Shockingly, the mercenaries that Dylan thought had fallen actually started standing up one after the other!
"Urgh... It's just slightly weaker though..."
"It still hurts like a bitch..."
"Asshole, you're gonna fucking pay for this!"
...
Dylan retreated several more steps back. The twelve yellow rankers stood up and even seemed to be ready for combat.
'What the hell?! They withstood 600 volts and just fainted for over a minute?!' Dylan looked at them with shock. He could also see that they only sustained light burns on the spots where they were shot.
Each shot could send 600 volts of electricity to the body which should be enough to severely injure a person's internal organs such as the heart. It could also cause infectious burns and internal bleeding. It would prove to be fatal if it happened to any other person yet these twelve people actually withstood it.
'To think of such an extreme way to train, that martial maniac Diablo is the only one...' Dylan suddenly recalled whose men he was currently fighting right now.
Although he did not know all the specifics of Nine Hells, he knew that each rank of masked beast must train for at least an hour at their specified region for every Hell every three days. There are 4 regions of ascending difficulty which correspond to the color of the mask: white, yellow, white and black.
Each Hell may be for training the body's physical limits, skills and techniques, hand-to-hand combat, armed combat and resistance for poison, heat/fire, or electricity, etc. These were all designed to ensure the strength and the efficiency of the mercenaries during their missions.
This hectic way of training is really torturous and most mercenaries or assassins that trains would likely die!
However, those who did survive were human-shaped monsters, especially purple rankers and not to mention blank rankers.
...
"Let me take him on!" Yellow Ape eagerly declared.
Yellow Rhino warned as blood seeped through his mask, "No. He's too strong one on one. We need to gang up on him!"
Yellow Tiger agreed, " You three are the best at evading attacks. You scout and initiate the first strike. Another group will follow you on attacking him."
Yellow Crane and the other two nodded, "Yes, sir."
...
'It seems I have underestimated them a little bit too much. They are stronger than I thought. I can handle any single one of them easily. Six to eight at once may be my limit but there are twelve of them...' Dylan was quietly contemplating as he weighed his options.
'Should I just run?' Dylan thought to himself as he was distancing himself bit by bit with his back nearly facing a wall.
'But they know where Rose might be!' Dylan denied any thoughts of retreat.
But before he could think any more than that, there were two masked men along with Yellow Crane that were already charging at him.
A palm strike from the left. A frontal kick from the front. A low kick from the back.
'Then, I guess I have to beat it out of them.' Dylan inwardly declared.
'I'll just use the wall behind me to restrict the amount of people who can attack.' With Dylan's back now facing the wall, he restricts attacks from his blindspot and would now be able to better anticipate attacks from the sides. His main concern would be to fend off frontal attacks right now.
Behind them, five more attacks were incoming. Among the five, two were exuding dangerous auras. Yellow Rhino was approaching with both fists held near his temples like a trained boxer as he weaved and Yellow Ape had his body lowered as he approached like a wrestler ready to tackle.
"I guess I have to get a little serious, then." Dylan sidestepped to his right as he assumed a unique stance. His right hand was raised to the level of his forehead while his left hand rested on his side as though it was from a karate stance. His right leg forward with his toes pointing to the ground and his left foot was parallel to his right foot.
Although the stance may have seemed strange, the way Dylan assumed it felt so natural and practiced that he seemed comfortable just by doing it.
However, it did not take even a split of a second before he broke that stance and counterattacked.
Dylan's first target was the one who attacked him with a frontal kick. From his movements, he seemed to be familiar with taekwondo. That's why Dylan was able to quickly grasp his timing.
'A frontal kick?'
When he sidestepped from the right, he was not only able to evade the attack but also positioned himself to his foe's weak spot. With him using his left foot to kick, Dylan was able to easily close in on him.
Dylan's right hand that was raised suddenly extended to the opponent's nape and grabbed as he pulled it downwards. His left leg that was positioned at the back formed a knee blow to the opponent's face!
*Pow!!*
The blow caused the mask to break while breaking the man's nose and also made him cough up blood. Still, Dylan's attack did not end there.
'Can't afford to be careless. I need to destroy them completely.'
After the knee blow, he returned to his earlier stance. His left fist on his side tightened as he performed a gyaku-tsuki(reverse lunge punch) right on the bleeding face of his opponent.
The attack worsened the injury as the victim was pushed back to be catched by one of the five attackers on the back. His face was crushed and bloodied to the point it was unrecognizable. They could only hear his pained groans as the one who caught him retreated a few steps.
