Rescuing Stella
"Who exactly is there?!"
"There is movement over there! Check the perimeter!"
The harsh, panicked voices of heavily armed mercenaries echoed loudly from deep inside the dark, opulent villa.
Arthur , whose raw physical attributes were now significantly more than twice those of a normal, healthy adult man, stood perfectly still amidst the shattered glass.
His five senses had become terrifyingly, supernaturally sharp. He immediately heard the heavy, rhythmic thud of tactical boots rapidly approaching his position.
When he had flawlessly sneaked into Steve's luxury villa earlier in the week to steal the mountain of gold, his highly intelligent mind had meticulously mapped out the entire first-floor layout.
So, in a single, calculated instant, his brain flawlessly processed the gathered acoustic information.
Two distinct sets of heavy footsteps, moving aggressively through the first-floor dining room! With a smooth, lightning-fast flick of his wrist, a cold, heavy 9mm pistol materialized flawlessly in Arthur's firm grasp.
His dark eyes had long since perfectly adjusted to the suffocating darkness of the blackout. He moved completely silently, his heavy boots making absolutely no sound against the imported marble floor, and quickly found a deep, shadowed corner nearby to take absolute tactical cover.
He raised his lethal weapon, aiming down the iron sights toward the dark corridor ahead.
The heavy footsteps rushed aggressively toward his position but soon slowed down, becoming highly cautious and deliberate before stopping entirely just around the corner.
Clearly, even if these ruthless subordinates of Steve weren't all highly trained retired soldiers, they possessed a massive, undeniable amount of lethal combat experience. They knew perfectly well not to blindly rush a breached entry point.
Arthur's tactical mind raced; he knew perfectly well he absolutely didn't have much time before the massive backup generator violently kicked in and flooded the villa with blinding light again. He hid his muscular body flawlessly within the deep shadows.
At the exact same time, with his free left hand, he quickly and seamlessly took an ordinary, rough stone directly from his invisible private space. He gripped it tightly, judged the acoustic angle, and threw it aggressively toward a nearby spot across the wide hallway.
Clatter!
The heavy stone hit the polished marble floor, bouncing violently and making a loud, echoing series of sharp sounds in the tense darkness.
"Over there!"
A dark figure quickly rushed out from behind the corner, aggressively raising his assault rifle and aiming squarely toward the exact place where the deceptive stone had landed.
Arthur's calloused right hand, gripping the 9mm pistol with terrifying stability, instinctively tracked the moving target. He smoothly, ruthlessly pulled the cold trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With a Level 4 [Shooting] skill actively guiding his muscle memory, he was already physically capable of near-perfect, lethal accuracy within a staggering hundred meters.
Even relying strictly on a standard handgun, it was vastly more than enough to be absolutely deadly in the pitch-black darkness at a close-quarters distance of only a few mere meters.
"Ah!"
With a sudden, wretched scream, the first hollow-point bullet accurately, violently hit the upper center mass of the mercenary who had aggressively rushed out into the open.
Relying on his cold, calculated combat instincts, and deeply worried that the initial stopping power wasn't quite enough to instantly kill a man wearing a heavy tactical vest, Arthur pulled the trigger twice more in rapid, flawless succession.
Two more lethal shots hit the staggering man square in the chest in quick succession, the bright muzzle flashes briefly illuminating the opulent hallway.
Instantly, the heavy figure collapsed violently to the marble floor in a pool of dark blood.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The blinding muzzle flashes had completely exposed Arthur's tactical position in the corner.
The second heavily armed mercenary quickly stepped out and raised his weapon, aggressively spraying a massive, deafening hail of bullets directly toward Arthur's shadowed location.
It was an Uzi, a highly lethal, rapid-fire submachine gun.
This specific type of micro-submachine gun was incredibly easy to carry and conceal due to its compact, lightweight size.
It possessed a terrifyingly high rate of fire and was incredibly, undeniably powerful in violent, short-range urban encounters.
Therefore, in the sprawling United States, it was a very common, highly favored weapon among ruthless street gangs and organized criminal syndicates. Every single year, a massive, untraceable amount of these black market goods flowed freely into the dangerous underground market.
