"Sheriff Burke, look! Aren't those three guys in the corner members of the Banca Gang? We've still got to figure out how to get up the stairs later. Should we take them out now? Otherwise, it'll be a real headache if they attack us from both the front and the back!"
Pushing through the throng in front of him, Kelot caught sight of several men dressed like the guards outside in the corner, thanks to the gaudy lights in the tavern. Taking a closer look, he spotted several black firearms on the low table in front of them. They were probably the Banca Gang's guards inside the tavern, there to stop outsiders from causing trouble.
Burke followed the direction Kelot was pointing and quickly noticed them too. There weren't many people there—just three at the moment, guzzling drinks and staggering around. They seemed completely oblivious and unvigilant. After a brief moment of thought, Burke nodded and decided it was time to take them out.
Since there were people patrolling up and down the stairs, they couldn't make too much noise when dealing with them. Burke initially wanted to do it himself, but before he could, Kelot had already taken the shield off his back and handed it to him. He tucked his short-handled axe into his waist, pushed aside the crowd around him, and strode towards them.
These guards were really quite drunk. When they saw a stranger approaching, their first reaction wasn't to grab the guns on the table. Instead, they sat up from the sofa and squinted at Kelot as he got closer. In their minds, since there was no outside warning, everyone inside the tavern must be safe.
Picking up the wine bottle on the table, Kelot poured a full glass of wine into an empty glass in front of a guard, wearing a sycophantic smile as if trying to curry favor. This left the guards confused. They just thought this guy was coming to offer a toast and instinctively assumed he might be a new recruit looking to make acquaintance.
The guard closest to Kelot even moved aside, picked up his glass, and waved it at him, signaling him to come and pour him a glass too.
As Kelot slowly sat down next to the waving guard, he kept a sharp eye on the two bodyguards patrolling back and forth on the second-floor stairs from the corner of his eye. With his right hand holding the wine bottle pretending to pour, his left hand stealthily reached for the back of the guard's neck beside him. His forearm muscles tensed suddenly, and the crisp sound of broken bones was drowned out by the blaring music in the tavern.
To the other two guards, these actions seemed perfectly normal, just like the usual back-slapping while pouring wine, something they did all the time.
The body of the suddenly dead guard slumped onto the sofa behind him, and his wine glass was about to fall. But Kelot was quick as lightning, snatching the glass into his own hand. He filled it with wine, placed it on the table, and put down the wine bottle. Then he sat next to the other two guards and, in the same way, reached for the back of their necks from behind, using brute force to break their necks in no time.
**Three points of bloodline energy obtained. The system is not activated... The energy dissipates!**
After laying all three bodies on the sofa behind them, Kelot deliberately stuffed a glass of wine into one of their hands to make it look like they'd passed out from drinking.
When everything was done, Kelot returned to Burke. This time, instead of putting the shield on his back, he held it firmly in his hand, for what was coming next was a frontal assault. This time, Burke was leading the team for a frontal raid to take out the high-level members of the Banca Gang. They'd been acting cautiously before because they were afraid the gang members would slip away.
When almost everyone had gathered at the bottom of the stairs, as the leader, Burke naturally took the lead. The group surrounded the stairs without caring about the guests still lost in the crazy atmosphere. Everyone except Kelot took out their pistols and kept a hawk-eye on their surroundings, on high alert to prevent anyone from sneaking up on them at this moment.
Burke and an elite police officer leaned against the side of the stairs, guns at the ready, waiting for the two patrolling guards to come closer. A dozen seconds later, two figures emerged at the stairway.
**Bang! Bang!**
As elites, their marksmanship was flawless. The two patrolling guards who'd just reached the stairway were instantly shot in the head, and their red and white brains exploded in the air.
Along with the gunshots came the screams in the tavern. Although most of the people who came here knew this place was a chaotic mess with frequent fights, as soon as the guns were fired, they immediately realized that this time, things had gone serious. The music in the tavern stopped abruptly, and the crowd near the stairs rushed towards the tavern door like a stampede.
A burst of rapid footsteps echoed quickly at the stairway on the second floor. The formation at the stairway immediately changed. Kelot hefted the large shield and stood directly at the forefront of the team to start the upward assault. Behind him was a team of police officers from the garrison, lined up in rows of three.
