Oliver, frightened by the sword and knife standing right in front of him, retreated a step or two. Once his master was out of harm's way, his steward swung his sword, pushing Han back. Even though Han had now moved away from Oliver, Oliver, standing behind his steward, stared at Han in fear. They had made a deal, but Han broke the agreement and attacked immediately.
- Now, do you believe me? I'll be frank. You know this orc woman is precious to me, right? That's why I won't set a trap for you. In exchange for you letting her go, I'll surrender immediately and teach you what I know. What do you think? Would that be a good deal for you?
Oliver thought that if he could obtain the Padraig family's special technique, his brother wouldn't have died in vain. With the technique, they could form their own special teams against the Padraig family and become a much stronger family. But this man is not a man to be trusted.
If they don't get rid of this man right now and this man will move to kill them if they're careless. He's definitely a dangerous man. Oliver extended his arm and pointed a finger at Han.
- You... You are dangerous. There's no deal with you. Marty, kill him. I don't want him to live. Then kill this creature.
Marty extended his sword toward Han and walked in front of Oliver. As Marty stood between Han and Oliver, Han replaced the karambit knife in his right hand on his belt and removed the curved dagger from his waistband.
From what he'd seen from Marty's defense earlier, Marty was at least as fast as Han. His sword certainly had to be faster too. Defending his sword with karambit knives was nearly impossible. So he replaced his karambit knife with a curved dagger. Since he'd given the other one to Berfin, he now had to make do with a single dagger.
As Han leaned forward slightly to attack, Marty's attack came. Marty lunged forward quickly, aiming to pierce Han's chest with his sword, but Han dodged this swift attack by sidestepping with a foot movement.
While protecting himself with his curved dagger against the possibility of Marty spinning his sword around and attacking again as he passed quickly in front of him, he made a move toward Marty's neck with the karambit knife in his other hand. However, his move did not reach Marty.
The initial attacks had failed, but something was different. Now Han stood between Marty and Oliver. If he turned around and attacked Oliver, he would definitely be stabbed in the back. There was even a chance his head could be cut off. So Han dismissed the possibility of attacking Oliver and calmly walked sideways, stepping out from between the two enemies.
When there is no enemy left behind and caught sight of Oliver, even if only out of the corner of his eye, he stopped and took up a defensive stance. Marty didn't attack Han because if his attack failed like the previous one, he could harm his master. So he waited for Han to move away from his master.
When the two enemies' deadly gazes met, they both lunged forward, and a fierce struggle ensued. They were very fast. While the ear could hear the whirring of daggers and swords in the air, the eye could only see the sparks of two steel blades clashing against each other.
Despite fighting for some time, unable to gain an upper hand, they began using the boxes in the warehouse to their advantage. Sometimes Han would use them to attack Marty, sometimes Marty. As a result, no box was left unbroken in the area they fought, and all the contents scattered across the floor.
As the ingredients, mostly vegetables and fruit, were crushed and scattered around, it became difficult to move and the ground became very slippery. Due to the uneven and slippery nature of the ground, they could no longer stand firmly. Therefore, their attacks were not strong or deadly enough.
Oliver, who thought Marty would quickly kill Han, couldn't accept the battle dragging on and Marty failing to gain the upper hand he wanted. He immediately devised an alternative plan and began looking toward the strongest variable in the warehouse.
As long as this orc woman remained his prisoner, they would definitely win this battle. To do this, Han needed some guidance. Oliver looked around and finally found the solution he was looking for. He quickly moved forward and went to where the essential oil barrels were placed in the corner of the warehouse.
These essential oils, used to serve the casino's signature meal prepared for wealthy patrons, were highly flammable. The wealthy would often order this dish when they were engrossed in the entertainment. Ignited in a large tray, the oils released a pleasant aroma, and the flames from the tray were powerful enough to reach the ceiling.
Oliver thought that lighting a fire in front of the cage would distract Han so Marty could kill him. So, he poked and prodded one of the oil barrels with his sharp-tipped dagger, trying to pry it open, but he couldn't get it to open.
When he finally managed to break the small tree knot on the edge of the lid, he pushed the barrel over. He didn't care if the essential oil spilled onto the floor, and pushed the barrel over to the cage. He was quite excited about the flames he was about to ignite, because a visual feast awaited him shortly.
Erna watched Oliver as he rolled the barrel around the cage. This man was doing something strange, but he couldn't tell his son about it now. His son's attention was entirely focused on his enemy. If he distracted his son now, there was a strong chance he would be killed.
