Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 860: Strongest - Part 7

"Doors… Doors… Doors…"

Michael tapped his finger against his chin as he looked at the row of doors leading to different rooms.

Samuel and Isaac were also investigating the doors.

'The signs above the doors are quite vague. They never say what we will find inside the room.'

Kiernan thought.

He was just standing behind the group and letting them make decisions—after all, he was here only to keep an eye on Michael.

'For Bael to be interested in him, there must be something strange about him.'

He thought.

"I suggest entering this room!"

Michael knocked on one of the doors.

[The Exit]

"The Exit? Haha, could it be that we've finally found a way out of this place? It would be pretty funny, hahaha."

Isaac laughed.

They didn't actually expect to find the exit in that room, but they were all quite curious about what they would find inside.

Thus.

They opened the door, and all entered the room.

Bang~ the door closed behind them.

And then, the light flooded the room, and it was a pretty blank room with nothing inside except for white walls, ceiling, and floor.

It looked like a room one would find inside an insane asylum or a hospital, with its stark and sterile appearance.

"Another door, look."

Samuel pointed at the door across the room, and they all started to wonder whether it was actually the exit.

Michael approached the door, put his hand on the door handle, and tried opening it, but it was tightly locked.

"Maybe there is a key somewhere for this. I think we should go look for it."

Michael said.

They agreed, and tried leaving the room from the door where they came from, but it was also surprisingly locked.

"It's locked!"

Samuel cried out.

"Argh!"

Isaac punched at the door, but it didn't budge, and he only hurt his own wrist in the process.

"Are we trapped here?"

"Oh shit…"

Isaac and Samuel looked at each other, realizing the gravity of the situation.

In that moment, Michael tried opening the door, but it remained firmly shut, and he also looked serious.

"YOU HAVE ENTERED THE COMBAT ROOM!"

In that moment, a voice came from inside the walls, and it definitely belonged to one of the people in the command center.

"FOR YOU TO LEAVE THE COMBAT ROOM, YOU HAVE TO DEFEAT AN ENEMY GROUP. WAIT FOR YOUR OPPONENTS TO ARRIVE. YOU MAY NOT LEAVE BEFORE THAT!"

The voice shouted.

"An enemy group? Is it one of the competitors in the tournament? What if they never happen to come over here? There are like a hundred different rooms in this facility!"

Isaac cried out.

'Nothing else to do than wait.'

Kiernan sat down on the ground—one knee bent, his arms resting on top of it, and his head hung low.

'You can leave this room whenever you want to. Why aren't you?'

Bael questioned him inside his mind.

'Why should I?'

Kiernan thought.

They started waiting, and the time moved at a snail's pace—Isaac and Samuel were trying to find another way out.

Meanwhile, Michael and Kiernan were just sitting on the ground as if they weren't in any hurry to leave.

The one hour had already passed.

Every other competitor had returned back to the Sanctuary, and since they hadn't, others most likely already believed them to be dead.

Rumble~ Rumble~

"I am feeling hungry…" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Isaac whimpered.

He didn't know when the last time that he had eaten was, but it must've been a long while, as he was starving!

More time passed, and the hour of the Sanctuary also passed, and all the fighters were thrown back to the combat.

They waited… waited… and waited…

In that moment.

The door handle of the other door got pushed down—everyone looked over—and then the door opened.

In walked another group—there were six of them—and they were all holding weapons with scary looks on their faces.

"It's them…"

Michael whispered.

"Ngh…"

Samuel's broken hand hurt more at the sight of that group's leader—who was responsible for breaking his hand.

"Haha, look who we do have here~"

Merrick smiled.

He was tapping his shoulder with the baseball bat, and he had gray hair that seemed like he hadn't been to a barber for a while.

It was the group that met with Michael's group beforehand, and that meeting ended in a draw as Michael managed to chase them off.

Merrick also realized the danger that Michael posed, so he delayed the inevitable clash and recruited a couple more to his group.

Now, he was very confident.

His group members—Ives, Ronan, Kellan, Bishop, and Cross—were all famous names in the underworld.

"THE TWO GROUPS HAVE NOW ASSEMBLED. ONLY ONE GROUP WILL LEAVE THIS ROOM ALIVE. GOOD LUCK IN YOUR FIGHT!"

