Sam looks around him, there’s many more people that he doesn’t recognise today.

None of them speak to him, all of them wear the same uniform giving them the appearance of soldiers instead of students. Everyone in the d3 squad is unusually tense around the newcomers while the team leader gazes at Sam often.

The rain continues to fall as they trudge through the mud, no one says anything as people are quiet yet they take often breaks.

Sam gets up close to the mouse girl from yesterday, “Hey, who are the new people?”. He has gotten to know the mouse girl over time in the hangar.

“They would be helpers for the upcoming operation. I think the team leader hired them for something today.”

“What are we doing?”

“What we were doing yesterday.”

“Ok…”

Sam falls back after noticing that she doesn’t want to speak anymore. The group continues in silence until one of them stops, pulling out a strange device. They play with it for a moment before it sounds out a pinging sound.

“Tracking signal picked up… that way.”

They point in a direction before packing up, the leader speaks our, “You heard him. We’re going that way, now we need to remember from yesterday. The buffalo have a thick hide and the forest doesn’t affect them.”

Sam steps forward, “Are you sure that’s allowed? Besides shouldn’t you give them a chance to recover?”

The team leader looks on at Sam with disgust, “They’re beasts. We need to exterminate them all to reclaim our land.”

“But—

“Escorts, send him away.”

The mouse girl steps forward, “I’ll do it.”

The team leader looks at her, “Ok. Return here right after.”

The team leader then motions for the rest of the group to continue on, Sam and the girl are standing still. She looks angry at Sam but as they leave, she returns to a normal expression, yet as she turns to Sam her expression turns angry again.

“I need those points. Why’d you make me babysit?”

“Is this really what the military is used for? Killing beasts that aren’t doing anything wrong?”

“Clearing out these beasts will ensure the ones that eat them won’t move in. If they won’t move on their own, we only have this choice. It’s unfortunate, but there are plenty of others out there,” she pats Sam on the shoulder as they walk back.

Sam follows her. The trip is silent until he notices a sound.

He looks over in that direction and notices a large amount of fire.

“What’s going on over there?”

“I’m not sure. No one should have a fire attack like that. We could check it out if you want, see if they need help” she says.

“Let’s go then, maybe you can get some points.”

The mouse girl suddenly perks up, she rushes ahead of Sam and yells back at him, “Hurry up!”

Sam laughs and chases after her through the forest, his speed is no match for her but she doesn’t get too far ahead as they approach the flames.

*BOOM BOOM*

As they get closer, sounds echo about the place, they cautiously approach the sound of the booms and spot several people beside a large figure.

Sam and the mouse-girl stand in awe, but as he notices who is standing near the figure, he wants to leave.

The mouse-girl walks forward, “We have to check it out.”

“Fine” Sam reluctantly joins the mouse-girl, he is meant to be escorted by her but now it seems to be somewhat the other way around.

There’s about 6 people standing around a familiar figure, they’re talking quite loudly beside the large dead body.

“We can’t do anything with dead bodies like this, and we cannot cut these up. You’re meant to lure them away from the forest.”

“You can deal with it.”

“Dead bodies will lure the larger creatures here, we’ll lose points if the bodies are left here. You’re the one that killed it.”

“You can deal with it.”

“It could even spew diseases in this forest and cause it to die. We cannot allow the plague to spread further.”

“You can deal with it.”

Sam and the mouse-girl are standing on the exterior, Sam approaches closer and makes a noise accidentally drawing attention to himself.

People are immediately altered to the newcomers but, after noticing their uniform, relax their stance.

“What are you doing out here? I would have thought that you were scheduled at the base. Most of the non-stage 1 people do, especially the non-hatched ones… oh?” Nadia’s eyes shimmer as they look at Sam.

“What”

“Your thing should hatch soon. Try not to do anything stressful for twenty four hours,” she looks toward the mouse-girl, “what are you guys doing out here?”

“We were going to complete our hunt from yesterday, Sam here objected.”

“Why?”

“It was no longer a fair fight, they’re killing the creature out of spite now. It didn’t sit right with me. I heard there’s a young too.”

