Lunging toward Gerald, it took the assailant a second to realize that though his short blade had struck, spot on, to where he was aiming for, for some ungodly reason, the blade had failed to penetrate Gerald’s chest!
“What?”
It was the only response the stupefied man could say as Gerald angrily replied, “Don’t say I didn’t warn any of you!”
After saying that, Gerald immediately retaliated by slapping the man hard on his cheek! Though it had only been a single slap, the man was sent flying into the air!
The last thing the man could register was his head deforming as blood gushed out his eyes. Upon landing in a puddle of mud a few dozen feet away, the man was already as good as gone.
“…He knows martial arts!” declared the bald man, shocked by the turn of events. However, he instantly recomposed himself as he gestured his large hand before saying, “Don’t hold back! Get rid of him, everyone!”
Obeying his order, the remaining six men rushed toward Gerald at the same time. As was expected, however, there was no way in hell that any of them could even come close to dealing with Gerald.
Before any of them could even inflict any wounds on him, Gerald had already efficiently landed fatal blows on all six of them. In just a few seconds, all six people were already lying dead on the ground, their agonized expressions suggesting that they had died in terrible pain.
“…H-huh?” muttered the bald man to himself as cold sweat began running down his forehead. He realized now that he was the only one left, and though he was terrified, his legs felt like stone. However, the worst had yet to come.
The moment Gerald—whose eyes had turned as red as a demon’s by now—began walking toward him, the bald man became fully petrified in fear.
Now standing before the bald man, Gerald said, “Everything could’ve ended nicely if everyone had just been amiable to each other, no? Why did you have to force me to do all this…?”
“Y-yes, you’re right… I swear on my life that I’ll always be amiable from now on! What happened earlier was just a big misunderstanding!”
While it was true that he had initially stalked Gerald in order to retrieve the iron plaque for Zolton—while simultaneously investigating the reason for Gerald’s great strength—he was left dumbstruck with amazement from the second he saw Gerald destroy that boulder with a single toss of the short blade.
From that point on, he no longer wondered how Gerald had ceased the flow of his inner strength so easily. As it turned out, Gerald’s had trained far more than he could have ever imagined.
That was also the moment when he had started hiding behind the tree, though it had less to do with continuing to stalk Gerald and more so out of fear after witnessing Gerald’s true strength.
His fear and respect for Gerald had only grown upon finding out that the youth had already noticed his presence long ago.
“Are you here for the iron plaque as well?” asked Gerald, coldly.
“I dare not lie to you, so I admit that that truly had been my intention at the start, mister. However, I no longer wish to do so after witnessing your strength.”
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