"You appear to be lost. I'm not sure how you managed to stay hidden away on this floor for so long, but rest assured, I don't plan on allowing you to get lost again." The voice said.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the other end of the hallway. Soon enough, a man wearing a hoodie with some sort of gas mask on his face that covered the bottom half. The top half of his face, however, was covered by some goggles. On his forearm was a silver gauntlet that appeared to be a high-end tech device.
"Return." The man's voice sounded a bit robotic as if he was trying to hide his true voice. As he spoke, the three large throwing metal spikes shot into the air and headed straight towards him. He held the silver gauntlet on his forearm up as the metal spikes were pulled in by a strong force and started to rotate around the silver gauntlet.
"I have no business with you." Jin said as he set his gaze upon the man and the silver gauntlet on his forearm. It appeared that the metal spikes were somehow being controlled by the silver gauntlet.
"You have no business with me? But, I have business with you." The man did not waste any more word, as he lifted his arm with the silver gauntlet attached to it, into the air and held his hand in a fist towards Jin. The metal spikes rotation speed began to increase as one after the other they shot off in Jin's direction.
Jin had nothing against his current opponent, however, attacking him once could be considered as a mistake but twice was a clear provocation. Not to mention his opponent did not seem to care who he was or his purpose for coming here. Therefore, Jin would not bother giving him another chance.
'The force and penetrative power behind those metal spikes are capable of piercing through the current level of my Heavenly Golden Body physique. However, its speed is simply insufficient.'
Jin immediately demonstrated his amazing footwork and avoided the first metal spike as he dashed towards his opponent. Almost instantly after dodging the first metal spike, the second and third followed aimed right at Jin's legs. It was obvious that the man wanted to immobilize him.
However, the next action Jin took shocked his opponent. In one smooth motion, Jin reached his hand back as he avoided the first metal spike and caught it in between his fingertips. Next, he quickly flicked the metal spike in between his fingertips downward in front of his legs at a slight angle.
Clink! Clink!
The first metal spike collided with the closest metal spike headed on a path to Jin's legs. This caused the second metal spike's trajectory to change and knock the third metal spike off its original course in the process. Just like that, Jin had dealt with all three metal spikes.
'What strange material are those metal spikes made out of?'
With his current knowledge, Jin did not have any knowledge of what kind of material was used during the creation of those metal spikes. However, after personally making contact with it he determined that even if he advanced to the next stage of the Heavenly Golden Body physique, he would not necessarily be safe from receiving some form of damage.
"Impossible..." The man said in a low voice filled with disbelief. How was it possible that someone could catch something like that in between their fingers so effortlessly?
Thanks to the special goggles he wore, he was able to keep track of his metal spikes even at high speeds. It also assisted him with planning their flight course along with the silver gauntlet on his forearm.
However, one of its most useful functions was movement tracking and probability assistance. That was how he managed to discover Jin as soon as he turned the corner.
But just then, it appeared that his goggles had malfunctioned for a brief moment as the feedback data was total nonsense! At least it now made sense to him why Jin was able to dodge his first surprise attack.
"Of all times to act up..." The man growled as he jumped backward while pressing a few commands on his silver gauntlet.
Jin swiftly closed the distance and arrived within melee range of his opponent, but just as he was about to strike out at the man he felt a sudden sense of danger coming from behind him.
The three metal spikes that he had managed to evade earlier were now split into three smaller pieces making for a total of nine smaller metal spikes speeding towards him. Although the overall impact power was reduced, they were now much faster and carried a stronger penetrative force than they did before the split.
The man had a smirk on his face as he watched Jin close in on his location. Now, he would be forced to choose between proceeding with his attack or evading the metal spikes. Either way, it was a win-win situation as Jin would either end up with the appearance of a porcupine or give him enough time and space to retreat to a safer distance.
However, he had obviously sorely underestimated what Jin was capable of. Without retreating, Jin continued to make his way forward as he thrust his right palm forward. As he did so, a myriad of palms descended upon the man with the silver gauntlet.
At the same time, without looking back, Jin's left palm also moved so fast that it created the illusion of a multitude of palms. Using this technique, Jin was able to catch all nine metal spikes with his left hand while simultaneously launching an attack against his opponent.
The man with the silver gauntlet was speechless when he saw dozens of palms moving in his direction. Even with the special goggles he had, it was impossible to follow the person before him's movements! That should not be humanly possible!
"Wait!" The man shouted, but it was already too late to make any pleas.
