'That's a kid for you.'
Olive took a quick glance at the stranger who was currently lying in front of him.
'Crap, did I hit him too hard?'
From the look of it, he might have — because if not, why would he be lying unconscious right now?
Olive had half expected for the stranger to block or at least counterattack his punch. What he didn't expect, however, was that his punch would be delivered flawlessly toward the stranger's chin.
...And he looked like he could fight too.
Not what one had expected from a muscular man.
The remaining strangers looked at Olive with their eyes wide open. Olive flinched slightly, realizing that he had been quiet for a few seconds. But the strangers didn't seem to notice it. So to them, Olive seems indifferent to what had just happened.
'Well... can't have them thinking I'm scared now, do I?'
With that thought in mind, Olive looked at the strangers and asked, his voice cold.
"Who's next?"
The leader, still looking at Olive, gritted his teeth — clearly wasn't pleased seeing his friend had been knocked out unconscious by a seemingly weak kid... Olive could've sworn that he'd just seen his face turn bright red.
The leader screamed, startling the two strangers:
"Why are you guys just standing there?! Go deal with him fools!"
They looked at each other, feeling reluctant about hurting a kid. Unlike the first stranger and the leader, the other two strangers' morality was slightly higher compared to theirs...
Sadly, though, it doesn't amount by much. Because in the next second, the two strangers walked toward Olive, their faces still hesitating.
They were not hesitating because of the fact that they knew Olive could fight, nor did they hesitate because Olive could potentially hurt them... no, they were hesitating because of what they might do to Olive. They could restrain Olive to avoid hurting him. But knowing that he has the power to resist, they would need to hurt him in order to do so.
How kind of them to consider such thing.
Olive almost felt touched.
But, of course, the only reason why they were hesitating was only because Olive resembled a kid thanks to his short height. If it were the opposite, Olive doubts that those two would hesitate.
A moment later, one of the strangers launched at Olive with his arms wide open intending to capture him. It takes a couple of steps before the stranger reached Olive. But those few steps gave him a second to dodge the stranger's grasp.
Dodging the stranger, Olive opened his stance to perform a swift kick.
However, before he could strike his enemy, Olive's torso was suddenly struck with a kick coming from the second stranger, making him grimace.
He felt his torso throbbing where the stranger had just kicked him.
...It was not pleasant at all.
Olive staggered a few steps behind and almost landed on his rear.
Fortunately, before he could, he placed his feet at the center of his gravity and balanced himself up.
Taking a glance at the two people who stood before him, Olive then started being cautious. There were two enemies in front of him right now, and he couldn't afford to be careless or else it would pay him dearly.
Thankfully, the two strangers didn't look like they knew or possessed any martial arts. So the odds of him winning against the strangers were high. Nonetheless, it doesn't mean Olive should underestimate them.
...It was a two against one situation after all. Anytime, the tables could turn against him if he wasn't careful enough.
Leaping off from where he was, Olive launched himself toward the two strangers. The air hit him, he could hear the sound of air whistling through his ears as he ran toward his enemies.
Seeing it, the two strangers opened their defense with both of their forearms in front of their faces, guarding it and preparing to strike Olive at the same time.
In a second, the range between them and Olive was narrowed instantly.
Seizing the opportunity of the closed range, one of the strangers leaned and brought his fist toward Olive's face. But Olive tilted his head to the side, dodging the fist. The sound of whistling air could be heard as the pull of inertia brought the stranger's fist down.
At the same time, Olive lifted his leg and bent it. Then proceeded to deliver his knees to the side of the stranger's torso with all his might.
"Aaargh!"
Olive couldn't read humans' thoughts — or any thought at all. But he didn't need to, because Olive knew that the knee punch hurt like hell.
With the aching pain on the side of the stranger's torso, it would bought Olive a few seconds to deal with the second stranger before he could assist his friend again. Seconds don't sound like much, but in a fight between him and his enemies, it was plenty.
'Speaking of a second stranger.'
Olive turned his head back, and the second stranger was already upon him, ready to punch Olive.
There was no time to dodge the punch heading toward him. If he dodged to the side, the fist would still hit Olive on the cheek. If he tilted his head down, his whole entire face would be met with the stranger's knees — which was even worse than being hit on the cheeks.
All in all, both choices were fatal in their own way. So he didn't dodge.
Instead, Olive leaned back a little and distanced his face from the fist. The fist would still meet Olive's face even if he leaned back. But Olive's intention was not to dodge it in the first place.
When the fist was far enough, Olive caught it — the fist —with his comical tiny hand. Though tiny, his grip was the exact opposite of the word tiny. It's inhumane. Which was why the stranger looked perplexed at the sight of it.
...Of course he would. How can a person who barely reached his shoulder possess an inhumane grip despite his hand being tiny?
All questions loomed over the stranger.
That was the face he was making, at least. Olive only tried to discern it, so he did not know what the stranger truly thought.
