A deafening detonation of flames shook the control room. Seron lay on the ground, his trembling hands and weakened body struggling to cope with the sudden explosion that had torn the door apart.
"Rakt!" Pito screamed, instinctively enveloping Seron and himself with a transparent shield, a recent creation from the Department of R&D. They were protected just in time, the impact of the blast barely reaching them.
Seron knew he was alive, but for how long, he did not know. Pain coursed through every fiber of his being. Fear gripped him, and through his blurry vision, he saw that the entrance had been utterly destroyed. A man in patient's robes was calmly walking forward.
"Sorry to say this, but, I was taught to always make sure to confirm that my victims have proper death. So, excuse me for being rude..."
Seron and Pito were having a mental breakdown, looking at the scorched bodies all around them. The room that had been filled with their conversations just moments ago was now no more.
The entire room was partially burning. Kai took note that there were still two people alive, albeit barely, thanks to the digital shield that covered them.
"I'm really sorry about this..." Kai said, taking out the gun he had stolen from the guard outside. He repeated what he had done earlier, pointing the gun towards the scorched bodies and pulling the trigger.
Bang!
As he did the same for all the others inside, footsteps were heard approaching, signaling reinforcements.
[...] There was no more pessimistic voice in his head, and for once, Kai felt his mind at peace. Killing was easier when your mind was like that.
"D-Don't do it," said Pito, feeling his body go numb. He had hemophobia, and the sight of blood made him sick. The current situation was too much. "Please..." he said just before losing consciousness.
Kai was having a hard time killing people as it was, and Pito's words only made him feel more guilty. Grief was inevitable.
The sound of footsteps intensified as the reinforcements were about to arrive.
Kai decided it was not the time to get sentimental. He steeled his heart to brace for more as he pointed his gun at Seron after killing Pito.
"W-wait! I just realized who you are. I can help you, Zeff! Please don't kill me!"
Kai almost stopped himself from pulling the trigger when he heard Seron say that.
Zeff? Did he just call me Zeff? How does he...
But his finger moved unconsciously, almost like someone else was controlling his hand, and he pulled the trigger.
"Wai..."
Bang!
Seron fell, his eyes losing color like a dead fish, his face pale, and his body limp.
Everything happened so fast. Kai didn't know what to process, but he retained his calm when he heard the soldiers' boots getting closer.
He had to make his escape soon if he didn't want to get caught and die before being able to do a thing.
But before that, frozen in his place, he asked something:
"Wh... What did you do?" Kai asked, sweating.
[... What you couldn't...] the voice inside his head replied in monotone. [...And what had to be done. Now get out of here before they come.]
When the soldiers arrived, the scene of brutal murders didn't make them hesitate or panic. Their cold eyes just gazed at the reality, and they reported in their communicator. They understood the gravity of the situation as soon as they came inside. The people in the control room dying could mean chaos in the whole base.
'And at the worst possible situation too... Most of our soldiers are outside, fighting those monsters,' the soldier thought.
He took out his communicator, "Command, this is Alpha team! We have a situation inside, sir..."
Commander Leonard D'roben was dealing with some paperwork at the time, so he replied with a disinterested tone, "Alpha team, report!" He didn't think it was anything more serious than dealing with the sudden night hound attack, which, in reality, was more in control than he thought.
He received constant reports from Lieutenant Sands that the situation was under control, and that they were dealing with the hounds swiftly and effectively.
But reality begged to differ.
The report from Team Alpha made him shudder, almost breaking the pen in his hand with his fierce grip.
"What!?" he yelled, scattering the papers on his table.
"I repeat, sir! We've discovered multiple deceased individuals in the control room. Possible hostile presence confirmed. It's an infiltration. Over."
'But how? Who would be capable of it? It's nigh impossible!!!' he thought.
"What should we do, Commander?" the neutral voice in his communicator asked him.
D'roben thought before answering. The situation was dire. The base could be jeopardized at this rate.
So he made the worst decision possible for the infiltrating spy. He had to be killed at the very least to make him feel safer in the base.
'The base cannot fall! This has to be protected at all costs!' he thought.
"Soldier?"
"Yes, sir."
"Code. Zero. You know that, right?"
"Yes."
"I'm issuing it right now! Effective immediately!"
The soldier wasn't shocked when he heard that reply. 'This is the right call,' he assured himself.
"Roger that, Commander. Code Zero, effective immediately!"
***
Outside the base, Lieutenant Sands had secured a perimeter around the hatch and made a temporary base while facing the beasts.
The number of enemies was astonishing, but that's all they were. The newly created mana bullets proved effective against the hounds, taking no more than a bullet inside their bodies before they dropped like dead meat on the frozen ground.
It was a perilous two-hour confrontation. Despite the firepower, the beasts respawned at a terrifying rate, injuring his men, but the intensity decreased over time. Luckily, they had brought enough bullets to cope with the situation.
The presence of the heroes played a significant role in their fight, making the number of casualties almost non-existent.
Sands did not want to admit it, but it was clear as day that these heroes were fighting with all their might for humanity, or at least, for their families back at the base. So he allowed Jake inside his tent, giving him an update on the current situation. Sands felt he deserved to know it now.
After the attack pattern became predictable, Sands, Jake, and his retinue could finally breathe a sigh of relief and take rest after the seemingly eternal night.
Everyone started to pitch their tents after killing what they thought was the last of the hounds. The reason Sands made the decision to stay there was to avoid making hasty decisions and retreating.
Sands felt that the result of the fight was too good to be true. It couldn't be the last of the hounds, and it made no sense that they were that easy to kill, considering they were the fifth Trial of the gods. He expected more, something terrifying hiding in the shadows, waiting to make a sudden attack on their jugular.
Jake didn't know how to refute it. He felt the same way as Sands about the situation.
"You made the right call," said Jake, standing inside Lieutenant Sands' tent. "We should stay back and wait."
"We didn't receive an end-of-trial notification, plus I thought from the beginning..."
"It was too good to be true. Right?" Sands replied.
"Right. Sigh."
But just then, interrupting their conversation, a gust of cold wind rushed inside the tent, flapping the curtain.
"...!" Both of them felt a chill down their spines.
They exchanged nods in the next second. Words didn't need to convey what they wanted to say next.
"You felt that too, right?"
"Yeah. We have some new arrivals of guests."
As soon as they stepped outside, their instincts made them halt their next step. They stopped in their tracks, raising their heads to see the new enemy who had just arrived.
He was far away, atop a destroyed and frozen Statue of Liberty. The humanoid figure had the face of a wolf and the body of a human, with fur covering his body.
"Looks like I came to the party just in time," the werewolf said in a coarse voice, growling through its fangs.
It can see humans far away with it's enhanced vision, counting it's prays in his eyes, before it went for the kill.
The intense killing aura he emitted was impossible to miss. Even as the distance never shrunk, the hearts of soldiers were consumed by fear.
Jake did not know if they could pull the next trigger. They were just sitting ducks at this rate. The advantage of numbers is now working against them.
Gyrs was having the most surprised expression of his life on his face. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a heart attack right now.
There was a system notification in front of him, hovering above all the heroes.
**[Hidden trial appears]**
**[Survive the confrontation with king of hounds: The Wolfking, Shrektha Mord]**
"Oh, f*." One of them exclaimed. "Damn those gods!"
It was Gyrs, in his rage mode.
===