"Indeed! Nobody bothers helping once it's dark...they hear - the screams, the shouts, the agony...the common people huddling in their houses hear it all."
David spun on his feet as he came face to face with a young man, few years older than him who was standing with a calm posture. David couldn't see the man's face properly in the faint light but only the outline of his figure.
He appeared tall with gaunt muscles that rippled under his shirt. Behind the man, there were a few other men. Their figures were even more blurred and David, who had been thanking his luck for the darkness few minutes ago, now wanted to curse his own words.
All he wanted was to not let people see him and the girl in the empty street, especially since they were slaves. And as he had seen, the slaves were treated quite harshly by the common people here.
He didn't want to imagine their reaction to a pair of freely roaming slaves. What if they assumed both of them had run off from their masters? Even though they didn't have any.
The man approached closer as he said. "But you see, they shall never come out of their house even when a human would get murdered right on the other side of their door."
His lips curved into a sly grin as the exposed teeth glistened with malice.
"But, you miss..." His eyes shifted to the nameless girl. "Maybe we won't harm you. In fact, we shall be sure to show you a wonderful place to live your life...what ya say?"
He tried extending his hand at her but was stopped by David who slapped it away.
At that, the man's companions who had been grinning behind him, stopped laughing as their eyes widened with rage.
Did this little guy just attack their boss?
"You scumbag, you got some balls down there." One of them bellowed as he grinded his knuckles, preparing to launch an assault if necessary.
David snapped his neck at the man as he muttered with a sagely expression. "Indeed, I do have a pair of balls down there.... Don't you have them as well?"
"What did you say bast--?"
David spoke quickly, interrupting the man. "I mean...would a man with the proper number of balls try to misbehave with a girl at midnight?"
"Big mouth you got there. Here, let me make you dumb." The man stepped forward trying to create an intimidating atmosphere. But their apparent leader stopped him.
"No need for that. I shall deal with him. Don't you see a girl beside him? Sometimes fools end up getting brave when they start thinking with their lower brains."
David didn't flinch at the insult but rather studied them calmly. The reality was that the moment these goons had stepped in his range, he had activated his Vision.
It was quite useful to him in the dark of the night. Not only did he now know that there were nine of these men standing before him which he didn't know before given he couldn't see them well enough, he now also knew that only three of them were in Tier 1.
The leader of the group, the talkative man who looked like he just wanted to punch something and the third one - a man who was watching these all from the backline.
The rest of the six hadn't even awakened their mana veins.
'Hmm... everything depends on whether they have proper fighting forms.'
The leader of the group stepped forward, trying to act as calm as possible. "Hey girl, I shall give you one last chance. Follow us willingly and we won't do you any harm."
David couldn't see her expression but given that her body wasn't tilting from one side to the other or that she wasn't hopping, he could guess she was either afraid or...serious.
He asked softly making the leader lean forward slightly in order to hear it. "Say....oh you just made a mistake."
David threw a punch from an upward angle, making the man tilt sideways to dodge it.
David instantly followed up with a side jab with his other hand, which the man caught using both his hands.
"Hah, kid! You really th--" He couldn't even complete his sentence as David twisted his hand and pummeled his elbow straight at his throat.
The man's eyes widened as with a vicious coughing he fell on his back.
"Boss! You bastard, I am not going to leave you!"
The loud man who was also a Tier I leaped at him. David instantly moved back, just out of range of the man's bear like hug.
David did a 360° spin as he gathered huge amounts of mana in his right foot. Gathering all his strength, he delivered a roundhouse kick that struck the broad man's chest accompanied by a squelching sound as if he just broke few bones.
But given the kick was charged with mana, maybe he did break few bones from it...
Three unawakened came next as they closed on him. But before David could get ready, a small figure hurled past him. The first guy, a frail looking man, didn't even see what happened as strong arms wrapped around his waist. In the next moment, he was lifted above the ground and tossed aside as if he weighed nothing.
He tried easing his fall but failed as the back of his head struck the ground quite hard. The man immediately lost his consciousness.
The nameless girl rolled from under another unawakened as she kicked at the ankle of the man standing at the back of the group.
To her surprise, the man was able to dodge the kick at the last second but not before almost losing his balance.
The nameless girl narrowed her eyes at the man who was now looking down at her.
"You strong!" She muttered with a growl as if she was offended that someone had dodged her kick. She had intentionally avoided the rest of the goons as she sensed the power of a Tier I coming from this man.
The third Tier I of the group.
"Let's see if you can stop me, girl." The man snickered as he took a fighting form.
The unawakened ones almost jumped on her, with the thought of surrounding her to take her out of the fight.
*Crunch*
At that moment, the sound of bones breaking echoed in the chaos, followed by a soul wrenching scream that must have been heard by the entire neighbourhood.
"Are you people really ignoring me? Tch, tch. That's so amateurish of you."
All the remaining five unawakened looked behind them. At the screaming man and his pitiful forearm that was now bent at unnatural angles.
And behind them with a calm face, stood David.