Arthur seamlessly tucked his broad, muscular body tighter into the heavy concrete corner, flawlessly avoiding the aggressive suppressing fire and absolutely not foolishly showing his head. Bullets violently shredded the expensive drywall and completely shattered a priceless vase mere inches from his shoulder.
At the exact same time, his highly intelligent, calculating mind began counting silently with absolute, terrifying precision.
1, 2, 3, Standard Uzi magazines available on the chaotic black market commonly had fixed capacities of 20, 25, 32, and 40 rounds.
He had heard street rumors there were even massive, bulky 50-round or 100-round drum magazines.
However, because those massive drums would severely, negatively affect the tactical concealability and maneuverability of the compact Uzi, they were absolutely not very common among private security details.
Counting flawlessly to 32 in his cold heart, the deafening, rapid gunfire suddenly, abruptly stopped with a hollow click.
Arthur's tactical mind immediately, confidently realized the opponent's specific magazine capacity was absolutely only 32 rounds.
He instantly, aggressively lunged out from his concrete hiding place. His sharp eyes saw the dark figure, most of whose body had already frantically retreated to the absolute safety of the other side of the corridor, desperately pulling out a fresh, loaded magazine from his tactical rig to quickly reload.
Bang!
Aiming flawlessly at the opponent's exposed head, Arthur coldly pulled the trigger.
The hollow-point bullet accurately, violently hit the mercenary directly in the skull. The heavy figure swayed listlessly for a microscopic second before collapsing completely to the marble floor, dead before he even hit the ground.
Arthur quickly, methodically stepped forward, his boots stepping over the shattered drywall. He raised his pistol and coldly fired a single, lethal finishing shot directly into the head of the first man bleeding on the ground, ensuring absolutely no one was getting back up.
Then he walked smoothly to the second dead man, aggressively picked up the discarded Uzi from the pool of blood, and expertly patted down the tactical vest, feeling three heavy, fully loaded magazines on his body.
Arthur reloaded the submachine gun with a sharp, metallic clack as he walked, and seamlessly stored the other two heavy magazines directly into his invisible private space.
He had to aggressively take Stella away in a few tense minutes, and there might absolutely be a massive, tough firefight ahead in the dark compound.
Arthur was deeply, tactically worried that having only two standard pistols and a specialized Sniper Laika crossbow might be incredibly difficult to flawlessly handle a dozen mercenaries in close quarters.
He logically figured he might as well actively pick up an automatic Uzi to bring along, just in case something went disastrously wrong with the extraction.
After violently killing two armed men in a row with absolute, cold-blooded efficiency, Arthur's racing heart couldn't help but beat violently in his broad chest.
He could clearly, undeniably feel his face burning with raw adrenaline. The heavy blood in his veins seemed to be completely boiling.
I genuinely do not hate this! Arthur realized, a dark, predatory thrill washing over him.
This specific kind of highly stimulating, life-or-death adrenaline rush was truly, profoundly intoxicating.
At the very least, it was completely intoxicating for Arthur, an originally ordinary citizen who had been a compliant, rule-abiding 'good boy' for decades in his mundane, ordinary past.
Although he had experienced various negative, human emotions like raw anger or bitter jealousy, and had even harbored some deeply cruel and dark thoughts,
In his previous, constrained life, Arthur had absolutely never crossed the lethal threshold of reality to actually violently realize them.
But exactly after miraculously discovering he had been inexplicably transmigrated to this chaotic, cinematic parallel world,
This absolutely wasn't the safe, heavily regulated environment he was intimately familiar with, and he didn't have a single, living blood relative tying him down to a normal moral compass.
Arthur suddenly, profoundly felt that the heavy, societal shackles that had completely shrouded him in his previous, mundane life had all miraculously disappeared into thin air.
This is exactly the thrilling life I genuinely want, Arthur thought, his grip tightening on the cold steel of the Uzi.
Completely full of raw passion, lethal danger, and the absolute unknown,
Arthur's supernaturally enhanced hearing could already clearly pick up the loud sound of heavy footsteps and frantic car horns coming from the chaotic courtyard outside.
