Leaving Isonsa City behind, John drove the standard car of the BMI. It was late afternoon, and the sun began its descent over the horizon. The cool air started to blow in the streets, giving people a sense of peace.
For John, however, it was another story. He only had one mission prior to this one. The first mission was a team mission in a dungeon. Which meant he had only dealt with monsters from start to finish.
But now he needed to investigate in the real world and alone. 'I have trained hard, very hard. From the moment I wake up to late into the night… I can handle it.'
The mountains, hills, trees, and green landscapes went past his car's windows as he drove. 'Five people's disappearances are not a good sign. Is it dungeon out break?... No, it couldn't be. It would not have been just five. Even the cars and the city itself would be endangered. They wouldn't have sent me alone. They would have sent at least a foundation stage to handle it... So, it might be a gang or something... it could also be an animal attack or... mutant animal.'
Inron City is one of the big cities of Naville. Usually it would have many agents of BMI stationed there. But their neighbor country, Pravine, showed signs of level 6 dungeon. Many agents moved from their posts as reinforcement. Most of the foundation stage and above agents were sent there. Leaving only the essential force to maintain stability. Those blew foundation stage got assigned more missions than before.
If not for being new, John wouldn't have the luxury to train for a week before getting another mission. The BMI wanted to maintain stability, not send the newbies to their deaths.
'The police won't search too far out of the city, so it was left for the investigation department. My priority is understanding what the cause of the disappearance is. After that, it will depend on the investigation result.'
John tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he drove through the winding roads leading to the outskirts of Inron City. The fading sunlight cast long shadows, making the looming forest ahead feel ominous.
Finaly, after four hours of driving he reached the last victim knowing location. Parking the car at the side of the road. He disembarked, hung his sword and a pouch to his waist, and the bow and quiver to his back.
John found it inconvenient to have a backpack while having a bow, unless he wanted to hold the bow in his hands all the time. So he bought a pouch to hold the essentials. As the mission was not in the dungeon, he could go back to the car to get more supplies when he needed.
The bow John was using was composite bow. There are different types of bows, but the enormous elastic properties of the composite bow give an arrow immense force, delivering a tremendous punch up to 360 meters. And its absolute range was roughly double this.
Turning on his Smart-Lenses, activating both AR and Chemical-Analysis sensor. Two small icons materialized in the top right corner and top left corner, respectively. Changing the parameters of the AR function, a transparent small map appeared on his down-left corner only by focusing on it would it enlarge.
John's facial expression turned serious as he started moving around the road first to see if there was any sign of struggle. 'Clues! Clues! What would the clue be? I trained in a simulation, but it was predetermined stuff. In the real world, clues could be erased, so I need to hurry up.'
After a few minutes of searching, he found a clue on the leafy ground beside the road. He knelt on the ground to take a closer look. 'Looks like... animal footmark... a monkey perhaps?'
Following the footprint, he found a trace of someone. 'A shoe footprint... it looks like... he was being dragged.'
Continue following the traces. He paused for a moment. 'Is this–a dry blood? ... The victim could be either injured or perhaps—dead.'
John mode turned heavy as he continued following the clues. Suddenly, all the traces on the ground vanished.
'Wait what!... did I miss something?' John's eyes narrowed, back tracking to the last clue. But even after going in different directions, the result was the same. All the traces left on the ground were gone.
'How did they vanish?' John thought while pacing back and forth between the clues. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. 'Ugh! I got it... Carrying more than 60 kg up the trees, that is a strong monkey... No doubt, this is not a normal animal.'
He began anxiously inspecting each tree in the vicinity, looking for anything—something that could lead him to the victim's whereabouts.
Out of nowhere, a message popped up in his vision.
(Urgent Mission Update:
A sixth victim was confirmed missing.
Details: The victim is male. He regularly visited the woods every week for hiking. Usually, he would be back in two, or two and a half hours. It has been two hours since his phone had a signal, and five hours total from the time he left the city.)
