First Mystery

Exhausted, weakened, and muddled.

These were what I was feeling as I traversed the deep forest of Calauag.

I was running at my top speed while enduring the pain in my body. Lots of blood was dripping from my wound as it tainted the plants in my way for every step that I took.

"Damn it! Who are those people?"

Things just happened too fast; it wasn't too long when I was just having fun with my fellow soldiers that I befriended in Bicol.

Due to my profession, it had already been a while since my last visit to the capital, but who would've thought that the moment I left our base, a group of cars began chasing after me?

I sped up my car and tried to shake them off, but their vehicles were just too fast.

In just a few moments, they managed to shorten the distance between us, and they immediately began firing their guns, which caused my car to lose its balance as the tires had been damaged.

Without hesitation, I jumped out of my vehicle before I got caught in a possible explosion.

After rolling from the ground, I quickly got up and ran towards the forest.

Whoosh!

However, before I went too far, an extremely fast object flew in my direction.

I tried to avoid it and even pulled out my dagger to deflect the incoming danger.

"Shit."

But I was too slow; I wasn't even able to raise my weapon when I felt a cold and sharp thing make its way into my body.

"Ughh."

Because of the impact, I lost my balance and almost dropped to the ground.

While gritting my teeth, I forced myself to stand and unhesitatingly ran away. Trying to get away as far as possible.

As I increased my speed, my face turned ugly while enduring the pain, especially when I pulled out the sharp and thin knife from my torso.

"They were able to hit me with this in that distance?

I couldn't believe it. The distance I had from them was at least 20 meters.

It was just too impossible for them to throw this thing from that distance without losing its power and speed.

However, although it seemed unrealistic, the blood dripping from my body was enough proof that the events were real.

Time passed by, and the moon showed itself in the night sky.

The piece of clothing that I used as a bandage was now covered in blood.

I had no idea what kind of technique was used by the user, but it did a lot of damage to my internal organs just from that single attack.

I was tired.

I did not know where I was heading.

I did not know if I could still make it through this night.

If I wasn't trained in the military, I was sure that my dead body was already cold, surrounded by the trees.

"Heh."

At this moment, I suddenly stopped my feet. I was staring at the person in front of me.

A thin man with a tattoo on his hand.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I realized that this would be my dying place.

"Who would have thought that you will be able to endure it this long after taking an attack from my Sharp of death?"

The thin man spoke in an amused yet mocking tone.

Sharp of death?

This was the first time that I heard such technique.

"Fucking soldier, you sure ran too fast!"

I looked behind and saw four more people. They were angrily looking at me, obviously annoyed after chasing after me.

"I do not know you guys, why are you doing this to me?"

Although it was already dark and we were here in the forest, the light from the moon and stars were enough to show their faces.

But even after thinking for a while, I couldn't identify anyone of them.

"Of course you do not know us."

The fat man in the front answered me. He smiled and continued.

"But we need something from you."

"You need something from me? Then I guess we can talk this out."

My heart was beating faster. I had no idea what these guys wanted from me.

"Your necklace, give us your necklace."

Necklace?

I secretly looked at the necklace that I wore.

When the fat man noticed this, he quickly snorted.

"Don't hide it anymore. A necklace made from wood that has a shape of star. Give it to me!"

What?

How come?

How did they know the existence of this necklace? From what I knew, I was not casually showing this to anyone.

"Is this the item that you guys want?"

I slowly removed my necklace and showed it to them. Since they already knew the existence of it, there was no point of hiding it.

"Yes! That's it!"

The eyes of the fat man shone like a diamond. Even his group and the thin man displayed an excitement that was not present in them before.

"I have no problem giving this to you."

While holding the necklace, I began my way in the direction of the fat man.

I had no idea why they wanted this necklace. From what I remember, my grandfather gave it to me on my seventh birthday as a gift. 

When I was young, he jokingly told me to never show this to anyone since it was special. 

I took it seriously to the point that even when I was in the military, I hid it in my body.

Maybe it was special; maybe it was truly special.

