Chapter 617: Tangled 3
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although he did not know Levi's current whereabouts, as long as he was by his old friend's side, he would be safe temporarily.
Dahm Rose was an expert in escaping and self-preservation.
Kenna walked to the side of the window and shifted his head to look outside before noticing that it was pitch black, except for a faint light that resembled stars from a faraway row of little houses.
"Where is this?" he turned his head and asked.
"My birthplace," Dahm Rose answered. He continued to grind the fireflies with his full concentration as if it was the most precious treasure. "You were unconscious for a long time and kept bouncing between a dreamlike and awakened state, so I used an ox cart that I borrowed to bring you back here."
"Are we safe right now?" Kenna was slightly worried because Levi was not someone who was easy to get along with. Although most of the Black Uniform members had been defeated by an external power, Levi still possessed unexpected moves and strengths. That person's willpower and physique were simply at a different level.
"Of course it's safe, as long as it's before dawn tomorrow," replied Dahm Rose with his smiling wrinkled face that resembled a chrysanthemum.
"This village is not a normal little village," he said in a low voice. "This place has the tranquility that you desire."
"I don't understand. You're talking about unnatural powers? Here?" Kenna asked instead.
"I was born here, grew up here until I left. You will like this place very soon," said Dahm Rose with hidden profound meaning.
*********************
The next day.
Snap.
An emerald green branch with a few leaves was snapped from a tree. A muscular, short-haired black man with a vicious aura that permeated throughout his whole body held the branch in his hand.
He placed one of the leaves from the branch below his nose and sniffed it carefully.
Shh…
His nose breathed in deeply, releasing hissing noises.
"South… Kenna, you won't be able to escape any longer…" The camouflage combat gear that once covered the black man's entire body had been reduced to a torn mess comprised of a few strips of cloth that hung on his body.
He held a black dagger in his hand and occasionally slashed at the branches and weeds that blocked his path.
This place was the extremely strange interior of a forest and was unlike the vast olive grasslands outside, as this place consisted of a continuous stretch of olive forests that rise and fell.
Crash…
Suddenly, chaotic noises could be heard from a faraway distance behind him.
Someone was shouting loudly in American English.
Levi crouched down carefully, only exposing a pair of eyes while he burrowed himself into the side of his trail under some raised tree roots before turning his head and glancing behind himself.
"Hasn't someone checked this direction already? Why are we back here?"
"Instructions from our superiors, don't be too concerned."
"We're already lacking manpower now. I really don't know what our superiors are thinking."
A few men in olive camouflage gear carried guns and walked over in this direction to search the area.
Levi lowered his head into the undergrowth and concentrated his gaze in their direction.
He noticed that there was a symbol of a black hawk on the sleeves of these men's uniforms.
"Nighthawks…" He recognized this symbol.
Previously, he had gathered the other forces to inflict serious damage on this mercenary group.
"Looks like a lot of new changes have occurred during the period of time when I did not return," he thought when his mind finally understood what had happened.
Bang!!
Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot echoed from a faraway area before a frenzied cry of a wild ox could be heard.
"Shit!! Kill it! Kill it!!" someone shouted loudly.
Bang bang!!
A few more gunshots could be heard.
A few people who were patrolling this area raised their guns frantically. But once they heard the ox shriek, they laughed happily and put their guns down.
"This group of rotten people. It would have been troublesome if they'd attracted the attention of the patrol group or the inspection cars. Couldn't they have been a little more careful?"
One of the black men spat and turned his head in the direction of the gunshot before suddenly noticing that the silence around him was somewhat terrifying.
There were traces of alertness and uncertainty on his smiling face while his hands raised his gun upwards unconsciously.
Kachak!
A large hand flew towards his neck at the speed of lightning before grabbing and twisting it.
The dead body became limp and collapsed backward before it was dragged by someone else and placed on the ground slowly.
Levi spat and took a few things that he needed from the three corpses on the grass such as their guns, water bottles, bug spray, as well as some food and snacks.
He pondered for a moment before picking someone who had a body size that was similar to his own, removing the other man's clothes quickly and donning them.
The corpses lay in the undergrowth that was half as tall as a human within the forest, making it impossible to detect any abnormalities unless one walked extremely near and took a second look.
Levi stuck his nose out and continued his chase in a predetermined direction. He was like a silent cheetah that possessed extremely fast speed and was almost completely quiet.
*****************
Garen stood on top of an olive cross-country vehicle with a pair of binoculars in his hands and looked towards the far away areas. He'd changed into a tight-fitting olive mercenary uniform while a black pistol with a large diameter hung from his waist.
Alongside him were the mercenaries that were especially in charge of driving and Baldy.
There were four similar cross-country vehicles behind the car that were seated to the brim with the Nighthawks' peripheral mercenary soldiers. Some of them were armed with machine guns while others had even brought miniature mortars.
A few of the Nighthawks' elite members had dark expressions on their faces while they checked their own equipment and sniper rifles.
"Carlo, has each group's investigation results been released?" Garen had already replaced Baldy and had taken over the command of the Nighthawks.
He wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses and a layer of blinking light had appeared on his left eyeglass, showing a little display.
This was the latest research success that included a camera that could take pictures as well as other functions such as sound recording, short-range communication, internet searching abilities and other high-end miniature functions. This was specially made for them, and the Nighthawks referred to it as a Hawkeye.
