"Say whatever you want."
I don't want to believe that Ethan Sullivan is a bad person, he is just desperate, he might think that I would let them come if they do all this or maybe it's really a petty try for revenge…
I looked at the other 3 guys that were blocking the stairs, mid-way between the third and second floor.
"If you three get out of the way and let them pass I will only hold Ethan Sullivan responsible for this and let you come to Green Shelter even though you agreed with delaying a large-scale operation without any valid reason."
They seemed to doubt for a second, but they didn't leave their places.
"We are staying here."
I nodded.
"Do you really think that if I want to remove all you by force, you have any way to resist?"
They were starting to get nervous, with my gear and weapons on sight it was clear that none of them wanted to fight and they were throwing a tantrum, but it was still delaying the evacuation, and the sunrise was nearer.
I looked towards Dr. Sullivan.
"I'll take Conrad with me and keep his life support for another 5 weeks, that's all I can offer you."
"What about me?"
"I can't let someone like you come to Green Shelter, so all of you are still banned."
The other three guys got pale, and some regret could be seen in their faces after hearing that they were banned too.
"Then how could I be sure that you fulfill your end of the agreement?"
"I will… now get out of there before I decide to take my offer back."
He didn't move, he might think that he really will get to come with us, but his actions made it more and more difficult.
"It's your choice then."
I took a step toward them, none of them have any powers, so I didn't even take out my weapons.
They noticed that I was going to use force and tried to make battle stances, but they were clearly amateurs. One of them came to the second floor where I was standing and threw a punch when he was near, I avoided it and strike his throat with my hand, he fell to the floor, gaps for air.
After that simple, but ruthless strike the others seemed to have a second thought about not leaving the stairs when I gave them a chance.
One of them raised his hands surrendering, so I ignored him. It was when he tried to sneak-attack me that I had to counterattack, a punch went to his upper abdomen he rolled down the stairs to the second floor. The blow was followed by a kick to the back of the knee of the third guy, I didn't break it or anything, the leg bend on a normal way making him lose his support and fall.
Seeing his three men on the floor Sullivan was sweating, regret could be seen on his face, he knew that he was lost and tried to hit me, he was so slow that for a second I thought that I activated time bubble or something. I quickly grabbed his arm and throw him downstairs.
No one had time to say or do anything, they just looked me with a mix of surprise and fear. Sigrid was grateful though.
"The stairs are cleared you can continue with the evacuation I'll go down soon."
After a second I looked at Luca D'Aurora and added.
"We will take Conrad too, I will see if we can do something in Green Shelter."
I don't know if they were too scared to say anything or if it was something else but the entire group went downstairs right away, leaving only Mr. D'Aurora and me behind.
"Don't you think that you went overboard?"
He asked while looking at the people that were blocking the stairs before, the one that I hit on the throat finally was starting to breathe normally again, the guy I hit his leg might have a little sprain and was on the floor as if he was unconscious… he was faking it, the guy that tried to sneak-attack me was throwing up, and Sullivan was unconscious.
"They are all alive, and none of them is seriously wounded, I would say that I was pretty soft on them."
I looked to the one that was already recovering and got near him. When he saw me, he got scared that I would do something else now that no one was here.
"If any of you go downstairs or tries to do anything that can jeopardize the evacuation and the safety of the rest, I'll make sure you regret it… Am I clear?
He was terrified and nodded.
"Yes, Yes! we are not doing anything else I promise."
"Good…" I stood up again, Mr. D'Aurora was looking at me with mixed feelings.
"Did you need to threaten them?"
"I don't want them to do something stupid in the middle of the evacuation, one mistake can cost dozens of lives… I understand Sullivan's mood, and how desperate he might be, I would probably be the same if the one on the bed was my sister or someone else close to me, but I would never be willing to put everyone else in danger if there is no use to it. They are doing this just to harm, the only reason I didn't kill them is that all of you were here, if something like this happened outside or during the evacuation, they would be dead."
"Was it really worthless? In the end, he managed to get more time for Conrad."
"I mean after he got that deal, he should have backed off."
He seemed to understand a little about my character now and looked with pity at the guys on the floor.
"Well Stephan sent you, so he must trust your judgment and the way you do things. Let's go downstairs to finish the arrangement for the evacuation. I'll send one of those that are staying behind to look after."
I nodded and followed Mr. D'Aurora back to the first floor.
I could see most of the people gazing at us the sound of the fight must have been heard and the people probably already was gossiping about it. My own team seemed a little surprised, except for Ian who already saw me kill someone before, and had an idea of what I was capable of.
"Do you need a place for your group on the formation or you will move by yourselves?"
"Let me discuss it with them first. What is the plan to deal with the beast in the rearguard?"
"We are ready to block a couple of street making the buildings collapse."
He didn't mention how he planned to make them collapse, but they probably were going to use the same method used to collapse the one that was filtering the beasts now.
"I'll talk to my team and tell you what we decided."
Probably the wave will split, and when they catch up, we will be swarmed by both sides. The lost on the main group are going to be huge, but moving by ourselves was also dangerous if some beast already moved we might be surrounded and with so many non-combatants it would only be more difficult.
I went to the rest of the group to discuss our options.
Before I explained the advantage and problem of each option, Robbert, Mikaela, and Cecily said that they wanted to go with the main group, Ian didn't express his opinion, probably thinking the pros and cons of each decision the same as me.
It was my decision, in the end, I was still a little reluctant to go with the main group if something happens the battle will be more chaotic and difficult to protect them.
[Ding!]
[Mission: Help the caravan arrive safely at Green Shelter (80% survival rate).
Optional: no one from Green Shelter commission dies.
Optional 2: 90% survival rate.
Optional 3: 100% survival rate.
Type: Escort.
Reward: 100 System points, 4 Skill points, 4 attribute points
Optional: 50% extra per optional reward completed.
Full completion: E-Rank Physical Enhance ability of your choice.
Time Limit: 11h 59m 59s]
…
Not an escort mission…
I had mixed feelings, about the mission, the rewards were amazing, and I have the potential to get a lot of points, I don't dream about a full completion though it only takes one idiot to ruin it.
Why it has to be an escort mission? I hate those. Rescue someone, kill this monster, discover that, found that place… those are good missions, but escort missions are always meh…
At least I'm not escorting dumb NPCs.
[Ding!]
[Mission Change: Rescue the caravan and kill the monsters that will attack it until they safely arrive at Green Shelter (80% survival rate).
Optional: no one from Green Shelter commission dies.
Optional 2: 90% survival rate.
Optional 3: 100% survival rate.
Type: Emergency.
Reward: 100 System points, 4 Skill points, 4 attribute points
Optional: 50% extra per optional reward completed.
Full completion: E-Rank Physical Enhance ability of your choice.
Time Limit: 11h 59m 59s]
…
'Changing some words doesn't make it a different mission you know?'
[But it's not an escort mission anymore]
'You just changed the type!!!'
[No, the objective it's different too]
'Ok, I get the point…'
"Spencer?"
Robbert called me, and I left the discussion with the system there was no use to it anyway.
"mm?"
"They are starting to go outside."
I looked around, and indeed the people have started to leave under Mr. D'Aurora orders.
"We are going with them too."
They all nodded, and I informed about our decision to Mr. D'Aurora.