Chapter 36. Overpowering with Speed and Strength

"How dare you!" Eagle shouted. "Are you really so tired of living already?"

Bigarm, on the other hand, was silent, but his face was very ugly. He just realized that Jack had been making fun of him; the guy never had any intention of joining them. No one had ever dared to treat him like this in VR games. Anyone who tried had always been taught a brutal lesson.

"I originally thought you are a smart person, so I was hoping to recruit you. Turns out you are just a fool," Bigarm gripped his sword and pointed at Jack. "If you don't kneel in apology, I'll show you what happens to a person who dares to oppose me!"

Jack just smiled calmly in response to the threat.

"If you keep on wasting time running your mouth off, your friend will soon be dead," he noted as he pointed to where the girl and Bowler were fighting with Ball.

"You…!" Bigarm was furious. He was not only being made fun of, he was also being looked down on. Usually, it was him who did that to others. He would not bear this humiliation.

"Eagle, you flank him! Backstab him while I keep him busy," he said to the ranger.

"All right," Eagle obeyed while taking out medicine to drink. He then moved in a circling position to get to Jack's side.

"Finally going to take action?" Jack commented with indifference.

"You will soon see how foolish it is to oppose me!" Bigarm made his final speech before dashing towards Jack.

He held his large sword with two hands. When he was near, he immediately used Swing. The move covered a large radius. With the large sword's long reach, he could hit his opponent before he came into his opponent's range. Jack didn't trade blows with him, he simply evaded with a back step.

Meanwhile, Eagle, seeing his partner starting the assault, immediately advanced to Jack's side, flanking him, and thrust with his dagger. Jack side stepped and easily avoided that attack as well.

Bigarm pulled back his sword and made a powerful down-swing toward the place where Jack was heading. He was confident that he had his opponent now. He used Power Strike to deal a heavy blow. However, he didn't feel his sword strike flesh. It sped downward into the ground, creating a crack with the powerful blow. He was bewildered, where had his opponent gone? Where had he suddenly vanished?

"B–Boss! Behind you!" Eagle shouted.

Bigarm turned around in disbelief, but there was his opponent standing behind him and smiling confidently.

'What happened? Did he use a skill? How could he suddenly move behind me? Is he a ranger?' Bigarm jabbered internally. 'But he was using a sword. Even if he was a ranger, he couldn't be that fast!'

A torrent of questions was running through his mind. He couldn't make sense of his opponent's movement at all.

'He must be a high-level Ranger. He was just holding a sword to confuse me.' Bigarm tried to come up with an acceptable explanation.

In his attempt to try to calm himself down, he yelled at Jack, "Do you only know how to dodge? If you really are a Fighter, receive my attack!"

"All right," Jack said, still smiling maddeningly.

Bigarm was surprised by his opponent's reply. He thought he must be simply acting tough. Or was he setting him up for a trap? Bigarm hesitated.

"What? I'm not moving now. Are you chickening out?" Jack taunted.

"Raaarggghhh!!" Bigarm was truly furious. He ignored all thoughts of caution and swung his large sword at Jack.

Jack really didn't dodge this time. He swung Storm Breaker as well. His black longsword moved in an arc and collided with the large sword that was almost twice its size. Bigarm was delighted when he saw his opponent's measly weapon meeting his blow. But the delight had only lasted for a moment, when his arm was shoved back. He felt like he had hit a solid wall, the recoil sent him back several steps. He almost lost his balance and fell on his butt. In disbelief, he stared at his opponent, whose feet hadn't moved an inch. How could his strength be so high?

"Well, now that you guys have made your attacks, I guess it's my turn now," Jack said in a reasonable tone.

He lunged forward and used Power Strike. Bigarm immediately brought up his large sword to parry, but as the black sword connected, he felt like he had been trying to stop a truck. His feet skidded on the ground before getting lifted up. He couldn't help but feel his body getting lighter as he flew backward.

His eyes were still bulging in disbelief when his back slammed to the side of a nearby building. The pain in his back paralyzed him and prevented him from rebalancing his body. He fell to his knees.

Seeing this, Jack said, "I never asked you to kneel to apologize, but I guess I don't mind it either."

"Urgh!" The mocking caused Bigarm to force himself up again. He yelled at Eagle, "What are you doing just standing there? Attack together!"

Eagle, who was still stunned by the scene just now, was snapped back to attention by Bigarm's rebuke. He immediately attacked in conjunction with Bigarm's advance.

Jack observed their movements calmly. He dodged Eagle's attack, which came first, then swing his sword at Bigarm to stop his attack. Jack followed up by using his superior speed to circle around, preventing them from surrounding him. He then proceeded to overwhelm them with a barrage of slashes. Each slash that they blocked caused their hands to tremble, while the ones that they failed to block took out large chunks of their HP.

As a Ranger, Eagle's defense was lower than Bigarm's, so he lost his health at a much faster rate. When they managed to break away from that torrent of slashes, his HP was already less than 20%. They had seen that the current world was unlike the VR games they had played in the past; a person who died here stayed dead. Or, at least, that's what they believed, because they never again saw any of the players they killed. Therefore, seeing that their opponent was too strong, and that his life was almost depleted, Eagle immediately turned tail and ran.

"You coward!" Bigarm immediately cursed out when he saw his partner abandoning him.

"He made a smart choice, actually," Jack commented as he advanced towards Bigarm. He used another Power Strike, this time aiming it downward. Bigarm had no time to dodge, hence he could only block by using Parry. The impact again forced him to his knees. He gritted his teeth as the pain from his knees surged up to his brain. Jack followed up with a knee blow to Bigarm's chin. The big man stumbled backward as he felt another slash to his waist. He could see his HP bar depleting rapidly.

"Stop! Stop!" He yelled. Seeing that he had no chance to win, he threw away all his dignity. "I'm sorry! Please spare me!"

Jack stopped his assault. He looked at the pitiful man who was groveling on the ground.

"Please! I will give you my valuables, please allow me to live!" Bigarm continued to plead.

"What valuables?" Jack asked.

Bigarm took out things from his inventory bag, several coins, and iron ores. Jack was not a person who robbed people, generally, but, since the guy was offering and he was the one who had attacked first, Jack didn't feel like he needed to be courteous.

"I like your sword too," Jack said.

Bigarm hesitated for a second, but immediately thought that his life was more important. He put the large sword down on the ground with the coins and iron ores.

"Please, that's all I have," he pleaded again.

He still had his armor, in fact, but Jack was not a heartless person. Unless the guy had headgear or a cloak, which were the armor pieces he was still missing, Jack didn't feel too interested.

"Go," he said. "If I see you bullying others again, don't blame me for not showing any mercy next time."

"Yes, yes, thank you! Thank you!" Bigarm said as he knocked his head on the ground while retreating. After some distance, he turned around and ran away as fast as he could.