"You look horrible, what's wrong? Too excited to sleep?" Ryan leaned against his black Jeep, watching Nikolai, who approached him with dark circles and sunken cheeks.
"Shut it… last night a bit wild, that's all."
A ringing bell still echoed in Nikolai's head as a dull ache caused a groan to escape his lips. "Fucking pounding my head."
"Fancy seeing you here."
Nikolai looked around; the car park was empty, apart from Ryan, before his lips curled into a grin.
Squeak!
The sound of Risa's outfit entered his ears.
The squeak of the special material she requested, with the durability of leather and the flexible nature of Lycra. Her new bodysuit, black with green elbow, chest, and knee patches, appeared on the horizon, but her black hair seed dyed blonde, and her eyes turned blue.
'Her original appearance wasn't so bad.' Nikolai thought to himself, as her hips rocked from side to side, approaching the two.
"Panther one, it's been a while." A low, sultry voice echoed in the small car park, different from the past. Her voice sounded thicker and more mature, yet her eyes never left Nikolai's body.
"Oh? Panther three, rather Lisa, you look so radiant, you're practically glowing!" Ryan grinned. "I have to say I like this suit, very sexy."
"Spare your nonsense, panther three." She flipped him off and went behind Nikolai, placing her arms on his shoulders; leaning her face on his shoulders. "Look at again with those disgusting eyes, and I'll gouge them out!"
'Well, poor guy, her body shape wasn't this impressive before. I guess she couldn't change them with Kumiko and Nagisa's illusion techniques.'
"Why is everyone looking so weird?" The fourth mber asked as he stood by the jeep, leaning against the back door. His grey tracksuit almost blended in with the morning sun and reflected against the jeep.
"Is that you, Alex?" Nikolai recognised the bald man, he looked different from the usual smart butler in his suit and tie.
ssy clothes, a dull sunken face with dark rings around his eyes, and glasses that seed to be broken.
"It's Panther two, for you. Wolf."
Risa's teeth ground together as she whispered an insult upon hearing the man's rude response. Her arms tightened their grip as they slid down, pulling him into a tighter embrace.
"Aww… Alex. Don't worry, Lisa likes you too." Ryan placed his arm on his shoulder and patted his back comfortingly.
The atmosphere a little awkward, Ryan and Nikolai's friendship close to collapsing after what his father Jin did to Nikolai, yet today wasn't the ti to waste ti on this kind of thing.
"So, where are Brian and Bruce… also what are we hunting?"
Nikolai leaned his head against Lisa, the Nekomata smirking at Ryan and Alex as if she won sothing.
While all they could do was sigh and give up, not even able to fight her because of their own pride and reputation.
"We'll be eting those two on the way because this is a dangerous task, two units were given the mission." Ryan popped open the jeep doors, while taking out two data pads. He gazed at Lisa and Nikolai and sighed to himself, knowing both of them tossed out their SSS equipnt already.
Nikolai took the tablet, but found it no different from the past.
He tapped the screen he identified today's targets, a strange monster but sothing that tickled his desire to hunt.
"Ghouls?" He gazed at a humanoid monster, walking on four limbs with its chest pressed to the floor.
"Two high school students found an old tunnel, according to local legends, it was made by smugglers to move between houses. But when they explored it, they triggered these monsters, now I know it sounds far-fetched, but check the report."
Ryan pulled out another pad from a bag behind his seat. The next information had multiple pictures of humans half-eaten by these creatures, the grueso sight causing Nikolai's mouth to twitch.
"What abilities do they have?"
"Increased strength, ability to take the form of anything they eat. However, they can only stay that way until the energy runs out, then revert into that disfigured form." Alex sat in the driver's seat after having a brief look at Nikolai and Ryan.
"So these are so dangerous phantoms." Ryan finished gazing at Nikolai. "Let's get started on hunting."
Alex started the car's engine, which roared for a brief second before returning to a gentle humming sound. Nikolai helped Lisa enter the jeep before she climbed onto his lap, and the pair looked at the data pad together.
"It doesn't seem dangerous." She mused while leaning back against Nikolai's chest and gazing up at him. He returned a smile before stroking her chin. She purred from the sensation, rubbing her neck into his hands.
"Well, it sounds easy… we don't even have to go all out since they aren't too powerful."
"You're wrong Lisa, these guys should be fun to hunt, look at the number. It's a small village." Nikolai's eyes shone with excitent as he started rembering the fun hunting brought him.
"Hmm, are you sure?"
Nikolai nodded.
"Then what's the plan, Boss?"
