A New Chapter

Another five or four... is it? There should be more.

Kazuichi, in tatters and rags, slinked past a couple of pillars in a construction site where a nest of Aberrants resided. The moonlight beams shone through the cracks of the site, illuminating certain portions of the interior where the Aberrants were in snooze. They weren't moving erratically, just sort of gazing around, awaiting stimulus.

It had been three days since Kazuichi located the nest, but he was uncertain whether he could take them out alone or not. It's not like this was his first time getting rid of a nest, but he certainly wanted this to be his last. Ever since that incident took place with Izanagi and the others, he had been going around getting rid of nests in hopes that he'd achieve something.

"I hope it works this time." He muttered to himself as he retreated. Today was just reconnaissance, but tomorrow will be D-Day wherein he'll unleash hell upon the nest of Aberrants.

After tapping into his inner strength as a Hybrid, Kazuichi climbed up the pillars and beams of the construction site with ease. The past few days had been a wake-up call for him and he had trained his stamina to the point where he doesn't exhaust himself easily. For a regular hybrid, it would've been difficult to scale such a huge construction site without resting, but to Kazuichi, it was a walk in the park.

Upon reaching the top, he leaned on one of the protruding pillars as he overlooked the entire city. It was as dead as ever. Even if someone were to drop a needle, Kazuichi assumed he'd be able to hear it due to how dead silent the place was.

He rummaged through his bag, thinking that he still have a pack of animal blood stuck somewhere in the cracks. To his disappointment, there was none. He'd already drunk all of it. "What great timing." He muttered to himself, angrily grabbing a smoked rabbit and eating it. "I guess it's time to hunt."

As Kazuichi stood up, the moonlight shone on his back, reflecting his shadow straight to the ground. He looked like an imposing figure with his tall and semi-muscular build as well as his tattered clothes. He inhaled with great focus, taking in every whiff of scent available in the wind. As usual, the putrid smell of infected filled his olfactory receptors, but he was too used to the smell that he didn't feel like throwing up anymore. The stench of dead bodies was also there, as well as the faint smell of wood, metal, and asphalt.

Mixed in with those scents were the redolence of trees, and the malodorous odor of dead animals hunted down by hybrids in the vicinity. That was the scent Kazuichi was looking for.

Without hesitation, he jumped. He was ten stories above the ground and he jumped, thinking that it was the fastest way to descend and not alert the nest of Aberrants at the construction site. On his way down, he grabbed one of the cable wires nearby with his herculean grip. His weight caused the cable to snap, and he swung like tarzan to the next building over, landing with the dexterity of a cat, and scaling his way forward until he reached the edge of the city.

The gentle scent of the forest hit Kazuichi like a wave as he finally entered it. He took one good sniff before his primal instincts kicked in. Pretty soon, he was on all fours, sniffing his way through the forest while he tried to stay upwind, that way he'd be able to detect the faintest of scents downwind.

Multiple hybrids and infected already caught his nose, and the horrid smell disturbed his heightened sense. But after breathing for a couple of seconds, he finally controlled what he sniffed out, and he detected a couple of rabbits by the forest.

"It would've been nice if there were some deer... but beggars can't be choosers, I guess," Kazuichi said to himself, adjusting his wrists before he charged forward.

His aim wasn't the carcasses that littered the forest, but the live rabbit which was running four hundred or so meters from where he was situated. He had no idea what the rabbit was doing but judging from its scent, it was probably taking a shit— that, or it was in an area where rabbits empty their intestines.

The scent didn't bother Kazuichi though since it further solidified the fact that the rabbit was still alive and kicking. He picked up the pace, but he tried to minimize his noise as much as possible. He didn't want to lose the rabbit before he even sighted it.

Trees and bushes provided good cover for Kazuichi as he continued meandering through the forest. There were predatory animals in the forest as well but he was too exhausted to target them at the moment. That's why, using his keen sense of smell and hearing, he avoided all of them. He also opted to steer clear from the roaming infected and sentient hybrids which could be territorial in nature.

When Kazuichi caught sight of the rabbit, he realized that it really was taking a dump. Kazuichi gave himself a pat on the back. This was another successful hunt.

Sniff.

Sniff.

A metallic smell lingered in the background, causing Kazuichi's face to perk up before he hid behind an undergrowth. A high-pitched hissing sound came out of nowhere, and an arrow planted itself on the rabbit's hind leg.

It didn't take long before Kazuichi caught sight of the person responsible for the sneak attack. She was on one of the top branches of a tree a distance away. Kazuichi even heard her click her tongue since she missed killing the target with one arrow.

"You stupid donkey!" Kazuichi hissed under his breath as the rabbit fell on its hind leg and started kicking. That gesture wasn't what he was afraid of though... There was something about rabbits that every hunter was aware of, and that's why they aim to kill a rabbit with one hit.

When one fails and the rabbit doesn't die in one hit... something disturbing was bound to happen.

krhrhraaahghhhk~!

The rabbit started screaming and thumping its legs.