The stop at the watchtower ended up delaying our arrival to the city of Djchuri by a couple of hours. Thankfully, nothing extremely bad happened outside of the death of two other people hiding and one officer that acted as a guard.
We managed to hear the muffled voices of the authorities and our driver talking about how monsters didn't attack the garage every vehicle was stored in. For a second, I thought they might want to do an inspection to make sure no monsters crept and hid in the garage. But our truck driver managed to slither his way out of it, so we successfully avoided getting found out.
"Thank God we weren't attacked..." Titiana heaved a sigh of relief, resting her hand on her chest.
"That's good, but the real test for us starts once we get to the city." I calmly commented while sitting on a really big wooden piece of furniture. "We gotta make sure he doesn't want to take advantage of us."
"Humbert called him, I don't think he'd call someone untrustworthy who'd harm us," Titiana made a great point in trusting him.
"That's true. But I personally think we should still be careful around him."
After my comment, Titiana nodded along and we waited for our signal to come out.
We finally felt the truck stopping, and our truck driver getting out and walking back to open the compartment.
Once the door opened up vertically, we saw that it was nighttime and the only lighting came from dim lampposts.
"Come out, you two!" The driver, a Berus man with ashy hair and two droopy dog ears atop his head, commanded us in a rude tone.
I was the one to step out first, making sure to survey the surroundings.
He parked on the back of an industrial-type building, with no houses around and definitely no one around to hear anything that could happen. On my left, a small canal with shallow, dirty water. Of course, if I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, I could assume that he dropped us somewhere that'd make it easier to walk to the mainland and do our thing.
"Thank you for bringing us," I commented dryly as Titiana stood next to me.
"Thank you? Simple gratitude isn't enough, kid," the Berus driver commented while pulling out a box of cigars out of his pocket.
I knew it. You can never fully trust people in shady business unless you have something to counter them.
"I was under the impression that Humbert arranged something with you. He doesn't strike me as the type of man who'd make kids he cares about end up in debt," I spoke while stepping in front of Titiana, wrapping the scaly tail I have around her leg.
"The old man was a big name back in the day—maybe then I'd have fully listened to him. But those times are over. I've got the beloved little sister of the Pirate Mafia's young master, and a reptile monster with horns who can breathe fire. I'd be dumb not to capitalize on this golden opportunity for my family."
"Let me guess, selling me to the authorities for a pretty penny, while using her as a hostage against that other family?" I sarcastically asked while noticing the sounds of steps coming from behind.
The man laughed loudly while using an ignition crystal to light his cigarette. "Ha! You're right about most things. But your fate is the thing you got wrong."
"Oh, really?" I took a quick glance back to see how many of his lackeys I'd have to take out.
Four men aside from the truck driver, all of them armed with melee weapons like knives and a bat.
"She isn't just leverage for that darn Pirate Mafia, you're also in there to do our dirty work. I honestly have no idea what the big boss wants to do with you, I'm just following orders."
"I'm sure that there're better ways to make me work with you."
"I think nothing makes a better business partner than someone who won't ever fight back against us. At least, that's how we work."
If it was only me against these five, I wouldn't have an issue. But now that I have Titiana on my side—and she told me that she has no combat experience in her life—I have to make sure that nothing happens to her.
Body Strengthening technique: Hardened Scales.
"Grey... don't worry about me," Titiana whispered in my ear.
"That's impossible." I firmly told her while unwrapping my tail from her leg. "If you can promise me to not get yourself in a bad position, I can win."
"I promise... They won't ever grab me," Titiana promised while stepping to the side. "We're in this together, and if you trust me, I'll trust you."
With a nod, now I felt like I couldn't lose no matter how many men I had to fight against. For the Vogel girl who'll travel with me, I'd defeat anyone on my path.
Body Strengthening technique: Leg Muscles—Burst.
I leapt to the four men behind us with an explosive movement. In just a single second, I closed the gap between me and the one who held a bat in his hands.
I strongly swung my arm, landing a clean blow on his stomach before he could even react and defend himself.
The punch was so strong that he spat out his saliva and lost his breath, dropping the bat and clutching his guts. I waited not a single second to let him recover or the others attack me, and I grabbed him by the head.
Body Strengthening technique: Strong Arm—Right.
