Chapter 56 - Are You Ok?
‘So this is the difference in power between a rank (D+) super and someone who is about to become a rank (C-) super eh…’ Jay thought while he tied the Wolf’s Fang member arms with a short piece of his bandages.
Because Jay was an avid reader, not only were his grades in school better than average, but he also knew things that were not as well known among ordinary people.
Therefore, he knew that there was a considerable power difference between a rank (D+) super and one who was about to advance in grade, he just…didn’t really think it was going to be that big of a difference.
As with Colt, Jay had also noticed that the Metal Body member in front of him was also under the effects of a certain drug that strengthened them, and while Jay wasn’t entirely sure, he could estimate that the Metal Body member was stronger than the average rank (D+) super.
However, even with that, he still took a one-sided beating from the Wolf’s Fang member.
‘It seems that Noah wasn’t exaggerating when he said Wolf’s Fang emphasized quality over quantity…’ He thought, increasing his caution against Wolf’s Fang members.
“This guy was really tough…” Said the Metal Body member as he eyed the now unconscious Wolf’s Fang member before turning to speak to Colt. “Good thing you came at the perfect time Colt, I really don’t think I would have survived if it wasn’t for your help…”
“I don’t think this is the right time to talk, tell me, was he alone?” Colt asked while pointing to the Wolf’s Fang member, disregarding his thanks, though it wasn’t intentional, it was just that there was something more important to do at the moment.
“Ah, sh*t, that’s right, we must hurry, follow me!” The man said as he started running towards another neighborhood.
Colt also began to follow him.
“Hold it right there!” Shouted Jay, getting in front of the two.
“Get out of the way, if we don’t hurry, Damien might get killed!” The man replied without stopping his advance, an expression of urgency and anger on his face as he swung his arm to push Jay out of the way.
However, before he could do so, his arm was stopped by Colt, who was right behind the man.
“The only thing you’ll accomplish by heading there right now is to have the Wolf’s Fang member beat you up again, after all, I’m sure he’s just as strong if not stronger than the one we just took down.” Jay added, somewhat surprised that Colt had stopped the man, though it didn’t show on his face, “Besides, if the 3 of us go together, he might get scared to face us and run away, if that happens, no one will be able to stop him.”
Jay was fully aware that the outcome of the previous fight, while it had ended in his victory, that had been because the Wolf’s Fang member thought that his opponents were only two, which gave him the confidence to keep fighting..
Instead, had he known that he was actually facing three people at the same time, not to mention running away, he might even have regrouped with his partner, utterly destroying Colt and Jay’s chances of winning.
It was for that very reason that Jay had decided to catch him with his bandages instead of simply joining the fight, although fortunately he didn’t have to use them to stop the Wolf’s Fang member from running away, that didn’t take away from the fact that it was possible.
“…So what can we do then?” the man asked, though Jay’s words had bothered him a bit, he couldn’t deny that what he said was true.
Hearing his words, even though no one could see his face because of the bandages he was wearing, Jay smiled.
“I have a plan~”
***
After a few minutes, in a neighborhood two blocks from where Jay and Colt had helped the Metal Body member, another “battle” was taking place.
The appearance of this neighborhood was apparently no different than any other in the South Zone, with 2 and 3 story buildings and the occasional storefront adorning one side of the sidewalk.
However, if one were to look more closely at the sidewalks, the buildings or even the road itself, they might notice that there were sphere-shaped chunks missing from each, it was if someone had scooped a perfect scoop out of them as easily as if it was ice cream.
“Haa…ha…” The sound of a man’s heavy breathing could be heard amidst the strangely dilapidated neighborhood.
This young man’s appearance was bad, with the left side of his face stained with blood, one eye closed and the torn state of his clothes, which revealed several bruises, it was clear that he was not having a good time.
In both hands were what appeared to be two spheres made of concrete, but the grip he had on them was somewhat weak, almost as if he was going to release them at any moment.
“You’re already reaching your limit eh, bastard?” Said the person in front of him with a tone of mockery, it was a man in his early twenties with a rough and stocky appearance, although this person was not tall, he was not short either.
But without a doubt, what was most striking about this man was that his right arm was missing a large chunk of flesh, as if the same thing that had happened to the surroundings had also happened to his arm.
“That’s right, I’m getting tired, so why don’t you come closer so we can get this over with?” Replied the young man with an indifferent expression on his tired face, “Or the only knowledge you have in your little brain is how to throw stones?”
Hearing his taunt, the man’s expression changed to one of anger, but he made no move anyway, as it was too risky to try to get close to this young man.
It wasn’t because he was weak, in fact, he was only slightly less strong than his partner, who was about to become a rank (C-) super, so he could easily defeat an average rank (D+) super as long as he gave it his all.
What made him fearful however, was the ability of the young man in front of him.
Although the Wolf’s Fang member didn’t quite know the details of his ability, with what he had seen so far he had already determined how dangerous it was.
When they attacked this group of Metal Body, after his partner had sent one of them flying, he also lashed out at this young man at the same time, not wanting to give him any chance to attack.
However, the moment he did so, the young man managed to touch his right arm, though of course, since he was a pugilist and his body was much more sturdier than that of a normal human, he decided to ignore it and just concentrated on attacking him.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later that a large amount of blood fell on the ground, accompanied by a sudden sharp pain in his arm which made him realize what was happening.
The young man had used his ability on his right arm, causing a large chunk of his arm to come off and fall to the ground, in the midst of all this, even though he used qi to stop the process, it only lessened the damage a little.
Seeing the lethality of this ability, he immediately distanced himself from the young man, with such an ability, engaging him at close range was undoubtedly stupid.
Fortunately, due to the previous flurry of blows he threw at the young man, he had managed to wound him considerably, which added to his speed and the fact that the young man did not seem to be able to attack at long range with his ability, allowed the Wolf’s Fang member to prolong the battle as he threw the occasional stone at him, slowly damaging the young man.
The young man upon seeing this, he also tried to counterattack, using his ability to pull those spheres from nearby buildings, the sidewalk or even the road to throw them at him, however, since the Wolf’s Fang member was really fast, it was quite easy for him to dodge all of them.
That way, the battle had reached a stalemate where the two couldn’t get close due to the fear that their opponent could do more damage to them.
“Haa, this is why I don’t like espers at all…” Said the Wolf’s Fang member with annoyance in his tone as he watched the sphere the young man had thrown break into very small fragments as it fell to the ground, making it impossible for him to use them as well.
‘Oh well, at least this guy won’t be able to escape, it’s only a matter of time until Counil is done with the other guy and we can kill this bastard.’ He thought, a smirk appearing on his face.
*Tap tap tap tap tap*
Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps reached the ears of the Wolf’s Fang member, who quickly turned towards where the noise was coming from.
‘He?! How is it possible, he actually managed to defeat Counil?!’ He thought in alarm as he saw the Metal Body member who was supposed to be fighting his partner running towards him.
“Damien, I came to help!” shouted the Metal Body member without stopping his march at the same time as he activated his ability.
“Pol!” shouted the young man with a relieved expression as he saw his partner, also approaching the Wolf’s Fang member to attack him in conjunction with Pol.
‘Shit, this is bad!’
Seeing that they were going to attack him from both the front and the back, the Wolf’s Fang member let out a roar before lifting his leg and stomping hard on the ground in front of him.
*BAM!*
A small crater formed due to the force of the stomp, preventing Damien from getting any closer.
However, this was not all as the Wolf’s Fang member immediately activated a martial skill to increase his speed and threw a kick backwards, colliding perfectly with Pol’s fist.
“Argh!” Pol couldn’t help but scream after he was forced backwards due to the kick containing more force than he expected.
Only in a matter of seconds, the Wolf’s Fang member managed to repel both of them, immediately taking the moment to distance himself from them.
‘I see…’ He thought, calming down and regaining the confidence he had initially, ‘Even though he defeated Counil, he used up all his energy while doing so…heh, and to think the idiot would send me another weakened prey, I guess I should thank him for this.’
While it was true that he had panicked before, now that he thought about it, this person’s arrival was not necessarily a bad thing.
Because of how dangerous the young man’s ability was, he had been afraid to approach, however, now that a meat shield had conveniently arrived, he could finally put an end to this fight.
The next moment, a faint gleam appeared in his eyes, at the same time as he activated his most useful martial technique in a battle against multiple enemies, Broad Vision.
The effect of this technique, though simple, was quite effective, giving the user a much better view of his surroundings, allowing him to react in time to whatever was happening in all cardinal directions.
Without waiting any longer, he launched himself towards Pol and Damien, who had already recovered and were now standing together, waiting for the Wolf’s Fang member to arrive.
‘Damn, it looks like he got even faster!’ Thought Damien, who was trying to grab the Wolf’s Fang member, although all his attempts ended in failure or interrupted by his own partner.
Unfortunately for them, the Wolf’s Fang member’s control over the surroundings had risen to a completely different level, causing it to look like a fight between two children and an adult.
Every time Pol was about to attack, a quick punch would interrupt him, and when Damien wanted to take advantage of this to hit him, the Wolf’s Fang member would push Pol towards him, causing him to have to deactivate his ability every so often.
“Argh, f*ck!” shouted Pol after being thrown at Damien, causing them both to fall in the process.
Not wanting to miss this opportunity, the Wolf’s Fang member quickly followed it up with a punch engulfed in flames.
“!”
Just then, both Pol and Damien saw something behind the Wolf’s Fang member, a fist, and it belonged to none other than Colt!
*BAM!*
“Gah!”
The next moment, a red colored liquid flew through the air…but unfortunately, this blood was not from the Wolf’s Fang member, but Colt’s.
“Attacking from behind like a coward, as expected from Metal Body!” said the Wolf’s Fang member, who had launched a kick before Colt even touched him.
Thanks to his reflexes as a rank (D+) pugilist, along with the martial technique Broad Vision, defending against an attack from behind was quite easy.
“Hahaha, I really have to thank Metal Body for just recruiting crap!” The man added, completely ignoring Colt, who was just getting up.
However, this wasn’t surprising, since after kicking Colt, he already noticed that he was just a beginner rank (D+) super, so he posed no threat for him.
“Now then, I’ts time to put an end to-“
*BOOM!*
“!”
Before he could even finish speaking, a sizable object fell from the sky, right on top of the Wolf’s Fang member, creating a small cloud of dust.
After the dust cloud dissipated, everyone could see what had fallen on top of the man…it was a chunk of concrete large enough to completely cover Wolf’s Fang’s member’s chest.
“Heey, is everyone okay?”
Although none of those present had recovered from what they had just witnessed, they still looked up in the direction the voice was coming from.
When they did, they could see that from the roof of a nearby three-story building, there was a hooded man peering out, waving his hand at them.