All of them looked at me. The expressions that they showed were either that of fear or bloodlust. The kids and Garnet, on the other hand, looked at me with awe. I then stopped Killer's Pressure. After a minute of catching their breath, one of the 3 people who were bullying the kids spoke up.
"Y-you… bastard…!" The buff guy said as he stood up and glared at me.
With my enhanced agility, I swiftly moved through all the disoriented people and went in front of him.
"…That's my line. What do you think you're doing to those two, huh?" I said as I lifted him up with my right hand on his neck.
"G-guh…" he said as he struggled, trying to break free from my grasp.
"I asked you a question… Speak!" I shouted as I strengthened my grip on his neck.
"H-hey, Julius… Calm down. He won't be able to speak if you strangle him like that." Garnet said as she patted my back.
I looked at Garnet. She shivered and stepped back once, but she looked directly into my eyes afterwards and grabbed the arm that was gripping the guy's neck.
"…Go and take care of the kids." I was indifferent as I let go. By the time I did so, his companions were back and helped him up.
"You little…! What did you do to Gus!?" the slim man said.
"That's my question. Why did you do that to those kids?"
"T-they deserve it…! The inn manager told us that those kids stole some gold coins!" the staff boy said.
"They're just kid beggars! How could they have gold coins?" the inn manager (male) said.
"Y-yeah! What Tim said! We were only doing what was right! So, you're trying to save these kids, huh?" the slim man responded.
"Don't bother with him, Joe. The authorities are coming either way." Gus, the buff man said.
Just after saying that, a group of 4 knights who seem acquainted with the 3 have arrived at the scene.
"What's going on here?" the knight with a horse asked as he stepped down from his ride.
"I'm glad you're here Captain." Gus said as he shook the captain's hand and bowed.
"Tell me the situation now. I haven't got all day." He replied.
"Those 2 kids over there have stolen some gold coins and this guy stopped us from conducting justice." Tim said while pointing at us.
"Hm… I see. Men, arrest those 3." He responded, and ordered to capture the kids and me.
"Wait!" Garnet said as she went towards the captain. "I'm from the Hunter's Guild and I believe that you are not conducting the proper measure. You haven't even confirmed our side of the story, yet."
"Oh…? You're with them? Men, include her as well. We'll take the gold coins into our custody." He said as he showed a condescending face towards us.
The 3 knights surrounded us and pointed their swords at us. "Don't resist."
"Heh." I snorted. "So, knights and inn owners in cahoots with kid abusers. How funny."
"…Huh?" the captain looked at me.
"I'm tired of listening to your bullshit. You won't listen to our opinion, and you think I will just accept this? Think again." I said.
"Oh-ho. Resisting the captain's order, huh? Men, knock 'em down. We'll bring them to the prison. You three, help us capture these 4."
The 3 knights encircled the 2 kids and Garnet, while the captain and the 3 hunters encircled me. Garnet equipped her staff and casted magic on the kids. Their pale complexion was gone, and the bleeding from the short-hair kid's head was gone.
"I won't resist. But, don't regret what happens." Garnet said to the knights.
"Tim, use Thunder Lock on the kid. The Captain and I will guard his escape while Joe will provide cover fire." Gus said as all his companions went into position.
"Useless."
My speed left afterimages of myself as I dashed through the 2 and towards the caster.
"What!? How'd he…!?" Gus exclaimed.
As I got near the caster, an arrow went flying towards me. A dialog box appeared in front of me saying
[ARCHER'S DISPOSITION ACTIVATED]
Then my body dodged the arrow, making my way to the front of the caster.
"Shit!" Tim said.
I punched his stomach and unexpectedly knocked him back by approximately 2-3 meters away, hitting himself on the wall of a building.
"Tim!" Gus said as he and the captain ran towards me and proceeded to thrust towards me.
I jumped instinctively and landed on the captain's sword's tip.
"Too slow." I said as I kicked the head of the captain's unprotected head. As Gus was wearing a full body armor, I aimed towards the captain first. The kick made the captain lose balance and I used his head as a foothold to jump above Gus.
"Oh no, you don't!" a voice was heard from afar and 3 arrows went flying towards me.
"Wind's Embrace." I casted. Then, 2 dialog boxes appeared in front of me.
[QUICK CAST ACTIVATED]
[ALL TIER 1 PRIMARY & SECONDARY SPELLS ARE NOW INSTANTLY CASTED, WHILE ALL OTHER SPELLS ARE NOW CASTED 20% FASTER]
Right before the arrows hit, the swirl of wind altered the direction of the arrows, making it miss me.
"He's a caster!?" Gus said as he swung his sword upwards in an attempt to hit me.
"Ice Shard." I casted as a shard of ice appeared below me, acting as a foothold. I jumped on it and avoided the slash. The slash shattered the ice shard, scattering multiple pieces of ice on the face of Gus. After that, I landed on the ground and several arrows were flying towards me.
