Ascension from Dual Professions

Chapter 195: Chapter 190: Three Strikes Scatter a Thug’s Soul, Officer, I’m a Good Man

Two thugs brandishing daggers burst through the door!

Both sides of the tense standoff inside the room were stunned by this sudden intrusion!

Aaron watched the two newcomers burst in. His heart, already at rock bottom, lurched, and he nearly despaired. ’Two more of them!’

His small home had become a den of thugs!

The three thugs who had been cornering him were also stunned. The burly leader started to berate the uninvited guests, but the gloating expressions on their faces instantly froze, replaced by a terror even greater than Aaron’s!

BOOM!

A heavy figure, accompanied by the scrape of metal and a low hum, crashed in right behind the two knife-wielding thugs!

Its build was similar to a human’s. It carried a shield in one hand and a hammer in the other. Its entire body was covered in cold, hard alloy Armor, with some exposed metal framework visible.

It was a Guardian-type Mechanical Body, built by Jon!

At that moment, its optical sensors, flashing with a yellow warning light, instantly locked onto every moving target in the room. Without a hint of hesitation, its mechanical joints whirred as it swung its short-handled hammer at the closest of the knife-wielding thugs who had just burst in!

THUMP!

A dull thud was accompanied by the crisp crack of shattering bone. The thug only managed to let out half a scream before he was sent flying like a sack of rags, slamming against the earthen wall and sliding to the floor. His dagger fell to the ground with a CLANG.

Everyone who witnessed this stared, mouths agape.

Then, absolute chaos erupted in the cramped room!

Screams, roars, the clang of moving metal joints, the thud of heavy objects hitting the ground... all mixed with the smell of dust and fear, filling every corner.

The other intruder, scared out of his wits by his companion’s gruesome fate, reflexively swung his dagger in a counterattack.

However, his pathetic dagger only scraped against the alloy Armor, sending up a few sparks with a jarring screech.

The Guardian didn’t even pause. Its shield arm swept out like a swinging slab of wall, slamming violently into the thug’s ribs and knocking him to the ground, where he lay, unable to get back up.

As for the three thugs who had been cornering Aaron, they were scared witless watching the iron monster dispatch the two men with contemptuous ease.

All thoughts of riches, women, and ”protection” were completely forgotten.

Their only thought was to escape!

The skinny one shrieked and desperately tried to squeeze through the gap between the Guardian and the wall to get out the door. The bald one instinctively backed away, looking for another exit, and slammed into a pile of junk, sending it toppling with a CLATTER.

The burly leader was in the worst position of all—he was closest to Aaron and his sister, and well within the Guardian’s attack range.

Having dealt with the intruders, the Guardian’s flashing yellow ”eyes” now swept toward him!

A chill shot up the burly man’s spine. Survival instincts took over, and he dove to the side, intending to roll out of the line of attack toward a pile of junk in the corner that might serve as cover.

In that instant!

Aaron, who had been shielding his sister the whole time, his eyes bloodshot with fear and rage, spotted the fleeting, fatal opportunity!

The burly man—the beast who had just been greedily eyeing Lina and threatening them with venomous words—now exposed the back of his defenseless head as he tried to dodge!

He was so close!

A surge of Power from the depths of his soul, a mixture of overwhelming hatred and do-or-die courage, instantly washed away Aaron’s fear!

He didn’t know where this Mechanical Body had come from, but in that moment, all that mattered was protecting his sister and eliminating the threat completely!

”Die!!”

A beast-like roar erupted from the boy’s throat, completely unlike his usual timid voice!

He practically followed the path of the man’s diving roll, his body lunging forward like an arrow from a bow. Using every ounce of his strength, he swung the heavy crowbar high over his head. It whistled through the air as he brought it smashing down on the man’s skull as it tried to retreat into the shadows!

THUMP—CRACK!

A sickening crunch was clearly audible amidst the chaos.

