Chapter 153: Scaring Them Off

David calmly and methodically retrieved his double swords and strapped them back onto his shoulders, then reclaimed the Grade 2 spear from the wall. After that, he began delivering the final blow to any of the fallen armored warriors who were still breathing on the ground.

He knew very well that he could not afford to show mercy. Although the battle had lasted only a few short seconds, he had achieved a complete victory against an elite squad of armored warriors all by himself.

During this brief conflict, however, he had practically exhausted all of his abilities, even utilizing some that must never be exposed to outsiders.

Powers like "Mental Pierce" and "Mental Slumber" were absolute taboos that could never see the light of day. "Mental Pierce" originated from that mysterious organization, while "Mental Slumber" came from the seductive brain bug; the origins of these two abilities were completely unexplainable.

Sensing that the shadow servant had absorbed the souls of all the fallen warriors, David turned around, once again gripping his Grade 2 spear tightly as he prepared for the next battle.

Atherton was a peak armored warrior. Today, he had accepted a temporary commission from the Free Blade Mercenary Corps, offered at double the usual rate to help block a single armored warrior.

Such missions frequently appeared on the underground network. In the complex environment of the underground network, ambushing and eliminating an armored warrior required sealing off all possible escape routes, a task that demanded the cooperation of numerous warriors.

He was more than happy to accept such an easy task, and he even thought the Free Blade Mercenary Corps was being overly wasteful. After all, he saw that there were as many as ten warriors participating in the operation alongside him. Aside from four mercenaries from the Free Blade, the rest were all quite formidable local warriors.

With a scale like this, not only was it more than enough to corner a single armored warrior, but it was even sufficient to launch an assault on a stronghold.

"We are almost there. Get ready for battle!" the Free Blade mercenary said in a tense voice.

The reason for his tension was simple: he had failed to establish contact with any of the mercenary corps' warriors in the vicinity. That was an elite squad of armored warriors, and coupled with the warrior who had initially lured David in, so many mercenaries from the Free Blade had yet to reply to any messages.

Warrior Atherton drew his heavy axe, a relaxed expression on his face as he casually swung the weapon back and forth.

However, the moment he laid eyes on the scene ahead, he instantly froze in his tracks, dumbfounded on the spot.

Not just him—all ten arriving warriors stared blankly at the scene before them, equally stupefied.

Within the span of a dozen meters of the corridor, nine corpses lay scattered about. On the ground flickered two dim blue weapon glows, the distinct radiance of Grade 2 weaponry.

Normally, such Grade 2 weapons would have driven all ten warriors mad with desire, but right now, not a single one of them felt a shred of temptation or greed.

Because standing right in the middle of those corpses was an armored warrior clad in a Terrestrial Megaleon powered exoskeleton, holding a Grade 2 spear.

All ten warriors recognized six of the bodies on the ground: they belonged to the elite armored warrior squad of the Free Blade Mercenary Corps, whose formidable combat prowess had long suppressed this entire territory under the sphere of influence of the Free Blade.

Yet right now, that powerful elite squad was lying entirely in pools of blood, completely devoid of any sign of life.

"I am sorry, my lord, I was just passing by!" Atherton was the first to react. He quickly tucked his heavy axe behind his back and said respectfully.

The remaining warriors, including the four mercenaries from the Free Blade, similarly concealed their weapons to demonstrate their sincerity.

"Leave this place, or fight!" David said in a deep voice.

He had already used up his "Mental Pierce." Although he could still use "Mental Slumber" once more, doing so would likely leave his mental state severely depleted. Facing so many armored warriors with a drained mind would be extremely dangerous.

Therefore, he used the corpses on the ground to project an intimidating aura, an aura made even more formidable by his Grandmaster-level spear mastery.

"My lord, I am leaving right now!" Atherton did not hesitate for a second, immediately turning around to bid his farewell.

Risking one's life for a meager profit was a thoroughly foolish trade.

The other warriors understood this logic as well. Even the elite squad had been completely annihilated; charging forward now would undoubtedly be courting death.