"Wall of Flames." I casted, and a wall of flames burned the arrows to ashes before reaching me and I dashed towards the trajectory of the arrow.
I sensed movement from the marksman and I sprinted towards it. While on the way, I grabbed the staff of the caster and knocked threw it as strong as I could towards Joe. The staff's end directly hit the backhead of Joe, knocking him down on the ground.
"…That's two down."
"T-that guy's a monster! Run!" The kingdom's people shouted as they ran away from me. Gus and Captain managed to get back up and removed the nuisances from their senses.
"No more Mr. Nice Guy, then. Boys, leave those 3 be. Let's handle this kid with the intent to kill." The Captain said as he grabbed something from his pocket and lifted it up. "The Power to Kill, the Power to protect. Come! Knight's Contract!"
Suddenly, all 5 of them were wrapped with light and they started dashing towards me with great speed.
"Two can play that game… Thunder Sprint. Earth's Blessing."
A series of dialog box appeared in front of me.
[CASTING THUNDER SPRINT AND EARTH'S BLESSING ON USER]
[NATURAL WEIGHT RESISTANCE INCREASE OF 20% FOR 1 MINUTE]
[PHYSICAL SUBSTATS INCREASE OF 20% FOR 30 SECONDS]
[REMAINING TIME FOR ASSASSIN'S REVENGE – 47 SECONDS]
I dashed towards the 5 and intercepted the 3 knights who looked like they had no experience in real live fighting.
"Captain!" Gus called out as he wielded his broadsword.
"Cyclone!" Both Gus and the Captain shouted. They started swinging their sword with their body in a circular motion, creating a suction effect. This made me decrease my momentum as I tried dodging by sliding below the hitbox of their skill.
"Primal Toss!" the 3 knights shouted as their swords shined weirdly, throwing it towards where I will pop out after sliding.
I completely dodged 2 of the swords, while the other one managed to cut my right arm, opening a small wound on it, making it bleed. The swords then went back to their owners.
"Got 'em!" one of the knights said.
[GOT DAMAGED BY PRIMAL TOSS]
[ALL PHYSICAL STATS ARE NOW DECREASED BY 10% FOR 30 SECONDS]
[BUFFS REMAINING: ASSASSIN'S REVENGE – 25 seconds, THUNDER SPRINT – 38 seconds, EARTH'S BLESSING – 8 seconds]
Getting more pissed off at the current events and how an insignificant knight managed to hurt me, my mind got even more clouded.
[MIND COMPLETELY CORRUPTED BY ASSASSIN'S REVENGE]
[ALL STATS INCREASES WILL NOW BE INCREASED TO 100% UNTIL THE TIME RUNS OUT]
[BODY CONTROL NOW LEFT TO INSTINCTS]
My body started moving on its own, dashing towards the knight who managed to hurt me. Using the current speed and strength of my body, I hit his throat, knocking the guy down, now gasping for air until he fell unconscious.
"Rick!" one of the knights shouted. He then ran towards me and his sword started glowing. He waved his sword twice, releasing two energy-like waves towards me. He followed after.
"No! You're too hasty!" the other knight shouted.
My body evaded the two waves by sidestepping and jumped on top of the head of the incoming knight, twisting his head with my arms, knocking him down unconscious.
"Shit…! You should've waited for the captain and Gus!" the remaining conscious knight said as he regrouped with the two who just finished their ability execution.
"I thought you 3 were supposed to pick off easy targets…!" the Captain shouted at Gus.
"W-we did! The kids were easy targets since they weren't backed up by anyone AND they just finished their sentence, so no one would vouch for them." Gus explained.
"…So you people are targeting innocents to extort their money from them, eh?" I asked.
"So what? No one will know and now you have to die with those 3-huh…?" the knight said as he looked around for the 3 other targets. "Where'd that lady and the kids go?"
Then a group of people with horses were heard, fast-approaching the scene. After looking at where the noise was heard, a dialog box appeared in front of me.
[TRIGGER SKILL ASSASSIN'S REVENGE RAN OUT]
[NOW RETURNING MENTAL STATE TO NORMAL]
[NOW REMOVING ALL STAT INCREASE FROM SKILL]
[EARTH'S BLESSING SPELL RAN OUT]
[NOW REMOVING ALL STAT INCREASE FROM SKILL]
"Julius! I'm here with backup!" someone with a familiar voice shouted.
"Shit…! Escape!" the Captain prompted as he ran towards his horse. Gus and the knight grabbed the unconscious men and tried running into the alleyways.
"Binding Light" I casted. 3 rays of light appeared in front of me and started launching itself, targeting the horse, Gus and the knight.
"Guh…!" the captain struggled as he and his horse couldn't move.
"Finally…" I said as I breathed out and relaxed my posture. Due to the inexperience of my body, the pain and tiredness it felt made it kneel.