Jagen was starting to feel annoyed already. The beasts that were moving alongside them was clearly stalking his group. He initially ignored it. He thought that the beasts might just be following the same blood trail as them. These mindless creatures will follow the scent of food as soon as the detected it.
He told his men to move faster and keep their guards up just in case the hungry beasts decided to pounce at them. Then all of a sudden, they heard another growl on the other side. As if another group of beasts suddenly appeared.
Jagen realized that this must be a pack of rabid beasts, thinking of preying on them. A solitary beast hunting for food is not a problem. It will only hunt a prey that it can easily overpower. A pack of hunting beasts however was entirely a different story. They are organized and can communicate to each other, making it extremely dangerous even to armed soldiers.
"Boss, there are now beasts on our both sides. I think they are flanking us." One of his men reported to him calmly.
He nodded in acknowledgement. Whatever this beasts are, there is no chance that it could go near them. There are 14 of them fully armed. He just hate the idea that his time might be wasted on this insignificant creatures.
"You can fire your weapon if the beasts try to attack. There is no time to waste here." He ordered.
The effective range of their rifles was about 200 meters and their handguns at around 120 meters. Each of his men are armed with a rifle as primary weapon and handguns as a back up. They all carry decent amount of Quantum explosives.
These beasts that are flanking them are only a little more than a hundred meters away from both sides. Mowing them all down will not be much of a problem. Jagen just don't want to be distracted. As long as these beast don't attack, there's no point wasting bullets on them.
"Boss, It's adult Midnight Dogs in our right. I saw two of them." One of his men reported.
"Open fire if it tries to make a move on us." He ordered.
"Affirmative." His men chorused, pulling out their handguns.
He nodded to his men as he too pulled his own handgun. The rifles will just slow down their pace.
After they trekked about another kilometer, they reached the heart of the forest. They were already walking downhill on the other side of the mountain. The blood trail was gone, suggesting that their target managed to stop his bleeding. It was not a problem for them though, the footprints on grass was so obvious that Jagen doesn't require the directions of his tracker anymore.
"There are also two Midnight Dogs in our left, both adults." Another one of his men reported.
"Fire a few shots at them. Scare them away." He barked.
Just as he thought. A pack of hungry dogs, out in the wild to hunt for food.
The beasts are called Midnight Dogs for a reason. They are nocturnal hunters and rarely come out when the sun is still up. These beast are the size of a fully grown horse.
Jagen had already past encounters with this species before. He knew their general characteristics and weaknesses. Midnight Dogs can't see very well during the day. Therefore these beasts only prefers to hunt at night or at late afternoons. This was also probably the reason why these beasts are not attacking them yet.
They must have been moving too loud and making too much noise that they woke up these dogs, Or maybe these dogs are just very hungry.
All of a sudden, Jagen heard a series of gunfire. He quickly scanned around and saw the Midnight Dogs revealed themselves and moved towards them from all sides, trapping them in the center.
"Fire. Fire!" He shouted as he also aimed his gun and pulled the trigger.
Jagen's eyes widened instantly when he saw the Midnight Dogs only flinched a little every time their bullet made a direct hit. Their weapons can't penetrate its skin.
"These are not normal Midnight Dogs, they are mutated." one of his men said in an alarmed voice.
"Quantum explosive released!" Someone shouted then a small explosion erupted nearby.
Jagen watched in disbelief as he saw one of the dogs just leaped away from the Quantum as if it knows what was going to happen next. It landed a few meters away and pounced at the man nearest to it.
One of his men fired his weapon relentlessly. The dog was at close range but it only flinched for a second, all the bullets falling into the ground. The dog snarled then sank its fangs to one of his men, biting the man's head. The death was instant.
Soon, the angry shouts of his men turned into cries of pain. The Midnight Dogs were almost toying with them. His men fall to the ground one after the other.
One man tried to ran away, only to be swatted by the dog with such a force that threw the man to the nearby protruding rock, killing him in an instant.
"This is not real." Jagen finally felt a sudden rush of fear.
His past experiences with Midnight Dogs was never like this. Their skin should not be bulletproof. And as a nocturnal beasts, these dogs should not be capable at fighting at their full potential during the day. One more thing that really made him scared was the fact that these beasts were clearly not here to hunt for food, but came here to kill them all.
Jagen slowing backed away, taking advantage at the occurring chaos, His men was dying one after the other and soon he will be next.
He needs to hide and run far from the area. He doesn't have to report to his client anymore. He will escape. He can live as a bandit.
Jagen broke into a run when he was finally a few hundred meters away from the bloodbath.
"Hah! I can make it out of here." He said to himself as he rushed on.
After about two kilometers of non stop running, Jagen was forced to stop to catch his breath. He was far enough from the area. He tried to steady his breathing.
"Just a few. More kilometers. And I. Will be back at the city again." He said to himself between gasps of breath.
Jagen took a seat at a nearby rock and did a quick inventory on himself. He had already thrown away his rifle as it would slow him down. He has still his handgun an three Quantum explosives.
He will just take a rest for a moment to recover his stamina and move again.
"What happened mister? Are you tired?" Suddenly a child's voice echoed, surprising him.
Jagen quickly pointed his gun to where the voice came from and he saw a girl standing about 20 meters from him
The girl was short, maybe just around 150 centimeters tall that her long hair was almost touching the ground. She was wearing some kind of ceremonial dress that was completely out of place in this dense forest.
