The entire battlefield erupted.
Shock froze on the blood- and sweat-streaked faces of the lackeys, then was swept away by an overwhelming sense of absurdity, turning into piercing laughter and venomous curses.
"HAHAHA! Did this big idiot get kicked in the head by a donkey?"
"You? Bare-handed? Hahaha!"
"Get your ass home and drink milk, brat! Don't dirty Grandpa's blade!"
Mockery, ridicule, and vulgar curses surged like waves, forming a sea of malice. The two sides that had been fighting to the death moments ago found a twisted sort of understanding through their shared target of ridicule.
Even the two leaders, who had instinctively tensed at the other man's inhuman size, could not help but show a trace of contempt.
The Blood Anchor Gang leader bared his teeth in a savage grin:
"Fuck, what a waste of such a huge body. Turns out he's a brainless idiot!"
The Dagger Gang leader's eyes were cold. His snake-like gaze roamed over Adams's powerful body as he silently licked his lips.
"What a pity for such a fine physique... wasted on a fool."
Faced with the overwhelming mockery, not even a ripple appeared on Adams's handsome yet expressionless face.
The next instant—
BOOM!
The ground beneath Adams's feet seemed to have been struck by an invisible warhammer. Dense, terrifying cracks burst outward from beneath his sole like a spiderweb, while stones and mud sprayed into the air like a fountain.
A silver blur carrying suffocating pressure crossed several meters in an instant. Before the Blood Anchor Gang lackey laughing the hardest could even turn his wild grin into shock, an enormous palm like a fan had already slammed down onto the top of his head.
"Urgh?!"
The lackey felt an irresistible force descend from above. His vision suddenly flipped, and the entire world spun and blurred before his eyes.
BANG—CRACK!
A dull, heart-stopping impact mixed with the sharp crack of shattering bones.
His head was forcibly pressed into the hard ground by that terrifying hand. His entire upper body sank deep into the earth, while his legs twitched at grotesque angles. His exposed feet kicked twice before going completely limp.
The expressions of the gangsters who had been laughing wildly a second ago froze instantly. Vast terror poured over them like ice water from head to toe, freezing their limbs stiff.
Several lackeys nearby were nearly thrown off their feet by the violent tremor from the ground. They stumbled back in panic, crashing into walls and companions, their eyes filled with nothing but pure fear.
"Courting death!"
"Hack him to death!!"
The brief dead silence was shattered by even madder roars. Adrenaline mixed with primal fear, igniting the ferocity buried in the desperadoes' bones.
The nearest lackeys, their eyes bloodshot, let out beastly howls and raised their bloodstained sabers. From different angles, they viciously slashed at Adams's exposed neck, waist, ribs, and the backs of his knees, their blades tearing through the air with the ruthlessness of a fight to the death.
Yet the expected sight of flesh and blood flying never came. The blades left only faint marks on Adams's skin, as though nails had scraped across stone.
Within moments, those marks vanished as if erased by a rubber, leaving his skin smooth and unblemished, as though he had never been attacked.
The cruel grins froze on the lackeys' faces. Their hands gripping their blades began to tremble uncontrollably, and their pupils contracted wildly at the incomprehensible sight.
An illusion? It had to be an illusion!
Adams gave them no time to think. His eyes remained utterly calm.
His arms shot out like lightning, one hand on each side, accurately seizing the heads of the two closest lackeys, whose movements had slowed from terror.
"Stop—!"
Their desperate screams only made it halfway out.
BOOM! BOOM!
Adams's unmatched arm strength smashed the two heads into the walls on either side. The rotten wooden walls burst open with two huge holes as if they were made of paper.
Wood chips and broken bricks flew everywhere. The two heads were embedded deep in the walls, their bodies hanging limply below like discarded rag dolls.
The sight of their companions' misery seared the remaining lackeys' hearts like red-hot irons. Terror was completely ignited by bloodshed, transforming into hysterical madness.
"Kill him! Avenge our brothers!"
The remaining lackeys roared like trapped beasts, waving their blades and guns as they charged again without regard for their lives. Blade light formed a net, pouring down madly upon that silver-haired demon god!
Adams did not even bother to block. He merely shifted his center of gravity slightly, and his mountain-like body pushed forward against attacks from every direction as he took a step ahead!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Blades struck his shoulders, back, and arms with dull impacts, still leaving only shallow marks that vanished in an instant.
Adams's arms struck like giant pythons, each swing creating a heavy gust of wind.
He grabbed one lackey by the neck, lifted him like a chick, and smashed him viciously into the ground. Bang! Mud and blood splashed everywhere.
Another lackey was grabbed around the waist and swung like a massive hammer into a nearby wooden pillar. Crack! The pillar snapped, and the lackey's spine made a teeth-grating crack before he went limp as mud.
Simple, brutal, and utterly without technique. There was only pure, absolute force crushing everything.
Every dull impact came with the crisp crack of broken bones and the muffled groans of life fading away.
The narrow alley had become a sandbox for a giant's casual rampage. The walls groaned, the ground trembled, and human bodies were smashed into the mud and embedded in the walls like bloodstained totems.
Watching the men he had brought fall one after another like stalks of wheat, the Blood Anchor Gang leader's fleshy face twisted completely out of shape. His eyes were bloodshot with fury and a trace of barely perceptible fear as he let out a beastly roar:
"Shoot! Fucking shoot him! Kill that monster!"
"B-Boss... if we shoot, we'll hit our own men..."
A lackey reminded him tremblingly.
"I told you to shoot!"
Like an enraged bull, the Blood Anchor Gang leader glared at the subordinate who had spoken, his bloodshot eyes bulging.
"Do I need to repeat myself?!"
Fear of their leader temporarily outweighed their terror of the monster.
Gritting their teeth, they tremblingly raised their loaded flintlocks. The pitch-black muzzles aimed past the companions still fighting Adams ahead, toward the massive figure moving through the center of the alley.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—!
The dense gunfire crackled like exploding beans, and the narrow alley was instantly swallowed by thick, choking gunpowder smoke.
Muzzle flashes flickered through the smoke. Lead bullets tore through the air with shrill whistles of death.
"Argh—!"
"My leg!"
"Fuck! Who the hell shot me?!"
Screams rose one after another. Most bullets missed without surprise, either burying themselves in rotten wooden walls or mercilessly tearing through the bodies of their own men in front. Blood sprayed through the smoke as the shot lackeys wailed and fell.
Only a few bullets pierced through the chaotic figures and swirling smoke, drilling viciously into Adams's body.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Blooms of blood burst through the thick smoke, crimson liquid splashing onto the muddy ground in a painfully vivid display.
The massive figure abruptly halted under the repeated impacts, as though struck by an invisible heavy hammer.
The smoke billowed, obscuring the view. Only the vague outline of the figure could be seen swaying.
"We hit him!!"
A lackey screamed in wild delight.
The Blood Anchor Gang leader's taut nerves suddenly loosened, and a wave of delirious joy washed over him.
He instinctively burst into loud laughter, his rough voice echoing through the smoke-filled alley, filled with the savage delight of surviving a disaster.
"Hahaha! No matter how tough his bones are, he can't withstand lead bullets! Turn him into a sieve!"
His subordinates also recovered somewhat from their fear. Seeing the figure seemingly frozen in the smoke, they let out dry, agreeing laughter and cheers.
The Blood Anchor Gang leader hefted his heavy ship anchor and panted heavily. Then, with murderous eyes, he looked toward the Dagger Gang leader not far away and sneered:
"Skinny pole! The troublesome bastard's been dealt with! Now it's time to settle our old score!"