Sam looked at the twenty-nine people who are all wearing cloaked clothes. In fact, Sam could nicely blend in.
But he is not supposed to ask that because of the killing intent that the twenty-nine members emitting. It is not an appropriate thing to ask or even think about.
He looked at the person whose hand was mangled and blood is seeping out.
That man is an elf and Sam could only guess that from the scent of the blood. These guys are that covered up. Except for the Centaurs though. Only their faces and the torso are covered. Their body is too big and huge to hide.
A person who is similarly cloaked walked forward and looked at Sam before asking.
"Who are you?"
"Someone you might be looking for."
The person who seemed to be the leader of the group narrowed his eyes and looked at Sam carefully. It is as if he is trying to pick on anything that could give Sam"s ident.i.ty away.
"Why would we look for you?"
"Then why would you be placing this guy there? To look at bathing ladies in the city?" Sam asked as he pointed at the first observer.
The group was offended and was about to make a move. For some reason, the rest of the group is not talking. Sam couldn"t only think of two reasons. One is the team being a great team with proper hierarchy in place and everyone accepting it and being in their place.
Or the second reason which could be probable brainwashing of the team that they wouldn"t talk when their leader is talking.
Both cases make the team multiple times dangerous than it would normally is when they are separated and have their own thoughts.
But Sam is not worried. He observed the body language of everyone. They are all in a battle stance ready to attack him anytime waiting for their leader"s order.
"We are observing Sam. If you are here on his behalf, we would like to know what your relationship with him is. In fact, we can talk this out and settle without a need for battle and bloodshed."
"Really, how do you think that would work?"
"It is really simple. Our main problem is not with the way you are operating or the businesses that you are starting. It is the fact that you are helping the business official Raunak.
We don"t like that. So we are here asking you to stop it. If you do that, not only will you be able to avoid the problems that are coming to Sam at the moment, we can even help you buy whatever businesses you have and give you a reasonable price for that.
Apart from that, you can also join the faction. With your battle ability and the battle ability of Sam which we observed in the past few days, you will be highly valued.
This is a great deal if you ask me. If I was in your position I would take it."
"You were never my position. So don"t give me that advice. Anyway, I am not taking it. So what is the other option you might suggest?"
"Then we have to use forceful measures to make you stop."
"Like those meteors, you guys have been throwing down from the sky?"
Everyone was stumped for a second.
"Do you really think that you are so hidden and so stealthy? You are all over the place if you ask me."
This time the leader didn"t reply. He took a deep breath and said.
"Battle formation 8. Engage."
As soon as he spoke, the twenty-nine members moved. All of them spread all over the cave with their energies riling up.
The cave is not too big. Even these thirty members don"t have any privacy here.
They are all staying in a small s.p.a.ce. It would actually be disadvantageous to the group itself. If an attack misses, Sam would be able to escape and even use another team member as a meat shield. Every time, he dodges, the attack would hurt some other person.
Sam activated energy vision to give a quick scan over the area to see if there are any traps of inscriptions and formations.
That is what he would do to have a better defense. But these guys seemed to have too much faith in their stealth that they didn"t make any of such preparations.
But Sam learned that he was sorely mistaken and underestimated his foes.
They are not just a proper team, but they also know how a team fight if they want to lose. They didn"t do any of the common mistakes which Sam could easily take advantage of. They didn"t underestimate him. They didn"t hold back and they worked as a team.
There are many earth element users in the team and they are all channeling their energy to the ground surface through which they started the first attack.
Their first target move is to create a sudden pit under Sam"s feet with an element of surprise.
But Sam didn"t fall for that, he was using energy vision at that point and if he wasn"t this would have worked. He escaped it at a last-minute and jumped from the spot. But at this moment, a large rocky protrusion came from the side of the cave wall to slam into Sam.
Sam who is in the middle of the air used his incredible dexterity to its limit and managed to change the position of his body and kicked the protrusion to move to a different side.
But there is another protrusion already waiting for him in that direction.
Sam once again used the same method, but this time as soon as he kicked the protrusion, the surface changed and instead of a solid protrusion it turned into a trap that could hold his leg in the place.
Sam had to use the water and wind element to create a pressurized explosion to escape the trap and he used the wind energy to reduce the fall.
But when he was falling down another protrusion came from the floor.
Sam didn"t like playing this game anymore and his body underwent earth elemental fusion. Even though it is partial he is sure that it is sufficient for the current fight.
He slammed the foot into the coming protrusion with a maximum force which made the protrusion turn into a bunch of rocky rubble.
Sam landed on the ground and he stomped on the surface while injected the earth elemental energy into it as his own energy overtook the position of the opponent"s energy with the ripple style.
When that happened, he quickly made sure that the surrounding earth is under his control and slowly started spreading the energy so that enemies wouldn"t be able to do anything.
All this while only the earth elemental users attacked. Which are half of them. The rest of them didn"t attack at all.
Sam looked at them coldly.
This is one tough team and there is even a faint trace of admiration in his heart towards them. But that is probably not a good thing. Because whenever Sam felt admiration towards his friends, he would grow closer with them. But when it was for enemies, he thought of ways to kill them faster.
And now he is doing exactly the same.
He looked at the protrusions that are coming from all directions. Currently, he is wearing claws, which will not give much access to the punching ability, but he can use chops, elbows, and even some palm strikes.
So he decided to go with it and started destroying every protrusion that came near him. He didn"t use any of his elements.
The leader who is watching the situation closely frowned. He clearly noticed that Sam used the water element and wind element along with the earth element. Even though three elemental users are rare in the desolate realm and the Naga Loka. It is actually common in this realm.
It is rare but not to the point of making people feel extreme shock. Because, the elves are gifted with wood elements by nature and due to their innately superior body and talent, they easily awaken another element and some talented ones even awaken two elements.
So, three is not much of a big deal. But there is no wood element in Sam"s attacks which made it hard for the leader to digest this.
All this time, he has a feeling that Sam might be an elf.
As there is speculation about the person behind Sam and it was always imagined and discussed as an elf living in recluse.
But now he has other thoughts.
And he is also thinking about why Sam is not using the water element and wind element when he is being barraged by the attacks.
He made some gestures with his hands and the cultivators are all moving. The remaining half joined the first half and only the team leader stood in the center.
Soon, the protrusions and the rocky throws are enveloped with fire attacking Sam with a fused attack from all sides.
This made it a little difficult for Sam, but what they don"t understand is subconsciously they are feeling a little heavier than useful as if their weight has been increased.
Even though they didn"t seem to have noticed this, it could be clearly seen in their actions, they are all using excess energy to move at a normal speed.