FIRST ENCOUNTER

"Kill that thing!"

Tatatatatata!

Bang, bang, bang!

"Throwing a grenade!"

Boom!

In the middle of a mountainous region located in the Satae-ri forest, south of the border with North Korea, a group of South Korean soldiers were fighting a brutal battle.

The sound of gunfire echoed through the dark forest, accompanied by the explosions of grenades that were destroying a structure at a specific point where everyone was shooting!

It was a real rain of bullets!

Every member of the platoon fired as if there were no tomorrow, squeezing the triggers of their weapons tightly as if their lives depended on it.

The combination of the 4.6 mm rounds from the HK MP7 rifles, the 5.56 mm rounds from the HK 416, and the powerful 5.5 mm rounds from the M50s swept through and destroyed everything in their path!

Bursts of projectiles struck anything that remotely resembled the target, ensuring that nothing remained standing!

After a moment, when they almost ran out of ammunition, the firing ceased.

At the spot where the structure should have been, there was only a huge cloud of dust and several pieces of shattered concrete scattered all over the area.

"Lieutenant Kang... Haaa... did we manage to kill that thing?" one of the soldiers asked, panting heavily.

Sweat poured down his face in torrents, as the sense of fear that had been born in his mind had not dissipated but rather settled more firmly in his heart.

And the same was true for almost all the other soldiers present.

The group leader, an officer with the rank of Lieutenant, did not respond immediately to his subordinate's question. He just continued to look while quickly changing the magazine of his rifle.

This lieutenant was trying to concentrate, not wanting to think about meaningless things.

Although this type of mission was something he was not prepared for, he had done everything possible to fulfill it completely. It was a horrible mission, to be honest.

His unit had been deployed to this area along with others by orders of the central government, as this place had been one of many points where a large number of lightning bolts had struck densely the fateful night before.

While they initially understood that their mission was to explore and contain possible northern infiltrators taking advantage of the chaotic situation, as well as to look for anything strange they could find, the first part of their mission was normal for them.

The army had in mind the possible infiltration of North Korean soldiers in response to the current situation, but the second part of this mission was something they did not quite understand.

Look for something strange? What was that supposed to mean?

This was strange for all the units because there was no apparent reason to carry out an exploration mission since only things burned by the lightning strikes could be seen here.

It was a mission that seemed more suited to the police unit than heavily armed and trained soldiers belonging to the R.O.K - S.W.C., the South Korean Army Special Forces.

But since they couldn't say anything and only obey orders, they boarded their transports and arrived at the designated points.

Besides, it wasn't as if they couldn't carry out the exploration while looking for any infiltrated northern soldiers.

At first, they found nothing strange, just disturbed and charred ground in certain places, the usual sight where a lightning strike had occurred.

As the squad pressed on, the forest grew eerily quiet. The usual sounds of wildlife were absent, replaced by an oppressive silence that made every rustle of leaves sound like a potential threat. The soldiers' nerves were on edge, fingers twitching on triggers, every shadow and flicker of light causing them to jump.

However, things changed as they ventured deeper and deeper into the mountains to the north, as what they began to see was something unexpected.

Every so often, traces of blood and guts were scattered on both sides of the path, as if a wild animal had made a bloody feast!

The remains were of local fauna, deer and foxes, so they thought that this was due to some wild animal driven crazy by the recent natural phenomenon.

But things changed when they arrived at what should be a small rural town.

The scene changed from unexpected to macabre in an instant!

Although they continued to find traces of blood and guts scattered everywhere, these belonged to the residents who were lying completely dead on the ground here!

Men, the elderly, women, children….

This bloody spectacle in the middle of the night was something horrible!

This was a shock for all the hardened soldiers since, despite having been forged in the heat of fighting, never in their lives did they think of seeing such a bloodthirsty panorama!

After reporting what they found with their central unit, little by little and cautiously, trying to avoid vomiting their lunches, they inspected the bodies to try to identify what had killed these people.

Now it became imperative to know what the hell had happened, because this was not normal at all.

The orders they had received now made sense.

Little by little they realized that these corpses seemed to have been chewed and torn off by extremely sharp things, as if a large tiger had killed them.

It was then that they realized something even more macabre.

All the bodies, no matter how torn up, seemed to be missing nothing!

