[Alkelios’ point of view]

 On our way from Lineas Village to Orhiga Village, I couldn’t shake off the bad feeling I had. I kept seeing that moment when the merchant entered after those two chained up women. There was also that furry tail which may have belonged to a relliar.

There’s something wrong... I can feel it. I thought.

“Is everything alright?” Kalderan asked me when he saw me frowning.

“Hm? Yes, why?” I asked.

“The goblin who kept attacking you gave up and ran away.” he said.

“Huh? What goblin?” I blinked surprised.

I didn’t feel anything.

A bit confused, I looked at myself but there was no sign of injury, then I caught sight of the little bugger. He was walking off annoyed.

“I’m sorry.” I said.

“Why are you apologizing to the goblin?” Kalderan raised an eyebrow and then shot the critter before he walked off too far.

“There’s just something on my mind... those two slaves... the merchant.” I said as I looked back at the black carriages.

The convoy was on the move again. It didn’t need to wait for us. As the escorts, we took care of the dangerous situation, so now we had to catch up to it. Telling the convoy to remain in a potentially dangerous location was highly inadvisable.

“You know the law regarding slavery in this country, right?” Kalderan asked.

“Yes...” I said and then let out a heavy sigh.

Of course, I knew that those who fell in debt or didn’t have enough money to pass the winter would eventually sell a family member to the slave traders or they themselves be forced into slavery to pay the said debt. Unfortunately, no one really bothered to check if all of these cases were legally justifiable or not.

Framing or cheating someone into slavery was considered a crime, but it was not one that the peasants of that poor village could prove.

As we drew closer to the convoy, I approached the last of the black carriage. My gut was telling me something was wrong, and I wanted to see with my own eyes that I had nothing to worry about, but just when I was a few meters away from it, someone jumped out of it and landed right into my arms.

For a moment, I was in state shock, I didn’t know what just happened. If it would have been someone dangerous, my instincts would have kicked in and swiped the danger away, but I reacted in the opposite way, I welcomed them. The one who jumped into my arms was not an enemy but a child, a relliar child with dark-brown and light-brown fur.

When I looked down at her, she looked up into my eyes, and I saw her frightened expression, the tears in her eyes, and her trembling lips. Her little fur-covered hands were gripping to my chest with the little strength she had, and it would have been so easy for me to push her away, yet I didn’t feel like I could be so heartless.

This child... she’s frightened... she’s crying... why? I wondered and then lifted my head up to look at the black carriage.

Inside, I saw the merchant with barely any clothes on him. He had a knife in his right hand, and it was covered in fresh human blood. The scent struck me like a hammer, and I could feel a chill run down my back.

For a moment, I hoped that what I was looking at wasn’t true, but my senses didn’t lie.

To the left of the merchant was a human woman who was in the middle of being flayed alive, her arms and chest had the skin hanging down. There were tears in her eyes, and I could tell from her gaze that her mind had shifted from sanity to insanity. She was gagged to keep her screams down.

To his right was the skin of the other woman. It had been completely taken off her body almost with surgical precision and was going through the drying process. When I looked for her remains, I saw her dead body hung like a hog in a butcher’s hook to the far left.

“W-What have you done?” I asked in a trembling tone of voice.

“Pwease... Pwease save me... Pwease...” the kitten cried and clung to my chest with her little, weak, trembling hands.

“I won’t let him harm you.” I said and embraced her gently.

I guess I’ll become a fugitive. I thought.

“Boy! Hand over my merchandise! She hasn’t been processed yet.” the merchant shouted at me.

The three hooded fellows took out their weapons and approached me with an intimidating aura around them.

“You were going to kill her.” I said as I looked at the merchant.

“Going to? I certainly will once you hand her over! She’s my merchandise! I paid a good coin for her! Give her back!” he demanded.

I didn’t reply, I just looked down at the trembling kitten.

“If you don’t, I’ll have you join my collection!” the merchant snapped his fingers, and the three hooded men released their killing intent. “You have no idea how many nobles desire my products, and the money they pay is extraordinary!” he laughed.

“Boy, don’t oppose the Black Company.” one of the hooded men warned me.

