Spice

"Ah! The man finally arrives to be honest I thought you'd be in bed for the remainder of the day HAHAHAAHAHAH" A burly man exclaimed. He was tall but his demeanor radiated nothing but kindness and virtue. Combined with this and the fact he was the only man to have fought a tier 2 and held it back with pure strength alone, a true gentle ogre.

A total of 15 hunters were gathered in the main association room. Imagine a typical adventurer's guild lobby. When Red alarms are given off all hunters are sent an emergency summons to return. We sometimes gather like this to receive missions. There wont always be hunters outside due to safety reasons a majority of the hunters will be given holidays at the same time so that more people stay in the frontier at the same time than not increasing odds of survival. Regardless, its still rare for EVERY hunter and 5 scouts to be gathered like this.

"It's good that you are here, I will continue! Our main agenda for today, as I am sure ALL of you-" He shot a quick glance at [Lost] who was pretending to be occupied with observing the ceiling.

"-Have read the debrief, We are going forward with further investigation with Outpost 3, we have lost contact with our emergency aid operator over there. SO! I'm suggesting a team of two for this, any volunteers?"

Two people quickly raised their hands. A woman with long black hair and A woman with short brunette hair volunteered. Its incredible how we are bordering extinction but we still have the resources available for us to maintain apperances.

"Great! I'll put [Serene] and [Aprehend] on the list, you'll have a further breakdown of the mission and objectives sent to your respective watches or you can collect the clipboards before you leave"

"Next we need surveilance on the red zone, Ideally a team of 5 for the duration of the investigation before we decide how to move forward regarding the tunnel."

Around 8 people put up their hands for this one of whom, five were chosen.

The meeting carried on like this as more tasks were presented. Which leads to the current situation...

[Investigate and Evaluate The Great Obsidian Mall]

The watch contained a checklist of criteria and questions that needed answering for example how many lycan were there? How many resources were available etc. A mission like this was normally for the scouts however, this place was one of the first places of this town to be heavily taken over. Although the scientists at the frontier have predicted lycans to have moved away due to ground vibrations, feeding patterns, lycan activity and a whole other bunch of mumbo jumbo...nothing is 100%

'Another solo mission' [Fervour] thought to himself as he slowly approached the large mall located roughly 3km from the frontier. How did he get there? He walked. Luckily it was close enough to be able to walk in decent timing. Had it been a further mission he would have had to take one of the customised hunter assosication vehicles. There are a decent few horror stories revolving around use of vehicles on missions although theyve largely decreased since the modifications.

Dried blood could be seen in places of shade and alot of the houses had been near utterly devestated but there it stood towering 30 floors high, a giant building in the shape of a snow globe but a sleek black exterior fitting of its name as the obsidian.

[Fervour] climbed up the steps leading into the mall, double checking he had masked his scent properly, would that help? who knows? but better to be prepared on the off chance it does. He entered the building which stood strong despite the crumbling stairs, an old remnant of humanity's technological advancements. 

First Floor- Clear, Electronics store Looks damaged but still some salvageable items.

He moved up to the second floor after checking around for any more traces of Lycan whether that be remainds, excrement or the furry demons themselves.

Step. Step. Step.

He could hear his steps echo despite his attempts to stifle the sounds he generated.

Second Floor- Clear, Fast Food stores looking around maybe cashpoints can be broken down for parts? but too heavy to carr- THUMP

He felt his heart drop. The Building Visibliy beat. His instincts screamed that he needed to leave... But he couldn't, not yet.

Slowly moving upwards, he kept his ears perked and his exit path locked ready to run at the slightest notice that something was coming.

THUMP

The building beat again.

He surveyed the floor, inching closer to the top floor as he made notes. Whether it was good or bad news, hard to tell, however there were no lycans visible.

THUMP THUMP

By the time he reached the 4th floor he saw it, weird black tentacles latched into the building.

THUMP

The tentacles shook the building as they clawed into it.

Whatever it was, it was growing. He moved up the stairs futher. The tentacles grew in size, density and amount they further he went up. Some tentacles cracking the ground beneath them. He finally reached it. The top floor. There it was. The origin of tentacles. A large digusting writhing mass of pure darkness. No it would be inaccurate to say it was only darkness, there unusual growths litered on its skin. In each growth was what looked like a curled up lycan, different shapes, sizes, some looked like the one he had killed, others looked nothing like what was recorded in hunting books. Slowly, he took a picture with his watch. As he backed away, His finger inched towards the the blue icon on the watch. It required two presses to confirm. As he tapped once more one of the sacs on the mass popped.

!!!!!!

Not even taking a second to think further, every muscle pulled him into survival mode. He bolted as fast as he could towards the stairs.

"WaIT, sOn"

Time stood still. Whatever was released by the popping, was already next to him. Even his blood ran away from the tips of his fingers afraid. His body felt cold, chilly...dead. As if by luck or just physics. The momentum carried him forward even if his brain had given up.

He crashed into the stairwell tumbling down the stairs. The walls to the stairs were broken through as a brown furry body bigger than any bear smashed through.

"WaIT, sOn"

"WaIT, sOn"

"WaIT, sOn"

"WaIT, sOn"

"WaIT, sOn"

Even while tumbling down the stairs he could see the bear-like lycan. It had the face of a woman, black hair, pale face and lifeless eyes. The face made expressions as if trying to figure out the best way to look normal, while repeating the same lines over and over, correcting itself. Trying to find what would work. What would make [Fervour] react, even slightly, hesitate, falter.