Nadia’s eyes shimmer for a moment, she turns to the mouth-girl again, “Is that true?”

“Yes, team leader wanted to recover the sunk credits. He seemed rather snappy today, I couldn’t get through to him.”

“I see…,” Nadia returns her gaze to Sam, “stand for your principles and don’t let them beat you into submission. Let’s go.”

“Go? Where?”

“Stop them.”

Nadia runs off in a particular direction, Sam follows after them right away while the mouse-girl does after a few moments. The other people standing around the dead body are left in a daze.

“What do we do about the body?” one of them asks.

“We have to do something…” another one says.

Sam, mouse-girl and Nadia are long gone as they chase after the group that has gone ahead, they’ve got around an hour head start so they might have already started. Nadia and the mouse-girl are both slowed down by Sam who cannot travel any faster, yet the fact that his monster might awaken soon means it’ll change soon.

It doesn’t take them long to come across the scene of the battlefield, one of the buffalo has already been struck down while the other one is losing ground quickly against the well-armed and coordinated group.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Sam catches his breath as they arrive, he looks towards Nadia who kept pace with him.

Her eyes relay one message, she’s pissed.

Sam’s about to speak to her when she launches herself forward.

*BOOOOM*

The mud splatters about as everyone looks on in shock.

Someone is using bare fists against someone using a sword.

The two of them split apart revealing the scene, it’s Nadia and the team leader.

“What did I tell you?” Nadia yells as she approaches the team leader again.

He retreats further backwards yelling, “It doesn’t matter. These things need to die. Someone…”

Nadia approaches him again, she takes another punch.

This time he’s ready for it and not pushed back. He smirks but instantly regrets it as she pulls back and punches his face several times.

He is thrown backwards far away, his face filled with horror as he looks at Nadia from afar.

“You know who you’re hurting if you harm me too much?”

Nadia leaps forward, her movements are quick and much more pointed than before as she stops her fist before his neck, “I don’t care. He can come at me if he wants. I’ll take the challenge.”

Nadia turns around and look’s towards the buffalo in the distance before approaching Sam, “We should probably leave here, I don’t think they’ll hurt the buffalo but we cannot do anymore for them…”

The buffalo and calf nurse each other's wounds as they’re still trapped in a corner. The calf cries out in pain as the adult licks its wounds.

“Let them go!” Nadia announces as if suddenly changing their mind.

The people holding the animals look at the team leader. He nods at them, giving the signal that they should do as Nadia says. The buffalo goes free, the single horn larger buffalo seems annoyed yet aware of the calf behind it as they run away into the distance.

“If these things are claimed, I’ll be looking for you first. Ensure you look after them” Nadia says to the team leader.

“Fine. What about the dead one?”

“Ensure it's used properly and then give it a proper burial.”

“What bouts its crystal?”

“I said a proper burial.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll be checking too.”

Several people can be heard clicking their tongues, Sam shakes his head at their lack of subtleness.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“Thank you for gracing our hunting group with your presence, now if you’ll excuse us we need to return to hunting” the team leader says.

“Ok, remember my words.”

“Of course, Tanya, you coming?”

The mouse girl perks up, “Of course.”

“You can stay with her newbie. You’ve cost us enough credits today, don’t want you to cost us anymore. If you cost us points…”

“Bye” Nadia announces to them before dragging Sam away. He has little option but to be dragged by them along some distance before being released.

Sam fixes up his clothing before looking at Nadia, “Why do you care so much? Aren’t they just random creatures? Couldn’t you have gotten hurt back there?”

“Against him? Ha, he wishes he could hurt me. He’s still a contender. Those people are cowards, they’re going after the weak to show they’re strong. They’re betraying the order of life.”

“Are you against killing things then?”

Nadia snorts, “No. I’m against the needless violence. This is a violent world already, we don’t need to make it more violent than it already needs to be.”

Sam follows behind Nadia as they return to where they were before commanding their followers to head back. He doesn’t have much option but to follow Nadia along their tasks before heading back to the main camp.

The camp is within eyesight as he follows behind Nadia. He wants to say several things but Nadia speaks first, “It’s probably better to head back for today. The day is nearly over and I don’t feel like hunting another beast.”

