Hermes' main objective was to elude from their grasp. It's been seven minutes since the incident happened.
Despite the group outnumbered their prey, the young Don still managed to pull himself together.
Hermes Archnemesis miscalculated the incident earlier when the old woman attacked him from his blindspot. He admitted his mistake of forgetting the most dangerous people in the [Mafioso] game, The Mages. Therefore, he won't ever forget what happened for the rest of his life.
Carelessness brought him into this terrifying incidents.
He halted his run and gulped some fresh air to relax a little bit. He recalled the message he read from the newspaper before the event started. [Don't get too close to the enemies and also to the old lady.]
He placed a hand on his forehead, and he heaved an exhausting sigh. He acknowledged his mistake again.
If he didn't stay for long, he won't be in this situation thus far.
His eyes looked fragile, but his body trembled in excitement. He had no idea why, but it wanted him to fight back.
Hermes hadn't noticed yet that his face was grinning. But his smile on his face disappeared after a thin material hit his side face.
He angrily removed the paper out of his face. Then, he checked what it was. But a piece of horrific music crossed across his ears upon seeing the familiar newspaper in front of him.
[Objective Complete: Saving the 'Fake' old lady. Success!]
[Trophy Reward: Mask of Destruction Acquired.]
[New Objective: Save yourself. Escape if you can. Good luck.]
The veins on his head showed up, and he tore the paper cold-bloodedly.
"Screw you!" Hermes exploded upon throwing it out of his sight.
His pistol slightly loosened a bit, so he tucked it behind his waist properly.
His whole body was covered with his sweat, but he's no running out of breath. He had no idea why his body looked fine after what happened at all.
'This is really strange. I don't know what's happening in this body. Never mind, I have to escape before they find me here,' Hermes commented.
Two minutes later, he arrived at the front gate of the fourth district. He was about to step closer to the place, but a sound of a moving truck made him rush for the bushes next to it.
Two black light trucks arrived with heavy luggage on their back.
Twenty-four men in black jacket suit men descended out of the vehicles, and they quickly formed a line in front of the gate.
Hermes crawled quietly out of their range, and he went for the abandoned shop immediately.
His intuition skill warned him that someone was coming, so he forcibly rolled over like a dog on the left, and he held his own breathe for a few minutes before the scout went to another corner.
"Ten-hut, " the unknown person commanded.
A red-haired male exited out of the truck, and he slowly walked in front of the platoon. He picked out a stick from his pack of cigarettes and lit it with his spell magic. His black suit looked stunning, and his appearance could be tandem with a popular model.
Hermes couldn't see his face clearly because of his current position, but he commented that he held a high position within their group.
"Status report, people?" the leader asked. "Sir, the whole place is fully secured. No hostile spotted yet," his henchmen answered respectfully.
"Oh, that's unfortunate. Are we too late to arrest the verdict? Bullshit, he must be somewhere here. Hey, lad. Tell the bastards to form a squad, and hunt him down. I want our group to capture him before the lowkey found him, " the leader instructed menacingly. "Y, yes, sir," his henchmen placed a hand on his chest and bowed down respectfully.
"I believe you are correct, sir. He must be somewhere here. Look down here, " his henchmen found the footprint left behind by Hermes. "What is it, lad?" asked the leader with a curious look. "The footprint is still fresh. I presume he rushed for the bushes before we arrived here. We can track him down if we follow this, sir," his henchmen suggested.
"Ooh, what a great idea. Good job, lad. Then, tell the men what they need to do, okay. I'm gonna wait here, and wait for the result. Proceed then," the leader said with a gentle tone. "Sir, yes, sir," his henchmen obediently followed.
The two batches of troops divided themselves into four squads. Then, they began to track him down.
'Wait for a second here, why is everyone looked organized? Are they really bandits?' Hermes complained.
Three men came from the left corner that was approaching his position. Afraid of being caught by their gaze, he waited for an open opportuniy to crouch behind them through the trees and rushed for the safepoint. Thankfully, he succeed without alarming the guards nearby.
Now, how could someone like him escape? He took refuge inside the abandoned shop of beverages and walked around in a circle while thinking about a plausible route for his alternative option. The location was perfect because it was out of their radar. The place was rigid and full of wrecked woods and a lot of spider web on the ceilings.