"It's still alright. Everything is considerably smooth… No… Something has happened." A noise echoed from the earpiece that was connected to his glasses.
Garen raised his hand.
"Mark the location."
All of the twenty people who were spread out between four cars began to check their own weapons while the elite members began to test their communication glasses.
A fat man on one of the cars even raised an air cannon that was usually only used on planes…
There were bombs, anti-tank grenades, air rocket projectiles and heavy mortars among these twenty people. As long as it was a strong weapon that could be handled by a single soldier, it would definitely be there.
As the Nighthawks' were a mercenary group that would go down to the battlefield, excluding the few elite members and the decapitation team, the rest of them formed a group with tremendous firepower. Although their group merely comprised of about twenty people, all of them were senior soldiers who had experiences the flames of war and were already able to penetrate a small-scale city within a short span of time.
In Africa, an army like this would be considered as the cream of the crop.
Behind the four cars was the larger mercenary group that the Nighthawks had gathered. It was a large team of over a hundred people that was known as the Nighthawk Army.
All of them were the Nighthawks' peripheral soldiers. They had truly thrown away all of their animosities this time because the absence of the restrictions from Black Knife and other similar mercenary groups meant that the Nighthawks' could use a large number of their funds to quickly employ these mercenaries that had experienced the battlefield before.
Hoards of mercenaries enthusiastically joined the Nighthawks when they heard about their military exploits such as slaughtering Black Knife. Following a powerful army into battle meant that they would receive a considerable amount of commissions and would have a higher probability of evading death as well. Therefore, the mercenaries had always preferred to join the stronger group. They were like grass on top of a wall that would always be influenced to join the side that possessed stronger powers. On the battlefield of mercenaries, one could never allow their enemies to discover that they were weaker. Despite being less powerful, it was important to fight with the confidence of a madman so that others would be afraid.
Garen stood on top of the cross-country vehicle that was in front and turned around to glance at the three cars behind him.
The people inside these three cars were the true inner members of the Nighthawks. Excluding the elites, these people were the true members that possessed a certain relationship to the others. Meanwhile, the ones behind them were only here while the winds favored them.
"The position has been confirmed. One of the smaller patrol teams has been ambushed and three people have died," said Carlo's voice through the Hawkeye.
"Move towards that direction."
Garen nodded. When he was dressed in his military gear, a heavy air that was both ruthless and cold spread wafted from his body unconsciously.
"Yes, sir!"
The convoy began to turn around before driving towards the marked direction.
After receiving the commands from the front, the team at the back split themselves up into a few smaller groups that charged forward in a circled formation.
Garen's line of sight returned after he glanced at a cheetah that was climbing up a nearby tree trunk before he looked at a large herd of black animals in front.
The convoy had not driven for a long time before a large herd of African wildebeest charged out in front of them.
Huff huff huff…
Numerous black wildebeest groaned while charging towards the convoy as if they were a wide black river that flowed throughout the olive colored grasslands continuously.
Two twisted horns grew out of the heads of these horse-like animals that resembled cows. They were unlike buffalo as their faces were longer while their bodies were slightly slimmer.
Nonetheless, these creatures charged and ran towards them, they were not inferior to a speedy little sedan car. They were clearly very powerful.
The army groups could not help but stop temporarily.
"We should be able to reach that guy soon," said Baldy quietly as he touched the bandage that he had wrapped around one of his eyes on his own. "Levi is wearing our men's clothes, but our uniforms always have a miniature signal tracking device, making it impossible for him to escape." His expression was slightly bitter as his eye had been personally stabbed and blinded by Levi during close combat.
"There's no rush," said Garen lightly.
Suddenly, he pressed down on the Hawkeye's earpiece and turned his head around to glance behind himself.
A soldier with a face full of greasepaint walked out of the undergrowth there and stood beside the car. He held three little yellow things that resembled embroidery needles in his hands that also seemed like normal bamboo sticks.
"Commander, I've discovered three signal devices nearby from the soldiers that were ambushed," yelled the soldier loudly.
Garen glanced at Baldy while the latter struck his fist against the car door violently, releasing a loud banging noise.
"Do we have any other way of catching up?" asked Garen softly.
"The satellite. In this weather, there should be no problem," answered a woman with a ponytail who stood beside Baldy. "However, I won't be able to guarantee the precision."
"Get to it," Garen nodded.
The woman turned her notebook on before a blinding and chaotic screen reflected and flashed while clicking keyboard noises could be heard. Next, she turned the computer screen around and looked towards Garen and the others.
"It can essentially confirm the approximate area, but the rental cost of the satellite is too high. I need Boss to authorize this."
Garen looked at Baldy and nodded immediately before the latter pressed his right finger down to input his fingerprint into the computer.
Beep…
A soft noise could be heard before the woman turned the computer back towards herself again and began to focus on her investigation.
"Although we won't be able to find Levi's precise whereabouts, Kenna's specific location should not be a problem. He has a satellite phone with him, so we can use our technical means to confirm his location. He used this phone recently as well," explained the woman with the ponytail quietly. "Levi has definitely chased Kenna to his current position, so we will just need to get this."
Garen nodded.
The wildebeest herd had passed as well, leaving shrouds of flying yellow dust behind them.
The convoy continued moving forward.