While Erna watched Oliver silently, Oliver finished pouring the essential oil around the cage. He spun the oil barrel around the cage three times to create a large flame, then kicked the barrel of oil he no longer needed, removing it from the cage. The barrel rolled to the empty edge of the warehouse.
Oliver longed to open Erna's cage and put his dagger to her neck, but he was certain he wouldn't be able to handle this orc woman. How could he possibly control this enormous woman? The orc woman's gaze was fixed on him. Thankfully, he finished pouring the oil. Now, all that remained was to ignite the oil and distract Han.
Whether the remaining oil in the barrel burned or not didn't matter. If the barrel ignited, this wooden warehouse would burn with it. He would have to get rid of the enemies here somehow. Whether they were cut to death or burned to death didn't matter. Oliver will get what he wants, after all.
Oliver, looking into Erna's eyes and smiling slyly, leaned down and ignited the essential oil. When the flames engulfed the cage and rose up to the ceiling, suddenly lighting up the warehouse. Han and Marty stopped fighting and turned toward the blaze.
Seeing his mother in the flames, Han tried to run toward her. But Marty, anticipating Han's attack on Oliver, quickly stepped in front of him and blocked him. Han, reluctant to start the fight again, wanted to rush to his mother, but he couldn't.
The flames around the cage soon reached the trail of oil left by the tumbling barrel. Like a wick igniting, the flames, traveling along the trail of oil, managed to penetrate the barrel's small opening, and the barrel of essential oil exploded with a loud bang.
The explosion sent fragments of the flaming barrel flying everywhere. Several of the fragments, scattering and traveling at high speed, punctured two of the oil barrels stacked in the corner. At that moment, all the stacked barrels of essential oil began to explode, one after another.
Each explosion doubled the intensity of the previous one, and the resulting pressure of the flames burned everything in the warehouse, scattering everything it could move to different corners.
Han, thrown to the far corner of the warehouse, turned his back at the last moment to shield himself. The four-eyed bearskin he wore prevented the flames from reaching his body, but some of his hair was singed. He quickly extinguished the igniting hair. Then he stood up and ran to help his mother.
As he ran, his eyes searched for Marty and saw him lying motionless, face down, on the side of the warehouse. Pieces of wood had sunk into his back, and his entire back was burned. The pieces of wood on his back and his clothes were still burning.
Han ran forward, and when he reached his mother's cage, he faced the harsh reality. The pressure of the explosion had toppled the steel cage, and her mother lay motionless inside. Pieces of wood had been embedded in her back, and these pieces continued to burn as she lay motionless on the ground.
…
Head Instructor Turan was in the engineers' room, watching Demir's video recording with the AI systems engineer. When they watched the scene where Demir kills nine men, Turan pointed at the video and asked,
- This is it! This is what I'm talking about. Can a human being move that fast? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe it. Now, did this kid accelerate so fast because he was in virtual training, or is there another reason? I just don't understand.
When I send the video to the Supreme Master, he'll definitely ask about Demir's speed. And I don't have an answer for the Supreme Master. This makes me very nervous. To answer the Supreme Master, I need to understand how Demir is moving so fast. So, I'd appreciate it if you could help me with this and give me a detailed explanation.
- (The AI systems engineer put on a fake smile, thinking, "At least he came with an intelligent question.") Calm down, sir. I'll explain it to you in as much detail as I can. (Head Instructor Turan began to look at it with expectant eyes.) First of all, since we've never done an accelerated virtual training program before, it's perfectly normal that you might not understand some of the things you're seeing in the virtual training. This includes your student's speed.
If you recall, we accelerated the virtual training days fourfold. Because of this, your student's movements have also accelerated. (Pointing to the virtual rooms seen through the window.) Furthermore, virtual rooms have their own rules. Motion detection, item placement, distance and proximity settings, and time and space algorithms are completely different. These settings are automatically adjusted by the virtual room's AI system based on the user's progress within the story.
(Head Instructor Turan's thoughtful expression caught the engineer's attention.) In the simplest terms, I can explain it like this: As you can see, virtual rooms have a certain size. The moment you realize that the virtual room your student is in is smaller than the area in the garden where they're fighting, you'll understand what I mean more clearly.
Head Instructor Turan stood up and walked over to look out the observation window when he noticed a real-time video recording on the wall. In the video, Demir was amidst the flames, standing in front of an overturned cage, gazing at the charred orc woman inside.
Turan's full attention was on the video, while the AI systems engineer continued his explanation.
- Besides all this, there's another very important detail. These are the nanobots injected into your student's body. They trigger neural activity and stimulate the muscular system…
When Turan muttered "Erna..." quietly and sadly, everything was suddenly plunged into pitch darkness...