He removed his mask and gulped some air before he exhaled. He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped out the sweat from his face. From the corner, he moved his butt next to the three-legged chair and sat down.
He leaned his head on the table and sobbed.
"I want to go home. I want to eat more finest food in this world."
The world of the Otome game was tough for a villain like him. His character had already characterized as a weak and pathetic wise guy. That he often used his money for his scheme to gain influence, piety, prestige and glory.
He wiped out his tears and lifted up his face. His intuition had warned him that there were several men coming in. A sound of a hundred bullets fired from the outside and passed through to the wooden walls. His body reacted before it happened, however. He flipped up the table as his shield and took cover with his mask placed again to his face. He pulled out his pistol and waited for the opportunity to counterattack.
However, the assaulters reloaded their rifles and continued to shower him with bullets. His shield table was starting to lose its form and multiple small holes kept appearing. It wouldn't take any minute before the bullets destroyed it. His eyes narrowed around the place to find an escape route. A rectangular window with broken glasses caught his interest. He clicked his tongue because he had no other option but to jump out through it.
As the man outside reloaded, Hermes ran towards the window attempting to jump but his body suddenly forced him to duck after he saw three familiar men, who were already waiting there, fired their guns at the window. With his face slid down to the floor like a mop, the glasses of the window had disappeared as bullets slowly deformed it.
He quickly got up and searched for another escape route. But he had nowhere to go. The whole place was already surrounded. There's no way to go but to surrender.
He clenched his teeth and lifted his gun while pointing at the door. "You won't take me alive. If you want me then say hello to my little fri⸺" The floor he was standing collapse as he stomped it hard whilst he was waiting for the assaulters to break in. He fell down, eight feet high, to the surface and a loud sound of a human body hit the surface.
Hermes opened his wide, and he realized he was still alive. It took him for a few minutes to get his upper body up.
"Argh, my back. What? No pain?" Hermes quickly picked up his pistol upon hearing the sound of the footsteps coming inside the shop. "Shit, I need to go now."
The group broke in, but their target had already disappeared.
Rag and his team found nothing but a ruined table and a broken glasses.
"Where is he?" Rag muttered while looking for the young Don. "Where the fuck is he?"
"Sir, we don't know too. The terrace is clear," the blond haired man replied.
"Kitchen is clear. He's not here either, sir," the other henchmen responded.
"Sir, the lobby is clear, but there's a huge hole near the wrecked table. Maybe he climbed down here to escape from us," The bald man pointed his rifle at the hole.
"Boys, I don't care what our superior wanted him alive or what they want to do with that child. But, no matter what happens, don't let him escape from our hands. Follow him!" Rag declared. "Sir, yes, sir!" his men answered in unison.
Hermes continued to run away from the site through the secret tunnel. He was lucky to fall down to this place before his enemies captured him earlier. However, another trouble hindered his main objective, a dead end.
There's a manwhole above him, but he found no ladder nearby in the narrowed place.
"Damn it," Hermes clicked his tongue, and he quickly made a an alternative solution to this problem. "Is there a way to escape this mess? I have to do somethin' before it is too late. C'mon, think. Think properly. There's gotta be another way to climb up there."
His gaze looked at the other side where the sound of several footsteps came from.
"C'mon, there's no way it is just a simple dough tunnel. There's a high possibility that there's a ⸺ oh..." His eyes caught something interested and his face grinned subconsciously.
The bandits arrived on the same place.
"Where the fuck is he now?" Rag exploded. "Where the fuck is Hermes Archnemesis? Goddamn it!"
His men looked around, and one of them noticed the cicled shaped metal above them.
"Sir, there's a manhole above us. He might be…. You know what I meant right?" the blonde-haired man agitated after his leader showed him a terrifying gaze. "You do know what? Why don't you climb up there and use your brain? How can possibly a teenager like him could climb up that fuckin' metal without any tool to use here. There's no way he used a ladder nor a rope to get there. Did we miss a point here, huh?" Rag exclaimed as he pointed his index at the object whilst he kept stomping his foot on the surface.