The members of the Banca Gang soon appeared at the stairway on the second floor one after another. Naturally, they were greeted by a hail of bullets from the police officers. After six or seven of them were shot and killed in a row, these people knew that the ones coming to their place today were probably the police force from Duras Port.
After all, only the garrison team would dare to shoot so brazenly in Duras Port. Although other forces also had guns, they always had some reservations. Most of the time, they preferred to solve problems with cold weapons.
When Kelot felt that there weren't many people near the stairway, he took the lead and rushed up a few steps. By the last step, most of his body was already on the second floor. He stopped and looked around, making sure no one was hiding behind him to deliver a fatal blow, before daring to take another step.
At this time, the Banca Gang didn't care about the negative impact anymore. Since the police had come to their doorstep, they naturally wouldn't just sit back and wait for death. Several armed bodyguards immediately rushed out from the place where the gang leaders had gone in before and started shooting at Kelot's side.
The police team here was also well-prepared. Once they reached the second floor, Kelot wasn't the only one advancing with a shield. Several police officers with shields immediately stood behind him to withstand the gunshots with him.
The outcome of the shootout between five or six bodyguards and more than a dozen police officers was a foregone conclusion. After just two rounds of shooting, all these bodyguards who'd rushed out fell under the hail of bullets. Just as Kelot was about to step towards the room, he suddenly saw a large group of Banca Gang members appear on both sides of the corridor.
These people were brandishing cold weapons, including machetes. It seemed Burke had been right before. After all, the Banca Gang was just a small-time gang at the port. Although they had a lot of money, their power wasn't strong enough to purchase a large number of guns. It wasn't a matter of money; their power simply hadn't reached that level.
The front row of these Banca Gang members also held shields wrapped in iron sheets, which made some of the police officers' bullets bounce off. The weakened firepower allowed these gang members to quickly rush in front of the police officers.
"Put away your guns! Draw your swords!"
In a large-scale close-range melee, using guns wasn't a smart move. Although the lethality of guns was indeed high, guns had a limited number of bullets. The ordinary police guns in this world hadn't evolved to the advanced level of what Kelot had in his previous life.
Moreover, don't forget that there were professionals in this world. In a melee situation, once the ordinary guns ran out of bullets, it was almost impossible to reload quickly. The enemy wouldn't give you the chance to change the magazine or draw your sword.
In fact, several elite police officers beside Kelot were already well-prepared. Their real strength could only shine when they were holding cold weapons. Guns would actually hamper their combat ability, and the melee between the two sides was the perfect proof.
The several police officers with long swords remained fearless in the face of so many gang members. With the support of the ordinary police officers beside them, every strike of their long swords was deadly, either severing someone's arm or decapitating them!
These elite police officers, almost at the middle stage of body-forging, had much quicker reaction nerves than these ordinary gang members. They could always respond before the enemy's attack landed, capable of both offense and defense!
Things went even more smoothly for Kelot. Relying on the large shield to protect his front, every swing of the short-handled axe in his right hand sent a spray of bright red blood flying. In this close-quarter and crowded situation, this short but highly lethal weapon, combined with Kelot's terrifying strength, hardly required any skills. He just had to make sure he could pull his axe out after it had buried itself in someone's skull!
However, their purpose for coming here this time wasn't just to kill people! None of the high - level members of the Banca Gang had been taken out yet. As long as these core members were still alive, there would be no shortage of cannon - fodder underlings. In a few months, this organization would surely rise again.
Through the crowd blocking their way, Kelot could see several figures being protected by some people coming out of the room. They were still carrying several backpacks and making their way towards the other stairway.
"Catch up with those guys! Don't let them get away!"
After Burke swung his sword and chopped down a minion in front of him, he also noticed this situation. But he was currently surrounded by a group of minions and it wasn't easy for him to break out immediately. He could only shout for others who could break through to chase after those people.
Kelot bent down, adjusted his steps, and held the shield in front of his upper body. Then he summoned all his strength and forced his way through the crowd like a battering ram, pushing all the people in front of him against the opposite wall.
Just as he picked up the shield and was about to continue the pursuit, he found that his shield was now firmly grabbed by seven or eight hands. And the person at the front of the shield instinctively hugged the shield after the impact.
Feeling the strong wind of an attack coming from behind him, Kelot had no choice but to throw down the shield, turn around, and swing his axe in a wide arc, burying it in the waist of the person behind him. Bright red internal organs immediately spilled all over the floor...