A human voice meant a tier 5 at least. It meant today was the day he died. It felt surreal if he was honest. He felt at ease. What was the point in trying to live if death was guaranteed. For once he could make the choice to not struggle.

But you cant help being human. His blood ran concetrated with adrenaline, his mind raced, muscles tensed and senses heightened. He finally reached tumbled to the the floor below, somehow ending up on his feet once more. Luck didnt want him to be free just yet. Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, he slid kicking open the stair case door. Spikes each the size of his leg and as thick as roman pillars from who knows where. If we are being fair here, there was no reason to kick the door open, thanks to the lycan nothing remained of the whole wall, door included. Getting to his feet, he kept running. 0.5 seconds thats all it took for the lycan to be behind him again. 0.25 seconds for it to swing its limbs whilst screaming in its now near perfect uncanny valley human sounding voice. It didnt aim to kill, it wanted to be entertained. It wanted to torment. It ripped through the floor leading to the exit. What it didnt account for ,however, was that wasnt the exit he was going for. Humans are tremendously outmatched. So what is the hunter's strongest weapon? Preperation. Leaping off the railing, he jumped into the centre of the mall, a large drop to the first floor. The lycan realising a second too late, finally reacted. Well, not that it mattered. It lived in the world of millieseconds. It once again shot forwards to the hunter that was now descending with the full might of gravity. Its claws reached out to grab its prey, It wanted to kill it immediately this time, no more games. Just before it could close its claws around the fleshy body of the hunter. The hunters body curved in a weird arc. Because it had just been born it couldn't control its strength properly.

SWISH

[Fervour] gripped the rope with flags hung open it as he used it like a vine to swing on.

BOOM The lycan overshot the jumped and crashed into the opposite side of the floor he jumped from.

The Flag swing landed him slightly above the ground floor. Letting go he touched the ground. Taking out Odour neutralisers he quickly threw one on the ground as he ran through it. It wouldnt be much but hopefully itd be enough. He tapped his watch and it showed the closest outpost.

"WAIT FOR ME SON, PLEASE! PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME BEHIND!!!!"

The lycan yelled. It was far but how long would it truly take to catch up. He reached the mainstreet, but he could hear the loud crash of the lycan finally having reached the ground floor. Quickly! Need to get off the street he thought.

As he thought of running into a nearby alley or house, he could see it from the corner of his eye. The lycan was at the main entrance now not even 300 or so metres behind him but it wasnt looking at him. A small missile shaped capsule flew above its head. The lycan clawed it out the sky. A pop and a whoosh, a unsettlingly large amount of smoke exploded.

What launched it? The culprit drifted to a stop in front of him, Opening the door a man pulled him in.

"We got your emergency alert [Fervour]"

The man, [Proxy] said.

"What did you use on it?"

"Oh that? The boys in the research and exerpimental unit cooked it up, silver mist"

"HAHA TAKE THAT YOU RABID MONGREL" [Steady] The hunter that launched it yelled.

"Get your ass back in the car and keep quiet, [Proxy]  lectured.

"Hold on I want to see the effe-"

"SoN SOn Son sOn sON"

Its speach had broken again, as if it had forgone its practice in anger.

"What in the sh-"

Once again preventing her from finishing her sentence. The smoke scattered from the air pressure as the lycan shot forward again. Although the car was fast, the lycan was too.

She picked up another shell, and launched it again. Missed.

Another, Missed.

5 Shells left.

New plan, instead of shooting at the lycan she shot at the ground. The mist gathered. It started to scatter once more as the lycan was trying to past to. Although not fully effective, the fact it had visibly attested to some effectiveness atleast. Using the scattering of the mist she shot again. Its vision blocked by the mist, it took the shell head on. More seconds were bought. That was it, seconds.

[Proxy] Took a sharp right turn. Hunter emergency escape #57

The sharp right turn led into an underpass. Pressing a button on the screen of the car dashboard, a resounding boom sounded as the underpass collapsed.

1 minute passed, they couldnt hear any sounds as they continued to drive, the imminent threat of death but there was no time to relax ever. Multiple tier 1s flocked hearing the noise. A majority of the tier 1s were taken care of by the shells. 1 remaning.

A tier 1 lycan jumped onto the side of the car where [Fervour] was sat, ripping off the door. Quickly he pulled the sword out the scabbard of the woman, he had lost his own sword again at the mall. He stabbed into the eye of the lycan. The whole right side of its face expanded and popped sending blood and mucus all over the car seat and him but it wasnt enough to kill yet again. The lycan punched out on impulse, sending [Fervour] flying into [Steady] She was still stood up out the sunroof, the impact caused her to ram into the side of the sunroof, expelling any air in her lungs.

"GOD DAMN IT, HOLD ON" [Proxy] Yelled as he moved the car to the right and scrapped the body along a building. The impact threw off the tier one. Taking a multitude of more turns into Green zone areas. They finally somehow arrived at base. The ramp leading down into the underground parking for vehicles opened up as the car flew into and down it. A team of medics quickly rushed in, grabbing people out the care. That was the last thing he saw before he passed out again.