Jagen tensed himself up. This girl is suspicious.
"Are you going to fire your weapon at me, Mister?" The girl asked again in a light voice, full of innocence.
"I will shoot you damn in the face if you don't tell me who you are, and why you're here." Jagen warned, one sudden move from this girl and he will pull the trigger.
"Ohh. It's not important to know who I am. Though, I can tell you that I'm here to kill you." The girl said sweetly, touching the lower part of her lips with her small finger.
Jagen didn't need to hear anything else. As young as this girl might look, she has to die now.
He saw sudden flash of movement in front of the girl as soon as he pulled the trigger. Then only that time his knees gave up on him. He fell into the ground with a dull thud. His whole body was shaking.
Between him and the girl, A Midnight Dog was standing, glaring at him. The shot that was meant for the girl was blocked by the massive beast.
This beast was bigger than the four others that attacked him and his men. It has a greenish dark fur and its mane looked like spiky needles. He has never seen this kind of Midnight Dog before.
"Right, If you don't want to run anymore, I will kill you now." The girl said, peeking at him from the back of the beast.
Jagen pulled a Quantum explosive from his pocket but before he could throw it, the massive beast pounced at him. Its large paws pinned his arms to the ground so hard that he heard his bones cracked. He bit his lips from crying out of pain.
Using his other hand, Jagen pointed his gun upwards and emptied his magazine to the beast's belly.
It didn't leave a mark.
Jagen struggled wildly, trying to free himself from the beast.
He reached for another Quantum explosive when the beast suddenly jumped away from him.
Just then he heard the sharp click of the Quantum explosive on his crushed hand. He somehow pressed its activating button.
Jagen tried to grip the Quantum, as long as he hold it down, it will not explode.
"Goodbye mister." The girl said in a cheerful voice.
He was so focused on holding the Quantum explosive with his broken hands that he didn't notice the little girl throw another one at him.
He screamed loudly when the other Quantum explosive landed on his chest.
"You little Fuc!--"
Jagen's shout was abruptly cut off by the sudden blast that shredded his body to unrecognizable pieces.
----------
Alieya was so tired already. Her feet was bruised in all places and her dress was torn from all the sharp branches and shrubs they passed through.
She wanted to stop and take a break but she knew that they have to move forward.
They heard a while ago the series of gunfire not far from them. It was the group that was hunting them down.
Fox said that the group must have encountered a wild beast and had to kill it. The shooting didn't take long, meaning that the group were on the move again.
"There's a huge boulder over there, we can hide and take a short break there." Fox said, pointing ahead.
"Yes." She nodded.
She was feeling exhausted and their water was long gone. All she wish for was a minute of rest and they can continue on.
"We have a big problem." Fox suddenly halted that she bumped into his back.
She was about to ask about it when she also saw what he was referring too.
Ahead of them was the same large dog that they encountered before. Its greenish dark fur was gleaming dully in the afternoon sun.
Fox quickly turned around and grabbed her hand.
"Let's turn back, we'll find another way." He said in a low voice.
"Hey wait, you don't have to run." They suddenly heard someone shouted.
They turn around and saw a little girl standing beside the beast.
Alieya was full of disbelief. The girl was short, she probably hasn't even come of age yet. She was wearing a colorful dress with lots of hair accessories as if she was a shrine maiden or something.
What was surprising to her was that the girl was leaning on one of the beast's legs as if it was her close friend.
"You don't have to run, I will not hurt you." The girl said again and patted the beasts neck.
Alieya's jaw almost dropped when she saw the big dog yawned and lower its body.
The girl climbed on the dog's back and sat there, side saddled.
"Hello, I am Zaia, It's nice to meet you." The girl announced as the dog slowly walked towards them.
"My name is Fox, and she is Alieya." Fox was the first to recover from the bizarre sight in front of them. Alieya was staring blankly, unable to say anything.
"Hi Fox, Hi Alieya." Zaia jumped down from the dog when it finally arrived in front of them.
Zaia gave an awkward bow, like the gesture one will do before starting a dance.
"Do you need anything from us?" Fox said, he was still on the edge.
He recognizes the big dog in front of him as the same dog that attacked them earlier. Can this girl command this beast? Does she want to kill him too? Then why didn't the dog finish him off when it had the change, instead it run away after wounding him.
"I'm not sure if I want anything from you yet. I was just curious so I came to see you." Zaia said, giving them another sweet smile.
"Don't lie to us! We can clearly see that this beast is under your control. It attacked us earlier." Alieya was finally back to herself, snapping at the girl.
"Uhhmm, Yes, this is my little boy Raru. He was the reason why I came here to see you." Zaia answered.
"Can you tell us why? We are in a hurry." Fox said.
His mind is overwhelmed at the moment. How could a little girl call this massive dog her little boy? There was so many things he doesn't know. He was being hunted by a group of people and he didn't know why. Now there was this girl, suddenly appearing in front of them.
"Ohh, you mean you are in a hurry to run away from the men following you? They are all dead." Zaia declared with a radiant smile, as if she accomplished some task worthy to be proud about.
"You-You are not here to kill us too, right?" Alieya asked. The fear on her voice was changed to confusion.
"No of course not. Raru told me something exciting, yet quiet unbelievable at the same time. You see, I even dressed up like this just to meet you." She answered again in a sweet voice.
She made a few turns to show them her dress, as if they were not aware yet how beautiful she was.