37 Resource Gathering (2/2)
Some men and women were happily drinking at the tables. They glanced at the newcomers. One man stood up and cheerfully pulled the old man into a hug, ”Did you bring my favorite?!”
”Haha! Of course!” The fat old man nodded while smiling. ”Here.” He handed over the bottle of wine.
The man grinned and glanced at Ed. ”Who's the weirdo with the mask? You know outsiders are not to be brought here without preapproval.”
Ed glanced around the room. There were currently only six individuals present, not counting himself and the fat man. 'Should I just kill them all? Or play it peaceful?'
The fat man slapped Ed on the shoulder. ”This man is here on important business. I need to introduce him to the leader. Is he in his office?”
”Mm.” One man nodded. ”He has a few guests right now though.”
”Tsk. Like I care about that.” The old man aggressively dragged Ed towards the door. He grabbed the handle and swung it open. They entered and closed the door behind them. A desk with a middle-aged man sitting behind it was revealed. Two guests were sitting in chairs on the other side of the desk. They turned to look at the new intruders.
Ed's eyes widened in shock when he saw them. 'These men belong to Fang! Is he here as well?!'
The man behind the desk stood up and yelled in anger, ”What do you think you're doing?!” He turned to the two HQ soldiers and smiled apologetically, ”I'm sorry for the interruption. I'll make sure to discipline them properly later.”
”No problem.” One man waved casually. He glanced at Ed and rose an eyebrow. ”Who's the masked fella?”
”That...” The middle-aged man hesitated. ”I don't know.” He shook his head.
'Well, this is enough I suppose. Let's get started.' Chains appeared and bound the man behind the desk. He didn't even bother doing the same to the soldiers as he knew they would have a trick or two to escape. Instead he began to melt their heads. Neither was currently wearing their helmet and they were only human after all.
The two soldiers screamed and desperately grabbed at their faces as they melted. Their voices made horrifying gurgling sounds due to the blood constricting their airways. They both died in a matter of seconds.
Ed smiled as he began to strip the two soldiers. One was the same size as himself. He put the exo-suit on. 'I must be having really good luck today. I needed a new exo suit.' He eyed the other suit. He melted the wooden desk to create a small crate to carry it in. He found both helmets nearby. He took off the wooden mask and put on the exo helmet. Then he set the other helmet in the crate before sealing it.
”Now then.” He looked at the horrified middle-aged man bound behind the desk. ”Mana-powder. I need it. Where is it?”
The man's voice trembled. ”HQ was just taking most of it away. You got here just in time. There's a crate of it in the storage room.”
”Understood. Thanks for your cooperation.” He turned around as the middle-aged man began to melt.
”AGHHH!!!” He screamed. ”I told you what you wanted to know! Why?!” He soon turned into a puddle. The puddle solidified into an ugly pile of flesh and bone.
The fat man trembled as he followed behind Ed. They opened the office door. Twenty people were waiting for them outside. They each aimed a gun at the duo. He spotted two more soldiers wearing their full exo suits amongst them.
'Ugh, my powers won't work on those two through the gel of the suit. It's hard enough controlling my powers to slip through the gaps of my own suit. I should modify it later to make it easier.' He shook his head while sighing. Then he pushed the fat man forward, ”This man brought an esper here. He killed the leader and my comrade. Fortunately, I managed to kill him before he got me to.”
”What?!” The fat man's eyes widened in fear.
The men holding steam rifles looked at each other hesitantly. They lowered their rifles. However, the two men who came here with Captain Fang still aimed. ”He's lying!” One of them yelled. He began to pull the trigger. However, it was too late.
A concrete wall appeared in front of Ed and the bullets from the HQ soldiers slammed into it. They were using wind-ammunition, so each bullet penetrated the wall deeply. However, it did not manage to destroy it or penetrate it fully. The other eighteen men and women began to melt before they could even aim their guns again.
The two HQ men began to retreat. One yelled to the other. ”You use fire ammunition and I'll use wind!”
”Right!” He agreed.
They quickly reloaded their steam revolver rifles. They each took aim and fired at the same time. The green wind bullet fed the red fire bullet to create a large blast of flames that slammed into the concrete wall. A large hole was burnt into the wall as it began to collapse. However, Ed was nowhere to be seen.