BXBX NOVEL Chapter 149: The Laugh
Chapter 149: The Laugh
"Was it necessary to lie?" Argus asked. "If he knew that he was Beyonder, he would\'ve been more wary of his skills."
"I didn\'t necessarily lie." Albertson said. "In his mercenary card, it still stays that he is Ordergiver, only because he hadn\'t done his promotion test to Beyonder yet, but he is easily Beyonder level."
"Beyonder is called Beyonder for a reason." Argus said. "Those with that rank are already allowed to go beyond the wall. The strength leap between Ordergiver and Beyonder is just so vast."
"Adam did good though." Albertson said. "After seeing that Edward overpowered him with strength, he went close range and completely nullified Edward\'s strongest ability, his strength."
"If Edward was Ordergiver, his skill most likely wouldn\'t have disorientated Adam so much that he was unable to dodge. Thus, the lie most likely decided this match."
Albertson shrugged his shoulders. "If he cannot win against Edward, is he really S-ranker?"
"Mm." Argus nodded. "I\'ve seen Arkham and Calamity win against much worse odds." "What do you think about Adam defeating a Grandeur-ranked mercenary during tutorial?" Albertson asked. "He was just Coinfeeder back then."
"It is a feat like no other." Argus said. "When I heard that, I thought that there was finally a talent that can compete with Moriarty."
"You don\'t think that anymore?" Albertson asked and looked back at the fight.
"There was a rumor that Ron allowed Adam to defeat him as they had grown to be friends during the tutorial."
"Wait, for real?" Albertson widened his eyes in surprise. "Doesn\'t that make him a fake S- ranker then?"
"It is just a rumor." Argus said with a sigh. "However, from what I\'ve seen, I am starting to believe those rumors. Adam is just very ordinary."
...
Drip, drip...
The blood pooled around Adam\'s body, staining the pristine white floor.
He noticed that his health dropped drastically, and it was still dropping.
\'Beyonder... I am starting to get annoyed.\'
The veins bulged in his forehead.
He didn\'t like that he was lied to and tricked to. It made him feel like he was just a circus animal being manipulated for the entertainment of others.
\'Very well, fuckers.\'
Edward rushed in and again clapped his hands together. Clapping of thunder. However, this time the effect was weaker.
It still made Adam slightly dizzy, but he was able to escape from Edward\'s heavy sword swing.
The Clapping of Thunder\'s effect became weaker when it was used multiple times against the same person.
Edward brought his sword down again. It was dodged. He then swung it flatly sideways, using both hands. It again missed.
He approached Adam and swung his sword three times. The first swing missed, the second lacked strength and was blocked, and the third one was parried away.
Adam looked like he was on backfoot, having to retreat after each exchange. Edward was driving him to the corner.
"It\'s the end!" Edward grinned and stabbed his sword through Adam\'s waist, then twisted it for good measure.
With his grin growing, he thought it was over.
However, at that moment, his throat started to tighten as if someone was squeezing it.
Edward\'s face turned red, and a panicky look appeared in his eyes.
The figure in front of him, Adam, vanished like an image fading into thin air, and then he noticed that there were arms wrapped around his neck.
Those arms belonged to Adam, who put him under a tight stranglehold.
\'How?!\' Edward thought in a panic. \'I was fighting an illusion? When was I put under an illusion?\'
At that moment, he saw that Adam\'s chest was still bleeding. It meant that he was put under illusion after his successful attack.
\'How in the world?\'
...
"What?!" Albertson rose to his feet and rubbed his eyes. "What happened? Was that a skill?"
A cold sweat ran down Argus\' forehead. "The illusion almost got me."
He, at first, saw that Edward managed to push Adam against a wall. At that moment, he
noticed that something was wrong and managed to shrug off the illusion.
Then he saw Edward fighting against empty air while Adam walked around him and put him under a stranglehold.
It was shocking to him that Ordergiver almost tricked him!
"Was that really a skill? If it is that effective in the hands of Ordergiver, it must be an extremely high-ranked skill!"