"Oh God! I should hurry," John heart raced and felt a knot in his stomach. 'The fifth victim could be dead already after a whole day, but the sixth might still be breathing.'
His eyes darted from tree to tree, scanning every single detail—searching for any clue. His eyes brightened when he found a torn fabric on a branch overhead. He analyzed it and moved in the direction it led to.
The last rays of sun disappeared one by one as the sun sat, casting along shadows that made every branch and bush seem alive. John activated the Night-Vision on his Smart-Lenses as the forest darkened and the last light was gone.
John moved along the traces he found, eyes darting across the vibrant trees, the damp ground full of leaves, and the twigs. Although he moved slowly, he didn't leave any clues unnoticed.
A faint rustle shifted John's focus to the top of the trees. There among the branches, a shadow stood. With a practiced motion, he slid the bow off his shoulder, gripping it firmly in his hand. Nocking an arrow, just as he aimed, the shadow disappeared—swallowed by the thick canopy of leaves, leaving John on high alert.
A notification flashed across his smart lenses—animal excrement detected. John cautiously stepped closer, engaging the Chimecal-Analysis sensor. Seconds passed before the results returned: abnormal chemical compounds, nothing that matched normal wildlife. His suspicion was confirmed—the culprit was a mutant animal.
Still on high alert, John moved deeper. A frown spread on his face while moving closer to where the shadow was standing. 'This is not just the excrement of a single mutated animal—it's a group.'
As John was detecting what happened—a rustle from above—before the shadow lunged. Relying solely on his reflexes. In one smooth motion, he pulled the bowstring to its full draw and released. The arrow sliced through the air, piercing the throat of the shadow before it even hit the ground.
Not leaving anything for chances, the second arrow was shot–implanted into its chest. Nocking another arrow, John moved closer to the fallen beast.
Its details became clearer as it lay still on the ground. A hairless, twisted version of a monkey—its blood-red eyes still gleaming with malice. Long fangs extended from its mouth. Its muscular frame bulged abnormally beneath bare skin. Its claws, more like sharp daggers, glinted dangerously, while its oversized hands were unnatural. The proportions were all wrong; it was distorted in every way.
John let out a sigh after confirming its death. Moving silently, he crept to basts lair. He hid behind a tree as he saw six mutant monkeys jumping around. The ground around them was filled with blood and a human's body parts.
Suppressing his nausea and repulsion, John nocked an arrow. Pulling the bow to its limit, he aimed while taking a deep breath. He then let go, and without waiting for the result, he nocked the second arrow. Swiftly shooting it, he nocked the third arrow. A sickening thud confirmed the hit as a beast dropped dead.
Growls and screams escaped their throats while their red, eerie eyes locked into John. The third arrow hissed through the air, hitting one in the shoulder. Without a pause, he nocked and shot another arrow. This time it hit that monkey chest.
The monkeys went crazy seeing another companion of theirs dead. They all darted at him. With them swinging from branch to branch. Even though the trees became obstacles in John's line of sight, he continued his shooting. Two more arrows found their target, killing another beast.
John skipped backwards across the ground while shooting; firing arrow after arrow, two more monkeys fell as arrows got impaled in their bodies. Suddenly, he paused in his movement as he realized he used all the arrows that he brought.
Hanging the bow on his back, he unsheathed the sword. (INT:17 --> 12, AGL: 11--> 16)
John was waiting for the last monkey when suddenly another monkey came from his left. The monkey jumped high with a growl, its hand enlarged to a ridiculous degree, up to a person's height. John propelled himself out of the hand's way as it descended. Rumble echoed in the surroundings, and dust and mud were thrown in every direction.
John's eyes narrowed, and his heartbeat accelerated from the shear power displayed. He jumped forward, his sword arcing with a devastating force as he shifted his attributes to strength. ( STR:13 → 18, AGL: 16→11.)
The monkey hand just returned to normal, and it was about to search for its pray that had escaped. A line of blood appeared across its neck, and after a few seconds, its head slided down, and the blood gushed from its body dyeing to place red.