"But if you look at this situation, there is a possibility he used his hands to climb up. Despite he's a weak and talented nobody, he is a smart child according to the intel," the blond haired man pointed out. "Boss, we don't have to worry. Take a look at these footprints, there are still fresh. We are still behind his tail. I assumeour target used his body to climb up by stretching his legs and arms from the opposite side, and he slowly used his size to elevate. Looking at narrowed and the small size of this place, it is the plausible option to do so," the bald guy explained to calm the group.
Rage tapped his man with a smiling teeth.
"Then, what are you fools waiting for? Get a rope and get your asses up there and chase him down!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the seven replied in unison.
Several minutes later, one of the henchmen arrived with a tangled rope. The bald man volunteered to climb up first and unlocked the manhole with his strength. He opened it, and entered it alone.
"Sir, the place is secured. You can climb up now!"
Rag and his henchmen nodded at one another. One by one, the group climbed up with their weapons behind their shoulders.
A few minutes later, they entered the closed area of the fitting room.
"Sir, we check the whole area but no one is here. I found out that this was also the same warehouse we engaged the child earlier," the bald man reported. "Is that so? This is bad. We are back to where we started, huh?" Rag massaged his nose, and he heaved a disappointing sigh.
"Sir, what should we do now?" the others looked distraught after they failed to hunt their target down. "I don't know either. All we can hope for now is to search the area. The target must be here somewhere," Rag leaned his back against the wall and lifted down his gun.
The henchmen saluted and moved out away from his position.
The leader pulled out his lighter and his cigarette case, but he found the case was empty.
"Oh…., Does anyone of you have some cigarettes, huh? Ah, shit. They're gone," Rag scratched his head, and he heaved a sigh again. "Here, " a young voice offered him a short stick. "Thanks, wait a minute," his eyes turned blue after he saw a small bullet on his palm. He quickly turned his gaze at his side and his hands almost pulled up his weapon, however, he was too late. The pistol barrel had already pressed on his forehead, and the bullet slowly slid down from his palm to the floor after he saw his target face to face again.
"Hey, there, Mr. Rag. Do you miss me?" Hermes adjusted his mask with his index finger. "Ever-, Hh-how did y― Oob, " Rage shut his mouth after the young Don pressed the barrel deeply.
"Sssh, quiet. Don't make a noise, okay, " said Hermes, placiing his index on his lips. "How did I get behind you? I only followed the same trick that your group did earlier. Man, you guys do me a lot of favor. Anyhow, my body got stiffened from hiding behind the narrowed place which you guys didn't bother to look at because it was too dark. You guys were too busy of thinking a strategy to chase me up here. Oh, hey, thank for the help. I'd appreciate it, and congratulations of turning yourself as my new hostage tonight. You are very unlucky, Mr. Rag. Don't worry, there's a cure for PTSD if you feel like to be cured."
"Y-Y-You brat," Rag clenched his teeth and he raised his hands up. "You won't escape from here. We already surrounded the place so there's no way in hell you can."
Rag's words sounded terrifying for a normal child, but the young Don didn't flinch from it. He only just tucked his pinky finger in his ears.
"Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that. Anyways, I have a question for you before your henchmen discover us," Hermes queried. "Tell me, what do you want from me?" Rag responded with a question.
Hermes slowly stepped to the right side whilst his gun still pointed at the head of his enemy.
"Who ordered you to do this? Don't play dumb, okay. By the way, I also want to know who is the tactician behind the plot who can predict my moves and calculate an accurate strategy to capture me. I'm not talking about the old hag, but the other female mage who is working in the shadow. Is she a witch or somone with incredible powers? Answer these questions. We both know I'm not the kind of person who bluffs my action. Right?" quizzed Hermes, smiling. "R-r-right, chill down, kid. Please show some mercy on me. I promise, I will answer all of it, " Rag assured with a cold sweat.
Hermes's lips curled like a crescent moon upon hearing it.
He instructed him to drop his whole body down the floor. Next, he asked him to place both of his arms behind his head.
"Now, we can start the interogation so speak up. If your henchmen arrive here before you answer it. You'll be a dead man. You have a few minutes or seconds to answer anyway."
'You won't get away from this, brat.'
