Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 227 The Dangerous Yet Bountiful Catachan

Chief Apothecary Mikel met with Reaper Lord Sanchez, and after their discussion, the two decided to continue exploring the forest, using it as a place to temper the shadows of order.

After discussion, they divided the dense forest into three areas and formulated standards for the teams exploring each area.

Within a 50-kilometer radius of the dense forest, near the various Katachang tribes, the probability of encountering dangerous creatures such as the Katachang barking toad is relatively low.

There are forty teams exploring the edge areas, numbered from twenty-three to sixty-two, and the core force of each team is a "hunter".

After the Battle of the Wheel of Flames, and with over nine hundred men transferred to the Fourth War Group, the Seventh War Group still had one thousand four hundred and seventy-two members of the Black Knights' Court.

Despite paying a heavy price at the Wheel of Fire, the Seventh Chapter, having followed Nimrod in his long campaigns, remains the chapter with the most Royal Court members.

Each team exploring the outskirts of the dense forest consists of thirty "hunters," one "medicineer," fifty Shadow Order members, and twenty Katachon warriors.

The Reaper Lords hope that the Shadow Order and the Katachon Warriors will learn from each other.

There are twenty teams in the middle of the dense forest, numbered from three to twenty-two.

These squads consist of ten "Provocateurs," one "Tamer," twenty Shadow Order members, and ten Catachan elites.

In the central area, there were only two teams, numbered one and two, led by Mikel and Sanchez respectively.

Meanwhile, the shadows of order have infiltrated various tribes.

One group was responsible for selecting new recruits for the legion; they gathered eligible children and conducted the selection process.

Another part was responsible for selecting soldiers from among the adults to form the Katachon Auxiliary Army.

After the meeting, Mikel did not set off immediately. Instead, he led the "beast tamers" to his new pet, the Katachon Demon.

The "vampire," dressed in a black hooded robe, wearing a mask, and with a black scarf around his neck, spoke.

“I will install runic saddles on the back of the Katachon demon, and I will teach you in the process.”

"I want to see your trained pets in a month. This is my test for you."

"Before we begin teaching, I want to tell you about the importance of choosing the right subjects to tame."

"First, do not choose the Katachampong Toads. Although you can use a combination of drugs to make them dizzy and tame them, they are too unstable and may be provoked by your fighting brothers and your servants to self-destruct."

"..."

At the same moment, the "hunters" set off in their teams.

Upon entering the jungle, the "medicine masters" felt as if they had entered a dangerous yet treasure-filled paradise.

The "Pharmacist" of Squad 54 encountered a group of Miler catchers four hours after his squad entered the forest.

After dealing with the tentacle that suddenly leaped up from the ground and launched an attack, the "Pharmacist" used a detection probe to examine the remaining tentacles.

A moment later, the "pharmacist" said with delight.

"The toxin contained in Miler's catcher is 13.64 times more potent than the ingredients in the anesthetics currently used by the Legion."

Just as the "pharmacist" was getting excited, four leaves suddenly sprang up and wrapped tightly around his body.

The "pharmacist's" face was covered by jaw-like leaves, his throat was choked, and his body was entangled by two leaves.

Upon seeing the "Pharmacist's" body being dragged, the Shadows of Order immediately sprang into action.

The hunter, closest to the "pharmaciate," charged toward the carnivorous plant, its charged blade flashing as it severed the connection between the leaves and the food.

He slashed with his sword again, killing the predator.

Then, he went to the "pharmacist" and carefully pulled the jaw blade with his hand.

The hunter was surprised to find that even though the leaf had separated from the main body and most of it had been torn apart by the disintegration field, the remaining small part was still tightly wrapped around the apothecary.

The captain of the Katachán squad in the group came over and spoke in Vostochny.

"We call this plant a catcher; they move their leaves..."

He hadn't yet mastered Vostonia, so he switched to Katachán to continue.

"It actively seeks out prey and uses its jaw-like leaves to clamp down on its victims."

He switched back to Vostochny: “You must act immediately, or he will suffocate.”

