Chapter 191: Breezing Beatdown
———Wiina———
<9: 17 am>
The entrance is all barred up. What seems to be a large border keeping the entire town on lockdown. It’s certainly impressive when you compare it with the current average of what humanity can do. Of course, it’s hard to compliment what is essentially a villain organization, these people don’t really deserve praise. Very self-serving and overall just unpleasant.
Now then. Let’s make it a slow… not death. It’s called prolonged suffering. I want to see them scramble and panic while I go around dismantling everything. Obviously I need to first do something about all the people who aren’t part of their group being put to work, forced to work all day and night. It has only been a little over a week, if that article is reliable, but even one day of what is essentially slavery is too much, so I need to tackle that first. I already marked all of them yesterday, running ragged but thankfully still alive. If they were barely piecing themselves together, I might’ve just done it right then and there, but there wasn’t a big rush since the day was already over, so all I did was give them some food and a note. But onto the main plan, the place they’ll be sent to is already all secured. Surprisingly it doesn't take that long to convince her for a space in that massive plot of land she managed to secure with no one having any idea how that is even allowed. I guess she wasn’t completely apathetic.
Aside from that particular part of the mission, I do have a lot of stunts I wanna try out, but first, I need to get inside first. The first step is always the most important.
“Halt! Who goes there!” One of the many guards blocking the road leading inside said. Now could I just sneak in from other directions? Yes, but it wouldn’t be a good entrance.
I am wearing a hooded cloak over my normal outfit, so they are going to have a hard time recognizing me. They don’t look all that alarmed outside of the earlier shout, some of them aren’t even looking this way.
“You know whose territory this is? Are you a messenger or something?” One of them asked with a metal pipe in his hand, clearly ready to use it if I piss him off.
“Nah. Why would any company use a person to send a message anyway.” I said while dismissively waving at him. Gotta feel bad for people who were forced to send these guys supplies due to public pressure. Using the hostages as both leverage and free labor at once is crazy work, but at least it incentivizes them to keep them alive, not that it makes it that much better. “But I guess I am here to deliver bad news.”
“Tch. What the hell does that mean?” He doesn’t seem to like my tone of voice very much.
“Yeah, you see. This little playground of yours will be confiscated.” I said while grabbing the top of my hood as the winds blew strongly. “I’ll be doing that, if you don’t mind.”
“Alright, you’re asking for it!” He said before walking closer and raising his pipe.
*Swing* *Grab* *Smack* *Crash*
He swung his pipe from overhead, and I easily grabbed onto it and overpowered him, yanking it off his hand and using it against him, sending him flying towards the others who all reacted quickly and got out of the trajectory.
“Boys! Kill her!” One guy who was just observing the situation yelled out and everyone immediately ran at me with all kinds of improvised weapons. They’re not using any spells, probably thinking that by sheer numbers alone that would be enough to subdue me. If only the world was that logical…
*Zoom* **Swing** *Smack* *Smash* **Tumble**
I teleported away and left my cloak hanging in the air for just long enough for them to not recognize what just happened and all ran into each other as they tried to hit someone who is no longer there. They were all left confused as to what happened, not knowing where my current location is, which is…
“People really don’t like to look up, it seems.” I taunted them as I floated far above them, my appearance clear as day as the sun shines bright on my figure. “But no matter, none of you impress me in any way. Begone.”
*ZAP*
A massive bolt of lightning appeared out of thin air and struck everyone below me, frying them and causing them to collapse from the shock.
I landed back down and saw a few guys that weren't part of the initial attacking team starting to cower. How predictable. I would like to see some more defiance like in those shows and movies, but no one likes to risk their lives, so it’s hard to blame them.
*Snap* *Whirl* *Tumble* *Crash*
I snapped my finger and caused a massive wave of pressure that spread throughout the entire area, causing all of them to be blown away and landed on their back or into a wall, any fabric and other thin materials stuck to the walls and floors are all being dragged and torn out.
At the same time, all the hostages that were marked are all transported out. I bet those guys watching over them are all panicking like crazy. They basically lose all of their leverages in less than a second.
“Now then, all of you. Take this.” I said before summoning a bunch of special collars and putting it on everyone in the vicinity before moving on.
“Hey! You can’t jus- Ugh!” One of them yelled out before trying to catch up to me only to trip. He must’ve tried to use some sort of spell only for it to backfire. That collar siphoned mana out of them, so they’re just regular humans at this point. Not worth my time.
Now that I’m actually inside the town, let’s see here… The current area I’m in certainly looks ravaged and vandalized. It doesn’t look all that well-maintained, and graffiti are seen everywhere. A bunch of dog logos strewn across the roads and walls. There are cracks in the walls and roads, multiple windows smashed open, some buildings look like they don't even have electricity at all.
Such an ugly sight, honestly. Also, I am hearing a lot of commotion right now from certain buildings, must’ve been due to all of their free laborers vanishing into thin air.
“Get her!” Someone yelled out as a large group of men ran across the street and tried to overwhelm me with sheer numbers. Do none of you have better tactics than rushing in? How boring. On another note, it seems like the news about me has already spread through the whole town. They get quite a network going.