His state caused the others to be dumbstruck but what really shocked them was that Dylan did all that in less than 2 seconds!
'This guy has abnormal reaction speed, agility and body coordination!' The assassins thought as they approached him.
Pushing back one of the five attackers reduced the number of attacks had to watch out for. Dylan knew he had to take advantage of the situation, so he initiated another attack immediately, 'Take advantage of their shock!'
After the first attacker, Dylan jumped to evade the low kick. Once the low kick sweeped the floor, he twisted his body to his left by putting one arm to the ground.
Then, he kicked the attacker who was Yellow Crane to the head .
In response, Yellow Crane switched tactics and defended himself with a two-hand block. Although the attack was neutralized, Yellow Crane was still pushed back several steps.
However, as he was pushed back, he was able to launch sharp chops and palm strikes at Dylan's body.
'Wing Chun?' Dylan's face grimaced from the damage and recognized that way of attack from a certain martial art. He quickly readjusted his position after receiving the attack.
Subsequently, the other attacker had already initiated another attack. This time, it was a roundhouse kick.
*Swooosh*
'Kickboxer...' Dylan leaned backwards and avoided the kick. However, the attacker seemed to have anticipated this and proceeded to another spinning kick with his left leg.
"Too slow!" Dylan moved closer to him before his leg could arc into a kick. Dylan just seemed to have bumped to his thighs using his left arm. But the force from his incomplete strike rebounded on him and he was pushed back as he fell to the ground on bended knees.
Dylan sensed another attack approaching from his side.
That's why he moved to the right of the kickboxer as he grabbed the wrist and the shoulder of the man from the side. With a turn, he knelt and pinned the man flatly on the ground while holding his right arm.
Simultaneously, Dylan was able to avoid the deadly chop from Yellow Crane. The masked man looked at Dylan in horror.
'He even knows aikido?!' This man kept revealing one martial art after the other.
"Break." Dylan swiftly dislocated the arm by bending it leftwards! A painstricken scream was heard afterwards.
*Krrch!*
"ARGGGHHH!!"
The scream caused Yellow Crane to hesitate from the shock. His comrades hand has been bent in a gruesome manner. Fear unconsciously started arising in his heart as he faced this man. He only had one thought, 'Flee!'
However, Dylan did not give him any chance to do so. Even in a kneeling position with his back facing the enemy, he did not hesitate to attack! He attacked with a frontal low kick at the area between the leg and the foot as he turned.
"What?!" The attack caused Yellow Crane to fall forwards. The attack was so sudden. He did not expect Dylan would move that quickly! The attack was so strong that it actually broke his achilles tendon! 'How can he be this strong?!'
Dylan was already anticipating his fall with an elbow blow to his neck. This attack was extremely deadly. If it hits, Yellow Crane's windpipe would be blocked and he would not be able to breath nor can his body send oxygen to his brain, therefore blacking out.
'I won't fall for that!!' But Yellow Crane managed to decisively block the blow with a double hand block.
However, Dylan merely smirked as his elbow strike suddenly changed to a back hand chop straight to Yellow Crane's carotid vein! The elbow attack did not only divert Yellow Crane's attention, it also made him use both of his arms.
"You..." Yellow Crane then lost consciousness.
Using his right arm, Dylan adjusted the trajectory of the fall and made Yellow Crane's body lie down near the man with a severely dislocated arm. He slowly stood up as he stomped on the leg of the injured man beneath him who was trying to escape.
He said without even " I dare you to move."
'I'm going to die. I'm going to die...' The man was frozen solid on the spot. This was because the man before him did not hesitate to attack. All of his attacks are accompanied with bone-chilling killing intent and stone-hearted decisiveness. He did not doubt that this man would kill him if he dared to escape.
...
The outcome of the three scouts caused the four masked men on standby to shudder. The entire exchange was so fast that it merely took a few seconds!
"How is that possible?! Crane, Deer and Wildcat are Internal Force experts!"
"From his moves, I can tell that he too is an Internal Force expert but shutting all three Internal Force Experts in seconds is ridiculous!!"
"Could he have unlocked his Limiter too?!"
"What?!" The first two were stunned as they were dawned with realization.
"But there should have been a change in his body if he did!"
"Wait, does that mean he's already reached 'that' stage of martial arts like purple rankers?!"
"..." The other two became silent to that thought
...
" How can this be?! It's been 15 years since he last fought! How can he still execute his moves to such a refined extent?!' Yellow Tiger found what was happening incredulous.
