ROSES HAVE THORNS Chapter 165 - Breakout Brawl

"I just turned in a quest, big guy. I don’t want any trouble."

"Oh, you don’t want trouble?" Bigi laughed, turning to the crowd to egg them on. "Not only does he ignore my warnings, but now he’s walking around the city starting even more fake rumors? Lying to the guards that he caught a cult leader just to make his tiny little adventurer rank look bigger?"

"""Ahahaha!"""

"... What a fucking joke!"

"... Holy shit! Get a load of this guy!"

"I’m not lying," Kurt said, dropping his voice dangerously low.

"Shut your mouth!" Bigi interrupted, his face contorting into a bullying grin. "Soone needs to teach this cocky, disgraced noble a lesson about respect. You think you’re special, huh!?"

The surrounding adventurers began to shout and cheer even louder, slamming their mugs against the tables, eager for a public beatdown to break the monotony of the evening.

Then, suddenly, and without an ounce of warning or hesitation, Bigi whipped his right hand forward.

SHATTER!

He slamd a full glass beer bottle directly over the top of Kurt’s head.

The glass shattered into many shards. Cheap amber liquor exploded outward, instantly soaking Kurt’s hair, running down his face in wet streams.

The force of the blow was enough to crack any man’s skull, but Kurt didn’t flinch. He didn’t drop to his knees. He stood perfectly straight, his single blue eye fixed on Bigi through the wet strands of his hair as a thin line of blood began to mix with the alcohol, dripping down his cheek from his hairline.

"C-rank Adventurer, Bigi! That is a violation of guild rules!" the receptionist scread from behind the counter.

"Master Rossana!" Isabel cried out at the sa ti.

Bigi rely raised his hands in an innocent, mock gesture of defense. "Whoops! Guess my hand must’ve slipped! Look at him, boys! He didn’t even try to dodge!"

"... Fucking pathetic!"

"""AHAHAHAHA!!!"""

"What’s the matter, noble boy? Are you going to hide behind your little maid’s skirt again? Go ahead, let the little girl fight your battles."

While everyone was laughing, a sound began to rise from the center of all this attention.

"...Heh..hehe..hahaha..."

It started slowly – just a low, quiet chuckle that vibrated deep in Kurt’s chest.

"...Hahaha... Hahaha! Ahahaha!" Then, abruptly, it grew.

Kurt began to laugh right along with them. It wasn’t a sound of defeat or humiliation. This was a loud, unbridled and maniacal type laugh.

One by one, the rcenaries stopped jeering. The crowd’s laughter died down into an uncomfortable, tense silence as they stared at the bleeding man who was currently laughing like a lunatic.

"... Master?"

Kurt slowly stopped, though the amusent in his face still remained. He wiped the blood from his cheek with his thumb and locked eyes onto Bigi with a wild, terrifying smile that promised absolute ruin.

"You know what? Since you struck first, whatever happens next, just know that this is going to count as self-defense."

Kurt jumped.

"Hah?! What did you say, you little–!"

THWACK!

CRACK!

The sound of Kurt’s heel connecting with the side of Bigi’s jaw sounded like a timber beam breaking in half. The force of the mana-enhanced strike lifted the multi-ton adventurer completely off his feet, sending him flying across the hall.

His massive body crashed directly over the heavy wooden counter of the in-house tavern, smashing through rows of expensive liquor shelves and breaking dozens of glass bottles in a thunderous explosion of wood and alcohol.

"""..."""

The silence that followed was absolute. Nobody breathed.

Kurt landed softly back on his boots, his dark smile never fading as he began to walk slowly toward the ruined counter.

Before he could reach the debris, two of Bigi’s lackeys stepped into his path. Their hands rested at the hilt of their weapons as they looked at him with rage.

"Perfect," Kurt turned his attention to them. "The more the rrier. Let’s see what you guys got."

"You’re dead, noble shit!" The first lackey, a scarred rcenary with a broadsword, lunged forward with a horizontal slash ant to take Kurt’s head off.

Not drawing his own weapon, Kurt fluidly ducked under the steel, entirely unbothered by the liquor still dripping from his hair.

As the broadsword carried past his face, Kurt stepped inside the man’s guard, caught his wrist with a vice-like grip, and twisted.

Pop

Clank!

"AARRHHH!!!"

The lackey dropped his weapon and let out an ugly cry of pain.

"You bastard! I’ll kill you!" Another lackey scread.

Kurt caught the hilt of the weapon before it fully hit the ground, spun it around, and slamd the heavy flat side directly into the second lackey’s nose just as the man tried to rush him with a dagger.

CRACK!

BASH!

The second man folded like a lawn chair, his nose completely shattered as he collapsed over the counter as well.

The first lackey, still nursing his twisted wrist, tried to back away, but Kurt swept his leg out in a brutal low kick that took the man’s ankles out from under him, making him crash face-first into the floorboards. He then punted the downed man on the side of his skull, sending him into unconsciousness.

"Two down," Kurt quipped, tossing the stolen broadsword over his shoulder. "Co on, people, I thought you guys were supposed to be seasoned adventurers!"

Behind him, four more adventurers – seeing their friends dismantled so easily – decided that honor was for the dead. They drew short swords and heavy iron maces, sneaking up behind Kurt while he was distracted.

Tingle

Without turning around, Kurt ducked a swinging mace that shattered the empty air where his head had been a fraction of a second ago.

He reached out blindly, grabbed a wooden barstool, and swung it in a massive, horizontal arc.

SMASH!

"ARGH!"

The stool connected beautifully with the first sneaker’s skull, sending the man spinning into a nearby table of half-eaten stew.

Before the remaining three could adjust their stance, Kurt moved skillfully like a shadow through a storm. He caught a thrusting blade between his palms, snapped the steel with a sharp twist, and drove the jagged remnant into the wielder’s shoulder before delivering a devastating open-palm strike to the man’s chest that launched him backward into his companions.

The entire guild hall was rapidly descending into absolute madness.

The thrill of a high-stakes tavern brawl was infectious, and more adventurers began to throw themselves into the fray just for the fun of it.

"Get the cyclops!" soone yelled from the back.

"Got you, bitch!"

"Nah-uh! Not today!" A massive brawler tried to tackle Kurt from the side, but he simply grabbed the man by his leather vest, used his own montum against him, and executed a perfect judo flip, hurling the giant over a table and directly into a group of archers who were trying to string their bows.

"Hahaha!! Perfect strike!" Kurt laughed maniacally as he ducked another swinging fist.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room spiked. Near the back of the hall, three guild mages had pulled out their wooden staffs and pointed the glowing tips, crackling with spheres of fire and lightning magic, at Kurt’s back.

"Let’s see you dodge this, noble trash!"

"Master, watch out!"

Before the elental magic could leave the crystal balls of the wooden staffs, Isabel shot out a massive torrent of swirling, pressurized water that erupted from the side of the hall.

The water struck the three mages like a runaway carriage, completely dousing their spells, snapping their staffs in half, and slamming them violently against the wall.

"Nice assist, Isabel! Keep ’em coming!"

The crowd was getting desperate. Five adventurers, realising that individual assaults were useless, coordinated a simultaneous jump. They threw themselves onto Kurt in a massive dogpile, pinning his arms and legs beneath hundreds of pounds of muscle and iron armor.

Yet, from beneath the mountain of flesh, a muffled rumble of laughter could still be heard.

Kurt was smiling through it all. The pain was real, but the adrenaline flowing through his redlined veins was practically a drug.

He drew deep breath and expanded his muscles expanding as the blue aura of mana flared around his body. With a roar of unbridled defiance, Kurt flexed his entire body and then–

BOOM!

The dogpile exploded outward.

The five adventurers were thrown off him like ragdolls, scattering all across the floor. Kurt stepped forward, delivering a barrage of lightning-fast jabs and hooks that left the remaining standing n completely unconscious before they could even hit the ground.

By this point, the chaos had beco entirely self-sustaining.

The chaotic energy of the room had broken the sanity of the crowd. Adventurers who had been friends five minutes ago were now punching each other in the face simply because they had been caught up in the mont.

One accidentally tripped over a warrior’s shield, leading the warrior to think he was being attacked, which resulted in a massive brawl breaking out between two entire parties near the fireplace.

Mugs were flying, tables were being broken over backs, and the entire hall was a swirling vortex of violence.

"... Hey, watch where you’re swinging that axe, you fucking idiot!"

"... Shut up and fight!"

Kurt, laughing at the absurdity of the riot he had started, vaulted over a broken banister and took the fight to the second floor. A group of C-rank adventurers were waiting for him at the top of the stairs with drawn weapons.

"You’ve caused enough trouble, F-rank!" their leader snarled.

"Aw, don’t be like that! The party’s just getting started, boys!" Kurt cheered, lunging up the steps.

The battle on the second-floor balcony was an absolute spectacle.

Kurt used the narrow wooden railing as a balancing beam, sliding beneath thrusts, stepping over horizontal slashes, and using the architecture to his advantage.

He grabbed a heavy decorative tapestry from the wall and threw it over three rcenaries, completely blinding them before kicking them over the edge of the balcony. They fell down to the first floor, crashing onto a pile of broken chairs with loud groans.

Down below, the front doors of the guild hall were suddenly rattled by a massive impact.

A lone adventurer who tried to flee from the second-floor chaos was violently thrown down the stairs, sailing across the entranceway and crashing through the main doors, landing hard on the cobblestones outside.

The adventurer coughed up a mouthful of splintered wood. He looked up, intending to scramble back to his feet and run away, but his vision locked onto a pair of tallic gold square-toed heeled sandals standing directly in front of his face.

His gaze traveled up past the white high-waist wide-leg trousers, the rich navy blue long-sleeved satin-finish blouse, and finally past the v-neckline before settling on a face that made his blood run cold.

The adventurer let out a frightened whimper as his face turned completely pale. He then got up and scurried away on all fours into the dark street like a terrified crab.

The mysterious woman stepped over the threshold and walked into the guild hall.

The sight that greeted her was nothing short of apocalyptic. Half the tables were broken into kindling, the air was thick with the sll of spilled ale and stray elental magic, and dozens of grown n were currently wrestling and punching each other in a massive, chaotic heap.

The woman clicked her tongue in biting irritation.

She then took a deep breath, her chest expanding before she scread from the absolute top of her lungs.

"EVERYONE STOP RIGHT NOW!"

Her voice carried a pressurized wave of mana that shook the very foundations of the building and reverberated through the bones of every single person in the hall.

Instantly, the fighting died.

A female adventurer who was about to smash a bottle over a warrior’s head froze mid-swing.

The n wrestling on the floor stopped.

Everyone slowly turned their heads to the front entrance.

"... Oh no."

"... T-That’s–!"

"... The Guild Master."

The Guild Master scanned the catastrophic wreckage of her guild; her veins were practically pulsing with rage.

She dropped her voice into a dangerous, icy register that was sohow scarier than her scream. "Who is the main culprit responsible for all of this?"

Before anyone could answer, a loud shout echoed from the second floor.

Soone had been launched over the balcony by a powerful strike and his body sailed through the air. He was on a direct collision course with the Guild Master, his heavy iron armor carrying enough montum to crush a normal person.

As the flying warrior neared her face, she simply reached out with a single hand and caught him cleanly by the chest plate, absorbing the entire kinetic force of his descent without taking a single step back.

She then casually set him down on his boots beside her.

The warrior looked up at the Guild Master’s furious face and let out a squeaking sound of absolute terror, before three frantic steps back.

Kurt casually jumped from the second-floor balcony, landing perfectly on his feet in the center of the cleared space.

He popped his shoulder back into place, wiping a fresh line of blood from his chin as he looked up to see who had ruined the fun.

The mont his eye locked onto the Guild Master’s features, he froze.

"Sophie?"

"... Kurt?"