The burly man’s body went rigid, all his evasive rolling coming to an abrupt stop.

He couldn’t even let out a pained groan. His dive turned into a limp collapse, and he slammed onto the ground like a sack of wet mud. Blood gushed from the gash on the back of his head, rapidly spreading into a glaring, dark-red stain on the dusty floor.

At the same time Aaron struck down the burly man, the Guardian had also taken down the skinny one and the short one.

The entire room fell into a brief, deathly silence.

Aaron remained in the position of his downward swing, panting heavily, his chest heaving.

He stared at the rapidly spreading pool of blood and the motionless man on the floor. A wave of intense nausea and exhaustion washed over him, and his stomach churned violently.

’I killed someone... To protect my sister, I smashed a man’s head with my own hands...’

The realization made the hand gripping the crowbar tremble uncontrollably. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Just then, the Mechanical Body turned its heavy frame, and its ”eyes,” flashing with a yellow warning light, locked precisely onto Aaron.

An icy scanning beam fell upon him, feeling as if it could pierce his flesh and scrutinize his very bones and organs.

It was a completely emotionless assessment, based purely on programming logic, yet it made Aaron feel a chill deeper than anything he had felt facing the thugs—a cold that sprang from the primal instinct for survival!

He had no doubt that if this Mechanical Body deemed him a threat, the same steel hammer that had crushed the thugs would fall upon him in the next instant!

”No... don’t...”

Aaron screamed silently in his heart as fear surged back, overwhelming every other emotion.

He reflexively let go of the crowbar. Then, with a thud, he dropped to his knees and prostrated himself, pressing his forehead to the ground. He placed his open hands on either side of his head, adopting the most subservient, harmless posture he could muster to signal to this cold killing machine: ’I am not a threat.’

Time seemed to freeze.

Every second felt like a century.

Aaron could clearly hear his own heart hammering in his chest and the blood roaring in his ears. Behind him, Lina was so terrified she had stopped sobbing; only the sound of her faint, shallow breaths reached him.

The Guardian’s cold yellow light continued its scan: over Aaron, over Lina huddled in a ball behind him, over the four groaning thugs and the now-silent burly man on the floor, over the messy clutter and the broken doorframe...

Finally, just as Aaron was about to be driven mad by the immense pressure, the yellow light moved away.

The Mechanical Body seemed to have completed its assessment and threat-level confirmation of all biological targets in the area.

It made no further offensive moves. Its heavy metal feet made a soft CLICK on the uneven ground as it adjusted its direction. Then, it walked straight out through the hole it had smashed in the doorway, rejoining the chaotic battle on the street outside.

The CLANK... CLANK... of its footsteps faded into the distance.

Aaron shakily lifted his head, only to see, through the smoke and dust, the insignia engraved on the Mechanical Body’s back: a giant fist encircled by a gear.

A flash of realization struck him.

’That insignia... I think it’s from the Giant God Workshop, the one a coworker said was hiring. Are the Mechanical Bodies from this Workshop the ones putting down the riots?’

But before he could dwell on it, his sister’s voice, filled with fear and confusion, sounded from behind him.

”B-Brother...”

Her call was like a needleprick that jolted Aaron back to his senses.

He paid no mind to the filth and tears on his own face as he practically crawled back to her, pulling Lina, who was huddled in the corner with a face as white as a sheet, into a tight embrace.

”It’s okay... Lina... It’s okay now... Don’t be afraid... I’m here... I’m right here...”

”*Sob*... Brother... the blood... it’s so scary...”

Lina finally burst out crying, her pent-up fear released like a bursting dam. Her tears flowed freely, soaking the front of Aaron’s shirt.

Her small body shook violently in his arms, like a leaf trembling in a cold wind.

Aaron just hugged her tighter, resting his chin on the top of her head. He closed his eyes and let hot tears of his own slide down his cheeks.

”Giant God... Giant God... thank you...”