Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 673 Crow or Raven? Typhon's Escape!
When Karas Typhon tried to focus his vision, his confused mind once thought that he might see an interrogator, a torturer, a tormentor, or a recorder, a doctor? An anatomist? A wizard?
There were many possibilities, but what he didn't expect was that when his blurry eyes finally found the place where the sound came from, he discovered that there was no one there.

To be precise, he only saw a black bird there, and its black eyes were staring at him in an extremely anthropomorphic way.

This bird did not exist on Barbarus, but Typhon had seen similar images on the warriors of the 19th Legion, some of whom wore black feathers.

But he couldn't really tell whether the black bird was a crow or a raven.

But can birds speak human language?
A fragmented thought floated into his mind: Corvids seem to be quite good at learning human language.

A soft sparkle caught his eye: around the blackbird's neck was a small round gem hung with dyed wool, with a hazy glow in the center and the surface having the simplest polish.

Karas felt that based on his own knowledge, it should be a witchcraft crystal with special runes engraved inside or wrapped in a mysterious blessed spell.

Then the identity of this bird is obvious: a product of some kind of witchcraft, a messenger born from the sea of ​​souls, or a tool for transmitting sound.

The grandfather he had known since birth was not happy to use such a swift and incorruptible creature, so could this be sent by his guide and ally?

Perhaps rubies and bones go well with the Word Bearers as well.

The sound of flapping wings brushed past his eardrums, so gracefully that it seemed as if the airflow created by the black wingtips had just brushed past his beard.

He blinked.

A chilly breeze carrying the scent of moss and rotting wood flowed into his poison-tortured lungs, moistening them and causing Typhon to gurgle greedily.

Although the air was still too dry and clear to be irritating, it was much better than the poisonous gas that had just caused him so much pain - it was a pity that the Iron Blood had such a prison cell that captured the essence of the Death Guard style, and it was really a pity that the Lord of Iron failed to become one of the pioneers of their great plan.

He tried to straighten up again, placing his weight firmly on the strange touch of his bare feet.

A fragile dead branch was broken by his weight, making a subtle but clear "bang" sound.

The wet and slippery touch of the thick needles and the fermented smell of them being squeezed suddenly rushed to his nose.

"Hush." ​​The black bird said to him. It was hidden so well that even Astartes' naked eyes and his gifted eyes could not see its existence, but Typhon could feel it right above his head.

"Don't make any noise. Just lurk here patiently. Then follow me until I tell you where to leave."

Lurking here? But he was just—

Typhon looked around and found that he had escaped from the prison cell without knowing when. Now he was wearing only a pair of shorts and was standing deep in an ancient forest formed by towering trees.

There were no such huge forests on Barbaros. As the altitude increased, the poisonous gas became thicker, causing most plants to become short and grow only in the low-lying valleys. He still felt a little bit novel about this environment.

The sunlight was completely blocked by the swollen, rough branches and trunks of the giant trees. Only a few scattered white lights shone on the dark, thick dead branches and leaves on the ground. They were not actually green or the color of dead leaves, but a strange dark color. The pale leaves hanging down from the rotten veil-like vines were extremely thin, and their jagged edges made them look like large moth wings when they fell.

Callas's enhanced ears picked up some beautiful fragments of music, which he later discovered were the performances of tiny insects flying above the puddles of fermenting liquid that had accumulated where the rotten leaves and branches were most concentrated.

This is a really nice place, like a great vacation spot for the Barbarians.

So he temporarily suppressed his eagerness to ask who sent the bird, and did as he was told, finding a pile of dead branches under it to hide himself.

You see, it's quite strange, this black bird looks very small, only the size of a palm, but when it spreads its wings, it can hide a guy as big as Karas well under its shadow.

I think this must be my grandfather’s blessing.

Suddenly, a pungent smell of a wild beast wafted past Karas's nostrils just as he had hidden himself.

It smells like a wolf with muddy feet.

The first figure appeared in their sight.

It was an Astartes, no doubt, with that peculiar build and gait that could only belong to genetically modified Legionnaires.

