"Yes!" Guard No.1 and Brutus shouted simultaneously.
Guard No.1 got down the stairs, and together with Brutus, he led the way outside, out of this underground room.
"No.2, No.3, No.4, and No.5," The woman spoke a few moments after Nolan, Harley, and the others left.
"Yes!" They shouted, straightening their backs.
"Tonight, destroy the businesses of the Viper organization and their food supplies. Destroy as much as you can of their resources!" The woman commanded. "Let the war begin!"
...
Outside.
After leaving outside, Gulliver bid goodbye to Nolan and Harley and wished them luck. Then, he left.
As for Brutus and Guard No.1, after leaving the underground room, they did not mind Nolan and Harley and left them in front of the ruined two-story building. They each had gone bt their task, preparing everything needed for destroying the Calvus noble family.
"They just left us here? What now?" Harley asked.
"I am afraid we will not make it in time. But still, we can only wait here and hope they finish the preparations as soon as possible." Nolan said. "We can not afford to move from here, making them search for us when they finish the preparations, ultimately losing time."
"Ahhhh!" Harley sighed, accepting that he had to wait.
...
Half an hour passed, and the sun started setting.
As the sun got lower and lower below the horizon, Nolan's and Harley's hearts tightened.
"Niighhaaaa!" A loud horse noise sounded from afar, making Nolan and Harley turn toward the direction of the noise.
Soon after the horse noise, a pair of brown horses appeared, pulling a large carriage behind. Seconds after the first carriage appeared, more carriages appeared behind the first. Ultimately ten more carriages appeared.
The coachman of the first carriage stopped the carriage before Nolan and Harley.
Nolan and Harley got into the carriage, and the carriage continued traveling.
Inside the carriage Brutus and Guard. No.1 sat on one passenger seat, barely fitting because of Brutus's large build.
Nolan and Harley sat on the other passenger seat, praying silently inside that they arrive on time.
...
Time passed, and night quickly fell. Nolan didn't know how long it had been since they embarked on their way toward the restaurant but surely, no less than two hours.
As the carriage drove deeper into the night, Nolan's heart tightened. With each passing second, he felt his heart could burst at any moment.
...
At Nara's side, inside the restaurant.
The whole restaurant was empty, earlier than usual. Even the chambers on the second floor and the gambling facility in the basement were empty. Not wanting to meddle the customers in the war between the restaurant and Bonosus, Nara announced that they would close the restaurant for a few days, chasing everyone away from the restaurant.
Now, in the empty restaurant, she sat on a chair in the center of the restaurant with her left hand resting on the table left of her.
Surrounded by the employees of the restaurant, Nara nervously tapped her right foot on the ground.
On the table was placed a spear. It was the most ordinary spear you could find for three taels of silver in every blacksmith shop. It had a length of 180 millimeters (6 feet).
Slam!
Nara slammed her left hand off the table, making the spear jump a few millimeters from the table.
"Where are they!?" She roared angrily, like a lioness. "They should have arrived by now! Bonosus would be here any moment now!"
"Boss, please calm down," Layla spoke. "I am sure they are on their way."
"Sighhhhhh!" Nara let out a heavy, troubled sigh. "You all," She pointed at the ten women with faces full of bruises brought by Nolan. "Go upstairs and lock yourselves in the chambers." She said. "No, go downstairs in the gambling facility and lock the floor door from inside. That way, you would be safer even if I fail to protect the restaurant."
"You should go downstairs as well," She added, looking at the cooks. "Layla, you too."
"Boss, they have not arrived yet. I will not..."
"No," Nara cut off Layla's attempt to complain. She stood up from the chair and picked up the spear in hand. "I can feel it. They will be here soon."
Nara headed towards the door of the restaurant, exiting the restaurant.
The others followed Nara's command and hid in the gambling facility underground. Of course, everyone except Layla.
"Boss," Layla followed behind.
Nara did not reply. Instead, she stood silently in front of the restaurant for a few minutes.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The sound of carriages riding over the unevenly stone-paved path filled the street at this late hour. Since it was late at night, the oil lamps lighting the city were off, and the streets were void of people.
"Here they are!" Nara said, tightening her grip on the spear.
Soon, five carriages appeared from the darkness, all stopping before the restaurant.
Out of each carriage came five fully armed muscular men. They wore light leather armor and swords.
