57. Show Off
Thomas Andre's attack on Indra's barrier gathers people's attention. The impact sound was so loud it can be heard even from the hotel's top floor, after all. Indra thinks that it's a good chance to make a show.
"Then, do you want to try hitting it with all your might?"
"Are you sure? It may break, you know."
"Heh, I doubt you can even scratch it."
"Oh? Wanna make a bet?"
"Sure. What do you want?"
"Join my Guild if I break your barrier. If it doesn't break, then I'll be the one joining your Guild."
"Hey, hey, that's too much."
"What is it? You're not confident?"
"That's not it. I just don't want to make an enemy of the USA by taking one of their best hunters."
"HAHAHAHA! You sure know how to boast. Fine, then how about this? The one who wins can ask anything from the loser as long as it's not excessive."
"The standard of excessive is not clear, but that sounds fun. Fine, let's do that."
Indra and Thomas agree with their bet, but then Il Hwan suddenly joins their talk.
"Oi, oi, oi, Yankee, I was the one who wanted to hit that barrier first."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Speak english, man. I don't understand chinese."
Il Hwan was speaking korean, so Thomas can't understand what he says.
"I think he wants to hit the barrier too. He was about to hit it for me when you suddenly hit the barrier. Also, he speaks korean."
"Korean, chinese, they look the same to me. Tell him I'll be the one who hit the barrier."
Indra waves at Il Hwan's assistant that almost peed his pants to come closer and help the 2 old guys' talk to each other. Too bad that they keep arguing because both of them want to hit the barrier.
"Stop! Stop! You guys talk too much. You just want to hit my barrier to see if you can break it, right? Here, hit all you want."
Indra creates 2 barrier domes that are smaller than the previous one. He only makes them with diameters of 5 meters because they will just be used as hitting targets, not to protect anyone.
"Stop arguing and take one each."
"What the?! You can make two of them?"
Thomas is getting surprised again.
"I can make as many as I want as long as I have enough mana."
"But kid, won't the barrier get weaker if you make 2 of them?"
Il Hwan is quite concerned about the barrier's quality.
"I don't think so. They should have the same durability because I used the same amount of mana to make them."
"Heh, fine then. Hey, korean! Let's see who can break the barrier first. And how if you join our bet?"
"Heh, that doesn't sound bad, yankee. Fine, let's play."
But before they can start, Indra changes the barriers' positions to cover both of them. Now they are inside the barrier, so they can hit as hard as they want and the surroundings won't get destroyed. Now, they can finally start.
Thomas gathers his magic power and his already big body seems to get bigger. His muscles bulge as gold mana covers his entire body and then he throws a powerful punch at the barrier. Again, his punch just shakes the barrier, but not even a scratch appears on it.
On Il Hwan's side, a different scene unfolds. While Thomas uses his fists, Il Hwan uses a pair of white straight short swords. His mana makes the swords glow bright white then he slashes the barriers many times at a very high speed.
However, Il Hwan's attacks also just shake the barrier, just like Thomas. None of them manage to even scratch the barrier. All the S-Ranks who see it are surprised the barriers aren't even damaged because all of them can feel the power of these 2's attacks and they are sure if it's them who received those attacks, then they will be badly injured already.
Both Thomas and Il Hwan haven't given up. Instead, they get even more intrigued as they grins excitedly before using even more powerful attacks. They never find something that can withstand their attacks since they become this powerful, after all.
Thomas's body suddenly transforms. His entire body gets covered with golden armor that has horns on the head. Then he starts punching again and now his punches are much more powerful than before.
Meanwhile, Il Hwan's entire body is covered with bright white mana. He becomes much faster and stronger. Most S-Ranks can't even see his movements because he is too fast. Only top-tier S-Ranks can see his attacks now.
Thomas and Il Hwan keep going until both of them are exhausted. However, the barriers still stand there without any scratches. Everyone is speechless by this sight because 2 of the most powerful S-Ranks they've ever seen can't even damage a Barrier Magic of a young Healer.
"I believe it's my win then."
Indra smirks while dispelling his barrier and approaches the 2 exhausted men who lie on the destroyed ground while panting. They are so out of breath that they can't talk back to him.
"Hey little bro, now I can't have a sparring session with him."
Dewi points out the exhausted Il Hwan.
"Well, this sparring session is just used to make me understand your fighting style. So I don't really need you to spar with anyone because I already know your power and fighting style."
Dewi pouts because she really wants to spar with another S-Rank. She gets even more interested after seeing Il Hwan's and Thomas's powers. Now that she's already used to her abilities, she starts enjoying battles like how she used to when she was still serious with learning Muay Thai.
Indra's team then resumes their sparring session inside a barrier he made. He even covers the ground with a barrier to avoid destroying it like Il Hwan and Thomas. The spars are quite interesting because it's rare for S-Ranks to fight each other.
In fact, it's too interesting that other teams ask if they can also spar with each other in the barrier dome. Indra allows it after his team finishes their sparring session. Then it becomes something like a free tournament of S-Rank Hunters.
Meanwhile, Thomas and Il Hwan seem to hit it off with each other. They actually have a friendly talk now while watching the battles. The poor translator guy needs to keep translating their sentences to one another without any rest.
That is until the Federal Hunter Bureau agents distribute communication devices with a translation program to help them communicate with each other during the raid. After all, they can't bring others into the raid just to translate their speech.
Surprisingly, the translation device works quite well as long as they don't use slang words or dialects. It's better if they use formal languages when communicating with each other so that the devices can translate their speech correctly.
"What do you think of that barrier, Deputy Director?"
David Brennon, the Director of USA's Federal Hunter Bureau is talking with the Deputy Director while looking at Indra's barrier from the top floor.
"That is a very powerful barrier. We definitely need to recruit him after this raid is over."
"I agree. The Indonesian's Government doesn't seem to value their S-Rank Hunters. I heard they had a rule that forced S-Rank Hunters to transmigrate to other provinces if there were more than 1 S-Rank in a province like the case with Smith siblings."
"Yes, the Smith siblings demanded the rule to be erased because they want to stay in Bali with their family members. Their government eventually changed that rule, but it took a very long process."
"They are stupid. S-Ranks are the pinnacle of humans' powers. They should be doing everything to please the S-Ranks so they'll stay in their country instead of making such a rule."
"I think they want to show that even S-Rank Hunters need to obey the country or should I say their government. You know it yourself that those politicians are the same everywhere."
"Hmm, you're right. Maybe our government would do the same if we didn't have enough money to recruit high-ranking hunters to join us."
Michael Connor, the Deputy Director agrees with David.
"Anyway, prepare a plan to recruit him after the raid at any cost. We can't do anything about the raid anymore now because only the Hunters can take care of it now. But we still have the responsibility to protect our country's future."
"Understood."
While the Federal Hunter Bureau thinks of ways to recruit Indra, the Hunters are starting to know each other's power better. Then before anyone realizes it, the time for the raid finally arrives.
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