Chapter 172: CHAPTER 171 - The Conflict Among the Leaders.
Alex kept staring at the ongoing events, trying to make out what they were saying as they stood a distance away, making it hard to understand their words.
Just like Saurav had thought, Alex really wanted them to fight.
If the fight started, they would probably not want to back down as all of them had subordinates, and those subordinates were looking at their leaders, trying to understand the situation.
There was a chance that this fight just turned into a group fight where every leader and their subordinates fought each other.
Or so was what Alex wanted...
"Do you guys really want to start this, right now?"
Karina, who could see the situation worsening, and Saurav's fists clenching, knew that she had to step in.
"You guys have never fought with him so you don't know, but he's never merciful."
She spoke, her expression as serious as it could be.
Karina had seen how Alex killed her subordinates, especially Dipti. That girl was crying out for help, clearly showing how she didn't want to fight, yet she was killed by Alex, that too from behind.
So, Karina knew that the last thing one could expect from Alex was that he would let them go.
She didn't even do anything to him, yet he took 6 artifacts to let her live. Urmina stole his arrow, right in front of him at that, so how could she believe that Alex was just going to step back?
Karina had seen some people with that type of personality. They sometimes turn out to be very vindictive. Their mindset is fixed: Be kill or be killed.
They have an enemy or a friend, they don't have anything between them.
And she knew that Urmina was already his enemy, so the chances of him agreeing to Saurav's words were almost nill.
"And? What you tryna say, huh? Who told you to speak up anyway? Just 'cause no one checked you when you threw out an idea, you really think you're the boss now?"
Ragha, however, wasn't having any of these, his gaze, filled with contempt, moved toward Karina, his lips raised in annoyance.
'Why the hell does everyone think they can just step all over me like it ain't no problem?'
He couldn't understand why both Saurav and Karina thought that he would just listen to their words. Did they think they were powerful enough to defeat him? Was that why they were this confident?
He clenched his fists, his eyes turning a bit cold, his head tilting to the side. He could clearly see Saurav gritting his teeth, his jaw bones were showing on his cheeks.
"Oh, you wanna fight? That it? Let's get to it then, at least we'll see who's really the strongest."
He turned toward Saurav and with a swift movement, he was standing in a horse stance, his fists clenched hard, ready for an attack.
The other four tensed as they could feel the aura around him changing. They could tell that the guy was serious.
'Good.'
Alex, on the other hand, didn't find this turn of events as a bad thing, it was better for him.
There would be chaos all around once the fight started, and Alex wanted just that, as he could just fish Urmina out of the chaos and do what he wanted to with her.
"Fools."
But just when it looked like the situation wouldn't improve and a fight was about to break out, a voice tore through the tension-filled atmosphere, making Ragha frown.
"What you want, girl?"
He growled, his eyes turning to look at the grey-haired girl who was standing behind him. No one saw her moving, and no one knew what she did, but one second she was standing behind everyone and the next she was behind Ragha.
Ragha was surprised, he really didn't expect this, but his focus remained on Saurav, as the guy's mood was changing as well.
Karina and Urmina were also looking at the grey-haired girl, Mira, with a frown.
All of them had always thought of her to be the weakest among them, as she never really spoke up, which looked like her being fearful. Now, however, things didn't seem the same, especially with her standing behind Ragha with a silver dagger in her hand.
'She's an assassin.'
Alex, who was observing everything, frowned as he saw Mira's movements.
He did see her status window, but the status window didn't tell one's profession, it was just that he, as an expert assassin could easily make out who an assassin was just by looking at their movements.
The way Mira moved—subtle yet precise—Alex could tell that she wasn't just a normal assassin. She was probably trained for a purpose, almost like him.
"Nothing. I just couldn't stand you idiots playing right into his hands, you know."
Mira, after staring at the trees for a while, spoke, her words carrying coldness like never before.
"So, you wanna side with that guy too, huh?"
Ragha, closing his eyes, took a deep breath, and pose changed. He was now standing on one leg, which was slightly bent and the other raised up, with his arms in front of his head, ready for guarding, deflecting, and attacking.
'Muay Thai...'
Alex, on the other hand, frowned as he knew what that pose was.
Alex had learned a lot of fighting styles and Muay Thai was one of them, so he knew what it was, but Ragha wasn't done yet.
His fists loosened, one moving forward and the other staying a bit behind, causing Alex's frown to deepen.
'What is this? Krav Maga?'
He had seen Ragha's status window, and he knew that this guy had a very good ability, but the number of fighting skills he had added to that skill wasn't known to Alex. Now, however, it was clear to Alex.
<I guess you will be integrating a new battle art into your unnamed battle art soon enough.>
The AI, as if reading Alex's mind spoke, causing a sharp glint to pass through Alex's eyes, his gaze focused on Ragha.
That guy wasn't the strongest because he had the highest strength with nothing to back it up.
His speed was slow, Ragha probably knew that as well, but it was his fighting style. If he were to change his stats distribution, then his battle art wouldn't work as well as it does right now.
There was this thing, though; if just one of his punches were to connect with any of the leaders, they wouldn't be able to stand for a while.
"That's why I called you an idiot, you know."
Alex's eyes sharpened as he heard Mira's words. She probably wanted him to hear it as well.
She shook her head and stepped forward, appearing right in front of Ragha.
"I'm not siding with anyone, I'm just thinking logically."
She spoke, her face right in front of Ragha, clearly in his attacking range, but Ragha didn't attack.
"So, you expect me to stay quiet when this might be my only shot to take out the bastard who killed my crew?"
Ragha wasn't a leader just because he was powerful, he knew when to calm down, so when he saw three people trying to oppose him, he cooled down a little.
He was still upset about his subordinates' deaths, but that didn't mean he couldn't stop himself. If it was that much, then he would've already rushed toward Alex.
He didn't because he knew that it would mean death.
So, again, he decided to listen to what Mira had to say, especially because Mira felt most dangerous to him right now.