Chapter 199: himalayan black bear attack

6:00 am; 3rd September 2175. At this exact time of the early days of September, the countries and organizations that got information about the Aragan lost research lab finally all mobilized their secret mission teams.

After the great battle that was fought about 60 years ago, one of the relics of the war was about to unearth and bring chaos again.

Unknowingly to the normal peaceful staying residents of the various countries, something that had the potential of starting another great war was about to be hunted and retrieved.

The same day that Clark’s team succeeded in climbing up the Great Himalayan peaks, 6 other country teams also climbed.

Of these 5 countries, the Mariana Everest security team that was under the leadership of Captain Bean Jack discovered only 4. The last one was from a country with high-grade military strength, just like them, so they escaped detection.

…

On a certain part of the mountain, as the first vestiges of morning slowly dug itself out of the dark veil of the night, squad 6 of the Spartan army squads under the leadership of Clark finally scaled to their first probable camp.

After climbing for hours, Clark finally came before something like a cave which prompted him to stop his soldiers so that they could rest.

Despite their physique as high-grade soldiers, there was no way that they could scale this enormous mountain in a day. At most, they would only be faster than mountaineers of the 21st century.

And as they already crossed a considerable distance from the base of the peak, enabling them to be out of sight of direct ground surveillance, Clark easily justified his decision for his soldiers to rest here.

From records throughout the years, he already knew that as morning rose, so also did the natural disasters of this region have the tendency of rising more frequently.

He wanted his squad to be at the best before climbing again so that in the case of any natural hazard, they could respond quickly and take care of themselves properly.

Bam!! With one last stab of his climbing equipment deep into the rock submerged with ice and one last tugging of himself to get momentum, he finally succeeded in jumping over to the open space among the straight slippery rock.

After climbing over, he did not pause to rest as he quickly turned around to help the next soldier up. With careful pulls, it did not take long before all the soldiers finally climbed to the other side.

Wooo…!! As soon as their feet touched the ground, the strong chilly wind of the mountain slowly started blowing, growing with frequency at a steady worrisome rate.

Seeing this, Clark felt gratified that he found a temporary place of shelter to camp for now. This region was completely unpredictable, a second there can be sun, but the next chilly winds.

“Staff Sergeant Diana”. He quickly called out.

“Yes sir”.

“Please, take a team of 3 soldiers with you and go deep inside the cave. We will only camp at the periphery parts, but I still want you to scour it for any immediate danger. I don’t want to be caught off guard by anything”.

“Ok, sir”.

With that, the female second in command of the squad randomly picked a group of 3 soldiers, asked them to drop their backpacks, taking only their weapons before they set out.

As the 4 soldiers slowly disappeared deep inside the cave, Clark led his other soldiers to set camp inside the cave at a periphery distance close to the entrance.

The soldiers were very efficient, as they immediately set up what seemed to be a technological tent from the equipment that was kept inside their 2 large supply bags.

This was a tent made using a few rare exotic materials, that could withstand most of all bad terrains and areas. Most soldiers use it when they go for deep expedition missions.

Of the group, the 2 soldiers carrying the supply bags were the most exhausted, as they plopped down immediately on entering the cave.

Though Clark felt a little sorry for them, he just complimented them and left it at that. In battle, they were both the weakest, so carrying these large bags was the least they could do for the squad.

After setting the tent, a white transparent and barely visible shield quickly covered the soldiers, isolating them from the biting cold.

Despite their thick clothes provided by the army and their physiques, they could already feel the cold of this region getting to their bones. If they continued like this, their movements would have definitely been impaired later.

Under Clark’s urging, the soldiers finally freed themselves up as they got prepared to eat their first breakfast in this mission.

In such an extreme region, Clark had no plans of starving his soldiers to save food. He was sure that he would get alternatives when he finally got to the summit of the first peak or even near it.

As they slowly relaxed and started chewing on the canned beverages, the soldiers suddenly grew alert as they started hearing thudding sounds coming from inside the cave.

“Major!! We need to leave immediately! The cave is already occupied!”

Clark quickly shot up, on hearing this, dropping his food in the process. He could already see Diana rushing back with speed, with the other 3 soldiers following closely behind her.

Seeing the hasty expressions on their faces, he knew that the situation was not good.

“Get up immediately, deactivate the tent and start packing”.

Though he did not know what happened yet, he knew that reacting now was better than later. Prevention was always better than cure.

With that, the soldiers were deprived of eating their breakfast peacefully as they rushed to pack up their supplies and equipment. As they did this, Clark finally had the leisure to ask after backing his backpack.

“The cave is occupied by what?”

“Himalayan Black Bear Exobeasts!!” The already panting Diana screamed out again. Noticing the doubt on her leader’s face from afar, she quickly added.

“Sir, not a single one. We found their lair; they are mutated ones living in caves, I think it’s a big family”.

“GO! GO! GO!”

Hearing this, all Clark’s hesitation, appetite, and faint desire for battle were gone as he quickly urged his soldiers to start rushing out of the cave.

Thinking of the dreaded reputation of the exobeasts in this region, he felt more haste as he randomly kicked the soldiers who were acting like slowpokes on their butt to move faster.

