Immediately after landing, the Inzektors that were waiting for Luon’s arrival made their move. They sprung forward at him with their claws threatening to tear his limbs apart.
“Transform!” The belt Luon wore let out a mystical glow as a black set of armor covered Luon’s limbs.
The attacks were repelled by his armor, the low-level Inzektors could only tickle him out of frustration. With such a useful thing in his arsenal, why did he only use it now? It was because it restrained his ability to move quickly as low-level Inzektors were the least of his problems.
The two Inzektors that had followed Luon on his descent had landed a second later. They then turned to jump towards Luon after shaking off the excess debris and reorienting their senses to the new environment. Luon slid into the army of Inzektor that can barely harm him, causing the two to fail in capturing Luon, their efforts were fruitless as they were slaughtering their own kind as a mistake.
The two level 80 Inzektors screeched causing the weaker ones to scatter. They were infuriated by the crowd as it hampered them from reaching their target, as for the lives of other Inzektors, they couldn’t care less.
Sure enough with the Inzektors creating space for the two, it became clearer to see, that their target had vanished from the scene.
Luon had turned himself invisible after mingling with the crowd of Inzektors.
They screeched once again and started to rampage on the streets without a care of their surroundings. The other Inzektors panicked as they departed to search for the missing intruder.
Luon looked at the scene slightly amused as he had entered one of the buildings nearby. He turned his sight away as he assumed that they wouldn’t be able to find him. He then observed the sky silently. It wasn’t without a cause, his eyes narrowed once he noticed a new type of Inzektor appear.
It was a strange being, something that Luon became familiar with after he had arrived on this planet, it looked like a firefly with its tail curled making a fetal-like position. At the end of its tail was astonishingly large eyeball that scoured every corner as if it was searching for something.
This troublesome Inzektor was able to see through Luon’s invisibility.
‘It’s not thermal, mana, or wind, and yet how is it finding me so easily?’ Luon thought as imagined that there was a higher power at work.
The foundation of an Inzektors was an evolved form of Insect, or that’s what experts assumed it to be. They shared multiple traits with their former counterparts, but the biggest question was, how they could evolve until the point where they were the same size as a human being? Nobody knew.
There had been talks of where an intelligent species had sent the first generation of Inzektors on an isolated planet to accelerate its development only to fail miserably, or that they evolved naturally because of the ambiguity of evolution process.
Luon let out a sigh, the only clear thing is, he needed to avoid this type of Inzektor’s vision, he couldn’t care less about those theories. Entering buildings and close quarter areas made it difficult for them to find him, but he couldn’t stay invisible forever.
Ensuring that the new type had not found him, Luon started to search the building he entered only to find scraps and Inzektors around every corner. For the last two weeks, he had been unable to find any proper sources of nutrition, unless he was willing to eat Inzektors that is.
But what did he expect from a place that had been abandoned for centuries? The only hope he had of finding proper food was to search for low-level humanoid Inzektors that were used to grow their byproducts.
However, during his last two weeks, he had never seen a single one walking around. The only notable thing was constant traffic that happened at the large tower in the center.
‘It’s either a nest or a huge dining hall, either way, it’s a place that needs to be investigating since there is a high chance that there’s a hanger inside.’
Luon went from one building to the next, praying that one of the houses had an owner whose hobbies would align with developing anything related to spaceships, only to find storage compartments and garages carrying rusted vehicle components; ill-suited for space travel.
He didn’t want to try to attack the tower unless he had to, but after an entire week of searching, he had only covered a small segment of the city as he was too busy dealing with Inzektors.
“The longer you take, the worse things gets.” Thanatos, Luon’s only spiritual and mental assistance, advised at the dire circumstances.
“I know if I can’t find anything today. Then I’ll start developing a plan to attack the tower.”
“Do you think it’s achievable? To attack the tower with your capabilities when you’re running away from two strong Inzektors?”
“I have to, there’s no other way out.” Luon firmly stated.
“… want me to help?” Pausing momentarily, Thanatos asked Luon.
“What can you do? A phantom of me, who only knows how to fight and command. In a situation where you have no men, pitting yourself against many countless individuals – all to secure a measly crumb of bread to satiate your hunger? Even I know how unreasonable it is for you to try to attack the base. You’re only saying that because you just don’t want me to experience any more hardships.”
Thanatos couldn’t retort to Luon’s statement, it was indeed true that he wanted to bear his hardships, but how could he achieve this when all he is a remnant of a simulated experience that they had in the Vortex Container? He wanted to be physically by his side and aid him when he needed it the most. They both knew what it was like to be alone.
Luon let out a short sigh, he continued, “I’ll take charge. It’s not like we’re taking down the tower. We’re only looking for food and a way home, and the best method is to infiltrate their base.”
