Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 72: Ancient Martial Arts

"Yes... and not just any mutant!" Radio said as she raised her hand and performed a polite curtsy.

"I am the High Priestess of the Iron Tusk Tribe—Ginia of the Iron Tusk. At your service," said the High Priestess.

"So, you were a mutant all along..." Switch uttered through gritted teeth.

"That’s correct," Ginia smiled and clapped her hands. "Anyway, I’d love to chat, but the Khan needs you for his plan. So..." she turned to the surrounding mutants.

"Capture the woman. Kill the rest!" she commanded.

Seeing this, Switch pointed the gun at her own temple. "Come any closer and you’ll get my corpse!" she shouted, causing all the mutants to halt.

The Khan’s orders were absolute—they couldn’t risk the girl killing herself. The mutants looked to their Priestess for further instructions.

Ginia’s expression turned solemn as she stared at the gun in Switch’s hand.

"Let’s negotiate," Switch began. "I’ll go with you peacefully, but you need to let both of them go!" she said with determination.

Hearing Switch’s words surprised both Maximilian and Dragon Fist. They hadn’t expected her to sacrifice herself for them.

"Let them go? So they can run off to the UEC and report what happened here? Not a chance!" Ginia said with a sneer.

"You don’t have a choice!" Switch replied, pressing the gun tighter against her temple.

"Yes... But the one who doesn’t have a choice is you," Ginia sneered, just as the gun barrel bent upward, completely unusable.

"What!?" Switch was startled, staring at her gun in disbelief.

"Telekinesis!?" Dragon Fist exclaimed. As a professional hero, he instantly recognized the ability.

"Yes, that’s my power. Now..." Ginia raised her hand, and Switch’s body floated into the air, her limbs stiff as though gripped by an invisible giant hand.

"The Khan only said I have to bring you back alive. He didn’t say I couldn’t teach you a lesson." With that, Ginia increased the pressure, squeezing Switch’s body.

"Arrrrghhh!" Switch screamed in pain, feeling as if a massive serpent was coiling around her, threatening to crush every bone.

Suddenly—

A rush of wind passed Dragon Fist. A black blur shot forward like a hurricane toward the mutant priestess.

Ginia was startled. She quickly raised her telekinetic shield. What she saw was a dark silhouette speeding toward her. Her mutant instincts flared. Death was closing in.

BOOOOOM!! CRRRAAACK!! BOOOM!!

The blow struck her invisible telekinetic shield head-on. Switch was instantly released as Ginia channeled all her mental strength into maintaining the shield. Blood trickled from her eyes and nose as she gritted her teeth, straining to stabilize the barrier.

"Grrraaaarghhhh!!" Ginia growled, pushing herself beyond her limit to survive the incoming power radiating from the man before her.

Now she clearly saw him. It was the bespectacled man who looked like he couldn’t hurt a mosquito. Yet her telekinetic shield was fracturing like shattered glass from what appeared to be a simple punch.

"You! Heh heh! Now I’ll crush all your—" Ginia smirked, believing her telekinesis had held out.

"Oh? Too light?" Maximilian muttered under his breath. His qi-infused punch had been blocked... barely... by her shield.

Huh? That wasn’t his full power!?

FWIP! BOOM!!!

The second strike came before the thought could even form in her mind. This time, it wasn’t a punch but an elbow strike.

The elbow struck... not like a hammer, but a landslide, a force of nature, broken through the thin veiled of safety. Her telekinetic shield held for a single, shuddering breath... then... splintered.

The air itself seemed to scream as the unleashed qi tore through, not as a wave, but a spear of condensed fury.

"What!?" The powerful qi hit Ginia square in the chest.

The blow shattered her shield completely. The unleashed qi surged straight through to the one behind it.

Ginia’s ribs exploded inward, her lungs filling with blood before her body even left the ground.

Her body was launched into a building, crashing through the wall and destroying it on impact.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions rocked the structure, The building behind didn’t just collapse—it vaporized in a storm of dust and debris, the residual qi scattering like artillery fire.

The dispersed qi was enough to obliterate her defenses even without a direct hit.

"This... it’s... Bajiquan..." Dragon Fist murmured in awe as he fully registered the technique behind the devastating punch and elbow.

But then, after a brief but tense moments, a silhouette emerged from the smoke-filled crater.

It was Ginia. Her body was bloodied, several ribs jutting out, and several clear signs of the damage caused by the scattered qi were all over her battered body. Fortunately for her, it hadn’t been concentrated; otherwise, she’d be dead already.

