BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

"Echo, this is Delta. We reached the cave. Over."

"Copy, Delta. Search the place for hints. We need to understand what happened. Over."

Two squads had been sent to the east to investigate the disappearance of a squad. They had been sent to care for a Nogith colony with a high risk of migrating to the west and toward the city if whatever was affecting the ecosystem pushed them to do so. It was of the utmost importance to cull their numbers.

The last known communication of the team said that the quest was partially clear, as the team collapsed the cave where the Nogith colony hid. However, more than six days had passed since that communication, and no trace of the squad remained from that moment. However, the team previously sent here, the Charlie squad, was an elite one.

Their reputation made it hard, even among those who knew little about the military, to believe they might be killed off like that. The only thing plausible for their disappearance was that some powerful creature attacked the team without warning or provocation, killing every member. So, two more squads were sent there to investigate, Echo and Delta squads.

These were two high-profile teams with countless accomplishments under their belt. Delta approached the collapsed cave entrance with cautious steps. The place was littered with small craters, and the earth was scorched.

"It looks like this is the place, Delta team's captain said."

It was clear that a battle happened here.

"Spread out and search for clues," The captain said.

Soon after, the squad members searched the surroundings, and the first thing they noticed was that all the plants nearby had withered. There was no single leaf on the trees or a single flower around. It looked almost as though someone had turned off the sun. This part of the forest was utterly dead; even the grass surrounding the area was dead.

"This isn't good, Captain. Something has affected the environment," a soldier said. "There aren't many things that can do so," he added.

"There is something here," a female soldier said. "Look! There are claw marks on the cave entrance. Something apparently tried to go inside," she added.

The captain looked at the two with contemplative looks. First, the surrounding vegetation, then the claw marks. What the hell did happen here? Of course, it was clear that a beast attacked the squad, but what could have wiped out a group of trained soldiers in the Mannard continent, and how could it devastate the surroundings like that?

A soldier, a couple of meters further, was searching on the ground for something useful to understand the situation.

"Sir, I found something," he called out over his comlink when he saw something glinting on a rock near him. He picked up the object and found it to be a wedding band ring. "This looks familiar…"

A woman approached the soldier and gave a look at the ring. "This is Rick's wedding ring," she said. She recognized it because the marriage date had been etched inside the ring, and since she knew Charlie's squad members, she knew who it belonged to.

"Sir, come to have a look at this!" One soldier said while pointing at the ground.

"Ah... fuck..." the captain said, clearly frustrated. He approached the soldier and saw a trail of weird footprints that led away from the site. They seemed at least a week old, although it was difficult to tell because most of the dirt and mud was dry.

"Whatever these footprints belong to, it must have been massive," The captain remarked.

"Indeed, sir, but it is weird, they are very similar to a thaid I know... but are too big..."

"What beast are you referring to, soldier?" the captain asked.

"It should be a Blirdoth, sir, but as I've said, they are too big to belong to it." The captain looked at the soldier through his visor and noticed that he had a severe look on his face.

"These thaids are usually no taller than a meter, so it is weird for them to be this big. Judging by the footprints, this beast is at least two meters tall," the soldier added.

The captain then thought about what to do and turned to look at a soldier.

"Nico!"

"Yes, sir?" the man replied.

"Contact the HQ and tell them what we did find. Make sure to take photos of everything around here, including the wedding ring, the footprints, the claw marks, and flora."

"Yes, sir."

The captain then picked up his radio. "Echo, here is Delta. Do you copy? Over."

But no reply came from the device.

"Echo, here is Delta. Do you copy? Over."

Silence.

The captain immediately understood that something was going on.

"All right, guys, we are leaving!" the man said.

"Sir, there is still much to investigate here... just there, I found a Nog..."

"Shut up and do as I say. Let's go!"

A sound in the distance caught Nico's attention. A strange noise, almost resembling a roar.

"Did you hear that?" Nico asked.

"What are you talking about?"

However, the captain heard it too.

"TO THE CAR. NOW!"

Since there were multiple flying Thaids around the forest, using a flying car was akin to suicide unless they traveled at high altitudes. However, since they had to find where the Charlie squad had disappeared, they had to take a land car. This was still dangerous, but not as much as having to deal with flying thaids, which were usually stronger than land ones.

The five people ran to the car, and soon they started the engine and left the cave entrance. The captain heaved a sigh of relief once they were safely away from the place.

"I hate this fucking job…" a soldier said as tension could be almost felt to the touch.

The captain, however, had other things on his mind. Echo didn't reply to the call, and he strongly felt they were already dead. What he didn't understand was what could have possibly killed a whole squad of trained soldiers without leaving them the possibility to even ask for help. He glanced back at the direction they took off towards and noticed an anomaly among the trees. It appeared to be a giant creature speeding in their direction at an insanely fast speed.

"What the fuck is that?" a soldier shouted.

"What?"

"Look, there!" he said while pointing to the back of the car. The captain saw the speeding creature and shouted, "SPEED UP THIS SHIT!"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

A flying tree crashed just a couple of meters behind the car.

"THIS THING IS THROWING TREES AT US!" Nico said.

"FASTER, GO FASTER!" the captain said.

"I can't, sir. If I accelerate, we will crash against a tree!"

"We will crash against a tree if you don't do so!"

As the car sped through the forest, the beast got closer to the car, showing an impressive speed no normal thaid should have had. Suddenly, it jumped into the air and landed next to the vehicle. The soldiers kept their composure, but it was clear they were scared. Then, the beast opened its mouth wide and roared again.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR

Suddenly, Nico started channeling mana and prepared his power. The soldier's full name was Nico Montgomery. He belonged to the Montgomery family, and like every member of that family, he could control the earth.

The first thing the young man did once he saw the beast beside the car was to control the earth below it, hoping he would slow the beast down. Indeed he was successful, as the Blirdoth stumbled and crashed against a tree.

BOOOOM

"It really is a giant Blirdoth!" the soldier who identified the creature said.

"Attack the beast; we must kill it!" the captain shouted.

"Sir, I doubt we can injure it with that thick amount of mana surrounding its body, and we don't have ranged powers. Only Nico can stop him!" a soldier said.

"I don't care, we may not be able to kill it, but at least we will slow it down! Use that damn laser rifles!" the captain said.