Year 201BO, 164th day 9:30 am.
In middle of a swamp forest called "The Mourning Bog”. A tall figure covered in rags walked through pulling a thick chain attached to something which looked like a coffin and was 15 feet long, 6 feet wide and 7 feet above swamp water with rest of it submersed in the murky water. He stopped for a moment and looked around as barely any sunlight came through emitting some areas while the rest of the area was pitch black at some places. He could see everything using his robotic eyes which make him awkwardly smile inside because it is at times like this he feels grateful for losing his organs and having them replaced!
"Don't stop now Captain!"Celine said projecting herself in front of him wearing some sort of tracking clothes in his view "If we keep going at this rate we should reach our destination in about 5 hours!"Celine said as Razael looked around seeing several heat signatures counting up to 43...they are generally grade 3 pest so he need not worry about them but still he knows better than to underestimate this sadistic unforgiving world.
"Could you not find any other paths other than a swamp?"Razael said starting to walk again pulling the chain.
"You told me to find the shortest route...I guess at least know I know why everyone is afraid of this place...it’s so creepy here!"Celine said half jokingly. On his way he saw many corpse which Celine analyzed to have died of starvation...then there were some hanging from a rope...or vines to which Celine explained must had committed suicide but after finding some with missing limbs and pinned onto tress or impaled on spikes....she was not so sure.
Looking at these crops and thinking what happened to them was one of the only way of entertainment for Razael as he had been walking since 3 days without stopping and though he doesn’t feel even a little tiered he was really board and annoyed on Celine as though she is right about this being shorter path but it also meant they can't take turns walking since she is the one who needs to calculate his path so he doesn’t get lost.
"What is the height of these tress?"Razael asked as he kept walking noticing some humanoid creatures walking on all fours at some distance.
"They seem to be around 174 meters at average.....those are some wraiths....they seem to have us surrounded!"Celine said looking surprised....Razael got even more annoyed thinking he should had told her she forgot to keep track on his surrounding creatures few hours ago..
"It is no problem as all you need to do is..."as Celine began talking Razael took a deep breath while removing his mask and Roared as loud as he could!.
70.45% of his body may be mechanical but the rest 26.95% is still organic...mutated and enhanced but that made his roar as loud as a size 3 abomination! His aim here was to scare them away as Wraiths are mutated humans who look really thin and boney and feed on anything they think they can hunt. Often hunting in a group if they even remotely think they cannot overpower their prey they bail.
The Wraiths around him first stood silent for a while but then ran away as fast as they could.
"....That worked but Captain.....LOOKOUT!" Celine shouted disappearing while Razael put his mask back on. She marked three targets charging towards Razael form some distance…even with night vision it was hard to make out what they are as unknown in data book. Razael tightened his grip on the chain with his left metallic arm made out of black star titanium the strongest metal known to mankind and pulled the coffin in the air! It was 5 feet in height no out of the water in water. The beast slowed down seeing that and a tiny grin appeared on Razael face as he swung the chain.
With a huge splash the coffin landed on one of the beast…the body parts of it which didn’t fall under the coffin bursted flying over the one on its side soaking him in its blood as the rest was now assumably under the coffin as Razael saw water turning red with some bits of flesh floating around it.
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The other beast did slowed down looking back but then charged even more furiously. Razael took one step back and grabbed its horn with his metallic arm few inches away from his face while the beast shocked moved wildly to break free as some light escaping from the trees fell on the two and Razael saw its face. It looked like a tiger but without fur with a huge pointed horn coming from left side of his head….his green bloodshot eyes and expression of rage made it look really dangerous while it growled and pulled to free itself from Razael grip. Razael looked at it’s body which looked like a bull with bones coming out from some places like thorns. He seems to be 7 feet in length and 4 feet wide.
Razael let go of its horn exactly when he pulled to get free while also dodging the now blood-soaked beast who looked quite similar to this one but bigger…might even be their leader as he growled at the other one then charged at me again.
“Do you think they are eatable?” Razael asked Celine while jumping again in the air while turning as the beast’s horn missed by an inch as the beast leapt in air but still failed to make contact.
“Be careful Captain as I don’t have any info on them whatsoever but I would rank them at size one grade three mutated beast!...you are getting more and more careless Captain and tha..”Celine stopped showing warning as the previous beast also leapt in air trying to get a bite. Razael pulled the chain moving towards the coffin dodging the attack.
“Do you think they are eatable?” Razael asked upon landing while Celine activated his body’s combat mode.
“It seems so looking at the corpse…what’s left of that one…I will need to examine a body not drowned in this murky water! ” Celine said to which Razael let go of the chain and dashed towards the charging Beast covered in blood at inhuman speed with his fist raised and punched so his fist and the beast horn made contact.
The expression of the beast changed from rage to disbelief as Razael fist crushed through its horn. It turned to fear once it kept heading towards its face and finally to despair as the last thing he saw was a grin on Razael face.
His fist went through his head as bits of flesh and blood popped out everywhere. Razael held onto one of the thorn like bones from the creature’s body as it body began to fall and threw it onto vines and braches above at distance. The dead body fell through the vines and braches like a ragdoll then finally got tangled in the vines hanging above as blood poured through from where its head used to be.
The remaining beast looked above then at Razael who was walking towards him. He first looked at him in rage but then slowly began to turn to run away but stopped as Razael kept walking towards him...he began to lower its posture and avoid eye contact…he tried to look as submissive as he could as Razael got closer and closer. It was as if the monster knew he cannot fight or run away…it was as if every time he raised his head looking at the monster in front of him....it was nothing he had seen in this swamp....it just gave up.
Razael now stood in front of the horrifying creature horrified of what stood in front of him.
“If only you monsters were like this from the start….none of this would have happened” Razael said placing his hand on the beast head who looked down to the ground.
“But then again you were just hunting for food” he said taking out his knife while patting the beast on its head…he smiled a bit as the two stood in pitch black in the swamp realizing he did had some fur on his head…even the beast felt strange as its ears stood up and it slowly looked up and saw Razael smileing with a knife in his hand...Razael smile turned into a sad one looking at...."Him".
After scanning Celine found that a certain part of their meat is unmutated and eatable. After taking three beast meats and whatever Celine said might be useful Razael closed the coffin and took out the chain from under water and began dragging it again.
After walking for 6 more hours he finally made it out of the swamp and their destination was in sight. Sector 23 Govt approved “Town” number 3-Safe Haven… Celine laughs at the irony of this particular town every time we come here.
“Well we are going to make our delivery 8 days ahead and we even found a new beast that can be added to the hunt list!”Celine said appearing again while looking all proud “All because of the shortcut I told us to follow!” ,
“How many kilometers is it from here?” Razael asked as the Town still looked pretty far ahead.
“Only 23 kilometers left Captain!” Celine said doing a salute while smiling,
“Take over” Razael said to which Celine didn’t replied for few good minutes then slowly her smile disappeared. She took over Razael body and Razael felt a sudden relief.
“Wake me up once we get there I am going to sleep for a while…” Razael said snoozing off.
Year 201BO ,164th day 5:39 PM