards still kneeling on the ground:

"Take him onto the Thunderhawk."

"By your command, my Lord."

After the two guards supported Bahram and walked toward the Thunderhawk, Soshyan looked at Haomo and said calmly:

"Since you are so persistent, then I shall give you one more chance. One quota slot. Whichever of you two can kill the other, this slot belongs to him."

For a moment, both boys were stunned.