I suppose things going to shit in this world doesn’t really mean phones suddenly stop working. Do they have a group chat or something? Or are they just using phone numbers? I guess those apps don’t magically stop working even if it would probably greatly reduce the cohesion of this entire group. Maybe they also use hostages as leverage for that as well.
I didn’t get all the details in the world on them, but I do at least know who the main guys are in this organization, and looking at this group of people running at me at full speed. Doesn’t look like there are any of them in there, so they are just a bunch of mooks that are all roughly on the same level and wouldn’t be all too consequential in the grand scheme of things. They are all insanely weak compared to their commanders. Less than a fifth of their superiors.
It’s the case of the strong leading the weak, which obviously would turn sour if the leader had even a speck of intrusive thoughts, or just being a jackass all around.
I think on average my friends could’ve easily wiped out these grunts. In fact some of the stronger ones like Kenni and Emmie would’ve been enough for this place, even factoring the commanders and the leader into the equation. Karra alone is probably enough as is.
But I also don’t think they could’ve resolved the issue as cleanly as I could, which is why we didn’t say a word to anyone else about this, not even a little hint. If Emmie or Kenni were to be the one coming in to resolve the issue, I’m afraid the number of casualties wouldn’t be negligible. Unlike their other escapades which don't have many innocents in the way due to them either escaping or already being dead, this situation is way more delicate.
Of course, I already dealt with the possible leverage they could have against me, if one can even call it that. Right now all I really have to do is subdue every single person here.
Now how is this group doing? They are running nearly at their top speed, barely not stepping on each other’s toes and tripping on each other. The numbers are… fifty seven.
*Clap* *Whirl* *Tumble* *Crash*
I clapped my hands together and sent out a large shockwave that quickly sent them flying and tumbling. They are all so fragile it’s not even funny.
“Collars to all of you.” I said while walking past the street filled with people reeling on the ground and having collars fly around and snapping to their neck.
Now then, the next thing I oughta do is… Wasn’t there this guy they keep talking about? Someone who keeps opposing them, and they said they haven’t find him yet. I saw a flicker of an energy reading deep in the ground, must’ve been a secret basement or something. I should go give whoever that was a greeting, probably the same guy.
*Zoom*
“Yo.” I greeted him as I teleported right into this tiny room this person is stuck in.
What I got in return was a spear pointing directly at my face. What a weird costume this person is in. A normal if bulky set of armor and a big circle head for a helmet. The eyes look angry and the bottom half of the helmet looks like a wide grin, drawing a line at the half of the circle and then straight lines of even distance, looking like a big toothy grin, only with this one it’s more… spiky and weird. Like a kid trying to be edgy. Same with those five spikes at the top of this cartoonish helmet, looking like those strands of hair on a stick figure.
“Relax, you look like you’re barely holding on, I wouldn’t move around a lot if I were you.” I said with a smile while the hold on the spear wavers a bit, probably due to not fully recovering from all the wounds on the body. “Here, let me help you with that.”
*Shine*
A healing spell to close up all the scratches and other nasty things. I don’t really know how long this person has been fighting for, but it clearly wasn’t easy.
“...Who are you?” A muffled voice came out of that helmet. I think it’s fair to say that this is the guy. Who else could it be?
“Really? And here I thought my face would be recognizable around these parts.” I said while playing with my long white hair. I’m not concealing myself at all here, surely he recognizes me at least a little bit.
“Sorry. I’m not really following the news nowadays. I don’t really recognize any voices.” …Seriously? And here I thought it’d be super duper recognizable. Why is that?
“Ah, right, maybe this is why.” I said as I realized that while I can see clearly even in the dark, the same couldn’t be said about him. Having that weird ball helmet clearly doesn’t help.
*Shine*
There we go, now he should be able to get a good look at me. Just a ball of light hovering around making sure everything is visible.
“...No idea who you are.” Are you for… Nevermind, it’s not important if someone doesn’t know about me. It’s fine.
“Anyway! What’s your story? I’ve heard this place has been occupied for over a week. You’re clearly not a hostage nor a member.” I said while walking towards the way out. “I heard there has been a troublemaker making their life difficult, was that you?”
“...What does that have to do with you?” He asked, clearly still cautious. If he knew who I was then I think this would’ve gone much more smoothly.
“Basically, I just need to know if you’re an enemy or an ally. That’s all.” I said with a grin. “If you’re the rebel I have been hearing about, then this is good news for you. I’m here to pick up the slack. You can go relax somewhere else in the meantime, if you like.”
“Are you kidding me? I still have a score to settle.” He said while following me. “In the first place, do you think you’ll be enough?”
“I’m basically an overkill incarnate. No need to worry about me.” I replied.
“Those bastards will use any dirty tactics including hostages, I can’t imagine a girl like you will-
“Ah, none of that nonsense.” I cut him off before he could say anything stupid. “Either you come with me and be cooperative, or I throw you out of the city while you watch the event from afar. You think you can act ungrateful now? You weren’t gonna last that much longer until I arrived.”
“...Tch. Fine.” He begrudgingly said. Surprisingly reasonable for someone who probably lived like hell for a while now.
Let’s get out of this basement and continue with our regularly scheduled… not carnage. Beatdown. Let’s call it a beatdown.