CHAPTER 104: Leputi
Adam stood on the second to top floor of a parking garage. Carlos was peering in alternating directions using his skill [Clear Sight]. Lucas, Andrea, and Randall were scouting while the rest of his group waited with Adam. They had parked their vehicles about two miles away, coming the rest of the distance as quietly as they could manage.
So far, they hadn’t seen any invaders. They hadn’t seen much of anything. With no electricity the once active home to humanity was dead. There were no humans, animal noises, vehicles, or typical suburban and city sounds. It was creepy, and Adam was grateful that Jackson still felt like a lived-in place.
“Lucas is signaling that he has enemies incoming on the left of the mall. Randall and Andrea have both signaled all clear,” said Carlos.
“Does Lucas need assistance?” asked Adam. Carlos watched where Lucas was hiding, further away than Adam could see. They had a series of hand signals that the whole Sentinel Army had learned at Colonel Davian’s insistence. In this case Lucas would know he was being watched and would make the gestures repeatedly to make sure Carlos saw them.
“No. He thinks they’ll pass,” said Carlos.
The group got low and watched in the direction that Lucas was. If trouble occurred, they wanted to be quick to support their teammate. Not all of them were using binoculars, but Tom didn’t want to miss anything, and when he whistled in surprise the rest wondered what he saw.
“What the heck is that?” gasped Tom, when the invader passed a building and entered his sight. The rest could only vaguely see the shape. It looked like a large beast with a rider.
Adam held out his hand and Tom passed him the binoculars without a complaint.
“It’s not every day you see the devils riding from hell on their demon doggies,” said Tom.
Looking through the binoculars, Adam saw what he was talking about. The dog was big. Huge! It reminded him of pictures of mammoths, except this dog was almost cute.
The dog’s body was kind of round, and it had squat legs and a very short tail. The three heads were a sticking point though. Those were terrifying. The heads were also round, with sharp teeth and Doberman-type ears. One head was sniffing the air, making Adam concerned for Lucas. Another head was sniffing the ground. The third looked in the direction it was walking, shifting its body as it wanted to inspect everything in its path.
Riding on the back was a large being resembling pictures of demons. It was loaded with muscles and very few clothes. It had an axe in its hand. Red skin covered its body though it had brownish hair sprouting in patches from its upper arms, back, and chest. Curved horns came out of the sides of its head, where ears should be, and it looked like triangular ears were just above the horns.
“Cerberus didn’t come from hell, but from Hades,” said Brittney, looking through a different pair of binoculars.
“Isn’t Hades the same thing?” asked Tom.
“No. Hades is from Greek mythology, and they didn’t have demons like that. That’s Christian imagery. Thus, demons would never ride…” lectured Brittney.
“Nerd,” mocked Tom, who suddenly pitched forward as Alissa slapped him in the back of his head. He didn’t have his helmet on.
“Guys! Come on!” hissed Adam.
“Sorry, boss.”
They continued to watch the Cerberus and its rider. The pair never headed towards where Lucas was, though Adam felt on edge until the beast had moved on. They didn’t look quite as alert as he expected, assuming it was just patrolling the empty area.
“Are those the invaders setting the trap?” asked Brandon.
“No, I found him!” exclaimed Carlos. He picked up a pair of binoculars and combined them with [Clear Sight]. He pointed to a very distant building towards the north. When Adam tried to see there, all he found were shadows.
“I can’t see it. You sure, Carlos?”
“Yes. There’s something there. It has…” Carlos trailed off instead of finishing his sentence.
“It has what?” asked Alissa.
“Well, it has bunny ears.”
“Bunny ears?”
“Yes, bunny ears.”
“Awesome!” shouted Tom. “Bunny people! Oh gosh, this is every otaku’s dream. I hope they don’t have sharp, pointy teeth. Did anyone remember their holy hand grenade.”
Brittney and Brandon burst out laughing, but they were the only ones. Tom actually looked embarrassed at the lack of recognition from the rest of the group.
“Hmm…guess it’s too obscure a reference for you young’uns. I guarantee your parents would have found it funny,” chirped Tom, getting a few head shakes.
