The warm embrace of sunlight bathes my skin, and the APC glides smoothly over the gravel road, emitting a subtle crunch beneath its wheels. This customized APC has been masterfully engineered for silence and agility. After about 10 minutes of travel, the village emerges on the horizon, but an unsettling sensation creeps over me – something doesn't feel right.
An inexplicable notion of being under observation lingers in the air. Concentrating my senses, I become attuned to the myriad auras surrounding us – from the various insects, wildlife, and trees. Their vibrant auras cast a tapestry of colors, with shades of green intertwining like a living symphony.
"It's attempting to conceal itself," Venidith remarks, her index finger pointing in a specific direction, where a subtle purple glow starts to emanate from her fingertip.
With a swift motion, she releases the glow, and a piercing shriek reverberates through the forest. "Hmmm... It's dead," Venidith comments, her tone carrying a hint of disappointment.
Curious, I inquire, "What was that?" while straining my eyes to discern the target of her shot.
"A tall cryptid, probably a Kapre," Venidith replies. "It had been trailing us for a while. No blame for not spotting it."
"Your skills are impressive," I genuinely compliment, acknowledging her expertise. "Does this ability have a name?"
Venidith meets my gaze and responds, "In truth, you could call it 'Identifying Eyes' – an eye ability of sorts."
"We're about to enter the cursed veil," Hannah's voice crackles through the comms within the APC, where she's managing communications and detection.
With every step I take, a sense of foreboding grips me, intensifying with each stride. It's an unusual sensation, one that doesn't usually bother me, yet with each advancing step, the unease grows stronger.
"We're inside," Venidith's calm voice breaks the silence, "Stay vigilant."
The forest transforms into an unsettling hush, as if someone muted the sounds of nature. The silence becomes almost deafening.
"Stay focused," Venidith's tone turns serious, "I see fog up ahead."
Her words seem to trigger a shift in the atmosphere – a heaviness descends, accompanied by an almost oppressive silence. My heartbeat rings in my ears as I concentrate, noticing that the forest's usual aura has vanished, as if the wildlife itself has vanished into thin air.
The fog emerges, shrouding our surroundings, yet it refrains from encroaching upon the sacred gravel road, granting us a narrow corridor of visibility.
"Look there!" Venidith points, her fingertip glowing with a vibrant purple light. The light coalesces and darts like a projectile, striking a target amid the rustling bushes.
In a scene reminiscent of earlier, Venidith mimics a shooting motion, launching the purple energy. A spine-chilling shriek pierces the air as the energy finds its mark, sending a jolt of tension through the fog-draped environment.
I raised my gun, scanning my surroundings with heightened vigilance. "My vision is quite limited," I admitted.
"Relax, you're just getting started," Venidith teased, her tone light. "Becoming proficient will take time."
Though it felt like hours had passed, my rational mind reminded me that only a few minutes had gone by since we entered the cursed veil. Once again, I concentrated, and gradually, the previously imperceptible red auras started to take shape – about ten of them. Two to the northwest, four ahead, and four in the northeast, which was Venidith's designated area.
"Do you spot them?" Venidith inquired, her hands mimicking the shooting motion. "Now, fire!"
Reacting swiftly, I aimed my weapon and took down the two faint auras to the northwest. As they vanished, the APC abruptly halted, and the air filled with a cacophony of shrill cries and echoing roars, as if our presence had triggered a frenzy in the forest's inhabitants.
"We're facing a lot of them!" Hannah's voice echoed through the comms. "Between forty and eighty cryptids!"
The APC's turrets unleashed a barrage of fire upon the approaching horde, its advanced sensors rendering the surroundings as bright as day.
While I could discern even more auras than that, most of them remained distant, a blur of fast-approaching shapes. Once more, I took aim, methodically firing at each aura I could detect. The bullets, meticulously crafted for combating cryptids, found their marks with precision, regardless of where they struck.
As my bullets found their marks, ten auras blinked out of existence, causing a symphony of shrieks that reverberated through the fog-shrouded forest. Each shriek was punctuated by the sound of crashing bushes and rustling trees, amplifying the eerie atmosphere. Yet, with each aura I eliminated, the chorus of eerie sounds grew, hinting at the increased numbers we were up against. Despite our efforts, the creatures remained hidden within the fog's opaque embrace, their true forms obscured from view.
Amidst the chaotic symphony, a unique aura caught my attention – a swiftly moving essence distinct from the others. It radiated a whitish hue with a transparent glow, appearing as though two auras had melded into one. Could this be…?