“I wish...” I said and then looked at the merchant “that this child will not be harmed in the upcoming battle. I wish that Kalderan will not be harmed either and that we will both come out victorious.” I said.

“Are you going mad?” the merchant asked surprised.

“I need to fight now, can you please move to a safe distance from me?” I asked the kitten and showed her a gentle smile.

“Y-You’ll pwotect me?” she asked through her sniffles.

“Of course. If I would dare not to, my wife would not be too happy about it, besides I’m not one who will abandon a child in need.” I said as I gently patted her head.

Hearing my words, Kalderan took out his weapons and stood by my side just as he promised.

“So, you choose to go against the Black Company? How foolish.” the merchant said shaking his head.

“I wonder about that.” I said as I let the trembling child down and then turned my gaze towards the merchant.

“A weak adventurer like you thinks he can defeat my hired special mercenaries?” the merchant started to laugh.

Before all of them, I summoned [Black Hole] then from it, I pulled out Hell and Heaven. I thought about using my armor as well, but it would have been a bit overkill against these guys. What I was currently wearing and my barrier spells would be enough.

“What an interesting skill.” said the merchant.

“I knew that fool was going to do something stupid.” said Ragna as he too unsheathed his sword and aimed it at Kalderan.

“I’ll take care of those four.” said Kalderan.

“Are you sure?” I asked him.

“Yes.” he nodded.

“Very well, I’ll handle the heavies then.” I said.

“You’re going to die today, boy!” declared one of the hooded men.

“I doubt it!” I shouted and then jumped towards him.

Until then, I had barely used even 10% of my whole strength. In this land filled with nothing but weak creatures, my strength as a Breakthrough-er half-dragon never had the chance to be put to the test. Actually, even now, I wasn’t planning on using my full strength. There was no need to do so. By feeling alone, I could tell that none of these humans could even come close to my strength.

They didn’t even see me move until it was already too late, but I didn’t wish to kill them yet. I wanted to see if I could make them give up first, so I stepped right between all three of them.

“Give up.” I warned them.

“W-What the...” one of them said.

My eyes were serious.

“HAAA!” Ragna shouted as he attacked Kalderan, but he dodged and moved out of the way at the last moment.

The redhead was surprised by his agility, but I wasn’t. After all, he was someone who accompanied me on my monster hunts and had to chase after me almost nonstop. His stats skyrocketed ever since I partied with him. I let him have most of the kills, so his levels kept rising. Maybe even he didn’t know how powerful he was right now, but I had a good guess.

Risha, the woman with the daggers, didn’t take an offensive stance. She looked conflicted by what was happening. Her eyes shifted from the relliar child to Kalderan and then to her friends.

“Don’t blink, or...” I said and then moved so fast that I vanished from their sight and then reappeared behind one of them “you’ll miss me.” I said and kicked him in the back.

The man was tossed into one of the carriages, causing it tilt over.

“NOOO! MY GOODS!” the merchant shouted.

At the same time the mercenary who tried to attack me first turned around and swung his sword in an attempt to separate my head from my shoulders. I parried with Hell and then pushed his blade back. The other one tried to attack me from behind, but I turned and avoided the sword.

They are definitely quite powerful for normal mercenaries, but they are definitely not at a 700 Power Level, they are somewhere around 500 at best. I thought as I pushed another attack out of the way.

I jumped back and then used Heaven to block another attack. The three were relentless and tried to get me to show them an opening, but with my skills and speed as well as combat experience in the Seculiar Forest and in the Albeyater dragon war, such a thing was impossible.

“What’s with this guy?” one of them said as he kept trying to cut me down with his sword.

He was the fastest out of all of them, but none of his hits reached me.

I decided to take this battle to the next level, and I finally poured Magic Energy into Hell and Heaven.

A pulse of pressure was released from within them and washed over the entire area. It took everyone by surprise, and for a moment all of them froze in place, except for Kalderan, who already experienced this a few times. He took advantage of this to take some distance between himself and his enemies.

“W-What are those swords?” one of the men asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I replied with a smirk as I rushed towards him, the black haze of Hell and the white streak of light from Heaven mixed up behind me.

