First mission(5)

The five, Tier 3s rushed at us.

I took out my trusty deagles from behind and shot two down there and then.

Bruce also enhanced his gun and shot at the zombies. Although his mana reserves weren't large, the boost he gave the gun with the enhancement wasn't bad.

Like that, there were only two zombies left.

I aimed my gun and flexed my finger. I was about to pull the trigger and kill the zombies when a ball of fire rushed at me.

I had no choice but to dodge to the right, however, the zombies were already there. 'Tsk.' I kissed my teeth and stopped time for not even half a second. Once I moved a little bit further away, I aimed my guns at the two zombies, who were incredibly close to me, and fired.

The two zombies fell dead.

I looked to my right, and my expression fell. In front of my eyes, the tier 4 zombies was holding Angela by the throat and eating her.

"Arghhh. Save m-"

She couldn't even finish her sentence. The Tier 4 snapped her neck, killing her. Everyone was flustered. 'Fuck.'

The zombie got to Angela way too fast. Not only that, but he had an ability as well. This fight was going to be challenging.

"Angela!"

Daniela started shaking from what I assumed to be fear. Or anger? I couldn't tell. But she soon started crying.

Bruce aimed his enhanced gun at the zombie and let his bullets fly. However, the zombie just jumped back. The bullets had no effect.

The tier 4 shot an arrow at me as I was about to stop time and get near him. I only barely managed to dodge. 'I'll have to activate my other ability.'

I moved my time mana towards my eyes and enhanced my body with mana. As long as the fight didn't last long, I could hold out.

"No, no. I know your little teleport ability. I'm not letting you get the chance to get near me."

He then summoned tens of fire arrows and shot them at us. With my slowed-down perception and mana enhanced body, I dodged everything with ease.

"Argh."

I looked to my right and saw Daniela pierced by an arrow, bringing her to death.

I looked back towards the tier 4. However, I should've never turned away from him. He was already in my face with fire covering his arm.

He aimed his punch towards my chest, and since he was so close, I didn't have much time to activate my time stop.

*pow

*swoosh

His punch connected and I flew back.

Luckily my body was enhanced with mana, so it didn't hurt too much and the damage was at the minimum.

Bruce, seeing this, didn't stay still. He knew his bullets wouldn't work, but he kept firing.

"You managed to pierce me?"

The tier 4 said, looking at Bruce. However, once he did, the man fell over.

He used all his mana. He was out for the count.

The tier 4 angrily walked over to the knocked-out man, but before he reached him, I appeared in front of him.

I didn't have the padding from my jacket since it burnt. So, I had to make sure I wouldn't get him much again.

I grabbed his throat and threw him across the warehouse.

I then picked up my two deagles and stopped time for as long as I could. 2 seconds.

However, that was enough time.

I stopped my slowed-down perception and moved all the mana that was evenly distributed around my body towards my legs. The world turned grey, and I moved to the zombie, who was still in mid-air. I appeared in front of him in no time and pulled my trigger.

Time flowed again, and the zombie fell to the ground, missing more than half its face.

"H-how."

Those were his last words.

The first-ever tier 4 I fought, died.

I searched his body and grabbed the tier 4 crystal.

I had no more energy. I only had the mana I used as body enhancements left. Other than that, I was empty. So, I took the chance to eat one crystal. I still had five left. One tier 2, three tier 3s, and finally one tier 4.

I couldn't wait to eat it. However, I still needed to make sure I was at home. I wanted to be cautious. A tier 3 crystal was painful enough. I couldn't imagine a tier 4.

I ate the tier 2 and sat there as my mana refilled. I also got a little bit of a physical enhancement, but it wasn't anything to talk about.

Then, I walked around the warehouse. I wanted to know what was so special about this place that sergeant wanted. After all, a normal warehouse wouldn't be so sought after. There has to be something.

After five minutes of walking around, I heard a creek below me.

*creek

I looked down, and my eyes widened. A hidden door. It was all the way in the back of the warehouse and it was well hidden. If I wasn't paying attention and was actively looking for something out of the ordinary, I would've missed it.

I opened the door and walked down the flights of stairs.

"Is this a dungeon?"

I reached the main floor and searched. I went in deep and by the end of my trip, I found the reason the army wanted it.

——

"Good job Private. It's a shame two members died at the hands of that demon, but don't blame yourself. We'll make sure to let their families know. Thank you for your service."

Standing in front of me was a corporal. He and a few other soldiers came back up. However, like always, backup is always late. I couldn't complain, though. I got a tier 4 crystal because of this.

Losing two members was sad, but it didn't mean much to me. After all, I only knew them for a couple of hours at most. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

"Thank you sir. How's Bruce?"

"He's good. Just mana deficiency. He'll be fine in a couple of hours. Did you find anything out of the ordinary, though? This is the first time we've encountered a tier 4. f you learned about how he evolved, please let us know."

I looked at him and thought. 'He wants to know if I saw the basement.'

"No, sir. I have no clue for the reason there was a tier 4. He could've evolved from eating zombies to the previous soldiers."

"That's a good hypothesis. I'll let the sergeant know. For now, go back to the base with Bruce. One of my men will bring you guys homes."

"Roger that."

I walked back to the car and sat in the back. 'What a long day.'