Mercenary Systems: The Eternal Life
Chapter 10 The Strange Battle

[BEEPING]

At first glance I heard a voice, but another voice immediately covered it.

[Congratulations! You successfully complete the Quest: 'Get proof of the Slave Merchant's crime' to receive a reward of 75 Quest Points.]

"YOU!!!"

Still in the same room, had not had time to open the door, my steps immediately stopped, then looked back.

"Fuck up! Basic useless," The slave merchant, his name is D'Meatros as far as I can remember based on the documents I have read, grumbled while pressing something like a button on the bracelet on his wrist.

The bracelet let out a loud sound, like some kind of alarm.

Oh, isn't this bad? He seems to be calling the mercenaries. There was no way I would go out in the usual way, because I had heard the sound of crowded footsteps approaching.

There's no choice.

I ran towards the window. Maybe I'll fall really hard because of the heavy armour I'm wearing, but I think I'll survive the hard crash. It doesn't matter to get hurt a little, because I have high regeneration abilities. So, I didn't hesitate to jump right through the window glass, creating a fairly loud sound of broken glass.

In this situation, my mind remained calm. That's good for me. I could still land on both feet, then roll over to reduce the impact of the impact.

Or, that's what I'm about to do.

As soon as my legs landed, the dirt path that had been polished to the brim became as hard as the asphalt immediately cracked, creating an indentation as deep as a foot's eye. Even more surprisingly, I remained standing as if ignoring the given conditions of the laws of physics that were supposed to make my posture unbalanced. Also, I did not feel any pain in the legs that were bearing the heavy weight from this impact.

It's not important to think about now. I gotta get out of here.

"THAT'S THE GUY!"

"CHASE HIM!"

"DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

There were seven people chasing me. At a glance I glanced back, they were mercenaries guarding outside. Of course, they had gone inside to receive a call from the warning sound, but since there was a window, those who were still on the first floor immediately came out to chase once they saw me.

"DON'T RUN, BEDEAH!"

Their running speed was clearly faster than mine. Even if I hadn't worn the Full Paladin Armory, it wouldn't have changed the situation that I would have eventually been overtaken if it continued this way.

At least, I should make it out of Vorlte, towards the forest. A fight is inevitable, so I will fight it out against them. After all, this could be an opportunity to complete the other top mission. You could say, throwing two birds with one stone.

I don't know why I'm not scared. This calmness is foreign to me, even in a fast racing heart, while the lungs have been pumping air with all their might, even I feel more excited. This is enough to worry me, for not understanding the state of my own body.

I ran while occasionally staring at Map, still needing a guide indeed, because I was not used to wandering outside, let alone in a foreign place.

The plan, I want to fight in the forest, even though it is dark. Haven't gotten out of the alley yet, two people have blocked my way. We went through one more alley, but there was no way to keep running. Not that I stopped running, of course. Facing the two people in front first was better than letting the people behind catch up to me.

My speed accelerated. I raised the Sacred Shield, facing forward. Without hesitation, I bumped into the two people who blocked my path. The resulting momentum was large enough to be able to repulse the two people.

That way, I am in the middle of the road. Looking back, those mercenaries managed to catch up to me, while the two bouncing men had been in their respective positions.

In total, seven people. Five in the back, two in the front. They are mercenaries who are experienced in combat, while I am just a beginner wrapped by Full Paladin Armory. It was excessive to face me, who was just standing in the middle of them without having any room to blur.

"It was a mistake to let you through at that moment. So, let us punish you for deceiving us," said the mercenary, who as I recall, he was the one who checked me out and let me pass by for thinking of me as a rookie who joined the hired mercenary D'Meatros.

I laughed at that statement. "Craud, you say? I just follow the path you gave me. I'm so grateful for that."

"Tsk! This bastard, can still act presumptuous apparently. I was wondering if your mouth was within your means" the same person came forward, put up the fighting horses, and stared intently at me.

"Well, he's provoking the Chairman's anger."

"Isn't nice? It's gonna be a fun spectacle!"

There really is no way, right? Alright.

After all, I intend to defeat them. I'm not sure if I can win this fight, which obviously I don't feel scared. Besides, my body is getting more and more tempestuous. The young blood that had been frozen was now boiling after a long time.

No knowledge of fighting, only ever seen martial artists on television, I also put up fighting horses, a posture that would feel comfortable and sturdy.

The man was watching me for a while. I don't know what he's doing, whether he's looking for my loopholes or weaknesses, or thinking of the right move to defeat me. And even though I did something similar, I was basically just waiting for him to attack me.

I can't think at all of a move to face the opponent. There is only a Sacred Shield in my hand that can be used as a weapon, and even then I do not know how to use this shield precisely in order to attack the opponent.

Because of my previous experience, I thought I would just kick off the opponent at the right time when the opponent was in an attacking position.

He moves!

My eyeball immediately stiffened to find that the opponent could move quickly. Without being able to react appropriately, even the shield that was in front of me became useless, the man managed to kick my right head. It made my upper body slightly wobbly, while my glance became blurry.

Not stopping there, the man continued to kick straight at the Sacred Shield, which immediately hit my chest. It makes me a little claustrophobic, quite sick though it doesn't make me wobble. I'm still standing in the same place.

He retreated, as if the two attacks just to check something out on me.

In this situation, I still have time to observe the expressions of the people around me. I thought they were going to have a lot of fun, like cheering the person who was their chairman, like they said before. In fact, I found tense expressions on their faces. Did they see ghosts?

"W-how.you..."

I slightly tilted my head, looking back at the man who was my opponent.

"No way," he looked trembling, his face was pale. "For....where, how did you not fall at all?!"

"Hm?" I don't understand, really. Why does he look so surprised?

"That's the Piercing Kick style, you know!" his yell.

"So?"

"Damn. Don't underestimate my strongest!" He shouted while re-installing the same horses, before making an attack with the same pattern. But, I was still unable to see his movements, although this time I strengthened the hand holding the Sacred Shield so as to keep me from having a blow to the chest.

I was a little slow to process his words. Then, I stared blankly at the sword sheathed at the waist of the man who was my opponent. Is the sword just a display? He should have been stronger if he had used his sword, that's what I thought.

But, the strongest moves use the legs, huh? It was quite confusing, also in my favor.

It could be his strongest attack using his feet. It didn't impact me that much because I had a high defense.

[VIT 60]

In addition to my high defense, I have fast self-healing. Indeed, I had felt dizzy when I received the impact on the head, but it was completely restored soon. However, the effects of dizziness are caused by a shock to the central nerve, the part that belongs to the physical body.

Witnessing the struggle of the person who was their chairman that he was trying to bring me down, I somehow felt it was a ridiculous situation. He didn't ask for his partner's help, maybe because I was embarrassed, I at least understood his pride as a chairman. At the beginning, he who started the fight, also asked for the fight as one on one.

This made me feel in the wind. Though, I did not move at all to counterattack, but I did not receive any significant damage from my opponent.

The one who was my opponent, was of course mentally injured.

"Fuck," he spit to the side. Look at his expression, it looks so loud. He then shouted, "what are you doing, fool?! Have you forgotten your duties?!"

Ah, true. As his anger reached the top, his embarrassment lost, making the real fight only to begin. Against seven people at once, am I going to stay afloat under constant attack, while I find it hard to strike back?

***

Note:

(VIT 60) is an accumulation of 10 points as the main points, while 30 points are from the armor, with the characteristics of Paladin VIT +50%. To be able to give Kaellan meaningful injuries, one must at least have (STR 30) or the equivalent of 50% of Kaellan's VIT points.