Gareth's bodyguard couldn't help but hold his breath seeing troops that have arrived on their door. He never expected someone to attack them when Lord Jordan was away.
"STOP! This village is under the protection of the Noble Lord Jordan. Who are you? Identify yourself. "Gareth's bodyguard shouted on top of his lungs. He wanted to know about their identity and also their intention for bringing such a large number of armed men here.
Soon a middle-aged man came forward and shouted back "Lord Alex has sent us to take back his village. Open the gates now. Drop your weapons and surrender without any resistance. Those who surrender will not be harmed and those who resist will be beheaded without any mercy. Think carefully, I will give a hundred breath time."
"Lord...Alex? Who is that?" the bodyguard asked back but no reply came to him. He couldn't anyone that is from this island by that name.
"This is bad, Sir. It seems they have come here with bad intentions. We don't have enough men to defend ourselves. What should we do." The guard on the village wall suddenly said lowly.
Inside his mind, that guard was repeating 'Please say surrender, please say surrender' like a broken radio. No one in their right mind would choose to fight in this situation.
"Open the gates" Gareth's bodyguard expression was unchangingly gloomy as he hesitated for a while before saying to everyone.
Between loyalty to his Lord and his own life, he knew what was more important to him right now.
Plus, he sensed many powerful Peak Grade Body Tempering Realm cultivators like him standing in the front of the army.
He knew that because the puppets were intentionally releasing their cultivation pressure so the thought of fighting them did not even occur to him at that time.
The guards also heaved a sigh as they also wanted to surrender immediately after seeing the manpower that the enemy has brought with themselves. The village walls were too short to keep them safe from the attackers anyway.
Even Lord Jordan never thought that something like this would happen in his absence.
After the gates were opened, five hundred men marched inside the village.
They disarmed each soldier and then took control of the village very quickly.
Soon after that, the army which was still standing outside could be seen marching off to somewhere leaving the five hundred of their men to guard the Pearl village.
Now they were going to march north while passing through the two villages deep in the Swamp Marsh Forest where most of the Mercenary group and adventures reside.
After that, they will head towards the northern border where Darren had stationed half of his army to fend off the Merchant Union and Lord Frey's army.
The puppets inside the village soon stormed the manor of the Jordan family. They quickly found the room where Gareth had been hiding. It was a concealed room that had been built for emergencies like this. They knocked him out first and stuffed him in a bag. As per the orders of their Master, five puppets escorted Gareth to the Dorbank city while carrying him on their shoulders. Alex did not need him but he still thought that it would be better to have a spare chess piece when he faces Cole Jordan.
Fortunately, those five people just came in a time when Alex was rushing to intercept Cole Jordan. He ordered the puppets to wait with Gareth and only show themselves if he calls them out.
Cole was running ahead of his men, he felt that something was wrong today. When he was running through he found that the houses beside it were empty. He did not find a single civilian which was very odd for him. Maybe, Darren had shifted them someplace else but he doubted that Darren Dorbank would even think about their safety.
Just when Cole Jordan was thinking about this issue, three arrows came whistling towards him.
He found their presence a little too late but with instinct, he immediately put on a barrier in between with the help of his Qi to slow the arrows down or at least deviate them from their paths a little.
But came pierced the barrier with immense force though they did deviate a little bit, not even one of them was off the mark.
Finally, Cole Jordan twisted his body a little sideways to protect his vital organs and covered his head with his hands.
Cole cried out in pain "Ahh"
One arrow brushed past his shoulder's, one arrow that going for the groin took a little chunk of flesh out from his thighs as it missed its target, and the last one pierced deeply into Cole's forearm that he used to cover his head.
Since the day, Alex had come to this world, he never had a fair fight. Being taught in the ways of the assassin, though he did not follow it all, he was also no fan of fighting cowboy style or fight with the orthodox rules.
A fight can never be fair in any world, that's what his whole family had taught him since day one. In a fight, only the ones who can come alive at the end is the real winner. The process never really matters.
