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Chapter 120
Nox groaned in pain as it spread through his entire body and struggled to open his eyes.
His vision hadn’t fully recovered from the impact when he fell, and everything still appeared shaky before him.
“Nox! You’re not dead, are you?”
At Giovanni’s voice coming from somewhere, he groped along the floor and forced himself to sit up.
“Ugh.”
His wrist, which had been supporting him on the floor, twisted painfully, and he collapsed again. It was clear that trying to get up alone was impossible.
“Nox-sama!”
Chambers was the first to find him, helping him lean against the wall. Even in this dust storm, he had managed to locate him immediately—a testament to always sticking together.
“Ugh… those crazy bastards…”
Nox bit his lip in frustration.
“Stay here for now. With your current condition, fighting is impossible.”
“I know that.”
Still, thanks to Giovanni calling him from midway up the stairs, he avoided more serious injuries.
Chambers spoke to the two other subordinates he had brought along.
“You two stay here. If anyone attacks, protect Nox-sama first.”
“Yes, understood.”
Chambers gave Nox one last supportive hug before rushing back into the fight.
Nox, stunned by the sudden embrace, just stared at Chambers’ back before blushing and shouting.
“Damn it! I don’t want to be hugged by a man!”
At Nox’s outburst, the two subordinates standing nearby couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Funny?”
“Yes… sorry for laughing.”
While they were talking, someone from Giuliano’s side drew a knife and charged at them.
“Nox-sama! Duck your head!”
One of the subordinates countered with a judo throw, driving their elbow sharply into the attacker’s chest.
Nox slowly lifted his head and asked,
“Handled it?”
“Yes.”
“Haah…”
Nox let out a deep sigh. More frustrating than Chambers’ hug was the fact that he had to rely on his subordinates for protection.
The dense dust still obscured vision, but Killian slashed a dagger at an enemy approaching from behind.
As if rehearsed, whenever one was taken down, another immediately charged.
Killian pulled the dagger from one enemy and smashed the opponent’s cheekbone with the hilt.
Giuliano’s subordinates, prepared with special protective goggles, held a significant advantage over the Stahr subordinates, who fought with bare eyes.
Fortunately, Pete had arrived at Delina House with other Capos in a hurry and, together with Evian, opened all doors and windows to ventilate the area quickly.
“Evian, evacuate the nearby residents quickly. The fight is escalating.”
“Yes, understood.”
Evian grabbed a wooden plank nearby and used it to fend off Giuliano’s subordinates as she moved outside.
“Pete… just arrived?”
Hearing the voice from below, Pete looked down.
“Nox?”
Two subordinates stood beside him.
“Is the injury severe?”
“Yes, he fell to the floor when the stairs were exploded.”
“Why did those stairs suddenly explode?”
“Nox-sama attempted to approach Giuliano’s boss on the second floor alone, triggering a trap.”
“Hey, hey, don’t report with so much detail!”
Nox glared resentfully at his subordinates.
“I always emphasize this: think before you move.”
Pete, realizing Nox was the root cause of this chaos, immediately started lecturing him.
“Because you acted recklessly, Delina House is in shambles, a key operative got injured, and we even lost two valuable men trying to protect you. Where is your head at?”
“Damn it… I should’ve just died when I fell.”
Nox’s eyes were already filled with exhaustion.
“What? Nox caused this mess?”
Adding insult to injury, Alvin’s voice came from nearby.
“Did you really bring Alvin along with the Capos?”
“Of course.”
At Pete’s answer, Nox tried to force himself up again but sank back down.
“Nox-sama! You shouldn’t move.”
A subordinate tried to stop him, but Nox groaned and waved his arms.
“Ugh, let go! I need to leave before Alvin gets here!”
“Sorry, but it seems too late.”
Unfortunately, Alvin was already standing before him, eyes blazing with fury.
Killian gave up counting how many enemies he had defeated.
As the dust cleared, broken chairs and tables, collapsed stairs, and bloodstains scattered across the floor and walls became visible.
“Mateo, it’s time to stop and come down.”
Mateo was still observing them from the second floor.
“Alright, I understand how powerful an S-rank really is.”
He leapt down to the first floor, unlike before, with iron armor on his arms and legs and half his face covered by a steel mask. It looked serious.
“Did he embed reinforcement stones in his armor?”
“This is how we can fight on equal footing, right?”
“You use every dirty trick.”
“Dirty? This is fair.”
As soon as Mateo finished speaking, he threw a punch at Killian.
Killian quickly rolled to the side, dodging the attack.
The wall where Killian had dodged was dented. If that punch had landed, it would have surely ruptured his organs.
“Really fast.”
