Chapter 17 - Showing Power!

Approaching the ruins of a once-prosperous dwarven city, Daldles frowned as he felt the tension. He was well aware of the malicious plot against him. His journey towards the position of Senior Manager of the Lousanntte Corporation had been smooth sailing, that it aroused the envy of others.

This appointment with an important official of Darius Kingdom was a test for his capability and his competitor to the position of Senior Manager would not easily let this chance, of ruining his qualification, go by.

His years of experience at reading people made him confident in himself and he believed that Reid could deal with all the dangers along the way. His gut feeling had never deceived him even once.

He could see that Reid was really capable just from the advanced battle suit he was wearing and the unusual pet snake around his neck.

Those who dared to wear such precious sought-after battle suit were strong people that do not worry about being blocked at the back alley and he never had once encountered such a furry snake that exudes an extremely dangerous vibe.

However, as they got closer to the ruins, he grew nervous, causing him to internally question his decision. Shaken from his faith in his decision, Daldles ordered his secretary. "Lisa, tell our men to prepare for battle and make sure to protect the important cargo at all costs!"

"Understood, Boss!" Lisa replied and called the other people.

"Being extra careful will not hurt," Daldles muttered as he stared at the cage before him. And in his eyes, a petite humanoid silhouette was reflected, curled at the corner.

Moving at moderate speed, the convoy finally arrived at the ruins of the dwarven city. As soon as they entered the ruins, numerous brightly lit crystals and miraculously flaming trees without oil appeared everywhere, illuminating the entire ruins composed of huge rubbles scattered around; broken stone pillars, ruined walls, and unrecognizable metal statues several feet high.

The ruin has a large area with a cave ceiling thousands of meter high supported by stone pillars carved into statues of gods that the dwarves worshipped. The once prosperous city was now desolate and infested by ferocious beasts.

The main road was the only shortest path from the entrance to the exit. But due to the main road being blocked by stone boulders, they could only detour, going through the outer area of the ruined city, along the ruined walls.

Turning away from the stone bricked road, they went into the bumpy dirt road between the trees and followed the wall that once protected the city.

As the sound of the vehicles was too loud, it easily attracted hungry beasts, like a loudspeaker telling them to come over for a meal.

And as soon as they readied themselves, they were immediately attacked from above by a basketball-sized rat beast with bat wings. It dove down onto one of the vehicles and tore through the thin metal sheet.

The men on the vehicle were all Silver-rank and of course not even startled by the arrival of the beast as they were prepared.

Entering the vehicle through the hole it made, it pounced at the nearest person with its wide-open mouth aligned with sharp teeth.

Bang! Bang!...

The guards open fired and killed it with high caliber rifle they were equipped with. Seeing the beast die into a mess, one of the guards observed the beasts.

"Rat body, bat wings... and sharp tail tip! Bad news! This is Bad news!" as he went on hysterically, he frantically took out his communicator and Daldles with fear and anxiety written on his face.

The panicked guard spoke fearfully. "Boss we have bad news! I think we should speed if our face or we will be wiped out! I don't want to die yet!..."

"What bad news?! Calm down and tell me about the key points!" Daldles replied with annoyance as he picked his right ear.

"We killed a beast a moment ago boss! A Winged Rat!" Said the man in panic.

"It's good that it is solved, I hired you for that is it not? Why are panicking? Do you want to retire early?" Daldles asked irritably

The man smiled wryly and said. "A Winged Rat is a different boss! They have strong teeth and sharp claws. More importantly, they always hunt in swarms and very vengeful! If one of them died the nearby Winged Rat would immediately know and hurry over for revenge! They will hunt us until none of us remain or we lost them!"

"What?!" Daldles exclaimed in fright, slightly panicking. "Immediately notify all the personnel to prepare for battle! Also, let all the drivers drive at full speed!"

As soon as Daldles spoke, the guard suddenly heard a squeaky sound from above. And as he looked up, he saw a moving dark cloud made up of thousands of Winged Rat!

"Everyone! Arm yourselves and be ready to fight!" He shouted to everyone around him.

Moments later, a frantic flap of numerous wings, alongside the hair raising shrieks were heard as they saw a swarm of block dots hovered towards them like black clouds.

Not far away, five people were tailing the convoy. They moved below the swarm of Winged Rat yet, they were not attacked at all as though they never existed.

