Chapter 132 - One Battle Won

The sound of muffled orders suddenly appeared from the floor underneath Rynold was.

It wasn't a stretch for Rynold to assume that they were storming the ruined building. The mercenaries could easily charge in too. But, they knew what Rynold was capable of.

In the meantime, Rynold wasn't in the mood to recklessly fight, either. As much as he wanted to bust out of the damned building, he can't. There were kids that he, in good conscience, can't leave behind.

So, it was a waiting game.

Rynold could feel the sweat pouring down his face.

He wasn't scared, no. Under the circumstances, it would be perfectly reasonable for him to be. Instead of feeling scared, however, Rynold felt tense.

That was about it.

He was tense about the fight that's to come. He could easily screw up and cause a bigger mess than he'd like. What's worse was the fact that there were children just behind the door across from him.

If he messed up...

'Here they come.'

The captain from outside the buildings started ranting. He talked about the most random of things in the hopes of keeping Rynold distracted from what's happening. Unfortunately for the mercenary, Rynold had Axiom keeping track of any movements the other party made.

Based on the Accord Sphere's scans, the mercenaries that had recently entered the building already made their way to the stairs. It seemed that the commands given to them were direct.

Rynold immediately ordered Maxim to standby, priming the quickfire feature that it had. The swift execution would mean that the fight would end as quickly as it started.

It was a shame, though, as what Rynold had planned didn't come to reality.

With a light thunk on the ground, Rynold's instincts collectively told him to run the fuck out of there.

The mercenaries had thrown a literal live grenade just a few feet from him. If he had Dictum with him, taking in the blast wouldn't prove that much of a problem. Taking it with his bare body, however, was not an option.

'Shit!'

Rynold extended his Mana Gauntlets to Strength-form and punched through the ceiling. Apart from the window where he'd probably blasted to smithereens, Rynold had to make an exit of his own.

With a quick punch through the ruined ceiling, Rynold made his way into what appeared to be an attic. The room was filled with beds, too many beds for one room to have.

Regardless of his opinions on inefficient lodging, Rynold moved.

Using the Miniature Floating Platform, Rynold made his way to where the stairs were on the floor below. From there, he waited.

Boom!

The grenade blew up just a few seconds later, but Rynold still consciously waited. Using Axiom's scanners, Rynold sensed for the perfect moment to strike.

Then, the sound of soldiers rushing up the stairs to check on the situation present. To check on whether or not they had captured their prey.

"The target is missing! I repeat, the target is missing!" One of the mercenaries radioed in.

Rynold calmly tracked the mercenaries' movements. From what he could tell, there were three that were on guard. They were moving slowly across the room in a triangle formation, each one covering a 60-degree angle while leaving a gap in the middle.

Clearly, they were well-trained.

However, they weren't trained well enough to deal with someone that defied logic.

Rynold's Miniature Floating Platform moved with a low hum. He directed the platform to the middle of the three mercenaries.

"He went up!"

One of the mercenaries finally spotted a hole in the ceiling where their target could've gone. Unfortunately for them, though, they were too late in realizing that.

Jumping off the Miniature Floating Platform, Rynold slammed the attic floor with his Mana Gauntlets, causing great surprise and confusion. He landed in the middle of the triangle and before the mercenaries could react, quickly moved.

With his bare Mana Gauntlets in Strength-form, Rynold could easily break open people's skulls. Especially those who have zero Mana in their bodies.

So, Rynold had to deal with the situation in a more... delicate manner.

Reverting his Mana Gauntlets back to Speed-form almost instantly, Rynold threw a soft punch at one of the mercenaries. The attack hit on the mercenary's back, forcing him to the ground and spinning uncontrollably.

Next, Rynold grabbed onto the back collar of one of the other mercenaries. With a spinning momentum, Rynold lifted the mercenary and threw him out the window, effectively knocking him out as he landed.

The last mercenary, however, was quick to react.

He drew his rifle and aimed it at Rynold. But, he wasn't fast enough as Maxim was already waiting for its Master's command.

Sending the slight thought to the Accord Sphere, Maxim shot out a laser beam to the weapon that the mercenary was pointing Rynold with. The attack effectively disabled the weapon, disarming the mercenary in the process.

"So. How do you want to do this?" Rynold casually asked while he cracked his knuckles.

The remaining mercenary trembled.

His two colleagues were knocked out and thrown out the window. Both of them were relatively strong too. For a teenager to take care of them so easily was rather unprecedented.

Rynold was currently facing the only remaining mercenary in the middle of the second floor. The two stared at each other for a considerable amount of time.

The mercenary was trying to comprehend what had just happened; while Rynold waited to see how the guy reacted to his question.

With a stiff gulp, the mercenary drew a small combat knife from his boot. It had a sharp edge on one side with a jagged one on another.

"That's cute," Rynold menacingly answered, "I'll use mine too if you don't mind."

Without waiting for a response, Rynold's right gauntlet switched into Strength-form. From there, he pulled the drill in its full length out too. Compared to Rynold's relatively long drill, the mercenary's knife was like a children's toy. Not that any parent would give something like that to a child.

