"What... is wrong with that man?"
"Is that... a Creep?"
"Did she just... cut that woman in half?!"
"Is... is no one gonna attack?"
The Blue creeps stared at Adam, their eyes gazing down on the line he’d drawn in the sand. His message seemed clear enough—cross it, and suffer the same fate as the woman he’d just launched through the air.
They looked at each other, weapons trembling in their hands. But very soon, this trembling stopped when they realized they had enough numbers to bury Adam.
Adam was just a single Creep, no matter how good or strong he appeared to be. They could overwhelm him. They stared at his Halo again and grew even more confident.
"Heh. This man ain’t shit," the veteran who seemed stronger among them scoffed, stepping forward. She was a woman in her thirties, or perhaps twenties; it was hard to tell from all the multiple scars on her dark skin. She gripped her machete tight, and the blood drying on it still dripped on the sand. "I ain’t lettin’ no lil’ kid wit a big-ass sword scare us off."
She took another step toward the line, then another—
But all of a sudden, Adam lunged. But not at her.
He shot forward, gripping the Shion with both hands as he swung it horizontally at the three Blue creeps directly in front of him. The blade caught all three across their stomachs, launching them backward into their comrades and clearing a path through their ranks.
Without stopping, Adam dashed straight through the gap he’d created.
"What the hell?!" The veteran woman who’d been approaching the line spun around, confusion written across her face.
The other Blue creeps shared her bewilderment. They’d all thought the same thing—that the line was some kind of challenge, a boundary they weren’t supposed to cross.
Well, they were wrong.
There had been no challenge at all. The line Adam drew wasn’t a warning—it was to scatter sand and prevent anyone from moving recklessly forward while he scanned their faces, checking their halos, confirming what he already suspected.
Since his team was blitzing another lane, the enemy Hero who was with them had most likely left for another lane.
And there was another crucial fact everyone had missed—Adam hadn’t actually killed the woman he’d struck earlier, nor the three creeps he’d just attacked. Everything was just... everyone else’s misunderstanding.
Adam wouldn’t play like that, not at all.
And now that he’d confirmed the Blue team’s Hero was gone, Adam rushed straight for their Crystal.
Of course, he would knock out everyone in his path—hard enough that they wouldn’t be able to get up for at least half a day. It was cruel, but that was the best way Adam could think of to preserve as many lives as possible.
Clementine mentioned a Hero from a popular comic who did the same—and she told him she hated that character because he wouldn’t put the villains down permanently. But Adam thought there was no comparison to be made there.
These people weren’t villains. That superhero she mentioned knocked people to defeat them, Adam was knocking these people to save them.
And it worked.
"Don’t let him get to the crystal!" someone screamed.
"Kill him!"
"Stop him!"
"He’s heading for our Crystal!"
"Don’t let him go!"
The Blue creeps erupted into chaos, their formation completely broken as they gave chase. Adam glanced back at them, making sure to stay just within their reach so they wouldn’t get disheartened. When the fastest runner got close enough, Adam stopped and spun around.
His fist connected with the man’s jaw. With Adam’s new strength, the punch completely shattered the man’s face, sending him tumbling unconscious into the sand.
Adam didn’t stop there. He crouched down and swept the back of his blade across the sand, catching several pursuers’ ankles and sending them crashing to the ground. Then he kicked them away one by one, their bodies colliding with the others still rushing forward.
With everyone packed so tightly together and the unstable sand beneath their feet, it immediately caused a stampede. Bodies crashed into each other, people tripped and fell, creating a chaotic pile of limbs and groans.
Adam started backing away, his eyes moving to whoever was closest to him, ready to strike again if needed.
But it didn’t take long before the creeps realized something, and they stopped their reckless charge.
"Wait!" a veteran shouted. "Don’t charge him recklessly! He’s stronger than all of us!"
"Regroup! Make a formation like what the Hero told us!"
Adam stared at them for a moment, noting their slowly building formation. Well, not like it mattered. He turned around, and then sprinted toward their Crystal.
"What the—he’s getting away!"
"Forget about formations—he’s going for our crystal!"
They gave chase again, but something else happened. Something else that completely escaped their minds since they were so busy chasing after Adam.
Adam was not their only enemy. The rest of the Red creeps had finally arrived... and they arrived in droves.
With the Blue team’s attention completely focused on Adam, they never saw the wave of desperate Red creeps crashing into their rear. The Red creeps who’d been running for their lives suddenly found their enemies’ backs turned to them, and with the Creeps from Adam’s group joining them... it slowly turned into a massacre.
"Behind us!"
"We’re surrounded!"
"Help! The others are attacking us at the rear!"
Adam heard their screams and immediately stopped in his tracks. And when he saw what was happening, his shoulders sagged, and his grip on the Shion lightened.
What did you think was going to happen, Adam?
But Adam quickly shook his head, pushing the voice away. He’d already resolved himself to this path.
These people were fighting for their lives, and he had no right to stop them from doing so. In the end, he could only control his own actions. He disagreed with Clementine about many things, but it didn’t change the fact that she was right about one thing...
...the Game was nature, and dying was part of it.