A single slash would have been enough to kill him, but I used the back of my sword to strike him. The blow was so powerful, it sent him flying up into the sky at a ridiculous speed. While his friends watched him go, I moved to my next target. I hit him in the stomach with the hilt, then I did a roundhouse kick and sent him flying several meters away from me. I jumped up and caught up with the guy I sent flying. I kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying back down.

His body smashed into the ground and caused a small crater around him. My attack was powerful enough to leave him with noticeable damage and weak enough not to kill him. I then locked onto the remaining mercenary. but while I was still up in the air and was about to attack, he let go of his weapon and raised his hands in the air.

“I give up.” he said.

I landed a few steps in front of him and asked “You give up?”

“We are mercenaries not loyal Knights. If we are forced to face an unfavorable opponent, we will rather take our chances with surrendering or fleeing.” he confessed.

“It’s a smart choice. If you continued, I wouldn’t have had any problems with killing all of you.” I declared and narrowed my eyes at him.

“We thank you for your mercy.” he nodded.

“Take your friends and stand aside while I deal with your employer.” I ordered them.

The man nodded and went to help the guy in the crater.

Meanwhile, I turned to look at how Kalderan was doing.

 

[Kalderan’s point of view]

Ever since I spoke with Alkelios last night, I knew there was a high chance that this escort mission would turn into a fight. As they say, do not look for trouble because trouble will find you. In my case, I would have preferred if trouble took a detour until we reached the next stop.

It was when I saw the relliar girl jump into Alkelios arms that I knew I had to make my choice. Sticking with Alkelios would most likely mean making enemies of the Black Company, but losing my only friend was even worse.

Once I drew my weapons and faced the merchant, my choice was made clear.

“You are fool, Kalderan. Always were one and you always will be one.” said Ragna.

“Maybe, but I would rather kick a goblin in the butt than brush the teeth of a dragon.” I replied.

This was a common saying among adventurers in these parts. It meant that you must choose your battles wisely or else you would end up dead.

With my weapons drawn, I faced my old party members. I had no intention of surrendering to them or abandoning Alkelios. Ragna, Magar, and Reva were all ready to fight me. They displayed their confident smiles and took a step closer to me. Only Risha gave signs that she was uncertain of what to do.

Despite being with the rest of this bunch, I never saw her as someone who loved to fight against other human beings. If she needed to defend herself, she could be ruthless, but when it came to being the one on the offensive, she preferred to threaten, to use insulting words, or pull nasty pranks, but she would never directly attack with the intent to kill.

“Enough chit-chat! Just kill him already!” Magar, the vanguard adventurer said as he raised his shield and prepared his big hammer.

“I agree.” Reva said as he placed an arrow in his bow and aimed it at me.

“I don’t think...” Risha tried to say as her worried gaze moved between me and them.

“Risha, stay out of this if you don’t have the guts to spill blood!” Ragna barked back at her.

I took off the safety on my SMG and prepared to dodge out of the arrow’s path.

“Get him!” Ragna ordered.

The arrow flew at me, but I dodged to the right. Magar, expecting this move of mine, he rushed towards me with his shield. Ragna moved to the side to take me out in a pincer attack, the only problem was that Risha did not cut me off on the other side, she remained close to the carriage, keeping her hands on the hilt of her daggers, but not unsheathing them yet.

I jumped out of the way and then aimed my SMG at Magar. Pulling the trigger, I let loose a rain of bullets on him, but his armor stood steady. This was a simple cover fire, my aim was Reva.

Running past Magar, I aimed one gun at Ragna and shot at him, while with the other I aimed at the archer. The redhead was forced to jump back to avoid my bullets, but Reva was not so lucky. He used his cloak to defend himself. If it was a normal one, he would have been dead, but the strengthening enchants on his clothes turned it into a bulletproof armor. The difference was that he couldn’t stop the force of the impact completely.

He screamed in pain and dropped on the ground. His body, although it was not pierced, it did have a lot of new bruises on it, and maybe even a rib or two broken.

Ragna rushed towards me, while Magar moved in to protect Reva. I jumped back and avoided Ragna’s sword, shooting a few bullets at him while I did so. His armor stopped several of them, but a bullet was still able to graze his right shoulder. As soon as I landed on my feet, I wanted to run to the opposite side, but one of the mercenaries who fought with Alkelios was standing right there.