That is if they had to go to the tower, and in the end, they did.
…
A loud and unexpected, short burst of explosions reverberated in the desolate cityscape. The action attracted many of the Inzektors in the region as they came dashing towards the source.
It was quite far away from the tower, to the point where you could get only a single glimpse of it, the Inzektor guards posted in the front brushed it off as they knew that an intruder had recently appeared.
They assumed that it was another day with this crafty person, they thought that at the increasing rate of encounters, they would eventually capture the prey.
The place was as normal as it could be, several Inzektors can be seen using the entrance as traffic proceeded normally.
But not all Inzektors believe Luon was going to go down that easily, coming from the tower, several of those Inzektors who were able to see through Luon’s ability screeched causing the pathway to open up, the Inzektors moved as they were told as if there was an ambulance going down the street with it’s warning signals on.
Along the way, one of the Inzektors exiting bumped into a large -bellied Inzektor who was tipped to side while waiting to enter the building.
The Inzektor scrunch the eyeball to show how to angry it was. The big fellow who could only quiver due to their difference in the hierarchy and strength. Seeing the response, it was if the Inzektor scoffed at him a bit before leaving.
The traffic resumed as usual and Luon, who was attached to the bottom of the enormous Inzektor, let out a sigh of relief as he almost been spotted.
With his invisibility he could easily break into the tower as long as he wasn’t spotted by that Inzektor, he didn’t know how many they are, but he wasn’t willing to take any chances when infiltrating the base.
That is until he found this colossal Inzektor, using it as a cover, he managed to sneak inside, and not only that, but they both had the same destination as well.
Luon managed to reach the food storage where many humanoid Inzektors can be seen growing and harvesting fruits and vegetables. The huge Inzektor laid down as the others started to attach food along with his stomach.
Luon snuck away at started to sneakily pick at their harvest. He took a small amount at a time to ensure that they didn’t catch on to him.
His harvest was plentiful, he had enough food for himself for a few months if he consumed it conservatively.
‘Should I take down this facility? You don’t get a chance like this every day. Wait, before that, I should take the parts away to make myself a spaceship.’
Luon put off his thoughts of burning the primary supply of food for the Inzektors down, with the food problem solved, he needed to find out where the hanger was in the tower.
However, he wasn’t able to travel far as an Inzektor screeched at his presence.
A few meters away from Luon was spotted by one of those Inzektors with the eyeball. It had been neglecting its duties and snuck off on its own to satiate its hunger when it detected it’s sworn nemesis in the middle of the field.
Luon’s invisibility was hampered by the Inzektors eye, every Inzektor the vicinity panicked as most of them weren’t combatants. They screeched continuously as Luon thought, ‘The guards will be here any time soon. I don’t have enough time to find out where the hanger is. Should I burst open a wall to escape?’
Leaving the strangling Inzektors, he slashed his blade against the wall only to find it to be reinforced. Luon looked around the room only to have frown appear on his face to the realization that there was only one room.
The guards came streaming in a short amount of time, but before they can advance into the field. Luon yelled, “That’s a mistake!”
He lit the place on fire, the field full of food became baked as the heat deterred the guards.
‘Should I take out the scout and try escaping with my invisibility? No, he shouldn’t be the only one in the base, and with them alarming each other, the others would soon arrive. I need to escape this place.’ Luon thought as he hurriedly scanned the room.
“Hey you, this way!”
Suddenly from the side of the wall, an opening was made, a hand peeked out and waved at Luon to escape.
Luon was surprised to see another person in this Inzektor filled planet, not only that but he knew of such a secretive passage.
Although Luon didn’t know the intent of the person, he couldn’t feel any ill will, and he needed to escape. He dashed towards the door, once he was inside it began to close, but before it did, Luon managed to take a glimpse at 4 level 80 Inzektors who had noticed his retreat.
“We’ve been spotted hurry and follow me!”
The path was dark, Luon was entirely focused at following the person’s footsteps as he could hear the clawing and bashing sounds coming from the door that they had just left from.
They ran and ran, and the sounds of Inzektors started to get closer and closer. The pathway was just large enough for them to fit one at a time.
‘Should I turn around and face them off?’ Luon thought as he turned around while running.
His savior gave Luon a glimpse every one in a while to ensure he was on the right track, but at this time he noticed Luon turn to look behind him as he yelled, “Follow my steps, you idiot. You’re going to fall for-”
Luon took another step forward as he suddenly realized that he slightly off track, a trap sprung out and hit Luon hard in the head as he started to lose his conscious.
“A trap…” the person dismayed at how foolish the person was, he picked up Luon’s body and ran away.
The sounds of Inzektors following them faded away along with Luon’s conscious, and like that Luon managed to escape.