At the exact same time, a tactical walkie-talkie that had violently fallen onto the marble floor from one of the dead men was buzzing, transmitting loud, inquiring voices demanding an immediate status report.
He knew perfectly well with absolute certainty that the critical time left for his flawless extraction was rapidly running out.
To aggressively take Stella away safely before the massive backup generator kicked in, Arthur had to move significantly faster.
"Mmph!"
"Mmph!"
As he quickly, silently approached the large, opulent kitchen, Arthur's sharp ears heard the desperate, muffled sounds of violent struggling coming directly from the pitch-black room.
Accompanying that desperate sound into his highly enhanced sense of smell was an indescribable, suffocatingly foul odor.
It smelled exactly like raw excrement heavily mixed with stale sweat and highly expensive, designer perfume.
In short, for Arthur, whose biological sense of smell now vastly exceeded that of a normal, healthy man, the stench was absolutely, undeniably terrible.
At this exact, gag-inducing moment, Arthur felt a profound, heavy hint of genuine regret after meticulously purchasing this specific tactical bandit mask.
In the afternoon, strictly to ensure his supernaturally enhanced hearing and sense of smell weren't negatively affected during the infiltration, he had carefully cut two small holes for his ears and one large opening for his nose.
However, holding his breath, Arthur could basically tell flawlessly from the distinct acoustic sound of the frantic struggling that it was undeniably a woman.
"Stella?" Arthur asked aloud, his voice a low, commanding rumble in the dark kitchen.
Accompanying his sudden voice, the desperate struggling against the heavy ropes became even more violent and frantic.
Arthur immediately, confidently knew he had flawlessly found the exact right place.
He quickly, fluidly entered the spacious kitchen, aided visually by the faint, silver moonlight filtering softly through the large bay window.
He saw it clearly: to one side of the massive, central dining table, a slender figure was tied aggressively and violently to a heavy wooden chair, completely unable to move a single inch.
"Found you."
Moving aggressively closer, Arthur's sharp eyes immediately recognized the bound, exhausted person as the beautiful Stella Bridger.
Just as he was about to quickly reach out and help physically untie the thick ropes cutting into Stella's skin, his enhanced hearing picked up the loud, heavy sound of chaotic footsteps rapidly coming from the front courtyard outside.
Arthur's rugged expression changed instantly, his jaw tightening. He absolutely could no longer afford to worry about the strange, foul smell lingering heavily on Stella at this critical moment.
"I am here to safely rescue you. Absolutely do not struggle, we have incredibly limited time before the lights come back on."
"I am aggressively taking you completely out of here right now!" Arthur commanded, his tone leaving absolutely no room for debate.
After saying that, he didn't waste a single, precious second untying the complicated knots. He bent his knees, engaged his massive, superhuman core strength, and aggressively picked up Stella along directly with the heavy wooden chair she was violently tied to.
He lifted her entirely off the ground with terrifying ease and rushed straight back toward the exact same large window he had violently shattered moments ago!
Thud! Smash!
The villa's heavy, reinforced main door had already been securely locked down when Steve and the heavily armed mercenaries had rushed outside earlier.
The complex locking mechanisms inside the luxurious room also seemed to be entirely electrically driven.
Therefore, once the power was completely cut by Arthur's crossbow bolt, the heavy mechanisms had automatically reverted to their original, deadlocked state.
As Arthur ran aggressively past the main entryway carrying the bound Stella and the heavy chair in his muscular arms, he heard the violent, deafening sound of the heavy front door being aggressively rammed from the outside.
Along violently with the heavy impact came exactly what sounded like a desperate, raw cry completely suppressed with agonizing emotional pain: "Stella!"
It absolutely seemed to be the frantic Charlie Croker desperately trying to break in!
Arthur was momentarily startled by the perfect timing, but the subsequent, blaring sound of an armored car horn outside immediately made him aggressively quicken his tactical pace.
Carrying Stella and the heavy wooden chair she was securely tied to, he quickly, flawlessly rushed out of the shattered window of the dark villa.
He then sprinted with absolute, terrifying speed into the cool night air, heading straight toward the treacherous, rocky cliff at the very back of the fortified estate!