Harrison looked at his condition. Though he won, it was not a clean win. He received a few cuts. All of them were shallow, but they still caused him to bleed. All the bleeding had stopped, of course.
He tore more clothes to wrap those wounds. After taking another breather, he walked up to the fifth floor. Three more floors, he thought.
On the fifth floor, the scene was different. There were still many people waiting for him there, but not like the thugs on the floors below. Everyone on this fifth floor wore nice suits. Some even wore sunglasses.
"Soldiers, eh?" Harrison muttered.
Since he used to be in the syndicate, he knew the structure of the organization. The thugs he fought before were the lowest of the bunch. They were called associates. They were expendable foot soldiers who were sent first to the front line to soften the enemy force before a real assault was made. The ones in the neat suits here were those who performed the real assault. They were the soldiers.
These soldiers didn't act like the thugs on the floor below. They didn't loiter around lazily. They stood at the ready in four lines. When they saw Harrison coming up, they lifted their fists into a fighting pose.
"Hmph!" Harrison threw the machete in his hand. Since the enemies didn't use a weapon, he wouldn't either.
As he walked forward. The four in the front row came forward to meet him. These four were the ones who wore sunglasses.
Harrison told them, "You people are wearing sunglasses indoors. You know who does that? No-talent douche bags!"
The four didn't react to the insult. They spread out and surrounded Harrison. Only these four acted. The other soldiers never moved from their positions.
"Let me see the quality of the current generation of Savino Soldiers," Harrison uttered. He also brought his fists up in a boxing pose.
The four stood at four different positions around Harrison. All five didn't move for quite a while. After almost half a minute, the two on Harrison's flanks were the first to move. The two at the front moved soon after.
Harrison ignored the two coming from the front. He knew those two wanted to draw his attention. He swiveled back just before the two on his flanks arrived. His left arm was still wrapped in the leather jacket. That arm swiped the two fists about to hit him. Using the momentum of the same swiveling motion, his right arm performed a hook.
The hook slammed into one of the soldiers, who then crashed into the other soldier beside him. The power of the hook sent the two soldiers flying to the side and crashing into the wall.
Harrison's swiveling motion hardly stopped after performing the hook. His body continued to spin, and he returned to facing the front, just as the other two soldiers arrived and threw punches. He shielded himself from those punches using his left arm. The bundled-up leather jacket provided a large surface that served as an effective shield.
While his opponents' punches were stopped, Harrison threw a punch of his own. He threw two consecutive lightning-fast jabs that accurately struck the soldiers' faces. The jabs shattered the soldiers' sunglasses and caused them to stagger back with bloodied noses.
Harrison lunged forward and grabbed the head of the soldier on the right while he was still disoriented. With his left arm propping the head of the soldier on the left, he slammed the two soldiers' heads into one another. The two fell to the floor and weren't getting up anymore.
He walked past the unconscious soldiers and came to those who still stood unmoving. He made a hand gesture that called them to come forward.
"How about all of you come at me at the same time. That will save time," he said.
The soldiers looked at each other. With a silent agreement, they all charged forward.
*
The sixth floor was also filled with soldiers. The difference was that the soldiers on the sixth floor carried weapons. At first, they also came at Harrison in a group of four, one at a time. This gave Harrison the chance to acquire one of their weapons. One of them was wearing brass knuckles. He chose to take that weapon.
Like on the fifth floor, after Harrison demonstrated how swiftly he dispatched the first group, the rest of the soldiers on that floor decided to throw all pretenses and come at him at the same time.
After several minutes of fierce bouts, the fight was finally over. Harrison stood with a bent body. His hands were on his knees. He was panting hard. Several new wounds were visible on his body. A bruise was on his left cheek.
"Bloody hell…," He panted. "I truly have grown old…"
He saw several packs of beer cans on the side. The soldiers must have planned to drink those after completing their job here. He went there and took a can. He sat on the floor, opened the can, and drank it. After finishing that can, he looked at the other cans and decided to open another one.
He took his time. He drank the beer slowly, enjoying his time. After this floor was the top floor. The people up there didn't show any sign of coming down here, so he might as well take as much rest as he needed.
Apparently, he spent such a long time resting that the other party on the upper floor lost patience and started calling. A ringtone was heard from one of the fallen soldiers. Harrison came over and fished out a mobile phone from the soldier. Underboss was the word shown on the phone's screen, referring to the caller.
Harrison accepted the call and listened. He recognized the voice to be Wade's
"Hey! What's going on down there? We heard a lot of commotion from here, but it has been silent for a while. Did the legend turn out to be just horseshit and kick the bucket?"
"The legend is having a rest. Give me ten more minutes, and I will head up," Harrison replied and shut the phone.