NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 20: Versus Ruffians
"Alright then, you stupid sonofabitch!" The burly, dreadlock-haired ruffian spit out, charging right towards him.
"I'm gonna gut you!" The knife-wielding, sharp tongued one threatened.
Gael stood his ground, readying himself as he flexed his body, feeling his blood run hot through his veins. Part of him wanted to test where he stood compared to the average person, feeling a grand amount of strength surging through his muscles.
'Alright, here goes–' He readied himself.
The first to reach him was the skinny, knife-wielding one of the bunch with the shaved head. There wasn't much rhyme or reason to the sleazy bandit's assault, wildly swinging his blade around.
It almost seemed to move in slow motion, allowing him to easily weave his way around the sharp point. He easily caught the man's thin wrist, squeezing it between his fingers–
"Yowch!" The pale thug yelped, dropping the knife.
It fell right into Gael's right hand, bringing the two to exchange a glance at one another as the thug's hazel eyes pleaded to not be stabbed at that moment. He flipped the knife around, striking the butt of it against the thief's forehead.
"Take a nap," Gael quietly said, letting go of the man's wrist as he fell over limp.
[EXP: +10] [70/100]
It wasn't an amazing amount of experience for knocking the thug out, though more than expected. He watched as the towering, beefy one lunged at him wildly like an angered boar.
"You sunovabithhhhh–!" The ruffian slurred his words while tossing his fists around as if they were hammers.
He stepped to the side, causing the burly man to strike the side of the building behind him. It made a rather noisy impact, leaving cracks splitting in the stone tiles.
'Oh, this guy isn't average–at least, not by Earth's standards,' he thought, glancing back at the damage done to the wall.
A shift in the air warned him of another fist coming his way, ducking his head to the side as the knuckles brushed by his hair. Another impact collided with the wall, lightly shaking it as he found himself face-to-face with the no-good brute.
"Stop dodgin'!" The burly man growled.
"That would be stupid," Gael responded.
Before the big man could withdraw his fist for another strike, he delivered his knee upon the family jewels of the thug. What left the brute's mouth was not a man's voice, but a shriek of air like that of a little girl's cry.
[EXP: +20] [90/100]
'Yeah, that might've been a bit too messed up. Sorry, man,' Gael thought, watching the burly thug drop to his knees while clutching his nether region.
All that was left was the smallest of the deadbeat trio, though as he looked side-to-side, he only saw the two he already beat up laying on the ground.
"Where the…?" Gael mumbled.
"Squee–!"
It was a yelp from the capybara that got his attention, looking down to Pucha, who was tilting his head up.
"Above?" Gael muttered.
Just as he lifted his head, a shadow blocked his view before finding a weight landed against his shoulders.
"You won't get away with this, you bastard!" The pint-sized thug threatened.
The unexpectedly deep voice met his ears as he found his hair being tugged and his head assaulted by slams of the tiny, but rather strong fist. He spun around, reaching his hands up in an attempt to toss the dwarf off of his shoulders, though it only caused the grip on his hair to be tightened.
"Get…off!" Gael shouted.
Attempting to grab the small man felt like he was gripping steel, finding the muscles of the tiny thug to be far more dense than the largest of them. He slammed himself against the wall, knocking the pint-sized one against it in the process.
"Gah–!" The small ruffian gasped out.
–He grabbed the shoulders of the one on top of him, immediately using the impact to lift the jockey off of him and tossing him against the wall across the alleyway. There was no care for being "soft", causing a crack to split across the stone as the thug smacked against it.
"...Phew," he breathed out, fixing the hood of his jacket. "That should do it."
Just as he turned around, he remembered something–the lack of an "EXP" notification from his system. Just as he recalled that fact, he heard the scrape of a step behind him.
"You're still–!?" Gael shouted, spinning around.
The dwarf thug was up on his feet, bruised and huffing as he tore away his torn tunic, revealing his freakishly muscular, small frame, "--I'm not done with ya'!"
He watched as the small man made odd movements, as if performing a traditional dance, making sharp movements with his arms.
"Fuck it…! I'll use my inner magic—!" The dwarf huffed, flexing his entire body.
The entirety of the pint-sized thug's body seemed to bulk up as his complexion reddened, emitting steam from his skin. It was as if the little man's body became an engine, with a fire burning in his stomach.
'Magic–? Shit, that changes things!' Gael decided.
He held his hand out without wasting a moment, "Temporary Summon: Skill!"
[Skill Summoning Initiated | (N): 70% | (R ): 20% | (SR): 7% | (SSR): 2% | (UR): 1%]
[Chance Summoning complete…You've obtained…!]
[Skill Temporarily Obtained: (N) "Boxing Spirit: Canelo Alvarez"]
Imbued into his body, he felt decades of prowess in the martial art be programmed into his muscle memory. Almost immediately, he felt lighter on his feet, tightening his stance as he raised his fist.
'I feel it–with this skill, I can really fight like Canelo?!' He wondered, surprised at how naturally the foreign stance felt as he bounced on his tippy toes.
As he kept his fists raised, the steaming dwarf rushed him like a bull seeing red. The rage-blinded thug hopped up, landing both feet against the wall before springing across to the other side, bouncing off again.
It was like fighting a wild rabbit, aggressively hopping from wall-to-wall before lunging for him—
'He's swinging for my head,' Gael calmly observed.
As the raging fist came in, he slipped back with quick footwork, letting the enraged punch miss. He immediately countered with a quick punch to the dwarf's abdomen.
"Bwuuuh—!" The small man spat out, been thrown back by the punch.
It was surprising to him how effective it was as the dwarf bounced off the back wall of the alleyway. The difference was clear; it was using his strength at its fullest with proper technique.
"You bastard—! I'm gonna gut ya!" The enraged thug spat out, dashing towards him.
It seemed like the dwarf was a moment from combusting as his skin was as red as a beet, fuming like a kettle. The fighting style imbued into his body made him stand his ground, waiting for his opponent to strike.
—A counter puncher.
The skin of the dwarven thief was too hot to make contact with. A quick strike with minimal contact time was required.
As the man lunged at him wildly, he slipped to the side again, swiftly throwing a precision jab. His knuckles struck the dwarf's chin just as he passed, bringing the small man to slump over.
[Temporary summoning over.]
[EXP: +30]
[Level Up!] [7 -> 8] [20/150]
[BODY: +3] [MANA: +3]
[PERMANENT SUMMON: +1]
The level-up felt a bit unearned, seeing as he just put down lowly thugs, though he didn't complain.
He brushed his hands off with a sigh, looking at the groaning ruffians laid out in the alleyway, "Well, thanks for the help."
Pucha trotted alongside him as he left the alleyway, feeling a better gauge of his own strength.