Chapter 156: Mission Point

There are many stall wreckage in the area and just by hiding in them, I can easily conceal myself from enemies. Due to this, it didn't take me that much time before I managed to lurk in deeper of the place.

Unlike the stalls in the entryway of the Underground Mall, deeper of it is the main market located. The store that managed to hide from the eyes of the Riot Massacre is currently opening a stall here. It is a wonder how they managed to open the stall without the enemies getting their eyes locked upon them.

I was expecting a lot more quiet marketplace due to the Riot Massacre taking over the whole marketplace but contrary to what I am expecting to be a desolate place, it was instead very lively and lots of different people are currently shopping in every stall making me confused.

'Isn't this place considered dangerous due to the Riot Massacre's influence?'

Most of the shoppers here have one thing in common. They wear robes and hood allowing themselves to remain concealed inside the market. The good thing is that I also have the hood and robe that Voltaire procured for me to use to conceal myself or to use it for a quick escape. Since it is a piece of magical equipment, in just a snap, I am already wearing it on my body. After wearing the hood, I am now good to go and ready to infiltrate.

Plenty of the shoppers are emitting dark energy, similar to the magicians we fought the other day though not all of them because some have no such auras. Still, I can't rest easy.

According to the information, for me to find the store, I need to find the Herbal Shop. It was called Herbal Shop not because it is selling medicinal herbs but they are selling herbs that can poison, paralyze, and sometimes, can make a person high, which is in short, a sort of drugs. I can't miss this place due to the number of people lining up in here alongside the thugs and some delinquents.

It took me a while exploring the place until I found the mentioned store. And just like how it was described, it was full of people lining up. As expected of a drug store, it was quite packed. Too many people are trying to get in first into the line that it was quite chaotic. I don't want to be squished in the crowd so before it gets worse, I immediately made a step back.

Finding the shop, I know I am near to my destination. When I am getting near to the location, I can hear voices of some delinquents that seem to be harassing someone.

"Hey, quite a good store you got there eh? You guys still trying to resist us?" a delinquent's voice echoed in the alley.

"Get out of my sight," a deep-voiced guy said with a clear intention of getting rid of the guys.

I look into the situation and finally found the store I am looking for. However, it is not good seeing 10 delinquents currently harassing a guy who looked like a middle-aged man. Just like the delinquents, I beat up earlier, they are also equipped with metal baseball bats. Did the cover of the store already got blown? Knowing the situation is something that can be problematic to my plans, I immediately activated Mirror World.

CRACK CRACK CRACK BANG!

The delinquents didn't expect their whole surroundings to crack like a mirror and their faces displayed a bit of anxiety.

"What is going on?!"

"Bro is this some kind of witchcraft?!"

"Sh*t, my eyes are playing tricks again. I think I have to lower the dose of my drugs."

With the Mirror World materialized, I finally isolated the place from the other people. So even if we go on a rampage here, there will be no people who can hear us.

Since they are still in a state of panic, I took advantage of this situation to go in for the kill.

"[LEG ENHANCEMENT]!"

Dashing forward and getting close to the first delinquent, I activated the Blazing Shoes and keep it ablaze before kicking the first delinquent to the crotch. I can tell that the future generation of his bloodline will stop on him.

The delinquents have a slower reaction to my actions allowing me to make another strike. Igniting my hands, I released a punch on the unsuspecting delinquent into his jaw, causing his lower teeth to flew outside his mouth. They are so squishy that I even think those dummies back on the Training space are much tougher than them. I don't know why I suddenly came to compare humans and dummies but honestly, they are so weak that I can yawn and close my eyes and these guys will still fall to the ground with the injured body.

"Enemy! Keep your guards- puh!" before he can finish what he was about to say, I already disrupted him and punched his gut. I think I punched him a little too hard seeing blood flew out of his mouth after my punch. He ended up collapsing to the ground before he can recover.

When the delinquents notice my actions that already downed three of their members, they immediately switch from panic to serious mode. Without warning, they swing their metal bats towards my location, but that is not enough to stop me.

THWACK! THWACK! BAM! BANG! CRACK!

I am not bragging about my strength that I can defeat many delinquents at once even if I am alone. They can't defeat me. No delinquents are spared and all of them fall to the floor unconscious.

With the job done, I was about to greet the guy earlier when I suddenly saw a big fist on my face. It was too late for me to dodge and that fist sent me flying. The good thing is that I quickly cast a small [Domain of Balmung] in front of me, allowing it to soak in the damage that it received. But heck, the force is still strong enough that it caused me to go flying.

Making my bearings, I stood up and tried to get into momentum when I saw the person who punched me. It was the guy who was harassed by the delinquents. I can also tell that he is not willing to go on a talk with me so instead of stopping the fight and talk with diplomacy, I initiated an attack and went to the attack, releasing a low kick on his leg.

PA!

...so hard. Did I just kick a concrete pole? Checking it one more time, I saw that it is not a concrete pole but a leg. The leg of the guy who sent me flying. But despite the hardness on the kick I released and how hard they kick landed, it didn't hurt me in the slightest but I was a little bit dazed at first.

Sensing the damage of my kicks is not working, why not I try my hands? Charging up my punch, I throw it straight to his stoic face. But...

PA!

All of the strength I poured into the attack immediately disappeared when my fist landed on the palm of this guy. And the stoic guy who never showed any kind of reaction grinned.

"Good punch kid," he said before he retracted his hands and gave me a thumbs up.

Frowning, I creased my eyebrows at what is happening.

"It's been a while since I saw someone who can quickly create his reaction to my actions that is too quick. You are not bad."

"Huh?" I am confused.

"Haha, sorry about that. I am currently testing you in your strength. I was not satisfied seeing you fight those frail and weak delinquents so I decided to test you personally. And as expected, you are a talented guy. That amount of fighting style, I can tell that is being honed for too long. You might have grown to fight every day in the streets for you to be able to use street fighting method easy for you."

Yeah, yeah, I spent years perfecting this indeed. If time flows in the real world when I am inside the Training Space, you guys will be old already.

"So you must be the shopkeeper of that store that managed to keep its operations despite the control of the Riot Massacre on the Underground Mall?"

"Yes. You can call me Gakuto, I run the store of equipment and some other miscellaneous things needed by a magician. You must be the person the Magician Society sent to investigate the situation," the guy named Gakuto said.

"Yes. I am currently able to find some valuable info I can relay later to the higher-ups. But since some parts are somewhat dangerous and hard to traverse without getting caught by them for acting suspicious, I wanted to hear your intel at the moment."

"Sure, but first, we have to clean up these guys and tie them up. It won't be good if you cancel the Mirror World and these guys are currently knocked out."

"Should we throw them to the trash instead?" I asked.

"Hmmm, I think it's worth it."