Not one of the parts had been devoured. All body parts, although very difficult to identify, were complete.

If this attack had been made by a predator, had it happened not out of hunger, but out of… fun?

The crazy conclusion they came to was because some of the parts were located in almost corresponding positions, as if a small child had torn the limbs off of his toys and then tried to force them together!

And it was at that moment that they managed to hear in the distance a kind of guttural howl, which spread everywhere, tensing the bodies of all the soldiers!

Without waiting for anything, all of them grouped themselves into a standard attack formation and began to advance in the direction of the point where the frightening sound came from.

With fear and anxiety growing with every step they took, they arrived at a concrete warehouse, the doors of which were completely open.

At the entrance, there were several pools of blood and human remains, as if foreshadowing what they would find inside.

In the dark interior, a creature resembling a massive wolf, over two meters tall, was sitting on its hind legs, using what seemed like hands to manipulate the parts of several bodies, trying to piece them together.

Suddenly, it turned to face the horrified soldiers, who didn't wait and unleashed a hail of bullets on the creature. By the time the chaos had subsided, the creature's body was completely shredded by the artillery fire.

Beep

"This is Lieutenant Kang Ham Chan. We've encountered something... extremely grotesque, an animal we've never seen before, possibly responsible for the massacre in the village where we are... you need to send a support team to our location immediately!"

[Team leader AZ5, stay in the combat zone and establish a protective perimeter to neutralize the threat. At the moment, we cannot send a support team due to multiple contacts with similar targets.]

Lieutenant Kang was stunned by the information, realizing his team wasn't the only one encountering these monsters.

What the hell was going on?

Could this horrific storm be the cause of these creatures' appearance?

"Central, how much ground have these contacts covered?"

[We don't have an exact number... but it seems the contacts have extended to the northern border, so mobilizing more platoons is not possible.]

With these last words, the communication cut off, leaving Lieutenant Kang with numerous thoughts racing through his mind. Nevertheless, he remained vigilant, keeping an eye on the beast's body.

Ten teams were deployed in this area, and if none could support the others, it was very likely they all encountered similar anomalies.

However, it seemed they hadn't suffered casualties; otherwise, these targets would have been classified as extremely dangerous, not just neutralizable.

'Damn... this situation is messed up,' Lieutenant Kang sighed inwardly.

"We'll stay here to secure the 'package' we just discovered. Let's form a perimeter."

Following his orders, everyone positioned themselves at specific defensive points in case another beast appeared.

"Sir, this is…" one of the soldiers kicked the creature lightly, confirming that the animal was indeed dead.

"I don't know… but whatever it is, I'm sure it's related to that damned storm," Lieutenant Kang replied as he stood up. "By the way, where did Ijin go?"

With a sigh, the officer tried to shake off all his worries while asking about one of his men.

"He said he was going to scout the perimeter... Chow-tae and Jun-soo wanted to go with him, but he refused and went alone," another soldier responded.

"Phew... that kid is really reckless to go off on his own!" Lieutenant Kang sighed in defeat at this news, then smiled ironically. "Ah... damn... let him go alone; I don't think anything can take him out easily."

Lieutenant Kang shook his head and began to review all the events with his soldiers to give a proper report of all the chaos that had occurred here, no longer worrying about the mentioned soldier Ijin.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

With silent steps, a soldier walked stealthily among the trees of the dense forest, his HK 416 rifle raised and ready to fire.

This soldier was fully equipped with the standard uniform of the Korean army special forces. A G4 combat camouflage suit covered his entire body, blending him into the surroundings.

A bulletproof helmet with integrated L3 Harris AN-PVS 31 binoculars was part of the gear protecting his head. A modern Kevlar plate carrier vest covered his chest and back, shielding him from any unexpected attacks.

Added to all this, he wore a Kufiyya that covered the lower half of his face, leaving only his unusually calm black eyes visible.

Despite it being night and almost nothing could be seen clearly, this soldier kept walking, thoroughly scanning everything around him as if the current darkness didn't hinder his vision.

Even if he was using his helmet's visor to see in the dark, he showed no reaction. His breathing and heart rate were slow and shallow, as if the frightening scenario couldn't stir any emotion in him.