Jin had already given him the chance to walk away, however, he insisted on confronting him and constantly provoking him with attacks. Now that he was losing, was Jin truly going to stop just because he said wait? The answer was obviously no!
This was not RML, therefore, Jin was not limited by the restrictions placed upon him by the system. His palm crashed into the man with the silver gauntlet's body multiple times. The first strike crushed the silver gauntlet on his forearm, the second strike shatters his goggles, and the third strike struck his abdomen area and sent him tumbling backward.
Jin looked down at the nine thin metal spikes in the palm of his left hand before letting them fall to the floor. His opponent was no longer in a fighting state and was rendered unconscious.
Jin was quite surprised that his opponent was able to survive that blow head on like that, however, he knew that it must have been thanks to whatever body armor he was wearing under his clothes. But, he would not go out of his way to finish him off.
BOOM!
Jin suddenly heard a loud explosion followed by the entire floor shaking violently.
'It sounded like the explosion came somewhere from the top floor... Is it possible that the third party is after something specific in this place?'
From his earlier web search about this building, Jin knew that the leader of the Dragon Stone gang Marian Dubois' office was located at the very top floor, that much was no secret.
'The technology being used by this guy suggests that they are no mere gang looking for revenge. It appears someone may be accomplishing my task for me.'
Jin began to make his up towards the top floor where Marian Dubois was located. On his way there, he saw signs of struggles all over the place each floor he traveled up. It was as if two sides were having an intense gunfight, however, there were strange markings from another weapon present.
It was a sharp and precise mark like it was made from a sword or some type of bladed weapon. Some of them were small and contained while others created meters long scars in the building itself. Though what really shocked Jin was the lingering aura around the marks.
'This is... Minor Sword Qi?'
...
BOOM!
The explosion shook the entire top floor, as well as, some of the floors underneath as the door that led into Marian's office, was blown into tiny pieces and created a cloud of smoke.
Marian, who hid beneath his desk, released a small shriek and was shaking from fear. What was going on out there? He wanted to know, but he did not want to open his eyes or stand up and risk getting harmed in the process.
The moment a silhouette appeared within the smoke Alpha One shouted, "Fire!".
After those words left Alpha One's mouth, a rain of bullets descended upon the silhouette. The Valiant all set their red dot sights onto the silhouette in the cloud of smoke and released fire.
"Halt fire!" Alpha One said after noticing that the silhouette was not taking any action. After taking that many bullets, even if one had on the best body armor in the world they would not be able to survive.
As the gunfire died down, silence filled the entire room. It was so quiet that one would be able to hear the sound of a pin dropping. The smoke started to clear up, however, when it finally did so there was nothing there. There was no physical body to be found.
Woosh!
All of a sudden, a chilly breeze blew throughout the room as if someone left a window open and letting a draft in.
Thump... Thump! Thump!
"He's in the room! Maneuver seven, go!" Alpha One shouted. He heard the sound of three bodies drop and when he looked over, he saw that three members of his squad were already on the ground.
Whoever this was only showed up as a momentary blur on his night vision goggles. Most likely, they were using some kind of device along with their natural movement skills to avoid detection.
When Alpha One gave the order, the remaining members of the Valiant moved close to one another and formed a circle with Alpha One at the center. Each member was covering a different direction so that there was no way for them to be the victim of a surprise attack.
"Gah!" Yet another one of the Valiant members were swiftly taken care of as they dropped helplessly to the floor. However, the other members simply closed the gap and kept alert without panicking.
"M-money! I'll give you money! Power! Information! Whatever you want, just don't kill me!" Marian said as he stood up from under his desk. It appeared that whatever was going on out there, the Valiant side was losing. It was even more apparent since they had to retreat to this place. Whoever they were dealing with was someone incredibly danger!
"Fool, get down!" Alpha One yelled out and tried to warn Marian, however, he was too late.
"Eh?" Marian suddenly felt something warm dripping down his neck. But, that was the last thing he would ever remember. Marian's large body dropped to the ground lifelessly with one major physical difference to it. Truly, a fool and his head are easily parted!
The titanium plates that protected the windows behind Marian's desk had been split open. Due to that, a bit of moonlight was able to peak in through the crack and revealed a cloaked and hooded figure with red eyes, standing a few meters away from the window with a crimson red sword in his hand.
"Who are you? What's your purpose here?" Alpha One asked after finally getting a clear look at the person who had been causing so much destruction and bloodshed.
"Carnage." The hooded figure smiled, however, it was not a friendly one. Instead, it was an eerie smile that somehow reeked of death.