Chapter 207: the alpha cat

Just like a string that was finally pulled in the opposite direction by natural negative force, all the soldiers in the rear group turned to look at what made their comrade so spooked.

Helpless, disappointed, and already angered, Diana could not help herself as she also turned to look. The deed was already done, so why not look also?

What first came before her sight on turning her head was the greyish background of the hole dug out by the cats. As her head continued upwards, she finally saw something that made her face tighten.

“A skull??”

After seeing the first skull that clearly belonged to a human, her expression quickly took a poker look as her head continued upwards unhinged to see everything.

After the first human skull, dozens of other skulls, some that were deformed eerily in various places came before her sight. This was not the end, her brows creased further as she saw the dead decaying remains of humans.

Incomplete parts of human bodies were layered together to form a gory heap of corpses. Most of the bodies were bitten through in various places evidently by the cats, while the rest were left intact to decay.

Seeing this, the stench of so many corpses stacked together finally started filling her nostrils. Despite this, her face remained tightened as she finally looked at the source of the orange glow that was drawing all the soldiers’ curiosity.

Despite already preparing herself, she could not help but suck in a sharp breath of air on seeing the sight that presented itself before her.

A giant glowing orange substance that looked like an egg was placed at an elevated platform in the middle of the hole. This was not what made her shocked, the human corpse that was inside was what really brought her discomfort.

She finally knew what made that soldier ask such a question, she also found it a little hard to take this gory and disfigured figure as a human.

A man on thick grey climbing uniforms like the one they were currently wearing, was trapped and sealed up inside the egg. He was already dead.

All the soldiers felt like their souls were struck by a psychic phantom, as they staggered backward disorderly on seeing the death posture of the corpse trapped in the egg.

The corpse had an expression of immense pain, reluctance, and dread on his face, paired with a horrified look whose cause they could not pinpoint at the moment.

This gory sight was so spooky and horror-filled, that the soldiers of Squad 6 lost all their nerves in an instant. They shivered in fear, as their overthinking brains reasoned how this man was trapped to death in an egg.

“Cats don’t lay eggs. What is this?”

As their brains went on overdrive over irrelevant matters, they forgot the basic information that their Major repeatedly hammered on for the past few minutes.

They already forgot that they were in a den of dangerous predator cats, their thoughts were now lost, and could barely reason properly. This sight was too spooky to ignore.

The vanguard group led by Clark also stood still at their position, as horrified expressions already overtook their faces.

Though they could not see the other soldiers because of the bent pathway of the tunnel, from their comrades’ words, they could imagine what they were seeing for themselves.

Crack…!! Crack!!

As the suffocating tense atmosphere lingered, a sound of rocks moving was suddenly made.

Despite this glaring sound that just reverberated, the soldiers were still trapped in a daze due to fear. Only Clark quickly regained his sanity on hearing this, as he grew alarmed immediately.

“SOLDIERS…!! Snap out of your daze and escape immediately, your life is in danger. Run!!”

Hearing their Major’s roar of alarm, the soldiers finally started recovering from their daze but the deed was already done, all the cats were awake and were now alert.

In the darkness of the tunnel, hundreds of glowing eyes of different colors snapped open as they coldly looked at this group of intruders. They lit up the darkness like bright torches.

“New prey!!”

Boom!! The cats did not even think after seeing these intruders before the first one sprang up and ran forward, closing the distance to the nearest soldier in an instant.

Whoosh!! Even before it could open its enormous maw, a sharp sword already collided with its exposed neck, slicing through cleanly as blood spurted out from it in waves.

“Soldiers, run!!”

Diana regained her alertness and stabilized herself the fastest, which enabled her to react before the first soldier could be killed from the squad.

The soldiers widened their eyes in shock on seeing this, none of them dared to linger again as they all took off rapidly in the direction of the vanguard group.

In the end, they could not pass through here quietly. They said curiosity killed the cat, now they were the ones taking this title tag to themselves.

The vanguard group soldiers were about to run also, but Clark quickly stopped them, bonking the nearest one angrily on the head as he barked out another order of admonishment.

“Fools, do you want to escape and leave your weaker comrades to perish? Listen to me, form a defensive battle formation immediately, and stand strong with me”.

His eyes turned upwards to meet the cats that were rapidly climbing down from their holes and nests. “We are holding siege to stop the cats here; none of my soldiers is dying today”.

Though the soldiers of the vanguard group were reluctant, they were intimidated by his power and the repercussions of disobeying him, so they stayed and formed the turtle shell battle formation immediately.

With that, Clark drew out his dual daggers before rushing forward to meet his soldiers in the rear group. There was no way these disobedient bastards would survive alone.

With his night vision goggles on, everywhere was clear like day to him as he calmly marked out and aimed at the cats that were nimbler and were already close to the escaping soldiers.

His multi-purpose boots suddenly vibrated before shooting out blue energy, as he was launched forward with immense speed. He arrived before his soldiers immediately.

Whoosh!!

His hands blurred, leaving afterimages behind as he stabbed rapidly at the closest cat, killing it immediately and drenching it in its own blood.

