“What’s the holdup? Your target is in front of you guys, Don’t tell me you can’t kill a single man?”
*Silence*
No one dared to answer that question of his as all the mercenary men surrounding him was just looking as they witnessed a bloody scene before them. Mutilated arm and a body with a hole in its center while its blood continued to paint the dirty ground was a bloody situation that you don’t want to deal with.
“Now this is gonna be difficult if you guys will not attack me. How the hell are you guys gonna kill me then?”
“Err..”
They just looked into each other for signs of what they should do next. Indecisiveness and fear started to spread among their ranks as they don’t want to be the next person to meet the same fate as Woss. The standstill continued for a small amount of time and King Roa was starting to get impatient.
*Sigh*
“and you call yourselves mercenaries? From what I see, you people are just a bunch of pussies who are just pretending to be tough.”
“This bastard…”
Those mercenaries started to grip their rifles and weapons tightly as they didn’t like that degrading remark for the king himself. Anger and irritation rose up from their mind but King Roa isn’t done yet with his mockery,
“Or maybe you guys just inherit that cowardice from your boss? That’s the impression I’m getting from the walking pile of a disappointment called mercenaries.”
“What did you just say?! You better take that back you dam-”
‘Nope! If you want me to take it back then make me. If only if you can, morons.”
“Grrr!”
His arrogant tone only added fuel to the fire as he continued dropping those rude taunts to the whole mercenary side. A normal person should be already shaking in fear as he/she was completely surrounded by people who're gonna kill him/her mercilessly but it's the opposite for the young king as he was even asking for it.
“Enough lads!!”
“?!!”
All the mercenaries’ attention was immediately caught by a single loud voice that came from the man kneeling on the ground as he recovered himself from the binding.
“Stop listening to that guy and be calm! He’s just trying to agitate you people so he disrupts your formation.”
“hmpf!”
King Roa didn’t like how did the mercenary boss put back his comrades into their senses before they completely got disorganized by his tauntings.
“We still have the number advantage lads! Just move together and surround the damn target!”
The mercenary boss slowly rose up from his position as he was still recovering from the uncomfortable feeling of being unable to move at all. It’s like you’re being put into sleep paralysis, you know you couldn’t move but still forced your way out of it, so you got tired in the process.
“Y-yes!! You heard the boss, slowly surround that guy!!”
“Yeah!!”
Mercenaries’ morale came back strongly after their boss rallied them back to their focus. They pointed their rifles and swords properly now against the outnumbered king while keeping a cautious stance.
“You guys finished preparing your formation? If yes then pull the trigger and put me down.”
“Why the rush to get yourself killed? We still have some time for a conversation before finishing you off.”
“Oh?”
Everyone finally put an arc-like formation that surrounded the king from left up to his right. No gaps nor openings were given by them for King Roa to take advantage of. The mercenary boss took this chance to ask something that bugged him earlier.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Yeah and this is about the organization you spoke earlier before you killed the poor guy, what is it?”
“I’m sorry but I’m not answering that one. Try another question that doesn’t involve what I said earlier.”
He shooked his head while rejecting to answer that question.
“Why so? Is it because it involves you and some illegal dealings?”
“No, It’s because you will gonna get yourself killed. Don’t poke into things that are outside of your job, mercenary.”
“Get my myself killed… Sounds like something is happening behind the scenes within Stygia.”
“I’m warning you. If you love your normal mercenary job and your comrades, you better stay out of that and forget what I said. That was a mistake of mine to slip those dangerous words.”
This time around, Even with all the weapons pointed at him, King Roa threw a very murderous cold stare to the mercenary boss that gave the most dangerous impression in this situation. His comrades also felt this murderous intent from him but not on the same magnitude as what the boss was currently feeling.
“!!!”
The mercenary boss flinched after he met with the king’s deathly gaze. He immediately checked his chest with his right hand to see if he's just fine because after he saw that stare, he felt that multiple swords just pierced his body repeatedly.
“(What was that?! Is it really that possible for a single stare to be that dangerous? I have seen some gazes and stares that give murderous intent from other people back then but this is the first time I met something at that magnitude.)”
He was still trying to pull himself together as he called his trusty plain sword to his side and put up a defensive stance after the initial encounter with King Roa’s dangerous gaze.
“If you're already having troubles just trying to keep up with my killing intent then you will die definitely. You might not know this but there are other monsters out there who are stronger than me.”
“I-impossible! There are other powerful individuals beside you?!”
He was shocked as he couldn’t believe that there were other monstrosities that lurk far deeper than the underground business he lives with. He was already in this business for long as he remembers and yet, this is the first time he encountered a man who exuded such danger and he was actually telling him that there are far stronger people than him.
“Yeah, that's correct so if you value your life, I suggest you stay away from the dark side of Stygia.”
“I can’t promise you that I will stop investigating since I need to know the dangers that lurk around me but I will take your warnings as I will take extreme caution when stumbling upon those dark sides you talk about.”
“Your life, your call mercenary. Just don’t regret it when you find yourself dying, I already gave you a fair warning as Woss is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“I won’t regret so you don’t worry about me and on the contrary, You better worry about yourself as we will about to kill you off.”
“Hahaha! You are actually right, well if you have no other questions then finish this now. Your time is running out.”
The temperature started to rise up and the wildfire finally reached their place as the smokes started to obstruct the mercenaries’ vision. If they continued to do nothing then they would be consumed together along the trees surrounding them.
“Alright, lads! Aim at his vital spots!”
“(There are no any signs of hostilities and he’s not even looking at the surroundings for an escape path but still why does it feel that he’s confident that he will survive this predicament?)”
“Do it mercenary, Fill my body with magical bullets and call this a day.”
“You don’t need me to tell that, FIRE!”
*Bang* *Bang*
“Kuughk!”
A simultaneous barrage of bullets pierced through King Roa’s body and blood started to paint his whole body red. Head, neck, lungs, abdomen, arms, and legs were all showered with until it completely filled with holes. The king’s body finally drops down to the ground without any unusual phenomenon.
“Cease your fire lads!”
The mercenaries followed their boss’ order and stand down as their target was already on the ground “dead”. A pool of blood was observed together with the king’s “dead” body and but everyone never relaxed for a bit and was still in full alert.
“I will check if the guy’s dead. Cover me if something happens.”
“Yes, boss.”
Tightly gripping his sword, He was in his defensive stance all this time until he slowly reached King Roa’s body to verify if he’s already dead.
“Hmmm…”
Upon reaching the body, he crouched cautiously as he checked for the pulse and breathing with his left hand while his right hand ready to react in case of something bad happened.
“No breaths… No pulse too… I can’t detect any signs of movements from the body but just in case…”
*slice*
To be a hundred percent sure, the mercenary boss carefully sliced the throat of the king as blood gushed out. After delivering the finishing blow, he steps back quickly and ordered his comrades.
“The mission is finished, everyone will follow me to the escape route, guard the rear for possible attacks.”
“Yes, boss!”
“Then move out!”
*Swish*
“(Thank god this mission is finished. I really stepped into something I shouldn’t, I just hope nothing bad happens in the future.)”
They quickly dispersed that area leaving two dead bodies on the spot. All that left behind was the two dead bodies of Woss and King Roa. The flames finally caught them and started to burn, The smell of burning human bodies and branches snapping could be observed in the process but something odd happened,
*Twitch*
The king’s fingers started to make a tiny movement., It might be just due to the flames creating an illusion but a more shocking event happened
*snickers*
The king’s face started to make a devilish smile once more. This was no longer an illusion at all, he was smiling even with his face being burned alive and he started to speak softly,
“57th time huh...”