Chapter 26: 26: One Punch Man
Boggy exerted himself, yet failed to break free from the sand lock.
Baldy was overjoyed at the sight and immediately ordered, "Now, take him down!"
At his command, the four men moved together, each unleashing their telekinesis; however, whether it was fireballs or wind blades, none could touch Boggy, all being blocked by those blood-red little shields.
What kind of psychic power is this, so strong?!
Baldy was secretly alarmed, realizing that they might have hit a snag today; Boggy's defensive power was astounding. Even while trapped, he could defend flawlessly.
If he were to break free from the sand lock, their trouble would escalate.
Indeed, at that moment, the hunter creating the sand lock was already sweating profusely from his forehead.
Baldy knew they could not drag this out any longer, yet he also lacked confidence in breaking through those blood-red shields quickly.
Therefore, he turned his gaze towards Ma Lu, who was standing by as a spectator, as intuition told him this guy might be easier to deal with.
If they could take down Ma Lu first, perhaps they could use him as leverage to force Boggy into submission.
With this thought, Baldy no longer hesitated and decisively rushed toward Ma Lu, simultaneously releasing his own ability.
One of his arms swelled to three times its original thickness, covered in beast-like brown fur. Underneath the fur, bulging veins writhed like earthworms, constantly squirming.
Beast-Series Psychic Ability—Ape Arm.
With this move, Baldy could triple his strength in a short period, unleashing astonishing destructive power.
By then, Ma Lu also noticed that he had been targeted.
But he was not the least bit panicked; he merely pinched his right fist lightly.
The blessing in Meat Pigeon mode was available to the whole team.
[Charge with Hits] Boggy could use it, and so could Ma Lu, of course; furthermore, no one understood better than Ma Lu how to use these blessings after studying them for so long.
He glanced at the character status bar, where his strength bonus had reached an astronomical number—2162%.
And all this was thanks to the help of an old friend.
The Young Flame Lizard that Ma Lu had hidden in his hand 5 minutes ago, unable to leave, had been tirelessly attacking him, scratching and biting non-stop while also continuously spouting sparks.
These attacks were insignificant, yet they were genuine strikes.
So for every hit he took, Ma Lu's strength would increase by 10%.
The hard-working Young Flame Lizard had inadvertently boosted Ma Lu's strength to its current level.
It was time to experience the sensation of being One Punch Man.
Ma Lu threw his punch before Baldy could get near.
The next moment, the world seemed to suddenly darken.
The terrifying punch, carrying sand and gravel, obscured the two suns above.
Baldy felt a dreadful presence lock onto him from a distance, causing goosebumps to rise, and he involuntarily felt as though there was no escape!
How could this be possible?!
He had already released Ape Arm, supposedly giving him the upper hand in strength, but facing the punch head-on, he felt as vulnerable as a baby.
Baldy was frightened and perplexed; he prided himself on being cautious, always sizing up the opposition before taking action, yet today he had misjudged twice in a row.
These two unremarkable characters, each more deadly than the last!
However, it was too late for regrets now, and Baldy could only act in haste, attacking in place of defending.
Before their fists could meet, the punch's wind had already blown the sand and dust several yards away from in front of him.
Then, like two comets, they collided fiercely!
Baldy felt as if he had slammed into a wall of alloy, his bones and muscles trembling wildly, having exerted his full strength.
Yet he was still unable to shake that wall by even a fraction; instead, that wall continued to advance toward him, unstoppable, hitting him hard.
Baldy spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body flying backward, crashing into a nearby small sand dune, and passing out.
Ma Lu easily resolved the fight and turned to see that Boggy had already escaped his confines, leaving the remaining three huddled together, trembling in fear.
Ma Lu leaned in and suggested, "Kill them."
The three shivered even more violently at his words, and the female hunter who had ambushed Boggy earlier even burst into tears with a wail.
Boggy shook his head, "I'll take them back to the city and hand them over to the judicial police."
"You're the leader, what you say goes."
Boggy fetched some rope and tied up the people on the ground, he then turned to Ma Lu and asked, "Why did you want to kill them just now?"
"These guys live in the Giant Curtain with you, felt it'd be safer to just kill them off."
Boggy had thought of many possibilities but had never expected Ma Lu to give such a response. He hesitated before saying, "I can protect myself."
"Hmm."
"The Giant Curtain has good public order, with the protection of the judicial police. Even hunters must obey the law. Plus, although my father is no longer around, he left behind quite a few friends. However, once we leave the high walls, indeed, some people can't restrain their greed."
Boggy didn't know why he felt the need to explain this to Ma Lu, but after thinking it over, he added.
"I'll recruit more people. Right now, our Hunting Group only has the two of us, which is far too few. Situations like the one that just happened can occur easily. If we had more people, those guys wouldn't think about taking advantage when we're down, and having more hands in the city would also be helpful."
"That would be for the best," Ma Lu agreed.
After the matter of the captives and recruitment was settled, they finally moved on to the exciting task of sorting the spoils of war.
According to the hunters' code, those who attack and plunder others in the desert may have all their belongings freely disposed of by the victim.
Boggy didn't hold back, taking almost everything he could.
He found about 100 pounds of Sickle-Horned Antelope Meat, 7 Red-bellied Rattlesnakes, 4 Black-Breasted Chickens, and a young Wind-walking Prairie Wolf on their motorcycles.
While the other items were expected, seeing the young Wind-walking Prairie Wolf genuinely surprised Boggy.
Ma Lu also learned from a scan on his wristband that it was a rare find.
Three stars, another 3-star ingredient.
Boggy hesitated before asking Ma Lu, "Can I keep it? Um, you can deduct the cost from our hunting earnings."
"Sure," Ma Lu replied succinctly. Although the little creature was high-rated, it didn't look like it had much meat on it. They had already hunted a Giant Claw Lord, so Ma Lu wasn't all that interested in the young wolf cub.
"Are you planning on fattening it up before slaughtering it?"
Boggy shook his head, "I want to train it to be my assistant."
Ma Lu raised an eyebrow, "You know how to train animals?"
"I learned a bit at school. Wind-walking Prairie Wolves are smart and very loyal. If raised from a young age and a close relationship is established, it can become an excellent hunting assistant once it grows up.
"It's just that young Wind-walking Prairie Wolves are hard to come by. If you're interested, I could keep an eye on the market for you, or you could take this one for now."
Ma Lu wasn't very interested in raising pets, especially a wolf. Besides, he only came around once a week; at most, he would just get acquainted, making it quite difficult to build a close relationship.
Most importantly, Ma Lu already had assistants.
Apart from the meat, the two also found two sets of Hunting Clothes, likely spares that Baldy and his crew had brought along.
These two sets of Hunting Clothes were a grade above the most basic set that Ma Lu was wearing. They provided some defensive power and were also more breathable.
Ma Lu immediately changed into them and called Boggy to do the same, but the latter declined.
"The set I'm wearing is very good; it was a gift from my father."
"Alright," Ma Lu said, then pointed at the pile of weapons and supplies on the ground, "What about these?"
"My motorcycle can't carry any more. We can store them at a supply point so they can be used for future hunts."
"Supply point?"
Boggy took out the crumpled map again and pointed to a location marked with a warehouse symbol.
"There's one right here, just a 10-minute ride away. We can store the things we don't need there, especially the extra supplies and batteries. That way, when we hunt nearby, we can directly collect them from there."
"You can do that?"
"Of course, why else would everyone form Hunting Groups and join the guild? A tenth of our gains from each outing is taken by the guild; in exchange, we can enjoy various services provided by the guild."