--- General POV ---
Marcus found himself in quite a troublesome situation as he followed his usual daily duty of patrolling the usually calm town of Agris. The town served as a resting point for merchants on their journey to Orario.
Being a resting point for merchants, Agris often attracted troublesome individuals looking for easy prey to rob, strip naked, and take advantage of.
As the captain of the city guards, it was Marcus's duty to maintain peace and order among both common and uncommon folk.
He started his day like any other, patrolling the city, checking hotspots for bandits, and preparing to repeat the routine the next day. However, today the gods decided to make his usual boring day quite interesting.
During his walk through the town, Marcus noticed an average-sized, tanned woman thrashing one of the commonly known ruffians who liked to play pranks on people.
"Serves you right, you motherfucker," Marcus thought at first, but then he remembered his duty. He rushed forward to stop the commotion.
"Are you going to play more pranks on me?! Punk?!" The Amazoness punched the prankster a few more times until blood gushed from his mouth and he dropped unconscious. It was a rather unpleasant sight to behold, blood spilling all over the floor along with broken teeth.
At first, Marcus was pleased that the prankster was getting his comeuppance, but this was going too far. The prankster usually committed harmless pranks, so most people tolerated him because of their innocuous nature, even though they were annoying.
"What DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING THERE?!!! That's attempted murder right there, lady!! HALT!!!" Marcus pointed his newly polished spear at the beautiful Amazoness.
His tone angered her even more. Clenching her fists, the Amazoness moved forward calmly and looked Marcus dead in the eye. "And who are you to stop me?! This fucker right here deserved this after he tried throwing a water balloon at me!!"
'All this over a water balloon? Can't say I'm surprised,' Marcus thought to himself, understanding her anger. After all, anyone would be annoyed if someone immediately threw a water balloon at them, especially if they were already having a bad day.
"I understand your anger, miss, but there was no reason to go overboard in your little rampage against that fool over there! Now, hands in the air and follow me to the prison. You will be questioned there appropriately."
Marcus commanded, but the Amazoness ignored him. She moved like a bolt for his eyes and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him in the process.
"You are in no position to command me, you piece of shit! Honestly, can you even call yourself a man after being handled by a woman in such a way?!" She mocked Marcus, making him gasp for air as her fingers tightened around his neck.
As other people watched the scramble, some scattered away while others continued watching in fear.
"Call the guards!!!"
"There is a crazy woman over here!!"
Voices of the scared folk echoed on the streets. Some rushed to call for reinforcements as the city captain was already defeated.
"Pch, pathetic! All of you dare call yourselves warriors and protectors of the town when you even lack a falna and proper fighting techniques. Don't you have a god in the city? Why don't you beg him for the blessing?"
Before she could tighten her fingers even more, a green wave hit her at high speed. However, her Level 3 status granted her enough prowess to resist it and tank it like a champ easily.
"Hmmm?" She turned her head only to the side, seeing a silver-haired, rather nice-looking boy looking at her with a deadpan expression.
"What do we have here? A quiet looker you are... Are you an adventurer too, perhaps?" She dropped Marcus down, and he gasped for air, grateful to be saved from imminent danger.
'My Chaos Sultan can't affect her?!! What level is she to be able to tank my ability, which killed a Level 2 adventurer with ease?!' Niall asked himself in his head. However, at that moment, he forgot that the difference between levels was too high. Plus, facing a trained Amazoness fighter was much harder than facing a jobless drunkard who took ages to progress to Level 2.
"So you won't talk, huh? Acting all cool and mighty in front of the people won't make you a hero, boy. Fine, I will give you a beating of your life and perhaps test your strength. By that ability alone, I would say that you are leagues above these worthless men out here."
A grin formed on her face, reminiscent of Aisha's evil grin, but Niall discarded the comparison right away as the angry tanned woman charged at him at full speed.
Casting Chaos Sultan a few more times, Niall watched in frustration as the Amazoness didn't even bother, closing the distance between them effortlessly.
At this point, Niall spammed his skill like a crazed ape, but he was unable to do anything to her, not even push her away a little bit. 'She's like a sudden boss fight in video games, a strong one I would say...'
Niall's thoughts were interrupted when the Amazoness's fist hit his stomach with half force. Even in her rage, she couldn't allow herself to kill anyone like that. It would bring her trouble and put her on the wanted list in major cities, especially Orario.
Her fist connected with his stomach, causing Niall's lungs to experience a shock for a moment. Being hit by such a strong foreign force made his lungs stop working for a couple of moments.
Thanks to his status, Niall remained conscious, but the air was knocked out of him. Gasping for air, he struggled to breathe, the pain making it difficult to focus on anything else.
"He fell to the ground, still clutching his stomach, desperately trying to draw breath but failing. At that moment, he believed he was going to die, particularly due to his foolish mistake of provoking a stronger opponent.
He knew that while not all Amazons were higher than level 1, their culture mandated young girls fight to the death for a level up. It reminded him of Spartan culture, but somehow more brutal. Engaging in a fight with such an opponent was an obvious mistake, but now it was too late.