The stranger tried to free his fist with all his strength. But Olive still didn't budge. The stranger was so focused on freeing his hand that he didn't notice Olive's fist flying toward his face.
When he noticed it, however, it was already too late.
The stranger flinched, and before he could process what had just happened, Olive's fist was already met with his face. Making blood spurt from his nostrils and mouth...
This time, Olive held his punch. He didn't want to injure the stranger too much, unlike the first one. But even when Olive held back, the punch was still powerful enough to send the stranger flying. The stranger flew for a second and landed on the garbage with his back. A loud bang could be heard as he fell, making him groan, trying to suppress the pain.
Both of them were injured, but the fight was still not done. The stranger whom Olive had just knee-punched on the side of his torso had already started to recover from the pain and was ready to assist his fellow friend.
...Simultaneously, the second stranger stood up and was ready to charge at Olive again. Both of them looked at Olive with mad fury in their eyes. They didn't care if they hurt him anymore. All of them thought the same thing.
...He had to pay.
At least that was what it looked like from Olive's point of view.
Both strangers were already delivering a strike to Olive. And Olive, not seeing the opportunity to counterattack, dodged those strikes instead. He leaped from here and there.
On occasion, when he found himself trapped, he would dodge instead of leaping.
There were no chances for Olive to deliver an attack. Their coordination was simply aligned with each other's thoughts. In fact, it was so aligned that if Olive didn't know any better, he would've thought that they could read each other's minds.
But that wasn't it. No... their flawless coordination was simply tempered by countless of experiences that they had faced together. Olive could tell the difference between experience and inexperience.
Of course he could...
Olive and Victor had climbed from the bottom to the top as well. Both of them had faced hardship as well. So naturally, he would be able the recognize experience as well. The strangers didn't possess any knowledge of martial arts, and they knew it — maybe more than anyone. So they replaced it with a top–notch coordination to make up for their lack of martial arts knowledge.
Suddenly, Olive felt glad that he had knocked out the first individual who had just tried to punch him. He wouldn't want to face the three of them — since the two of them were already hard to deal with.
Olive's eyes darted everywhere, searching for a solution to break off their coordination. He looked at the pile of garbage can, wooden boxes, cardboard, etc.
'Found it.'
With that, Olive let out a grin.
Without hesitation, he ran toward the wall as fast as possible. His speed was exceedingly fast, so much so that if he didn't stop the moment he hit the wall, it would simply collapse — or maybe Olive.
The two strangers halted, feeling puzzled by Olive's sudden action.
Just when Olive was about to hit the wall, he placed his foot on it, and pushed himself, making him leap as high as possible toward the two strangers.
Realizing Olive's intention, the two strangers took a few steps back in hope of backing away from Olive as far as possible. Unfortunately, they were seconds late, because Oliver was already upon them.
Olive can't perform a strike if he were on the ground. And the only way for him to do so was if he was on the air. So that was what he did.
While still on the air, Olive swung his foot toward one of the strangers' faces, aiming to knock him out.
The panicking stranger tried to back away. But to his avail, Olive's foot was already meeting his face., A surge of throbbing pain attacked the stranger's left cheek.
...The kick was swift and powerful, that it sent the stranger flying and crashing into one of the wooden boxes. Splinters of wood were scattered as he crashed into it. His cheek was red and swollen. His eyes rolled back in his head, indicating that he had already passed out.
The second stranger was still dazed, looking at his friend. When suddenly, Olive landed in front of him with his back facing the stranger.
The stranger flinched.
"Crap!"
He opened his defense preparing for an incoming strike. But Olive swung his entire body facing the stranger and struck behind his knee with his foot instead, making him kneel. With Olive's foot locked between the hamstring and the calf, Olive delivered a blow below the stranger's chin.
The stranger swayed, rolling his eyes back, he then fell on his stomach...
Before, there were four strangers conscious. But now there was only one –— not for long though.
The leader looked at Olive, baffled by what had just happened. He would've understood if Olive knocked out the first person — merely because they were caught off guard.
But this...
Olive was already on his feet when the leader was still trying to process what had just happened.
Looking at the leader, he uttered.
"Only one left."
Snapping from his daze, the leader focused his attention on Olive. A look of disbelief was written on his face.
But it didn't last long. Because suddenly, a surge of wrath loomed over him.
The leader didn't look scared at all, considering what'd just happened before him. He didn't look calm either, though. Leaving Victor behind, the last remaining stranger, the leader, walked toward Olive, his step unhurried. And while doing so, he mumbled something under his breath.
"Morons, why am I the only one who needs to finish this mess up? Every time."
He took a glance at his fallen companion. Then looked back at Olive.
"You're pretty strong considering your size brat. Must be a troublemaker."
Olive chuckled at the leader's comment.
"Well, I learned from the best. And for your information, I'm not a troublemaker, nor am I a brat you fool! I'm–"
Without giving Olive time to finish his word, the leader lunged at him.
"Oh, for God's sake."