Rag clenched his teeth and accepted his defeat. He was afraid to die at the hands of his target who was only half of his age.
Unbeknownst to him, Hermes was just only bluffing earlier that he would kill him, but he was not lying to shoot him on his nonvital part of his body like his shoulders.
"For the first question, we are ordered by our boss, and for the second one, I don't know who she is. Believe me, I am not lying. I heard from the rumors that she indeed has an ability to foresee the future through her special ability. I don't know if she has a blood of a witch but from the perceptions of our boss, she is a powerful being that we won't even dare to provoke, brat, " Rag answered promptly.
Hermes smugged after hearing his confession. A witch in this world was very rare and no one had seen one before. In his previous knowledge about this game, one of his co-workers added some background stories about the game world. But today, he was unamused about the intel he gathered. A powerful being who had always predicted his movements was indeed a dangerous person to face on. If she could find him via her powers then she was indeed a dangerous foe.
"So, can you give me some details about the person? A specific description?" asked Hermes, slowly stepping five centimeters away from Rag.
The leader closed his eyes to recall her profile information.
"According to her profile, she is a girl who always wore her blue cloak, and her face always covered with her hood. She has a crescent moon necklace around her neck. That personal asset is containing a valuable gem in the between the moon, a powerful relic of the fallen empire that could turn every man into stones if she wishes to. That's all," Rag replied in a low tone that could only both of them could hear.
"Is that all?" asked Hermes for confirmation. "Y-y-yes, that's all I know. If you want to know more, just ask our Underboss," Rag confirmed.
'Underboss?' Hermes tilted his head on the side with a confused reaction.
"Hmm, that's new character I guess. But, I never heard someone who wears a necklace like that, unless my junior added it without my permission," Hermes placed his left hand on his chin, and he synchronized the timeline.
Rage remained quiet, hoping his men came to rescue him.
"Nevermind, I don't care anymore. If she wants to fight me, then fine with me. But before I let you go, there is another question that you need answerer honestly, Mr. Rag," said Hermes earnestly. "W-what the fuck? How many questions do I have to answer, brat?" sassed Rag. But he stopped complaining after the young Don tucked the barrel into his mouth.
"Shut your fuckin' mouth or I'll blow your head off," Hermes dared. "Ib... sobby" Rag couldn't finish his words for saying 'I'm sorry.'
"Now, do you want me to repeat the question or you want to meet the Grim Reaper? Choose," provoked Hermes as he waited for his answer.
Rag screamed inside his mind with cold sweat. From his viewpoint, the young Don was a monster in the form of a teenager. Did the information about him was true? He questioned the competency of their comrades who gathered intel about him.
"So, are you still willing to cooperate with me, Mr. Rag?" asked Hermes for the last time. "Y-y-yes, Mr. Archnemesis. I don't mind to answer it with pleasure," Rag obsequious replied.
The hostage taker removed his gun from his mouth thereafter.
"Anyways, if you guys knew all about me then you did know I have a servant with me, right? So, I want you to answer it straight to the point. Did you guys perhaps found where he is?" Hermes's face turned black with his scarlet eyes shone after the moonlight illuminated his position. His shadow resembled a devil from hell. Rag gulped and replied, "We do know about your servant but I don't know where he is right now. Our only objective was to capture you alive before your servant arrives to save you."
Hermes sat down in a duck sit position whilst his head leaned on his left palm. He tilted his neck on the side and closed hus eyes. His gun was still pointed at Rag's forehead.
"Seriously, so that moron was still around there somewhere," Hermes muttered with an annoying tone. "Good thing, he is not yet being caught by you morons. Crap, your men are coming back."
Rag gasped upon seeing his terrifying eyes from the holes of his mask. He closed his eyes as Hermes almost pulled the trigger subconsciouly. For unknown reason, the young Don quickly dashed away from his position to other exit upon sensing his crew.
Rag screamed and asked for help and forgiveness.
"Sir, the place is already secured. The brat is not here. And ― why are you screaming and laying down there, sir?" The bald man tilted his head with confusion. Rag blinked his eyes, coughed once and stood up quickly, "Wa- the fuck are you doing here? That brat is going in that direction. Call everyone, ASAP. Chase him down!"