"Come in! What's your status!"

The commander of the mercenaries suddenly radioed in just as they were about to fight. It was really bad timing. Rynold wasn't surprised, though, as he knew it was bound to happen eventually.

Rynold lowered his drill and openly stared at the mercenary standing across him.

"You might want to answer that," Rynold said as he provoked.

The mercenary stared back as he trembled at the sight. He didn't know what Rynold's game was. Nor did he know why Rynold was unbelievably calm.

His left hand shaking uncontrollably, the mercenary raised his left hand and put it over his right shoulder where the radio was. The guy's hand was moving unrealistically slow. Rynold was eagerly watching and thought to himself.

'Am I really that intimidating?'

"Currently engaging the target," the mercenary answered with an audible tremble in his voice.

"BY YOURSELF?!" the commander yelled to the point where Rynold even heard it from outside the window.

"Yes! By himself! Now would you keep it down?!" Rynold butted in and yelled back.

The mercenary commander clicked his tongue. He couldn't understand how two of his best men were incapacitated just like that.

"Now, if you don't mind," Rynold continued, "I'm about to whoop your guy's ass."

With a big smile on Rynold's face, he raised his drill and pointed it directly at the mercenary. What happened next was unexpected, even by Rynold's standards.

The mercenary immediately threw his combat knife on the ground and collapsed on his knees. Begging, Rynold didn't understand what was going on.

"Please!" the mercenary cried out, "Don't kill me! I don't get paid enough to risk my life for this shit. Whatever you want I'll just give it to you! Just please!"

Rynold was dumbfounded.

He expected the mercenary to fight till the very end. The guy running away was also plausible. But, to give up and beg for his opponent's mercy? What is up with that?

"Give me the radio," Rynold sighed and shook his head.

Radio in hand, Rynold pressed the button and started talking.

"Hey. You better come pick this guy up. I ought to think that the Black Ant Mercenary Group were a bunch of feared mercenaries. This guy literally just gave up and told me not to kill him. Wait. You know what? Never mind that. I'll just bring this guy to you."

Rynold tried his best to hide his limp as he approached the kneeling mercenary. He lifted the guy by the collar and threw him out of the window. He stopped and waited until he heard a loud thud from outside the window.

Then, Rynold rode on the Miniature Floating Platform and approached the room where the kids were.

Opening the door slowly, Rynold checked on the condition of the children.

'It's worse than I thought.'

Rynold's expression visibly darkened as he saw the children that were grouped together. Some had infected wounds while others were very malnourished.

With a deep sigh, Rynold carefully considered his options.

He couldn't leave the children behind, naturally, as this place was an active warzone. At the same time, Rynold couldn't bring the children to a safe place either. Being in a group would only put a bigger target at their backs.

'Do I wait until someone picks them up?'

Dismissing the idea, Rynold knew that he had no one to wait for. Innocent civilians were too busy saving themselves to go out of their way and save others. And, judging by how the children were, the adults here had often ignored the needs of the children even before the culling.

'Shit.'

Rynold gritted his teeth. What exactly should he do in this situation? He's been sidetracked for long enough now and simply leaving them to fend for themselves wasn't an option either.

"Stay here."

Motioning the children to stay in the room, for the time being, Rynold had no choice but to deal with the matter at hand. Having a much bigger threat to the children just outside this building took priority. Besides, dealing with mercenaries was a lot easier.

Exiting out the window, Rynold sat on the Miniature Floating Platform.

He wasn't shot at first sight this time around, thankfully, because the mercenaries were too busy with the two guys that Rynold threw out.

"Oi! Listen up!"

Rynold yelled without holding back.

"I'll give you two options! Either you do as I say and I won't go killing everyone. Or! You do as I say and I'll stop that guy from killing everyone."

Rynold pointed at a ruined street filled with debris and corpses. It was there that the mercenaries saw a man that was clad in full metal. He carried a longsword that was covered in so much blood that anybody going near it would puke at the smell.

'Man, you sure took your time. Huh, X?'

The mercenaries turned their heads and saw the Mech Knight towering over them. It was as if X were a disaster just waiting to happen.

Rynold looked around the ground and saw an elderly man. Apart from his distinct look, the aura surrounding him was that of a commander.

"So, what'll it be, commander?"

He was calm. Rynold knew full well that he had control of the situation. And, judging by how mercenaries tended to act, they wouldn't risk a gigantic amount of losses for a small amount of gain.

The commander looked up at Rynold. He knew that he had been beaten. There was no way out of the situation that his opponent had so cleverly set up.

With that, the commander threw his rifle down, catching the mercenaries' attention. After which, the commander continued to throw his sidearm and ammunition on the ground. It was a sign of complete surrender. To which, the rest of the mercenaries followed.

With a big smile on Rynold's face, he was satisfied with how things turned out. He didn't want to go out and kill people when there was a more peaceful option.

Rynold had won this battle.