One of them spoke. "The trap has been deployed and they successfully caught the bait. Now, they will surely run faster than a Lightning Ostrich. Let's hurry over to endpoint and wait for them in an ambush if ever they successfully escaped from this hurdle."

Another asked with interest. "What about the partition of spoil, Leader?"

The leader spoke. "You can take everything except the target cargo. Our employer specified us not to touch it."

Another one commented. "It's as if he is sure of what the cargo is. What do you guys think it is? Drugs? Newly researched weapon? A Bio-Organic Weapon?"

"That's one hell of a cargo. If that is the mission, then I'm out!" Another person said resolutely.

"Even if I have more courage than any of you, I will never pick up such a sensitive mission. That's more than a nuclear weapon. Remember the ace team of Amaros Guild? They were killed for knowing too much. Although, it was not verified." The leader replied and commanded. "Alright. Enough talk and focus on the mission. Let us meet at the ambush point. Be careful."

After that, they all went away separately as it was much faster. Though the Winged Rat would not attack them due to some means, it only worked on Winged Rat and other beasts would still regard them as food.

At the front, Reid stood on the back of the Compass Beast. His senses were spread out, looking out for things that would pop out of nowhere. Looking far back, he saw a cloud-like swarm of beasts chasing after them. Then, his communicator made a sound. He answered the call by touching the blinking red screen. "Do you have any instruction, Mr. Dadles?"

"Reid, we encountered a small problem," Dadles said as soon he heard Reid spoke.

"I can see it. Do you want me to get rid of it?" Reid asked.

"Yes. Please make a move. My men have no ability to destroy or counter such scale of beasts gathering." Dadles said. It was also his test for Reid. After all, Dadles had never seen Reid`s strength for real. Although Dadles was confident in his skill in identifying people, seeing is believing.

"Leave it to me," Reid answered casually. He muttered. "It seems I have to show some power. I feel being underestimated."

Staring at the tailing swarm of Winged Rat, chasing frantically, Reid looked at the pillars they passed by and made many pillars float effortlessly as the gravity acting on the pillars became zero.

Seeing the stone pillars float above them, the people that saw the scene swallowed hardly as their throat dried. Each pillar has a diameter of 10 meters and varied in length, but each pillar was enough to crush a person to death if it falls. Imagine such a pillar raining at you, would make anyone pale in fright.

"Oh, God... Is this something a human can do?" Along with fear, Dadles wore a relieved expression more as he saw his hired thug's capability. "I'm really good a looking at people."

Dadles was already thinking of hiring Reid as his permanent guard. But he immediately shook away the thought, for he knew that people like Reid were arrogant, domineering, and kingly. He bet that even the large corporation behind him was not in Reid's eyes.

"Even so, I must maintain a friendly relation with him at the very least." He shook his head as his brain turned quickly and muttered. "No. He must owe me a favor at least. With favor, if I asked him for help next time, he would not be able to refuse indifferently."

The floating pillars turned towards the incoming swarm and swiftly shoot forward like rocket projectiles. Powered by repulsive force, the speed at which the pillars move was very fast and reached the speed of sound.

People below watched as the pillars wiped out the swarm of Winged Rat and crushed them into minced meat as the pillars slammed onto the cave ceiling. The powerful impact caused the cave to shake and made a rock rain as the stalactites that hang from the ceiling to fall.

Seeing the swarm of Winged Rat got wiped out instantly, knowing the danger was gone, everyone present cheered and were relieved as they escaped death. The swarm was like a sharp knife hanging on their heads, ready to take their life.

Fortunately for them, their boss invited a powerful person to deal with things they could not handle. Gratitude was etched in the hearts and offered their sincere thanks even though they do not know who it was.

But the team of hunters that was following behind the convoy was different. They were scared that their faces turned pale as though they had seen a ghost.

At the moment, even though they were far from each other, the team spirit they had built after going through flames and suffering together was still evident as their feelings synchronized. They all have an expression of someone who experiencing constipation

"So, so strong!" The leader of the team cursed inwardly. Influenced by anger, and more fear, his left eye twitched uncontrollably. "Where did they hired such a strong man?!"

Though, their team of five has a qualitative strength of an Adamantium Hunter. They were still not an opponent of a person that could raze a city alone. Let alone fight, even facing such a person was impossible. They have no such courage.

The leader was already considering whether to continue their mission or not. For he knew that schemes were nothing in face of the strong. Even though they would need to return the downpayment and paid a fine for not fulfilling the mission, they at least still alive. Only when you are alive could you enjoy the wealth of the world.

