Saint:My Daily Routine Became My Superpower

Location: Outskirts Forest, Near Safe Zone Bastion 7

 Time: July 18th, 8:30 AM

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The team had left at dawn.

Kael stood at the edge of the forest with Elle, Dain, and Armin flanking him. The trees loomed tall, their shadows dense and breathless. But something was off. The scent. The quiet. The complete absence of birdsong.

> "We're not just scouting this time," Elle muttered. "This is a hunt."

Kael nodded. "Too many beasts showing up near Bastion 7. We wait, they'll flood the wall. And this forest is too close."

> "We're doing this for control," Dain added. "Control and practice."

Armin cracked his knuckles. "Practice sounds good. I've been getting bored."

They were armed, alert, and efficient. This wasn't their first patrol. But it felt like something different was waiting.

---

8:45 AM – Shifting Silence

They ventured deeper into the trees. Every few meters, they found bodies—some animal, some unrecognizable. All mauled. Limbs missing. Guts exposed. None were scavenged. Just… eaten.

The signs were growing fresher.

Kael crouched beside a broken buck, its neck twisted unnaturally. "These weren't mimics," he said. "Claw marks are different. Wild. Chaotic."

Elle raised her rifle and scanned the woods. "No sound. No birds. No life. Just predators."

> "Something's thinning the whole ecosystem," Kael murmured. "And it's not done."

They moved fast but quiet. More carcasses. Deer. Boars. Even a massive bear, shredded beyond recognition.

> "That was a forest boss," Dain whispered. "Took down four hunters last winter. Now it's meat."

---

9:10 AM – First Contact

The first wave came fast—six mutated wolves bursting through the underbrush like shadows with fangs. Their muscles bulged unnaturally. Eyes glowed faint red. Jaws cracked sideways.

Kael signaled quickly.

Elle sniped the left flank while Dain burst through center, kinetic bursts launching him over fallen trees. Armin braced with Ironhide and took a direct hit, letting his defense tank the heaviest.

Kael dashed through the opening, slashing with precision. His broken blade split one wolf's head. He dropped and rolled under another, triggering Ghost Veil to anticipate its leap.

> [Ghost Veil Activated – Danger Proximity Detected]

Two wolves down. Four more circled. But the team moved in sync—coordinated, brutal, clean.

They weren't the rookies they once were.

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9:25 AM – Trail of the Pack

Kael examined the corpses. "Mutated, but not too far. They're scouts. We haven't seen the real threat yet."

Elle wiped blood off her cheek. "Then let's keep moving."

The trail got worse. Blood soaked roots. Half-eaten bears wedged between tree branches. Armin pointed to claw marks ten feet off the ground. "Either that thing flies… or it jumps."

Dain stepped into a small clearing. Froze.

> "Uh. Guys…?"

A horde. Nearly 40 wolves circled a pile of freshly killed elk.

And at the center: it.

A humanoid dire wolf. Standing upright. Eight feet tall. Wearing torn armor from a long-dead hunter. Its eyes gleamed with something like thought.

Not wild.

Tactical.

> "That's the Alpha," Kael whispered.

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9:30 AM – Strategy

Kael gathered the team behind a fallen tree.

> "We don't fight the horde head-on. We divide them."

Dain nodded. "Explosives?"

> "Minimal. We can't start a fire this close to the zone. Use bursts to draw a section out. Armin, you create noise near the ridge. Elle, find a perch and support from above."

> "And you?" Elle asked.

Kael's eyes narrowed. "I'll deal with the Alpha."

The team moved.

Dain drew five of the wolves with movement decoys and kinetic sparks. Armin taunted another group into charging uphill, his Ironhide letting him absorb the brunt.

Elle picked off stragglers from a high tree, her rifle now enhanced with mimic sparks from her spear-bound state. Controlled. Deadly.

Kael entered the clearing from the shadows.

---

9:37 AM – The Alpha vs Kael

The Alpha tilted its head. It didn't speak. But it understood.

It lunged.

Kael dodged. Activated Routine Serge for a burst strike. His speed surged—strikes blurring—but the Alpha met him blow for blow. It dodged instinctively, its claws tearing through nearby bark.

> "It's learning," Kael muttered. "Smart enough to read patterns."

He ducked under a sweeping strike—ribs grazing the edge of claws—and used Ghost Veil again to redirect momentum.

The Alpha circled.

Then vanished.

Kael turned—too slow.

The beast lunged from behind.

> [Primordial Mimic Summoned]

A flicker of red light appeared.

Kael's mimic—half-skeletal, half-shadow—took form behind him and drove a jagged blade into the Alpha's neck.

It screamed. Gurgled. And fell.

The remaining wolves scattered.

Kael fell to one knee, panting. "That was… different."

> The mimic turned. Spoke mentally: "Not all beasts are mindless. This one tasted like it remembered pain."

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"Then something is teaching them."

---

10:00 AM – Cliffhanger

Far away—within the steel walls of Bastion 7—someone walked through the eastern gate.

A tall man. Friendly face. Wounded arm. Wore a hunter's cloak.

He was waved through.

Inside the research facility, he paused. Looked around. Then smiled.

His reflection in the mirror behind him twisted.

It wasn't a man.

It was the mimic copy.

And around him? Scientists. Technicians. Caged monsters.

New prey.

> TO BE CONTINUED…