The voice shouted from inside the walls.

"Only one group can leave this room alive? I was surprised when I didn't see you guys in the Sanctuary, and I thought you died somewhere.

"So you were trapped here all along."

Merrick chuckled.

Michael stood up with a soft expression, and he raised his fists as if he were a boxer that was about to enter the ring.

"Huff… Huff…"

Samuel ignored the broken hand and forcefully pulled it into a fist. He did the same with his other fist.

It didn't matter how much he was in pain.

They were about to fight to the death, and they were at a very serious disadvantage, and they needed him to push through the pain.

'I am not the one that will drag down this team!'

Samuel thought with a cold look.

Meanwhile, Isaac took out his inhaler from his pocket, then put it up to his mouth and took a deep breath.

He then put it back in his pocket.

Kiernan slowly stood up, but he didn't remove his hands from his pockets, as he really didn't need to.

'Are you going to let them die?'

Bael asked.

'It depends on my mood. I'll give them little help. In the end, it will be ultimately up to them whether they die.'

Kiernan thought.

"Hahaha, what a sorry-looking bunch!"

Merrick laughed when he looked at them.

"A cripple, an asthma patient, and two wet-eared brats!"

Cross said with a laugh.

"Attack, boys!"

Merrick pointed his baseball bat at Michael, and the rest—his group members—rushed towards them with cruel smiles on their faces.

Ronan was holding a knife.

Ives was brandishing a metal pipe.

Kellan was swinging a golf club.

Bishop had a crowbar.

And Cross had brass knuckles.

"Bring it on, bastards!"

Samuel threw a punch with his not-broken hand at Ronan, but the knife slashed at his arm, leaving a deep cut.

"Argh!"

"Hehe~"

Ronan licked his lips and kept swinging the knife at him, and Samuel weaved through the attacks, trying to find an opening.

'He drops his shoulder whenever he swings the knife!'

Samuel thought.

He waited, and as soon as Ronan swung the knife, he jabbed at his side, causing him to stumble back in pain.

"Argh!"

Ronan grunted in pain.

"You are not fighting one-versus-one, moron!"

At that moment, Ives came with a metal pipe and struck Samuel at the back of the head—it was a really hard hit.

"Ugh…"

Samuel's eyes shook, and everything started spinning around him as if he were thrown inside a washing machine.

Kellan and Bishop knocked Isaac over, and as he fell to the ground, they just kept hitting him with the crowbar and the golf club.

"Argh… Someone… Help me…"

Isaac grunted painfully, feeling his body weaken under the blows.

"Sigh…"

Kiernan saw it and took a step towards them to give slight assistance, but in that moment, Cross's brass knuckle punch came for him.

With a well-timed backstep, Kiernan dodged the punch.

"You dodged that?"

Cross asked in surprise and kept punching, but Kiernan was like a slippery eel and kept dodging them all.

Kiernan didn't consider himself a good dodger—he was actually quite a poor one at that—but Cross' punches were very easy to dodge.

Cross punched again. Kiernan caught the fist in his hand. Then, he grabbed the back of his head and smashed it into the wall.

"Arfgghhh…"

Cross went limp, falling to the ground in a daze as his skull got cracked.

In that moment, Kiernan kicked Bishop and Kellan off the screaming Isaac, and they took a quick look at him.

"Cross already got defeated?"

"He is not weak!"

Bishop and Kellan said in surprise.

They surrounded Kiernan and started swinging their crowbar and golf club at him, and he responded with calm Rendering Edge.

The crowbar and golf club kept coming at him, but he effortlessly redirected them every time.

"Ugh…"

Isaac held his side—there was something wrong with his ribs—and he looked at Kiernan in a lot of surprise.

'He is… strong!'

Meanwhile, Michael and Merrick faced each other, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Heh~"

Merrick tightly grabbed the baseball bat, his knuckles turning white from the force, and he then sprang forward quickly.

The baseball bat came swinging down.

Michael put his arm in the way—the baseball bat hit his forearm—he grunted in a lot of pain and staggered backwards.

'He is actually losing the fight?'

Kiernan thought in surprise as he had time to check Michael fighting while dealing with Bishop and Kellan.

Michael really didn't seem all that special.