Personally, Alex prefers the style of street fighting. He likes it because there are no rules on it.
But in the future, Alex will know and realize that putting on a show of fighting fairly is sometimes very important and useful in some cases.
"My Lord!"
"Ambush! Protect the Lord! Find the archer quickly."
"Everyone stay alert"
The guards behaved like ants on a hot pan. It was the first time for them that they witnessed their lord getting attacked like this.
Cole pulled out the arrow that had almost pierced his forearm all the way to the other side.
Then lifted his head up and said "Who are you? Come out" Cole shouted in great anger. But inside, both his soul and heart were trembling in fear. Death was just an inch away. If he had been late even by half a second, he would not be standing alive. He never had such a close call with death.
"Tch, you have good instinct." Alex jumped from behind the roof of a house some distance away.
The guards traced that sound and looked in the direction where Alex had landed on his feet.
"You are...You are Alex" Cole shouted in surprise. he did not expect to meet with him here.
Alex smiled faintly as he said: "Oh! You know me. I am very honored."
"How can I not know you? Being talented in Alchemy and a genius in cultivation, even leaving behind Lord Yandell genius daughter by a great margin. You defeated 8th grade Body Tempering Realm cultivators and other high-level cultivators easily some days ago. You are also the pro disciple of Master Alchemist Clayton Cliff."
Cole moved his sight around a little bit and then continued after not finding anyone else waiting in ambush "And you are also the same person who injured my son. I was going to deal with you and your family after this battle but it seems you want to die an early death"
"Ah, I never knew I got myself a fan. I am very flattered. Thank you." Alex said that sarcastically.
"..." Cole's eyes kept constantly twitching in anger, he could very well feel the naked contempt for him in his tone.
"Oh, and don't worry, Master Clayton did not come with me. if that's who you are trying to find." Alex said that when he found Cole Jordan still scanning his surroundings from time to time as if he was hesitant about something.
Listening to Alex, Cole visibly calmed a little bit though he did not lower his guard. He had already been taught a lesson before on the consequences of not keeping his guard up at all times. Even someone from a lower realm like Alex can kill him.
Cole gritted his teeth silently and said "Don't get ahead of yourself boy. Just because you were able to hit me with your arrows when I was not paying attention doesn't make you stronger than me. I don't understand why you came here alone. Did you plan to assassinate me in one move with those arrows? Tough luck, I did not die. What are you going to do now? Fight head-on with someone can't beat face to face or do you prefer fighting my men. Maybe their numbers are more than you but I will tell them to be gentle. I am sure they would enjoy teaching you a lesson in my stead. " Cole gaze turned icy cold as he continued "Guards, go and capture that brat alive."
"Cole, did you think that I came alone and now that I couldn't kill you in one strike, I should be scared seeing how many men you have on your side. You and other self- claimed Nobles are not the only persons with armies, I got an army myself." Alex laughed wildly. With a mere raise of his arms, Alex raised the puppets that were hiding on top of the house and shop roofs near them holding bows and arrows. The number of puppets matched the guards equally.
The guard's footsteps halted seeing this scene. They all somehow found themselves being surrounded.
Cole looked at them as if he had seen ghosts. He couldn't believe his eyes. How can so many people escape his senses when he had definitely scanned his surroundings more than one time.
Till then the puppets had already raised their bows to aim at Cole Jordan and his men.
The guards hastily raised their weapons to defend themselves from the oncoming arrows. As much as they tried not everyone could defend themselves properly. Also, the streets were not wide enough to let a hundred men move around to dodge the arrows with ease, causing great injuries and casualties.
Cole crushed the arrows coming his way with the hand holding the sword and then he shouted at his men again. "Don't stand there still like targets, go and capture that brat first, take him hostage. Go."
Cole wanted to personally catch that kid himself but the majority of arrows were concentrated on him making him preoccupied with them.
The guards then ran towards Alex like crazed animals while trying to dodge the arrows.
These soldiers were naturally no match for Alex.