But the surging psychic energy of this Astartes like a bright torch made Karas squint his eyes again: although the final agreement reached at the Nikea Conference did not completely abolish the think tank from the legion's organization, it also stipulated more stringent transitional constraints. Everything would have to wait until the Iron Warriors and Space Wolves arrived in Prospero to complete the investigation and purge.

Which legion's think tank is now so blatantly using the warp technique alone?
As the shadows revealed the figure into the pale spots of sunlight, Typhon recognized the distinctive woven leather armor, the mask, the beads of bone and tooth - this was a Rune Priest of the Space Wolves.

Then he noticed that he was accompanied by a human - oh, wait, although he could not see the face of the Space Wolf behind the leather mask, Typhon happened to have seen this mortal in person before in the command center under Nikaea.

Gasper Ansbach Hauser, the bard of the Third Company of the Space Wolves, the little man who should play a secretly decisive card on Nikaea, is him again, and he really lives up to his name.

The identity of the Space Wolves Rune Priest beside him is obvious from his figure and other details. It is very likely that he is Othrel Wildmark.

The two of them moved forward cautiously, seemingly on guard against something else in the forest. Typhon saw them talking for a while from afar, and then Othrel pulled out a very advanced plasma pistol from his very barbarian shaman-like leather armor.

His remaining heart immediately began to hang in worry, but the Rune Priest obviously did not see him hiding. Instead, he looked around, gave Casper a word, and then crawled into the dark vines of the giant tree and disappeared in a few steps.

The mortal left behind looked around uneasily for a moment, then drew his axe, gripped it tightly, and began to move in another direction.

It was not until Casper's figure was completely swallowed up by the forest for a while that Karas spoke cautiously.

"So can we go now?"

"No." Blackbird replied, "We are borrowing the road now. We cannot afford the risk of being discovered, so you have to be patient." "Borrowing the road?"

"Yes, didn't you notice? Your mortal body is still bound in the special cell on the Iron Blood, but your soul has now escaped."

"My soul has left my body, so am I...dead?"

"No." Blackbird said affirmatively, "You can't die as a being like you, Karas Typhon. I'm taking your spirit away temporarily. Your new body has already been paid for in advance because it's part of the contract. You have your work to do in the fate of the galaxy. If you're taken to Prospero like this, it will make things more difficult. We don't want to see that happen."

Part of the contract. Typhon thought, this must be sent by the Word Bearers.

"Do you work for the Head Chaplain of the Word Bearers?" he asked Blackbird softly.

Although the other party was a bird, Karas felt that he saw a look of surprise on the bird's face. "Ah? Ah... Ah... Oh, yes, I mean, yes, um, ahem, how did you see that?"

A sweet sense of complacency flowed through Typhon's soul. "This is a very simple reasoning." He said, "I guess he is the most likely person to help me as an ally at this moment, and you are obviously a product of the Warp and the Sea of ​​Souls, otherwise you would not be able to carry my soul on this journey intact."

"Have you not considered the possibility that Mortarion might come to rescue you, or that he might ask me to rescue you?"

A layer of haze covered Karas' pale face, and he shook his head slowly, "He won't beg anyone. Especially if the other party is the Word Bearers, he can't ask them to save me. But I know this is not what he wants, I just need to push him a little bit... not yet, my comrade, my brother, my comrade is still a little bit away from being able to understand the importance of me and what I am doing, but I have no doubt that if he is willing to accept himself completely, understand and discover his own essence, he will definitely be able to do the same thing as you are doing now, or maybe... no, he will definitely do better."

"Oh." Blackbird nodded, "You're not wrong."

"Now that my soul is out of danger and my new body is ready, won't you take me with you? What are we waiting for?"

"We have to wait until Casper finishes his work before we can leave," said Blackbird. "The defense of the Iron Blood cell itself is top-notch at this time, but a secret door has been opened on Casper's soul room to facilitate the caster's entry and exit. Now they have to use Casper to repeatedly observe a prophecy, so they can't close it. This door does not exist in any material or real world, so we can still use it as a borrowed passage. When Casper finishes his work, the door will be completely sealed. What we need is to sneak over there when he finishes, without anyone noticing."

"How long will it take them to finish?"

