BXBX NOVEL Chapter 449: Peacock
The assassins\' heads exploded, sending splashes of blood and gray matter everywhere, destroying all of their remains and part of the room\'s wall.
Cao Cao stepped out of the room through the hole created by the explosion and found himself in a strange situation. The hotel\'s hallway had become infinitely long, stretching as far as his eyes could see. He couldn\'t see the end of the hallway or the corner leading to the elevators—only an endless corridor with countless rooms.
"What the hell is this?" he uttered. No wonder Heracles hadn\'t appeared to help him despite the noise and explosions in his room.
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
Cao Cao was startled and quickly on guard as the sound of clapping echoed within the infinite hall.
"Ohhh, you\'re quite good for a desk-sitting CEO," a man\'s arrogant voice sounded out. Cao Cao heard footsteps as a man stepped out of some kind of stealth field, as if emerging through a curtain onto a stage in front of him.
The man had long brown hair tied into a man bun at the back of his head. His charming and confident smile couldn\'t conceal the disdain in his eyes toward Cao Cao. If Pride were here, she would recognize him as none other than Achilles, the one who nearly killed her.
Achilles wore the uniform of a hotel cleaner, which seemed hurriedly put on. Cao Cao could still smell the distinct scent of carnal activities—Achilles had clearly just had sexual intercourse with a woman moments ago. With a laid-back attitude, he walked toward a nearby cleaning cart and took out a mop.
The mop suddenly transformed into a spear, a clear sign of illusion magic cast on the cleaning tool.
"Truthfully…" Achilles began, checking the weight of the spear by spinning it a few times, "I was supposed to kill you the moment you stepped out of your room." He stopped playing with his spear and held it steady in his hand. "But it\'s beneath me. Besides, leaving a lady with half-assed pleasure would leave a bad taste in my mouth. So…"
Achilles shifted his stance, preparing to fight. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Seeing all of this, Cao Cao laughed. "Ha HAHAHA! You are arrogant, aren\'t you? I don\'t know who\'s more arrogant, you or Lu Bu."
"Lu Bu? Who the f*ck is that?" Achilles asked in confusion, not paying much attention to world history. "No matter, just die quickly. I still have a date tonight," Achilles said as he rushed toward Cao Cao.
Cao Cao quickly intercepted Achilles\' spear, parrying it to the side and leading it to pierce the wall of the hallway. Achilles was startled by Cao Cao\'s strength and quick reflexes, which allowed him to intercept and deflect the attack.
Without saying anything, Cao Cao seized the opportunity and aimed at Achilles\' arm, swinging his sword downward.
Clank!
The sword met flesh, but the sound was like metal clashing. Cao Cao was surprised but remained calm. The cloth must be some kind of artifact or enchanted with a spell to prevent his sword from cutting through it.
Cao Cao unleashed another series of slashes aimed at the exposed flesh, targeting Achilles\' forearm. Achilles used his bare left arm to guard against the slashes, surprising Cao Cao. However, Cao Cao did not stop, as his goal was to cut Achilles\' arm and disarm him. He increased his speed even further.
But…. instead of the sound of blood splashing and flesh rending, his sword was met with the solid sound of metal clashing. Achilles pulled his spear out of the wall and sent a light jab at Cao Cao.
Cao Cao quickly used his sword to guard against it, but barely in time. His stance was broken as his sword deflected from the jab, and the spear tip pierced Cao Cao. He felt the tip of the spear penetrate his muscle, but fortunately, his suit slowed it down, preventing it from penetrating further and reaching his vital organs.
The second spear jab aimed at his head left Cao Cao with no other choice. He decisively used his left arm to block it.
The sound of flesh tearing accompanied by blood spilling echoed as Cao Cao\'s soft armor layer, muscle, and bone helped slow down the spear until he could retreat out of Achilles\' spear range.
"You\'re quite ruthless, using your arm like that. Aren\'t you afraid of not being able to use your left arm anymore?" Achilles asked, his eyes containing a hint of admiration and a very small measure of respect.
"You\'re not a normal desk-sitting CEO, are you? Who are you... exactly?" Achilles asked, flicking his spear to clean off Cao Cao\'s blood.
