A Terrible Experience

Six hours ago. Europe, Balkans, Romania.

Will Smith and a few other team members used the cover of darkness to skulk in the trees. Despite the moon, there were a few enormous, dark clouds in the sky, making visibility difficult. How far you can see depends on your luck. With submachine guns in hand, several people stood at attention, looking intently down at the victims' improvised tents as if they were waiting for something.

"Chief, it's coming."

The man who was peering out from the treetops muttered to Smith below all of a sudden. Smith gave a few of his team mates standing behind him a little nod while gesturing. A number of people opened the pistol safety on each other, focused, and patiently waited.

A humanoid figure crawled over two minutes later from a distance. Its stance was quite odd, and its joints appeared to be in the wrong direction. Even more unexpected was the fact that it had white skin all over its body, which in the cool moonlight appeared horrifyingly bizarre.

The creature, who appeared to be highly familiar with the area, crept into a tent during the night, brought out a dying victim, and then slid back out. It seized the victim in its mouth and quickly crept away.

A few moments later, it disappeared into the night. Confirming the direction in which the creature had fled, Smith whispered to his team, "Chase!"

...

They were in a place named Nadavir, which was situated atop a mountain. The entire city has been rendered entirely unrecognizable as a result of a powerful earthquake, and there are broken walls everywhere.

For the typical individual, let alone a nighttime chase, even catching up here during the day requires caution. But Smith and his team have engaged in combat in a forest as old as time. This terrain has long made marching feel like a family affair.

Although the white-skinned monster was extremely agile, because it was carrying a human, its pace was still manageable for a pursuit. Smith and the others trailed behind it, following the path it had left behind.

It was already late in the evening. The white-skinned creature traveled the entire distance without appearing to be at all worn out and quickly entered the mountain. Smith and the group entered without pausing.

All kinds of animals' natural habitats were damaged after the earthquake, making it extremely dangerous to climb mountains at night. However, Smith had no choice but to discover out what it was.

The white-skinned monster was then so far away from them as they fell. They arrived in a forest after an additional hour. In comparison to the rest of the mountain, this forest had very different vegetation. This signaled danger, and Smith was aware of it.

The white-skinned monster started to slow down as soon as it entered this unusual woodland, and it eventually stopped in a clearing. When Smith waved his hand, the team behind him stopped and each player found a hiding place.

Smith and his group noted the white-skinned monster in the chilly moonlight. The creature opened its mouth in a very peculiar manner after seeing it lift the dead victim in its mouth with both hands up in the air. Smith and a few team members were all in a state of shock when the subsequent scene occurred.

Only to see a long, tongue-like object wrapped around the victim's neck stretch from the lips of the white-skinned monster. The victim went limp as soon as the "tongue," which had a funnel-like front end and a circle of razor-sharp teeth in the back, sucked on his neck.

Regular contractions of the "tongue's" muscles gave the impression that something was being sucked from the victim's body. It was eerie to see Smith and a few brothers gathered, watching the action. A half-hour later, the white monster released the victim and took his "tongue" back out of his mouth. The sufferer collapsed to the ground, dissolving into a pool of mush, and appeared to be completely boneless.

After finishing its hunt, the white-skinned monster moved slowly and leisurely farther into the forest. Smith and several team members exchanged glances before Smith continued to follow. This time, they didn't have to travel very far until they came across a monastery in the middle of a forest.

The white-skinned beast entered directly and vanished without a word. Smith's head was filled with innumerable questions as soon as he saw this scenario.

Why is there such a large building in this forest? Was that white-skinned beast indeed a vampire? What was it?

Although he lacked Zhang Jue's level of expertise, he had a gut feeling that something was definitely off. So he made a choice right away.

" If we don't leave in an hour, you return along the same road and get in touch with Advisor Zhang using the method I showed you. Arnold, Grote, you two come in with me. Andrew is in charge of guiding the rest of the squad to stand guard here."

