Jake slipped through the doorway into the corridor on the second floor of HQ. The building’s layout was identical to that of Base Miller, allowing him to navigate the interior with ease.
He crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling where he went still to examine his surroundings. At the nearest end of the corridor stood an armed guard. In the center of one wall was a door leading to the security room, with another guard posted beside it. A third guard stood at the opposite end of the corridor.
So, there were three guards on the second floor instead of two, as was the case at HQ in Base Miller. After what had happened there, the leaders of the other bases must have decided to beef up security. Not that it would make any difference.
Jake crawled to the nearest end of the corridor, positioning himself directly above the guard. The three guards on the second floor remained oblivious to his presence because he moved slowly and carefully. This time, however, he didn’t need to keep his stealth for long.
He sprouted several long tendrils from his back and reached down. His Cloak was still active, extending its effects to the newly grown appendages as well. Only when the tendrils came to dangle by either side of the guard below did he realize something was off.
He turned his head to look at one of the tendrils undulating right next to his face. Although still invisible, it created subtle distortions in the air as it twisted and writhed. A shocked expression contorted the guard’s features as he realized something was near him. Yet he wasn’t able to do anything about that.
Jake wrapped several of his tentacles around the human’s throat and squeezed, lifting his prey off the floor. With several other tendrils, he wrenched the weapon from the man’s grip and tossed it aside. The victim squirmed in the air but couldn’t escape. Jake continued lifting the human higher and higher until he dangled just below him.
The other two guards pointed their weapons in his general direction. While he was still invisible, his position on the ceiling was pretty obvious. However, they refused to open fire, probably for fear of hitting their captured comrade. Jake used their momentary reluctance to fire to his full advantage.
He turned his head toward the guard standing before the security control room’s door and opened his mouth wide. In the next instant, a thick glob of acid shot from his mouth, soaring through the air with astonishing accuracy. It struck the unsuspecting bandit squarely in the center of his face.
The human dropped his weapon, screaming at the top of his lungs as the acid ate through his face. His eyes turned into a pulp mass in their sockets, and his flesh melted away and dropped off, exposing the bare bone of the skull within.
The third guard’s eyes darted between the first guard, dangling in the air at the other end of the corridor, and the one whose face was mercilessly being eaten by acid. For a moment, he was torn between rushing to the aid of his allies or prioritizing his own survival.
In the end, the instinct for self-preservation prevailed, compelling him to turn around and sprint toward the second staircase positioned on his side of the corridor. With a swift motion, he swung the door open, leaving it wide ajar behind him as he vanished into the shadows of the staircase.
The human Jake was strangling had stopped moving by that point. He had lost consciousness from the lack of oxygen, but he was still alive. Carefully, Jake lowered his victim’s body to the floor and unwound his tentacles from around the person’s neck, mindful of the fragile life still within. He knew he needed to keep one of these people alive for a little while.
The tendrils were no longer needed, so he detached them as he crawled across the ceiling. Since there was no real need to maintain his Cloak either, he deactivated it to conserve precious mana. Once he reached the security room, he dropped from the ceiling, twisting mid-air to land gracefully on his feet with a quiet sound.
The heavy thuds of footsteps echoed from the staircase behind him. It had to be the guard who had fled moments ago, likely returning with reinforcements from the first floor. Jake ignored the sounds, though. Instead, he turned and focused on the control pad before him, his fingers dancing over the keys as he entered the code he had learned after successfully hacking the roof access door.
However, the door refused to open. The security room was protected by a different code, which made sense. Access was reserved exclusively for the leader of the base and a select few whom he trusted—if he trusted anybody, that is. Jake concentrated on the control pad, attempting to hack into it.
Just as the first number surfaced in his mind, the sound of approaching footsteps halted abruptly behind him. A harsh curse echoed through the air, followed by the deafening roar of gunfire that permeated the corridor. Bullets slammed into his back, some of them exploding upon impact and causing him to stagger momentarily. His armor protected him from any serious damage, though.
Jake looked over his shoulder and saw three guards standing in the open double door leading to the staircase. Two of them were standing, while the other had taken a knee before the two. All of them had their assault rifles pointed at him, weapons blazing and spitting rounds.
Ignoring the bullets pounding against him and slamming into the wall behind, he turned toward the guards and extended both hands. With a thought, he activated one of the abilities he had acquired in the dungeon. In an instant, a circular saw blade formed above each wrist. He carefully adjusted the aim of one hand and launched both deadly projectiles at the same time, sending them hurtling toward his targets.
The spinning saw blades zipped through the air at incredible speed, their razor-sharp edges glinting in the light. One of them cut right through the top of the kneeling guard’s head, severing it cleanly. The projectile continued on, embedding itself into the leg of one of the guards standing behind. The human let out a piercing scream of agony as he staggered backward in shock. His legs gave way beneath him, and he collapsed onto the steps, his body tumbling downward.
The second saw blade was aimed at the other standing man. He jerked his head sideways in a frantic attempt to evade the incoming projectile. Despite his efforts, the projectile struck him on the side of his face. The saw blade lodged itself on the left side of his head, right at the temple, partially embedding itself in his skull. The weapon clattered from his grip as the bandit dropped to his knees.
Surprisingly, he was still alive. He slumped back against the railing behind him, a dumbfounded expression on his face. Blood trickled down the side of his head, mingling with the dust and grime. His hands slowly rose, fingers probing the foreign object embedded in his head. His lips moved, but no sound came out.
Jake didn’t know if there were any more humans on the first floor. For now, though, the absence of immediate threats allowed him to focus on the control pad once again. It took him just a few more seconds to find the remaining numbers of the code. Once he typed them in, the door slid open.
Jake stepped into the security room. It was empty, save for a computer and a bank of monitors mounted on the opposite wall. He quickly turned and tapped a button on the control pad to close the door, then another to lock it. He didn’t want to be distracted while he focused on executing the final part of his plan.
With the door secured, he turned his attention back to the monitors, ready to set everything in motion.