"Ahahaha! I really did not choose the wrong person! Amazing! Wonderful!" Dadles laughed on the communicator and spoke more compliments just to have a closer relationship with Reid. He even had an idea of marrying Rd to his daughter that was a few pounds less than him.

Listening to the loud laughter on the communicator, Reid paid no attention to Dadles. He protected the convoy from the falling dust and rocks and looked ahead as they went halfway through the ruined city.

However, it did not take long for trouble to find them again.

As they headed straight on the main road towards the exit. The Compass Beasts suddenly became restless for some reason. They made frantic noises and changing their tracks.

But before they could turn in another direction, the earth beneath them suddenly bulged like a balloon filled with gasses and exploded upward.

Boom!

A thunderous roar echoed, causing everyone to hold their head. And the convoy was forced to stop. Standing on one of the Compass Beasts at the far back, Reid saw as a hill sized beast crawled out of the soil and rocks, sands fell from its dry skin, chewing in some Compass Beasts that were caught in its mouth and gulped after a few grind. Sensing more food, it arched back a roared.

Roar!!!

"G-Giant Earth Worm!" One of the people controlling the Compass Beast lose control of the rein and fell on the ground, while the Compass Beast in his control got freed from the reins and fled in fear.

He was scared silly that he hurriedly got up with wet pants. And as soon as he raised his head, he saw a giant maw filled with sharp teeth closing before his eyes and enveloping him. His mind was blank as the abyss before him.

Reid saw how the man got eaten and quickly commanded. "Follow me or be a snack for the giant worm!"

Dadles saw everything and was immediately awakened from his momentary stupor and ordered. "Follow him! Quickly!"

The road ahead was blocked by the Giant Earth Worm and they have no choice but to change direction

Due to fear and out of trust from the power that Reid showed before, the remaining people riding on the Compass Beasts followed without hesitation. They turned around and went eastward, fleeing away from the Giant Earth Worm.

The Giant Earth Worm burrowed underground and chased after them. It quickly caught up and the three armored vehicles at the far back were eaten. They could loudly hear the sound of it chewing hard metals which intensified their fear even more.

But strangely enough, after eating the three armored vehicles, the Giant Earth Worm no longer went after them and quickly left as though losing interest in them.

This made them relieve but their tight nerves never loosened as they felt that trouble has not left them yet.

Moving towards the exit that was several kilometers away, they heard a loud crackling sound from above their heads as if something was breaking, and saw the ceiling caving-in.

Several large rocks were falling onto them like meteorites, but strangely enough none of the boulders could hit them and kept missing them.

If they turned left, the boulder would fall on the right and If they turned right, the boulder would fall on the left side. And most people attributed it to their luck. But Dadles knew that it was Reid who was helping them, keeping them away from being smashed.

"Hurry! The tunnel is in front!" Dadles shouted as he hid in his room and only locked his gaze on the enlarging dark tunnel entrance.

Galloping towards the tunnel, Reid saw that a large part of the ceiling was separated and falling towards the tunnel. They were only a few hundred meters away from the tunnel, but their speed was much slower than the falling boulders. As such, they would definitely get buried alive if he did not do anything.

Expanding his Isolation Field, he enveloped the entire convoy in his field and increased their speed by isolating the wind resistance. At the same time, he used his Gravity Mastery by keeping the boulders above afloat as to not block the tunnel.

500 meters...

300 meters...

100 meters...

50 meters...

10 meters...

Boom!

And they were saved!

They managed to enter the tunnel!

The large rocks crushed behind them and covered the entrance causing a strong wind to sweep up, pushing them further into the dark passage.

Reid kept the boulders afloat in the air for a full minute, but with his current strength, he estimated that he could probably maintain it for a much longer time.

Feeling the cold sweat on their backs, they all heaved in relief and some even collapsed as they once again escaped death. Most of them have never felt death so close.

The experience was really thrilling and exciting. Thinking about it made their hearts beat loudly, as though jumping out from their chest. Most people would never forget this experience in their entire lives and even told it to their children in the future.

"Hahaha! I'm alive!" Dadles laughter echoed, resonating with his subordinates. "Everyone! After this journey and once I am promoted, there will be an increase in salary and a huge bonus at the end of the month! "

All the guards and staff cried loudly.

"Boss Dadles is the best! Long live, Boss Dadles!"

"Come on, everyone! Let's continue onward! A great future is waiting for us!" Dadles inspired their spirit once again with few words.