The More, The Merrier (2)

Before Adrian could say anything else, the Leader stepped up, smiling like a fool. It made him wonder if the Leader had a screw or two loose. After all, Adrian had just taken down one of his men, yet the fool was laughing at him?

"Thought you could give us the slip, eh?" the Leader snarled, tapping the blade of his knife against his forehead.

"Eh? Are you blind or something?" Adrian retorted, playfully eyeing the thugs before him. "If I wanted to vanish, I could have done it without you catching wind. I practically handed myself to you, you dimwit! Why do you think I did that?"

"It doesn't matter!" The Leader laughed again, gesturing to his men to surround Adrian. "What matters is what you got in those pants of yours..."

"Free advice, don't go disclosing your fetishes to strangers," Adrian visibly cringed. "It's hella weird."

The smile disappeared from the Leader's face as he realised what Adrian was saying, replaced with anger. As for the thugs around him, they sighed heavily that it had taken this long for their Leader to finally realise the weird things he was saying all this while. 

"You... You're making a fool out of me!?" The Leader yelled, wildly swinging his knife after each word. 

However, Adrian didn't bother replying. Instead, he used the opportunity to use [Analysis] on his opponents and was surprised to see how low-levelled the opponents were. 

'Everyone except the Leader is stuck at level 4?' Adrian wondered before his concealed eyes turned towards their Leader. 'Level 7, this will be easier than I thought.'

The Leader, arrogant as ever, took Adrian's silence as his will to submit and go back to boasting. "What happened to your tongue? Why don't you try running it more?"

"I am jealous of you," Adrian smirked, reaching behind him and sheathing the minotaur's broadsword. "Jealous of how naive you are."

Using a weapon like the broadsword would have been an overkill for the thugs. Besides, Adrian didn't want to end the fight quickly as he hoped to get used to his strength, as he had never been able to get so many attribute points before. 

"What are you waiting for? Attack the fucker!" The gang leader growled, "You're gonna regret running that mouth of yours, stranger."

Adrian didn't bother replying; instead, he focused on his surroundings. Despite facing low-level opponents, it was Adrian's first time facing multiple enemies simultaneously, and he didn't want to drop his guard should a surprise be sent his way. 

While his silence could be mistaken for weakness, it was far from true, and the thugs were about to learn a lesson the hard way.

As the first thug lunged at him, Adrian ducked before performing a leg sweep that sent the thug stumbling off balance. Despite the man's attempt to regain footing, Adrian denied him the chance. 

A well-aimed kick to the head left the thug sprawled on the ground, unconscious and defeated. 

"Anyone else feeling brave?" Adrian taunted, scanning the remaining gang members.

The next attack came no sooner than Adrian said those words. But this time, instead of taking a physical approach, Adrian decided to fool the thug.

Quick as a flash, Adrian grabbed the thug's head, making sure his eyes hidden under the hoodie were visible only to the thug. Before the thug could look at his face, he activated his [Illusionary Eyes] ability, tricking the thug into thinking he was fighting against one of his buddies.

The thug hurriedly backed off before turning around and attacking one of his people, who now appeared before him as Adrian. The other thugs scratched their heads, utterly puzzled by their comrade's sudden change in behaviour as he randomly attacked them.

"What's goin' on with Jerry? Why's he attacking us?" One of the thugs scratched his head, bewildered. 

Another thug shouted, "Someone break his hands before he gets us all killed!"

'Phase one, complete.' Adrian thought as the thugs scrambled to get the situation under control. 

While they were busy trying to figure out what was going on, Adrian seized the golden opportunity. Without wasting a moment, he cast [Camouflage], fading into the surroundings while the thugs were occupied.

During the confusion, a thug finally realised Adrian's absence. However, his gang mates already had their hands tied dealing with Jerry. Even the Leader was helping them, but Jerry's blind swings kept them all occupied. 

"Hey, where'd the guy go? The one with the hoodie!" the thug tried to get the gang's attention but in vain.

Just then, Adrian reappeared behind him. The thug turned to strike Adrian, but he was quicker and struck the thug on the back of the head with the hilt of his sheathed sword, knocking the man out. 

Meanwhile, the thug, under the influence of Adrian's [Illusionary Eyes], managed to create chaos among his allies. He swung punches and kicks, believing he was fighting against Adrian. 

One of the thugs fell victim to his relentless attacks, hitting the ground before the Leader knocked him out, ending the illusion-induced fight. However, when the Leader and the remaining thug turned around, they had a surprise waiting for them. 

"What the hell happened to them?" the remaining thug blurted out before Adrian rushed at him, and a moment later, the thug joined his unconscious comrades on the ground.

"Looks like your team needs better coordination, huh?" Adrian smirked, surveying the scene. 

"You won't get away with this, stranger."

"Yeah? Try saying something new for once," Adrian rolled his eyes. "This ain't fucking Skyrim, for fuck's sake."

However, before the Leader could reply or do anything, a quest window popped open before Adrian, and after going through its contents, he suddenly rushed out of the alley, using the Leader's shoulder as a stool to grab onto the ledge over them. 

"OI! COME BACK! I WASN'T DONE WITH YOU!"

"Oh, but I am," Adrian replied, nonchalantly letting a potted vase of decayed flowers fall from the steel steps of the building he was ascending, hitting the Leader's head and knocking him out.