"You are the runt. Your mother, father, children, wife are all runts. You are a family of runts!" Sal spat out, angering Thompson into quickly standing from the ground and charging at him blindly. At the same time, answering his call for vengeance, his two friends also charged.
All three friends attacked at the same time, throwing punches and kicks at him.
"Ants trying to overturn a mammoth. How ridiculous," Sal sneered as he maneuvered his body in an intricate manner, resembling the quickness of a cheetah and the flexibility and elusiveness of a snake.
This was the True Martial Technique, The Rapid Elusive Steps!
Although Sal's cultivation had disappeared in a puff of smoke after he had possessed this young body and he didn't have the spiritual energy to cast spiritual techniques, he could still use true martial arts that didn't rely on spiritual energy.
The Rapid Elusive Steps was a movement-type true martial technique. When used against fellow martial artists, it could allow one to escape the range of their attacks.
He was using it against pathetic cowards who seemed to have not learned to properly fight.
So, although his teen body wasn't too stronger than the average adult, he was able to avoid all their attacks.
"W-what the?"
All of their punches and kicks missed him, leaving the group of three friends shocked.
In that moment when they were so overcome with shock that they stood stunned and unmoving, Sal struck back ruthlessly.
He raised his leg and stomped down hard on the side of the knee of the person closest to him, which happened to be Thompson.
The second Sal's strike connected, Thompson's knee unceremoniously bent, causing his body to instantly lower to a point where it seemed like his punchable face was asking for a bloody punishment.
Having created this opportunity, how could Sal not follow through with it? Besides, he loved handing out punishment.
Bringing his fist high into the air, he immediately swung it with all the strength he could muster in an upward to downward arc. He also twisted his waist at the right time to add more force into it.
The swing was wide and the momentum it accumulated before it reached the mark increased its deadliness to the limits of a young teenage boy's body!
Thwack!
The fist landed on Thompson's face like Thor's hammer, knocking the lights out of him.
Thud!
The very next moment, Thompson collapsed to the ground.
Lying there, he was still like a dead fish.
"You little bastard!" The sound of his companion's body collapsing to the ground snapped Hanks out of his daze, and he rushed forward, swinging at Sal like an enraged bull.
Watching the incoming fists, Sal couldn't help but feel disdainful. Hanks was attacking aimlessly. Such a reckless charge might work against fools, but it would never overwhelm a man who hsd hundreds of years of experience. His moves were read. Sal, with just a glance, could tell the trajectory his attacks woukd follow.
With quick sidesteps, Sal avoided the punches thrown by Hanks by a landslide.
"When will you learn? You are too untrained to land a hit on me!" Sal taunted, his voice dripping with mockery.
This goaded Hanks into a frenzy, provoking him to drop whatever defenses he was instinctively setting up and attack with all he got.
'Exactly what I wanted,' Sal thought as he dodged all the attacks Hanks made using the Rapid Elusive Steps.
Soon, he saw his chance when Hanks, driven by fury, lashed out with his leg in a high, arcing kick. He seized the opportunity, ducking low to dodge the reckless attack before striking out with his leg from that very position where his body was hunched low and close to the ground.
His kick connected with the ankle of Hanks's supporting leg.
At that moment, with Hanks having one of his legs in the air, the strike to the ankle of his supporting leg was devastating.
Hanks was swept off his feet. He plummeted face-first into the ground.
"Hanks?" Joe called out with a seemingly parched throat, his voice thick with disbelief and panic.
However, there was no reply.
Hanks remained sprawled there on the uneven ground with his face in a puddle of muddy water, unmoving like Thompson.
He too was knocked out cold!
Sal straightened up and turned his head in Joe's direction.
He didn't say a word, but his bone-chilling, soul-piercing gaze told Joe that it was now his turn to suffer.
'I will be the dumbest bastard alive if I stick around to get beaten up. Sorry guys, I have no choice but to abandon you,' Joe was so terrified out of his wits that he decided to abandon his friends of many years to save himself from the harsh beating that Sal would dish out if he caught him.
His terror was so overwhelming and his escape so hasty that he forgot there was a wall directly behind him.
As he spun around to run, he slammed headfirst into the wall and collapsed to the ground.
Sal looked down at Joe and saw that his eyes had rolled to the back of his head. He could only see the whites of Joe's eyes.
"He knocked himself out?" Sal muttered in disbelief. "What an absolute idiot."
With the three pesky deadbeats now defeated, it was time to begin looting!
Sal stripped the three unconscious men of all their valuables, including their clothes and boots, which were in much better condition than the ones he and Ann wore.
The only thing he left them with was their underwear. He didn't do this out of kindnes though.
Their white underwears weren't only yellowish in places and tainted with their body odor but they were also worn out and had holes in them, making them utterly undesirable.
Such underwears, only a fool would take.
If they had any resale value, Sal would have taken them too.
In dire situations, every little bit counted, after all.
Unfortunately, their underwears didn't have any value in the market. So he could only leave them untocuhed!