Indomitable Spirit

"Why you…!"

Garland's expression twisted ferociously. After recovering from his daze, he pointed at Elias and immediately ordered his subordinates fiercely.

"What are you fools doing?! Overwhelm him! Go attack him!"

At that moment, the surrounding inmates snapped out from their daze and looked at Elias.

Without hesitation, they immediately surrounded him.

"Right..!"

"Damn, brat!"

"Attack him!"

'There's too many…' Elias took a step back and unconsciously frowned.

It wouldn't be a problem if they were just ordinary humans, but considering they were imprisoned in Tartarus, they were most likely former Rankers with E Rank strength.

However, despite being overwhelmed by sheer numbers, he didn't show any signs of panic at all and remained calm.

To him, there was no point in panicking. 

If there was anything the life of crime taught him, it was that in fighting, one has to be decisive, ruthless and resolute. 

Strike before the enemy and never show any weakness!

Before the surrounding inmates could even react, Elias immediately pounced to the nearest inmate in his position.

Swoosh!

He assaulted the person and thrusted his knee to the man's abdomen, making the inmate choke and falter.

"Ga...k!"

Then without pausing, he grabbed the inmate's head and slammed the man to the walls, causing the man to go unconscious.

Slam! Thud!

Behind him, a large fist suddenly appeared. Before it could hit his body, he quickly turned around and covered his face with his arms.

Pow!

Elias pursed his lips as he took a step back from the force, his arms aching in pain from the attack. 

At that moment, his eyes shone with a glint as he saw an opportunity.

As soon as he spotted the opportunity, he immediately went to action and grappled the man who attacked.

Swoosh!

"Hahahahaha."

The inmate who was grappled was surprised before his lips curling into a wide grin, laughing inwardly. He had a larger body compared to Elias' small figure.

However, his smile immediately faded away as his suddenly body turned stiff. He realized too late as a strong force twisted his body and threw him away.

"Run away! take cover!"

"Oh no…! Alfonso!"

The surrounding inmates shouted in surprise and horror, dispersing from the direction the large inmate was flying towards.

The large man crashed into the crowd, causing several inmates to fall to the ground. 

Thud!

After throwing the man away towards the crowd, Elias took a deep breath and turned his focus up a notch, looking at his front.

While he increased his alertness and focus, his expression was calm as several attacks suddenly launched towards him.

A flurry of punches and kicks arrived at him, both strong and fast.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Pow!

The other inmates surrounding him saw his capabilities and didn't underestimate him any further, going all out and launching attack after attack

Bam! Bam! Pow!

Elias dodged and blocked, but due to the overwhelming number of attacks, some of the attacks managed to get past and graze his body.

"Huu…"

A trace of blood leaked from his lips, Elias unconsciously licked it and curled his lips to a smile.

In his mind, he recalled his own talent.

[Talent: Indomitable Spirit — The embers of an unyielding spirit empowers the body in any situation, limitlessly.]

Amidst the desperate situation, he found himself getting stronger and stronger.

After momentarily resisting, he finally found an opportunity to attack and immediately acted to it without hesitation.

Using a bit of his strength, he ran to the nearest person and landed a roundhouse kick to the inmate.

Pow!

The person quickly fell to the ground like a broken doll, however Elias' expression suddenly turned grim—he couldn't retrieve his leg.

A familiar voice echoed.

"The information given was wrong… they didn't say you knew how to fight, you goddamn bastard."

In front of him, Bones King Garland stood, his large hand grasping Elias' legs tightly. With a grin, he immediately raised Elias and slammed him to the ground.

Bam!

'Gak….!'

Elias suddenly choked, feeling pain assault his whole body. Unfortunately, before could react, his body was raised and slammed once again.

Bam!

"But it doesn't matter. After all, against me what can you do anyway? A single person cannot…"

Garland laughed arrogantly, his hand raising Elias for one more. However, his face instantly distorted as a sudden change occured.

This time, Elias was prepared for the attack.

Swoosh!

Midway through the air, Elias twisted his whole body and escaped Garland's tight grip to his leg.

Without pausing for a moment, he immediately raised his leg and launched a brazilian kick to Garland's head.

Bam! Bam!

"Wha.."

Stunned, Garland was forced to take a step back and internally felt dizzy. Before he could recover, a fist came knocking straight into his face.

Swoosh! Bam!

Using all his strength, Elias raised his hand and launched a straight jab, putting Garland's body to the ground.

Thud!

At that moment, everyone was stunned in disbelief.

Elias retracted his hand and looked at the surrounding inmates, there were still more than ten left.

Using the Way of Castellano, he could counter any attack and use many martial arts stored in the technique.

The Way of the Castellano was the creation of his father, the culmination of his martial arts skill. It was the embodiment of mixed martial arts.

Karate, Taekwondo, Wrestling... It had almost every martial art in it. It was what made him confident against odds of twenty.

And coupled with his unyielding talent, his strength increasingly gets stronger the more damage he gets and the longer the battle lasts.

I can't stop… Elias didn't rest and took the sudden distraction of everyone as an opportunity. 

As though a wild beast from the jungle, he immediately pounced at the nearest inmate to his position.

Swoosh!

He grabbed the man's head and slammed the man to the nearest person, causing both of the two persons' bodies to slam at each other.

Boom!

Both of them were knocked out at the same time. At that moment, everyone heard the noise and recovered from their state.

From a short distance, Garland was fuming in extreme rage as he stood up and recovered from the attack. He looked at Elias with a ferocious face.

Elias didn't falter and looked back without any fear, raising his arms as he assumed a fighting stance again while surrounded by several people.

Unknown to him, his lips were curled into a wide, devilish grin, licking the blood from his mouth.

[Name: Elias Vito Castellano (Elias Roan)

Rank: D-

Talent: Indomitable Spirit — The embers of an unyielding spirit empowers the body in any situation, limitlessly. (In Effect)]

[STR: D- (6/200) -> (D+)

AGI: D- (4/200) -> (D+)

STA: D- (10/200) -> (D+)

CONST: D- (6/200) -> (D+)]

Elias laughed, his eyes emitting a fierce glint.

***

Thump! 

Thump!

Donato along with Galilei, Tauros, Junior and Alexus ran towards the prison bathroom in haste. 

"Young master, forgive us, we were late. We were held back by some…"

However, Donato paused his words and suddenly stopped his steps. Behind him, Galilei, Tauros, Junior, and Alexus stopped as well.

Their eyes collectively widened in disbelief of the sight before them. The words they were about to say drifted to the air vacantly.

"...stupid ants in the prison."

In front of them, Elias with bruises in his face and blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, stood while holding an unconscious large man with red eyes in the air.

Surrounding his figure were thirty or more prisoners, messily stacked up against each other while unconsciously laying on the ground with bruises on their face.

The five of them looked at the 'corpses' and looked at Elias, speechless.

"Young master…"

At that moment, Elias slowly turned his head to look at them. While wearing a calm and cold expression, he called out.

"Donato, Galilei, Tauros, Junior and Alexus."

Unconsciously, the five of them straightened their backs from his gaze.

"...You guys are late."