"Soon." Blackbird said confidently, "Wait until all the wolves appear. Just follow me."

A fierce fight sounded from afar, accompanied by the shaking of trees, and the falling leaves and ash floating everywhere. Suddenly, a large beast let out a sharp and short howl, followed by a low roar full of animal attacks, and finally a human cry mixed with guttural sounds.

That was Othrel's voice.

There was indeed something in this strange forest, and it attacked the Rune Priest and injured him.

Typhon opened and clenched his palms. He was now stripped of his armor and was only wearing a pair of shorts. He had no weapon in his hands, which made him feel subconsciously uncomfortable.

But Blackbird said this is the world of the soul, so maybe...

Karas moved his wrist, and moved it again, just like in the past when he was in the Barbarus resistance, he imagined.

Finally, a thin, rough but sharp piece of metal fell into his palm as it had a thousand times before, and he held the familiar dagger with a sense of relief.

Blackbird stared at the dagger and quickly turned his head away.

Suddenly, a group of gray vines and undergrowth thirty feet away began to shake violently, and then with rapid breathing, the bard who had just run out rushed out again.

Casper's forehead was now covered in sweat, fear was clearly written in his eyes, and he moved carefully in the other direction, hiding himself behind the huge swollen tree trunk.

He poked his head behind the tree, and then Karas saw the bard's body immediately stiffen.

There was something huge behind it, but Karas could only see a tail that was thicker than the shadow, swung once at half a floor high, and then disappeared.

Then he saw Casper tiptoeing over and dragging out from behind a tree trunk a seriously injured Space Wolf wearing red leather armor and with fiery red hair and beard. Judging from the aura, this should also be a Rune Priest.

They exchanged a few words in a low voice, and then a third Rune Priest of the Wild Wolf appeared at the edge of the small clearing. This one also wore a mask and leather armor, but behind his mask was a head of very recognizable snow-white hair. The red-haired Rune Priest immediately tried to prop himself up as if to warn someone, while Casper bent down slightly, holding an axe as if to guard the seriously injured red-haired priest.

"It's really lively here," Typhon muttered. "This small soul land has been crammed with the souls of three rune priests. I think this Casper does have some impressive psychic potential. He can actually accommodate the thoughts of five of us psychics in his own soul and keep it so stable. No wonder he chose him as the main agent to carry out this counter-espionage plan."

This time, Blackbird seemed not to hear his mumbling, and just paid close attention to the progress of the wolves' conversation.

"Be careful," it whispered. "Don't leave my shadow if anything happens while they're fighting."

"Wild wolves also fight among themselves... Wait, what is that?!"

While they were talking to each other, Casper was facing the newly appeared white-haired rune priest and the red-haired wolf guarded by the bard behind him - no, it was no longer a wolf, its skin and muscles were torn, its bones and ligaments were stretched and twisted, and its internal organs were almost completely rearranged. The steaming and impossible transformation was completed in the blink of an eye. It was at least twice the size of an Astarte, and in a daze, its saliva dripped from its long fangs onto Casper's shoulder.

The bard did not look back. He twisted his waist and chopped with the axe with all his might. Then he rolled on the ground and rolled out of the battle circle between the white-haired wolf and the terrible monster.

Blood, minced meat, leather fragments, flying hair, and dust and fallen leaves on the ground were splashed all over the clearing in the forest. The primitive and brutal fight was so fierce that for two seconds, the white-haired wolf even looked like it had some signs of victory, but then the monster used absolute strength to tear off the rune priest's limbs and chest and abdomen, knocking him to the ground, and then it turned the long snout and fangs in its shadowy body towards Casper on the side.

"It's almost over." Blackbird said suddenly, "When I say run, you must run with me immediately. Don't let anyone find out that you passed through the door opened by another person today."

With the sound of a plasma pistol firing, the wolf monster was sent flying by the second shot in accordance with the laws of physics, shattering the tree trunk and sliding down. In a cloud of spores and dust, it gradually regained its red-haired human form. Othrel appeared at the edge of the clearing, covered in blood and staggering.

The edges of Casper's dream began to break apart from afar.

Karas Typhon ran towards the secret door that was gradually opening.

(End of this chapter)