The bellethers watched as one of their own slowly dropped to the ground, head rolling and bouncing almost playfully on the bleak surface of Mars. And before any of them could react, the aliens all found themselves hugging the hull of their ship. The integrity of their suits was compromised without them even knowing what had just happened.
As for the one who might've done that to them, he was now casually checking on the hostages like he didn't do anything at all.
"Can the three of you breathe properly?" Adam said, gently motioning for the hostages to come toward him. None of them answered, however, and they only stared at him, and then at each other.
Adam didn't continue with his queries and instead just studied each of their faces. Two were women, and the other seemed to be a boy in his teens. The three of them had one thing in common—their faces were sunken, their eyes bloodshot, and their lips completely dry.
Their hair was completely dried up, too. Their scalps bleeding from how chapped they were.
He stared at each of them for quite some time, focusing more on the boy.
The last appearance of the bellethers was eighteen years ago, and according to the reports that came after, there was an estimate of at least two hundred people abducted by them.
Adam was sure of it—this boy wasn't one of them. He didn't look a day over fifteen.
Was he… born in captivity?
Adam's hands began to tremble at the thought, once again closing into fists as he stared at the bellethers he pushed against the wall. But he also quickly calmed down as he watched them struggle to recover themselves since most of their bones had probably been pulverized by the push.
Instead, Adam focused on the hostages once more.
"Can any of you speak?" he asked them. But as he tried to reach for one of them, the three flinched and backed away at the same time.
Adam carefully lowered his hand, making sure he wasn't startling the three at all. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then, with a small sigh… he removed his mask.
The hiss the mask made as the oxygen escaped it whispered in the air, once again causing the three to flinch and cower away. But of course, the two older women who realized Adam had just removed his lifeline gasped, finally turning their eyes to his face.
They remained quiet for a moment, squinting as they seemed to recognize him but didn't remember where they'd seen him before. But after a few more moments, a loud gasp escaped one of the women, and she dropped to her knees and started bawling her eyes out.
Her cries, almost a wail in the air, as she slowly crawled to Adam's feet. Adam didn't let her, of course, and he quickly knelt to comfort her.
The other one was confused, but then finally realized who the person who saved them was.
"A…" the other woman whispered, her voice coming out parched. "Lord… Adam."
And as soon as those words escaped her, she, too, fell down to her knees and started to cry. The boy was confused, but seeing the two adults crying and trying to hug Adam, he couldn't help but do the same.
Adam sighed at this, putting his mask back on as he gently wrapped his arms around the three before gently leaping away from the ship.
"How many of you are in there?" he asked while in the air. And finally, they answered.
"Fif…fifteen of us."
The very reason why Adam removed his mask was not only to let them know that he was human—but to let him know that it was him. The Leak happened during a gathering of the Church, and almost all the people who were abducted were members of it.
Adam knew that as soon as they saw his face, their guard would completely break.
"Fifteen…" he whispered, once again leaping far from the ship until they reached a sort of opening on a nearby cave. He carefully let go of them, although the two women didn't seem to want to let go at all.
"Please, stay here." He reassured them, motioning for them to sit down and rest. "Whatever happens, do not go out. Okay? How long do you think your oxygen will last?"
"I… can still breathe well," the woman answered. Adam looked at the other two, and they nodded.
Adam, however, shook his head and said, "I'll leave this with you just in case."
"W-what…?" One of the woman's eyes turned wide as Adam once again removed his mask and then gave several canisters, handing all to them. "What about… you?"
"It's fine." Adam shook his head, stepping away from them with a smile on his face. "I can… hold my breath for a very, very long time."
And before any of them could even say anything else, a cloud of dust blew toward them as Adam disappeared from their eyes, leaving only a large crack on the ground as he left them. The boy seemed incredibly worried, wanting to run and chase Adam, but was stopped by the two women.
"What—who… was that?" the boy asked. "Is he… like us? Human?"
"No," the older woman answered. "He is Lord Adam. The one we've… told you about."
"That's… him?" the boy said weakly. "He's… real? I thought… I thought you and my mother only made him up. He's… real?"
"Y-yes…" the other woman said, covering her mouth to stop herself from crying. "And… and he's finally come to save us. C-come… pray… pray with us."
And while the three huddled together, Adam was quietly standing in front of the colossal spaceship. He watched as the bellethers he stuck to the wall crawled on the ground, trying to raise their weapon despite their bones crushed in several places.
Adam didn't do anything else; he just stood there, staring at the entrance of the ship. And then, without any warning, a bright light flashed right in front of him.
He moved to the side, but the beam of light hit his left arm. The beam of light also hit the ground behind him, completely melting through the surface of the planet like it was made of bubbles.
As for Adam's arm…
"Hm…" he stared at it, smoke hissing as he watched his skin regenerate from being torched. Adam didn't have time to admire his wound, however, as several more lasers fired at him—this time, since he was expecting it, he was able to quickly dodge to the side.
But there was no time to stop, as the lasers rained down upon his disappearing figure again and again. And soon, the bellethers who were firing at him slowly marched down the ship.
They didn't stop, making sure not to give Adam rest as they touched ground—there were probably hundreds of them, all filing like a wall in front of the ship to make sure Adam wouldn't be able to go in.
Those who were next to the steps parted, making way for a bellether who was covered in a much larger and thicker armor. The bellether's frog-like eyes scanned Adam, watching as he almost disappeared from sight while dodging a barrage of a hundred lasers.
The large bellether growled, then pushed his companions away as he pointed a device at Adam.
This tube-like device whirred, then a beam of light also shot out from it—but not all the way. It stayed, creating some sort of… light saber.
The armored bellether stepped forward, raising his hand as he gestured to his comrades to stop firing—and they did. Adam also stopped dodging, his eyes immediately meeting one of the large bellether's eyes.
The two of them stared at each other, with bellether obviously taunting Adam to fight. Adam squinted, studying the large bellether.
Sisa said that the bellethers didn't have any Hero as they killed all of them—and now he truly believes her. Just from this bellether's stance alone, Adam knew that the armor he was wearing enhanced its strength by leaps and bounds.
And of course, their weapon, which was capable of completely tearing down buildings and mountains like they were butter.
"Human!"
"Huh…?"
And to Adam's surprise, the large bellether spoke English.
"I remember you!" the large bellether said. "My people fear you. And I am here to prove to them that there is nothing to fear!"
"Me…?" Adam pointed to himself. "Are you sure it—"
"Perish!" Before Adam could finish, the large bellether disappeared from his spot—the ground it was standing on, blowing away from the sheer strength of his lunge.
As for Adam, he didn't move from his spot at all. Instead, he placed his hand behind his back and—
"That's one!"
But before the large bellether could even come close…
…Carmen suddenly dropped down from above and dove straight down; her knee crashing down on the large bellether's translucent helmet.
"Do you really think I'd let you hog all the glory, midget?! Everyone… attack!"
And as soon as she said that… the rest of the S-tier Heroes started arriving.