Khan and George moved through the forest without showing any hesitation. Sonia and Glenn couldn't help but notice how confident of their abilities they appeared when they walked toward their dangerous target.
George instinctively let Khan go first. He had developed those habits on Istorne, and he had never regretted them. Khan was the strongest recruit he had ever seen. The others in the training camp might have only heard rumors about his feats, but George had seen them with his own eyes.
Sonia and Glenn could only silently accept the gestures and whispered orders that the two boys threw at them. Khan and George were only newbies on Nitis, but they had survived Istrone's crisis. Their simple steps carried a confidence that the other recruits didn't have.
"Tainted animal ahead," Khan suddenly announced as he spread his arm to make the group stop. "Seven meters in that direction. I'll handle it."
Khan didn't wait for the others to reply. He didn't even check if they had understood his orders. His figure bent forward before shooting through the darkness that surrounded the trees.
"He migh-," Glenn tried to speak, but George promptly glared at him and made him fall silent.
George had been relatively friendly inside the camp. He had even joined the few recreational activities available on Nitis and established decent relationships with the other recruits. Everyone also knew about his attraction toward Natalie, which only made his character more approachable.
However, George seemed to have transformed into a different person now. His expression was cold as he kept both hands on the short sword sheathed at his side.
His solemnity existed in a different realm. The other recruits were worried and tense about the hunt, but they never forgot that their target was an animal. They took the mission seriously, but they didn't consider that they could lose their lives against the monster for even a second.
George was different. He had already seen how frail life could be. The other recruits were hunting, but he was at war. Luckily for him, someone else in his group shared that feeling.
A faint thud soon resounded in the forest and made the trio look at a dark spot among the trees. A figure slowly became visible inside the darkness, and Sonia and Glenn couldn't help but enter a defensive stance.
"Calm down," Khan whispered once he came out of the darkness. "There was another Tainted animal nearby. I had to change direction mid-way."
"We can close on both of them and kill them swiftly," Sonia suggested, but she wore a confused expression when she saw Khan's frown.
"What are you saying?" Khan asked. "The animals are already dead."
Khan didn't care about the surprised expressions that appeared on Sonia and Glenn. He directly turned to resume his march through the forest, and George nodded at the two recruits before following him.
Sonia and Glenn were still confused about the matter, but a squelching sound echoed from under them when they started to follow the two boys.
Glenn and Sonia suddenly noticed that a dense dark liquid had created a large spot on the ground. They didn't understand the nature of that substance among the darkness, but everything became clear when they saw that more of it stained the path ahead. Its source was Khan's left foot.
Khan's steps were too light to leave footprints, but he couldn't stop the blood that had tainted his shoe from falling on the ground. He had ended up killing two Tainted animals that resembled wolves with multiple tails in a few seconds. Two kicks had been enough to shatter their skulls.
The path ahead appeared clear. Khan couldn't sense anything off around him, but the air grew tense as he approached the target. A strange power seemed to run among the trees. It created sensations similar to those felt on the teleports, even if far milder.
'This feels dangerously close to a first-level warrior,' Khan couldn't help but think as he proceeded forward.
Faint bluish flashes shone in the distance from time to time. They never happened in the same spot, but they came from the same direction. The monster had yet to notice the hunters, so the various teams could approach their target safely.
However, the valley was quite large and had many hiding spots. The Niqols' intelligence was pretty accurate, but it couldn't consider everything, especially when Nitis had Tainted animals that could live underground.
A series of loud barks suddenly resounded through the silent forest. The recruits and the Niqols couldn't fail to recognize those cries. Even Khan could link them to the Ugu when he heard them.
The forest grew messy after the barks echoed inside the darkness. Howls, roars, and growls started to resound through the area and warn everyone about the threat approaching the monster.
Sounds of battles quickly followed. Khan and his group started to hear humans and Niqols shouting whenever roars and other cries resounded through the forest.
Glenn immediately tried to move toward the nearest group, but Sonia promptly grabbed the side of his uniform and made him stop. Her usual smile appeared on her face as she explained the reason behind her actions. "Our mission is to kill the monster."
"But we have orders to help the others!" Glenn exclaimed before covering his mouth when he noticed that George and Khan were glaring at him.
"We have orders to help with the monster," Khan explained before turning toward the faint glows that continued to appear in the distance. "Move now. They are among the best recruits of the Global Army. They can handle a few Tainted animals."
Glenn couldn't respond to those words. Khan and George had already considered the situation and had found the best course of action. Still, a faint worry appeared in his mind when he thought that his group might have to face the monster on their own.
The four advanced until Khan spread his arms to make them stop. A crack suddenly opened on the terrain a few meters from them and tilted the tree right above it. A Ugu's head started to come out of the ground, but Khan didn't give it the time to get on its feet.
Khan shot ahead. The Ugu peeked out of the terrain, but a kick landed on the side of its head. Cracking noises came out of its skull, and more cracks spread on the ground, but the creature stopped moving after the attack.
The three recruits could see how Khan's foot had torn the creature's skin and had forced the side of its head to cave in after he retracted his leg. The same dark spots from before appeared on the ground as he walked deeper into the forest. He didn't even look at his companions since it was their job to keep up with him.
The team met two more Tainted animals on their path, but Khan killed them in a single blow. Those creatures couldn't survive his precise and merciless kicks. They weren't even able to follow his movements.
Needless to say, Sonia and Glenn felt utterly in awe of Khan's power. They didn't fear the Tainted animals, and they wouldn't even have problems dealing with them. Yet, Khan's kills were clean and immediate. They didn't feature any superfluous movement, and they were so fast that their eyes barely managed to understand when he shot ahead.
