Chapter 176: 6 months later

At the edge of one of the countries bordering the Spartan republic, the spy men dynasty, a large battle was currently going on in the nearby forest between the borders of the 2 countries.

Gunshots rang repeatedly, forming a loud cacophony of ear-splitting sounds, as soldiers died every minute like chickens in a slaughter hall.

The forest floor was already dyed all over with blood, but this did not deter the soldiers as they continued attacking each other like they had a thousand-year-old vendetta.

This was one of the few mercenary missions of average scale, that the Pendragon mercenary organization took and got involved in.

In the terms of the Mercenary Alliance, small-scale missions are those involving only one mercenary organization. High-scale missions involve between 5 and above amount of mercenary organizations, to ensure their successful completion.

While the ones that they were currently engaged in, average scale missions, were the ones that involved only 2 to 4 mercenary groups to ensure its successful completion.

They recently took on a mission with the Purple glory mercenary group, to wipe out the stronghold of a pirate organization that was causing havoc in the nearby countries for the past 2 months.

As it was a fairly large armed pirate organization, they could not take on it alone. That is why they had to ally with another mercenary group and take it together as an average-scale mercenary mission.

It was already 6 months since Clark’s inauguration ceremony, and he already stabilized everything that needed stabilization to enable his smooth integration into the role.

During the past months, he was never idle, he remained diligent to discipline himself. He already engaged in dozens of missions, for both the mercenary group and the Spartan army.

After all his hard work, perseverance, and determination, he and Emily were now both level 5 mercenaries.

They only needed 5 more levels to enter the ranks of the highest leveled mercenaries, but the requirement to level up further was too outrageous, so they were now stagnant.

Even a veteran mercenary like Arthur was still stuck at the initial stages of the 7th level, so their hopes of leveling up soon were close to nil.

The Pendragon mercenary group was now also a level 3 mercenary group. During the past months, it already expanded countless times like a balloon, following its rapid growth. It now had a total of 55 mercenaries.

Though it seemed much, they were still just a small-sized mercenary group, but their strength evaluation was outrageous.

With the addition of freaks like Clark and Emily, their evaluation was in the same groups as average-sized mercenary groups at the lower side, with hundreds of mercenaries.

The mercenary group already embarked on 65 missions, where they failed to complete 15 perfectly but succeeded in finishing the other 50 missions. Their current ongoing mission was their 66th mission, and 5th average scaled mission.

Due to their record-breaking mission completion rate, they already developed an infamous reputation despite the short time of their rise, so they were fairly well known. That was the only reason why they were able to attract allies like the Purple glory mercenary group.

They now had fifteen 1st rank high-grade mercenaries, with the rest all being normal mercenaries. Clark and Emily were both still the only 2nd rank high-grade mercenaries.

“Emily, prevent the pirates from using suicide means to take the lives of our mercenaries. Jack, coordinate your guys and give them more ranged pressure to push them to reveal more openings in their defense”.

Clark’s mouth never seized nor closed once since the battle began after they discovered the pirate’s hideout, as he led both his mercenary group and those of his comrade.

With the disguise mask that he got from his mission in the Mediterranean Sea, no one nor his allies knew his real face. His current appearance was that of a blonde youth, with wild features and outlook.

Only the first 5 mercenaries who joined them at the beginning knew his real appearance and identity, among the mercenaries of the Pendragon mercenary group.

After quickly spamming new orders at his mercenaries to better coordinate the way they battled, he finally turned to face his comrade, the commander of the Purple glory mercenary group.

“Larry, it’s now or never. Their defense is now thin, let’s storm in now to finish their leader. If we can accomplish that, their resistance would be lesser than this”.

Hearing this, the commander of the Purple glory mercenary nodded as he also understood the rationale. This was the famed strategy of the Pendragon mercenary group, and he was no stranger to it.

After coming to a tacit understanding, they both held their weapons tighter before storming directly into the enormous army of pirates. The pirates were more than a thousand, but they were still being crushed by the quality difference of both sides.

Clark quickly twisted his spear after arriving at the clashing point with the pirate formation, swiping it to the side horizontally as the 3 pirates standing before him were severed into 2 immediately.

His armor ruggedly withstood all the low-grade bullets of the pirates impacting it, as he started wreaking havoc like a raging exobeast, piercing deeper into their already disorganized ranks.

This was his main fighting method against pirates now, and it was the famed method of the Pendragon mercenary group also. Emily coordinates and protects the other mercenaries, while he storms in to assassinate the enemy leader.

As pirates’ equipment was always of a lower quality than those of normal soldiers, he already got addicted to the feeling of his spear cutting through them without much hindrance. It always felt to him like he was smashing potatoes.

Due to this new savage style of his against pirates, his notoriety already grew to unimaginable heights in just 6 months among the deep underground networks. They gave him the nickname of the bloody vigilante.

Larry tightly kept close to him, as he helped him from the side with his 2 sharp sabers, disabling any method that the pirates tried to counterattack.

