Soul Drinkers

As a Chaos Daemon unaffiliated with any faction, Hill was nowhere near as powerful as other daemons. Quite the opposite—he was so weak that he could not even defeat a Nurgling of Nurgle.

Fortunately, the Warp was vast. The territories controlled by the Four Gods occupied only a small portion of it, leaving countless regions where weak beings like Hill could survive.

No matter what kind of creature one was, even if one was a daemon, survival always came first.

As the sister world of the Physical World, the Warp was not as desolate as people imagined. This world had an ecosystem of its own—one that could even be called excessively abundant.

Without a doubt, the beings at the pinnacle of the Warp were those gods of One Proof of Eternity. They carved out kingdoms for themselves, commanded countless daemon armies, and ceaselessly waged that eternal holy war, wantonly stirring the Sea of Souls.

But even the gods of the Warp were not omnipotent. Countless domains did not belong to the Four Gods, and Hill was one of those who lived among them.

The law of the jungle applied everywhere. To survive, Hill scrambled every day for his next meal. Even though daemons did not need to eat, he still did it.

After all, as entities born from the tide of souls in the real world, every daemon—or at least the vast majority of Warp Creatures—possessed a natural gift: the ability to devour souls.

The more intense emotions a soul contained, the more precious it was. Like a tonic, it could gradually make a daemon stronger.

The problem was that Hill was too weak. He could not cross the thick dimensional barrier and tempt intelligent creatures into offering themselves to him. Nor was he like the organized daemon armies of the Four Gods, which could receive blessings from their gods. He could only drift with the tides of the Warp, taking whatever scraps and leftovers nobody wanted.

It sounded pathetic, and it truly was. But one should never underestimate the work of scavenging.

The Sea of Souls was not a kind place. The slightest carelessness could see one swallowed by a Warp storm. Not to mention that the roles of prey and predator could reverse in an instant. Only the most experienced scavengers could fish souls from the tides and keep hold of them.

Hill was precisely such an experienced Scavenger, and that was one of his few sources of joy.

It sounded unbelievable that a daemon could possess such a positive emotion as joy, but that was the truth. Daemons had emotions too. They could feel fear and terror, especially when it came to death—they feared it to their very bones.

Hill believed that if he persisted, then one day he would become a powerful daemon. Perhaps he could even carve out a kingdom and become a ruler in his own right.

Even better, Hill had recently discovered that his luck had changed. He had found a blessed land that could not be observed by other Warp Creatures: a ship, an iron behemoth that made all other predators avoid it.

According to the nearby daemons he knew, there was a group of humans here whose souls were dim and who gave off a strange odor. There was also a terrifying monster among them. They absolutely could not go near it.

But just like all anglers, as long as they could catch fish, they would not abandon a fishing spot even if they knew there was a bomb nearby.

Without predators watching him, Hill could pick up large numbers of ownerless fragments every time. He had also discovered that these soul fragments were unusually high quality, completely contrary to this soul-frightening place.

"The rougher the seas, the more valuable the souls. I definitely won't capsize."

After talking himself into it, Hill grew bolder and bolder. He no longer collected floating fragments from the tides of souls. Instead, he began following alongside the ship so he could accumulate power more efficiently.

Perhaps those who drowned were always the ones who knew how to swim. Just as Hill was happily leveling up as usual, a wave surged over and slammed him straight into the Geiger field of the Abomination Exemplar, wedging him firmly against the outer wall of a viewport.

Smack!

A crisp sound rang out. Our daemon Scavenger, Hill, was knocked flat on the ground and trembled like a little girl, not daring to look at that terrifying monster.

"Speak. Why were you spying on my ship? What exactly did you hear? Answer me!"

"Wuuu, wuuu..."

???

"Not talking, are you? I just love stubborn ones like you. Today's your unlucky day—you happened to catch me in a bad mood. So daemons can run wild, can they? Today I'll teach you what cruelty means. Brian, hang him up and keep beating him."

Having received the order, the first company captain Brian pulled on the chains and hoisted the unlucky daemon into the air.

Perhaps he had realized something, because Hill thrashed desperately and let out strange, muffled howls. But Brian did not care in the slightest. He went up and gave him a thorough beating with his fists.

"Stubborn, are you? You dared rip out my window? You must be tired of living. Keep going!"

Even though Brian was not using his full strength, he was still a Space Marine, while Hill was a complete weakling. After only a few blows, he had beaten Hill bloody, with smoke pouring from his body. The entire daemon was nearly smashed apart.

"Wuuu, wuuu..."

"Still whining? I think you really want to die."

"Um, Father, is it possible that this Warp Creature is already begging for mercy, but it's in too much pain to speak?" Brian reminded him.

Brian had been brought along to interrogate the prisoner and was extremely frightened. Father had suddenly gathered them all together, punished Tom first, then inexplicably grown sorrowful, and finally begun dancing around while spouting things nobody could understand.

And now he had even ordered Brian to torture a Warp Creature found by the roadside. Brian was deeply worried about his father's mental state, afraid that something unexpected might happen.

"How could that be? This is a Daemon, and daemons don't feel pain."

In truth, Mordred did not know whether daemons felt pain. But he knew that not one of them was good. Perhaps this was a spy sent by the Four Merchants to harm him.

However, after hearing Brian's opinion, Mordred did not issue another order. Instead, he gave the daemon time to recover.

Ten minutes later, Hill's jaw, which had been shattered by a single slap, finally became usable again. He hurriedly shouted,

"Mercy, my lord! Mercy! I really didn't hear what you were saying. I haven't even harmed a single human—I simply don't have the ability!"

"Bullshit. If you've never harmed a human, then how can you speak Gothic? And not just any Gothic—you speak High Gothic, and you're even more fluent than I am.

"Speak. Why did you appear near my ship?"

This time, Hill truly broke down. Big brother, I'm a daemon. Is it really strange that I can speak Gothic? How are you, a human, even more savage than I am?

He absolutely did not dare say those thoughts aloud, afraid of angering the monster before him. He could only explain,

"It's something I was born with. Every day, so many human souls dissipate into the Sea of Souls. Of course I learned to speak, my lord. As for why I came here, I was just trying to find something to eat."

For the sake of his life, Hill held nothing back. He wished he had two more mouths so he could explain himself faster.

"Then why didn't you say so from the beginning?"

"I was afraid of you."

Hill's answer left Mordred puzzled. After exchanging a glance with Brian, he slowly approached the strange daemon and continued pressing him.

"What are you afraid of?"

"Afraid you'd eat me, aaah—"

Mordred's palm descended from above and clamped onto the daemon's chest. Amid Hill's bloodcurdling screams of agony, half of his torso turned into black smoke and poured directly into Mordred's body.

Thinking his father had come under attack, Brian roared and raised his Power Sword, ready to execute the daemon on the spot. Mordred stopped him with one hand.

"Father? Are you all right?"

"Fine. I've never been better. Brian, what was the name of our legion before?"

"Soul Drinkers." The first company captain seemed to realize something, and forced that title from the corner of his mouth.

"That's right. It seems we can't become the light of humanity after all. But fortunately, everything is still within my plans."