While I could take on my former party members, I couldn’t raise a finger against those hired guns.

“I got you now!” Magar shouted as he bashed into me with his shield.

The impact sent me rolling on the ground. I got up as soon as I came to a stop and avoided Ragna’s blade.

“I’m surprised you aren’t injured after that.” Magar said.

“I have a friend who offered to enchant my armor.” I showed him a smirk.

Whatever Alkelios did to my armor, it certainly increased its defensive capabilities. It was something far beyond what the local merchants could offer me. It was too bad that I didn’t get to witness the whole process though. I was out shopping for supplies at that time.

“P-Please, Kalderan, give up... you can’t win.” Risha tried to persuade me.

“I’m sorry, but this battle isn’t in your favor.” I said as I reloaded my guns and prepared for the next round.

“B-But...” Risha tried to say, but Ragna cut her off.

“Stay out of this, woman! If you are too much of a coward to join us, then don’t stand in our way!” he shouted.

“I’m not afraid... it’s just that... fighting against Kalderan and...” she said.

“Leave her be, Ragna, Risha is good to use against monsters not against other humans.” Magar said.

“Tch! Useless woman.” Ragna spat as he squeezed the hilt of his sword and glared at me.

I listened to their conversation, but I didn’t intervene. It was better if Risha didn’t join them. Fighting against three was easier than fighting against four, and she was also the type to get in close and aim for the vitals or tendons in the limbs.

Ragna attacked me again at the same time as Magar moved in with his giant hammer. Reva was still recovering from my attack. He popped a healing potion and gulped it down. I aimed my gun at his bottle, but Magar placed himself between us, blocking the path of my bullets.

Clicking my tongue, I retreated a few steps and tried to attack them from afar, but Ragna was getting impatient. He gave up on complete defense and dashed towards me as fast as he could. Magar was well protected from the start thanks to his heavy armor, but he was the slowest out of all of us.

“Just die already!” Ragna shouted when he got close enough to attack me.

I dodge and shot at him before I was forced to jump to the side to avoid Magar’s shield bash.

Reva recovered and prepared to shoot an arrow at me. Magar and Ragna stood between us and forced me to back away from him, giving them the advantage. The sudden pressure released by Alkelios’ sword helped create a moment of confusion among them, which I used to retreat to a safe distance.

This whole party was one made out of non-magicians. If they had someone who could shoot fireballs at me, I would have been in serious trouble. Even so, I had to admit, that I wasn’t as weak as I was when I left them. The old me, the one before meeting Alkelios, couldn’t have fought against these three like I did now. Back then, I didn’t have the speed or the reflexes needed to dodge these fast sword attacks.

That was why I felt like I could win now if I gave it my all, and knowing this made me realize just how much I had grown thanks to Alkelios’ help.

Still, it was true that my attacks as they were couldn’t do anything against their armors and weapons. I had gained a lot of points in strength and speed, but a bullet’s damage fundamentally remained unchanged. These weapons of mine helped a weakling become strong, but they did not grow together with their user’s strength. This was their flaw, their disadvantage, and for a while, I really thought that I couldn’t do anything about it, that my only hope was to invent new weapons that were far more powerful than what I had.

Acquiring a new skill from the God-like changed this whole matter.

Seeing the three of them recover from the distraction caused by Alkelios’ sword, I decided to use it for the first time in actual combat. There was no need to hesitate now, no need to test out my strength anymore.

“[Eel Tapper!]” I chanted when I saw Ragna closing in with a dash and raising his sword up to strike me down.

His smile showed full confidence in his skills. His eyes looked down upon me as a weakling he could crush any time. He did not waver. He did not hesitate. He wanted to cut me down where I stood no matter if we knew each other from before or not.

With my chant, I felt my Magic Energy filling the bullet loaded in the barrel of my right SMG. The enchant changed it into something far more powerful and far more deadly that what I had shot until now. I could only use one bullet at a time, but it was more than enough.

I aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.

 

BANG!

 

It sounded like a revolver, but the recoil was non-existent.

An ordinary 9 mm bullet shot from one of my SMG could pierce through a 5 mm thick plate. Normal armor was shredded by these weapons, but not enchanted one, which could make it withstand an impact force up to 4 or 6 times higher.

