The Hunt

The armored truck cut across the wasteland approaching its northwestern part, closer to the cliffs and the strong winds.

Adam looked out the window with a calm expression, having been watching the same landscape for some time now. There were plenty of monsters in the Scorching Desert, but the sights were almost nonexistent.

Felix drove, glancing at the tablet from time to time, as Silvana updated their route once in a while so they wouldn't run into other monsters.

Their target was only Living Strings, they needed to collect at least 10 paws, so considering that a normal Living String only had two front paws, they needed to kill 5 monsters. Sure, at any time on Phantom's orders, the Operator could cancel the mission, but that was fraught with the loss of valuable reputation.

A Phantom who couldn't accomplish even the simplest mission was one big problem and a black hole absorbing budget and manpower without results.

"Hell yeah! We're almost there!" Felix exclaimed excitedly, driving up the hill and stopping abruptly at its very top. 

In the distance Living Strings were walking back and forth, this was not a Nest but just one of their habitats. The Nests weren't as large, and the bunch of monsters were much bigger, but with enough power, they could be dealt with much faster.

"Here we go." Adam uttered before getting out of the car.

He made his way down the hill while Felix and Verna prepared for action. They were to put the truck in a convenient spot, take up firing positions, and be ready to help Adam in case of danger. 

"Are you ready? Silvana asked, in a serious voice.

"Yeah. Two or three at once I can probably take on." Adam nodded before bursting into action. His eyes flashed as the threads wrapped around his right arm, quickly turning into a long needle.

Felix's and Verna's eyes went wide as they glanced over.

"Order in the form of a weapon? You don't see that very often..." Felix muttered.

Verna nodded, "What's more it's a needle. Not that it means anything, but of all the Phantoms I've worked with, none of them had such an unusual weapon. It's both a spear and a sword at once, right?"

Felix shrugged, "Something like that. Anyway, we'll see everything now. No point in guessing."

At the same moment, Adam approached the first Living String, unlike the Four-Legged one he'd fought, the regular Living Strings didn't have such powerful lower legs and protective chitin. One look was enough to realize how much weaker they were.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Adam swung the needle, slicing the Living String vertically. Green blood gushed outward, but not a single drop fell on Adam since he turned sharply to face the next opponent, who was already close to him.

In nearly nine hours in virtual reality, Adam had learned to navigate the desert terrain perfectly. Perhaps not as well as the monsters living here, but it was more than enough to win.

Two paws with sharp strings descended on Adam, intending to cut him into pieces.

Felix and Verna grabbed their pistols. This was far from their first mission, so they knew when the dangerous moment could come.

"Agh...?" Felix's eyes went wide.

Adam's pupils narrowed as he took a step back, letting the monster's paws sweep right in front of his face. The tips of his hair rippled while a powerful stream of wind whistled over his shoulders.

Then, Adam stepped forward, plunging the needle into the monster's jaw and ripping its head away from its body with a sharp movement of his arm.

"Look out!!!!" Felix shouted, realizing that Adam couldn't see that the enemy was closing in on him.

But that wasn't quite right.

The monster's paw came towards him, and Adam twisted the needle in his hand changing his grip, blocking the monster's attack. The sharp string was a few centimeters away from his face, but it couldn't cut the needle consisting of hundreds of threads.

"Not bad, but compared to the Red Book one, you're really weak." Adam uttered before running forward.

White sparks flew off the string like two clashing swords unable to overcome each other's durability.

Whooooooooooosh.

Adam ducked as the monster's second paw swept over his head before leaping forward, rushing past the monster.

As his feet touched the ground, a streak ran down the monster's body before its torso rolled diagonally, falling to the ground.

"Three down, two more to go, right?" Adam muttered, kicking the dust off his shoulder.

'Sure. However, 10 paws is not the maximum, you can collect as many as you have energy for. We won't get the extra reward, but we can sell them on the market. Money is always useful.' Silvana spoke up, 'Watch out. There are two more Living Strings coming from the north, from the looks of it they will be working together.'

Adam nodded calmly before rushing into the fray.

"Hey... Surely this is his first mission? To be honest I was a bit worried about going along with Phantom the rookie, but watching his actions I can't say he's a novice." Felix said, watching Adam deal with the two Living Strings.

Verna nodded, "Not only that, look he's not touching the upper paws. At first, I thought it was a fluke, but this is the fifth monster, and not a single upper paw is damaged."

"Wow... I just now realized that." Felix scratched the back of his head in surprise.

The Harvester job was obvious, but not simple. They needed to obtain monster parts in the best condition possible. Naturally, Phantoms could and often damaged monster parts during battles, it was inevitable.

So, it was a real blessing for Felix and Verna that Adam was careful not to damage valuable materials.

"Yeah. I guess that's why he has the personal Operator, even though he's only a rookie. Surely the people upstairs know how to define talent. Otherwise, none of this would make sense." 

[The Living String Gene has been placed in your Vault!]

[The Living String Gene has been placed in your Vault!]

[The Living String Gene has been...]

Adam continued killing monsters and collecting their genes, leaving a line of corpses behind him.

When his needle went through the fifteenth monster, the remaining Living Strings looked at each other and ran away. No one wanted to sacrifice their lives to defeat a seemingly invulnerable foe.

Some buried themselves in the sand, and some ran as far away as they could.

"Well, mission accomplished I guess." Adam pronounced, touching his earbud before sitting down on the nearest rock.

'You did a great job. However, there's no need to relax. There are no monsters nearby, but no one can see the future.' Silvana said seriously.

Adam nodded slightly.

"Good job!" Felix exclaimed happily, stopping the truck in the middle of the corpses.

"Adam, you can rest now. Leave the rest to us!" Verna vigorously said, running up to the first monster.

Click.

Verna opened her case, revealing a set of tools that any surgeon or butcher would envy.

"Okay, this will do for this chitin." Verna took out a long knife with a thin blade and a white spray bottle, coating the knife with it.

Then, in a few smooth motions, she separated the upper paws and bound them tightly. Felix did the same, occasionally transferring the finished upper paws to the cargo area of the truck.

'Hah, so this is what it means to be a Phantom. In a way, it's even comforting. Dead Lands is a dangerous place, but things change when you're the one hunting the monsters and not them hunting you.' Adam pondered with a slight smile on his face.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Felix dropped all 30 upper paws of the Living String, knocking the dust off his hands.

"All done. We can go back in!" Felix exclaimed happily.

Adam nodded, "Sure, that's what we'll do. It's good enough for the first mission."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Suddenly Adam's NEP started flashing red, as several system messages appeared on the screen.

"What the hell...?"

'It's an SOS signal!" Silvana exclaimed, "Five kilometers to your west! Rust Squad is in serious trouble!'

"What am I supposed to do? Is there anything I can help them with?" Adam asked.

'I'm afraid you're the nearest Phantom. Their squad isn't very large consisting of only three Phantoms and seven Harvesters, just three trucks. I'm trying to clarify what's going on over there, but they don't seem to have time for that.'

Adam nodded.

"Got it."

Then he looked at Felix and Verna.

"Looks like our work isn't done yet."

"Sure. We're ready to do whatever is necessary." Felix and Verna replied at the same time.