Chapter 126: Chapter 126: The Velociraptor
"Mr. Kahn, General, we have arrived!" At sunrise, the convoy came to a halt at a checkpoint hidden in a mountain valley. Soon, a military officer approached immediately to make his report.
General Fletcher glanced in Josh's direction.
"We've arrived?" Josh, who was sitting in the back seat of the jeep, stood up and looked ahead. It was a very deep canyon, and there was obviously a very large area inside.
"Yes, sir. The valley extends over a considerable area. Only a single path through the a valley and a river channel provide access to it.
Two kilometers down the road is the abandoned town of Winsberg. It was in this valley that the soldiers and Mr. Hugh Jones disappeared. To prevent further incidents, Colonel Ward had previously sealed off both ends of the valley and the river exit," the officer explained.
Just then, the sound of a jeep announced the arrival of Colonel Ward himself. Informed of Josh and General Fletcher's arrival, he had hurried over from the blockade he commanded.
But Josh had no time for formalities. He turned to Fletcher and gave his order.
"Have your men secure the perimeter. My team will handle the search inside," Josh ordered.
Fletcher nodded in agreement and began organizing his troops to reinforce the blockade. As for Colonel Ward, Fletcher quickly ordered him back to supervise the prisoners' camp.
With limited manpower already stretched thin by roadblock duties, Fletcher could not afford to further weaken the camp's security. If anything went wrong there, it would only make matters worse.
Meanwhile, Josh spoke to Vito, who was standing nearby.
"The rest is up to you. Be careful. Twelve hours—whatever you find, withdraw by then."
Though determined to save Hugh Jones, Josh had no intention of putting himself in harm's way by entering the valley. Instead, Vito and a special task force formed under Brook and Ophelia's leadership in Josh's absence would handle the mission.
This elite unit, composed of hand-picked veterans of the Wehrmacht and Hydra, was armed with state-of-the-art equipment, experimental serums, and other specialized tools. (TL/N: The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945.)
"If even you can't find him, we're in serious trouble," Josh remarked seriously.
"Don't worry, boss. Even if it's a vampire, I'll rip him apart and bring him back in pieces for you!" Vito grinned, exuding confidence. Strengthened by the enhanced abilities provided by the Beastification Serum and advanced weaponry, he was more than prepared.
Adventurous by nature, Vito had always craved excitement-even as a teenager, he was attracted to the thrills of gang life. But after serving Josh and witnessing the grand scheme of thing, the appeal of the underworld paled in comparison.
What could match the thrill of Hydra's grand ambitions? And now, the thought that he might come into contact with vampires, a legendary creature, made him even more excited!
"Go," Josh said, nodding.
Vito then drove a jeep with ten trucks covered in camouflage straight into the valley.
"Frank, what are you looking at? It's so well covered up, can you even tell what it is?" One of the two soldiers on guard not far away asked, patting his partner.
"Er, I don't know, but whatever's in there gives me a really uncomfortable feeling," the soldier named Frank shook his head and said.
"Ha! I bet it's just coriander in there.
The only thing that could make our cold-blooded Frank squirm!" his companion laughed, whistling playfully.
"Screw coriander! Don't even mention it—it makes me sick just thinking about it!" Frank shot back, rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile, deeper in the valley, Vito's convoy stopped once they were out of sight of the outer perimeter. Under his command, fifty fully armed soldiers stepped out of the trucks and quickly formed ranks.
"This is our first mission, and I won't tolerate any mistakes. Even if the boss spares you, I won't," Vito declared sternly, his voice ringing with authority. "Hail Hydra!"
"Hail Hydra! Hail Hydra!" the soldier also shouted in unison.
"Very good, now start unloading the goods! and change clothes!" Vito looked at the soldiers' neat and uniform appearance, and his heart was bursting with a sense of satisfaction. This is fucking power!
But despite his satisfaction, Vito harbored no treacherous ambitions. The longer he followed Josh, the more he admired Josh's mysterious abilities. Without Josh, Vito knew he would be nothing.
Still, loyalty to Josh didn't stop him from striving to claim the title of Josh's top man.
At Vito's command, the soldiers unloaded large, carefully sealed crates of equipment from the trucks. Inside were strange battle suits-half metal, half leather, decorated with strange, high-tech devices.
These suits were none other than the Tesla Trooper (TL/N: Previously translated as Magnetic Storm infantry armor, thanks for the understanding) that had been obtained from Yuri, but had never been used before.
Soon, all the soldiers in the action team took off their original equipment and replaced it with the Tesla Troopers.
But that wasn't the end. Soon, ten large cages, tightly sealed with only a few ventilation grids, were carried off the truck.
Since it was still winter, it was clear to see that wisps of heat were escaping from the grids.
Obviously, these cages contained some kind of animal.
"Open the cages!" Vito ordered.
As the cages were opened one by one, strange creatures, more than a meter tall and two meters long, with sharp, winged upper limbs but walking on two legs with hind limbs, slightly slender figures, and a body covered in bird-like feathers, emerged from the cages and used their vertical, snake-like pupils to silently survey the surrounding soldiers.
However, when they saw these strange, thin-looking creatures, many of the soldiers in the strike team unconsciously took a step back.
They all knew that this seemingly slender animal was actually an extremely fierce predator.
These soldiers had personally seen a male lion being easily hunted and torn to pieces by these ten animals.
In fact, this was a super-powerful predator that should not have appeared in this era.
They are dinosaurs, and they are one of the smartest kind of dinosaur called Velociraptor, a kind of dromaeosaurid that lived in the Late Cretaceous period.
In this tense atmosphere, a strange clicking sound echoed.
Vito was holding a peculiar device that produced the disturbing sound. The ten raptors immediately turned their heads and ran towards him, forming a line at his feet.
"Good, my darlings. Now, take a whiff of this," Vito said, a little nervous himself, but he restrained his nervousness and took out a piece of clothing from the truck.
One by one, the raptors approached, taking deep breaths to lock in the scent.
"Go! Find him!" Vito ordered, his device clicking again.
Without hesitation, the raptors took off in different directions, disappearing into the dense terrain of the valley.
These creatures, carefully bred and trained by Yuri, were unparalleled trackers. Their senses of smell and hearing, combined with their intelligence, far surpassed any canine or mammalian tracker.
Their only drawbacks were those shown in the movies, insatiable appetites and extreme aggression.
But for individuals like Yuri and Josh, control was everything. And with control, even these flaws were assets, not hindrances.
(End of chapter)