The retinue under Damon’s command were made up of low tier mercenaries from the Middle east. They would fight for anyone who could provide them with money and sustenance.
However, after Chen Fan defeated wave after wave of militia, the leaders of those mercenary groups felt they had underestimated the situation. Chen Fan trucked along, storming through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, obliterating over thirteen local militia groups.
The smallest group had a bit over a hundred fighters while the largest group had more than a thousand.
In less than half a day, Chen Fan had killed more than three thousand men. However desperate those militia groups were, they faltered before Chen Fan.
Their reluctance to fight forced Damon to turn to the professional mercenary groups.
Meanwhile, in a mountain valley near the city of Qarshi in Uzbekistan.
“Boss, you’re saying our target this time is just one individual?” A brawny white man asked as he cleaned a Barrett M82 while he had a cigar in his mouth; one of his arms had a three-headed viper tattoo. There were more than a dozen fully armed soldiers around him.
This was the Poison Viper Mercenary Group.
They were a mid-size professional mercenary group; it ranked at hundred and sixty seven in the world’s mercenary list. They mainly operated around Afghanistan, taking smaller jobs such as extraction missions.
They had state of the art equipment, all of it manufactured in the U.S.
Hummer, armored vehicle, heavy machine guns and RPGs, you name it.
“The client will pay us ten million bucks for slowing down our target for half an hour,” said Reno, the leader of the group.
His face was disfigured by a large scar, and therefore, his moniker among his comrades was Scarface Reno.
The brawny man slapped his thigh and shouted, “Oh shit! Ten million? The Yankees paid me only half that for a full-on war in Afghanistan. Let’s do it! Even if he’s some kind of martial arts master, so what?”
Everyone agreed with him and chuckled.
They risked their lives for only one thing: money. Around their neck of the woods, ten million dollars was enough to hire an entire regiment. Although the Poison Viper Mercenary Group was small, they were experienced fighters and had even faced off with a few Grandmasters in the past.
“Boom!”
A blaring explosion erupted from the distance.
Reno pulled a taut face and said, “Those must be Number-Four’s mine traps. The target is close.”
The others quickly readied their weapons and stood in battle formation.
“Balls! Number-Four used to be the explosives expert at the American Navy’s Seal Unit. Not even the Dragon’s Fang unit from China could have detected his mines. That bitch is dead meat!”
The Brawny man guffawed.
Even the Extraordinary Ones or Mixed Martial Arts Masters would have been severely injured if not outright killed by landmines.
Before his words faded away, another wave of explosions came up.
“Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!”
Each explosion sounded closer to them than the last. When the last mine was set off, it sounded as if it had detonated only a few meters away.
“What’s going on?”
Everyone was shocked by the turn of events.
They had set up over a few dozen land mines along Chen Fan’s path. It would take an explosion expert a few hours to avoid the land mines.
However, Chen Fan had stormed through the minefield without stopping for a second.
“Those landmines should have destroyed a Merkava main battle tank,” the Brawny man murmured in disbelief.
“KOM!”
When the last explosion was detonated, no one could believe their eyes as they watched an azure figure fly out from the explosion. The violent explosion spat out deadly metal shards, but none of them could have harmed the azure figure. Even his clothes remain untouched.
“What the…”
Reno narrowed his eyes as he found the azure figure familiar.
“Bang!”
The Brawny man fired his Barrett M82. A shot from the Barrett M82 Anti-material semi-automatic sniper rifle could penetrate the metal plates on armored vehicles.
What happened next made everyone flinch.
Even Reno rounded his eyes in utter disbelief.
They watched as the azure figure extended two fingers and stopped the bullet. The bullet was lodged right in between his fingers, looking as deadly as a cigarette butt.
“Oh my god!” the brawny man exclaimed. He was so shocked that he didn’t even notice that his cigar had slipped out of his mouth.
Not even grandmasters or Mixed Martial Arts masters dared to take a hit from a Barrett M82 at point blank, much less stopping the bullet with two fingers. How powerful was this guy, exactly? Was he at the Transcendent State?