"How did someone like him get hands on this?" Albertson asked. "Digby gave him?"
"I don\'t think Digby should be able to get hands on a skill of this caliber. If he did, it would be
of better use in Digby\'s hands, as when used by Prime Mercenary, this illusion might be even able to trick the High Kings!"
...
Edward screamed and squirmed around. Then, using his full strength, he broke free of the stranglehold and shoved Adam away.
He was sweating heavily, a large bruise forming on his throat. He almost died!
Adam stumbled backwards, but he still looked calm and collected.
At this moment, his leg muscles started to twist and distort. It looked like he was having a massive cramp as his muscles began to spasm uncontrollably.
"Fucker!" Edward shouted and swung his sword very widely.
Adam effortlessly dodged each wide, sloppy sword strike. It looked like Edward just wanted to get one lucky strike with all of his strength behind it. But Adam was too quick and skilled for
that to happen.
"Sky Strike!" Edward raised his sword high, and the blade turned from a dull metallic color to
white.
He used Kraft!
Alongside his Sky Strike skill, it was going to be his strongest attack yet.
Adam couldn\'t really use his Kiryoku against Edward, as their level of Kiryoku was similar, so
both nullified each other\'s senses.
However, he still knew that this attack, if landed, was going to kill him.
"Little God..."
Adam whispered.
As Edward brought his sword down, Adam suddenly vanished, causing a powerful wind breeze that knocked Edward off balance.
\'Another illusion?\' Edward thought panickly, but as he turned around, a sharp blade cut through his leg, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground in excruciating pain.
"Ah!"
In the hidden room, Argus and Albertson\'s eyes widened in shock. They were able to see what
was happening.
This time, it wasn\'t an illusion.
It was just that Adam was moving at such high speeds that it looked like he disappeared.
Adam twirled around in the air, the blade moving alongside his rotating body, and then slashed through Edward\'s limbs in one move.
Edward was helpless, and he could do nothing but scream in pain. His legs were cut, and his
arms were also sliced.
"W-wait, didn\'t you want to know my crime?!" Edward shouted. "Please stop, and I\'ll tell
you."
"I don\'t care." A voice came behind him, and then a sword went through his neck, beheading
him.
With that, Edward collapsed on the ground-dead.
Adam, like a vanishing ghost, appeared in the middle of the room, blood-coated sword in
hand.
Argus and Albertson were speechless, but at that moment, they saw something even more frightening. Adam was looking in their direction as if there wasn\'t any one-way window in
the way.
The ground cracked as suddenly Adam jumped in the air, then used his maximum speed, twirled around like a metallic twister, and smashed through the window, sending broken glass flying across the hidden room.
With another jump, Adam spun around in the air and brought his sword down at Argus, a weight of his full strength behind that strike.
The blade was also covered in the white Kraft. It was one of the strongest strikes he could
muster.
Argus placed his arm in the way, and as soon as the sword landed on it, the blade shattered like a fragile glass bottle.
Adam\'s eyes widened in surprise.
"Bold one, aren\'t you?" Argus\' voice turned cold, and suddenly, he grew from an average
height middle aged man into a five-meter tall giant with rippling muscles and a fierce
expression.
As he grew larger, his clothes ripped apart and stretched against his muscular, gigantic body.
With his enormous hand, he grabbed Adam by the torso and slammed him on the ground,
making the whole building shake.
Adam, trapped under the enormous hand, disabled his Little God ability and felt a wave of weakness wash over him.
His body was in terrible pain and was trembling like he was freezing.
"Hey, what do you think you were trying to do?" Albertson asked angrily. "This is Argus, the
Grand Lord of the Mercenary Guild; show some respect!"
"Enough, Albert." Argus said and looked at Adam deeply, his lips growing into a grin. "Not bad, not bad at all. I suppose those rumors were false, hahahaha!"
His laughter sounded happy and thrilled, as if he had found something special.
Albertson was shocked to hear him laugh.
It was extremely rare to hear Argus laugh, as he was known to be very stoic and serious!
He doubted that anyone in the Mercenary Guild had ever heard him laugh.