I easily picked him up as if he weighed nothing at all, and I hurled the man toward the ones on my right. The two that I threw the man at grabbed him, but ended up losing so much time.
Time I took advantage of, leaping toward them. They tried dropping the man and attacking me, but I easily dodged their attacks, advancing right past their weapons to deliver two more devastating blows—one on the jaw, and the other delivered to the chest.
"Tch, I told big boss four men wouldn't be enough," the driver clicked his tongue while complaining under his breath.
"Hmph!" A crossed-arm Titiana huffed triumphantly as she saw me take on three at once with ease. "That's it, Grey! One is out of combat already, two can't do anything against you, and the last one will be just as easy."
"I wouldn't be chanting victory so early, feathered girly."
"Ugh, disgusting. Don't ever call me that again." Titiana recoiled a few steps back while putting on a face of disgust toward the Berus truck driver.
"You..." A vein popped on the man's forehead. But he calmed himself by tightly clenching the cigar he was smoking. "You're lucky you're related to the correct people." He let the cigar fall to the concrete ground, stepping on it and rubbing the sole of his shoe to extinguish it.
I finally knocked two more out, leaving only a single man wielding no weapons.
I had a stare-down with the last remaining lackey.
I clenched my fist hard enough that I felt my whole arm shake. I could easily notice he was different than the other three. He had this expression where he was studying me—the same I had on him.
Then, suddenly, in just a single second, he disappeared.
I moved my head to the side, and I dodged a deadly blow from him. A split second later, the ground he once stood on cracked.
He also could use the Body Strengthening techniques.
Just as I was looking at him one second, the next my head pointed upward, while the stinging sense of pain was the only thing I could feel on my chin.
"Grey!" I heard Titiana call out to me in a worried tone.
I took some steps back from the recoil of such a powerful attack, and saw the lackey was in the air, rolling once and landing perfectly on his two feet.
"Ha, you sly dog, big boss! I knew you wouldn't just send four nobodies to deal with these two kids!"
"Tch!" I clicked my tongue while rubbing my chin.
Body Strengthening technique: Heightened Senses.
I felt a strain on my body as I activated the technique that sped up my reaction time, allowing me to see most things going slower while I moved faster.
The lackey quickly stepped to the front. However, what before him disappeared into nothing now became movements I could follow and react to.
Once he was close enough and ready to kick me, I quickly dealt him a blow to the side of his body, right in his ribcage. The blow was strong enough that he was sent to the side.
Yet he still stood still.
I felt my hand becoming numb and shaking. He used a Body Strengthening technique—probably Rock Body—to mitigate the damage. However, he still groaned in pain while resting a hand where I had punched.
"This is taking more than I expected." The Berus mafia member complained while approaching Titiana.
"I'd surrender and leave us alone right now. Grey won't lose."
"So confident in a kid who is fighting someone equal to him. That fight is for either of the two to win." When he said that, the dog-eared man reached inside his coat and took out a pistol.
"A-a gun!" Titiana flinched in surprise at the sight of the black-colored pistol in the mafioso's hand.
"Now, stay quiet, or I'll shoot!" He yelled out, causing me to turn my head around and see him pointing his gun at the Vogel girl.
I stopped, and so did the lackey.
"I didn't want to reach this outcome. But a person with something to lose is easy to manipulate. Now, come with us, horned monster."
I looked at it carefully. I was sure he would never pull the trigger against Titiana—he has orders to capture her, after all. But I can't go around risking her safety.
I looked toward Titiana. She simply shook her head. She wanted me to not worry and keep fighting.
But... a loud noise of a guy yelling was heard. We all looked around, trying to find the source of the yelling.
We could've never guessed that the yelling came from up above, from a guy that was falling from the sky, falling straight into the truck driver.
"Aaaaah! Save me!" He yelled out while falling.
"What the—" was the only thing the Berus man could say before the guy falling crashed right on him.
Body Strengthening technique: Leg Muscles—Burst.
I took advantage of the fact that the Berus driver with the gun was stunned—thanks to someone falling right on top of him—to leap toward him. Charging my punch, I delivered a fist straight into the dog-featured mafioso.
A punch so hard that he was sent flying, bouncing on the ground and falling into the canal.