Pasta and beans

While he gazed upon the thing in the distance, the other soldiers also saw him and slowly went into a more and more panicked state. 

Abel faintly heard some of the things the people said, most of it being doomsaying. 

"...the ghoul that hunts" 

"...Man eater, he gnaws on flesh of the fallen..."

"Gorefiend! The one who destroyed more than twenty fortifications alone over the course of two months! " 

Suddenly, Abel heard one of the bases commanders speak through a megaphone, interrupting the murmur of the common rabble. 

The man with an eyepatch was currently sticking out of a tanks hatch. The tank, being one of the tanks stolen from the British bases they raided, was a fearsome force on the battlefield, yet right now even the commander was somewhat afraid of the being in the distance.

"I DON'T KNOW WHO OR WHAT YOU ARE, BUT PLEASE DO NOT FORCE OUR HAND INTO THIS CONFRONTATION, WE HAVE HOSTA-"

Trying to threaten, or better said beg, the other party into leaving, the man's megaphone had amplified his voice enough for the other party to hear it. Yet he was abruptly cut off by what the creature did.

Suddenly moving its body, the creature went from crawling on the ground to throwing his head and body back, roaring at the skies in response. 

ROOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!

The roar, far different than anything any human could produce, sent a small wave of dust and pebbles flying around the beast. As the sound wave passed through the bodies of the ten rings members, whether they were in one of the 2 tanks or in the depths of the base, their very instincts were screaming at them that this wasn't something human that stood in the distance. 

It was a predator. 

Going back into the crawling stance with one arm on the ground and the other one still clutching the shotgun, the beast broke into a mad dash towards the base, signalling the start of the battle. 

Throwing away the bag on its back in the distance, the creatures sprinting pattern was not a straight line, instead it zigzaged as it kept dodging the direct line of fire from the tank barrels. As for the three machine guns and other weapons that kept raining lead on its body, they couldn't even put a scratch into it. 

Having crossed more than 50 of the 300ish meters of distance , one of the tanks gunners finally got impatient due to his fear and shot. 

The tanks main gun, a 120mm cannon, shot out a HESH round where they expected him to stop his movement.

No sooner did the round fire off did the thing pause its movements, having anticipated it from the slight moment of the tanks main barrel being stationary. 

The explosion of the HESH round send shrapnel and Rock flying everywhere, along with the heat of the explosion coming into contact with its skin, yet nothing seemed to have harmed the creature as it kept getting closer and closer to their defensive perimeter. 

Surviving multiple such blasts unscathed, suddenly, one of the tanks managed to get in a lucky shot. Having stopped its movements for a split second as it dodged one of the other tanks shell, another tank shell landed mere meters in front of him, sending a wall of debris and rocks to encompass him. 

As the people in the base kept looking at the miniature explosion, anxiously waiting to see if the thing was dead, they saw the creature run outside of the smoke, the arms that had covered the front of its body being charred and smoking. 

Finally having gotten within 100 meters of the base, sticks of dynamite started appearing in its hands, being thrown with far more strength than the average human could ever hope to achieve, towards the defenses of the ten rings. 

BOOOOOOOOM! 

BOOOOOOOOM! 

Horrified, Abel watched as the sticks landed in the midst of their fortifications, before blowing up in such large explosions that they dwarfed the HESH shells explosions, being almost twice as big. 

"AAAAAH!"

"MY ARM, MY ARM!"

The dynamite sticks, having sent countless shrapnel and rocks flying around, caused a massive hit to the morale of the ten rings members. Not only did the shrapnel kill of countless people, the sight and the sound of people being turned into clouds of meat was a sight not even Abel was used to. 

One of them had landed a mere 10 meters away from the watch tower Abel Was on, sending waves of fear through him like never before. Jumping down on the floor, with his head away from the explosive, Abel prayed for a miracle. 

BOOOOOOOOM! 

The explosion, ripping out a part of the guard tower, sent the structure collapsing to the side. 

Meanwhile, as the thing kept getting closer and closer to the ranks, having dodged two more tank shots in the time it took him to cover 100 meters, the thing did something unthinkable upon finally getting next to the tank. 

Running to the side of the tank, the thing grabbed the barrel of the tank, swinging itself upwards and flying high in the air, throwing down three sticks of dynamite on top of the commanders tank. 

Still flying mid air, the thing spun around to control his trajectory, before it finally landed on top of the second tank as the first one went up in a ball of flames, the thin armor on its roof having been blasted open by the sticks of dynamite, killing everyone inside and detonating the ammo racks. 

