Operation Enigma (2)

The group took their first steps into the forest and found nothing but silence. Step by step they walked cautiously, for a moment all they could hear was the rustle of their metallic boots in the tall grass as if there was no life inside the mysterious place. Zander could hear his own heart pounding loudly in his ears.

Yet, at the same time, the sight left them speechless.

As the sunlight shone through the treetops it illuminated the place with a variety of colors from the rainbow. They noticed that the abnormality occurred as the light passed through the colorful leaves which radiated mystery and holiness.

Despite the trunks of the trees being thick, they were far apart from each other and therefore it was easy to move around and the squadron easily maintained formation.

However, Zander was the only one able to sense something else in the place. As he accompanied the squad, he circled the Qi around his body to calm himself down and he became even more surprised: the Qi density was different here!

[How can it be!? The Qi here is at least ten times denser than outside!] Surprised, he pondered over this fact and reached a not so pleasant conclusion. [Doesn't that mean I could cultivate faster here? Wait... Is that why the animals came here? Can they feel the Natural Energy? If so, could they cultivate!?]

Just as Zander was coming to a really bad conclusion and closely related to the truth, the squad stopped.

The ground in front of them was covered in blood, but no corpse could be seen.

"Stay alert!" The leader warned and walked towards the pool of blood. Zeechi then bent down and inspected the blood with his finger. "Still fresh, it happened a short time ago. I don't know if the last squad was attacked here, but we need to look for tracks."

"Sir. I found some shells!" Stated another soldier after a few seconds.

"So there was resistance…" The lieutenant then called his men closer. "Make a circle, shoot anything that moves!"

Not wanting to be taken by surprise, the lieutenant was cautious. He could feel sweat trickling down his forehead. Some soldiers had trembling hands, not knowing what they would find. In fact, the worst enemy was the one who remained unknown.

"Yes, sir!" The squad moved efficiently and the circle was formed seconds later.

"No matter what happens, I'll cover your back Bro." Schalk went beside Zander and patted his friend's shoulder.

"Same here man." Zander smiled behind his helmet but Shalck couldn't see it.

Soon one soldier broke the silence and spoke, pointing with his finger towards their left.

"Sir, look at that smaller tree."

Everyone turned their heads in the direction where he pointed. There, they saw a smaller tree about two meters tall with purple leaves. A deep black fruit sprouted from its lowest branch.

When they were momentarily stunned by the sight. A soldier could not control his temptation and broke formation, going towards the fruit.

"Noo! Come back right now!" Lieutenant Zander tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Suddenly, just as the soldier extended his hand to grab the fruit a black shadow fell from the tree on top of him.

"Shoot it now!" The lieutenant ordered without blinking.

They knew the armor could somewhat protect them from bullets and so they fired without remorse.

*TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP*

Blood splashed in the air.

Sadly, it wasn't from the shadow. Whatever it was, that thing seemed unaffected by the gunfire. The armor that could protect from bullets wasn't strong enough to stop the shadow from hitting the man's head, easily breaking the helmet and exploding his head.

Suddenly, the shadow moved again, evading the shots, flashing left and right it went directly towards the squad.

It was fast. The men weren't even able to spot it as the shadow flashed in their direction.

In mere seconds, the blurred figure took another man's life, leaving three large scratches on the man's chest, which pierced the Alpha Project's armor like butter and blood spurted from the wound..

They didn't have enough time to complain when once again the shadow advanced towards them. This time however, it went in Zeechi's direction!.

"Careful commander!" warned Zander, who, enhanced by Qi, was the only one seeing things more clearly.

Fortunately, Kwame Zeechi reacted quickly and was able to raise his machine gun in front of his body.

*CLANK!*

His weapon broke apart in one hit!

The lieutenant's hands went numb and he staggered back from the impact. Unfortunately for him, the figure used its momentum and grabbed his shoulders tightly. Taken by surprise, he lost his balance even more and fell!

A huge mouth filled with sharp teeth was the last thing he saw before dying.

"Damn! Shoot that thing down!" Someone yelled, not sure who. The squad went into disarray. They screamed and fired, trying to stay away from the shadow.

The moment the beast stopped to rip off Zeechi's head, the soldiers could see it clearly for the first time. The 'animal' was weirder than the forest itself: At first they thought it was some kind of black panther, but it had six legs instead of four! Furthermore, its two-meter-long body ended in a spiked tail like a thorn and its black fur highlighted the two white teeths sprouting out of his mouth.

While they were stunned, the beast acted quickly and killed another two soldiers! They were being slaughtered!

"Everyone! Behind me now!" Zander ordered

The line of command was already broken and Zander felt he had to do something. Amidst shouts and shots, the soldiers could barely rearrange themselves.

As if mocking them, the beast stopped and yawned looking relaxed.

Zander positioned in the front of the six remaining soldiers. He threw his gun to the side and positioned himself to punch. Circulating his Qi as stated in the book, he looked directly in the silver eyes of the creature.

"Come at me, beast!" Zander shouted.

"That thing is standing still, just shoot it... Wait, are you trying to punch that thing!? Are you crazy!? Schalk yelled behind him.

Taunted by Zander, the creature advanced. To the other soldiers except Zander, who had his senses enhanced by Qi, the beast turned into a blurry figure once again.

In mere seconds Zander saw the beast flash in front of him, he would be the next victim of its bloody sharp teeth!

*BANG!*

He reacted quickly and punched it! Right in the face!

Zander took a step back, the armor protecting his right arm shattered completely. As for the beast, it had been thrown to the nearest tree. That was fifteen meters away!

The beast stumbled, looking injured, but only a trickle of blood flowed from its forehead. It was barely hurt! The black panther slowly stood up and looked intently in Zander's direction, its silver eyes filled with anger. The entire squad held their breath and shivers ran down their spines, no one dared to move a muscle!

"Grrraw!" the beast grumbles softly, as if complaining about something.

Seconds seemed like an eternity for the squadron, sweat was pouring down Zander's forehead. Suddenly, the weird black panther turned and ran away!

"HA! Shit, we did it!" Some soldiers couldn't help but cry out, breaking the silence and waking up the others from the stupor.

"Wow, t-that was unexpected." Said Schalk with his mouth agape.

"Keep your eyes open! We're still deep in the forest, we don't know if this thing will come back." Zander, feeling exhausted but delighted, alerted the group. "Let's end our mission here, take the corpses of our comrades and let's get out of here..."

Zander sighed in relief, if the creature had decided to attack again, he would be dead by now. That's because that single punch had consumed all of his Qi! Now, he just wanted to get away from this damned forest.

He turned around to look at Schalk. Patting his friend's shoulder he said:

"See… I told you I got stronger!"