In the dreadful veil of the pitch-black, under the cover of the eternal night, was a desolated wasteland stretching far into the blurry lines of the horizon. Within it were the resounding roar of a revving engine piercing through the silence of the calm and falsely tranquil night.
On an empty road south of the fallen and fiery settlement was the rumble of dust scattered by two dark armored vehicles passing by. The vehicles navigated through the wasteland with their headlights gleaming through the darkness, with some searchlights illuminating from above.
These armored vehicles were the military convoy led by the mysterious Director of Cerberus.
Inside the rear armored Vanguard was the Duke surrounded by four Sentinels, with one operating the rotary armored sentry gun. Behind him was the storage compartment of the Vanguard, where several military crates settled.
They had successfully left the devastated settlement of New Torrington in a hurry. However, the Duke wasn't in a good mood. After all, they had been facing troubles since entering the highway leading to the south.
These problems were in the form of those freakish abominations, aberrants. The horde of monsters had been relentlessly chasing them for some time, and the growls of hundreds of aberrants could be heard beside the roaring engine.
"Director, permission to engage." The Sentinel arming the rotary armored sentry gun of the calmly requested orders. While the pre-conceived plan was to discreetly escape in the darkness of the eternal night, such a thought process was no longer applicable in their situation.
After hearing him, Duke furrowed his eyebrows and looked through the windows of the armored car. In the distance, he could see several aberrants sprinting towards them. Although they had difficulty catching up to the two Vanguards, the freaks were gaining ground.
One would question why they didn't go full speed and leave behind the trailing horde of abominations. Well, the answer to that question was simple. It was night and dark. While he was confident about the information regarding the roads being cleared by the military.
One can never be sure.
It has been a while since the military arrived in Goshen County during the dawn of the Dark Cataclysmic Era. And... A long time has passed since the Imperium Military retreated from the area and left the county to fend for themselves. So, no one knew what the status of the roads was.
Besides, in his long and exhausting journey from Denver to Goshen, there wasn't a single moment where he stepped foot on the highway. In all honesty, he never dared. It was basic common sense to avoid major roads.
After all, there was a possibility for them to be congested with vehicles or brimming with aberrants.
Anyhow, it was better to be safe than sorry. But being cautious also risked the military convoy becoming closer to the horde of aberrants behind them. To survive their precarious circumstances, they needed to adapt fast. Otherwise, they will be overwhelmed by either accident or plague.
"Understood, permission granted! Fire with precision, and don't waste ammunition." After a short while of thinking, Duke agreed with the Sentinel's request to engage with the horde of aberrants behind them.
There was no need to worry about gunfire attracting more aberrants.
After all, hundreds were already behind them, and this number would continue to grow even without the blazing gunfire of the sentry guns. In times of a lose-or-lose situation, it was good to be decisive and pick the lesser of the two choices.
*BRRrrrrttt!!!* *BRrrt!!!* *BRRrrrrttt!!!*
With the permission of the Director, the Sentinel, arming the rotary armored sentry gun, glanced at the horde and didn't hesitate to shoot the aberrants chasing behind them. The luster of muzzle flash gleamed through the crimson lenses of his gasmask as he kept firing with precision and calm.
When the rear Vanguard fired at the charging horde of aberrants, the front Vanguard opened the radio and requested permission to engage. Duke didn't hesitate like before and immediately responded to the Sentinel's request.
"You have my permission. But be alert to your surroundings and guard the front."
Hearing the response of the Director, the front Vanguard pointed the rotary armored sentry gun to the aberrants behind the military convoy and started firing with accuracy in mind. This was the first engagement between the Sentinels and the aberrants.
*BRRrrrttt!!!* *BRRrtt!!!* *BRrrt!!!* *BRRrrrttt!!!*
The front Vanguard fired fewer rounds at the horde than the rear Vanguard. The distance was causing the front's accuracy to be less effective than the rear. So the gunner was prompted to fire with more confirmed accuracy, with the order of the Director echoing in his heart.
However, even under the destructive firepower of two rotary armored sentry guns of the Vanguards, the aberrants remained unhindered and were even riled up by the muzzle flashes. The fallen bodies of freaks barely slowed them down as they continued stampeding like wild animals.
Looking at the scene with his sapphire-like gaze, Duke's expression didn't change as if it was within his expectations. It was basic knowledge for aberrants to be riled up in the face of gunfire. No one knew the reason why, and everything remained to speculations.
Some suspected that they were provoked by the thunderous roar of gunfire. However, the banging sounds produced by things unrelated to gunfire didn't seem to have the aggrevated effect of firearms. So, there should be something special related to guns.
Others thought of the muzzle flashes as the reason, but flickering bright lights didn't affect the aberrants much. A small number felt that it was the two. However, such an idea also wasn't applicable. The thunderous bang and the flickering flash of light didn't disgruntle the aberrants.
With no remaining ideas, the curious humans had a terrifying thought in their hearts. What if the existence of firearms was the reason for the increased violence of the aberrants. If so, wouldn't that mean the abominations instinctively considered guns a threat?
