Surprisingly, Dragovich did not scream out in pain. He simply clutched his stump with the other arm and retreated slowly, his expression dark as he glared at Gunner. The Branded Servant simply retracted his fist calmly, still wearing a bored expression.
“None of you are even remotely capable of stopping me here. Go back and tell your council that we have no wish to antagonize you at the moment. However, if the twelve of you continue to irritate me, I will send your heads back in bags and destroy your puny council.”
The half-giant spoke coldly, no longer trying to be nice, as he was getting sick and tired of this. Every second wasted at the frontlines was a second where he couldn’t hold his son in his arms.
The 12 Grandmasters had varying reactions to that statement. Those who had clashed with Gunner seemed to agree, those who hadn’t seemed miffed by his tone and became quite hostile.
The woman in blue mage robes, Potenia Juror, who was the one with the evil smile, trilled with mocking laughter. “What a brute. Do you think yourself to be some Demi-God? You might have great strength and some unusual means, but that’s it. Not to mention, we all have that!”
Longinus seemed to agree as he snapped his book shut and raised his head for the first time. “Potenia is right. Since this brute cannot understand the instructions given him, and even dares to rebel, we shall capture and cripple him.”
Hearing this, Dragovich, Cairo, Illsuin, Clive, and Ophelia, all those engaged by Gunner, showed expressions of horror, while the others seemed to agree with Longinus. Case in point, Potenia began chanting, hundreds of magic circles forming around her, while Longinus did the same.
The other two mages, Keira Sweer and Julis Evenfeather joined in the same. The likely half-giant Defender, Helen Bastia, rushed to stand before them, protecting them while she glared at Gunner savagely.
Ferdinand Jones, the Charger, grinned brutally and spread his arms out before rushing at the General like a released bullet, aiming to beat him down with grappling moves.
Eunice Diver, the Bishop, slammed her staff into the ground with a benevolent expression as a white halo appeared on all 11 of her comrades, fortifying them greatly.
She also began chanting towards Dragovich, likely to heal his wound. Clive Barton sighed with resignation and removed some of his best arrows, before nocking them with all his might and firing.
Illisun seemed torn as to what to do, while Ophelia was still traumatized by almost having her life snuffed out. However, the Psychic still managed to form something of a psychic prison around Gunner.
A blue outline surrounded the half-giant’s body, which Cairo grudgingly capitalized on by rushing over and thrusting his lance with a golden-blue aura coating it, his eyes full of ferocity.
At this moment, time seemed to stop. With so many things happening at once, there was a bit of chaos for onlookers as they didn’t know what to focus on.
But at this specific instant in time, all eyes fell on Gunner as he began to react calmly, and methodically. He seemed slow, almost like he was taking a stroll, yet the world could not respond to his movements at all.
First things first, he grabbed Cairo’s lance and raised him into the air with it. The Lancer was too shocked, forgetting to let go, yet the Branded Servant moved faster than he could process anyway.
Immediately, he slammed the lance down hard, sending Cario crashing into the ground with only his legs sticking out. He passed out due to pain, his spine broken from Gunner’s senseless strength.
He did this while Ophelia still had her blue outline around him, and the beautiful dark-skinned woman smiled wryly as blood leaked from her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.
She crumpled like a sack of potatoes, her eyes rolled back into her head as pieces of her brain leaked through her orifices. This shocked the group, but it was merely the beginning.
Gunner dug his foot into the ground and entered the ‘set’ version of a runner’s stance without letting his hands touch the ground. Green light gathered around his form as he continually built up energy, before eventually bursting forward like a bullet.
Ferdinand, the Charger, who had intended to use his own crazy speed to pin down Safemoon’s General, was trampled over like casual roadkill, his entire body bursting like a water balloon as Gunner just blasted through him head-on.
Dragovich, who had just regenerated his arm, roared and jumped towards Gunner’s back, while Helen Bastia, fearlessly stood before him with her shield.
