A mercenary charged towards Ethan.
The man snarled, "Damn you, little dog."
Ethan dodged the bat and shot back, "You’re the dog."
He punched the mercenary in the face and knocked him out.
A muscular man with a bat advanced on Ethan.
Ethan lashed out with a kick.
The man absorbed the blow and swung the bat at Ethan’s face.
The strike hurt, and Ethan realised that the system had given him a power boost, but not invincibility.
"Ahh!"
The pain snapped him back to his senses. His survival instinct kicked in, and he jumped back to create some distance between them.
Ethan began analysing his opponent.
’He’s strong; even with a boost, I can’t damage him. I have to do something.’
Ding!
<System Notification>
<Daily check-in reward>
<Cold-blooded Assassin pill (expert level) gifted to user.>
<Info: Cold-blooded Assassin pill grants extensive knowledge of deadly techniques to kill a person or target an opponent’s weak points.>
’Damn! Thanks, system bro. This time I’ll surely win,’ Ethan thought, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
’System, give me the pill.’
A pill appeared out of thin air in his hand. He swallowed it.
The armed man had no idea what had happened; he hadn’t seen Ethan take a pill, but an uneasy feeling made him anxious.
Ethan’s instincts sharpened beyond anything he had felt before.
He picked up a broad stick from the ground.
’This will be enough.’
Ethan took a fighting stance, ready for the fight.
The mercenary noticed it and realised that the upcoming attack would not be as weak as before.
"Come on, boy, what happened? Why did you stop?"
"Huh, not tough any more," he said. Although he was mocking him, in reality he was afraid of him.
Ethan did not reply with words; instead, he answered with his next attack.
He threw a punch towards the mercenary’s right side.
The mercenary easily read the attack and started to dodge, but something unexpected happened: Ethan changed the punch’s trajectory; in other words, he feinted and then kicked the man in the neck.
"Ahh!"
The mercenary groaned in pain.
But he did not give up and threw a punch at Ethan.
Ethan easily read every movement of his opponent’s body.
His eyes were steady and alert, like a predator’s.
He dodged the punch and stabbed the sharp, pointed stick into the mercenary’s right armpit. New chapters come out on g.com first.
The stick pierced and dug in deep like a sword or spear.
The mercenary’s piercing shout echoed around them.
"AAAHHHHH!"
But Ethan did not care at all and delivered a brutal kick to his neck, knocking him out.
"Ha– *gasping for air*"
"Finally!"
"It’s over," Ethan said, his face exhausted.
Ding!
<System notification>
<Mission: Defeat 5 mercenaries>
<Reward: Martial arts knowledge (intermediate level)>
<Failure: $10,000 penalty>
<Mission completed>
<Reward transferred into skills section. User can use it in 2 hours.>
He turned around to check on Leandro, but he had walked far away from the car while fighting.
"I wonder how Leandro is doing?" Ethan said.
Then he spotted Leandro standing there, as nonchalant as ever.
But when he saw the scene in front of him, he was dumbfounded.
Leandro had defeated the army of mercenaries as if it were no trouble at all.
He was calm and composed.
Not a single scratch.
No sweat.
’Holy moly!’
’What am I seeing?’
’Am I seeing things?’
’Nah, it can’t be true.’
Ethan was exasperated.
Leandro calmly walked over to Ethan.
He stared at him for a few minutes (he looked at him with a face).
’A weak boy like him, who was malnourished a few weeks ago, defeated five trained and armed mercenaries,’ Leandro thought.
He was holding back the urge to go and ask him how he had done it.
’Wait, why is he staring at me?’
’Oh no, he’s getting suspicious.’
’A few weeks ago I was malnourished, and now I’ve defeated five grown-ups like I’ve been learning how to fight since childhood.’
"Oh, Leandro, you’re back.
Are you fine?
How did you defeat them so easily?" Ethan asked with a wide grin.
"I think I’m the one who should be asking how you did this.
You defeated five of their men," Leandro said with a calculating gaze.
"Huh, it was nothing. Getting tortured for two years made me durable to such things.
It was just my survival instinct," Ethan replied with an awkward smile.
"Hmm."
Leandro did not question him any further; after all, he was just a bodyguard.
He grabbed the mercenary by the collar and asked in a cold, chilling voice,
"Who sent you after the young master?
Who ordered you, and when?
Tell me every single detail, or you will suffer far worse than just a beating."
Leandro addressed the pale-faced man in a commanding tone; the man was already visibly shaking with fear.
"Mmmm..."
The man stammered.
"Aahh! Stop!
I will tell you!"
"Kyle Bernard, the heir of the Bernard family, is from one of the richest families in France.
He ordered me to teach you a lesson.
Please let me go.
I’m just a normal mercenary who was forced to do this work because of the contract."
The man revealed everything he knew in a desperate voice.
"Please spare me," he continued.
"Okay, fine, but tell us why he did that," Ethan asked.
"You came between him and Miss Sophia of the Laurent family. That is why he did it.
He didn’t like you getting near her," the man replied.
"I see," Ethan said, his expression darkening.
"I only met her today, and I’m already getting haters, huh?
No worries. He wants to mess with me.
Too bad for him. I have a system.
Bernard, get ready. My first target is you," Ethan said to himself.
While driving, Leandro was secretly glancing at Ethan.
’It’s still unreal how he defeated them,’ Leandro muttered in disbelief.
They returned home.