Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor

Sanchez and Jorin began climbing Mount Eitr from different directions simultaneously.

Both were riding thunderwolves, ascending the sheer cliff face with ease. What would be an impossible climb for ordinary people was like a flat plain to the thunderwolves.

Sanchez's thunderwolf was larger and faster than the Fenrisians', gradually widening the gap between the two men. By the time Sanchez reached the summit, he was several kilometers ahead of Jorin.

From the peak, which measured less than a square kilometer, Sanchez surveyed the area. The frigid wind howled across the ice-covered rocks, producing a sharp and shrill wail.

The "Hunter" fixed his black eyes on the prey lying atop the rocks, a creature with a wingspan over ten meters, covered in crystalline ice membranes. Its jagged wing edges resembled serrated ice blades, reflecting a faint, cold blue glow like twin floating scythes.

One of Fenris' most dangerous dragons: the Ice Dragon known as Witherwing.

ROAR!

The sky's apex predator of Fenris spotted the ground's apex predator intruding upon its territory. It flapped its wings and stood upright on its crystalline body, unleashing an enraged bellow.

"AWOO!"

The thunderwolf howled back, striding into a hunting charge, closing in on Witherwing.

Climbing the cliff, Jorin heard the dragon's roar and the thunderwolf's howl. His expression shifted.

Immediately, Jorin swung his axe and slashed a forearm-sized gash into his thunderwolf's side. The blood froze instantly from the chill, and the pain sent the beast into a full sprint toward the summit.

At the summit, Sanchez's thunderwolf dodged Witherwing's first strike. The "Hunter" spotted his opening, planted his legs, and leapt toward the ice dragon.

Witherwing missed and took to the air, veering to the side.

Sanchez's power sword, glowing with blue light, slashed into the dragon's left wing. The disruption field tore through the icy membrane, splattering ink-black blood into the air.

Wounded, Witherwing quickly recognized the human with the sword as a threat no lesser than the thunderwolf.

Raising its long, spear-like head, its mouth revealed rows of jagged, ice-crystal fangs.

It inhaled deeply, and Sanchez's thunderwolf was nearly dragged into the air by the force.

Sanchez bent his knees and grounded himself.

With a frigid gleam in its eyes, Witherwing exhaled a cloud of freezing mist.

Sanchez and his thunderwolf began to slow, their blood seemingly frozen in their veins, their movements turning sluggish and sticky like caught in spiderwebs.

Sanchez's mind sharpened. His gyrinx's black eyes flickered, and it raised a paw:

"Accelerate metabolism!"

Suddenly, man and beast's blood surged, and their speed spiked.

The thunderwolf lunged, clamping its jaws around the ice dragon's neck, its claws gripping tightly to the dense scales like fingernails.

Sanchez struck again, his sword cleaving through the right wing with a burst of tearing force.

Staggering, the wounded Witherwing tried to retreat into the sky, but it could sense death approaching.

"A flying lizard like you dares abandon your territory? Don't you run!"

The "Provoker's" psychic energy drained rapidly. Witherwing didn't understand the insult, but some primal instinct as a sky-predator told it that it had been humiliated.

It let out a furious roar and turned back, diving at the "Provoker"

This human was insufferable. Witherwing had never hated a creature more. Even if it had to die, it would take him with it.

The "Hunter" took three bounding strides toward the dragon, then frowned. He saw a spinning axe like a windmill soaring toward the dragon's head.

Sanchez's enhanced senses locked on immediately, on the thunderwolf and Jorin.

'If Jorin lands that strike, who gets the kill credit becomes murky.'

The "Hunter" would not allow his prey to be stolen, nor endure the shame of being upstaged by a Fenrisian; such an insult would stain the Legion and their Father.

Through a psychic link, Sanchez sent an order to his gyrinx.

It raised its paw and slammed it into the ground.

A faint, nearly invisible psychic pulse swept across the entire mountaintop.

In that instant, Witherwing, the axe, Jorin, and his thunderwolf all froze briefly.

For an Astartes, that was enough.

Sanchez sprinted forward, vaulted into the air, and cleaved his sword into the dragon's skull.

The disruption field shredded the scales, and the dragon's head came crashing down.

The next moment, the spinning axe struck.

Sanchez extended his left hand and caught the axe handle mid-air with precision, hurling it to the ground.

He said in Vlka:

"Jorin, you're too late."

Jorin's windburned face darkened further. Still just a mortal, he hadn't even perceived the moment the gyrinx used its psychic power.

'The physical gap between us is too great. If only I were an Astartes too, I wouldn't have lost to him.'

Jorin clenched his fists. His desire for the gene-modification promised by the Wolf King grew even stronger.

While Sanchez was hunting the ice dragon, elsewhere at the volcanic mouth of the Sea of Storms, Szczesny began his own drake hunt.

He had learned from the Fenrisians that a breed of drake called Drakhs circled the geothermal vents in winter for warmth.

Szczesny contacted the Techmarines to create a specialized capture device for the hunt.

After three longships were equipped, he led the fleet near the volcano. In the skies above, hundreds of drakes could be seen soaring.

Five nautical miles from the volcano, the "Seafarer" stood at the prow, quickly analyzing the sea and volcano conditions.

He issued orders for the other two longships to split and flank the volcano.

One nautical mile out, he gave the order:

"Fire!"

From the bows of the longships, five "Sailors" manning massive ballista-like devices launched their harpoons at the drakes.

When the harpoons came within a dozen meters, onboard sensors activated.

The harpoons used Jogallian arc-thrower tech, and electrical discharges struck the drakes, stunning them mid-air.

A large net enveloped them, and the Shadows of Order quickly reeled them in with rotary winches, dragging the stunned drakes into the sea before they could fall into the volcano.

An Astartes quickly organized Fenrisians to jump in and retrieve the downed drakes.

The other drakes, enraged by their kin's capture, attacked the longships.

But they flew straight into the trap.

Under the "Seafarer's" command, the three ships formed a ring and ensnared more drakes. Few escaped.

Once the hunt ended, Szczesny summoned a transport ship to deliver the drakes to the Throne of Shadow's Soveriegnity.

Every day, Nareth received more game from both the Sea of Storms and Asaheim.

Initially, it was all sea creatures.

But as more "Hunters" entered Asaheim, land beasts like mammoths began to increase.

The most valuable of them all was the Drakhs, the key ingredient in the Potion of the seventh sequence "Pyromaniac" of the Red Priest Pathway.

Nareth sent all the captured drakes to the Kingdom of Disorder, thinking:

'I've gathered all the ingredients for the "Pyromaniac" potion, but Sanchez only recently advanced. He'll still need time to digest the "Provoker." potion'

While he pondered this, Sanchez returned to the Wolf King's court, his thunderwolf bearing the bound corpse of Witherwing.

..

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

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