“Oh shit!”
Reno suddenly remembered something and was about to warn his comrades.
“Are you trying to stop me?”
The azure figure slowly looked up, then his body flickered out of view and reappeared right in front of everyone. A scintillating Blade Aura had appeared in his hand as if out of thin air.
“Pong, pong, pong!”
Before the mercenaries were able to train their guns at Chen Fan, the Blade Aura sliced through the air, creating an azure arc. Anything within the arc was severed in half.
“He is Chen Beixuan…” Reno said in a shaky voice.
However, his warning had come too late. Chen Fan’s attack had annihilated the entire mercenary group, leaving no one alive.
Chen Fan’s body shimmered a little and continued to dart forward. He didn’t even spare a glance at his slain enemies.
The downfall of the Poison Viper Mercenary Group was just the beginning of Chen Fan’s killing spree. Ever since Chen Fan entered Uzbekistan, he had encountered many mercenary groups of different sizes trying to stop him.
Those professional mercenary groups were much tougher foes than the local militia.
They had land mines, explosives traps, missile attacks, even anti-material ballistic weapons that could immobilize a tank.
One of the snipers was able to land a hit on Chen Fan with an anti-material rifle. The bullet had penetrated Chen Fan’s Arcane Energy Bulwark and made a small mark on his Fan’s chest. If the caliber of the bullets had been any larger, the shot might have threatened Chen Fan’s life.
“Hm!!”
Chen Fan was annoyed by the sniper, so he used the Li Fire Golden Eyes on him, reducing the sniper and all of his teammates to ashes.
Nonetheless, those mercenary groups were able to slow Chen Fan down with their sheer numbers.
However, as soon as Chen Fan defeated the last mercenary group and entered Turkmenistan, he was able to pick up speed again as the chances of being harassed by mercenaries was greatly reduced.
Unknown to Chen Fan, his appearance had stirred up the Dark World.
“Damn! What kind of mission is that? All of my mercenaries went silent ever since taking on that job.”
“Same here. I’ve heard nothing from Poison, Battle Fang and the Ferocious Tigers.”
“Shit! I’ve just heard that the members of the Red Shield were all dead.”
“What?”
The news had stirred the mercenary community.
Although it was not as famous as Diablo or the Crimson Wings, Red Shield was one of the top ten mercenary groups in the world. It had more than five hundred battle-hardened figures, including a few A-level Extraordinary Oones.
The power of Extraordinary Ones was on par with the peak of Internal Force.
The combined forces of the five hundred units could kill a Grandmaster and deter a warrior listed on the Dark Roll.
“Who are they up against? Was it the Dragon’s Fang from China or the Blood Wolf Guards from Russia?”
Everyone pondered on, but failed to find an answer.
The client gave little detail about the mission. He only mentioned that the target was an individual, but didn’t say anything else.
“The western Dark World Organization has raised the bounty to one billion.”
The news had made the entire Underground World boil over.
One billion US dollars was enough to hire a dozen top mercenary groups. Such reward was enough to entice assassinas to make a move against Odin or Adam.
People who knew a bit more about Chinese Martial Artists exclaimed, “OMG. Are they going after Azure dragon or Ye Nantian?”
Some people shook their heads and said, “By the look of it, the three major Dark World organizations in the west are using us as cannon fodder to fight against someone extremely deadly. He is likely an Immortal State Warrior, if not more powerful.”
However, only a handful of mercenaries could resist the lure of a billion dollars. The others flocked to Turkmenistan, looking for the target.
Suddenly, the nation of Turkmenistan was filled to the brim with powerful assassins and fighters. Mercenary groups had set up camp along Chen Fan’s path, ready to claim the jackpot.
Meanwhile, Chen Fan was taking his time traveling through Turkmenistan.
He was slightly tired after the previous battles, so he decided to slow down a little to recuperate.
“I will be at Europe’s doorstep once I make it through Turkmenistan and then the Caspian Sea.”
Chen Fan looked to the west; his eyes flashed with deadly intent.