CHAPTER 69 - Clad in red, it comes at night! III
I go up the stairs to check out the upper floor.
I have already checked a few of the boxes, and they didn’t contain anything illegal or suspicious, so I continue with my mission. I could doubt the claims of the child who brought me here, but I don’t.
‘I can’t believe that a child in his circumstances would be able to think about something like lying to me like that, so I keep on going, doing my utmost to not get caught.’
Instead of doubting the credibility of the child's words, I prepare to jump into action as I open the smaller room that’s close. I am breaking into this place, whoever is inside one of these rooms, be it the group of low lifes from before or some dutiful guards, they will jump at me the second I enter.
My hand firmly grips the knob of the door as I swing it open, looking around.
‘Nothing.’ No one is inside this first room and I can hear any movement form the other one, so I should be safe for now.
Not only are there no guards, but the whole room is empty, so I forget about getting anything from it and go on to the next and last room.
Again, I grip the knob firmly as I swing the door open, looking around. Once I get to peek inside the room, I quickly notice that the kid really brought me to the right place.
Around 20 people are inside, and I can even spot the same group of criminals from before on one of the corners of the room playing some type of game. A few more groups are lazing around, with one of them even sleeping on another one of the corners.
The last thing that catches my attention is the center of the room, where the leader of the criminals is sitting on top of a metal cage as he talks with a few guys. The first thing I do after knowing that I am on the right place is send a small wave of mana around the round, looking for anything that may be hidden from vision like traps or magical items.
The mana scan comes nearly undisrupted, telling me that I am not in the presence of a mage and easing my worries to some extent, but not too much as I get two big readings of mana.
The first one comes from the rapier that the subleader has just withdrawn, while the second one comes from the metal cage, where there is some kind of disruptive field that stops mana from entering. The cage is covered by some kind of rug or carpet, so I focus on the people that are alerted of my presence.
Knowing that they have the numerical advantage, I pounce on the closest group, telling Bruma not to get too far from me as she rustles under my hood, tiny bits of electricity already sparkling around her.
Using my bare fists, I leap from one enemy to another, striking them all with enough force to send them crashing against the walls with my qi infused knuckles. By the time I finish with the first group I am already surrounded, and the entrance has been blocked.
‘Just as I would expect.’ Without losing momentum, I rush again at the nearest guy, only for the leader of the group to jump in between and throw his own punch.
As our fists collide, I can feel myself losing balance as my feet leave the ground and I crash against the wall behind me. The wall barely stops my momentum before it all crumbles to the ground leaving me open to any attacks from the rest of his group.
One of his fellow criminals jumps at me with their weapon ready to strike, using the opening that their leader created to finish me off. Luckily for me, I got a partner too. Bruma’s lighting rocks the place as she sends a wave of thunder in a cone, clearing up nearly half of the people that are still standing.
I don't have time to celebrate though, as something sharp and powerful comes flying at me the next second. I dodge it by turning my face at the last second, barely escaping the blow, only for a second one to come after, forcing me to block it with one of my arms.
The projectile seems to be some type of needle-like construct that the rapier of the sub leader is able to produce in small bursts of mana. It may be deadly if struck by it on the head, but for me it’s more like an annoyance to be careful of, as the qi cursing through my body helps me to brush the attacks off as small cuts on my skin.
The attack that I block barely creates a scratch on my arm’s skin, helping me to gauge the scope of the subleader long range abilities. I don't jump to conclusions too soon and still keep an eye on him as I see their leader coming my way again.
I observe his moves and there’s something weird that seems familiar to me, but not having much time to delve into it I prepare to throw another punch at him, this time a full powered one. He managed to throw me before, but I was just trying to knock unconscious one of his lackeys, so I want to see just how strong he really is.
He throws a jab at my face which I dodge. He follows through with another punch from his other arm, which I answer in kind, throwing my own. I get pushed back a bit, but not much, only a couple of steps, but enough for me to have trouble to block the thrust of the rapier guy, which I dodge by lowering my whole body while facing up.
I react just in time to quickly grab his weapon and pull it to my right with a strong tug, trying to steal it from his grasp. He doesn’t flinch though, he lets me pull it knowing he’s got no chance in a contest of strength, and flies with the rapier in hand to the right as I pull it.
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I try to finish the arc, smashing him on the ground with his weapon, but another hit comes from the leader, which this time goes for my stomach with even more strength.
Forced to block or get hit, I let go of the rapier and use both arms to block. I stop the strike before it reaches my chest, but the power behind it pushes me back a couple of meters, once more giving both sides a breather.
Bruma takes the brief moment with no pressure on us to create another surge of energy. Her mana rapidly concentrates before being thrown at the rest of their people who were slowly closing on us from all directions.
The second wave of crackling thunder covers the center of the room, taking out all but a couple of guys and both leaders, who were either far enough or withstood it. The two guys I've been fighting don’t really have a way to deliver a deadly attack, but they are still strong enough to fight me off in a 2vs1, even pushing me back at times, so I choose to prevent any of their men to flee and alert someone else.