George also felt slightly surprised. He didn't let that emotion appear on his face, but he admired Khan's improvements. Only a few weeks had passed since Istrone's matters, but he had already grown stronger.
The bluish flashes intensified as the group approached their destination. Burnt trunks even started to appear on their path. It was clear that the lightning bolts had reached those spots, but the monster seemed to have moved by then.
"We must pick up our pace," Khan ordered. "The monster is retreating."
"Don't go too fast," George commented before preparing for the imminent sprint.
Sonia and Glenn imitated him, and the four started to run through the trees as they tried to reach the source of the bluish flashes. Khan obviously contained his speed, but his concentration increased during the sprint.
Traces of natural illumination eventually appeared in the distance. The sight initially surprised Khan, but he realized what had happened when he saw that a few trees were on fire.
Trunks filled with charred holes and burning cracks began to fill the area. Khan could finally see everything almost clearly, and his eyes caught a glimpse of a dark figure leaving that illuminated zone.
Khan took a deep breath as his body bent forward. The three recruits were right behind him, but they suddenly lost sight of his figure.
Messy images filled Khan's eyes as he sprinted at full speed, but their central part was clear. His peripheral vision felt unreliable, but his acceleration didn't affect his reading of the path ahead.
Khan moved quickly among the trees until he reached the escaping black figure that he had seen before. A two meters tall striped animal appeared in his vision, but he didn't have the time to inspect his opponent in that situation.
The creature suddenly turned and saw a rotating figure falling toward the center of its body. Khan's movements were too fast, so his heel descended on the animal's back before it could prepare for the battle.
The beast bent forward when the heavy kick landed on its back. It gave voice to a painful cry before turning its anger toward the figure that had resumed to spin once his right foot had touched the ground.
Khan threw a roundhouse kick toward the creature's head, and the latter couldn't avoid it. His foot landed on the animal's nose and made it bleed, but it didn't manage to fling it away.
'What?' Khan shouted in his mind when he saw that the creature had maintained its position after the powerful attack.
His execution had been perfect. Khan had thrown one of his strongest kicks toward the beast, but the latter didn't budge. The blow had hurt it, but it had remained rooted on the ground.
A faint bluish glow began to shine on the dark fur while Khan still had his foot on the creature's face. He immediately shot back to stop at a few meters from his opponent. His new position finally allowed him to inspect the beast, and his expression only grew colder when he sized it.
The animal only had the striped fur of a tiger. Yet, its body and face seemed the result of a fusion between a wolf and a bear. Its torso was large and thick, its legs were quite massive, but its triangular head and long pointy ears made its overall appearance feel quite off.
Khan didn't have any doubt about his target after the last exchange. He knew that he had found the monster, but surprise still filled his mind. He had clearly broken the creature's nose with his last kick, but that didn't seem to affect its condition.
The mana inside the monster's body grew messy as the bluish light coming out of its fur intensified. Its hair stood up as sparks started to leak out. Something was coming, and Khan didn't know if he could endure it.
Then, the light intensified, and Khan sensed a trail of mana approaching him at high speed. His eyes couldn't help him in that situation, but he instinctively dodged to the side and stopped when he slammed on a nearby tree.
The light dimmed at that point, and Khan became able to inspect the environment again. The tree behind his previous position was on fire now, and its trunk even fell due to the large crack that had opened at its center.
Other trees all around the monster had taken fire and had started to break. The creature didn't launch the lightning bolts only toward Khan. It had attacked different spots at the same time.
'Those are quite deadly,' Khan commented in his mind as his figure crouched.
His senses told him that the monster was weaker than a first-level warrior. The only issue was with its lightning bolts, but Khan was fast enough to dodge them. He wouldn't feel fear when the battle depended on his best quality.
The monster turned toward him and roared in anger as blood fell from its broken nose, but multiple figures suddenly appeared in Khan's senses. Nevertheless, the event didn't make him lose his cool since he recognized their familiar presence.
Multiple Niqols shot out of the trees and charged at the monsters while George and the rest of his group appeared behind Khan. The latter only needed to point at the creature to mark the beginning of the offensive.
Khan shot ahead and managed to deliver a powerful kick to the side of the monster's head since it had turned to inspect its new opponents. A cracking noise spread from its jaw, but the beast couldn't turn toward him right away since the Niqols arrived.
The aliens performed precise martial arts that heavily relied on palm strikes and blows featuring discharges of mana inside their opponent's body.
The monster suffered six different attacks in the span of one second, and bluish light immediately started to run through its fur again. Khan didn't hesitate to retreat at that sight, and the Niqols imitated him when they noticed his reaction, but the lightning bolts shot out of the creature far sooner at that time.
Khan barely had the time to perform a side-step that made him avoid a direct impact with the lightning bolt. The attack scorched his waist before continuing to fly past him.
The other Niqols also had a keen perception of mana, so they avoided suffering severe injuries during that reckless discharge of power. The lightning bolts hit their legs, shoulders, or arms, but they never managed to land on their vital organs.
Yet, the Niqols weren't the only soldiers on the scene. A painful cry suddenly reached Khan's ears and made him turn toward the team behind him.
Khan quickly saw George and Sonia, but he noticed how they were looking at a spot behind them. His eyes also moved there, and coldness spread through his mind when he saw Glenn lying on a tree.
The upper part of Glenn's uniform had vanished, and the right side of his charred chest was completely in the open. A spiderweb of red marks expanded from the spot where the lightning bolt had landed, and the scent of burnt flesh started to spread in the area.
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