Like all other frontier special earth locations, it was already proven through tangible research and results that exobeasts had far higher chances of appearing among animals in these regions.

The exact cause was not known, but it was still associated with the appearance of exotics. In this region, it was not surprising to see a family of hundreds of animals with half of them being exobeasts.

As the soldiers rushed outside, they finally started hearing the sounds of something emerging behind them. It seems the original owners of this cave finally discovered the presence of intruders.

Just like beating drums, the sound made by the hooves of the bears pounding the cave’s hard floor echoed out loudly.

From quick predictions through the sound being made, most of the soldiers quickly deduced that at least 60 of these fierce bears were coming after them, giving them goosebumps.

“Faster! Faster! Move your oversized asses, you slowpokes”.

The first soldiers quickly got outside the cave, as they activated their exotic boots immediately and started climbing away.

“Roar…!!!”

The first roar of the Himalayan black bears quickly echoed out like thunder, making debris fall down from the cave top.

“Don’t fight, just run, I will protect your retreat”. Clark quickly shouted at his visibly shaken soldiers, before dipping his hands into his backpack and bringing out his dual 2-form gun.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! He quickly pulled the trigger, as bullets sprayed out rapidly from his gun in its machine gun configuration, successfully downing a few of the massive bears at the front.

Right now, his only thought was on thanking his luck for sending soldiers to check out the cave and for deciding to only stay at the periphery.

“Clark, you need help?”

“No, Benny. Follow the other soldiers quickly, I have my ways to get to you guys. Don’t forget that these fellows can climb too, I don’t know how far they are ready to go in taking us down”.

“Ok, got it”.

With that, Benny quickly started rallying the soldiers as they rushed to climb faster. As all these happened, the fierce chilly blowing wind continued growing fiercer at a steady pace.

Clark continued shooting rapidly, as the now angry black bears continued closing the distance at an outrageous speed.

As soon as Diana sped past him, he quickly stood up to slowly retreat while still shooting. The 1st soldier who followed her sped past, quickly followed by the second, but it seems that the last one was in a bit of bad luck.

One of the more massive bears suddenly dived and raised its claws to grab the soldier’s backpack, scaring the hell out of the poor fellow.

Clark quickly reacted, changing one of his gun’s configuration to the sniper form as a blue beam rapidly expanded and erupted the next moment.

“Roar!!”

The bear roared in pain, as a deep hole was drilled through its massive head. It fell roughly to the side, allowing the now desperate soldier to escape first-day mission death.

Despite this, the soldier was not safe as the bears were already at the entrance of the cave.

Clark cursed his luck, as he quickly kept one of his guns. Using the now spare hand to grab the unlucky soldier, he jumped out of the cave and fell down freely.

A bigger bear than the one he just shot suddenly jumped after him, with maws widened the limits with the clear intent of biting and beheading.

Clark’s face darkened on seeing this, as he raised his gun and unleashed all his load at this daring fellow. He was not surprised at how thick the bear’s skin resisted his bullets; he already recognized this fellow as an exobeast.

Blood sprayed everywhere from the injuries inflicted on it, but the exobeast persevered on its goal with its maws still widely opened.

Clark improvised on the spot as he twisted to the side, dodged the exobeast’s direct bite trajectory before kicking at its abdomen.

Despite being an exobeast with 1st rank high-grade soldier strength, it was pathetic before his strength as the kick’s momentum and force pushed it out of its original trajectory to the side.

He did not have the luxury of lingering to finish this fellow as he set his eyes back up, rapidly looking for a means to get back to his soldiers who were climbing swiftly.

Though the soldier that he saved was still a little spooked from the encounter, it seemed his brain was still intact as he suddenly brought a piece of equipment from his bag to give his Major.

Seeing the harpoon lifter, Clark’s eyes brightened as he grabbed it, aimed before immediately shooting out the equipment’s load. He could only pray that the harpoon hit its intended target, or any of his soldiers could react in time.

The other massive bears that were rapidly climbing down after him looked confused, as the harpoon rope shot above them rapidly.

This moment seemed to be reduced to slow motion, as the harpoon continued upwards, drawing everyone’s attention to this sudden maneuver.

Most of the soldiers just looked on. Sighs left mouths as everyone could see that the harpoon deviated a bit from its intended target, making Clark have a bitter expression on his face.

“It seems I still have to do it the hard way, what a hard life”. He felt frustrated.

Before he could conclude, a hand suddenly emerged rapidly from the dozens of escaping soldiers and grabbed the rope firmly. With another quick maneuver, the hand withdrew as the harpoon was stabbed deeply inside a nearby rock.

“Diana!!”

Clark was pleasantly surprised as the rope quickly tugged at him, before lifting him upwards and from the reach of the bears.

“Fu*ck!!”

As he was pulled upwards, Clark was suddenly surprised as he looked back at the direction the bear he kicked landed on, thinking that he just heard a sound.

“But none of my soldiers is down there. Was that a human?”

Though he was curious, he didn’t have the luxury to check as their escape was not done yet. As he predicted, these bears were not satisfied with them escaping so easily. They were pursuing.

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