Chapter 9:

Red Cheetah Part 1

Scorching Black Vulture


1054 hours, 18 June 0145...

The three of us ran from the dark region of Harimal Forest to get away from the herds of hungry Raptor beasts called Ragoos after we finished collecting 30 Poisonshroom and 24 dead android parts.

We thought we could trick these natural beasts like how we tricked Infectoids. But these beasts were smarter than any man-made machine because they had sharper sense than normal human beings and Authonoids like us.

We were shooting down herds of Ragoos that chased us our backs with our ranged weapons. I shot several Ragoos with my Kiryu.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

"3 down!" I said after shooting 3 Ragoos while running.

Suddenly, Axel stopped for a second, drawing his Machine Gun, and shooting herds of Ragoos behind him.

"I'M FIRING MACHINE GUN!" He shouted as he switched off his Machine Gun safety.

And then, he pulled the trigger and mowed down the herds of Ragoos.

The howls of dying creatures filled the surrounding air.

He killed tons of Ragoos mercilessly with his Machine Gun to survive and protect us. I also helped Axel kill other herds of Ragoos with my Kiryu.

Christine drew her bow and arrow to shoot down several Ragoos.

She did a collateral kill with one arrow as she killed 4 Ragoos that were chasing her back. And then I complimented her shot.

"Nice kill, Christine!"

"Hmph, don't mess with me!" She said while smirking and sheathing back her Bow and arrow into her back, and then she continued running.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Axel yelled to me as he pulled my shoulder.

We rushed our way to the exit from the darkest part of Harimal Forest. Until we saw a light as an exit route from this dark forest. And it's our perfect chance of escaping from the herds of Ragoos.

"I think we're closer to the exit!" Christine said while running into the exit as the herds of Ragoos were about to devour her backs.

However, she evaded the Ragoos' nimbly, considering she is short and has a lightweight body.

"Are you sure this is the right way to a safe zone?" Axel asked while running.

"Yes!" Christine pointed out the exit route.

"The only one way to find out is to," I said while drawing my Pulse Grenade from my holster.

I pulled the grenade pin and threw the Pulse Grenade into the herds of Ragoos, just repelling them from chasing us further.

"Grenade!"

*Tick, tick, tick*

It bounced before stopping and I could hear its pulsation, showing how close it was from blowing on their legs. And then, Boom!

The massive explosion of the pulse grenade engulfed the entire herd in the blast. The flames soon reached the tip of the nearby trees. It put a dent in Harimal forest.

"HOLY SHIT, TSUYUKI!!!" Said Axel when he looked back at the damage I had done toward the forest just to get away from the herds of hungry Ragoos.

Although the forest was engulfed in flames because of my Pulse Grenade, three of us got out of the forest safely by jumping into the exit ground before the fire surrounded us any further.

"Huff… huff… huff. I think we're safe now," Axel said, panting while he stood up from the ground and looked at the burning forest behind us.

"Unfortunately, the forest doesn't," I said while standing up and wiping out the dirt from my trousers with my hands.

"Yeah… I just hope the reforestation teams will restore these forests," Axel added while tidying up his clothes.

"Are any of you getting hurt?" Christine asked while drawing her injection medic to cure our wounds.

However, I stay silent while Axel refused Christine's offer politely.

"It's alright, I'm good,"

"Are our goods safe and sound?" I asked while checking my backpack condition and the goods condition.

The backpacks were safe and sound after all.

"Everything is ok," Axel replied while checking the goods in his backpack.

"Wait… where are we?" Christine asked while looking around the place.

We soon realized that we were standing on a stretch of plain grass field in surrounded by the forest on all sides. There was no single Basecamp tent right there, as if we were going into a different place from the safe zone we had taken on.

"Wait, didn't we take the right route to the safe zone? Where the hell are we?" Axel asked again, confusedly.

Christine closed her mouth with her hands in surprise when she realized she had taken us to the wrong place.

"Oh crap, guys! I'm sorry that I took you into the wrong place," Christine said while bowing down as an apology for her mistake.

"Oh, it's alright. We'll get back to the safe zone soon," Axel said to Christine while shaking his hand. I looked at the surrounding forests to find any perfect route to get back to the safe zone quickly.

Unfortunately, most of the safer routes were longer than we would want. I looked at the burning forest path and asked while pointing at the burning forest.

"Great. Should we grill ourselves in to get back to the safe zone quickly?"

"Thanks to your Pulse Grenade. We can't get ourselves back into the safe zone through that route, considering the damages you've done," Axel replied.

"Looks like we should find a longer route instead. Considering the mess I've made before."

And suddenly, the ground started shaking as if there was an earthquake. However, I felt something suspicious about this 'Earthquake'.

Because a normal earthquake vibration felt inconsistent. But this one had a buildup in it, as if something wanted to come up from the ground. And felt that was exactly what was about to happen.

*tremble tremble tremble*

"What's happening? Earthquake?" Axel asked while backing down.

"No… It's different…" I said while I looked down at the trembling ground and distanced myself from the shakiest ground that felt like it was about to split into half.

"It's…" Christine said as she backed down from the ground too. And suddenly…

*GROAAASSSHHHHHHHHH*

A gigantic monster revealed itself with 2 legs, large wings, large deviled tail tips, and large devil horns. After the monster came out from the ground and left an enormous crater, the monster shook its body to remove excess dirt off. And after that, the monster roared with a loud screeching, ear-deafening roar.

*WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH*

The three of us covered our ears from how ear torturing the roar was. After the monster finished its roar, I slowly opened my ears and said to myself.

"Oh, yeah… A fucking Radogaan,"

Although I sounded flat, I was still scared whenever I encountered Radogaan. Because Radogaan has always beaten me up in the past whenever I encountered this monster or even tried to slay one. From the notorious tail swipe and the hip nudge that fucks up my combat.

"Oh, shit… we're in trouble, leader! We gotta get outta here now!" Said Axel while he's pulled my left shoulder tightly to prevent me from fighting against Radogaan and forcing me to retreat.

"Fighting against that monster will be a death wish to us!" Christine said while pulling my right arm also forcing me to retreat.

When the three of us were about to leave the place before Radogaan attacked us, Commander Katoki called us through the comms channel and informed us about the monster that we had encountered.

"This is Commander Katoki reporting to the Black Vulture squadron! We've detected a large monster in that area called Radogaan. And we've analyzed that monster was massively infected by the Scorching Virus. Retreat immediately and restrain yourself from fighting against that monster if you wish to survive! Let the Red Cheetah squadron deal with that beast instead!"

However, I stayed silent and paid attention to the Radogaan in front of me walking and wandering around in this area.

"Tsuyuki?" Commander Katoki asked, his tone getting harsher when I didn't even respond at all.

"Leader? What's wrong?" Axel asked while patting my left shoulder to snap me back into reality when my mind was distracted by the wandering Radogaan in my sight.

"Hey, Tsuyuki! Do you read me? Are you muted?" Commander Katoki asked again harshly when I refused to respond. Until Axel called Commander Katoki and explained the situation.

"Commander, it's Axel. It looks like Tsuyuki's stay silent looking at that monster. It seems like he's-" However, I cut and said.

"Getting rid of that garbage.," After that, I revved my Nakajima to attract Radogaan attention, because I wanted to kill that monster so badly to relieve my stress after keep beaten up by it again and again.

The Nakajima exhaust breathed fire after I revved it to the limit. Hearing my Nakajima revs caught Radogaan's attention. He looked back and saw me walking, approaching. Feeling threatened and engaged, Radogaan swept the ground with his right feet 2 times and grunted as an intimidation.

Hearing that I provoked Radogaan by revving my Nakajima angered Commander Katoki, and he retorted, "HEY, TSUYUKI! ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF?! ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE LIKE AN IDIOT?! THAT MONSTER YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIGHT AGAINST ISN'T A TYPICAL MONSTER YOU'VE SLEW ON BEFORE! IT'S A GODDAMN INFECTED MONSTER! YOU'LL GET INFECTED BY THAT VIRUS IF YOU MAKE ANY CONTACT WITH THAT MONSTER! LET THE RED CHEETAH SQUADRON DEAL WITH THIS!"

I didn't even respond or elaborate any further, I just approached Radogaan while smirking to fight against it. I didn't give a single shit if the enemy I'm about to face is infected or not, because the only good enemy is a dead enemy in my eyes. And then I replied sardonically to Commander Katoki.

"Just leave me alone. I know what to do."

Commander Katoki getting infuriated and said.

"HEY, TSUYUKI! HEY-"

However, I closed the comms channel and approached Radogaan closer. Radogaan glared at me sharply as it clenched its sharp fangs from its mouth and grunted for intimidation.

"Tsuyuki! What are you?" Said Axel as he started reaching his hand to prevent me from fighting against Radogaan.

"Axel, Christine!" I said to both of them while approaching Radogaan slowly.

"What?" Axel asked worryingly.

After that, I stopped for a second.

"I'll finish this quick by myself. You guys get back to the safe zone immediately.,"

"WHAT THE HELL YOU WANTED TO DO, TSUYUKI? ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE LIKE AN IDIOT?!" Axel said harshly.

I looked back and responded with a sinister smile.

"It's alright…"

"I never die."

Afterwards, I drew my Nakajima, activated my Claws, and swung my Nakajima while making an engagement stance to brace myself fighting against that huge ass monster with a huge ass diabolical horn.

I thought to myself that Axel and Christine were probably bailing out until both of them drew their weapons, approached me into my sides, and said to me, "We'll be on your back, leader!" Christine said to me on my left side while she was drawing her Lancepear and pointing at Radogaan.

"No man's left behind!" Axel said to me on my right side while he was drawing his Hammer and making an engagement stance.

I sighed because I never thought my comrades cared that much as my previous deceased comrades used to leave the heavy task to me.

"Fine,"

And then I picked something from my tote bag before starting the battle.

"Time to kick some ass together!"

I equipped my ears with my EarPods and listened to fast-paced Drum and Bass music that made me pumped up whenever I'm on the battlefield. Because this kind of music was adding spices to make the battlefield look like a playfield to me.

Radogaan felt threatened when he looked at the three of us standing in a fighting stance. Radogaan grunted for the last time and followed with a loud, ear-deafening screeching roar.

As Radogaan flapped his wing harshly, the buildup beat dropped. And when the main beats dropped hard, I quickly dashed as I got pumped up by the music and the intense atmosphere to fight against that beast.

And the three of us fighting against Radogaan as the fast-paced Drum and Bass music from my EarPods played loud.