Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 229 Extra: The Wizard of Oz Catachan

——The story of HH40k Lion King waking up in the wrong world line and place——

The surface of the giant tree is covered with rough and strong bark, and the deep shadows are crisscrossed, as if it is hiding some unspeakable secret. The thick branches twisted slightly, and the branches stretched abnormally, carrying sharp needles, ready to extend deadly tentacles to passing travelers.

The ground under the tree is covered with messy and twisted shrubs. Like the giant trees, the shrubs are extremely tough, and the branches are full of thorns, which are pulling each other endlessly. The soil where these shrubs and giant trees take root is covered with green moss, as if pregnant with the mystery of the eternal reproduction of life.

He smelled an indescribable and disturbing smell in it.

The scent seems to suggest that these trees are not just silent creatures, but lurking predators. Every tree is using their silent and terrifying presence to quietly spy on every creature that passes through their territory.

The wind stirs the scent of the forest with an ominous whisper, telling the ancient stories and hidden dangers of this land. The land was as soft as a swamp, filled with sharp rocks and irregular bumps, so he had to move forward cautiously.

The air was filled with a strong, suffocating mixture of decaying earth and the steaming biological scent of unknown beasts. The branches of the trees swayed and hissed in the wind. The trunk was too old and alive, more threatening than any behemoth he had ever faced.

He felt a vague and profound understanding of the true nature of this forest. It seemed similar to the forest he once owned, but still different. He still wasn't sure what the trees really looked like.

His eyes wandered around this dangerous place, and he felt unprecedented vigilance in his heart. His hand naturally touched his side, and a long sword fell into his palm.

A rare uneasiness and hesitation enveloped the surface of his soul, a feeling he had never experienced as a knight.

Sunlight dapples through the dense canopy of trees and shines on the ground. He took a deep breath and tried to find a clue or a trace in this chaotic environment in the interplay of light and shadow.

He doesn't belong here. He was clearly aware of this. Although he is perhaps the most familiar of his brothers with jungle life...

Suddenly he thought of his brothers—who were they? What kind of people were they?

He tried to find answers in the fog of memory, but every thought was like a fallen leaf swept away by the storm, making it difficult to capture. The battles and quarrels they had experienced together danced in his mind, but the specific faces and voices gradually faded away, like phantoms in the morning mist.

Although he was filled with doubts and frustrations, he decided not to let these feelings take over. He never allowed himself to wallow in helplessness.

His eyes turned to a looming trail deep in the forest, and he decided to follow it, just like he had done during the hunt. He walked through the intricate forest paths, his armor making a slight clanking sound in the bushes.

Suddenly, the eerie silence in the air was broken by a strong sense of danger. He instinctively drew his sword to meet the enemy. Several of the surrounding trees suddenly lunged at him with their twisted, thorny branches, launching an offensive with a hideous desire that entangled and devoured all life.

Loyalty, when he held the hilt of the sword, a word jumped into his mind.

The sword blade collided with the branches, making a crisp metallic sound. The blade of the sword cut into the branch, and a handful of highly corrosive dark green juice splashed out, corroding and fusing the ends of his white hair. The battle was so extraordinary that it exceeded all his expectations.

His memory loomed over the battle, and he was sure he had a lot to think about, but the only answer his memory gave him was hunting, like now, hunting.

More rustling sounds approached him, the air filled with further menace. There were unidentifiable stings of plants and dormant beasts attacking him, accompanied by the roar of distant giant beasts and strange sounds like toads. He trampled upon the corpses of the dead eaten alive by the vegetation, and his armor was severely damaged by attacks that seemed to come from the planet itself.

And the battle is still long.

The dense forest suddenly made a strange noise, and a man appeared like a ghost. His body was covered with steel and his body was not exposed, like a man made of iron.

Above his raised hand armor, a cold light flashed from the edge of the muzzle, and a shot from the hand cannon shattered the branches wrapped around him without hesitation.

"Lion." The Tin Man called him, his tone strange and deep.

He jumped out suddenly, climbed on the branch to fix himself, and met the visitor's eyes from a high place.

