Project : New World

Chapter 26 : Thornhollow Forest

A minute had passed and ingredient preparations were done. Private Vasques immediately took them and started cooking while humming. He was very happy - it had been quite a while since he had eaten his favorite dish.

"Prince Edward, before the food is cooked can you tell us about Aster City?"

To keep themselves from getting bored, Sergeant Satsuki came up with a topic because Private Vasques was busy doing his task. Prince Edward nodded and signaled to the group to encircle. When everything was in position, he started talking.

"Three years before what we called the great crop failure, Aster city was one of the richest cities in the entire Kingdom. It was also known as the Impregnable City of Aster which withstood a few hundred siege battles"

"What caused the great crop failure?" Lieutenant Rina opened her Wrist Terminal and turned on the voice recorder. She signaled the Prince to continue his story.

"We did not know, we already sent some of our Royal Mages who were good at Restoration Void Magic but the crops still not saved" Prince Edward took a deep breath and continued "Because of this, many Nobles and Peasants left the area which caused the fall of the city's economy."

The whole group savored every information Prince Edward provided. They were brainstorming about the cause of the severe crop failure that led to the destruction of the city's economy.

Everyone was in deep thought when Private Vasques arrived holding a large stock pot steaming in heat.

"The spaghetti is finally cooked! Let's Eat!" Private Vasques' smile reached his ears with a spark in his eyes. Sergeant Satsuki opened the bag from her Universal Human Carrier and handed the forks and plate to the whole team.

Private Vasques immediately grabbed the stockpot and placed the spaghetti on his plate. When he had finished doing so, Ariel and Sergeant Nicholas followed and placed their portion on their plates.

"It's delicious! This is the first time I ate this kind of pasta dish. It has a mixture of sour and sweetness" When Ariel tasted the spaghetti, she couldn't stop eating and went straight to stuffing her mouth full.

"I know right! This is the best! Fun fact in the Philippines, when you cook this your neighbor will ask you if there's a birthday being celebrated." Private Vasques said while digging his plate. He already had taken the spaghetti from the stockpot twice.

"This food looks luxurious, thank you very much" Prince bowed to Private Vasques in gratitude for the food.

"No! No! No it's not luxurious, it's just the culture of the Filipinos" Private Vasques lowered his plate, and shyly replied to Prince while shaking his head.

"Hmm, I keep hearing this Philippines, Filipino, Afghanistan, and the United Nations, but I don't know where it is" Ariel drinks a glass of water and asks the group.

"The United Nations is made up of different countries with the same goal. 'Peace' " Lieutenant Rina who had just finished her spaghetti, replied to Ariel.

"I see, the longer I hear these names the more intrigued I become in this country I make a de--"The prince's sentence was cut off when they suddenly heard a few gunshots along with the beeping of the radar scanner that they had set earlier.

"CONTACT !!" A Marine shouts on his radio and fires his rifle while crouching. He keeps shooting at the depths of the forest. "Unknown hostiles detected inside the forest ETA seven minutes"

Forty red dots appeared on the radar scanner and quickly approached their place.

"Go back to your IFV. Others get your rifles ready. Prepare for combat!" At the behest of Lieutenant Rina, the Marines immediately returned to their IFV's while others prepared their small arms.

"3 ... 2 ... 1 CONTACT!" A black dog leaped towards the Marine to grab but immediately fell from the gunshots.

"Prince Edward, Ariel do you know what that dog monster is?" Lieutenant Rina approached the two and asked what species was the black dog that they had encountered.

"We do not know, it looks like a new species of monster. There is no such thing here in Thornhollow Forest" Prince Edward answered the Lieutenant's question.

Lieutenant Rina hurriedly opened her Wrist Terminal and quickly scanned through Dr. Elmidor's emails in search for the monster's description. She inputted "black dog" on the search bar and hurriedly clicked it when results were shown.

"Bingo!" When Lieutenant Rina finally found out what the monster was, she immediately read it.

'A hellhound is a supernatural dog with a wide variety of ominous or hellish mythologies around the world. Features are mangled black fur, glowing red eyes, super strength and speed, and a foul odor. They also possess Pyrokinetic and Thermokinetic powers'

The description of the monster is the same as the dog they are currently encountering but what caught the Lieutenant's attention was that these dogs could manipulate fire.

"Holy shit! I need to inform the Marines right away!" She opened again her Wrist Terminal and set the frequency to all. She radioed the Marine commander.

"Festina to Sector One One. Hostiles species name found! Codename: Hellhound. Beware of fire projectiles over!"

"Sector One One to Festina. Copy that!" The Commander of Sector One lowered his Wrist Terminal and gave orders to his Team. "Heard that boys? Beware of fire projectiles from that fucking dogs!"

"Affirmative!" The Marines continued to shoot while others boarded their IFVs and manned the Machineguns. The Driver activates it.

When the Hellhounds noticed that they couldn't get close to these strange Humans. They kept their distance. One Hellhound burst into flame and suddenly five blazing orbs surrounded it. The hellhound threw the blazing orbs towards the humans which they immediately avoided but one unlucky Marine was hit.

"Medic !! Medic !!" The Marine shouts as he calls the medic. They immediately pulled him from the site.

The Unlucky Marine became lucky when only his tactical vest had been roasted. He prayed and gave thanks to his god. Meanwhile, the hellhound fell from the bullet of the Marine Snipers.

"Fifty more hostiles detected ... Wait, Holy shit that's huge !!" A Marine who kept observing the radar scanner shouts at the comms when he saw the fast-approaching big red dot. They quickly started their IFV's, just in time the big monster leaped, and it didn't hit anyone.

"What the fuck is that?" Private Vasques jaw dropped at the appearance of the big black dog which was almost four meters high. It had three heads, and like the hellhounds, it also has black skin and glaring red eyes. It also has a large collar on its neck.

"Graaaaahhh !!!"

"Impossible! Cerberus the emissary of hell!" Prince Edward became pale in shock at the three-headed dog in his front.