CHAPTER 49: Too Damn Tough
Adam gently placed his hand onto the frame of a flattened roadster. He closed his eyes and tried to feel through his hand. The roadster was on the bottom of a huge pile of flattened and crushed cars. Some grease and glass could be seen here or there, but it was mostly just car frames.
“What is he doing?” Hickory whispered to Joseph, though loud enough for Adam to hear.
“Not sure but give it a few minutes and then he’ll do something awesome,” Joseph responded. A few more people heard them whispering and walked over to watch as well. The rest were still moving around the hole, checking for signs of invaders. Rick was coordinating everyone, including Adam’s group, a few feet away from the hole. Ed stood near him watching his laptop and controlling his drones, both for video footage and to check the area from above.
A thirteen-foot hole was gaping in the ground between four mountains of cars. It slanted down at the edges, around five feet deep only to become a convex shadow that light couldn’t penetrate. They had tried shining flashlights and had dropped an emergency flare into it. The flare passed completely through and vanished from sight. It seemed likely that it was the barrier to an invader’s dimensional convergence rift.
Deep impressions were pressed into the ground all over the area, as something heavy had left prints coming from and leading back to the hole. The prints didn’t have a distinctive shape, just looking like wide ovals. Many of the prints led to the mountains of metal around them, especially to areas where the car frames seemed to have been removed from the piles.
Slight but numerous vibrations could be felt through the car, even with the gawkers still talking behind him. Once Adam was sure of what he had been checking, he stood and looked at Joseph.
“We’ll see if this is awesome enough for you,” he winked, before turning to Rick a bit further away. “Bring everyone back. Weapons out.”
Rick nodded and spoke through his radio. Everyone had been equipped with them and responded affirmatively. It only took 20 seconds before everyone was back. A defensive formation was established at their side of the hole.
“Ready when you are,” said Rick.
Adam walked to the pile of cars and picked up the frame of a longer one. It was much lighter than a car containing all its insides and would still have been an amazing feat if everyone here wasn’t used to Adam’s strength. Only Lilliard and Hickory shook their heads in surprise.
Wiggling the car while holding just the back of it, he swung it so the flat of it smacked into the pile. A series of loud clangs echoed out at the impact. Five more times he pulled the car frame back and smacked it into the pile, creating loud noises. The entire mountain destabilized a bit and things began shifting and trying to resettle.
Then the first one appeared. It was moving so slowly that the group almost missed it until it was completely out of the pile. The creature was only about three and a half feet tall, with the highest point being its hunched shoulders. A rusty orange color made up the bulk of its skin, allowing it to look fitting among the cars. Dull colored metal was grafted all over its thick limbs, fused to almost cover its skin. Instead of clothes it wore a curved metal shell that began in front of its face and arced around its neck, shoulders, and back down to the back of its knees. The front of the shell covered the rest of its torso.
Its feet were rounded and cracked with indentations at the tip instead of toes. Its hands had four fingers, but they were shaped almost like a crab pincer, with two on top and two on the bottom instead of having a thumb. The fingers were also thick but flat.
While everyone was watching the first one that came out, they didn’t notice the almost two dozen that were moving out from the other parts of the car mountain. They moved so slowly that casually walking next to them would have out raced them. Yet their strength seemed legit as they didn’t struggle under the weight of their thick metal shells.
“What are they?” asked Lilliard, sounding ready to freak out.
“Invaders, duh,” answered Randall flippantly.
“They are a race called Testudinates,” said Carlos with a squint, trying to get more information from his [Understand] skill.
“Do we kill them?” asked Lucas.
“Are they going to attack us?” asked Brandon, seeing that they were all heading towards the hole instead of to their group.
Adam walked over to the closest one. “Can you guys communicate?” Inside Adam’s inner self, the river was running through him. It had sped up at the first sight of the creature and was now trying to force Adam into action. He fought against the rage and heat being pushed throughout him, not listening to the command to conquer that he heard his soul shouting.
“Please talk to me,” he growled through clenched teeth, feeling the difficulty in fighting his own distorted nature. When no response came from it, he gestured to Rick. A gun shot sounded and then a ping as the bullet from Rick’s rifle bounced off the arm of one of the creatures moving towards them.
“Damn, that was the highest power that the police have access too. How are we supposed to hurt them?”
“Let’s see,” said Adam as he gripped his sledgehammer and swung it at the exposed area of the creature. As fast as he was, somehow the slow-moving thing had bent forward and pulled its arms and legs together in a way that closed the metal shell around it completely. It was now an egg, just resting on the ground. The other creatures continued plodding towards the hole.
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Adam tried using his full strength to hit the egg from different angles, but nothing dented it and he could actually feel the handle of his sledgehammer giving out. The egg-shaped shell rolled from the impacts but not nearly as far as they should, as if it was negating the inertia.
“What’re we supposed to do now?” asked Joseph.
A dangerous feeling suddenly came to Adam. “MOVE FROM ITS PATH!” he shouted, hoping he was in time.
People dove to the side. Lucas tackled Hickory out of the path, who was too slow with his armor and lack of levels, while Nick yanked Lilliard by the collar of his tabard. A gray flash with an orange trail burst forward about twenty feet from where the egg had been, putting the egg just in front of the hole. Then it unfolded into the orange creature and continuing stepping until it reached the rift barrier.
“That was dangerous,” said one of the startled policemen with a heavy breath.
Due to how slow they were moving, the group hadn’t felt in danger, but after seeing the egg charge forward, everyone’s adrenaline had spiked, and they were looking around.
“Casters, focus on one and everyone use the element they have,” ordered Adam.
