章 35: Die

"Runestone…" Alice's expression turned hopeless. She understood what power was pinning them against the wall. 'If I could only reach my runestone, but it probably won't be much use since mine is just a normal runestone. However, there must be a way we can survive,' she thought, frowning and refusing to give up.

"Hehe, I expected this mission to be difficult, but who would have thought it would be so easy?" said a man with a round belly. He looked at the three of them and smirked. "By the way, since you're about to die, you should know the person killing you. I'm Billy Bouncer, and the squad is named after me." He chuckled and drew a sword.

"Hahaha."

The other four laughed sinisterly.

Excluding the red-haired man, there was a woman with blonde hair holding a staff, a man wearing assassin's clothes, and another man with a bow and arrows slung over his back.

"Now, who should I start with?" Billy looked at each of them before his eyes focused on Max. "I truly pity you for getting dragged into this, but I guess it'll make things more interesting if I start with you."

Max smirked, his eyes scanning the five individuals. "You can try if you want."

"Just leave him!" Alice shouted, looking at Billy. Her voice was almost pleading. "He has nothing to do with me. Just let him go."

Morel and Billy exchanged a glance and laughed.

"Sadly, we can't do that," Morel said with a sneer, pointing at the corpses around them. "Do you think we killed all these people just to bait you? No, we can't let anyone who knows what we've done here live. So, whether this kid is related to you or not, he's bound to die now that he's here."

"Hahaha, good. Now, shall I start?" Billy's expression became inhuman as he moved closer to Max.

"No! Let him go!" Alice shouted desperately as she turned her head to the left intending to use something she was forbidden to.

However, as she face Max she suddenly stopped.

For some reason, she didn't see the panic and horror she expected from Max. Instead, he seemed oddly excited about something.

Billy also noticed the slight smile on Max's face, and it sent a chill down his spine. "Why are you laughing, kid?" he asked.

"Why?" Max sneered, looking at Billy and the other four members of the Bouncer squad. He smiled. "Let me show you a surprise."

Max tried to move his hands using the power of two Draconic Essences, but they only trembled and shook.

He smiled and used the power of five Draconic Essences and tried again.

Bang!

With a bang, he successfully lifted his right hand, then his left hand.

"How? How did you do that?" Billy exclaimed, seeing Max free his hands.

Even Alice was shocked by the scene.

"This is just the beginning," Max chuckled darkly as he used the power of seven Draconic Essences. Wild, raging strength surged through his veins as he tapped into the seven Draconic Essences.

Bang!

With such strength coursing through his body, Max lunged forward and landed on the ground with a loud thud. The force still pressed on him, but with his physical strength alone, he resisted it.

"How did he…?" Alice muttered, her voice shaking with disbelief, her mouth hanging wide open. She knew how strong the force pinning them against the wall was, as she couldn't resist it herself. So, she couldn't understand how Max was doing it.

"This kid…" Billy frowned, his expression darkening. He turned to Morel. "Use full power and pin him again. I'll finish him off quickly."

Morel nodded and took out the runestone again.

"Got you," Max smiled, firing a magic bullet directly at the runestone.

A blue beam of light shot from his finger so fast that no one had time to react. It struck the runestone in Morel's hand, sending it flying away.

Bang!

"Agggh!" Morel grimaced in pain as something struck his hand hard, only to find the runestone was gone.

"Runestone! Where did it go?" Morel shouted, anxiously scanning the area.

Billy was also shocked. He had only seen a blue beam of light before hearing Morel's scream and seeing the runestone vanish from his hand.

Thinking back to the kid who had miraculously resisted the force of the runestone, Billy turned towards Max.

"You did this, right?" he shouted mockingly. "You're one shrewd kid, but don't think that just because we don't have the runestone, you'll be freed from the force pinning you all. Once a runestone is activated, it won't stop until all the power in it is drained."

He added sinisterly, "And even if you could somehow resist the force, you could barely move. Do you really think you can do anything to us with your measly strength at level 5?" He mocked Max nonstop as he closed in on him with his sword.

"Just die, kid!" Billy swung his sword down.

Clang!

However, he didn't hear the blood-curdling sound he expected, only a loud clang.

It was then he saw Max stood with his sword in one hand, blocking his sword effortlessly.

"How did you…?" Billy froze. He was sure he had used his full strength in that swing, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge the kid's sword.

"You're right," Max said, looking at Billy. "I could barely move, but do I need to move to take care of you all?" He sneered as his sword began to glow with a light blue light, sending Billy flying backward.

"Damn this kid." Billy grimaced in pain and turned to the others. "Forget about him and kill the other two."

The others nodded and sprang into action.

Max did too.

Blue glowing lights, each the size of a fingertip, began to emerge from Max's body one after another. They appeared from his hands, his feet, his back—every part of him seemed to radiate this strange luminescence.

One, two, three, four... The glowing orbs multiplied rapidly, their numbers growing so vast that they engulfed the entire scene. No matter whether it was the assassin or the archer making their move, they all seemed to stop when they saw the lights surrounding them.

"What is this?" Morel frowned, seeing the blue dots of light floating around them.

"These are…?" Alice and Amy looked at each other, confused, having no idea what these glowing dots of light were.

Billy frowned, looking around at the blue dots of light surrounding them, then turned back to Max with a sneer. "What is this? Some sort of circus trick?"

Max smiled calmly. "Kind of... Do you want to taste it?"

Billy stared at Max for a moment before laughing. "I get it. You're stalling for time, right? Hoping someone will come and save you?"