After killing the unexpected monkey, John moved to the last. It enlarged its hand, trying to squeeze John. He dodged by rolling under the enlarged hand, standing up with his blade swinging upward, cutting the enlarged hand. He then slashed with his sword again, creating a long cut across the monkey's chest. Ducking the mokey other hand, he kicked it, making it stumble.
Driving his sword in its chest, the beast looked at John in resentment. John, however, didn't care and yanked the sword out and delivered the final blow, cutting its head off.
Taking a long, deep breath, John moved and inspected the other fallen monkeys. He hacked any that were still breathing, making sure every single one was dead.
. He then walked to their lair, holding his mouth. John almost puked from what he saw. Mutilated corpses, human arms, legs, and internal organs were scattered on the ground. Just as he was about to leave, he heard a groan of pain. Moving closer to the source, he found a human was buried under the leaves and some dirt.
Moving the dirt and the leaves away, he found a seriously injured living human. "Someone alive!" John hands trampled for a second before steading again. "Hold on! You must hold on!"
As fast as he could be, John disinfected the wounds, applied antibiotic spray, and then bandaged him. "I–I will send you to the hospital... Just hold on for a few minutes. Don't die on me."
(STR: 18--> 13, AGL: 11--> 16)
With the man slung over his shoulder, John began the sprint back, every step feeling heavier as the minutes ticked by. His feet barely touched the ground as he raced through the forest. Trees and bushes blurred out vision as he ran with all his might.
John could feel the life slipping away from the man, each labored breath weaker than the last. "Hey! Hey! We almost there hang on, man!." He muttered, his voice quivered.
John could feel the man's heartbeat slowing, slowly—bit by bit—on its way to its final stop. "Come on! Dude, don't die on me. I just rescued you. DO NOT you Freeaking die!"
John shouted as if his voice would scare away death. But it did not change the inevitable. The man's heart stopped to standstill, his breathing ceased, and the body went limp. John's heart turned cold as he continued his sprint in silence.
As soon as John stopped beside the car after going out of the forest, he lowered the man gently to the ground and began CPR. "Please, God!"
With every chest compression, John hope slipped away. "Why can't you hold a little more? I came as fast as I could. Why did you still die after I rescued you from the beasts?" A wave of helplessness washed over him.
John's hands pressed against the man's chest, desperate. Ten minutes passed in a blur of compressions and breaths. Each one more hopeless than the last.
"Come on, just breathe!" The seconds stretched into eternity, but there was nothing—no pulse, no breath.
Finally, he stopped, his trembling fingers hovering in the air. With a heavy sigh, he leaned back against the car, eyes looking at the sky above.
The sky was adorned with beautiful stars and a moon, with a swift breeze coming every now rustling the leaves. However, this mesmerizing scene didn't bring John any joy. He just sat there, beside the man's lifeless form, feeling tightens in his chest.
John had begun to know the real world with its dungeons, monsters, and people with abnormal powers in the last 3 months. In these three months he trained, killed monsters, learned some of the secrets that's hidden from normal folks, created a bond, and broke another.
But only now, as he stared at the lifeless body, did he genuinely understand—his job wasn't just about combat. It was about protecting people, ensuring they could enjoy peaceful lives without ever knowing how many monsters lurked behind the scenes.
He was one of those people a few months prior. Hearing about it was a thing, and witnessing a poor soul die before his eyes because of mutant animals was something entirely different. No matter how much he heard or knew that they were protecting the nation, it never really sank in.
But now, just catching a glimpse of what was really happening struck him hard. Especially since that person had been alive just minutes ago. John didn't find him dead; he was still alive when John took him out of the beast's resting place. He died while John was carrying him.
""It is not my fault that he died. And I don't even know him. Then why–" It hit him hard, harder than he expected.
After taking a couple of minutes to collect himself, John let out a deep sigh. He then called the professor.