But no matter what the truth was, I couldn't give a damn right now, because...

Click*

I would kill them now!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The moment I felt that the distance from them was perfect, I quickly pulled out my two desert eagles from my body and began quick-firing.

Four bullets made their way to the group, and it was an unexpected event for them. 

Three of them immediately died, as they remained bewildered until their deaths.

"Huh?"

However, although three people died from my shooting, I was shocked to witness my bullet slip through the body of the fat man.

It missed!

My bullet missed it target!

It was as if a huge wind blew my bullet away from the fat man.

It was just too impossible, and from that distance, I was confident in my accuracy.

"Hehe. Are you shocked?"

The man still displayed a smile even after seeing the deaths of his comrades.

"Are you wondering how it happened?"

I remained silent. Lots of questions ran through my mind. Thinking if everything was real or just an illusion.

Whoosh!

While I was stunned with the sudden events, the thin man that supposedly my next target, began moving.

However, although I was clearly aware of it, I was too shocked to avoid the incoming attack.

"Ugh!"

A sharp object hit me from behind that caused my body to fall in the ground.

"Hahaha! Look at this guy, it seems that he is truly has no idea about what is happening right now!"

The fat man approached me as I felt the coldness of the ground.

I raised my head and sharply looked at him. Now that I had a closer look at him, I noticed that this person and the thin man had the same tattoo: a skull wearing a crown.

I was not familiar with this tattoo, so it might be a huge secret organization. 

"To think that we were so cautious against you."

The fat man lowered himself and gave me a kick in my face.

"If only I knew that you had no idea on how to use the Agimat, I would not waste more time dealing with you."

The thin man approached me as well, and there was a hint of anger and embarrassment, probably caused by being overcautious with someone like me.

I did not speak or waste my time on their mocking comments. I just remained silent, feeling the touch of the shoes of the fat man.

I had already given up, and I no longer had any remaining energy to fight back.

The only thing running through my mind were the words that I heard from them.

Agimat.

Based on the legends, this was an object that possessed mysterious powers.

When I was young, I heard a lot of different kinds of Agimat from my grandfather, and although I was amazed by the stories, I knew that these things were impossible to exist in the real world.

But now, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the possibility of the Agimat being not only a legend but a magical treasure that had existed all this time.

Because if not for the prowess of the agimat, what else could be the reason for the strangeness in the fat man's body?

And if you think about it, the ability of the thin man was also beyond what an ordinary being could do. There was a chance that he was also using a type of agimat or a different kind of superpower.

This only meant that the necklace they wanted was truly one of the agimats in the legend.

Although I hadn't noticed any strangeness in my necklace, just the fact that they were so eager to have it showed that this was extremely important to them.

With all these thoughts, I secretly moved my hand to hold the necklace, which was now underneath my body.

Both the fat man and the thin man did not notice this. They just didn't care about my movements after knowing that I couldn't use the power of agimat.

"It is truly entertaining to watch those people fighting for their lives. But playtime is over, say hi for me once you meet San Pedro in your way to heaven."

The fat man enjoyed himself as he took out a gun and aimed at my head.

But before he could even shoot, a smile full of craziness appeared in my face.

Using all of my remaining energy, I unhesitatingly put the necklace in my mouth.

Gulp*

It was tough, but I forced myself to swallow the whole thing.

It might damage my body, or it might cause my death.

But what was the use of worrying when I would also face my death in their hands?

Rather than dying helplessly, I would prefer to die along with the thing that they wanted.

Seeing my actions, the two were stunned for a moment.

"You fucking-!! Take it out!!"

They finally panicked and tried to force it out of me by choking.

But I remained smiling as they watched me savored the tasteless necklace of mine.

"You bastard! Dieeee!"

Bang! Bang!

Knowing that I could no longer spit it out, the fat man did not hesitate to shoot me.

I felt the bullet hit my head, and my dizziness began. My breathing slowly stopped as I felt my life force being taken away.

This was now my end.

But before I lost my life, there was a hint of ridicule in my eyes.