Ronald and Denver used their arms to block the blinding light. They then heard thick boot soles echoing with every heavy step. The two were still wary of the newcomers, not knowing who they were.
Then, a familiar deep male voice spoke, "ID!"
Ronald glanced at Denver first before answering, "Rover 336837-221. Don't shoot. He's a civilian. Copy 234 and 675 are decommissioned. Hostile 13 down."[1]
"…thirteen?" the deep male voice spoke again. He then ordered others to lower their lights. The leader of the heavily geared soldiers looked at Ronald. "Ronald, how are you alive? Those things snatched you from the bridge?"
"Yes, sir. They hid under and broke the planks to pull us down." Ronald exchanged discreet gazes with Denver. "Extraction request, sir. For the civilian, too."
The leader looked at Denver and his full backpack. He had someone take out a long baton-shaped detector and scan Denver's backpack for anything. However, none of the food products pinged. When the baton hit his sleeve, it made a soft chirping alert sound.
Denver slowly took out his small knife that reverted into its pure form. He also showed his gun to the soldiers. "For my protection."
The scanning soldier stared at the knife, however. He then asked, "Did you stab a mimic with that? Our sensor can pick up a few particles from it."
Denver gestured at the pile of dead mimics. "Sir, they didn't die on their own. Officer Dread and I had to work together to keep them from killing us. We stacked them there, so I could easily loot the store. Their blood is also all over me in case your sensor reacts to my skin."
"Sir, they don't seem to be swapped." The soldier retreated to the leader's side. He hid the sensor and watched the two intently without a reason.
"All right. Anderson, Frost, walk the civilian back home. Kirk, Ned, take Ronald back to base. We're staying here to wait for the undertakers." The leader started delegating orders to his group.
Denver looked at the two assigned to him. He didn't want them to find the apartment building. However, if he declined, he might earn their suspicion. He could only find a way to lose these soldiers along the way. All he did was step outside the abandoned store with others when his entire body shook in fright.
Lulu's Eater Radar suddenly turned reddish as if warning Denver. Could an enemy be around, but Lulu was not strong enough to detect it? Or was it their bond that was too weak?
[Warning! A field venator is detected!]
Denver didn't care about the soldier and quickly took out his small knife. In the darkness, it morphed into the red dagger. His action alerted the five soldiers outside and the others inside the convenience store. They all armed themselves with their guns, but others had their laser pointers at Denver. Only Ronald felt like looking around.
Swoosh!
Denver's dexterity was not the highest, but he was fairly close to Ronald. When the wind whistled, Denver quickly tackled Ronald down to the side. A clawed creature suddenly appeared under the dim moonlight and struck straight at Ned, who stood behind Ronald. However, Ned retreated and pressed hard on his stabbed abdomen.
"I heard my pets squealing…" The mimic didn't bother wearing a humanesque form. They could see that it was a red-skinned lizard-looking creature that stood two and a half meters tall. It licked its bloodied claws with its long slender tongue.
It looked down at Ronald and Denver close to its feet. A grin split its face into two. "I can smell their blood on you. I would like to take it all back… every… single… drop."
The mimic dove to strike at Denver at an inhuman speed and twisting angle. However, Denver quickly countered with Crybaby stabbing its palm. The mimic screamed in pain and quickly pulled away from the blade, masking Crybaby's shrill cry with its own.
Denver pulled Ronald out of the way, and the soldiers opened fire at the field venator. The civilian dragged Ronald to the side and watched the soldiers deal with the strong mimic. His left hand curled, trying to gauge the healing and the pain. Denver needed Whistleblower to shoot the weak spot… until he noticed the leader empty a clip on the venator's neck.
The field venator didn't even budge at the damage. However, those were normal bullets.
It wouldn't do. Those soldiers might die the longer they played with a field venator. It had already killed three of them in a few minutes. Denver hid his eyes away from them as he accessed his Skill Web to see if he could do something for them.
'I'm already at Level 11? Killing that few gives a lot?'
Denver's eyes glinted in excitement as he saw his extra stat and skill points. He quickly allotted seven points for his DEX and five for his STR. Even his VIT got the remaining ones. His skill points were also distributed to Fortification, Precision Strike, and Bone Body. Five minutes… his full buff could only last for five minutes. Lastly, he opened the System Shop for one item.
His left hand bled through the patch when he held the gun again. The man looked up at the field venator and took a deep breath.
[You have activated an active skill: Bone Body!]
Swoosh!
Denver got to his feet and threw a [Smoke Bomb] at the field venator. The canister bounced off its back, attracting its attention. It faced Denver's direction and saw him running toward it. A big grin tore its face open again and waited with its long claws. The smoke quickly filled the spot, driving the soldiers away. A ring of six meters wide was left for Denver and the mimic.
Within the smoke, Denver mapped the venator's body without difficulty. His radar put the venator before him, and the high Observation passive skill drew a picture in the blurred white void. The red dagger also gleamed and cried every time Denver used Precision Strike.
"What are you?" The field venator didn't know how the human could see him. Moreover, the weapon used easily drew at its flesh. For the first time, the mimic felt fear and the need to escape.
No matter how hard he stabbed and cut the human, Denver didn't die. He didn't even bleed. The human's strength was also comparable to its own. If it couldn't leave now, it might not leave ever. However, it felt a gaze coming from within the smoke. In a random direction, it spotted a pair of red eyes. The red pair gleamed and tugged at the mimic's very essence.
The field venator's eyes grew wide. It whispered, "Source Devourer?"
Bang!
Denver's fifth Precision Strike landed on the venator's head. The skull broke, and the mimic died in an instant. Its body punched through the white smoke and crashed into the hard ground.
Before anyone else could say something, the fight concluded.
[1] He states his team number and soldier ID number, exclusive to the private army. 'Copy' means teammate. 'Hostile 13' is basically saying thirteen hostiles. They talk strangely to confuse mimics. It's only said when they need to get identified as humans.