They seem to realize just how much of a threat I am, and they are now trying to establish conversation, probably to strike a deal. They shout a couple of things my way and then discreetly talk to one another, probably thinking of a way to deal with me.
I obviously don’t understand a single thing, and I don’t ever plan on exposing my identity of being an otherworlder till I have all my enemies taken down, so for now, I gather a bunch of mana. I gather the surrounding mana, making it swirl around me inside a qi barrier while I keep the rest of my qi from leaking, that way avoiding an explosion before I use it.
Both guys are a bit late, but they notice my control over mana in the surrounding area as I am ready to unleash my attack.They both take a defensive stand, ready to smash to pieces anything that comes their way, but that’s not my plan, as I said before, I won’t let any loose ends.
I focus on the mana under my control and will it synchronize with the floor as I make a wall block of the entrance, blocking any of us from escaping. I already make sure to gauge their strength, and while they might be dangerous together, they are not even half as hard to deal with in an individual fight.
‘Bruma, take care of the rapier guy.’ I say so as I use the rest of my mana to knock the two other criminals that still stood, using the rocks that made up the ceiling to smash both of them, finally making it a two on two, where me and Bruma got the advantage.
By the time I finish, both of our enemies realize the danger they are in and stop trying to convince me, finally taking a stance. The leader faces me with both legs open and facing to the side, one of his fists close to his stomach as the other is stretched at waist height, aiming at me. His position mimics one of those that a pugilist would make, telling me that he will probably aim for my stomach.
Bruma jumps in front of me, facing the subleader and aiming her still materializing lighting bolts at him. Ready to stall or even get rid of the guy.
The leader, knowing that they would lose a war of attrition or any long range assault, chooses to come at me again on his own, while the rapier guy does the same in Bruma’s direction.
Bruma retreats to make distance while she prepares the attack while I instead jump into the fright, going for an offensive approach, ready to make use of my higher speed yet lower strength against the guy who still uses his bare fist to try and hit me.
Seeing me take the offensive, he goes for a defensive stance as I get close. I circle around him before going for a kick at ground level, aiming for his ankles.
He must have seen my attack coming, as he is already swinging his fist at my leg before I even get halfway there. Not keen on seeing how much damage his hit will do to my leg, I accelerate my swing, barely escaping the fist but ending in a bad spot where it’s easy for him to pummel me.
Trying to smoothly do a follow up attack and get out of that awkward angle, I use both of my legs to exert as much strength as I can from that angle on his arm, trying to use the momentum to make him lose his footing. However, both his feet are firmly planted on the ground, making it nearly impossible for me to move him.
Far from achieving my goal, I get pushed the other way by the excess force, sending me in an easy to predict path while still hooked to him by the legs. He sees it as his best chance to get a good hit on me, sending an elbow directly to my face.
This time I can feel it even clearer, the energy coursing through his body quickly adjusting by itself to give him more strength than any human would usually have as he strikes. All the energy coursing through him focuses on the places where he needs it more when attacking or defending, but it all happens by instinct, he isn't able to control it.
‘He is using qi without knowing it! That’s why he is so strong without using any equipment.’ Noting down this information, I prepare to finish up this fight, already knowing how to easily defeat him.
His elbow hits me on the face with as much strength as any other of his attacks, but I don’t back down, instead I push through the attack, sending a huge chunk of my qi reserves to deflect the blow with my head and turning my moment of weakness into an opportunity.
A huge amount of qi is lost in the process, but I am able to overpower his attack, sending his now mangled elbow to the side, clearly twisted. Another big chunk of my qi goes into mine now, strengthening my elbow now a lot more than his.
I exert some more strength on my legs to not lose too much momentum from stooping his attack and end up delivering a strong blow to his nose with my over infused qi elbow. Even I feel the stress of the attack as my arm nearly gives out from the amount of power being used.
He has no time to block or dodge the attack as it hits him dead on the face, smashing on his head and sending him tumbling across the room, bumping along the way.
‘I don’t even know if he's alive.’
Looking over to the side, I see the battle between Bruma and the subleader of the gang reaching its end. He has a big gaping hole in one of his legs that makes it impossible for him to catch up to Bruma as she circles him, pelting him with more and more lighting bolts.
Some attacks are deadly while others are merely a distraction, but she clearly has the upper hand with her big mana pool when met with a now stationary target.
I keep a close watch on every single one of the knocked out guys as I wait for my reserves of qi to refill, noticing that I had to burn through them to end the fight faster. I send some of the qi to my face and elbow too, they both hurt from the stress I put them through, but a small enough amount of qi will do wonders in their healing process, so I do it anyway.
While Bruma finishes up on her side, I already start thinking on what to ask these guys, and pondering if I should really kill them all, in the end they still have no idea that I don't speak their language or anything.
‘Maybe I can just take their leader to ask him everything before killing him and make an example out of them?’ I think it through , still not sure what to do.
‘Oh, right! I still need to see what’s inside that metal cage. Let 's take a look.’