Once those who were scouting had returned, they followed Carlos as he led them through the streets and around buildings. Adam didn’t doubt they could fight that dog beast and rider as a group, but there was no reason to make a commotion before they found their objective. It looked like those invaders had come from the invader base south of the mall.
The path that they took was not straight, as Carlos used his skills to know exactly where they could go without being seen. They crisscrossed the roads, sneaking behind buildings. Eventually Carlos stopped at the side of a four-story office building.
“The invader was on this roof when I saw him last,” stated Carlos.
“How do we get up there?” asked Randall.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
Adam quietly set down his hammer and then pulled out two knives. Turning the blades so they were horizontal, he pushed one into the building. Then he reached up and pushed in the other one. Like a deranged rock climber, Adam kept reaching up, sliding in a knife, pulling out the other and then pulling himself up one handed. His group watched him for a minute before Lucas, Tom, and Brittney mimicked his actions.
The four took almost no time to scale the building. Due to the sharpness of the knives, which used alien materials, there was barely any sound as the blades slid right through the Earth building materials. Using their enhanced strength, pulling themselves up was a simple task, and four floors went by quickly.
Adam’s armor contained a lot of metal, but it was designed by Garrett and Melina to be as quiet as possible, with some thin rubber like coating to prevent clanging. It was important that he not sound like an aluminum trash can when he walked around. Combining the cushioned armor with his strength, Adam was able to silently pull himself over the lip of the roof without his armor making contact with it.
On the other side of the roof, facing away from them, was the invader. It was leaning forward against the opposite roof lip, looking back and forth in a relaxed manner, as if waiting for something but not expecting it to show up yet. The position it stood in would give it the best view of the surrounding area.
The invader’s ears didn’t entirely look like a bunny’s, but it wasn’t too dissimilar either. From the back, Adam could see that dark fur covered its body. There was no hair like a human’s on its head, just the fur everywhere. It was short, only about 5’5” tall, though the ears did stick upwards quite a bit. They were flat to the sides of the head instead of flopping forward from the top like a true bunny.
The frame of the invader was lanky and looked built for quick movements. Its shoulders were wide and muscular, while its forearms were much thinner. There was a convex shape to the ribs, sinking inwards until they connected with a narrow waist. The hands, or paws, that rested on the roof lip were very large, at least as big as its boulder shoulders. The creature wore a tight fabric shirt and pants, as well as boots that indicated it had very large feet.
Once the others had pulled themselves over the ledge, with Adam’s help to make sure they didn’t rattle their own armor, they all crept forward quietly. No one in the group had seen Adam move stealthily and they were a bit surprised. His signature move was to roar and charge in, after all. It wasn’t that Adam couldn’t be stealthy, it just hadn’t mattered until now. Pre-[System], Adam was quite good at Capture the Flag.
When they got close, he saw the invader’s ears start to twitch. They weren’t completely silent in their approach and now the creature seemed to realize. As it turned around, Adam once more relied on charging forward, using [Gladiator’s Approach].
Instantly Adam was at the ledge of the building, holding the invader by the throat while dangling him over the ledge. The invader looked terrified for a moment, but when it looked down, the fear left it. It also took a moment to inspect Adam’s face before swallowing and nodding to itself. Once the fear was gone, Adam couldn’t tell what the expression it had was, but clearly falling four stories wasn’t what frightened it.
“Were you waiting for me?” Adam asked it, still holding it tightly but pulling it back to the roof. If it wasn’t afraid of falling, then Adam didn’t want to have to chase it once it hit the ground. It also didn’t struggle at all from his grip, indicating it either wasn’t threatened or didn’t want to put up a fight.
The invader, with a tag of “Sneak [4],” tried to nod its head, then opened its mouth and spoke in strongly accented English.
“Yes, Excellency. I was waiting for you.”
“You have some of my people?” Adam asked directly.
“Yes, Excellency. We keep them safe for you.”
“Keep them safe? Don’t you mean hold them hostage?”
“Both, Excellency. Tribe Chief wanted to negotiate. Natives will not be harmed.”
