Bab 21: The Folinr (1)
'Foolish girl!' Adam glared at Lilith with murderous eyes. His glare was not a glare a 15 year old could do, this was born from his millenniums long experience.
After boasting about her love, Lilith looked towards Adam for approval but all she got was an aggressive look with eyes dead set on killing her.
Everyone already knew about her obsession but they were still surprised that she had the gall to do that on stage. It was a formal event after all and she got the opportunity due to her team winning the exercise and she was its commander in charge.
"Cough. Yes. I did it all on my own. I did my best as the commander-in-charge of the green team and we won." Lilith changed her words and tone.
"I claim most of the credit for this win. I studied the enemy's movement closely and acted accordingly. Still, everyone in the team did a great job and I could not be any more satisfied." She began to display an overbearing attitude.
And upon hearing her say those words, Adam nodded and his scary eyes mellowed down to dead fish eyes.
He was satisfied that Lilith canceled her plan to make Adam popular. For reasons unknown, Lilith was obsessed with Adam.
And due to being liked by such a beauty, Adam would receive some really strange glares, not that he cares about such a childish exclusion. He liked it this way.
It is not to say that Adam did not have friends, his unit is composed of his friends that he trained with. However, getting any more friends would be troublesome for him as he is already satisfied with a small group.
"You wouldn't have had to do that glare if you didn't take the exercise a little too seriously." Brian said and snickered.
Brian was still bitter about losing but he was taking the loss better than earlier.
"Geez. That girl sure is a piece of work." Adam scratched his head as he complained.
Lilith was a nightmare for Adam, who wanted a quiet life.He does not know the reason why Lilith was crazy about him either but he does not think too much of it.
Her turn on the podium soon ended and everyone applauded her. Tim went back to the stage and led Lilith down and he soon took over.
As he clutched the now working microphone, he checked his uniform for a bit before breathing deeply.
"Alright. Now that's over. Let us tackle the main reason why you are all summoned here today in such short notice." Tim said with a serious look, a juxtaposition from his earlier display.
"We have detected that the creatures started to move. Specifically, the ones me and my family encountered 10 years ago." He continued without stuttering. He was really serious about his statement.
The air within the room suddenly changed. From a jovial atmosphere to one that resembled a funeral, it was that serious.
And to add to that seriousness, a screen propped up on stage and showed several images. These were images of the creature that Tim was talking about.
It had pale skin, short height and pointy ears. They were hunchback and walked on all fours, looking closely, you can find that their eyes caved deeper into their sockets.
They were hideous creatures, monstrous to be exact but they looked very uncanny. Everyone that looked at the images were now aware that these creatures existed.
One reason for them not being properly identified is due to there being a lack of evidence of their existence. On the day Tim and his family arrived, a retrieval mission was set to motion to study the corpses.
However, once they arrived at the tunnel, there were no corpses at all. The sudden disappearance could be a very bad premonition or something sickening happened within the creature's ranks.
"These creatures are scavengers. They live off anything edible that they could find. Yes, that includes their own. They resort to cannibalism and most of these creatures wait for their family members to die to eat the remains.
Back in the past, when Tim learned of this crucial information, he was shocked.
'Those bastards outnumbered us but most of them did not decide to attack us. Instead, they waited for one of their own to die so they could eat.' This thought scared Tim dearly. He and his family would have been in deep peril if not for that fact that these creatures are scavengers.
And upon hearing that, Adam also had bloodshot eyes. He thinks that he could now finally understand why he got the title of The Cannibal.
'So I got that label as a cannibal due to them?' Adam lamented. He did not want to stick with his vicious title.
Tim grabbed everyone,'s attention with a light cough and then continued his report.
"These creatures are as strong a grown man so you best be careful when you encounter them." Tim spoke as if everyone had to face these hideous creatures.
And indeed they were. As trainee soldiers, they needed to gather enough experience before being put in more dangerous missions.
In all actuality, their military system was lax during down time. That is because the person that managed the system was very pensive. But he was also very strict when the need calls for it. Thus, a non-government force was born within the depths of the vault.
"I want all of you, cadets, to prepare yourselves as we are going on a campaign." Tim declared that these trainees were to participate in a war.
Everyone's hearts raced. They were about to experience the first time to actually kill a living being. They could not cover the excitement on their faces.
"The mission briefing will begin tomorrow morning at 0500 hours. After the briefing will be the beginning of the campaign and you would all need to be prepared for battle. Meeting adjourned."
Tim declared the end of the meeting. He walked down the podium and greeted some of the cadets that he knew personally. Of course, that includes Adam and Brian.
"Hey Adam. Report to your grandpa later. There are things we need to discuss in a more private environment." Tim said unto Adam in a casual voice that Brian could hear it clearly.
That was a clear invitation towards Brian as well. After all, Brian was with the family during the cataclysm that it was natural to include him in family matters. At this treatment, Brian was very happy. He was alone in the forest for a year before finally getting to know someone else in this world.
"Sir. Yes, sir." Adam confirmed his attendance with a salute.
So Adam went to the Director's office post haste and Brian was tagging along behind him. As they arrived by the office, they saw that it was closed so they opted to knock on the door.
