Deep in the forest, a temporary camp that had originally belonged to the military had now been completely transformed.
The tents had been torn to pieces, the metal frames twisted into tangled heaps, and the campfire had long since gone out. Only a few charred logs remained buried in the ashes. Several corpses lay scattered across the center of the camp, their blood soaking into the earth and mixing with rainwater and mud, pooling in the low ground into a small puddle of dark-red blood.
Damaged weapon parts lay scattered all around, along with several communication devices that had been neatly sliced in half by blades, their wires and metal sheets exposed to the air. Clearly, a brutally fierce battle had erupted here not long ago.
At the center of the camp, a group of black-clad figures were busy at work.
They wore identical dark-black combat uniforms, and every one of them had a black half-mask over their face, revealing only pairs of icy eyes.
Several portable lamps had been fixed onto the broken tent frames, their light casting the figures' shadows across the ground.
"Report from Zone Seven: a student squad has been found and cleared out."
"Zone Five: target cleared. No survivors."
"Zone Three..."
One report after another sounded from a communicator.
The leader of the black-clad figures stood in the center of the camp with his hands clasped behind his back, listening in silence.
Until another voice suddenly cut into the communication channel.
"Zone Four has found that escaped trainee. Target located! He..." There was a moment of obvious hesitation from the other end of the communicator. "He killed two more of our men!"
The leader's expression immediately darkened upon hearing the news. An aura instantly spread out from him, making the black-clad figures working nearby unconsciously