Ryan glanced back through the window when Nikolai called out to him, Alex driving to the eting spot where they would et with the others.
"Well, first things first. We'll need to group up with the other team, and pick up Bruce and Brian, but then we will head to their known nest, which seems to be a small village on the outskirts of a nearby village. "But…"
"You're worried the village is compromised, right?" Nikolai's eyes flashed, causing Ryan to nod, a bitter smile painted on his lips.
The issue was caused by the information given, with their ability to mimic the person they kill, it ant they could easily hide among the townspeople and wait. Which also increased the danger.
'Well, only humans are in danger…'
"We're not here to save the people though, so we can just let them handle themselves," Ryan spoke coldly, shocking Alex and Lisa who believed him to be nice.
"What's that look for?"
His voice changed from warm and soothing to sharp and cutting. "We can't save them, and telling a ghoul from a human is almost impossible without the right items. But we don't have the ti for that."
Their plan was quite dangerous.
One team would enter the next directly from the rear, while another would face the ghouls in a pincer attack that could collapse if one team failed.
"So you're saying it's better for us to leave the civilians as bait, and use the distraction to exterminate all the ghouls before they kill more?"
Ryan's lips trembled before he responded to Nikolai. "The orders were to slay anything that gets in the way of our mission… this is an SSS sanctioned hunt."
Because the SSS sanctioned the hunt, it beca much stricter than normal, but much less risky since any trouble would be taken care of afterward.
"I see it makes sense now, no wonder…" Nikolai muttered, while sliding through the thods to kill them.
Nikolai didn't mind who sanctioned the hunt. He would just fulfil the request, killing the monster, as usual, being the thrill that mattered.
He didn't care what or who set the target, wasn't relevant.
They reached an abandoned area on the outside of the city where an old jeep lay rotting. Next to the jeep, a group of several people awaited them, with two familiar figures stepping forward.
"Leader!"
"Oh? It's Wolf!"
Brian, the vice captain, with his shaved head and dark eyes, rushed up to Nikolai and hugged him, shaking like an excited puppy.
"I thought we might never et again, you look so good, brother." He mused, placing his hand on his shoulder, looking up and down the length of his body with a smile.
Bruce stepped forwards; a dark face, with his ssy black hair and grey eyes.
Though he looked frail, there was a creepy aura around him, as he greeted Alan and Lisa, but ignored Nikolai. "Leader, it's great to see you. Ah, Panther Three, it's been… a long ti, have you been well?"
'Oh… this guy had a crush on Lisa, I forgot.'
Nikolai smiled, understanding everything at that mont, the situation changing slightly within his own eyes.
There were four more mbers in Brian and Bruce's squad: One was a tall young man, with bright blue eyes and a cheerful deanour. Behind him was a slim lady, her face covered by a bandanna. She walked with confidence in her step.
Behind the three was a shorter woman, her legs crossed and arms folded. In her hands, she held two whips, both attached to her waist.
Next ca a tall, slender woman, her golden hair sparkling brightly in the early morning sun.
However… they slled strange to Nikolai.
'Why don't they sll human?' He wondered to himself… while Ryan and Alex quickly started to speak to the tall woman with golden hair.
The village was around twenty minutes away on foot.
While the hidden nest would take around an hour to reach from this location, Nikolai wondered which squad would have the harder job of finding the nest entrance or attacking from the front.
Alex and the new female unit leader spoke with each other before shaking hands.
"We have your back' panther squad." The female spoke with a loud and powerful voice before she seed to glare at Risa.
"Do you know her, Risa?" Nikolai whispered to the quiet Nekomata, who remained at his side, reading through the data pad in silence.
"No, I don't." She turned to him with a small frown and began playing with the data pad.
Ryan turned to his own unit with a serious expression and handed out their own personal weapons and equipnt.
"Silver weapons and defensive items are a must for this hunt." He explained to the trio while handing them a silver dagger, bullets, shotgun shells, and even silver powder.
Each item could be used for hunting in various ways, though most monsters hated the touch of silver. It could also reveal their true form and kill them if shot into their bodies.
Nikolai tilted his head, and took a dagger, while Lisa took two of them, but the bullets gave Nikolai a complicated feeling, rembering the bullets from last ti that rendered him useless.
"The mission shall comnce at 17:00 hours, understood?"
"Yes, captain!"
A chorus of voices rang out, answering their captain's call. Five hunters, including two panther units, stood, saluting in unison, except Nikolai and Risa, who were unaware of such an action.
Though this earned a scowl from the blonde woman who would be joining Nikolai in the nest.
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