Mateo murmured in admiration and immediately attacked Killian again without pause.
With the reinforcement stones, Mateo’s speed was beyond what an ordinary human could handle.
Killian relied solely on intuition to defend against nearly invisible attacks. His reflexes were astonishing.
“But just dodging is boring.”
Enoch, with a relaxed expression, taunted and flew forward.
“Ugh!”
Killian couldn’t dodge the final spinning kick and slammed into the wall.
“Isn’t an S-rank a bit too weak?”
Killian’s mouth bled dark red from the unexpectedly strong attack.
Seeing Killian defenseless, Mateo drew a revolver from his holster.
“Let’s end this bitter fate here.”
With a satisfied expression, Mateo fired a magical bullet at Killian.
Killian gritted his teeth and rolled to the side, evading the projectile.
“How dare you dodge that?”
Mateo fired again, but Killian hid behind a fallen table, dodging the second shot.
“Argh! Just hit once!”
Frustrated by the situation, Mateo shouted in anger.
While Mateo reloaded, Killian wiped the blood from his mouth and stood.
Mateo didn’t expect Killian, even after vomiting blood, to recover so quickly.
Taking advantage of Mateo’s momentary lapse, Killian closed in and delivered a spinning kick to Mateo’s side in the same manner he had attacked before.
“Kuh!”
Armor with embedded reinforcement stones significantly increased speed and strength, but at the cost of defense.
Mateo couldn’t withstand the force of Killian’s kick, dropped his gun, and clutched his waist.
“Without experience, relying solely on reinforcement stones leads to this.”
Killian stepped on Mateo’s head and flipped the spinning magazine aside.
Only one bullet remained, and Mateo, fully armored, had only his neck exposed.
“Time to send you to hell.”
Killian aimed the gun at his neck.
A deafening crash erupted as a chandelier fell beside him.
Killian rolled out of the way, but glass shards scattered, grazing his cheek.
“Boss!”
Giovanni was the first to dash to Killian’s side.
“Mateo!”
In the brief moment he looked away, Mateo had already disappeared from the floor.
“Damn it… he already ran.”
Nigel had intentionally cut the chandelier to protect Mateo.
Killian wiped the blood from his cheek and glared toward the door.
Mateo and Nigel had already escaped, leaving injured Giuliano and Stahr subordinates sprawled on the floor.
“Should we chase them?”
“No, it’s too late.”
Killian clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“We’ll clean up before the constables arrive.”
Pete shook his head.
“Take your time. The constables won’t come anyway.”
It seemed Mateo and the Giuliano organization dared this because they had the temple and the royal family covering them.
Under the mafia council’s rules, punishing Giuliano’s organization, backed by those two powers, had become difficult.
“When will Painless arrive?”
Pete checked his pocket watch.
“Almost here.”
“Once they arrive, treat our guys first.”
“Yes, understood.”
Killian surveyed the injured Giuliano subordinates with a troubled expression.
The boss ran away, leaving even his own men unprotected. Killian had no words for such irresponsibility.
“And Nox?”
Immediately, Nox was seen being carried out on a stretcher.
“He fainted while listening to Alvin’s lecture, so you don’t need to worry.”
Pete replied lightly.
“What? Alvin came too?”
Killian glared at Pete upon hearing that Alvin had been brought to Stahr Mansion.
If Emily found out that Pete had brought Alvin, she would naturally learn about this incident.
Pete, surprised that Killian would be angry, bowed apologetically.
“Sorry. The Giuliano boss attacked directly, so I had no choice but to bring Alvin.”
Alvin appeared in front of Killian, buttoning his uniform neatly.
“Madam is taking a nap due to a migraine, so she won’t know I left.”
However, Killian remained unconvinced.
“What? A migraine all of a sudden?”
Alvin calmed Killian, who had taken the situation more seriously than expected.
“Recently, there have been many stressful matters. This is a symptom that improves with rest.”
The words “many stressful matters” weighed like a heavy rock on Killian’s chest.
“Giovanni, you stay with Pete and clean this place. Alvin, you come back to the mansion with me.”
As Killian tried to leave quickly, Giovanni stopped him.
“You really intend to go in that state?”
Killian hadn’t fully assessed his own condition.
“…Is it that serious?”
The subordinates silently nodded.
“You should return to headquarters, shower briefly, and change your clothes. And…”
Alvin frowned, deep in thought. The deep cuts on Killian’s lips and cheeks seemed impossible to hide.
“Just explain everything carefully so Madam doesn’t panic.”
“Alright, Alvin. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Me again?”
Before Alvin could refuse, Killian had already left Delina House.
No one was there to listen to Alvin’s complaints.
“Why is it always me who has to deliver the difficult news!”