“Won’t be harmed if I do what you say, you mean,” said Adam, glaring at the little man.
“No, Excellency. Natives safe. We will not harm even if Excellency refuses discussion.”
This confused Adam, though he figured he couldn’t trust a low-level grunt anyway. His heat was already pulsing through his body at the sight of the invader, but the river was flowing gently so far. It calmed slightly at the invader’s words.
Adam brought the face of the invader close, turning it while dangling the creature in the air. The face was almost cute in a stylized way. The top front of the face sloped forward, coming to an almost triangular nose. The mouth opened wide, with thin lips, and squarish teeth, unlike all the jagged ones Adam had seen on other invaders. The eyes were round and set wide, tilted outwards due to the slope that ended at the nose.
“Where is the mind witch?” Adam asked with more force. While the invader’s expression had been outside of his understanding before, now it became clear. The invader was confused.
“Mind witch?” asked the invader hesitantly. For the first time it seemed unsure. Its eyes began to dart to the sides, looking at Adam’s companions and the surroundings. In a human, that would have been a tell for lying. “I do not understand what that is.”
Adam observed him for a minute. As the seconds passed, the invader looked more and more concerned, showing it in his body language.
“The invader mind witch keeps messing with my people. She changes memories and everyone thinks she’s beautiful. There are a lot of traps that she has set for us,” explained Adam, feeling very suspicious.
“I see,” said the creature. He stopped acting all nervous and his body language changed to an animal trying to please its owner. “Red Clan speaker. Yes. She tries hard to get you.”
“Yes, she tries hard. Where is she?”
“I do not know where she is. She would never use Leputi for tricks or traps.”
“Leputi?” asked Brittney from behind.
“Yes, shield bearer,” said the invader. “This small one is Leputi.”
“Leputi is your name?” asked Lucas.
“No, no, strong warrior. This one’s name is Rahsha, though that name is beneath your remembrance. Leputi are this one’s tribe.”
“Humble little squirt, ain’t he?” said Tom.
Adam had to agree. It was unimaginable to Adam to be held by the throat for this long without showing the slightest discomfort or concern.
“Yes, yes, great warriors of the Sand-in-all Army. This one is as humble as his tribe. Set to wait for your greatnesses.”
Tom laughed, “Sand-in-all. That’s good. I gotta do something with that.”
Rahsha looked confused.
“The name is Sentinel Army. Sentinel,” explained Lucas. Rahsha became mortified and tried to prostrate before remembering he was suspended in the air by his neck.
“This one apologizes throughout his being. Please do not take out this disrespect on the tribe. I will sacrifice myself for you after leading you to the chief.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal,” said Lucas dismissively, feeling unavoidably bad for the panicking creature. “I’m sure it’s a new language for you. Can’t expect you to know all the words.”
“This one praises your generosity and forgiveness, mighty ones. All thanks to your greatness.”
Adam sighed, feeling at a loss. On the one hand, the voice in his soul wanted him to pop the guy’s head, while on the other he found Rahsha pathetic and not worth threatening. Of course, he was also on alert for a trap.
“You were sent to wait for us here?” asked Adam, getting back to their purpose.
“Yes, yes, your Excellency. This one has waited for three suns and darknesses for your arrival.”
“Why?” asked Adam.
“Tribe Chief wanted to negotiate,” said Rahsha.
“For what?”
“That is for tribe chief to discuss,” said the Leputi after a moment of hesitation.
“Do you even know what it’s about?” asked Tom.
“This one apologizes for his ignorance,” said the little man, releasing a chittering noise as if he had done something wrong.
“Boss, you wanted to break a trap anyway. I think we might as well have this guy show us the way,” advised Tom.
Adam thought about it then shrugged. He put the Leputi gently on the ground and let go of his neck. Giving him a once over, the only weapons that Adam saw were two very small, curved knives on his belt. Rahsha would need to be inconceivably fast to be a threat to their group.
Once Rahsha was on the ground, Tom walked over and put his arm around the invader’s shoulders, causing the furry man to look like he wanted to run away.
“Now, little buddy, how about you take us to your leader.”