Chapter 40: This Strong
Because of that, he went out by himself.
Around the university, there were many cafés and restaurants that stayed open late, though not twenty-four hours.
One establishment was still fairly new. It had three floors: a gym on the first floor, a billiards hall on the second, and a café on the third.
Out of curiosity, he decided to visit that place.
At night, it was even busier than during the day.
He entered casually and headed for the stairs leading upward.
However, before he could place his foot on the first step, he froze.
A group of large men covered in tattoos was coming down from the second floor.
"Hmph, that blonde girl is so arrogant. I don’t believe she wouldn’t spread her legs if I offered her ten thousand dollars. Just wait until I make a lot of money."
"Those university students probably think we’re just city gangsters. Hmph, if they knew how powerful we are in the Magic World, wouldn’t they be begging us for help?"
"Hahaha, no need for ten thousand. One thousand is enough to buy them. I heard their market rate is only one to two thousand."
"Shut up, idiots. You think they’d sleep with you? Just look at your ugly faces. Even an old prostitute would hesitate to accept you." The largest man, whose face was tattooed with a crocodile head, shouted angrily.
After talking for a while, they all froze when they noticed the young man standing at the bottom of the stairs.
’This is bad,’ Mateo thought.
"Kid, so you’re here!" one of them immediately shouted.
"Big Bro, let’s get revenge," another added.
Big Bro wasn’t truly a wise man. He was simply self-aware enough to know that beautiful university girls would never agree to sleep with them.
However, when it came to fighting, the word "no" didn’t exist in his dictionary.
"Beat him until he’s crippled," he ordered.
After that, they rushed toward Mateo, with one of them even jumping down from above to kick him.
"Shit!"
He finally cursed.
There was no time to run.
His only option was to fight until someone called for help.
Acting on instinct, he caught the incoming leg.
Somehow, he succeeded.
Then, with surprising ease, he twisted his body, causing the owner of the leg to spin around as well.
The man’s body was huge, yet Mateo suddenly found himself capable of lifting him.
It didn’t even feel that heavy.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The massive body slammed violently into the approaching gangsters.
Some of the smaller ones were even sent flying.
Big Bro was the only one left standing, though he looked dizzy and shook his head repeatedly.
BANG!
Mateo instinctively dropped the leg he was holding.
Everyone was stunned, including himself.
How was this possible?
He didn’t understand either.
Was it merely because he had successfully caught the leg of someone who jumped at him?
No.
Even if his physique was stronger than average, he wasn’t that strong.
Especially not compared to these burly gangsters.
He shouldn’t have been able to lift one of them so easily, much less swing him around.
When Big Bro finally recovered, he only grew angrier.
"Bastard!"
He threw a punch.
Mateo quickly pushed the incoming fist aside and responded with a punch to the man’s chest.
BAM!
Big Bro staggered backward, crashing into the gym’s reception desk before falling behind it.
The people inside the gym were mesmerized.
Those gangsters were bigger than many of them.
How could they lose to a man with only average height and weight?
"Kid, die!"
One gangster managed to get back up, grabbed a chair, and swung it at Mateo.
However, Mateo easily caught the chair and shoved it forward.
BANG!
It smashed into the gangster’s head, causing blood to flow.
"Run!"
Big Bro finally realized that this young man wasn’t just capable of beating them in the Magic World.
He could beat them up on Earth too.
He panicked and fled first.
Once he ran, the others naturally didn’t dare continue fighting Mateo.
"Buddy, are you okay?" asked a young man who came out of the gym.
He had compact, dense muscles that made him appear smaller than the others.
It was obvious he was the owner of the place because the receptionists addressed him as boss.
"Yeah..." Mateo nodded.
"It seems I caused some damage. Do I need to pay compensation?" he asked.
"No, not at all. This wasn’t your fault. You were only defending yourself after being attacked. By the way, I’m Thomas Anderson. Just call me Thomas."
"Mateo Allen. I’m a university student."
"I know who you are. You had lunch with Alice yesterday."
Mateo, "..."
"Allen, huh? You don’t mind if I just call you Mateo, right?"
"Yeah..." Mateo didn’t mind.
"Mateo, you look incredibly skilled. Are you some kind of martial arts expert?"
"Mm, maybe."
He didn’t know how to answer, so he simply agreed.
He still felt puzzled about himself.
"A friend of mine once fought some of those guys. Not even all of them, just a few. He’d trained boxing since childhood and thought he could take on several people at once, but he ended up in the hospital after getting beaten up by them. Yet you defeated them so easily. Your training must be unimaginable. Did you wrestle bears as a kid or something?"
"No, nothing like that..." Mateo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This man clearly had an obsession with physical strength and combat skills, which made him curious about Mateo.
"You must be embarrassed to talk about it. Anyway, why are you here? Looking to train?"
"No, I just wanted dinner. I heard the toast here is really good."
"I was heading upstairs for dinner too. Let’s eat together. You don’t need to pay tonight."
"Thank you."
Mateo had no reason to reject someone’s sincere kindness.
So he followed Thomas up the stairs.
Second floor.
Through the glass doors, he saw numerous billiard tables occupied by players of all ages, both men and women.
They didn’t stop there and continued climbing toward the third floor.
