Surprise

The Kred exchanged growls that Khan couldn't understand. Those noises were perfectly clear due to the deafening stillness of the jungle, but the aliens weren't using words. They sounded like animals exchanging a deep and complicated conversation.

'They didn't notice us,' Khan thought even if the event left him surprised.

That jungle was the Kred's native environment. It felt strange that Khan had managed to sense the two aliens and get that close without alerting their senses. After all, no one in his group knew how to move silently, and they had stopped at only ten meters from them.

Khan wanted to believe that his group had gotten lucky, but the nature of the situation didn't make him feel like that. Luke and the other two recruits didn't feature heavy injuries, but flexible roots tied their hands and legs.

The three recruits were prisoners, which put Khan into an annoying situation. He had to decide whether to attempt to save those three or avoid the issue altogether.

The Kred seemed unaware of Khan's group, so running away was an option that he didn't dare to disregard. The aliens' prowess was an unclear variable that he couldn't underestimate.

Doubts filled Khan's mind while his companions remained silent. They were waiting for his orders, and tension inevitably built among them.

Only George could consider all the available options like Khan. The other recruits in their group had immediately thought that a rescue mission would start once their leader came up with a plan.

'Kred have better bodies but struggle to increase their attunement with mana,' Khan reminded himself while inspecting the area. 'The Ef'i are a stronger species, and I've defeated them, but they look like adults.'

It was hard for Khan to judge the actual age of the Kred. Their inhuman features didn't show marks that he could recognize, but their aura lacked any childish vibe.

The Kred appeared mature, determined, and driven. Their inhuman eyes carried no mercy when they stared at the fainted recruits under them. They didn't waver as they coldly inspected the young prisoners.

'Facing them is madness,' Khan eventually concluded in his mind.

His opponents could have years, if not decades, of training more than him. They might be experienced soldiers who had already gone through many deadly battles. The two bear-shaped Kred might be as strong as Lieutenant Dyester, which would leave Khan no chance to succeed in an eventual rescue mission.

"Let's leav-," Khan turned and began to give his order, but his eyes widened when he saw that a third bear-shaped Kred was silently approaching his group from behind.

Khan and the alien looked at each other for less than a second, but that moment felt like an eternity. The two went over countless ideas in the span of an instant before reacting to the surprising event.

The Kred began to roar. Its hairy mouth opened and started to give voice to a low cry, but Khan put everything he had in his bent legs and reached the alien one second after its warning spread into the environment.

Dorian, George, Cora, and Ethel divided Khan from the Kred, but his faint steps barely affected them when he walked on their shoulders and heads.

Khan flew after walking over his companions. His airborne figure appeared in front of the alien with a knee pointed toward its open mouth. He had taken only one second to complete the technique. His mana was already in the right place. The sudden danger had allowed him to complete his fastest execution yet.

The Kred's eyes widened as its body bent backward, but it didn't seem to have the power to dodge Khan's attack. His knee hit the alien's nose and made it cave in until it reached its forehead. A cracking noise even resounded from its skull, but Khan didn't hear it due to the grunt that followed the interruption of the warning cry.

Khan directly flowed into another technique. His attack had pushed the Kred backward, but his knee was still attached to its face. He took a deep breath as mana gathered in his torso before falling toward the tip of his joint when he exhaled.

The Kred's vision had grown blurry after the first attack, but it could sense that a massive weight had suddenly appeared on its face. Still, everything was happening too quickly. The alien tried to raise its clawed arms, but the back of its head hit the ground before it could even attempt to touch Khan.

The ground shattered as Khan slammed the tall alien down and forced the entirety of his bodyweight to converge on his knee. His leg dug the terrain as he continued to push the Kred downward. The crash made a lot of noise, but Khan could only think about defeating that opponent now.

The noise alerted the other two Kred and forced the four recruits to turn. Everything had happened too quickly for them too. They realized the nature of the threat only when the tall body of the alien appeared in their vision.

'Can I really defeat them?' Khan wondered while rolling on his back to exit the hole created by his attack and turn toward his astonished companions.

The Kred didn't move anymore. Khan had clearly beaten it, but he didn't know if he could accomplish the same feat without taking the aliens by surprise. Still, another issue appeared in his mind when he realized that escaping would cause other problems now.

'We can't lose our path,' Khan understood in his mind when he saw two tall figures moving quickly among the trees.

Escaping when two natives were on his tracks was hard, but Khan could pull it off with his speed. However, he risked getting lost in the process, and no compass could help him if he walked out of his path.

Fighting seemed the only chance at that point, but his companions had yet to understand what had happened. Khan's sudden actions had made them turn toward him and show their back to the other aliens. They didn't know that the Kred were already on the move.

"Behind you!" Khan eventually decided to shout.

The four recruits turned and noticed the two tall bear-shaped Kred hurrying toward their position. Their size didn't seem to be a hindrance in that thick vegetation.

George was the first to react to that threat. He was already wielding his branch, and his mind had been ready to fight since the group found the Kred.

George took a deep breath as mana flowed out of his body and entered the branch. The greenish weapon began to radiate a faint light while the boy sat on his knees and acted as if he was sheathing a sword on his side.

Dorian quickly stood up and prepared himself for the imminent impact, and Cora imitated him while using her body to hide Ethel.

Khan made sure to reinforce the mental barriers on his emotions before shooting ahead. He circled the group and prepared himself to support George since he had the highest chances of delivering a proper attack to the Kred. Yet, he slowed down on purpose to make the two aliens clash on the group.

One of the Kred quickly approached George and waved both its arms toward his head. However, the alien promptly retracted them when the boy drew the branch by his side and swung it in the air.

The Kred's reaction had been almost immediate, but the tip of George's branch had managed to hit its targets anyway. Two superficial cuts opened on the alien's forearms, and red blood started to flow out of them.

Dorian charged ahead once the second Kred became too close. His palms slammed on the alien's chest to push it, but the latter didn't budge. Instead, it delivered a swift attack with its left arm that flung the boy away and opened four deep cuts on his side.

Khan arrived at that point. The injured Kred shot an angry glance toward George, but a kick landed on its side and forced its body to bend unnaturally.

George didn't miss that chance. His branch promptly slashed at the Kred's head, and a long injury opened on its face. The weapon even cut part of its exposed hairy chest and made dark-red patches spread from those spots.

Khan jumped to rotate his body mid-air and slam his heel on the back of the Kred's head. The impact made the alien fall forward and gave George the chance to launch another attack. However, the boy lost his concentration, and his branch broke when its tip touched his opponent's chest.

Khan prepared himself to launch another attack, but he stopped when he noticed that the Kred had fainted. His eyes moved toward the other alien at that point, and he found it waving its arms toward Cora.

The girl seemed to panic when the two massive clawed arms swung toward her, but her body instinctively moved to accompany the alien's attack.

The claws stabbed her side, but they didn't dig too deeply. She imitated their movements and rotated behind the Kred once it completed its attack.

The Kred felt surprised in front of that strange technique, but Cora shared its emotions. Her breath became ragged, and pure fear appeared on her face when the creature turned toward her.

However, a figure suddenly materialized above the Kred's head. Cora saw Khan rotating in the air before slamming his heel on the alien's forehead.

The attack stunned the Kred and allowed George to reach its position. He still wielded his broken branch, but the weapon didn't fail to pierce the side of the alien's chest at that time.

The alien spat blood, and Khan's shinbone suddenly slammed on the side of its head. Its jaw broke after the technique, and the alien fell to the ground. It was still awake, but it seemed unable to stand up.