Chapter 85: Fear and the Black Monster

14:06.

The area 300 meters west of Sheheba City center.

A Black Hawk with its fuselage and cabin almost separated crashed onto the street of this area.

"Crack—hiss…!" The noise of the electrical malfunction was especially loud in this silent place.

"Cough! Cough cough!" Leon, whose hair was a bit messy, coughed as he was the first to crawl out of the cabin.

Having crawled out of the cabin, Leon immediately drew the Hive-designed Um-8 pistol from his waist holster.

The Um-8 resembles the HKUSP in appearance, uses 8mm caliber shell-less pulse ammo, greatly increasing the firepower output of intelligence personnel.

However, Leon judged that, given the current situation, the Um-8 could only give him a slight psychological comfort.

Because he observed his surroundings, he immediately discovered that this place was very damp and cold, with visibility not exceeding twenty meters.

It was utterly silent; even such a huge commotion as a crash failed to draw people's attention.

Right after Leon crawled out of the cabin was the likewise surviving beret-wearing second lieutenant.

The second lieutenant staggered to his feet, then leaned against the cabin's outer wall, gripping his weapon tightly while keeping watch around, and whispered to Leon:

"Desk jockey, I'll stand guard; you go inside and help."

"All right." Leon replied without delay.

Having stowed the Um-8 back in its holster, Leon crawled back into the cabin to help the surviving beret-wearing soldiers climb out.

Soon, only seven beret-wearing soldiers with light injuries could leave the cabin on their own, while the remaining four beret-wearing soldiers…

Two had died instantly in the crash, and the other two suffered injuries so severe they could not move on their own.

Finally, the surviving medic performed simple bandaging on the two wounded and directed Leon and the others to move them out of the cabin with extreme care.

The nose was jammed at least half a meter into the ground, and with Leon et al.'s strength they could not pry open the cockpit door.

However, blood pouring from around the nose indicated that the two pilots had already lost their lives.

The survivors immediately relocated to the low building north of the crash site, settled the two wounded, and continued to keep watch.

"Headquarters, this is White Eagle One, receiving, please reply." The lieutenant tried to contact base via comms.

"Hiss" however, the comms returned only a busy tone.

Although the lieutenant had rich combat experience, he had never encountered such an event; he immediately turned to Leon and questioned:

"Desk jockey, what the hell is going on? What exactly does the CIA know?"

His tone seemed to blame the crash and the teammates' casualties on the CIA.

Concealment, deception, screwing over teammates—after all, that's the impression the CIA gives frontline troops.

"If I knew, they wouldn't have sent me to investigate, lieutenant. I hope you can have sound logic." Leon said in a low voice.

Suddenly.

"Bang—bang!" Faint gunfire rang out from all around.

"Ah!" and only when humans face extreme terror do they emit a heart‑rending howl.

?!!!

Hearing these sounds, Leon and the beret-wearing soldiers immediately raised their guns and heightened alert.

"Whoosh—!" At this time, there were also many sounds like small bombs falling, but no explosion upon impact.

"Bang—bang!" Immediately, dense gunfire erupted all around.

Hearing such commotion.

Leon proposed to the lieutenant: "Lieutenant, judging from our crash situation, there should be many more surviving comrades; why don't we first meet up with them?"

"Hmm." The lieutenant nodded without objection, his tone somewhat softened as he analyzed:

"I think the expanding fog has also enveloped the friendly forces of the 2nd Armored Battalion; perhaps we can still link up with the main force."

Both sides' opinions were unified.

Leon, the lieutenant, and the others helped the wounded move position, advancing cautiously along the wall toward the area with the densest gunfire.

After passing one block, they spotted a lone infantryman from the armored battalion.

This lone infantryman's weapon and helmet were nowhere to be seen; he hugged himself with both hands, curled up sitting in the corner of the low building's wall, muttering:

"I'm not afraid of you! I'm not afraid! Jesus bless… Holy Mary bless…

Seeing this, the lieutenant immediately raised his hand to signal the unit to pause temporarily.

Meanwhile, Leon standing behind the lieutenant grew more solemn; he knew the infantryman's state meant he had definitely witnessed this abnormal phenomenon directly.

Just as Leon was about to talk to the lieutenant, wanting to observe the soldier up close, a black silhouette walked into their field of view.

"Enemy contact!"

The lieutenant immediately ordered the combat‑ready beret soldiers to swiftly deploy into battle formation and aim their weapons at that silhouette.

This time, they also witnessed what caused the soldier to break down.

That silhouette was about two meters tall, slender, entirely dark‑black, with many writhing tentacles growing from its back.

It lacked facial features, but where its eyes should be were two eerie red lights.

!!!

What the hell is this?!

Including the lieutenant, the beret troops never imagined the enemy they faced would be this kind of black monster.

"Ah! Ah! I'm not afraid! Stay away from me!" The infantryman nearest the black monster completely broke down, scrambling away on hands and knees.

But before the infantryman could act, one of the black monster's tentacles suddenly elongated and shot rapidly toward his position.

"Open fire!"

Leon, who had mentally prepared for encountering the bizarre, immediately bellowed, gripped the Um-8 with both hands, aimed at the black monster, and pulled the trigger.

"Tap—tap!" The gunfire sounded.

"Boom~! Boom!" 8mm shellless pulse ammo struck the black monster's head, causing a small-scale explosion.

"Fire!"

"Tap-tap-tap!"

The second lieutenant and berets who had reacted likewise fired at the black monster.

This action temporarily interrupted the black monster's action toward the infantry.

However, only Leon's 8mm shellless pulse ammo and a few warheads were effective against the black monster, giving its body a noticeable stagger.

The warheads fired from the second lieutenant and most berets seemed to pass straight through the black monster's body, unable to inflict any substantial damage.

"】! (Well, it's you guys)【"

The obstructed black monster suddenly opened its mouth and spoke the aforementioned words in an extremely hoarse voice.

Thereafter, the black monster no longer targeted that infantry, turning toward the area where Leon and the berets were and walking over.

At the same time, those slender and disgusting tentacles unfurled, twisted, and writhed wildly.

The second lieutenant and several berets facing this scene also felt the surrounding temperature rapidly dropping.

Combined with the feeling of helplessness from being unable to kill the black monster despite shooting it so many times, a sudden inexplicable fear welled up from the depths of the heart, and this fear quickly spread.

"Discovered friendly personnel! Prepare support!"

At this critical juncture, Carlos-led HellParatroopers and the living dead promptly surged out from the alley to the right of Leon and company.

"Confirm the anomaly! Prepare for volley fire!"

"Tap-tap-tap-tap!"

Sparks from the volley fire of dozens of M41A rifles glittered in this eerie district.

"(End of chapter)"