"If I were just one level lower, you would have knocked me out by now with that annoying ability of yours. It's interesting how you can spam it so rapidly without experiencing mental fatigue, you know? But still, you lack the proper understanding of knowing whom and when to fight."
She sighed and continued speaking, "Yet, you are different from other adventurers I've encountered thus far. You possess such an intriguing ability that will undoubtedly become stronger if you manage to level up and progress. But don't let it get to your head, kid."
The Amazon paused for a moment and seized Niall by his silver hair, causing his eye to twitch in pain. "Even though you're weak right now... I wouldn't mind claiming you since you're quite a looker.."
"HALT RIGHT THERE!!!!" The thundering footsteps and clinking armor halted her from further tormenting Niall. Before the Amazon and the fallen boy stood a group of twenty guards, surrounding them both.
"Fine, I will leave the town right away... After all, this place has nothing to offer, no strong opponents to even scratch me." The Amazoness grinned and moved calmly; the guards knew very well that she was an adventurer and an Amazoness by fact.
The only thing the guards could do was ensure she left the town in peace. They split, and the remaining guards checked up on the gasping Niall, who still hadn't managed to breathe properly.
"Calm down, calm down, boy! Breathe properly, focus on your breathing, and don't think of anything else!" One of the guards then retrieved a healing potion from his pouch and made Niall drink it in one gulp.
The healing potion started to do its job, and the effects of healing began showing when Niall finally managed to take one proper breath.
"HAAAH!" Gasping for more fresh air, the boy breathed more and more until the color returned to his face, just like before the incident.
"Are you okay, kiddo?! That damned Amazoness did us dirty, the fucking bitch!!" Marcus was angered by the Amazoness's overreaction, so much so that he lost his usual professionalism.
"Yeah, I guess I am okay. She was a very tough opponent to crack, tough enough to resist my waves like a whole ass wall..." Marcus was surprised since he knew pretty well how powerful Niall's ability was.
"What the hell happened here?!" An angry Primordial, along with Hermes, stormed out of the shop only to see a not-so-pleasant view in front of them.
"Is he dead?" One of the guards asked the other one as they inspected the prankster, but as soon as they asked that, the prankster gurgled blood and regained consciousness.
A couple of the guards carried the heavily wounded prankster to the town healer, while Niall, alongside Marcus and two gods, stood there on the street.
"You really took some trashing there pahahah! Still, it's good to see you're all right since that Amazoness could kill you in the blink of an eye." Svarog mocked Niall at first but then turned pretty serious.
Hermes, on the other hand, looked at the rooftops of townhouses, supposedly looking for something or someone.
'I'm glad that Asfi decided to remain hidden; we couldn't risk our cover blowing up for something like this...' Hermes thought and sighed in relief. The whole time, Asfi, who was a level 4 adventurer, watched Niall and followed his every step.
It was the order from her god to stay hidden, so she obeyed, even if it meant letting the boy get beaten to a pulp. Of course, she would defend the boy if he were to be killed, but she knew that the Amazoness wanted just a brawl and not a death match.
--- Niall's POV ---
My body hurt all over from the beating I received minutes ago; it was the worst beating I've ever experienced in both lives of mine. Previously, I was a peaceful person who avoided conflicts at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing my pride.
I didn't care about pride; I knew it was just a human-made concept and not important to worry about. But this... this honestly shook me to the ground with how badly I was beaten and humiliated.
I've noticed a couple of glances from others, some taking pity on me, and some laughing. Surely, they wouldn't laugh if they were in my place, but there's no point in occupying my mind with such useless thoughts.
"Alright! I and the boy will go and enjoy some time together at the bar nearby; he survived an encounter with an Amazoness, so that's a feat worthy of celebration haha!" Hermes was carrying his usual cheery attitude.
"Well... I guess I will return to duty at once and write about the whole incident and do other not-so-interesting formal stuff..." Marcus pouted in disappointment at not being able to go with us. Well, it sucks to be him, I guess.
"Let's go, my little prodigy! Let this god teach you some important stuff in life, and the best place to learn that is either a brothel or a fresh bar full of women!" Hermes acted like a wingman and gestured for me to follow him.
"I'm not interested in romance, you know? After all, I think it's a waste of time and resources since females can get pretty noisy and annoying..." I sounded like a misogynist, but it was my honest thought.
Hermes turned his gaze to me seriously. "And that's the thing we have to fix. You cannot allow yourself to be such a mood killer, you know? Every adventurer needs a woman in his life to ease his stress and bad thoughts, even though I don't see any kind of emotions in you..."
"That's because I have none. It's a part of my power to erase my emotions." There was no point in me hiding it because it was obvious at first sight. I couldn't form a facial expression even if I wanted to.
Hermes looked at me deadpanned for a moment and gave me a deep stare, possibly inspecting me to the core. "....A pretty... interesting power you've got there, Niall. Come on, let's get to the bar so we can chat like men with our drinks!"
He changed back to a cheery attitude and dragged me by the shoulder. Looking behind, I saw Svarog who waved at me with a smile on his face.
'What a nice god of mine is...' I thought, proud of coming from such a culture that once worshiped gods like him.