At that moment, all the grudges and conflicts from thousands of years ago reappeared like a strong wind, and pictures flashed alternately. The joy of escape was swallowed up by the pain of the past, and a strong anger suddenly arose in the lion's heart. The disputes and betrayals in the memory raged like a crazy storm. Deception and betrayal surged at the same time, and the memory became clear.

His hand held the hilt of the sword tightly, and the tip of the sword trembled slightly in the air, threatening to stab his former brother at any time.

"Perturabo." Leonel's Jonson opened his eyes angrily, and read out the name of the follower of the rebellion in a tone of biting his name, instantly blaming the danger he encountered and his inexplicable awakening on The Lord of the Fourth Legion who had shamelessly deceived him - those loaned gun ports had shed the loyal blood of Salamanders and Raven Guards on the Isstvan V. "What are you going to do, traitor!"

The Tin Woodman approached the tree where he was.

"Are you serious?" Perturabo said, his voice cold and uncharacteristic of ordinary people. For some reason, it did not contain too much malice. "You accuse me of being a traitor? Abandoning the Empire of Man, abandoning Caliban, belatedly arriving after everything is over, but are you still proud of your choice, Leon?"

"That's nonsense!" Leon roared angrily, his memory flashed, and a scar cut across his heart.

Yes, he had no intention of abandoning the Imperium, but after the Horus Heresy ended, he asked himself countless times whether his decision was appropriate. He wandered outside Terra, Chemos, Nuceria, and Barbarus. Battle after battle tore apart the traitor's home planet one by one. The Dark Angels were scattered across the galaxy, hunting the Emperor. of enemies.

However, is this really what he should do?

Maybe he should unite the six wings into one army, return to aid Terra, and participate in the siege? Maybe this could save his father's life from the desperate final battle of the Vengeful Spirit?

"You are not as loyal as you think, Lionel Jonson," Perturabo said.

The words of a traitor hurt his mind so much that the lion was annoyed but had no way to refute. When Rogal Dorn alone sent the Emperor to the Golden Throne, the Lion's failure could never be defended. The shame of dereliction of duty was branded on his face and soul, accompanied by endless pain and sorrow. The pain almost offset the anger of being reunited with his rebel brothers, and he tasted in it a hint of timidity that he loathed.

"Why do you say this?" Leon said contemptuously.

Perturabo paused for a moment, the iron mask reflecting the light of observation and thinking. Leonel Jonson commented on Perturabo's unfamiliar armor, imagining that the armor was wrapped in a body corrupted by Chaos, and was shocked by the protective and offensive power of this new armor.

"Thousands of years have passed, why are you now within the borders of the Human Empire?" Perturabo's words contained an emotion that was close to asking himself.

Then Perturabo reached out to him, hand cannon pointed downwards, blank palm up. His tone was gentle and distant, which was very different from Leon's impression of the gloomy and suspicious Lord of Steel. Doubts rose in the lion's mind.

"You don't belong to this world, lion. Come down and talk." Perturabo said, taking off his helmet. His image is also very different from the one in Leon's memory. To put it simply, Perturabo not only has no tendency to suffer from Chaos corruption, but there is even enough blackness to blend in with the cables among the pipes on his head. hair.

"In case you didn't know, this is Catachan in the thirty-second millennium, so we should get back to camp as soon as possible."

——

"The secrets of the War on Terra are still not fully unlocked. That's all I can tell you."

Perturabo said that while walking among the wooden ladders and rope-pulled hanging boards in the jungle, he carefully used a silenced portable cannon to clear away the plants that were ready to move and the flying insects that preyed on people, trying not to disturb any vegetation.

Not even a Primarch would enjoy being in the forests of Catachan, enjoying the air, the sunshine, and the poisonous needles shot by the two-meter-tall spikeweed.

"Sadly, we don't think it's a good thing to reveal everything to all of humanity. For the sake of the stability of the galaxy, and for the reputation of the Legion."

"Including the reputation of the Dark Angels of this world?" the Lion asked, finding it so odd to discuss such matters with Perturabo.

