Chapter 171 - Oliver vs an Army

Thud!

Oliver gave the lieutenant a slight push. That was all it took for the man to fall on his back. And, the worst part of it was that it had happened in a split second.

Baffled, the lieutenant didn't understand how he had gotten to the ground so suddenly. It was as if his brain had registered false information and considered that he might be hallucinating.

Unfortunately, the reality wasn't so kind.

As Oliver stood over the lieutenant with a cold yet domineering look, he let out a deep sigh. It was one thoroughly filled with deep disappointment.

"How long have you guys been holed up here?"

The sound of Oliver's voice boomed as it reached every soldier within the vicinity. And, embedded within that voice was a tone indicating massive disappointment.

"You people call yourself soldiers when you can't even take one guy who never had formal military training! Pathetic! All I gave this guy was one little push, and look at him now!"

Silence ensued.

The gazes of the soldiers surrounding Oliver pointed their gazes directly at the fallen lieutenant. The man carried a disgruntled expression. It was one that expressed anger, frustration, and embarrassment.

Noticing these things, the silence didn't last any longer than it should. What somehow followed were curses, insults, and angry spats fully directed at Oliver.

As it continued for a few more seconds, Oliver didn't get agitated by mere words. He was calm. Level-headed. But that didn't mean he wouldn't do something to stop these spats either.

Slowly raising his hand, Oliver's expression darkened slightly. The soldiers saw this happen, and their rants dwindled into low mumbles. With the crowd quieting down, Oliver's voiced boomed once more.

"What the hell are you waiting for? I'm standing right here!!"

And, with that declaration, the enticed soldiers charged directly at Oliver. Some attacked by throwing rocks. Some charged at Oliver, hoping to tackle him to the ground. Some even went back into the camp to gather proper weapons.

It was an all-out engagement towards one man. Even so, Oliver still wasn't impressed.

Dodging with minimal effort, Oliver could see their attempts as clear as day. With his innate Agility Attribute that was leagues above the rest, Oliver felt more than confident.

With that said, Oliver started to move by first conducting a front flip to dodge an over-eager soldier. From there, he let out a bicycle kick to knock out a nearby soldier. Then, he spotted a guy trying to find an opening in Oliver's movements.

Unfortunately for him, the opportunity never came as Oliver knocked the guy out with a single punch to the face.

Suffice it to say, Oliver wasn't holding back. Not one bit.

From afar, Jack was watching Oliver single-handedly beat the army of soldiers coming his way. He scoffed at the sight of watching his former comrades struggle at landing a single hit at Oliver.

For some reason, Jack found it funny. But, then again, if he were the one in the soldiers' position, Jack wasn't so sure if he could tie Oliver down either. The guy was too slippery even for Jack to handle.

But, hey, this was still rather fun to watch.

As Oliver continued to perform fast yet graceful maneuvers, a thought popped into his head.

'Man, this is disappointing.'

There was no teamwork within the soldiers' movements. Even if there were, it would be poorly executed as Oliver was still unscathed. Despite the tackles, surprise attacks, dirty tactics, and desperation that the soldiers employed, none of them touched Oliver.

Not only that, but Oliver's attacks almost always landed on these soldiers too. In fact, every attack seemed to knock the wind out of these soldiers. So much so, some of them got knocked out on the spot.

Not having access to Mana was one thing, but this was far too weak. But then, something suddenly donned onto Oliver. A thought that he had only now realized.

'They aren't the best soldiers.'

It may seem as though it was nothing special. However, Oliver knew that if these people were the worst in the army, it would only make sense that the best was up in the Northern Blockade. The distribution of resources to the best in the army would result in something unstoppable.

Following this string of thoughts, something caught the corner of Oliver's eye. Some of the soldiers that went to grab weapons finally returned. And, unsurprisingly, these people returned with firearms.

"Hey! You wanna join in on this?"

Oliver suddenly shouted as the soldiers aimed at him with their weapons. It seems that these soldiers were waiting for Oliver to expose himself. However, the sudden question boggled some of these people.

"Nah," Jack yelled as he answered, "You got yourself into this mess. You better figure a way out of it."

Smiling and shaking his head, Oliver knew what Jack had meant. The appearance of these firearms confirmed Oliver's response. It was time to use Mana.

Activating his Equip spell, Shadowing Tread, Oliver became faster. Much, much faster. So fast, in fact, that some of the soldiers lost sight of him even if they were staring directly at where Oliver was standing. It wasn't something that non-Magic Users could comprehend.

With Oliver's disappearance, the soldiers with firearms who had taken aim became confused. Where was their target? How could a man disappear all so suddenly?

Fortunately for these people, their questions were soon to be answered.

As one of the confused soldiers panic-strikingly aimed his firearm all around the place, Oliver suddenly appeared. Showing up at the soldier's side, Oliver grabbed the firearm by the nozzle and pulled it away from the soldier. From there, he used the firearm like a bat and swung.

The now-disarmed soldier was thrown to the ground. Following this, Oliver threw the firearm at another soldier's head. This simple action carried enough force to knock the guy out in one hit.

Naturally, Oliver wasn't done yet.