Nadia yawns in a strange crackle of their voice, Sam ignores the voice changer by now but he’s still curious as to why Nadia hasn’t revealed their gender yet. It’s not exactly hard to tell.

Sam looks at them, “Are you sure it’s because you don’t feel like it, or is it because you don’t want to drag me around?”

“Nothing like that, though it’s a factor I cannot deny, I just need to prepare for my missions tonight.”

“You go on night missions?”

“Yeah, we’re forced to check out the ancient relic sites, sometimes they spawn new creatures or machines. It’s actually fairly worthwhile, if you can kill something from those places they’ll usually have something worth a lot on them.”

“Ancient relics? What do you mean?”

“Old buildings and things. Why? Do you wish to join me in an expedition into one of those secluded places?”

They’re nearing the camp, the checkpoint is coming up and Nadia seems to be openly talking about this sort of thing.

“Are they dangerous?”

“Not usually, but I’ll protect you.”

“I haven’t said that I’m going to one of those places.”

“It’s fine, I’ll still protect you.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

Sam says that and looks around, it appears that numerous soldiers have noticed their conversation. They’re paying particular attention to the two of them.

“Are you sure you can be talking about it?”

“Why would these cowards care?” Nadia announces, they look around the crowd who do not return it as they look away.

Sam smiles at Nadia but inwardly he’s announcing, ‘they’ll care and they might give me hassle later for it…’.

They walk through the checkpoint and enter the base, it’s a tight space and with the rain coming down still no one wants to stay in the open longer than they are required.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to go report a few things. I’ll catch you another time, hopefully you get contender status.”

“Thanks for the help…,” Sam goes to continue his words but stops, “it’s great that you care about the animals, see you around.”

He turns around to head towards the hangar, Nadia doesn’t chase after him yet Sam can still feel a shiver come up his spine upon being watched by them. He can hear their footsteps walk away as he walks in another direction, bringing a wave of relief.

It’s all muffled out by the faint sound of the rain.

Sam walks over to the hangar and takes out a training room, private booths that will allow people to practice their manuals in seclusion and privacy, ensuring that things aren’t leaked. He spends several hours here just practising the basic exercises.

What has become of the basic exercises as he has evolved them constantly.

Suddenly the door opens on the other side, Sam is drawn out of his state of trying to hatch his egg, which has been close for some time. He looks at the unknown people at the door. They're wearing armour and a uniform that he cannot quite recognise, yet it seems familiar.

“What?”

“Tonak, you have new orders. Get to vehicle bay 2 in 15 minutes.”

“What? Why?”

“New orders?”

“Who from? Where’s the order sheet?”

“15 minute.”

The door slams, Sam shuts his eyes and pushes that interaction out of his mind.

‘Why would I do something like that without seeing orders? it’s probably a prank’ he mutters in his mind yet as the minutes tick by he feels more pensive, his heart beat accelerates as he thinks about what happened.

“Ahh fuck. I can’t even do my exercises like this.”

Sam gathers his things, his storage locker might get searched so he has some important items on him and walks out the door, there’s no one around at this hour. He quickly washes up and heads to the vehicle bay where there’s several people standing around, some of them are smoking.

“I'm here, so what’s this mission?”

“Get in.”

“What’s the mission parameters?”

“Get in.”

“Where’s the mission papers?”

“Get in the vehicle.”

Sam looks at the people with frustration. The vehicle behind them is a beat up armoured carrier capable of taking several people over a long distance, but the important thing is that’s during the day.

At night it’s another story entirely.

“I can refuse the mission if I like…”

One of the people taking a smoke takes a long drag, he exhales in Sam’s direction causing him to cough.

“As you stand here talking, your friend Nadia is being threatened… we are here for you to rescue her.”

Sam raises an eyebrow, “Rescue? Why me? I’m not even stage 1 yet.”

“The message said something about can’t have energy and must be Sam. You must be Sam, so get in.”

“Who are you people?,” Sam raises his guard as he eyes the people around him, “can’t you rescue Nadia?”

