"Let’s go in," Lucien muttered as Jeff and the others obeyed.

Pah...

Lucien stepped into the forest, and the first thing that hit him was fear—not even oxygen, but fear itself.

His body almost froze in place as he wondered what the hell was going on. He couldn’t move for a moment.

The others had already entered.

"Boss, is everything okay?" Jeff asked, and Lucien snapped out of it, regaining control of his body.

He looked at Jeff, now beginning to understand why his body had tensed up.

"Something is watching us..."

Boom...

Hearing Lucien’s words, everyone went tense. They became more aware of their surroundings, but they still couldn’t see anything. They had only just stepped into the forest.

"Leader, should we...?" one of the Awakeners gulped. As much as he was willing to follow Lucien and Jeff, he wasn’t going to throw away his life blindly.

It would be more logical to stay in the city. It was far safer than here.

"Too late. We can only move forward," Lucien said.

Gulp...

From Jeff to the last Awakener, their bodies trembled, but they still obeyed and began moving forward.

True, they could have left, but this forest would remain a constant danger. They would always be worried. Besides, they needed to find out what exactly was causing this threat. At the very least, Lucien should check its stats first so they could be better prepared next time.

"Boss..."

Dozens of meters in, Jeff called out, still vigilant.

Lucien responded, "What is it, Jeff?"

Jeff’s body tensed as he spoke.

"Although this is a new world, and we are at the periphery of the forest, it shouldn’t be this quiet. If there are trees here, then animals and insects should also be here, right?"

"Oh shit..."

Lucien’s eyes widened—but it was already too late.

Bang...

Lucien turned around and witnessed an Awakener burst into a blood mist right in front of him.

One dead.

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, sweat forming instantly. Lucien’s body tensed further.

"Everyone together! Back to back!" Jeff shouted as Lucien joined them.

They formed a tight circle, backs pressed together, eyes scanning every direction. But nothing was in sight.

Lucien’s mind raced with thoughts. Even though he was the leader, he wasn’t a veteran fighter. Jeff was. That explained why he had immediately noticed something was wrong with the forest’s silence.

He, on the other hand, was the son of a wealthy family—he had never even stepped into a forest before. He was seriously lacking experience in this area.

"Jeff... you’re the leader now. What else can you tell?" Lucien asked.

Jeff’s mind worked rapidly.

It was common knowledge that when a forest was this quiet—so quiet that even birds and insects disappeared—something terrifying resided within it.

But this forest had been silent from the beginning. That meant something had always been here, suppressing everything else.

"Leader... we are being hunted by a predator. It might be that not only have we evolved along with the zombies, but animals on Earth have evolved too," Jeff concluded.

Hearing this, Lucien frowned, though he seemed more focused now. At least they had a direction. But then came the real problem.

"What kind of predator could be this fast?" Lucien asked.

The Awakener beside him swallowed hard. Fast?. It was much more than that, they hadn’t even seen it—only a burst of blood mist.

"I..." Jeff thought deeply.

The fastest land predator was a cheetah, but no cheetah hunted like this. They killed cleanly, not explosively. So what they were facing didn’t make sense.

"Leader... the tree," an Awakener suddenly pointed.

On a nearby tree, they saw a mangled limb embedded deep within the bark. A massive impact had created a hole nearly half a meter wide.

Whatever hit it had done so with terrifying force.

Seeing this, Jeff narrowed his eyes. No, this wasn’t a cheetah. Not even close. The damage suggested something struck the tree unintentionally, leaving behind shredded flesh and devastation.

"Leader... that wasn’t blood mist," Jeff said slowly, looking around as realization dawned.

They had all been in shock from the attack and had failed to observe properly.

It wasn’t that the Awakener had turned into blood mist—it was that he had been attacked so fast and so violently that his body was instantly destroyed and dragged away.

So the creature wasn’t just fast. It killed, dismembered, and carried off its prey in an instant.

Most known predators could be ruled out. Even evolution wouldn’t normally change hunting behavior that drastically.

Which meant only one thing...

The creature itself was fast—fast enough to kill instantly and drag a body away, while accidentally slamming it into a tree in the process.

And it wasn’t a large mammal.

This was something else entirely.

The predator... might even be blind or gone blind while it was hunting.

"Leader... that Awakener... he was the weakest among us, right?" Jeff asked.

The others fell silent, realizing the truth.

"Yes... he was," Lucien replied.

Among them, the strongest were above 25 in all stats, some even reaching 30 like Jeff. Only the dead Awakener was below 25.

And he had been the first to be picked off.

But it wasn’t because the creature was full.

It was because it targeted the weakest—and only struck when its prey was isolated. It couldn’t even force them to scatter like other predators.

"But... what does that mean? I can’t think of any predator that hunts like this," another Awakener said.

Jeff stared at the tree again, then at the embedded limb, then at the blood on the ground.

"...It can’t be," he muttered.

Jeff narrowed his eyes.

"Everyone listen. The next weakest person among us... is the target of this creature."

Jeff started.

"You are only safe because we are in a group and huddled together."

"I’m going to ask something. Do you trust me... do you trust the leader’s power?" Jeff said as everyone swallowed hard.

Doesn’t this mean Jeff was telling him to risk his life?

This... this was extreme.

"Do you believe in the leader?" Jeff asked once more.

This time, an answer came.

"Yes, General," the Awakener replied.

"That’s good enough."

"Everyone else, split into twos and threes. On my signal, we move away from him," Jeff said.

Everyone looked at each other. This was risky. After all, no one—not even the boss—had been able to see the creature attacking. So splitting up? If it killed this Awakener, then the next weakest one would be targeted.

Everyone was afraid, tense but they still listened to Jeff.

"You will be left alone, but the boss will be watching you. When it attacks, the boss will show up and kill it. All you have to do is stay right here. Got it, soldier?" Jeff said as the Awakener forced a wary smile.

His head was drenched in sweat.

Jeff patted his shoulder.

"Are you with me, soldier?" Jeff asked again.

"Y-yes, sir," the soldier answered. Jeff smiled.

"Get ready, everyone."

Everyone lowered their stance.

Lucien’s body tensed as his eyes scanned the surroundings, yet he still couldn’t see anything.

"Now," Jeff said.

Everyone moved.

Lucien was the fastest. He positioned himself behind a tree, his eyes locked on the lone soldier in the center, while everyone else moved away from him.

Only Lucien and the lone soldier were left alone in the clearing.

But Lucien didn’t feel targeted or in danger. That meant Jeff was right all along.

So this lone soldier was the prey.

The silence, the feeling of being completely exposed, almost overwhelmed the soldier. His heartbeat rose rapidly, his body trembled as his eyes darted around, waiting for the creature to appear.

A few seconds passed. Then everyone felt it again, that suffocating pressure of danger.

Lucien locked in, his senses sharper than ever. And then

Vrrroom...

A wing-like flapping sound echoed. The attack began. Lucien moved instantly.

Bang...