Knock knock
Adam knocked on the door and it opened almost immediately. The people inside were waiting for them.
When they got inside, they saw the people who were situated inside the room. There was Jenny who had an unusual seriousness on her face; there was also Ivan and his wife who is yet to be named. And of course, the director was sitting on his seat with Talyn, the albino marten, on his lap.
'Hmm. It seems that this is concerning the creature we met 10 years ago.' Brian thought quietly. He looked around and did not find Tim anywhere.
And without surprise, the door was soon unlocked by a person from outside. It was Tim, who was given a spare key to the office door. Once Tim arrived in the room, the director who was busy playing with Talyn suddenly spoke.
"Okay. I guess that's everyone?" Johnny asked no one in particular.
He stood from his seat and put Talyn on her cat basket despite being a marten. He patted his clothes to remove the fur and then went back to sitting on his seat. He clasped his hands and he rested both his elbows on the table.
"Now that everyone is ready. Let me begin my piece by saying that we are in immediate danger." Johnny dropped a very bomb sentence on everyone.
Everyone did not seriously think that was true. Johnny is widely known as a person that makes a lot of jokes after all. However, they turned solemn when they saw Johnny was not smiling at all.
"Let me explain. These creatures, the one with the pale skin, for convenience sake I am going to call them the Folinr as per Adam's suggestion years ago. These creatures are cave dwellers and they exhibit the characteristics of scavengers." Johnny continued his explanation. He pressed his watch and soon a screen turned on from behind him.
"However, they are not mere scavengers. These Folinr assholes experts under the ground, they find holes to live in." He stopped talking for a while. He once again clasped his hands.
"But these assholes are multiplying, and they're multiplying fast. Due to that, they need more space." He continued.
Brian had an inkling about what Johnny was about to say. Because there were similar creatures from Tepatria that use the ground for shelter and multiply fast such as the goblins.
"They started digging, didn't they?" Brian said towards Johnny. He was certain about that statement of his.
"Yes. And they're soon to reach and pry The Vault open."
At this point, everyone deeply lamented about their situation. It was a disaster that the Director could not publicly announce to everyone within The Vault. If he did, there would be mass panic. It was such a problem even though humans now had Gifts.
However, the danger the Folinr posed to The Vault was not that great. Once they opened a path into the facility, they would be stopped by the military within. However, there will be damages done to the people due to the sudden attack. This would cause some uncertainty within the minds of the people that they weren't safe even inside The Vault.
"And that is why I need you to help me on this one. Especially you Brian." Johnny said as he pointed towards Brian.
"Yes." Brian replied in kind.
"Okay. This is one of the opportunities that you are going to get to grow as a hero. Lead the cadets well and kill as many of these bastards. Once the mission ends successfully, I am going to have to block the holes that these Folinr dugout.
After that private briefing, they went back to their respective rooms. Ivan and his wife went about silently without talking to anyone else. Tim and Jenny were deeply worried and everyone that saw them were alarmed, but the people could not find any reason to believe that something bad was going to happen due to one couple's expression.
Adam and Brian on the other hand. The two of them went towards Tim's personal training area . To be exact, it was the Soileward's training area but Tim was usually the one that used the room. And due to that, there were a lot of holes within the area but it was okay since the ground is dirt.
Tim was graced with the power of explosion. After training for years, he could control and set explosions within 30 meter distance from himself. He first had the difficulty of making even a small explosion but he improved so much that his explosions now pack quite a punch.
In this beaten up space, Adam and Brian sparred with nothing but their hands and feet.
They were doing a Mexican stand-off but they didn't have guns. They both waited for an opportunity and looked for an opening within the other's stance. It was a solemn moment but -
Adam rushed towards Brian's side. Adam was about to send a light jab from the side but Brian swiftly backed off. Seeing Brian backing off, Adam continued his chase. And as Adam was about to reach Brian, Brian suddenly stopped and dodged Adam's strike.
Hitting air with quite a speed, Adam was thrown off-balance. This was a chance for Brian to counter attack. He was about to strike Adam with a fist predicatively if ever Adam tried to fix his stance. But that never happened as Adam continued his forward lunge and dove to the ground rolling.
And with that, Brian brought down an axe kick on Adam who was still crouched on the ground. Adam rolled to the side. Whilst rolling, he grabbed a minuscule amount of dust and as he finished his roll, he threw dust on Brian's face.
Brian flinched and used his arm to guard his sight. Not missing this chance, Adam tried striking from such a position with his arm. It was not a strike filled with strength but it would be enough for a first hit.
However.
"Got you!" Brian said as he pushed the arm that covered his face forward.
Brian fell for the dust trick once but never again. With such an awkward position and having to retract his strike, Adam was sure to get hit. But Adam did not retract his outreached hand and instead used the hand's momentum to do a spin on the ground.
And with that spin, his feet were included. Seeing movement from Adam's feet, Brian paled.
Crack~
It was a nasty hit to the groin.
Brian stood still but soon crouched. He laid on the ground in a fetal position and dealt with the pain.
"You fucking bastard!" He screamed in agony.
It was on this day, Adam swore to never strike his best friend on the family jewels ever again.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone