Chapter 049
Kalmond, who had once served as an Enforcer Captain in the Scorpion Gang, was drowning in worry. With a dagger in hand, he kept jabbing at the table.
Resting his chin on one hand, he let out a sigh from ti to ti. He had the look of a man wishing he at least had so liquor.
“The situation is bad.”
Kalmond kept repeating that to himself. Then one of the n at his side stepped forward cautiously.
“Captain, would it not be better to move the hideout? The Black Pig bastards may already have caught our scent. If they co swarming in while we stay here......”
He left unsaid the part about there being no hope. But everyone present already knew perfectly well what had been omitted. There was no need to say it aloud.
Kalmond had four subordinates under him, but only three were present today. One of them had gone out to scout.
If ten n ca for them—or even five who could really fight—they would not escape taking a fatal blow.
THUNK!
Kalmond’s dagger, heavy with anger, drove deep into the table.
“We cannot leave this place recklessly! The Boss will be here soon. We have to hold out sohow until then. This is the only rendezvous point.”
“But since the first ti we t the Boss, there has not been any contact at all.”
“Are you saying you do not trust him?”
The subordinate who had been shrinking back finally steeled himself and spoke up.
“To be honest, even if we had not been ambushed back then, we would not have been beaten that badly. Things only turned out like this because everything went wrong at once. I do not want to operate under so strange na like Avengers. We ought to rebuild the Scorpion Gang instead.”
“Krahahaha!”
Kalmond laughed loudly. After laughing for a long while, he got to his feet and smacked the back of that subordinate’s head without rcy.
“You idiot, get a grip! Do not even ntion the na Scorpion Gang with your mouth! Not if you do not want to be dragged away and have your head cut off. We have been reborn under the na Avengers.”
Their cris had been too great. Even if the leaders of the Scorpion Gang had acted on their own initiative, the na could no longer be used openly.
“We cannot afford to be left behind again. This ti, we have to survive sohow.”
“But......”
“Believe in the Boss! He is a man whose depths we cannot read, but at the very least, he is the one who gave us another chance! Have the spirit to believe we can do it! So what if they co? We just smash them!”
At Kalmond’s forceful insistence, the subordinates could no longer answer back.
Of course, Kalmond himself did not place absolute faith in the man who called himself Iron Man. But right now, he did not have many choices left.
After catching his breath, Kalmond sat down again and crossed his legs with practiced ease.
“What about the Black Pig Gang?”
“They have not made any particular move yet, but we did spot so suspicious n prowling around nearby. Jacks is out scouting because of that right now.”
“It would be good if we could draw their eyes away for even a little while.”
“Do you have so sort of plan?”
“We only need to buy ti until the Boss gets here. The rest the Boss will handle. Damn it! I never imagined things would turn urgent this quickly.”
They had been bitter enemies with the Black Pig Gang for a long ti. And now that the balance of power had tipped heavily to one side, the Black Pig Gang was trying to wipe out the remnants of the Scorpion Gang.
That alone would not make them rulers of the underworld, but the fact that they had wiped out the Scorpion Gang would do wonders for the morale of their own n.
That was why the Black Pig Gang mbers had beco obsessed with hunting down the remnants of the Scorpion Gang.
Just then, rough footsteps sounded from outside.
Soone was running.
The one who kicked open the door and burst in was Jacks, the man who had gone out scouting. The mont everyone saw his deathly pale face, tension seized them all.
“This is bad! They are coming!”
“Goddamn it! Everyone, grab your weapons! Even if we die, we fight to the end!”
At Kalmond’s order, the four Avengers prepared for a last stand. They had used their remaining funds to replace their weapons with new ones, but whether those would truly do their job was another matter.
“Peekaboo?”
Along with that bizarre greeting, a burly man stepped inside. He was putting on a sickeningly cutesy act.
“My dear friend Kalmond. If you die like this, there is no point in fighting to the bitter end, is there? You ought to beg nicely to be spared. Do you not think so? Hehehe.”
“You bastard!”
“Oh dear! Are you going to hit ? Why so frightening?”
He was Blackship, the Boss of the Black Pig Gang. In this underworld, he was notorious for his cruelty.
Of course, he had not co alone. Around him were gang mbers ard to the teeth with all sorts of lethal weapons. Even at a glance, there had to be around twenty of them. It was an impossible number to overco.
And with Blackship himself having co in person, the fight was effectively decided before it even began. Despair flickered across the faces of the Avengers.
“Even if I die here, I will take you with .”
“That will be rather difficult. My n are very angry, you see. Hehehe. If you want my head, you will have to deal with them first.”
With a wicked grin, Blackship flung out his hand.
“Kill them!”
“Waaah!”
CLANG! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
The Black Pig Gang mbers charged all at once. Iron crashed against iron, and the inside of the hideout turned into utter chaos. It looked as though the Avengers would be swept away in an instant, but they held out surprisingly well.
At the center of that was Kalmond.
Even as his injuries continued to mount, he stood at the front and swung his dagger.
But even that had its limits. One by one, the Avengers began to lose their weapons or be pinned down, and the battle was starting to co to an end.
“Kgh!”
“Uuagh! Captain, get back!”
Even in the middle of all that, his subordinates were looking after Kalmond. Was that why?
As he cut enemies down with his blade, Kalmond’s movents only grew more desperate.
“You sons of bitches!”
And just as Kalmond’s rage reached its peak—
A lone man suddenly stepped into the hideout.
His head was hidden beneath a deeply drawn hood, and at one side of his waist hung a sword.
