Book 5 Chapter 7.3 - Snow Country
A weak light flashed past the dark forest. Based on his intuition, Aire felt that it should be the radiance released by that thing. That was a dark and weak purple light that flashed past within the shadows. However, in that instant, Aire discovered that it wasn’t two lights, but rather an expanse of brilliance displayed by many light specks together.
“Damn it, another mutated creature!” Aire swallowed his saliva with difficulty. The palms of his hands were covered with sweat. The automatic rifle felt more and more slippery, continuously sliding towards the ground. Most advanced creatures in the olden era had two eyes, but many mutated creatures’ distinctive trait was their multiple eyes. From a biological standpoint, this didn’t seem to make much sense, but this was reality.
Aire hated mutated creatures, because facing mutated creatures was the same as facing the unknown, and most times, fear came from the unknown. No one knew exactly how many mutated creatures there were in this world, and they knew even less exactly what type of mutations occurred. He felt an instinctive urge to hide behind the safety of the village’s walls, but his battlefield experience demanded that he remain here and find that creature, figure out what exactly it was, and it would be best if he could then eliminate it. The traces he found in the livestock shed proved that the tall walls only appeared to be safe, the chemical poison smeared over the steel wiring only effective against most normal creatures and humans, unknown if it will do anything to this thing. In addition, Aire was the one with the greatest fighting strength in the entire village, as well as the one with the most combat experience. In a complex environment like the mountain region, more people might not necessarily be an advantage, often only increasing the casualty count.
Even though he was sent to this remote and desolate place to serve a penal sentence, Aire was still a captain with honor and a sense of responsibility; this was something that had never changed.
Aire controlled his breathing, held his automatic rifle horizontally, and then slowly entered the forest. The moment he stepped from the the light into the darkness, Aire’s sight temporarily couldn’t adjust, and right at this moment, a dark shadow flashed past in front of him like a streak of lightning, disappearing into the forest depths with a few leaps. Aire still didn’t see this thing clearly, but he confirmed that it should be around the size of a stray cat. This made him feel a bit better, but he still didn’t loosen his vigilance. Even if it truly was a stray cat, if he didn’t deal with it carefully, he still might be seriously injured. Moreover, when he saw its size, Aire understood even less how that bull disappeared.
He straightened his body a bit, and then continued into the depths of the forest. His experience told him that what he was looking for already wasn’t that far.
In the forest, a faintly discernible bloody odor wafted through the rich plant smell. The faint odor was immediately seized by Aire’s sharp nose. He took a deep breath, determined the direction it came from, and then slowly walked towards a few large trees.
After making his way around an ancient tree that was about the thickness of a person, Aire was suddenly dumbfounded, cold sweat suddenly pouring out like a spring!
The lost bull laid right before him, not moving at all, as if asleep. However, Aire, with his abundant battlefield experience, could tell with a single glance that the bull’s eyes were an abnormal purplish black color, the eyelids even split open. This was a manifestation of utter fear!
To be more precise, what was lying in the snow was not ‘a’ bull’, but rather ‘half’ a bull!
What remained below the bull’s shoulder blades was only white bones without a bit of flesh. However, everything above its chest and shoulders was perfectly intact. However, when Aire scanned his narrowed eyes over it, he immediately discovered that the bull’s dark fur had a few criss-crossed black lines, these lines easily overlooked if one didn’t examine it carefully. He immediately found similar lines on the latter half of the bull’s skeleton. The corners of Aire’s eyes continuously twitched. He finally knew how the bull made its way through that narrow ventilation shutter, but he would have preferred that he didn’t.
This meat bull that was several hundred kilograms in weight was chopped into several dozen pieces, brought out piece by piece, and then reassembled here. However, not even a master with the most exquisite craftsmanship could chop up the entire bull in such a neat and orderly fashion, the bull that was pieced together afterwards almost no different from a completely intact one. Only a five levels or higher sword or blade master from the Holy Crusaders could make such neat cuts!
A thought suddenly emerged in Aire’s mind. If this was really was done by that stray cat like creature, then cutting apart his own brains should be no harder than tearing apart cheese.
“Damn mutated creature!” Aire cursed. He felt as if a rock was weighing down on his chest, his breathing even becoming extremely difficult.
Right at this moment, a slight friction sound that should not belong to this forest suddenly sounded from above him. Aire suddenly raised his head. On a tree trunk several meters above him, he finally saw that thing.
This was an indescribable creature. Its streamlined body was extremely long and fine, and there were several winding areas. Its body was wrapped under dark blue-green skin, the surface of the skin swirling with faint radiance. When it quickly moved about, this radiance allowed it to merge with the surrounding environment. Even though this didn’t make it invisible, it made it difficult for human eyes to capture its location. There were two pairs of limbs that extended from its abdomen, the part at the back a bit larger. The surface of these limbs that were also blue-green flickered with a metallic luster, their sharp tips deeply embedded into the tree trunk. From its forceful body lines, its four limbs should be able to easily tear into the tree trunk. At the front of its body were two blades similar to the forelegs of a praying mantis. The blades turned a few times, making it not look like the limbs of an insect, but rather like a meticulously forged executioner’s blade. The two blades were twenty centimeters long, not looking like they could dismember a bull, but they had enough sharpness and strength to spare. There were as many as sixteen small compound eyes on its head, half of them flickering with a purple color, the other half displaying all kinds of radiance.
It was nailed perpendicularly to the tree trunk, its eyes staring at Aire. Its blades continuously rubbed against each other, as if it was a bit nervous and restless.
It was a creature full of power and streamline aesthetics, possessing an aloof type of gracefulness and arrogance. Unlike those strange and ugly mutated creatures, it was definitely not monstrous or ugly, only making others feel fear due to its power.
Forget about seeing something like this before, Aire had never even heard of a creature like this. As soon as his automatic rifle was raised slightly, the little creature’s grinding of its blades immediately slowed down, the sudden increase in pressure making Aire intelligently stop all movements that might display hostility. However, he didn’t dare retreat either, out of fear that he might draw the instinctive attack of the other party.
He couldn’t advance, but he couldn’t retreat either. Before familiarizing himself with the other party’s nature, he couldn’t make any other movements. As such, Aire just stood there rigidly. The only thing he was glad about was that he didn’t bring any villagers with him. With this little thing’s speed and destructive force that could easily cut through a meat bull, even if everyone in the village was brought over, they still likely wouldn’t stand a chance. Right now, Aire only hoped to not anger this little creature. It was fine if it often came here to feed later, even though its ability to eat half a flesh bull placed quite the pressure on the village.
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