They walked on foot to the forest because the place wasn’t that far away from where they lived. The number of mutated animals attacking had noticeably shrunk by a lot, not even half of the usual. In the last attack, Lieutenant Colonel Dalton even estimated they had decreased by half more, which meant a quarter of its usual number. So, they decided to take a look at what was going on in the forest themselves. "We have to hunt particular animals." Lieutenant Colonel Dalton pressed. "Make some critters like squirrels, birds..." Chapters first released on novel⟡fire.net He made a list of the priority mutated animals they should take down first, because those mutated animals bred the fastest. "Do you all understand?" Lieutenant Colonel Dalton asked sternly after he finished. "Yes, Lieutenant Colonel!" They all chorused. Laziel was still a little out of it after his recent breakup. Zerra narrowed her eyes and slapped his shoulder. "Eh, who?!" He turned around with widened eyes. His face relaxed when it was Zerra, who was wearing her usual flat expression. "Munchkin, what’s wrong?" Now, he instantly remembered Zerra had such an expression not without a reason. He indeed owed her money. "Get some crystal cores for me, elder brother. I am poor!" Zerra said merrily. Laziel’s mouth twitched. The nerve of her to say such a thing in front of him! He couldn’t tell whether she was making fun of him. Obviously, he was the poorest of them. His sisters possessed some kind of space, but him...? He sighed. "Fine, I will definitely get more crystal cores than you!" His eyes blazed when he thought about this. Zerra’s two awakened abilities didn’t even include offensive power. How could he lose to her? That was how the siblings started to compete. The moment they entered the outskirts of the forest, Lieutenant Colonel Dalton stopped them. "Halt here." They surveyed the surroundings. It was oddly quiet. The only sounds were... the rustling of the leaves from the occasional breezes. "Have we killed all the mutated animals here?" Arsen muttered as he stood beside Zerra. "It sounds possible, but we haven’t met carnivorous beasts so far, right? Only the wolves." Kai retorted. Lieutenant Colonel Dalton didn’t stop the ongoing discussions, letting the ability users observe the surroundings. Zerra understood. He was also making an attempt to train them, especially his subordinates. "I spotted a small leaf moving there." One subordinate pointed to the bushes and plants nearby. "Am I just hallucinating?" "No, I think I also saw the same. I have wind power, and for sure, I didn’t sense it was because of the wind." "It meant... it should have been those mutated animals, right? The smaller ones?" "Maybe some mutated plants? How can we forget about them?" The discussion continued. "Nyra, what do you think about this place? Too quiet." Darren muttered as he scanned the surrounding area. If it weren’t because of the apocalypse, it would feel like they were out on an outing instead of trying to exterminate a group of dangerous mutated animals and possibly a few mutant plants too. "Something doesn’t feel right..." Just as she finished saying that, Zerra widened her eyes and yelled a warning, "They are coming!" Lieutenant Colonel Dalton was quick to react, even before he saw any signs of attack. He seemed to trust Zerra’s instinct. "Everyone get ready!" The moment they entered the forest, they had already entered the radar of some critters who were nearby. Their communication was quick, calling others at the slightest hint of invaders nearby. Zerra sensed that such a reaction was most likely because of the countless mutated animals who had died under their hands. They could sense the blood on them or the decreasing number of their kin. Everyone attacked, going after the critters. She had given them some explosives beforehand. Fortunately, they were only on the outskirts now, and not many mutated animals had come. They solved all of them pretty quickly. After they were done, they moved deeper into the forest, only to encounter the same thing again. However, the number increased every time they went deeper. It was only natural since they were practically barging inside the mutated animals’ headquarters. "Don’t you find it strange?" Kai opened his mouth. "Strange? Why?" Zerra chimed in. "Miss..." he started. Zerra had told him to call her by her name, yet he refused to do so. She thought it was a bit odd, but she didn’t dwell on it too much. "Do the animals wait for us to pass by their territory? Or was it merely my feeling?" "Some of them might not want to participate. They merely want to defend their territory, but alas..." Arsen shook his head. "It’s their natural instincts," she added. "They might not become aggressive unless we provoke them, but in the future, no one can guess what will happen. It’s best to do as Lieutenant Colonel Dalton suggested." Which meant they should kill the strange mutated animals, the type which bred faster and had excessive numbers. "Miss Zerra..." on the way back, Lieutenant Colonel Dalton called her. She raised her eyebrows, a little surprised. Honestly, she also hadn’t expected him to listen to what she said like previously, making a command based on her words. "Did you find anything in the forest earlier?" He asked. They were heading to the residence again, but they would be back tomorrow. Zerra blinked. "If anything is strange, you should have noticed it." "Are you referring to certain mutated animals’ overwhelming number?" He asked. She thought about it and nodded. "It looked like something unusual. Some mutated animals bred faster compared to others. It shouldn’t have been , right?" Little by little, she guided his thoughts. Zerra had heard from Mr. Wells that some people were missing too. There were no signs of them becoming zombies. They simply vanished from their house just like that. Others speculated they were eaten clean by some ferocious beasts, but their place was spotlessly clean. So, they assumed they might also have left the house. However, leaving the house in such a situation was strange, right? The world outside was too dangerous. They never find the house owner’s corpses. Until now, they had agreed those people might have left or headed to the base on their own. Lieutenant Colonel Dalton had promised to look into this once they came back. Now that she recalled the recurring mutated animal attacks, it was strange. Was there someone manipulating it behind the scenes? Or was it an intelligent beast who had done it? "Are you saying someone might have a hand in this, Miss Zerra?"