Still, Ginia was barely clinging to life. Without immediate aid, she’d be dead in hours, even with the resilience of a mutant High Priestess.

"Kill... kill them... capture the girl..." Ginia croaked out her last command before collapsing to the ground.

The moment the mutants heard the command... this time, instead of charging at Maximilian, something stirred deep within them—something primal that generations of careful genetic selection may have dulled in the mutant warrior bloodline.

Something they had forgotten.

These mutant warriors, who could brave gunfire without hesitation, suddenly felt it.

A primal sensation...

The feeling of fear—

The fear of a predator.

The mutants’ bloodlust clashed with their survival instincts as they hesitated. But the predator in the long coat didn’t.

He struck as they faltered.

BOOM!!

Another punch... this one to the chest. The qi-infused strike instantly liquefied the mutant’s internal organs.

SPLATTER!!

Blood exploded from every orifice like a shattered fountain, shocking the surrounding mutants. Fear gripped them, and their survival instincts took over.

"ARRRGGHHHHH!! GRAAAAHHHH!!"

The mutants roared, charging at Maximilian with everything they had.

Blades, spears, double axes... all brandished and swung toward the lone martial artist. But with each strike, as swift as a spear piercing fragile porcelain, their ferocity shattered. Like a tiger pouncing on a herd of sheep, Maximilian moved.

Corpse after corpse fell—

No more than one strike each.

The mutants dropped in silence, their organs liquefied by the rampaging qi coursing through them, blood bleeding from every orifice as their lifeless bodies collapsed like dry leaves from a dying tree.

"They... they’re afraid? Is this a joke? The Iron Tusk mutant warriors... feeling fear!?"

Switch muttered in disbelief at the absurdity of the scene before her.

She had always heard that mutant warriors never felt fear.

But now... freёnovelkiss.com

She had seen the impossible with her own eyes.

"Is that Max’s EF? Some kind of super strength?" Switch asked Dragon Fist, the only UEC-licensed hero present who understood martial arts.

"No... That’s not EF at all," Dragon Fist replied, shaking his head. "EF is the Evolution Factor—a supernatural trait within the body. But this..."

He swallowed hard, searching for the right words.

"What this master... no, Grandmaster... is displaying... is pure martial arts. It’s something I’ve only ever heard about from the old men in my clan...."

"It’s the Ancient Martial Arts."

As they spoke, the mutants who rushed at Maximilian continued to die... one strike, no exceptions. Blood sprayed from every orifice. It was like watching moths fly into a flame.

Meanwhile, the mutants who had come to rescue Ginia were terrified of this monstrous human who was slaughtering their fearless warriors without even blinking. Without hesitation, they lifted Ginia up and carried her back to the fortress.

"Go! Now! Retreat from here!!" one of the mutants shouted to the beastmaster in control of the creature.

The beastmaster nodded immediately.

They could afford to lose a battalion of warriors—

But not the High Priestess!

The creature quickly turned back, its massive feet stomping the ground as it began to move away.

"They... they retreated..." Switch muttered, stunned by the sight. Just moments ago, they thought they were going to die here.

"Max!" she called out the name of the man who had snatched victory from the jaws of hopelessness, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"He’s over there!" Dragon Fist pointed in a specific direction.

Switch followed Dragon Fist’s finger and finally spotted what she was looking for.

"What!? What the hell is he trying to do!?" she shouted, shaking Dragon Fist by the collar with her metal arm, eyes wide in disbelief as she pointed at Maximilian, who now stood fearlessly in front of the colossal creature.

"Don’t.... don’t ask me! I don’t know!!" Dragon Fist coughed as he tried to respond.

On the creature’s back, the beastmaster quickly turned to his superior, the Hand Maiden of the High Priestess, since the High Priestess herself was now unconscious and unable to give orders.

"Lady Hand Maiden! That human is standing in front of us! What should we do!? Should we take another route?" the beastmaster asked anxiously.

"What!?" The Hand Maiden rushed to the front of the fort and peered through the scope to see what was happening.

She saw a terrifying man, his long coat fluttering as he stood fearlessly, moving his hands in a strange, rhythmic motion as if preparing something.

Seeing this, anger surged within the Hand Maiden. She gritted her teeth and shouted a command.

"Stomp him! Kill him! He dares to obstruct us!? Let’s see if he can fight the behemoth!"

"Yes, Lady Hand Maiden!" the beastmaster responded without hesitation and immediately guided the behemoth forward.