"To be honest, I appreciate your decision." The Lord of Iron gave an answer that was equivalent to acquiescence.

"But I can't appreciate you." Leon said, not admitting that when he was next to Perturabo, how many times he wanted to pierce the power system of the Terminator armor with a sword and peel him off like a hunter. defense in order to cut his throat.

The very existence of Perturabo was the most glaring proof of his countless failures, even if this Perturabo was too different from the one he knew.

"Then kill him for me." Perturabo said, meeting Leon's unexpected look. "I hope he pays for what he has done. Through some means, I have seen how he mutilated His descendants killed his relatives and betrayed the empire and humanity."

The lion said nothing.

"Although I don't know why you have become old, I can see that your soul has not aged yet." Perturabo said.

Their journey shouldn't have been too long, but in just a few minutes, Leon's sword had cut through several fungal suckers and petrified crystals sharp enough to pierce the armor of the two primarchs. When he was almost carried away by a dangling vine, Leon probably understood why Perturabo left the camp fully armed.

Although the scent of the campfire was close, it took them several times the normal walking speed to barely reach the edge of the camp.

The first thing that greeted them was a strange bullet, aimed directly at Leon's head, but Perturabo quickly reached out to block it. The lion's hand had already grasped the hilt of the sword, and then he realized that the person who raised the gun at him was even a staggering child.

"This isn't fun," Perturabo said quietly. "Put your gun away, kid."

The child didn't seem to fully understand what Perturabo meant, until a mortal officer yelled at the child, and the child stood at attention, put away his gun, and ran away.

The officer was short and stocky, with less than half of her face covered in scratches and half of her body missing. Her gender only became clear after the officer strode towards the Primarchs.

"How can I help you, sir?" the officer asked, speaking quickly but carefully. The face cast by the red handkerchief was not only devoid of fear, but also showed some cunningness behind determination. Suddenly outside the camp there was a scream of some kind of predator swooping and circling, and the officer didn't even bother to look.

"Prepare something edible for us, Lieutenant," said Perturabo. "We will pay it from the next military pay."

"Okay, sirs," the lieutenant said, unconsciously flexing his right hand to experience the powerful servo assist system of the newly replaced power glove.

Perturabo motioned to the lion to sit down beside him at a waterhole in the camp. The water was still turbid enough to reflect the unfamiliar wrinkles on Leonel Jonson's face. He felt that he was becoming another strange and old lost being, hiding from the remnants of the Horus Heresy with all his failures.

He snorted softly, reminding himself that he hadn't regressed beyond acceptance. His movements were still fast, and his striking strength and physical strength were still better than those of the weakest primarchs he knew, but these small differences were still hurting him.

"You need to return to your world," Perturabo said, his voice unchanging and confusing since Leon had met him. "Do you know any way?"

"No clue. I hope my Legion hasn't forgotten me yet," the Lion said. "Maybe I will leave tomorrow, maybe I won't be able to leave."

"After you go back, lead your legion to protect the empire, Lion. Before that, you can fight side by side with us." Perturabo's eyes fell on the puddle, and his meaning suddenly changed, "No, I still can't forgive you."

The lion hesitated for a moment: "Same as you, Perturabo."

Perturabo stood, and Leon drew his sword again.

"Whether it's what you did in my world or the mistakes you made here," the Primarchs said.

"We need to fight." Leon said these words, and his aging heartbeat suddenly became as strong and strong as when he was young. He pulled a wild expression, surprised and satisfied that he was still skilled enough. The hallucination of weakness left him. "Resolve conflicts with strength."

"It is the nature of weapons," Perturabo said slowly, adding, "Brother." His iron armor hummed, his unchanging tone given emotion by the meaning of the words themselves.

Their eyes flashed with shadows of the past, those unforgettable betrayals, misunderstandings and stubbornness. They have to find a way to release.

"Catachan." Leon whispered, savoring the word that had the same syllable as his lost home planet, and swung his sword forward to let the jungle witness it all.

Reference: The Lion: Son of the forest