“We’re just sent to collect you, we don’t really mind. If you would rather check with your supervisors and wait, they’re probably asleep by now,” the person takes another drag on his smoke, “of course Nadia is in a life or death situation already.”

“Really?”

“Of course, I have no reason to lie to you.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Nadia said you’re the only one they can rely on after today's incident.”

Sam grimaces, he knows what that’s implying with the short sentence, “Alright, what do I do?”

The crew enter the battered vehicle quickly, filling it out and setting out. They don’t speak to Sam creating a quiet and boring atmosphere as they cross the landscape at night. He wants to ask them how they’re able to avoid all the attacks at night, but he finds out the answer rather quickly.

The vehicle rocks about and sways, a roaring sound comes from outside as the sound of guns firing echoes inside the cabin.

The vehicle never stops as it rushes through the landscape. The trip lasts hours as Sam gets tired and almost falls asleep at some point.

The vehicle comes to a stop. No one divulged any information to Sam so it made the trip rather boring yet mysterious. He steps out the vehicle and notices that they’re in the wilderness. It almost looks familiar judging by all of the bushes around the place.

Sam stands by the armoured carrier and looks at the people that brought him here, “So where is Nadia?”

“Nadia is in an ancient relic located only 11942 metres away from here.”

“Where?”

Sam asks yet gets no response from the group of people, they are collecting and gathering their weapons. He doesn’t continue to ask them anything and watches them take several minutes to get prepared.

“Follow us.”

Sam stands up and follows after them, yet shortly after finding himself surrounded by them, he quietly enjoys this protective formation for a change. Usually he’s the one having to deal with all the small creatures jumping out.

It’s particularly bad at night as more insects feel adventurous to leap out and attack anything that makes noises or emits light.

Soon the forest thins out and they come across an area that is filled with concrete, old structures that nature has claimed over time. Sam doesn’t have time to take in the sight of the ruined buildings, as he’s rushed along reminded of the task at hand.

“Nadia needs to be rescued. People stage 1 and above will be instantly killed so you’re the only hope, you’re the only one Nadia trusts.”

“Where is Nadia?”

“They’re in the large Ingistellar-tech building.”

“What is that?”

The person Sam is talking to points forward, a large building towers over all the others in the distance yet it’s still as decayed as all the others with plants growing all over it. Sam looks at the building and can see that they’re not too far from it.

“How much further is it?”

“20 minutes if you stop all this yapping”

“What was that?’ Sam asks.

The person doesn’t respond, Sam looks at them annoyed yet as they rush through the streets he loses track of who it was. They cross the distance quickly, the well-equipped and trained soldiers with him dispatch of everything. Sam looks at the streets around him and notices a problem.

The group quickly comes across a large secure entrance, two of them walk up to a secure entrance while Sam looks around. He walks over to the remote machines, he looks at their rusted control panels that have dust all over them.

The large door they’re standing before lifts up, it releases a mist of smoke that causes everyone to cough.

Sam is directed towards the door by some people, he looks into the deep darkness that is the doorway that opened. It’s like some sort of bottomless pit.

“Nadia really went in there?”

Sam turns to face the person he’s been talking to when,

*OOF*

Sam is suddenly forced in the direction of the doorway, he twists his body and notices the people he was standing with are smiling as they look at him falling into the doorway.

He feels disappointed in himself for falling for a trap, but he doesn’t feel that bad. These people are clearly determined to do what they’ve done.

Sam’s body tumbles down a steep decline made of old pieces of office wreckage, it’s a dangerous trip downwards as he falls down into a pit.

*SPLASH*

Sam makes it down the bottom of the pit, he looks around but notices above him the light is disappearing. He panics and looks for land yet above him he’s able to barely make out audible words.

“Good luck. This has a 100% death rate, 800 challengers over 160 years and no survivors.”

*SLAM*

The entire area goes dark as the entrance slams shut, Sam swims around randomly and grabs hold of something solid with no idea what’s going on.

A sudden wave of fatigue come over his body as he feels himself slipping from the rock he has grabbed.

“Shit”

He says as he slips into the water, the weight of his sword carrying him down beneath the surface with his internal energy runs amok.