Hands came up as an [Earth Bullet] came from Elias, [Water Ball] came from Alissa, and a [Fire Ball] came from Andrea.
“No lighting?” asked Brittney.
“[Jolt] requires touch. I can’t cast it from range,” answered Andrea.
The magic seemed to just cause the creature to fold into an egg and then it continued on its way by rolling, which was slightly faster than how it walked. After five seconds of the rolling, it unfolded and continued walked.
“No to bullets, physical attacks, or magic. Don’t stand in front of it. What do we have to try next?” asked Brittney.
Adam walked over to another one and pulled out an elven knife. When he brought it close to the creature it folder into an egg. The knife was able to score into the metal shell, but not all the way through. He walked behind it and then simply picked it up.
The egg shook a little, and Adam felt like it had used a skill, probably the rolling one, but it didn’t get out of his grasp. Around them the creatures continued moving towards the hole as if it was inevitable.
“These things are too damn tough,” said Tom.
Adam squeezed. He could feel the pressure forcing the metal of the shell inwards, but it felt almost like there was pressure inside pushing outwards to negate his own. While he knew he had a strength advantage, there was something magic related keeping him from crushing it. That meant that it was unlikely a car crusher would work either. Suddenly Adam was knocked backwards onto his butt as the egg flashed forward twenty feet, only to unfold and walk on.
A growl came from Adam. The river inside was too rapid, feeding him anger and overwhelming his thoughts. He reached for the coolness and tried to use it as a filter but felt his grip on it slipping.
A chill flashed through him as a touch from Abbey cast [Slight Heal].
“Are you alright?” she asked quietly while looking into his eyes. Adam took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. The concern from her connection and the consideration in her eyes helped sooth his rage just enough.
“I’m a bit hot,” he answered, but smiled at her and stood up.
Arriving at another of the creatures he pulled his knife and it folded into another egg. He looked around it, occasionally touching it before he found a slight circle crease where its arm had pulled inside. It was tight, but he thrust his elven knife into the crease with more force than the creature’s arm was using to hold the shell closed. A forceful twist of the knife created just enough space for him to jam his fingers into. Then he pulled, ripping a piece of the metal away from the arm holding it in place.
A shaking indicated it was about to charge forward, but before that could happen Adam shoved the knife into the opening and towards where he thought the face of the creature was. He swung the knife around a bit before he felt it stop resisting. A sound like a deep cow moo echoed out from it.
Testudinate Roller [7] was slain. 548 XP earned.
The egg dropped to the ground, but upon hearing the moo, the rest of the Testudinates folded their shells around them and then burst forward to the hole. His group dodged and jumped to not be between the eggs and the hole. Hickory and Lilliard had a rough time of it, being yanked back and forth, and the police were barely fast enough, a few getting knocked off their feet from the air pressure caused by the charge.
Once everyone was back up and dusted off, with a few heals thrown out, they gathered around the corpse. Randall helped Rick and a few other policemen to pull the shell apart. Without whatever magic the Testudinate was using, the shell pulled apart easily, though the metal was heavier than expected.
“Those things must have enormous strength to carry these shells. No wonder they were so slow moving,” Rick comment before laying out the body. They cut out a few pieces of the metal embedded in its arms and legs, noticing that none was near its spine or head. Adam checked with his knife and found that areas with metal were much harder to cut than its face had been.
“The face is practically pulped, and I barely had leverage when I cut it. It seems like it has a very low vitality, as well as agility,” Adam added.
“Definitely min-maxed strength. A very top-heavy build,” nodded Brittney. Several people threw her weird looks.
“Damn, you’re more of a nerd than even Brandy-boy,” Tom commented. She just shrugged, unconcerned.
“I don’t like to lose, even with Brandon’s games. Some games need min-maxing and rolls, but other games need more balance. I’m not sure which we're playing in this [System].”
“Games?! GAMES?!” Hickory snapped. “That was freaking terrifying! This isn’t a game! Those monsters almost killed us!”
“No one forced you to tag along. How did you think it was going to go? If it’s too scary for you then go back,” Adam responded calmly, but in harsh tones. He had noticed the trembling beneath the armor. “If you don’t have the determination to stand in front of those then give up on being a protector. Beg the [System] to let you change classes even though we’re after the 10-day limit or help the volunteers instead of the fighters. And take off that armor. The metal is useless and will get destroyed with the slightest touch.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re freaking He-man. How are the rest of you not terrified?!” moaned Hickory as he looked around.
“Because of the boss mostly,” crowed Tom. “You only saw a few monsters. The boss made us fight thousands. Hah, in our first encounter with the goblins we were all freaking out except for the boss, who we had just jumped. He pounded my face in, then saved our lives while killing the goblins. It was amazing. It’s only gotten better since.”
“Give him a taste,” Lucas said to Adam. “Give them all a taste. They need to understand.”
Adam nodded as he reached inside, forming a quick connection with everyone nearby. Then he pulsed his confidence and determination through it, as he had done with his friends against the goblins. Numerous gasps sounded out.
“What is that?”
“H-how can it be so certain.”
“T-that’s too great.”
“Wow!”
Hickory paled and went wide eyed as he looked at Adam. “How did you do that?”
“He told you mind control was real,” responded Joseph.
“Grow some balls, Tin man, or the Lion will have nothing on you,” Brittney said as she slapped the back of his armor, causing Hickory to stumble right into Adam’s open hand. He grabbed the collar of the armor and looked directly into Hickory’s eyes.
“What’s it going to be? Are you ready to protect earth or piss in your metal pants?”