Out of the last carriage came Bonosus, accompanied by two men. One was the man that came with him three days ago when he announced the war against the restaurant, a strong-looking man, and the other was a skinny man. The green clothes the skinny man wore were like attached to a stake. And he did not look strong, quite the opposite, he looked weak, seemingly a stronger wind would blow him away. As for weapons, he only carried a pair of daggers behind his waist.
"Hahahah!" Seeing Layla, Bonosus laughed. "So you decided to give her up!"
Clang!
Nara struck the spear off the ground.
"Hmph! Don't even think about it!" Nara pointed the spear at Bonosus. "Today, I will fight you to death!"
Bonosus just smiled.
"A bold claim," The strong-looking man said, unsheathing the sword around his waist.
"Come at me! I am not afraid of you!" Nara shouted, pushing Layla aside and getting in her battle stance.
"Brothers!" The strong-looking man shouted, pointing his sword at Nara.
The twenty men all unsheathed their swords.
"Charge!" The strong-looking man commanded with a smile on his face.
The men all charged at Nara.
Nara too didn't wait to be surrounded by the men. She dashed forward, her spear in front of her, pointing to the nearest man.
Her speed was fast. In just a few short moments, her spear reached the man.
Clang!
The man barely redirected the spear. But still, in that short moment, he did not perfectly redirect it, and he received a slight cut on the biceps.
Before she could continue attacking this man, another man arrived, slashing at her, forcing her to retract the spear.
Clang!
She blocked his sword with the spear. But soon, the other men also caught up, surrounding her.
She tried to retreat before they completely surrounded her, but it was too late. She was already completely surrounded.
Slash!
A man standing at Nara's blind spot slashed his sword at her arm.
"AghhH!" Nara howled in pain. The sword tore the clothes on her forearm, leaving a deep cut.
Slash!
Another sword slash came from behind, slashing her back. The slash left a long cut on her back.
"Cowards!" Nara shouted, her eyes filled with fear. She did not fear losing her life. She feared she was never going to see Harley and Henry again.
The men surrounding her looked at each other, nodding.
They all raised their swords above their head.
Swoosh!
They swung their swords down simultaneously.
Clang!
Nara blocked all the swords with her spear.
The swords were all directed at the same target, her. So, all the swords met above her head. She put the spear above her head, blocking all the spears.
However, the sheer strength of dozens of men pushing their swords down with all their strength threw Nara on her knees.
"AghhH!" She screamed, struggling to hold on. The wound on her forearm made it even harder to defend herself.
"HAAAAAAA!" The men screamed too. They exerted all their strength in order to bring Nara down.
Their efforts were not in vain. Nara's hands started bleeding, and she started losing the contest of strength. Though trying her hardest to hold on, it was just not enough. Under the combined force of dozens of men, the spear started slowly going down.
As the spear came down only a few inches above her head, images of her life with Henry and Harley in the past years flashed before her eyes.
"NO!" Nara shouted determinately. "I will survive!"
She stopped the spear from going down.
"HAAAAAAA!" A golden color enveloped the spear. Under the influence of this golden color, the spear started rising. The men could no longer suppress Nara as she overpowered them and slowly started rising from her knees. "GO AWAY!" She shouted. With her shout, a golden wave-like energy burst from her, pushing the men a few steps back.
"Sighh!" Nara stood up and exhaled all the air from her body. She closed her eyes, concentrating.
The blood from her hands painted the spear red, but as she concentrated, from her hands, golden energy started pouring out onto the spear. Like a golden shell, the golden energy quickly enveloped the spear.
At the blade of the spear, out of the golden energy formed a golden dragon head with an open mouth. The spear blade looked like it was coming out of the dragon's mouth.
"Attack her!" The strong-looking man standing next to Bonosus shouted anxiously.
"AAAAAA!" The men screamed, raising their swords and running towards Nara.
Nora opened her eyes. She switched her hold of the spear, taking hold of the end of the spear.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed as she started spinning in a circle with the spear.
Swoosh!
She spun one full circle with the spear.
The men stopped two meters (6.5 feet) from Nara and restrained themselves from attacking her. No, they could not attack her even if they wanted to, as the spear was long, and she spun in a circle. They could not get close enough to attack her.
Swoosh!
She spun another full circle.
Cracks started appearing across the spear. The spear had too much energy and was unable to hold it. The golden energy around the spear pushed the material of the spear to its limits.
Swoosh!
Completing the third circle, the cracks spread across the whole spear.
"Not good!" The eyes of the man standing beside Bonosus widened. "DEFEND!"
"DRAGON SPEAR!" Nara shouted.