Gunner channeled the entirety of his momentum into a straight punch that struck the center of the Defender’s tower shield, causing a sharp metallic noise to resound around the area.
Helen’s entire right side was blown off, leaving a stoic woman that had only half of her torso and her two legs remaining. She died immediately, but did so standing, her fierce gaze not even softening in death as she glared at her killer, her eyes now dim.
At this time, the magical casts of the four mages had been completed. Grandmaster fire spell – Flaming Meteor from Keira Sweer, Grandmaster water spell – Tsunami from Potenia Juror, Grandmaster wood spell – Endless Forest from Julis Evenfeather, and Grandmaster darkness spell – Engulf, from Longinus Clearsky.
The four spells crashed into the area where Gunner was, each one dealing its full amount of damage to the area and blinding everyone within miles of the event. It was so catastrophic and fearsome that it proved the horror of Grandmaster Mages.
Seeing Gunner engulfed, the four mages seemed confident that he would not survive. As such, Potenia surveyed the battlefield and tsked.
“That brute bastard. He killed Ophelia, Ferdinand, and probably Cairo. Destroying him is not enough to make up for it.”
“No. Not even slaughtering his flimsy army would do. We’d best head back and report, then pressure Safemoon to make amends.” Julis Evenfeather commented for the first time today.
Thinking about the precious resources Safemoon had, a hint of greed sparked in their hearts. It even made the deaths of their comrades acceptable, as it would allow them to enrich themselves even more.
“You are fools to dare to daydream in the midst of battle.” Gunner’s cold voice spoke from in front of Potenia, having appeared there at some point with sheer speed alone.
“Huh?” That was the last sound Potenia ever made, as her confused expression was wiped out by a slap from Gunner, which smashed her head into bits.
Brain matter sprayed all over the ground, the now headless body falling limp to the ground. Before the others could express shock or fear, Gunner was before them.
For Julis, he ripped off his ears and shoved them down his throat, smashing his arms and legs and leaving the half-elf to choke to death.
For Keira, he grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face into his knee, denting her head and crushing everything within by itself. Her face was no longer visible as it had been knocked back into her skull.
For Longinus, who he had saved for last among this batch, the half-giant punched through the fellow’s chest and ripped his heart out. Longinus was strong enough to gaze at the gaping hole in his chest and the beating heart in Gunner’s hand.
Instead of cursing, his final words were a piece of advice. He told Gunner to never lose faith in himself, otherwise he would be destroyed by powers he did not understand.
With a defeated frown, he fell to the ground and died straightway. After dealing with the four mages, Gunner swiped a slew of arrows like they were annoying bugs before turning to face Clive Barton who had been firing them rapidly.
Gunner simply placed a Bronze Ando Coin in his finger and flicked it towards the Sharpshooter. Seeing its speed, Clive could understand that he would be hit, as his body was not fast enough to maneuver around it.
Now, it was left with Dragovich who had been sneaking to get an ambush, Eunice who was pale while sweating with fear, and Illisun Horus who was terrified to his bones by Gunner’s prowess.
Dragovich roared and threw a solid punch at Gunner, which slugged him. Gunner was surprised by the strength boost, but did not think much of it. Rather, he grinned wolfishly and returned the same punch back to its owner.
Dragovich screamed and activated his defining feature, the ability to enter a berserk state, greatly increasing his stats and abilities for the duration. In this state, his power was top-tier and was not something that could be easily handled.
The fists collided, but the same scene from before repeated itself. One had turned into nothingness. However, this time Gunner’s fist didn’t stop, instead it was still hurtling forward, aiming to sock the jaw of the Zilch Berserker.
Hie berserk aura, even though it gave great strength was not enough to close the gap between himself and Gunner.
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Author’s Note: Thank you Master of Chaos, Pedro Sousa, Hunter101bomber, and CentoEDezMontauk for your donations!