Chapter 71
The movement across the stone road was swift. The flames roared in the backdrop of this city. Screams and yelling heard in the distance as people tried to put them out. In the midst of that, we were at the River harbor. Even at night coolies moved between warehouses and the ships. The movement didn't stop, and neither did we. This was the largest gang hideout in the city. No one did anything about it, though. I heard in the past someone had tried within the nobility. The guards attempting to under his leadership all ended up dead.
Just taking this gang out would be enough for tonight. Plans were plans, and this needed to be finished quickly. The blood on our clothes should have outed us to the dock workers. This didn't happen at all. They blatantly ignored us as they continued to move boxes and sacks. We arrived at the warehouse and entered inside. My stomach dropped at the scene. They knew we were coming. No, more like they heard the commotion at the other gangs somehow and prepared.
I saw their members still arming themselves with whatever they could find. Carl snarled at the scene and realized that we have a fight on our hands. I felt nothing in mana waves though exception being the mana rage Carl used. He jumped in claws out into the mass of improperly armed men. The scene was a slaughter, but Carl was tied down. He reaped through them, but the cohesion was astonishing. Then I saw a couple of the gang members he was attacking start to do damage to Carl.
He snarled a bit the throats out of a couple, and I lashed a couple with my whip. I started to assist him so he could continue killing, and I could continue without killing any of them. I was making it complicated, but I wanted more stuff from the system. I would be angry if I leveled up at this point.
The fight roared on, and I could see Carl getting fatigued as Cassandra watched on. I felt mana in the room spike. I lashed out with my leather whip and pulled Carl out of the way. I looked up and saw a wizard on the balcony. This was going to be dangerous, I thought. I let Carl rampage through their ranks of gang members, and I changed at the wizard. The wizard obviously noticed me, sending a fireball my way. I was insulted by the lack of power the wizard was showing. The Mana should have made them C-rank but were casting like a D-rank.
My suspicions were correct, and I felt mana flow underneath my feet. I leaped out of the way, tackling a gang member on my way. Just as leaped away, a large steam jet came out of the dirt. The room instantly felt the heat. The spray of stem died as fast as it came, and I moved towards the wizard. Electricity crackled in their hand as they pointed their palm towards me. I didn't dodge like they expected, covering myself with my energy. My whip lashed out towards them. It lashed the face of the unknown wizard as electricity rained on my energy protection.
I felt my energy being depleted and moved out of the electrical rain. The whips lash on the wizards face made a very feminine scream. She continues to cast at me, but I had already moved out of the way. Her aim moved with me, but I was closing in. I was a mere half a meter from her, and I came in. I disregarded my whips, coming in on all fours. My claws extended, and energy filled me. The wizard was familiar with close combat, and a dagger came out of a hole in her clothes. I was startled but took the knife with my forearm. Pain spiked my senses, but I was at her feet. I cut the Achilles tendon, receiving screams of pain. Her concentration broke as she cried out.
The spells stopped, and she fell to the ground as strength left her feet. With that, she conjured some strength, and mana flowed. It started to charge the atmosphere, and I punched her in the face, hard. The mana stopped, and I got up, turning around. I saw a fist in my face. I leaned back, barely dodging the fist. I was completely off guard, and I even farther back, going into a backflip. As I backflipped, my foot caught under the other person's armpit, almost sending me off balance. Using my outstanding balance and flexibility, I got control of myself.
The man in front of me grunted, and I sensed the mana wave off him. I attacked as quickly as I could. The man and I were in a heated fight within seconds. I got punched in the gut several times, feeling my recently healed ribs in pain after a hard chest hit. I hit him back as much as I could, but he backed me into a corner. I tried to escape, but my whips were on the floor behind him. The fight was on his side as he hit me harder than I could hit him. I felt the bruises I was going to have.
I was staring death in the face when I saw his fist about to hit my chin. I knew this was a do or die moment in this fight. My vision narrowed. My energy spiked. I put everything I could into my body, powering it in a way I never had before. I overclocked my muscles and felt pain all over as I moved out of the way. A scream came from nearby as I got under his arm and past him.
I stumbled away from him before jumping to my weapons. The man roared, giving chase. I felt the bladed whip in my hand. I lashed out with it, sending it towards the man. I felt the mana in the room move as his fist met the bladed whip. My eyes bulged as he deflected it. My whip came back with lost momentum, and he was nearing me again. The man neared me, and I used some of my little remaining energy to send a hidden dagger. The man dodged it with minimum movement before being tackled.
Suprise colored my face as Carl ripped out the man's throat. I was breathing harshly as I looked around the room. Bodies littered the floor all over. The man laid dead. The only survivor was the wizard. Carl stood and roared victoriously. I tried to get my breathing under control and pointed at the woman on the ground.
"Kill her, and let's move. Either they will have reinforcements or guards. We were not stealthily killing here. We need to move," I announce to them both. Cassandra nodded, looking unmoved. Carl was bleeding, needing medical attention, and I was even in a worse predicament. Carl moved to the wizard woman and smashed her face in with a fist multiple times before finishing her off by destroying her throat. It was overkill, but you never know with wizards.
We left, and it couldn't have been any better timing. The largest gang in the docks was not a joke. As we finished climbing to the rooftops leaving, members of their gang swarmed the hideout. I realized this was a failure of intelligence on the gang. It was going to be a war between our gangs, and we shot first.
I chugged a healing potion on our way as we discarded the cloaks we wore, taking new ones from Cassandra. We traveled back to the hideout, where I started to bandage myself and Carl up. I gave Carl a healing potion to help him and left.
I needed to rest soon, but I could not be missing. Although I wasn't a main figure in the city, a certain Marchioness would probably bug me today. I had a feeling she needed the thrill again. I moved through the city as shouting and screams happened throughout. I dodged large concentrations of guards and people.
Making it back to the apartment, Freya and Stacy were ready. I showed up injured before collapsing to the bed. They worried over me, asking if I was alright. I grunted at them before passing out quickly. My energy levels were depleted, and tomorrow was going to be a hell of pain.