How? Why? And When? Shouldn't they be mindless monsters who could sprint at people and eat them? While they stalk, there was no intellect in their actions. And if they consider the firearms of humanity as a threat, wouldn't that mean they have self-preservation?
The discussion about it caused the humans in the settlement of New Torrington to be depressed for quite some time. If the theories were a little bit true, the revival of humanity seemed as far as picking the stars from the skies. And there were no stars during the Dark Cataclysmic Era.
During that time, Duke didn't think of it as much. But now that he had encountered such a situation, he couldn't help his curiosity and thought about the ideas presented by the settlers of New Torrington.
He then shook his head and didn't dare to think of such possibilities. He already knew that they weren't as mindless as they seemed, but the implications of possible growth and adaptations through extensive confrontations against one another were terrifying.
'We'll need to return immediately and stabilize the situation. As long as we enter the Cerberus Headquarters, it can be counted as our victory.' He thought to himself and glanced through the windows that kept flickering because of the brilliant muzzle fire.
What he was looking at was an arrow pointing in a particular direction. It was slowly turning into another point, signifying that the headquarters was nearby. This made him a little bit relieved, but he didn't consider lowering his guard down.
After all, they were still under the shadows of the eternal night, and danger was right beside them. However, unexpectedly or expectedly, the driver of the front Vanguard reported something to him through the radio.
A problem seemed to have arisen on the road.
"ZZZZ.... Director, strange oddities have been detected over the road. Requesting for instructions."
"Strange oddities? What do you mean by that?" Duke raised an eyebrow as he felt the sense of danger looming over his beating heart. It was the same feeling as the moment before the emergence of the second salvation quest.
"Corpses of large animals have been identified lying alongside the road, and fresh blood is splattered all over the area. It appears to be the work of a giant beast, Director." The drive of the front Vanguard scrutinized what he had seen in the front and calmly reported his observations.
Hearing the Sentinel's observation, Duke's expression got colder and colder as he looked through the window with vigilance in his sapphire-like eyes. Why was he so unlucky? Since he got the Protocol, fate seemed to have started hating him.
Anyhow, the oddities identified by the driver only meant one thing. And that was the existence of a problematic monster known as the mutated beast.
"New Orders."
"Front Vanguard, be vigilant to your surroundings and briefly stop engaging with the horde of aberrants from behind. The rear will handle the stampeding abominations, so be cautious of your front." He composedly ordered as numerous thoughts passed through his head.
As said before, the virus wasn't picky about the things it mutated, whether it'd be humans, animals, or plants. Because of it, the current world has become too hostile for humanity, making any resurgence of civilization seem farfetched.
The mutated beasts were one of the many horrors that dawned upon humanity during the beginning of the Dark Cataclysmic Era. These monsters were originally former animals mutated by the Stygian Virus and transformed into monstrous abominations.
The mutations of the animals weren't as merciful as the humans. When infected, they would become terrors of pure biomass that barely resembled the original forms of their bodies. Some of them don't even look like beasts or monsters anymore.
They were more like eldritch beings of nightmarish realities who managed to pierce through the material realm.
'If the clues are true, the possibility of a mutated beast wandering in the area is high.' Duke quietly thought to himself while frowning. Fighting against a mutated beast was foolish. Even in his former settlement, no one dared to trouble such abominations.
The mutated beasts were like disasters that should be avoided.
"The oddities in the area should be the signs of mutated beasts. A mutated beast is a mutated animal that's a lot more dangerous than an aberrant. Even the danger they presented sometimes overwhelms the threat of an aberrant horde." He uttered while the radio was opened.
The Sentinels, hearing the words of their Director, all frowned. The aberrant horde was already a problem, but the emergence of a monstrous creature was becoming imminent. The pressure of two problems would result in unprecedented casualties.
"Increase the speed of the military convoy and leave the area immediately. The more we stay in the territory of mutated beasts, the more hazardous it becomes. We'll be noticed." Duke patiently gave a simple order after pondering about it.
Inside his head, he even wanted to turn off their headlights for extra safety, but such an option would be too dangerous. After all, turning off the headlights would make the Vanguards prone to accidents on this dim highway.
The Sentinels turned their gazes at the Director and simultaneously nodded. There were no doubts or hesitation under the expressions hidden deep in their gas masks. Their loyalty to the Director was unquestionable.
Since the Director sensed the impending danger of a mutated beast, they must follow his words with a rivaling degree of fanaticism.
The drivers of the Vanguards accelerated the two armored vehicles, and they navigated deeper through the highway leading south. Their speed became much faster, and the following horde of aberrants were being left behind. However, the Director's heart didn't ease.
The more they traversed through the gloomy road, the stronger his uneasiness became. Danger and death were slowly creeping towards him.
'The looming feeling of danger hasn't disappeared yet, even though the horde has long been left behind.' Duke furrowed his eyebrows and felt cold sweat dripping from his forehead. He started observing the outside through the windows and finally noticed a figure in the distance.
All of his muscles stiffened as his heart heavily palpated. The hair of his skin rose and tingled, followed by an internal shivering of his body. This was the primordial fear of humanity. The horror of impending doom.
Duke was gazing upon a bipedal giant that stood 10 meters high.
It was a mutated beast.