Yoroi looked at his teammate and friend, Kasugai, who died miserably without even understanding what was going on or who killed him.
Everything was too sudden.
Just a few seconds ago, they were preparing to fight the unknown enemy in the cave. But at the next moment, one of their teammates died.
Just like that.
No intense clash. No enemy in sight. Nothing.
All they could hear was a loud boom as if someone had hit the ground very hard with raw, unadulterated physical force, and then they saw a blue blur passing by Kasugai.
And suddenly, their teammate now had a fist-sized gaping hole on his chest.
Then, he died.
A sense of grief, fear, and rage washed over the remaining three squad members as they witnessed their teammate's death.
Yoroi, who still couldn't see the enemy, shouted, "I will kill you. I will kill you."
"Show yourself, bastard."
He looked left and right frantically, trying to get a glimpse of the killer.
Yoroi knew that he probably wasn't strong enough to take down this enemy. Heck, he wasn't even sure if he could last a few rounds against it.
After all, the terrifying chakra pressure, speed, and lethal capabilities his enemy showed were off the charts. This wasn't an opponent he could handle alone.
His skin crawled. The innate primal fear of humankind was screaming at him to run away, to get away from this damned place.
However, his decades of training as a Shinobi, the presence of his remaining teammates, and his rage and grief over his lost friend helped him suppress this sense of oppression and fear.
Such bravery was commendable.
Unfortunately, such bravery was useless against an enemy with a strength far superior to his.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling, raspy, growling voice sounded very close to his back.
"Oh!"
"I sense immense rage, sorrow, sadness, and fear from you."
"Was that guy I just killed your friend?"
"What a great bond!!!"
"You are afraid. You want nothing more than to run away right this very instant."
"But you still suppressed it, huh?"
"What an amazing sight!"
"In that case, don't worry…"
"I will send you to the afterlife to meet him soon."
Yoroi suddenly felt his scalp tingle with an overwhelming sense of danger. An instinctive chill couldn't help but run down his spine.
However, before he could react, he felt an agonizing, unbearable pain coming from his own left chest as his taste buds were assaulted with a nauseating, metallic taste.
Crimson blood began to flow down from the corner of his mouth as he looked down at his chest to figure out why he was feeling such excruciating pain all of a sudden.
And what he saw filled him with an overwhelming sense of despair.
"N-no! How? How can this happen?"
"Am I going to die just like this?"
"Right here, right now?"
He was in disbelief as he saw a muscular arm covered in velvety, blue fur covered in his own blood coming out of the left side of his chest.
The arm had five feral fingers with razor-sharp claws, which were clutching his heart, which was still beating rhythmically.
He felt his body losing strength and his life force vanishing rapidly at an alarming speed.
There was no doubt. He would soon die.
His voice filled with despair as he murmured in a daze, "Why?"
At that moment, the same raspy, growling voice sounded near him once again as Yoroi saw his attacker pulling its arm out of his body along with his beating heart.
"Why? How? Heh heh!"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You humans are incredibly fragile, laughably so."
"You have great offense, but your defenses are as weak as a random blade of grass."
"There is no need to make yourself or your life look any more important."
"It won't change the outcome or your inevitable fate."
"At the end of the day, you were weak, so you died."
"Now, you will be nothing more than food to me."
"Food that will nourish me, strengthen me, and help me evolve."
Thud!!!
Yoroi exhaled his last breath as his lifeless body fell onto the ground with a thud.
It was at that moment, Zarui and Hosuki finally got to see the perpetrator behind the missing cases, and the murderer of their squad members.
It was a 2-meter-tall, bipedal creature with muscular, wolf-like legs, a human-like lean yet muscular physique, a pair of rather long, knee-length arms adorned with gleaming, sharp claws, a furry tail, and a wolf-like face with sharp teeth and glowing golden eyes.
Its entire body was covered in thick, velvety, deep-blue fur, cloaked with microscopic chakra defense.
It was undoubtedly a werewolf.
A high-ranking werewolf at that.
And it was now leisurely munching on the hearts of their comrades.
Judging by its immense speed, chakra capacity, and power, this werewolf could at least be classified as a chakra beast of AA-rank danger rating.
To kill such a beast, the usual protocol is to dispatch a S-rank, quasi-kage-level Shinobi.
Zarui and Hosuki immediately became serious.
Their hearts were filled with rage, sadness, grief, and hatred, but they couldn't let their emotions cloud their judgment.
They just didn't have the leeway!
It was clear that they couldn't defeat this menace with their strength. But they believed that if they could plan properly, they could still escape its pursuit and retreat alive.
Both Kumo Shinobi nodded at each other and immediately jumped backward to put some distance between them and the werewolf.
On the other side, the werewolf didn't move.
Instead, it saw the humans jumping back, scrambling to put distance with the intent to retreat.
This sight amused it.
The werewolf asked with a mocking tone, "Ah! Putting distance now, are we?"
"But…"
"What's the point?"
"Can you outrun me?"
"With your measly power?"
"Heh heh heh"
The werewolf let out a mocking laugh before focusing its gaze on Hosuki.
"Distance between you and me has no meaning at all, Shinobi."
"Look…if I do this…"
The werewolf extended its right hand at Hosuki, causing him to become even more alert.
However, in the next moment, he saw the werewolf's figure blur. An innate feeling of dread suddenly washed over him.
He tried to activate the Body Flicker Technique to move away, but it was too late.
He felt his throat clutched by an iron-grip before he could flicker away. Hosuki saw the werewolf giving him a mocking smile before finishing its sentence.
"...my hand will instantly reach your throat and snap it within a 'Snap.'"
As the werewolf finished his sentence, it broke the neck of Hosuki effortlessly, akin to snapping thin, dried twigs.
And just like that, Hosuki, one of the full-fledged Kumo Jonin, died in an instant.
The whole event happened so fast that Zarui couldn't even react.
He wanted to save his comrade, but he utterly failed to register the movements of the chakra beast.
One moment, it was standing at a distance. And within the blink of an eye, it already killed another one of his comrades with practiced ease.
Everything felt unreal to him.
Fear gripped him.
From the beginning, they had no chance to survive.
This beast…
It was just playing with them.
As Zarui saw the werewolf throw Hosuki's corpse to the side, he unconsciously took a step back.
Unfortunately for Zarui, the mild sound of his step caused the werewolf to shift its focus toward him.
Its glowing golden, feral eyes bore heavily on him.
"Aha…you are the last one left," said the werewolf.
"Shall we play a game then?"
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A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and read up to 25 Advanced chapters!
patreon.com/Seigan
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👉Note: The next one will be the last chapter focusing on this event. Then, I will shift back to the interclass competition in Konoha, where Seimei and his group will take part in the individual matches.
Stay Tuned!!