They all adhered to Smith's directives without question because they were all lifelong brothers. In the darkness, the three groped their way into the convent while carrying only their submachine guns and a few grenades. They had unloaded the remainder of their supplies.

The entire monastery appeared to have three to four stories from the outside, but it was actually much taller than that. It appeared as though no one had been here for a very long time because the entire structure had gone into disrepair.

Through a broken window, the three men entered the building's interior. Smith noticed that the passage had several sloppy footsteps that appeared to have been left by some sort of white-skinned monster by the light of the moon. However, as far as the eye could see, it was nowhere to be found and appeared to have fled the area.

The three of them entered completely and came to a massive entrance that, from the way it was set up, appeared to be a place of worship. Additionally, this is where the entire monastery is located. Smith placed his ear to the door but did not pick up any unusual sounds.

He welcomed Arnold and Grote and asked them to open the chapel's entrance so he could see what was within. The door creaked open as the three of them exerted pressure on it.

Moonlight flooded the space. Smith's blood instantly froze after a quick glimpse inside. All of the white-skinned monsters in the worship space were staring directly at them, some of which were lying on the floor, some of which were standing on tables, and some of which were hanging upside down from the ceiling. Resentment was visible in the eyes.

The next second, Smith shouted, "Run!"

They all three took off running outside at once. The troop of monsters with white skin rushed out after them as well. The three moved backwards while firing at the band of monsters with white skin.

The gang of monsters, however, appeared to be familiar with firearms since after the first few were taken down, the survivors used their dexterous positioning to avoid the three Smith rifles' bullets. They are moving very quickly while on their hands and knees, and when Smith saw things weren't looking good, he pulled out a grenade, unlocked the safety, and flung it backwards.

Boom!

A few monsters managed to avoid being hit and were destroyed. The three of them were able to escape the monastery by taking refuge behind the grenade. Andrew had gotten the other team members to follow him to where they were when they heard gunfire and explosions.

Smith gestured his departure from a distance but was too late to add more. When numerous people noticed it, they immediately started to flee as well.

...

Smith and his men retreated to a distance of a thousand meters from the monastery a short while afterwards. Probably because to his fear of the weapons they were holding, the white-skinned creature did not pursue them very far.

Smith tallied the number of individuals in the two small squads that had gathered, but fortunately nobody got left behind. As Smith was ready to speak, he suddenly slid, appearing to be caught up in something. Smith was pulled down and dragged away because of the magnitude of the event and the lack of response from his colleagues.

Smith is accustomed to large-scale situations; after being dragged, he did not fear but instead opened his palms wide right away. His left arm finally managed to clip a tree a short while afterwards. The object that was wrapped around his foot appeared to sense the opposition and grew more powerful. Both parties engaged in combat.

Smith finally noticed what was encircling him as he struggled, bending up with all his might. He initially believed it should be a snake, but it was instead what appeared to be a tentacle emerging from a nearby ground-level hole.

Smith snatched the dagger from his waist and stabbed the tentacle before he had time to consider what this thing was. The tentacle most likely felt the pain because, after a few blows from Smith, it gave up and withdrew back into the hole.

Smith is gasping for oxygen as the crisis is over. He then recalled that ever since they reached this forest, it seemed like there were black holes everywhere. All of the squad members ran over as well.

"Chief, are you alright?" Andrew asked.

Smith looked at the ground and shook his head in silence.

Andrew asked again, "What do we do now?"

"It's dangerous here, we have to get out quickly." Probably because the fight with the tentacle was too violent just now, Smith coughed lightly a few times, "I must report the situation here to Advisor Zhang."

...

Zhang Jue hung up Smith's phone and then gave it some serious thought. He then cast a perplexed glance at Maxwell. Zhang Jue had already connected the most of the pieces after hearing Smith describe their encounter.

"I know why the Church of The Broken is in such a hurry." He narrowed his eyes and looked at Maxwell, "Because the Sarkic Cults is active again, isn't it?"