Besides, the mission they had received was to block David, and since David had already slaughtered the primary elite attack squad, did anyone seriously expect them to take over the assault?

Only after watching the figures of the ten warriors vanish into the distance at top speed did David finally let out a long breath of relief.

Only then did he have the leisure to clean up the battlefield. He piled all the armored warrior corpses together—a total of nine bodies clad in powered exoskeletons, along with seven Grade 1 weapons and two Grade 2 weapons.

David pulled an alloy cable out from one of the powered exoskeletons, which had originally been prepared for rappelling, but was now repurposed by him to tie the corpses together.

In his eyes, the value of these nine corpses was by no means small. Although the powered exoskeletons sustained some damage, they were still worth a handsome price.

The same applied to the seven Grade 1 weapons, while the two Grade 2 weapons would become his personal collectibles.

Motivated by profit, David did not mind the trouble. He bound all the corpses and Grade 1 weapons together, strapped the Grade 2 heavy shield and Grade 2 heavy axe to his back, and finally opened his communication channel.

"Furness, where are you?" David asked aloud.

"Hoo, hoo!" David heard Furness's heavy breathing, followed by his voice: "I will be there in five minutes at most. How is it on your end?"

"Furness, no need to rush. I've already taken care of things here. I'll wait for you right where I am!" David said hurriedly, knowing Furness was worried about his safety.

"David, do you know who attacked you?" Furness asked after letting out a sigh of relief, finally switching back to his normal pace.

"It was because I was assisting the military in clearing out the mercenary warriors who had been ambushing military personnel in Perrin City. The mercenaries who launched the sniper attacks belong to the Free Blade Mercenary Corps!" David explained the reason behind the attack.

"I know the Free Blade Mercenary Corps. They are an affiliated mercenary organization of the Na'an Chamber of Commerce. Good! Since they dared to attack you, Teacher will make them pay the price!" Furness said through clenched teeth.

He had lost massive amounts of face today. He had brought David out to see the world, promising beforehand that there would be no danger, only for David to be ambushed.

This was a slap to his face, as well as a slap to Transcendent Galen's face.

While David stood in place, chatting with Furness while waiting, several groups of warriors passed by.

However, upon seeing the pile of corpses beside David, they were immediately scared off and detoured around him.

"God, David, did you kill all of these?" When Furness saw the pile of bound corpses next to David, his voice cracked with disbelief.

"Just lucky!" David replied modestly.

"If I had known you were this formidable, I wouldn't have bothered notifying Teacher. He has already dispatched a squad of warriors over!" Furness said with a sigh.

"Do we still need to wait for them?" David asked, checking the time.

He had no desire to keep standing here. The Free Blade Mercenary Corps probably already knew he was lingering in the area, and he was slightly worried they might send more warriors, whom he might not be able to fend off.

"Let's head back to the government's safe zone and wait for them there!" Furness said after checking his communicator.

"What about your mission?" David asked, suddenly remembering the task of capturing Warrior Graham.

"Let's head back first. The mission can wait; dealing with the Free Blade Mercenary Corps takes priority!" Furness said with a helpless shrug.

David nodded. Using his Grade 2 spear, he hoisted the bundle of nine bound corpses onto his shoulder, resting the weapon over his back.

Furness's mouth twitched involuntarily. He could see that David did not care about the corpses in the slightest.

Even on Rock Planet, high school students were rarely completely unfearful of corpses, and David's actions made it easy for people to forget that he was still just a high school student.

In truth, ever since arriving in this world, all of David's experiences had long since made him completely different from the ordinary person he was in his past life.

Having survived multiple life-or-death battles and walked through battlefields littered with corpses, he had long ceased to fear death—not to mention the fact that the souls of these bodies had all been absorbed by the shadow servant.

In his eyes, these were merely pieces of equipment; as for the corpses inside them, they were only being carried because he lacked the time to strip them down.

The two of them walked one after the other, following the map toward the government's safe zone where they had first entered the underground network.