This was unheard of, considering he had just emptied his magazine into a massive beast along with all the members of his squad a few minutes ago!

How was this person seemingly unfazed by what was happening? Didn't that beast have any impact on him?

The answer lay in the type of training he had received. Despite being part of the AZ5 squad of the R.O.K - S.W.C. special forces, this individual was not a soldier per se. Strictly speaking, he wasn't even an adult man in Korean society to be enlisted in the army, as he had just turned 19!

This young man, who had been working with the South Korean soldiers for only a month, hadn't been trained within the military institution but had received his training elsewhere. A place that was hell.

When he was just an eight-year-old boy, he lost his parents in a plane crash in which he was also traveling.

Against all odds, he survived that terrible accident but ended up in a completely foreign country, with no one around him.

If he had been left completely alone, he might have starved to death, but as if by fate, he was taken in by a military organization, specifically a mercenary group, which adopted him as one of their members.

This paramilitary group, known as 'IRON,' was one of the largest and most feared mercenary groups in the world.

However, this action wasn't out of goodwill but for a very cruel hidden motive. This group of mercenaries had begun training children from an early age to have the most capable and lethal agents in the world!

Conducting a brutal selection process, they trained nearly a thousand children for several years, subjecting them to the harshest and most extreme military combat scenarios imaginable.

For several years, all those children of different ages endured the rigorous iron training, forging them into the most capable killers in the world.

However, this training was so brutal and violent that only 40 out of the 1,000 children survived in the end! It was a total bloodbath!

[Ijin, what's your position?]

Suddenly, Lieutenant Kang's voice was heard through the communicator attached to his helmet, causing the soldier to stop in his tracks.

[Ijin, do you copy?] - Lieutenant's voice was heard again through the communicator.

"I copy, Lieutenant... I'm about 150 meters north of the rendezvous point... following a trail."

The soldier named Ijin responded in a low voice while continuing to scan the area in front of him.

Suddenly, his vision fixed on a specific spot. He removed his helmet and slowly walked toward that place.

As someone who had lived through hell itself during his childhood and adolescence, Ijin could read the situation and environment better than any soldier, even more than a special forces member.

That's why he began exploring the surroundings of the village after killing the beast that had slaughtered all the inhabitants.

There was one thing that didn't add up. He wouldn't rack his brain trying to explain why these types of beasts appeared not only here but in several points along the border. What bothered him was understanding why this animal stayed here, waiting for them, as if... as if it was hiding from something.

Despite all the team members opening fire simultaneously upon seeing the beast, Ijin had noticed something peculiar. The animal's eyes showed... fear?

What the hell could scare a beast like that?

[What kind of trail, Ijin? Central already communicated that we need to evacuate in 15, so come back soon, you know that-]

"Lieutenant... send Chow-tae and Jun-soo to my position... no, come all of you, now."

Just as Lieutenant Kang was about to give the young soldier a lecture, Ijin interrupted him with an unusual request. Ijin always preferred working alone, so asking for support was odd. More than odd, it had never happened before.

[Chow-tae, Jun-soo, and company, we move immediately! 150 m north, we'll support Ijin, now!] - Lieutenant Kang wasted no time and gave the orders immediately.

He knew when Ijin could be having his lone wolf moment and when he was serious. This was the latter.

[What did you find, Ijin?]

Lieutenant Kang received no response, as the young soldier had removed his helmet and Kufiyya, his eyes showing a slight emotion of astonishment... and fear.

What could be exciting and frightening for a young man who had known hell itself? What the hell was more exciting and terrifying than the enormous beast he had killed a few minutes ago?

Well, the answer lay in a clearing about twenty meters ahead of him.

Now, he could understand many things. Now, he understood why that beast gathered the parts of the people as if trying to piece them back together.

It wasn't a sadistic behavior but very possibly an attempt to make amends for its actions. That beast wasn't waiting for them in that warehouse but hiding.

Right now, in front of the teenage mercenary, dozens of similar beasts to the one they had killed a few minutes ago were scattered all around, completely shredded!

Dozens of deformed and broken bodies of these enormous beasts adorned the macabre scene, illuminated by the moonlight!

But the most bizarre and strange thing of all was the presence of an unconscious human, lying in the middle of all those mutilated bodies, completely unscathed!