The "hunter" captain also came over, and he could barely understand what he meant from the language spoken by the Katachan.

He became the captain of this exploration team not only because of his command abilities, but also because of his rapid mastery of the Katachan language.

He recalled the information issued by the father of genetics, verified it against the data, and confirmed that the plant was indeed the Catachan Catcher.

The captain said to his team members, "We must provide immediate assistance."

As commander, he decided to take responsibility himself. He drew his combat dagger from his waist and swiftly and carefully sliced ​​through the blade.

Especially when cutting into the face and neck, the movements are deliberately slowed down.

Two minutes later, the leaves that had entangled the "pharmacist" were all cut off.

The "pharmacist's" face and neck were covered in blood, and his upper body was a bloody mess, with his ribs exposed.

The "pharmacist's" Lariman organs are activated due to injury, and the skin replacement tissue generated by Lariman cells quickly forms scars.

The Qatari watched in astonishment as the wounded Shadow of Order quickly stopped bleeding.

The pharmacist, his mind hazy, struggled to pull out emergency medication from the side of his backpack with his right arm and injected it into his lower left shoulder.

He said with difficulty, “Take me back to…the medical deck.”

With each word he uttered, it felt like his vocal cords were being cut by a knife.

"You two, take the pharmacist back."

With the apothecary injured, the "Hunter" captain was forced to abandon the exploration and order a return.

Initially, the "pharmacist" was still able to walk on his own due to the stimulant components in the emergency medication.

But after walking three kilometers, the "pharmacist" still fainted.

Two "hunters" carried the apothecary back to the Void Hunter and onto the medical deck.

After a day of intense emergency treatment, the "pharmacist" woke up, but he was left with permanent scars.

His face and neck were covered in dense scars, like the cast iron scales on the body of an iron-scaled Kraken.

The captains of each exploration team received an exploration briefing from Exploration Team No. 54 a day later.

They deeply understood that even as shadows of order with keen senses, they had to remain vigilant at all times in the forests of Katachon.

The animals and plants of Katachon will seize any opportunity to prey on humans.

On the other hand, the "pharmacists" also realized that the jungles of Katachon contained plants that could be used to make medicines.

A month later, Mikel stood in the newly set up camp, inspecting each of the pets brought back by the "animal trainers".

He saw the staggering Mamofas, which lived in the volcanic region, and could fight the Katachon demon to a standstill.

He saw large, winged, dark bats lurking in the upper canopy of the jungle near the equator in Katachon, devouring their prey.

He also saw flying swamp mamba snakes and Katachon black venom snakes.

……

After inspecting all the domesticated pets, Mikel said with satisfaction.

“Very good, each of you has tamed your own pet, which proves that you have become qualified ‘animal trainers’.”

"Becoming an excellent 'beast tamer' is not enough. Your next task is to help the Thunder Wolf adapt to the environment of Katachon."

"This is a challenge. They have lived in the icy Fenris for generations, and now we have to adapt them to this humid forest world."

Mikel had just finished giving instructions when he saw a group of Shadow Order and Qatachan people, armed and hacking at vines.

[They're impossible to eradicate completely. Every night, they appear out of nowhere, as if they're consciously trying to destroy human camps.]
The chief pharmacist walked toward the conference room while pondering the matter.

A moment later, the meeting began.

Company Commander Thibault was the first to speak.

"My lord, the warband has lost 274 men in the past month."

His tone betrayed his sadness, but he quickly composed himself.

"According to statistics, 34 people died on the first day, 27 people died on the second day... and 4 people died on the last day."

"Overall, the number of deaths dropped sharply after the Shadow of Order of the Chapter adapted to the environment of Katachon."

"Fifty-four of them were buried in Fearless, continuing to serve the warband."

The Reaper Lord's eyes were filled with sorrow as he issued his orders.

"Each team leader should repeatedly emphasize the lessons learned."

The "Hunter," responsible for forming the auxiliary army, was the second to speak and report to the Reaper Lord.

(End of this chapter)