Genesis Code: The Genetic Awakening-Chapter 119: The Hunt (2)

"Ugh... I think I’m broken."

Henry groaned as he struggled to get to his side. He was covered in bruises with parts of his gear torn in various places.

Looking around, he noticed his surroundings were completely covered in grey mist, hindering his senses. He could barely see two meters in front of him.

"George?" He called softly, turning his head around to find his partner. "Where are you?"

"I-I’m here..."

A reply came from his right. It was faint, barely loud enough to be caught by a normal person’s ears. He turned his head over with a sigh of relief and tried to get back up.

"Mm!"

Another groan escaped his lips as he fell back down. Looking below his waist, he noticed his left leg was broken and bleeding through his attire.

"Fucking hell." Henry lay on his back, his elbows supporting his upper body. He looked towards the direction of his partner. "Give me a minute, George. My leg is broken."

"Yeah, I think I broke something too. But we have to hurry it up. Those bandits will be on us soon."

"Maybe..." Henry replied, looking around. "But this grey mist should buy us some time. I can barely see what’s before –"

"Ah!"

A sudden cry from his partner cut his sentence short. He snapped his head over, his heart thumping roughly.

"George! Are you there?!"

No reply came, making his heart thump harder. Something was in here with them; something that had gotten his partner.

Henry desperately looked around, trying to extend his senses outward. Still, there was no success. The mist was suppressing his senses!

’Shit, shit, shit!’

The man turned over to his stomach and began growling away, hoping he wouldn’t be picked up next. The abrupt nature of George’s scream and how it came to an end just as fast made it clear he was either snatched away or dead.

’What the hell is this mist?!’ Henry realized there was nothing natural about the mist. ’This is probably a monster’s doing!’

A sudden whoosh through the mist to his left caught his attention, making the man’s heart jump out of his chest. His head turned over but caught sight of nothing.

Another whoosh came from his right, turning his head over once more. At this point, the man was scared out of his wits. He could not see, neither could he sense.

Worst of all was his injured leg!

’I have to get out of here!’

He didn’t dare make any sound, hoping it was just the monsters running around. But even he knew it was a long shot.

"!"

Something suddenly grabbed his injured leg and pulled him back. Henry’s heart fell into the bit of his stomach as he screamed in terror.

"Noo...!"

.....

"Noo...!"

The bandits nearly jumped out of their skins when the heart-wrenching scream echoed through the mist-filled forest.

With most of their senses suppressed, any slight sound frightened them. They spread out to cover more ground, each member moving with at least another member.

Even then, they could barely see each other.

"T-that can’t be good."

One of the bandits muttered under his breath, looking to his left to check on his partner. The bandit sighed in relief seeing his partner by his side.

"That was probably from our targets, wasn’t it?"

"Yeah... But I’m more concerned about the mist. I don’t recall any monster having this ability. And the fact that it blocks our senses means it has a stronger mental power."

The forest grew silent after that scream. The bandits moved around, squinting their eyes in an effort to see past the two-meter limit.

"Hey..."

Another bandit called softly, turning to his partner only to find himself alone. His heart skipped a beat as he looked around desperately, calling out to his partner.

"Shit, I’m lost!"

Aside from losing his partner, he lost his sense of direction. He couldn’t tell which way was north or south. In desperation, he chose a random direction and dived deeper into the mist.

"Ah!"

The sudden scream close by halted the bandit in place, his body trembling like a leaf. But that was not the end.

"No!"

"Please!"

"Help me, boss!"

"I don’t want to die!"

The screams were getting frequent and coming from all directions, causing widespread panic. Out of nowhere, one of the bandits yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

"There’s a monster! Run...!"

Without hesitation, chaos spread as every bandit made a run for it. No one knew the right direction, but that was of little concern.

The only thing louder than the screams of their companions was the sound of their beating hearts. Bandits continued to scream in terror, calling to their boss for help.

In the back, the boss narrowed his eyes as he heard his men being picked off one at a time. And as time went by, the screams reduced in intensity.

The shocking part of everything was the fact that the screams came from random directions, never coming from one area.

At one point, he would hear a scream from his right, at another time, he would hear the scream in the opposite direction. Sometimes, he would simultaneously hear the screams from different directions.

’There’s more than one of them.’ The boss thought, his excitement gradually turning into dread. ’I can’t see and I can’t sense either. Just what the hell is this mist?!’

Within a minute, silence returned to the forest, the eeriness leaving the bandit leader trembling in his boots. A group of over 100 men were taken care of within a minute!

’I-I have to get out of here!’

Without hesitation, the boss spun around to flee, only to yelp and fall on his backside in terror. A pair of unsettling feline eyes, perfectly camouflaged with the surrounding mists, gazed back at him as if he were a dead man.

The sight sent shivers down his spine. There was no body outline of the monster, only the eyes staring back at him.

"Ah..."

A cry escaped his lips as he backed away from his position on the ground. In all his life, he had never seen a monster like this. He could only imagine how huge the monster was based on the position of the eyes.

While the boss was thinking of ways to escape his predicament, the grey mist swirled gently and expanded outward, creating a clearing with a radius of 30 meters.

The sight caught his attention for a moment. When he turned back to look at the monster, what greeted him was not a monster, but a feline woman who looked down on him with a small grin.

"Aren’t you impressed?"