Seeing the dreaded bloody vigilante coming after him with another 2nd rank high-grade soldier in tow, the pirate leader was already wetting his pants.

Even though he was also a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, he had no confidence in facing any of his 2 opponents. He wanted to escape, but the mercenaries blocked all escape paths.

“Ahhh…, stop him, kill him, kill him”. After tearing his brain out but still not finding any solution, he could only resort to desperately shooting and giving orders to his subordinates.

After finally getting into the heart of the pirate’s formation, Clark smirked as he quickly stored his spear before bringing his new dual 2-form gun out.

He suddenly bent his knees inwards, making his upper body slant backward to form the signature shooting stance of the ancient matrix movie soldiers, before rotating his guns left and right as bullet shells dropped at his feet like pitty pattering rain.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! The bullets flew out orderly, forming sounds like those of a music band’s best tracks as all the pirates nearby were directly turned to meat paste from the power of the bullets.

“All shall dance to my tune”. He muttered his new catchphrase with a grin, as his bullets pierced his opponent’s low-grade armor easily, drawing blood and killing enemies.

He did not even have to use his battle arts, as a large opening was directly cleared, leading to the position of the pirate leader.

He took complete advantage of this opening. His figure flashed forward, as he stormed in the pirate leader’s direction while still shooting ruthlessly at the disorganized pirates.

They were completely intimidated by his display of strength, as memories of his exploits and growing legend started emerging back to cover their thoughts.

As the dreadful thoughts grew, bringing more discomfort and unease to them, with swift and well-practiced moves, the first pirate left his comrades to escape.

This move seemed to light a fuse in all their hearts, as they ran disorderly, leaving their leader to the mercy of the mercenaries.

This was the reality of pirates. They were not as disciplined nor as loyal as soldiers. To them, when the going gets tough, the weak get going and leave their comrades behind.

This defection brought more chaos which the mercenaries were extremely familiar with, so they took complete advantage of it.

They increased their attack frequency, as more and more pirates died to them every second.

With smooth, calm, and efficient moves, Clark finally arrived at the pirate leader’s position. He did not waste any time, he started the decisive battle to end the mission immediately.

Ptui!! One minute later, his blood-stained spear was slowly drawn out of the pirate leader’s bloodied head. After doing the deed, he did not look at his dead opponent’s corpse, he turned to walk away immediately in a nonchalant manner.

That was a strong mercenary rule that he now followed. A cool protagonist never looks back at what he destroyed, it's already conquered, and he was a cool mercenary.

Larry’s eyes twitched at this sight, but he could not help but sigh secretly. He was speechless at this familiar sight and speed again, his comrade’s killing efficiency was just too outrageous. He had no basis for criticism.

Though this was already his mercenary group’s 3rd joint mission with the Pendragons, he was still awed by the tyrannical power of their commander.

The death of their leader took all confidence and any hope of emerging victorious from the pirates, as they all left their weapons and escaped in every direction.

This is when the normal soldiers of the mercenary groups shined, as they all chased after the escaping pirates to get easy kills.

As the normal soldiers did this, Clark led the others to thoroughly loot the pirate base of all resources. This was a ritual that he never forfeits, after every battle with pirates. They sometimes store up some nice goodies in their vaults.

After the looting and chase, the aftermath of the battle finally cooled down. He ignored the admiring gazes being directed at him by the mercenaries on both sides, before congratulating Larry.

Both mercenary groups quickly parted after this, as the Mercenary Alliance would confirm their mission completion and send them the rewards in 30 minutes.

Seeing Clark pack and arrange his equipment to keep in his bag, Emily was puzzled but she still went to meet him to give her report. The other mercenaries distanced themselves to give them private space on seeing this.

“Clark, we are doing great. This is our 3rd consecutive mission with no casualty on our part, and I’m sure it already increased our quality evaluation indirectly”. As she read this, a bright happy smile came over her face.

“With this new record, our next recruitment will be a lot more successful than the ones of the past”.

“I suggest that we should rest for 2 days before going for the next mission. It’s a small-scale mission, and the location is not too far from here”. As she talked, Clark suddenly interrupted her with a helpless smile.

“Oh, I don’t think I will be able to take part in the next mission. General Vincent just pinged me a message, that he has a mission for me back in the republic”.

“Oh, the General Maks Vincent who presented you with your exotic car?”

“Yes”.

“That’s unfortunate then. Don’t worry, we can still complete missions without your presence”.

“Ok, thanks. See you later”. Clark waved at her again, picked up his bag before turning to leave the ranks of the mercenaries.

Seeing this, the Pendragon mercenaries were not surprised as their commander was known for suddenly leaving after most of their missions were completed.

As Clark trudged steadily out of the forest, he could not help but think of the General’s call. It was completely unexpected; this was their first communication since years ago when he just graduated.

“I hope everything is fine back home”.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it. Purchase privilege for The Conspiracy Of The Elites and read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers.]