Now with the reappearance of the target, the soldiers recovered. They quickly aimed at Oliver once more as they brimmed with confidence that their bullets would land on this man.

However, they were dead wrong.

This time around, Oliver didn't use his disappearing tactic as he dove right in. He lunged in the most straightforward method possible. But, the speed of his lunge defied normal human limitations.

"Hello."

With a casual greeting in an unstrained tone, Oliver arrived before the soldier. The soldier, surprised, reflexively pulled the trigger. During the split-second moment of the shot, however, Oliver simultaneously moved as well.

He grabbed the weapon by the barrel and raised it upward. Thus, when the soldier had finished pulling the trigger, the bullet had missed Oliver completely.

It was superhuman.

As the realization donned on the soldier, terror sunk into his expression. Standing in front of an overwhelming presence, it wasn't strange to feel that way. And, upon noticing this, Oliver quickly knocked the soldier unconscious by a gut-wrenching kick to the stomach.

With no opportunity to take a breath, Oliver moved on to the next soldier.

The sound of a gunshot was overheard in the distance.

The general suddenly looked up from his desk. He was busy contemplating the situation with the staff sergeant, who was in the room with him. They were in the middle of discussing what Oliver had explained to the general. That is until a gunshot came from outside.

"Go check it out and report back immediately," the general ordered. He wouldn't want Oliver's predictions to be true. So, that gunshot had made him tense up slightly as he was worried about what threat they would face.

With a swift salute, the sergeant left to find the source of the gunshot. However, when he left the facility, there were no soldiers in sight.

'Uh oh.'

Worried as to what would have caused the gunshot, the staff sergeant hurriedly ran towards it. During his short journey there, the absence of soldiers became an increasing concern. However, once he arrived at the source of the fight, the sergeant's concern turned to confusion.

"What... happened..?"

Letting out a low grumble, the sergeant near collapsed. Fortunately, he was able to hold on to a nearby wall for support. However, despite this, the situation was still tough to comprehend.

The fight between Oliver and the West Blockade army had reached its climax. Oliver had successfully defeated hundreds of soldiers, nearly wiping them all out. The fight was brutal.

Greeted by this one-sided fight, the sergeant watched as Oliver chase the remaining soldiers, who were running away. From where he was standing, the staff sergeant could see the terrified expressions of the remaining soldiers as they ran away from Oliver with fear in their eyes.

However, they still weren't so lucky.

Like a reaper claiming its victims, Oliver struck each fleeing soldier without mercy. They had obviously given up in trying to fight against this superhuman of an opponent. However, Oliver wasn't so kind as to let them go.

And, soon enough, Oliver knocked out an entire army by himself with nothing but his fists.

By the end of it, Oliver clicked his tongue in utter disappointment. Even though it may not look like it, but Oliver was unimpressed. The effort he exerted covered about less than half of his regular workout. None of these soldiers ever put up a good fight.

Overall, it was disappointing.

"Hey, Oliver! Someone's here to see you!"

Noticing the sergeant arrive, Jack waited until Oliver finished. He had watched the entirety of the fight and could only come to the conclusion that Oliver needed to blow off some steam. With that said, he wouldn't dare interfere with whatever Oliver was doing.

With Shadowing Tread still active, Oliver reappeared right in front of the sergeant. Still in shock, the sudden appearance of Oliver startled the sergeant, thus making him fall on his back.

"Is the general still awake?" With a cold voice, Oliver asked the sergeant. Which, from his perspective, was a terrifying sight. So much so he had failed to form words and could only nod to Oliver's question.

"Good," Oliver looked up from the ground, then shifted his gaze to Jack. "Stay here and watch over the gate. While they're unconscious, I'm going to need you to stand watch and make sure no monsters attack. Maybe bring this guy with you."

"Leave it to me," Jack said as he waved Oliver off. Now that Oliver seemed determined to do something, Jack didn't want to be the guy to put a stop to him. Besides, Oliver has shown restraint over the course of their arrival up until this point in time.

With a swift nod, Oliver ran off to find and talk to the general. With what he had just witnessed, the soldiers in the West Blockade are severely lacking, even more so than what he had originally thought.

Racing through the camp, Oliver soon arrived at the facility the general was staying in. From what he had gathered, Oliver felt as though he might explode in anger due to how incompetent the soldiers were. So, taking these few seconds before going into the room, Oliver took a deep breath.

'Alright.'

Oliver walked to the door and opened it.

"Those soldiers of yours aren't the best in Ark City, huh?"

The first words that Oliver spoke of were an accusation directed at the mismanagement of troops. It was something the general would know about.

"I suppose they could be better. But, their pride is equal to none other."

Clicking his tongue once again, Oliver couldn't help but think how foolish this old geezer really was. It was one thing to stunt their growth, but pride wasn't a redeemable quality.

"I knocked them all out. You think their pride helped at all in stopping me?"

Approaching the desk, Oliver's eyes narrowed as he continuously accused the general of lacking in his ability.

"You need a wake-up call. Now. This isn't some game that you could win by shooting it randomly. Use your fucking brain to think and tell me what I need to hear."