The final three xiantians that appeared were support experts, meaning the fire element expert and the wind element expert were supposed to be pressuring Hartley serving as the vanguard force and then the support team would step in and lend support to smoothly finish him off with precision from the sidelines.
There was a 1st layer xiantian expert with the wood element affinity, she would take care of any wounds inflicted on the others, she was holding a green whip with thorns all over it, the other was a earth element 1st layer xiantian expert, if one of the vanguard was struggling or suffered any injuries, he would step in and tie up the opponent with his incredible defense until the team member can be healed and rejoin the battle, the third was a water element 2nd layer xiantian who was a specialist bowman, if the opponent was tricky he would be the artillery for the others to keep the opponent on his heels.
Their battle plan was for these 3 to guard the exits to make sure the opponent doesn't escape easily, but once the battle starts they should join in as quickly as possible.
They were vigilant in their duties as they guarded all possible escape routes making sure no one came to provide assistance, the target was after all the member of a local clan.
Ten seconds into fight they heard two huge explosions upstairs and decided that the opponent was going to stand his ground and fight so they decided to leave their post and quickly join in the main battle.
The earth element expert and the wood element expert came up the stairs at the front of the second floor while the water element expert approached through the utility stairs at the back.
When all three were on the second floor they could not sense any xiantian fluctuations, all they saw was a mortal teenage youth dressed in red robes covered with blood splatters all over his face and clothes, the water element expert who approached from the back was shocked speechless when he saw the gruesome sight of the elder's body split in two, the bottom half around five meters from the top half, sweat started to flow down his back when he grabbed a long brown wooden bow from his shoulder, notched an arrow and prepared to fire.
Hartley saw two experts from the front and one from the back, the strongest one was the one at his rear who was preparing to fire an arrow, even though they started to immediately take action, in the eyes of Hartley who was still in state of focus, their actions were painfully slow..
Hartley threw out the throwing knife in his right hand, this knife was also made from the black steel, the same material used to make his black sword, he applied 20x gravity repel on the knife and it flew out like a shell leaving the barrel of a howitzer.
The water element expert had notched an arrow in his bow when a black light flew towards him at the speed of light leaving visible ripples through the air, he released the arrow he had prepared, but before it could travel five meters the black knife collided with the silver arrowhead creating blinding white sparks which forced the water element expert to close his eyes for a split second, but the black knife didn't stop there, it carved right through the middle of the arrow shaft, each half peeling away in the opposite direction, the water elemental expert didn't even get a chance to open his eyes again when the black knife ripped through his heart with a squelching sound and went through his back followed by a spray of red, then continued on to be stopped ten meters away in a thick wooden beam.
After Hartley had thrown out his black knife, he then flashed forward using gravity steps again like a teleport, in an instant he was face to face with the last two 1st layer experts, instinctively the earth element expert activated his earth armor, a brown layer of light covered him from toes to neck, as he shouted for the wood element expert to be careful.
The petit girl wearing a yellow dress was in the motion of slashing out her whip when Hartley applied zero gravity to her body making her lose her balance with a surprised scream and float upwards, hovering ten feet high.
Hartley immediately used his star fist technique and punched towards the earth element expert with blue lights surrounding his right arm, the man tried to move backwards but was a tad too slow, the punch landed squarely on his chest with a loud thumping sound forcing him back five steps while he puked out blood with a scared look in his eyes.
All of these experts had worn a mask on the lower half of their faces, so one couldn't see the frightened looks on their faces when they faced Hartley, not even the elder who was the fire elemental expert was immune to it.
As soon as the wood element expert was regaining her bearings, Hartley deactivated his gravity and she started to free fall, Hartley then rushed to the right leaving cracks on the surface of the floor and delivered another star fist, her delicate body had no way to cope with such a brutal hit, she flew out of the building through front wall that was missing, did a couple barrel rolls and landed dead as a fish in the middle of the street below, by this time the street was relatively empty no one wanted to stick around for the show after the first two explosions, some people had gone as far as miles away from this area by now.
At this point the earth element expert could give two fucks about the rewards for this mission. In pain he squealed like a pig that had just figured out what the butcher's knife really was made for, with wide eyes he turned around and tried to make his way out of this god forsaken slaughter-house.
Breathing with wild ragged breaths, he willed his injured body forward towards the open front of the building, scrambling towards the salvation of the road below, but before he could take his fifth step, a red short sword imbued with a blue glow slashed horizontally across his waist in a smooth line from mid-right to mid-left, the momentum of his forward movement took the upper half of his body out of the building and onto the street below, the lower half was left in the building with entrails and organs spilling out like an open coin-purse falling to the ground and shedding its valuable content.
He had made it out of the god forsaken slaughterhouse, but only half so.
Hartley had made fast work of these three!
Hartley was breathing heavily, even though the fights were ended quickly it still took a lot out of him, he came out of state of focus and WHOOSH! time was running at its normal pace again, making Hartley's belly churn with nausea.
He had a quick dizzy spell but gritted his teeth, shook his head and forced it back. He desperately ran over to the corner where Zhi Ruo was. When he reached her, she was awake and shaking, hugging her knees.
She had seen the encounter between Hartley and the last three experts as plain as day, she had awakened in a place she could not recognize, her mind could not fathom that this was the restaurant they entered earlier.
Hartley was covered in blood and approached her slowly, tears falling down his cheeks, all he could say was "Ruo I'm so sorry" He repeated this phrase three or four more times and lifted her up the way a newly wed husband would carry his wife across the threshold still saying "Ruo I'm so sorry."
She burst into tears and buried her face in his bloody chest, He flashed away immediately....
Half an hour later a dark robed elder turned up on the second floor scratching his chin in bewilderment. It was an absolute massacre, not even the chairs and tables were spared, the most luxurious restaurant in town had turned to a derelict building in less than fifteen minutes.