After his world championship fight, Dylan Ford immediately retired. It caused quite the sensation. The 20 odd year old martial arts prodigy who just stepped on the peak of the world stage quickly withdrew from the scene and disappeared from the fighting world.
Six months later, the young prodigy returned and announced that he was going to start a business which also caused him to be severely criticized by the press and his colleagues.
However, he proved the world otherwise. Fifteen years later, his company rose into prominence like the sun in noon and reached the peak of the business world like how he easily stood at the top of martial arts in just two years time.
Logically, he should not have time to improve his skills. Managing the internal structure of his company daily as well as constantly meeting and negotiating with other businesses should have been hectic and draining enough to a person's physical and mental limits.
Fifteen years ago, Dylan's martial arts could be considered to have steadily reached Internal Force. They thought that his strength should have regressed to the Martial Master which is a stage of complete mastery of a martial art.
Currently, all of them were steadily at the peak level of Internal Force and some could be even considered to be half-step to 'that' stage.
Yet, he was currently crushing Internal Force experts, who could utilize all energy or strength within their bodies and incorporate them with their attacks, as though they were children.
Not only that, he also seemed to have integrated more martial arts into his fighting style. His integration also gives off the air of perfection and refinement. One could say he has achieved a Multi-Martial Master state.
'Could it be he's at Limit- Breaking Realm?!' A terrifying thought creeped past his mind.
That was because a human could only utilize 80% of their potential. This is due to the brain actively restricting the body to breach that threshold in order to protect the body from any self-harming damage.
In rare cases where a person's life is in danger, this could be unlocked and allow a person to even lift a car with one hand, carry a refrigerator on their back and other similar occurrences.
Limit Breaking Realm is the stage of martial arts where a human could perpetually maintain one hundred percent of their potential without harming their body. These people were considered true beasts in the martial arts world.
...
"This is just as troublesome as the gang fights I was in when I was a kid." Dylan tidied his clothes and his cloak.
"I'm getting impatient. If you don't tell me where Rose is, I'm going to kill every single one of you in the worst possible way." Dylan's eyes turned even more chillier than it already was when his eyes met the next attackers.
The group of five were so stunned by Dylan's display of strength that they stopped in their tracks. His strength made them recall the strength of purple rankers. But his words brought them back to reality, they were fighting this beast in human skin.
"You think you're invincible because you've reached Limit Breaking?!" Yellow Rhino refused to give up and charged. Suddenly, veins on his forehead, neck, arms and even on his legs started becoming more prominent. His aura became more wild and mighty as though he was a true rhino.
"You're not the only one who can do limit-breaking!" Yellow Ape grinned and also charged ahead. The same change also happened to him.
The spirit of the two combatants caused their companions' morale to also rise.
"Yeah, that's right!"
"We can do Limit-breaking too even for just a period of time!"
"If we're at the same stage, there's no way that we can't beat him with our numbers!"
Their repeated encouragements to each other gave them strength as they all started executing limit-breaking techniques and charged towards Dylan! Even Yellow Tiger joined them as he burst in strength with Limit-breaking!
"You three, use the usable guns and assist us!" Yellow Tiger said before he ran.
"Yes, sir!" The three agreed.
"Charge!" All six challengers with Limit-breaking attacked!
After gathering the guns that weren't destroyed, the three marksmen, each with two guns supported them while aiming at Dylan waiting to get a clear shot of their target!
"It seems I have been too soft..." Dylan muttered. He combed his hair back with his fingers with eyes shining in killing intent
...
Thirty seconds later...
"In the end, none of you know where Rose is..."
Dylan was the only one standing while he grabbed the head of the leader of the yellow masks, Yellow Tiger using the two sockets of his eyes. Around them, 11 yellow ranks laid on the ground and all of which were beaten in a bloody and brutal way.
Four had their heads twisted to the back. The three gunners had their arms displaced backwards. Another three had their legs bent the other way while the remaining two had their backs destroyed as their heads touched the heels of their feet.
Yellow Tiger, who lost his sight, muttered in a frightened tone, "M-mon...Monster!"
Suddenly...
A series of claps was heard...
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
"Marvelous! Marvelous!" A man wearing a purple mask walked out of the Emergency Exit passageway, the exit point of the Emergency Exit Area.
"You are-?" Dylan looked at him indifferently.
"Haha, it's only natural that the Asura of the 200th Dark Tournament would not remember me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Purple Spider and I know where your dear wife is." Purple Spider greeted him with a knowing tone
Dylan turned around as he removed his fingers from the sockets after twisting Yellow Tiger's Head. "Speak."