“Everybody stop.”
That one short sentence was enough to make everyone freeze.
The Boss of the Black Pig Gang glared as if asking what kind of bastard this was.
The owner of the voice removed his hood.
But even then, his face did not show. A thin iron mask covered it, hiding his identity.
It was .
At my sudden appearance, life returned to Kalmond’s face and to the faces of his subordinates. I had kept my promise, and they seized their weapons again, ready to resist.
“Boss!”
“The Boss is here!”
“Iron Man!”
So Kalmond had rembered my alias? That was the first ti I had heard his voice so full of emotion. In return, I gave him a slow grin.
“Nobody dead, right? Everyone except Kalmond, sound off.”
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Four! Roll call complete!”
“Good. Well done.”
They were bleeding, but it did not seem as though any of the wounds were deep. I tossed first-aid dicine and bandages to my subordinates, both of which I had brought with in advance.
The truth was, I had been watching the Black Pig Gang from outside even before they stord in here.
I wanted to see whether they truly ant to follow or not.
They had passed the test, and I had ant to step in at the proper ti and save them.
Of course, even if the subordinates had harbored other intentions, I still would have wiped out the Black Pig bastards. But I would not have chosen to make such a dramatic entrance and stir their emotions.
“And what are you supposed to be?”
Blackship stepped forward. It seed the warmth of our reunion offended him. I turned toward him and smiled as if nothing at all were amiss.
“? I am the man who is going to beco the ruler of the underworld. Did you need sothing?”
“What? The ruler of the underworld? Hahaha! What a ridiculous load of shit! So bastard with no pedigree is strutting around. How in the world did our underworld sink this low?”
“Shut up. A pig bastard should not stink up the place while a human is speaking.”
I chose words that fat n generally hated.
The reaction was stronger than I had expected. Blackship’s face flushed red and blue by turns.
“......It seems I will have to flay the flesh off your bones first.”
“Instead of hiding behind children and making a fool of yourself, why do you not co forward yourself?”
“The hell I will!”
Really, the bastards who live in the back alleys are no good for this. They ought to learn to use decent, civilized language.
“Tear him to pieces!”
“Uooooooh!”
As expected, Blackship was a coward. He did not co forward himself, but instead ordered his n to attack .
The Black Pig Gang’s coordinated assault began.
“If you want to die, there is nothing you will not try.”
I gripped the Mana Pistol I had prepared in advance. Setting the mana output to dium and clamping one spare magazine between my teeth took less than a second.
CLICK!
That reloading sound was good. Shall I start lightly?
THUNK! THUNK THUNK THUNK!
“Ugh!”
“Aaagh!”
“Ghk!”
Without rcy, I fired bullets into them. They ought to be grateful I had not given the weapon an automatic-fire function. If I ever made a rifle later, that was sothing I might consider.
Even then, my shooting continued.
THUNK THUNK THUNK! THUNK! THUNK THUNK!
Weak would probably have been too light, so I had set the mana output to dium, and the result was stronger than expected. Since they were being hit without even understanding what was happening, confusion followed on top of the damage.
“Do not lose your nerve! Take his head, you useless pieces of trash!”
They kept charging stubbornly.
Then I felt killing intent behind .
I reflexively ducked, and a cold blade skimd across my back.
CRACK!
With the pistol’s barrel, I smashed the jaw of one Black Pig Gang thug who had aid at my neck.
At close range, there were tis when direct strikes were more effective than firing the gun. Fear was often stronger when people could see it with their own eyes.
I pulled the trigger again.
CLICK! CLICK!
Damn. Out of bullets.
Even now, there were still too many of them rushing at . As I hit the button to drop the magazine, I casually slipped aside from a viciously incoming hand axe.
But one problem only led to another. This ti a javelin ca straight for my heart.
It traced a genuinely threatening path.
Using my dynamic vision and my body’s reflexes, I twisted slightly and reached out a hand.
Then, catching the exact timing, I clenched my fist.
GRAB!
The flying javelin landed in my hand. Without giving the man who had thrown it even a chance to be startled, I hurled it right back at him.
THUD!
Two with one throw.
I grabbed the spare magazine I had been holding in my mouth and loaded it into the pistol once again.
CLICK!
THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK! THUNK! THUNK THUNK!
“Damn it! Why can none of you even lay a hand on him? What in the—ghk!”
One bullet buried itself right between Blackship’s eyebrows. It did not penetrate, but since I had specially set the mana output to Strong for that shot, he was not going to be getting up for a while.
The pig wearing a human face slumped limply.
“Hoo.”
I let out a light breath and holstered the Mana Pistol at my waist. Everything was over. Every mber of the Black Pig Gang who had co here was now lying on the ground.
Feeling stares prick at , I looked up and found my subordinates gawking at as though I were so kind of alien.
“What? Is there a problem?”
“N-no, sir! You were incredible, Boss!”
“Save the flattery for later and tie every one of these bastards up first. Especially that pig. Lock him up properly. There will definitely be a use for him later.”
In any group, the leader’s price was always high. I could wipe out the Black Pig Gang right now if I wanted, but there was no need to do that before sucking all the honey out of them and leaving only the shell behind.
I walked over to Kalmond.
“You badly hurt?”
“I am fine. Wounds like this heal quickly enough.”
Sothing about his attitude had softened, had it not?
His way of speaking had changed too. Before, he used a more brusque tone, but now he no longer did. First, I took out a bandage and moved to wrap Kalmond’s wound myself.
But at that mont, new information updated itself, and the Status Window rose before my eyes.
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