Cao Cao squinted, recognizing Achilles. He had spent time learning about heroes from bygone eras, such as Heracles, Penthesilea, and Odysseus. In his mind, if his lord, a powerful mage, could bring heroes from those eras back to life to help him, then their enemies might be able to do the same.
This was an assumption based on Cao Cao\'s experience in war: strong enemies who dared to go against them should be able to achieve the same results.
"You don\'t even know my name, but you come to kill me? What kind of assassin are you?" Cao Cao retorted, trying to stall for time.
Cao Cao had already secretly pushed the emergency button in his suit while pretending to clutch his wound in pain.
"Heh! I\'m not an assassin in the first place. Why should I care about your name? I just know that you survived those two assassins, and I serve as a fail-safe. That\'s all. Besides..." Achilles stopped, his eyes sending an undisguised gaze of disdain toward Cao Cao.
"Are you worthy enough for me to remember your name?" Achilles said.
"That\'s rich coming from you, Peacock," a deep, manly voice came from behind Achilles. Achilles felt a deep sense of danger and quickly turned back to guard against the incoming threat.
"What!? Impos…" Achilles began, but trailed off as he saw the figure in front of him. It was the one hero from Greek mythology he couldn\'t challenge or be arrogant toward. The figure silently leapt from nowhere, his fist pulled back, ready to unleash its full might.
Boom!
The fist struck the spear handle with such force that Achilles was sent crashing through the wall. The boundary field magic that had been distorting the hotel floor immediately became unstable as the space wobbled and started to break, but it slowly subsided.
As for Achilles, he crashed through multiple walls before stopping in another hallway, slumping down amidst the debris.
"Sorry, Mr. Cao. My room\'s entrance got messed up and relocated about 5 kilometers from here," Heracles said, pointing in the direction he had come from, far behind him. Even Cao Cao couldn\'t see where Heracles\' room was.
"Ah… yeah, thanks." Cao Cao smiled and sat down, leaning against the wall of his room. He drank a vial of healing potion from his lord, and his body rapidly healed until he could walk normally, though engaging in heavy activities like fighting with Achilles was another matter.
"Can you handle him alone?" Cao Cao asked, doubting his ability to fight Achilles while the potion was still healing his bones and muscles.
"Don\'t worry, Mr. Cao. That peacock and I have a lot of history to catch up on," Cracking his knuckles, Heracles said with a bloodthirsty smile.
Achilles slowly collected himself from the debris, looking at his spear, which was bent beyond use. "Tch! Such a piece of trash," Achilles muttered, clicking his tongue and throwing the spear away.
"You... Heracles, is that guy the one who resurrected you!?" he asked, now considering Cao Cao worthy of him remembering the name. He thought Cao Cao might be the type of mage who wasn\'t great in combat but was powerful enough to achieve impossibilities such as resurrecting heroes from a bygone era.
"No, he\'s not, and that\'s all you need to know," Heracles said before rushing toward Achilles.
"Hey! Heracles, I\'m unarmed! Didn\'t you see!?" Achilles shouted, showing his bare hands to signify he was unarmed.
"Don\'t worry, I\'m also unarmed! Let\'s have a match!" Heracles replied, immediately punching at Achilles. Achilles quickly ducked, and the wall behind him was destroyed to smithereens along with part of the floor.
"Wait!" Achilles quickly retreated, trying to placate Heracles. His strength couldn\'t compare to Heracles\', and he knew that while he might be invulnerable to all weapons due to his blessing from the River Styx, that didn\'t mean he wouldn\'t feel pain when his internal organs were shaken or that he wouldn\'t feel dizzy from rough handling.
He might even die from a full-power punch from Heracles if he wasn\'t careful.
"Shit!" Achilles evaded Heracles\' punch by a hair\'s breadth, causing another wall to fall victim to Heracles\' overpowering might.
But that was just a feint. Heracles\' left hook squarely hit Achilles\' face, sending him flying through several walls.
"Ha ha ha ha!!! I\'ve dreamt of punching that face of yours for a long time!" Heracles laughed out loud as he rushed toward Achilles, following the path he had sent him flying.
"F*ck you!" Achilles swore, desperately trying to think of a way to survive this.