Alex's physical body was perversely strong now. When his left hand grabbed the guard and squeeze severely, the guard's shoulder blade immediately fractured. Alex grabbed the sword in guard's hand and then nicked the guards head, causing an immediate fountain of fresh blood.
The guard had been howling in pain when his cries of agony intensified after the blow of the sword. Strength drained from his struggling body and he was knocked senseless.
"Demon, he's a demon!" The guards in front of Alex stopped in their tracks with shock after seeing some of their fellow comrades die in such a horrifying fashion. One of them yelled in panic.
Seeing that the guards had stopped moving Alex then charged deep into this group of guards. Due to the narrowness of the streets, the way forward was completely blocked. Cole was now standing somewhere back in the group.
Because the guards covered his line of sight, he couldn't actually how Alex was fighting but listening to the cries of pain from the mouths of his subordinates, Cole knew that Alex was strong.
These guards are the cream of the crop that his family had trained since they were a child. They had all been brainwashed to be loyal to his family all their life. He just couldn't imagine how Alex was able to keep himself alive until now when facing the guards.
Alex was forced to lower his speed due to the crush of people around him. Alex had been ready for a cruel round of attacks when he realized those around him had all fallen into a stupor.
They were all looking at him in horrified fright, and no one dared make the first move.
The puppets took advantage of these people's stupor to unceremoniously rain arrows down upon the guards.
The battle on the streets started suddenly, and the end came just as quickly.
The only one that was left standing now was Alex and Cole. The puppets stopped firing arrows but they still had their bows aimed at Cole.
Cole looked at the dead bodies on the ground like he had lost his soul. Alex stood alone on top of the corpses he had cut and at that moment he looked no different than devil after that bloodbath.
Cole felt like he was facing the devil.
Cole suddenly came out of his stupor. he immediately turned around to escape but before that, he threw something on the ground which caused smoke to burst out and fill the area in a second.
The thing which acted as a smoke bomb was actually a Talisman scroll that was quite common and popular in the Belmont subcontinent but no one used it here in this backward island.
Cole wanted to escape from this place because even if he was a Mid-Stage Dantian Formation Realm Cultivator, he cannot fight so many people alone at one time.
Alex gave Cole a full hundred points for his quick thinking to save his life but who was Alex. Smoke might have blinded other people but it did nothing to him. Alex used his Spiritual sense to locate Cole without any delay. He fired some arrows aiming at his legs and this time he was right on target.
Cole cried in pain as he fell down after getting shot in both his legs by arrows.
The smoke started to clear after some moments.
"What's the rush, Cole. We were just getting to know each other." Alex sounded like a psychopathic villain. He even looked like one right now with the blood of his enemies staining his body and the evil smile he was showing on his handsome face.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I even brought son here so that I can make friends with him." Alex clapped his hands in the air two times.
Cole's eyes rounded wide when he heard that. He saw some people coming out from an alley carrying a sack on their shoulders. In front of Cole, those people rudely unloaded whatever thing the bag was carrying from a height.
"Ahhh...shhh" Gareth waked up because of the impact of falling on the ground. When he looked around, Gareth saw many corpses strewn across the street.
He almost shitted his pants after looking at that scene.
"Gareth!" When Cole called out his name in shock, Gareth also looked back in surprise.
But instead of seeing the picture of a majestic and strict father, Gareth saw a badly battered man crawling on the ground.
"Father!" Gareth wanted to stand up and run to his father but he was held by a puppet.
"Father, please save me." Gareth was crying rivers from his eyes. He did not want to die this young.
Seeing the state of his son, Cole felt a little sad.
Cole took a deep breath and turned to look at Alex. When he compared Alex's age with Gareth, he somehow did not feel sad for his son anymore. Instead, he felt like he had given birth to a dog son. How can there be this much difference between his son and Alex?
Anyway, putting the best smile on his face at that time, Cole said: "Alex, we can still talk this out. "
Alex smiled and said: "Ok, I am listening."