When I designed my SMG, I used the Vityaz-SN as a model, but I wasn’t able to reproduce its modern performance. If anything, they could be compared more to an UZI in terms of accuracy and rate of fire. I was constantly trying to improve them and reaching my current stage of development has been a great success for me.

Still, the bullets I loaded into my clips were normal lead point ones. I could not reproduce anything else like the explosive ones or the armor piercing ones. I didn’t know how they worked and what they were made out of. I tried countless times to make them, but I failed miserably every time I tried.

This time, however, with [Eel Tapper!], I could give my normal 9 mm lead point bullets the same penetration power as a 12.7x108 mm armor piercing bullet for the OSV-96 anti-material rifle. Back on Earth, a 50 cal bullet like that could pierce through a 25 mm thick steel plate.

In other words, the average enchanted armors of the human Knights in this human Kingdom could easily withstand a barrage of bullets from anything below a 50 cal sniper rifle. If Russia’s armies went against the Ten Sword Kingdom’s army, only the tanks and bombers would be able to make a difference, otherwise, the soldiers on the ground would be unable to do anything against them.

For me, it was quite the shock when I realized how powerful enchanted armors were on this planet. That was why my firearms had been nothing but a subject of ridicule for the adventurers in Soldra. As for Alkelios’ armor... I doubt even nukes would have any effect on it.

However, from this day on, my weapons would be mocked no more!

The enchanted bullet I fired, was charged with enough Magic Energy to turn it into a 50 cal armor piercing tip one, but that wasn’t all. I also added the enchant capable of releasing upon impact up to ten times more force. To make it safe for my guns, I added on it a third enchant which made it possible for my bullet to absorb the recoil of my weapon upon firing it and use it to amplify its own impact force.

I did not tell Alkelios yesterday, but once I realized how powerful [Eel Tapper!] was, I immediately spent all my remaining points into upgrading it. Now, I could add on a bullet up to three different enchants of various elements, and I had barely started to tap into the potential of this skill.

As a result, the bullet that I fired at Ragna’s face simply ignored the enchants of his armor and pierced through his head. The impact force released made his head explode like a watermelon, sending his brain matter all over the place. His body stumbled and fell limp on the ground.

Magar and Reva stopped in their tracks and looked at me with big eyes and opened mouths.

I only stopped for a moment to look at my gun and then at the body laying at my feet.

I did this... I thought and then I looked at the other two.

Magar turned red from anger and dashed towards me. I charged up another bullet with double the penetration power the other one had and aimed it at his chest.

When I pulled the trigger, Magar was sent flying back from the impact, his shield had a massive hole in the middle and his chest was crushed inward. The man died instantly.

Seeing this, Reva flinched and tried to run away. I aimed my gun at him and whispered:

“[Eel Tapper!]”

I pressed the trigger.

 

BOOM!

 

The bullet pierced through the air and made a hole through his chest. He stopped and turned to look at me once.

This wasn’t the first time I saw the eyes of a dying man, and I wasn’t as impressed as I was back them. This man, although he fled, had tried to kill me without remorse. Given the chance, he would have taken my life no questions asked.

I lowered my gun and took my finger off the trigger.

“It’s over.” I said.

 

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 My friend’s battle took my breath away. It was that intense, and those loud bangs from these guns certainly caught everyone’s attention. The only ones left to challenge us were the merchant and that woman Risha, but she was in no state to fight. As soon as Kalderan shot a bullet through Ragna’s head, she fell back on the ground, trembling and watching in shock as her other companions were taken out one after another.

While Kalderan was recovering from the battle, I walked over to the relliar kitten.

“It’s over now.” I told her with a smile.

“Over?” she asked as she perked her ears up and twitched them cutely.

With the loud noise from our battle, she got scared and curled up in a ball on the ground.

“Yes, little one.” I said as I gently patted her on the head.

“Nya~ Thank you, mister...” she said.

“My name is Alkelios, and that man over there is Kalderan. What’s your name?” I asked her as I gently petted her as I would a cat.

“Nya~ My name? My name is Tamara, nya~!” she said as she looked up at me with her cute eyes and adorable smile.