Erik and the others moved with precision and speed, their footsteps barely making a sound as they crept toward the door behind Matthew and his men.
They did what they could to prepare for the rescue, but not much could have been done due to the situation.
Erik nodded to Anderson's father as they reached the door, who kicked it open with a loud bang. The sudden noise startled Matthew and his men, causing them to turn around in surprise.
The Red Palace students, who were standing in front of the crowds of men and women employed by Matthew, were equally surprised to see Erik and the others burst into the room.
Their eyes widened in shock as they realized that the awakener had managed to save their family and was now here to rescue them as promised, and with reinforcements too.
eaglesnov?1,сoМ Erik and the others flooded into the room, weapons at the ready. They moved well-coordinatedly, attacking Matthew and his men from all sides. It wasn't easy for the students, and they mostly had some support roles, but they held up well.
The room erupted into chaos as the two sides clashed, with the sound of blades clashing and screams echoing throughout the space.
Anderson and Mikey knew Erik was brewing something, but since he and the others had been away for a lengthy time, in their opinion, they thought the mission failed and resigned to their fate.
However, suddenly they found themselves caught up in a fight as their rescuers battled fiercely to save them.
Despite being weaker than their opponents, Erik and his team fought with a ferocity that left Matthew and his men reeling.
The hostages, who he was sure were still sleeping in the adjacent room, suddenly attacked them from behind and even managed to kill some of their men. That was not good.
"Call for reinforcements!" Matthew shouted. He thought the people he had would be enough to handle a bunch of students, despite them going to the Red Palace, but he didn't expect to face fully-trained adults.
The room was now a blur of bodies, with punches and kicks flying in every direction, powers being unleashed, and weapons being handled.
Anderson quickly approached Erik, saying, "I've never been more glad to see you than I am now!"
"Less talk, more fight!" Erik said he was avoiding a thug's attack.
The other students quickly joined the fray, fighting fiercely to defend themselves and their friends.
Erik swung his Flyssa with scary precision and speed, leaving the students who didn't know him amazed, but even that wasn't enough to kill his opponent.
However, the real fighter was Carl, who was battling against five people at once while Erik and the others supported him.
At the same time, Amber moved quickly and smoothly, inflicting minor wounds on their opponents as they got distracted by the adults. Benedict did the same, but due to his weapon, amana halberd, he only managed to keep some thugs at bay, preventing them from killing fellow students.
Anderson's father and Mikey's mother fought side by side, facing ten people at once.
Carl had a power similar to Anderson's but much weaker; he could generate small explosions from his hands, which were strong enough to blow a person's head off.
Mikey's mother, instead, could also generate bugs, and she unleashed them along the battlefield, together with her son's, and they wreaked havoc.
Mikey's were not strong enough to seriously damage their opponents, but they were a lot annoying and chipped at the thugs by constantly biting them. Instead, his mother was a beast, and the only ones comparable to her were those from the Zamora, Silverbend, and Montgomery clans.
However, Erik's attention was suddenly diverted from the group of thugs attacking Carl to a woman wielding a sword capable of creating small gusts of wind, charging toward him with a murderous look on her face.
Erik quickly drew his sword and braced himself for the attack. He quickly analyzed the woman and discovered that she had at least twenty more strength points than him. So she was faster and stronger, but Nathaniel's cheat-like power was going to even the field a lot. Of course, he didn't have enough mana to use the power to attack or defend as Nathaniel did, but only to increase his speed and to help him generate more strength. If he had more mana, he could even win.
The problem was that he had to be subtle in its usage, and he hoped that, thanks to the chaos, the others wouldn't notice he was using another power.
For sure, due to the massive amount of mana fluctuating in the air due to the fight, it was impossible to discern his mana from the others, but the risk remained.
The young man quickly channeled mana into his neural links. The woman, Mia, approached, swinging her sword with great force, but Erik increased the strength of his sword by generating a forced blow, which helped him resist the attack, and he managed to parry it with his own blade.
The clash of steel echoed throughout the room, leaving the woman greatly surprised.
Mia was fast and agile, but Erik held his ground thanks to Nathaniel's power. He blocked her attacks with precise movements, countered with his own strikes, as his teacher taught him, and pushed her back toward the wall.
Mia created a small gust of wind, trying to knock Erik off balance, but he held firm and continued to press forward.
As they continued to exchange blows, it became clear to the young man that this would be a hard battle, one he couldn't win. His job was to simply stall for time so that someone could kill her.
Erik saw an opening and lunged forward with his sword, but Mia quickly reacted, sidestepping his attack and almost slashing at his back. However, as the awakener understood her intention, he used Nathaniel's power to get a momentaneous burst of speed, but it was too much, and he ended up stumbling forward. However, he regained his footing and turned around to face her again.
"You are not bad," the woman said, clearly seeing that her opponent's technique and skills were far superior to hers. Erik didn't reply, and he ignored the woman.
Engaging in conversation during a life-or-death situation was useless, and he was not as invested as when he killed Nathaniel or Logan. However, as the awakener engaged in combat with the woman, Mia, he quickly realized that her power to create small gusts of wind was very annoying.
She used her power to knock him off balance several times, and if it wasn't for Nathaniel's power, he would have been dead by now. He quickly understood that thanks to that power and the system, he was able to face an average NI-ranked fighter without problems.
He was still at RHO rank officially, but his power greatly exceeded that of his rank.
However, Erik had been in enough fights to know that overestimating his own abilities was dangerous. Meanwhile, Anderson was facing a man named Kevin, who had summoned a spear made of mana.
The weapon glowed with otherworldly energy and seemed to have a life of its own.
Anderson was clearly at a disadvantage despite this being a rather common brain crystal power. He was stronger than his peers but not enough to fight against such people. However, he didn't let himself be intimidated by the man's power and used his flawless technique to resist his opponent.
It wasn't simple, and his concentration spiked, but he managed to avoid being fatally hit by receiving his friends' help here and there. There wasn't much else he could do, though.
At a certain point, Anderson was lucky enough to disarm Kevin with a well-placed maneuver, but that was hardly effective since the man used his power again to summon the spear.
"Whoa, I can totally see why you were able to enter the Red Palace. You are basically only running away, but being able to face me at your current level is very impressive!" Kevin, the thug, said, and then he charged toward Anderson.
The young man braced himself and prepared for the impact. Just as Kevin was about to strike, Aaron used his slime power, forcing the thug to stop his attack.
"Hahahahaha, you are as annoying as a fly!" he said, looking at Aaron.
***
Anderson's father, Carl, had always been a man of few words. He was a former military officer and had been trained to handle challenging situations.
When he learned his son was going to be killed because he had been taken captive by these thugs, he knew he had to act quickly.
As soon as they all entered the room, without hesitation, Carl charged at one of the thugs. The man, caught off guard, tried to defend himself, but Carl's military training kicked in with an acrobatic move and swift punch to his abdomen; using his power, he made his torso explode.
BOOOOM
The thug fell to the ground, lifeless. He didn't even have the chance to look Carl in the eyes as he died immediately. Soon after, Anderson's father quickly grabbed the thug's weapon, a rusty old machete, and looked around to find his next target.
Another thug rushed at him, brandishing a baton. Carl expertly parried the attack and delivered a powerful blow to the thug's head with the butt of his newly acquired weapon.
The man could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he fought his way through the thugs.
He could see his son, Anderson, and the other students fighting alongside him. He felt proud of their bravery and determination but was scared since he saw that his son was having trouble against the man with the spear.
Carl knew then that he had done the right thing by coming to rescue his son, as the situation was more complicated than expected.
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