His killing the first cat seemed to have sparked the inter-race battle, as cats and humans clashed fiercely with mind-blowing force and momentum.

The escaping soldiers unsheathed their weapons swiftly, as they started retaliating against the offense of the cats. Despite their disobedience, they were still soldiers that could fight.

Diana stayed at the back of the group, as she acted as the guard and protector watching over their backs. Her muscly feminine form warped through the narrow tunnel, as she sent the closest cats directly to hell.

Miaow!! Meow!! Gri…!!

From dozens, the cats slowly started crossing the hundred range as they all swarmed at the soldiers from every side. Their meows reverberated loudly, forming a rough cacophony of intimidating noise as the soldiers escaped for their lives.

The only thing that was keeping them alive currently was the durability of their exotic armors, this was their only lifesaver at the moment.

Through Clark and Diana’s unrelenting selfless help and support, they slowly started forging a way through the now large horde of cats to meet the soldiers of the vanguard group.

In the zenith height of the tunnel holes, the grey alpha cat finally stood up due to all the commotion happening in its territory.

It turned its enormous head to look at the new prey that was wreaking havoc in its home. Just like a satellite, it scanned everywhere in an instant before narrowing its cold predatory eyes on seeing Clark.

It already developed enough intelligence to tell that this was a troublesome fellow. This did not deter it though, it used its tongues to lick its fur on seeing this, this was a worthy challenge to its august self.

Just like a dangerous gladiator casually going to the arena to feast on the underdogs, it jumped down from its elevated hole home gracefully before tracing its steps downwards.

“Faster, move faster!!”.

Clark could already see the impending danger that was coming, prompting him to urge his soldiers to move faster.

Though he knew that this was not the time, he could not help but direct a little intention to look at the soldier who brought all these with obvious anger blazing deep in his eyes.

Whoosh!! He suddenly twisted his spear to the side, easily sweeping the group of cats, including the 3 with 1st rank high-grade strength among them as he turned upwards to face the impending trouble.

Seeing this, the alpha cat quickly increased its descent speed before diving down directly at its prey with its maws widely opened and claws outstretched.

Boom!! Clark’s spear struck upwards with tones of force, as it quickly collided with the outstretched claw of the big cat. His whole-body strength was exerted behind the blow, as his legs dug deeper into the tunnel’s rocky floor.

Despite all his preparations, he was horrified by the resultant force being directed to his wrists as his eyes widened in shock.

“An exobeast with 3rd rank high-grade strength?”

Coming to this realization, he no longer competed with force as he let go immediately and tried rolling to the side to remove himself from the range of this predator’s sharp teeth.

Whoosh!! Feeling a sudden sharp change in wind speed behind him, he bent himself to a gravity-defying angle before placing his spear in a cross shape to block whatever was coming.

Blood suddenly blossomed all over his face, surprising him more as his high-grade armor was bitten through at one attempt by this exobeast like it was paper and not exotic armor.

“What???” He was shocked.

The dagger-like teeth of this cat exobeast dug effortlessly into his shoulders after breaching his armor, as the ruthless cat cut a significant portion of his flesh away immediately.

He felt light-headed all of a sudden, as the pain struck him deep inside his very being.

He finally came to a frightening realization from this, this was an enemy that his current self was in no way ready to face. His only choice was to run and escape, staying was leaving himself to die.

Keeping his trump cards now was foolish, he was ready to use anything to forge his escape. He just realized the cold hard truth.

He was not allowed to think further, as the still much active cat bit at him again at a mind-blowing speed after its first failed attempt to finish him in one go.

Crack!! Bam!! He reacted fast and blocked with his spear again, but this did little in cushioning the force as his spear also gave up the ghost, abandoning him as it directly shattered to pieces.

“Ugh…!!”

He coughed blood while staggering backward, as he used this opportunity to roll back further to get more space for himself to react. His face was already filled with horror as he re-evaluated this cat.

“What did I get myself into this time?”

Seeing his now horrified expression, the giant grey cat paused for a moment as it revealed a human-like sneer on its cat face. Its whiskers twitched frequently, as it savored the smell of its opponent’s blood.

During their short exchange, it was only a little below a minute but the soldiers of the rear group already crossed a significant distance.

Most of them already received injuries of various degrees, but they persevered and ran with survival only in their minds. They finally regrouped with the vanguard group.

As the other soldiers ran away without hesitation, Diana suddenly stopped and looked back. She saw the outcome of Clark’s first clash with the alpha cat, she was a little worried.

“Major, do you need help? Can you take it alone?” She could not stop herself, she spoke into the comm.

“It’s ok Diana, take the soldiers to safety, I can take care of myself”.

Saying this, Clark dodged another cat’s attack before loosening his bag from his back. He stared directly at the giant grey cat, he felt like a lone soldier that was trapped deep inside enemy territory.

“In the end, money is the way”. He sighed.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. I want to make a correction, sorry, it's not Mark, but it's Benny, one of Clark's earliest friend that followed him for the mission. I'll correct it in the few chapters that I misused it, sorry for any inconvenience. My time is a little cramped, I'm preparing for an exam, I hope you endure it if there is any redundancies in the past few chapters.]