With muffled steps inside the isolated shrubbery beyond the public shelter, Creed stormed through the familiar woods as fast as he could. A slight urgency was buried under his neutral expressions.
He had changed his attire from the black blazer to his comfortable hunters' kevlar. Normal articles of clothing couldn't compare to these hunters' apparel. His fingers instinctually slide across the grated surface of the shoulder to discern the microscale weaving on the surface of his brand-new as well as an expensive piece of clothing.
Durable, temperature resilient, along with the nano-liquid circuitry for maximum damage repair. His new hunter's kevlar that Creed had ordered from the genome library portal arrived yesterday. For that, he had to make a quick round trip to 'Zerg' to bring his new suit.
'5
"You can go home!"The voice pulled him back to reality; he turned back and saw instructor Maira inching closer. Even in the summit's darkness, Creed could recognize her even in the darkest of places.She wasn't on her feet but seated gracefully on a saddle over a beast that looked similar to a black panther. The paws of the panther scratched the ground, while the scarlet furs of nightshade added a glimmering contrast to his overall majestic appearance."Eh!! But… why ma'am?""If I knew that the meeting was because of the Malaka hunt... I would have delayed your inclusion.""I don't understand...what does it have to do with you telling me not to go?""Do I really have
Under the dimly lit firmament of unexplored celestial fabric, the air whispered nothing, and the ground screamed curses. Seven hushed hunters were now standing in front of a dark space that almost seemed like the edge of the universe.'So this is the outer region!'Creed gazed at the boundary of the outer region. This was the farthest he had come from the public shelter.'Damn... Spooky!!'Others just entered the thin dark film as if it was nothing. Beyond this boundary, Creed saw a forest waiting for him. The forest where the Malaka was spotted.Agenor and others have already tied up their mounts outside the perimeter. These beasts attract too much attention, and bringing them any further was a
Agenor had already relayed to everyone that the team that came before had a total of 8 members. They were already 30 km deep inside the wretched forest. Yet, so far, no signs of struggle, no dead bodies, no blood splatter, no broken weapons, nothing was spotted. Creed's senses were beginning to tingle, and a sense of urgency was swallowing his sanity. His perception was now running wild, forcefully. 8 party members and yet nothing out of ordinary, as if the forest swallowed them all in the blink of an eye. If they couldn't find even a single drop of blood even after coming this deep inside the forest, this fact alone escalates the dangers of the mission by several notches. 'Weird… this is weird!' Creed mumbled inside his head. Soon enough, Creed's e
Creed and Nakiya were already aware of this mnemonic pattern drawn on the wooden cutout. Standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, used frequently to convey information cryptically."This is…" Nakiya uttered"Yeah!" Colt replied. "A cryptic mayday!"Creed mumbled inside his head, 'It's Morse code!"Creed's eyes shook in their sockets. His pulse elevated the moment he set his eyes on the blood-stained cutout. A surge of the intensity of thoughts overwhelmed his mind and hit him like a truck.A sense of darkness overshadowed his sanity. His veins had trouble containing the massive blood rush inside his body. His focus on reality seemed to grow wafer-thin, and his
These rhythmic fluctuations were exceedingly discreet. Discrete enough to be easily confused with any random itch on the skin. However, Both Agenor and Rain understood that it wasn't and halted immediately."Alright!" Agenor immediately turned his head towards Rain and mumbled, "You take the lead this time..."Rain nodded, turned her feet and dashed in a different direction. Agenor followed. They both immediately vanished from their spot into what seemed to be an entirely different direction from the current path.After receiving what seemed to be a signal. Rain and Agenor immediately ran towards the origin of it.Direction or destination was not a problem from Rain either. Echolocation was one of the most convenient passive abilities for hunters, that is if they knew ho
'What is going on?' Creed mumbled, 'of all places, she had to hide here…'Creed could sense a dense, callous aura tangled with the air molecules. A dense shrubbery that he had been constantly seeing everywhere was now gone and was replaced by extremely thick trees, randomly growing from the ground at a sufficient distance of 4 to 5 meters.The entire terrain seemed like a graveyard, except for graves there were trees. The un-rhythm was far more dense here than any other place.The ground was charred, scorched patches were visible on the trees, and a stench of burned flesh lingered. Creed almost felt as if he had descended to hell.Agenor went into deep mulling. This deadly aura surrounding the area contained lust and blood. Not just him, everyone seemed hesi
They were moving smoothly until Creed's eyes landed on a random tree.The size of this tree was similar to any other tree, and there was absolutely nothing spectacular about it. Yet Creed immediately halted. Agenor and others were about to pass it, but he held Colt's shoulder to stop him as well. Agenor and Nakiya too gazed at him with suspicion, none of them said a word.Colt turned his head and saw Creed's lips kissing his index finger. His breath was erratic, and his eyes were wide open. This time, others looked at him with a deep frown as well. Creed's expressions were enough to suggest that he found something.He extended his arm and pointed towards a specific part of the tree trunk. He stepped forward and touched the surface. Soon his hand caressed the surface to confirm his own suspicion.
Signs of heatstroke were visible from her vegetative and unresponsive behavior. Surprisingly, Creed saw a sudden change in Chakra control, hinting that her chakra reserves were filling up. This made her extremely curious about the contents of the mysterious bottle. "Is she going to be okay?" Creed, after seeing her state, asked, "What is that, Big sister?!" "A stimulant… it won't heal her, but will temporarily revitalize her body!" A few seconds later, the coughing stopped, and they were finally able to get a good look on her exhausted face. They saw her eyes sunken deep inside their sockets. Blood-stained face, and hair falling off from the scalp. Both her lips cracked and bloody and the insides of her mouth have been sucked dry of every bit of moisture.