As it landed on the second tanks turret, it unsummoned its shotgun before it grabbed the hatch with both of its hands, pulling at full force, the entire time it was pulling it had countless bullets raining on it. 

After a loud creaking noise, the hatch of the tank was pried open by it, bent at a odd angle. With a smile on its face it jumped into the tank, hidden away from the eyes of the ten rings. 

To the horror of the people watching the spectacle, 4 screams resounded from the tank, and the tank stopped moving altogether. 

Before them the thing appeared in front of their eyes, jumping out of the hatch, yet this time painted in red.

The morale that was already low due to the dynamite rain, went even further down with the destruction and incapitation of the two tanks. Countless people turning tail to run away, the thing started running in the same crawling manner as before, hunting down people with the shotgun in its hands. 

With every shot that came from the double barrel beast, a man was cut in half or blasted into pieces, the hellish weapon only letting out the sounds of deafening thunder. 

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

Fifteen minutes later, the grounds outside of the base were littered with flesh bits and corpses, the gruesome spectacle that unfolded here would shock even the most hardened of war veterans. 

Having cut down most of the hundreds of people defending the base, with only a few of the hundreds having lived, the creature slowly started going towards their hideout. 

Abel, with most of his head covered in blood, some of his own, broke into a mad run soon after it entered their cave, with only the only thought in his head being that he needed to flee that place if he wanted to live. 

---

<You let a few of them escape?>

"It's for two reasons, one is to incite panic among them. Two, its too much of a hassle to chase down and murder bugs. Now then, I have something I should do..." 

Saying so, I turned to look at the system window, knowing I had leveled up. 

157/4800

21 STR 

8 DEX

7 INT

7 PER

Looking at my stats happily, I considered whether I should keep dumping everything into strength as usual, or maybe to start investing in Dexterity once more. 

"Which one should it be?" 

<You've 11 already developed a fighting method that relies on both your Dexterity and Strength. But if I had to say, get as will drastically alter physiology give you more of combat power increase than just dumping into>

"Got it." throwing my point into dex as told, i then proceeded to look at the skill tree.

Previously, I got 8 skill points in total, dumping most of them Into the shotgun tree. 

Having gotten <group up> for 10% tighter pellet spread, <surprise > for summoning and unsummoning my <Thunderclap >, <Blood reload> for twice as fast reloading after kills, <More focus!> so that I can stay in focus infinitely by getting kills, and finally <Sticks of fun> for the disgustingly strong dynamite sticks, I was considered to have a basic skill set for a superhuman. 

And on the rifle tree I had gotten <Ambush > and <Night ranger>, the latter being extremely useful as I had a much easier time with some of the previous night raids. 

Leaving the base after I had checked for supplies, I didn't really find any too interesting trophy to throw into my backpack. Instead, I went outside the cave and started looking up and down at the tank whose crew I squashed to death. 

Contemplating what I should take as a trophy, I finally had an idea after a bit if thinking. Not hesitating anymore, I jumped into the tanks hatch, and after rummaging the insides of it, I returned with the trophy in hand. 

A tank shell, that could probably blow up in my face. 

Now then, having cleaned up the dozen ten rings camps, and another 6 insurgent groups I had found by accident, I now only had one more target. 

The base where Stark was. 

Well, I say that, but I remembered something the commander said about hostages. Going back to the cave, having passed by countless rooms, I finally found the hostages. 

Looking at the 10 odd people in front of me, shotgun in hand, I was contemplating what to do. 

While I did want to save them, I didn't want to bother escorting them to civilisation, as I had no clue where I was either, and the system refused to tell me anything either besides where what base is. 

I guess they could stay here then? The wreckage of two tanks and the fields of blood outside should be visible to the Americans, so they should easily investigate this and save them. 

Yeah, that works. 

Not hesitating anymore, under the frightened gazes of the hostages, I put my hands on the steel bars locking them up in their small concrete cell. 

Within seconds, with the squealing of metal I had opened a hole wide enough for a person. Looking at the lambs that huddled together in a corner, who didn't dare scream under my gaze, I tried to comfort and reassure them. 

By giving them a thumbs up and turning away from their cell. Hearing some shrieks resound behind me, I couldn't care less, instead going to the supply area as I was hungry. 

Grabbing a random box and breaking it, I found random pasta packaging. Opening the plastic bag of the pasta, I started chewing on them like a sandwich, not wanting to get them dirty with my bloodstained hands. Other than that, I found a can of beans in another box, and after I finished the most sumptuous meal I had in the past few months, I left the cave in search of the last base. 

Or more specifically, I asked the system where to go once more, and after being pointed in a direction by the system, I started running like I usually do. 

Stark, grandpa is coming!