The Invincible Arthur Gardner novel Chapter 57

Estella lunged forward, throwing a flurry of punches at Arthur. But, Arthur dodged and parried each of her strikes with lightning-fast reflexes, almost as if he were savoring the fight, searching for something more than physical dominance. His movements were precise and calculated, as if he were trying to unearth something deeper, to comprehend Estella and her relationship with the criminal underworld.

"Why are you dodging me?" Estella's irritation was clear in her tone, and she jumped back into a defensive stance. "I won't tolerate any games. If you don't fight me seriously, I promise I won't show you any mercy, and make you pay for daring to disrespect me."

Arthur's response was simply a faint smile as he said, "It's true, the underworld can be quite intimidating. I was so scared when one of the higher-ups came up to me."

Arthur deliberately provoked Estella's anger in order to gain more information from her. “Is Aston also your friend?” he inquired. “Why didn't he come to me himself if he was the one holding a grudge against me?”

"Aston is one of the five leaders in the underworld," Estella proclaimed, "but his level is far inferior to mine. I could easily annihilate him and his entire army if I so choose. As well as you, like I did this time."

She had only intended to test Arthur's combat prowess; however, it seemed he was merely attempting to extract information from her and was not taking their skirmish seriously. Estella felt she had to be more serious in dealing with him. She couldn't let him go and became even more powerful.

"Are you interested in joining the underworld, Mr. Glitzy?" Estella inquired.

"Not really." Arthur replied calmly, "My goal is to live a peaceful, fulfilling life - and if that means I have to confront you and the other four leaders of the underworld, then I'm willing to face that challenge."

He was aware of the five people who ran the underworld and knew that Estella and Aston were among them. He was aware that he had provoked them and expected some retribution for his actions. Despite that, he kept his composure, hoping that he would be able to discover their true strength and prepare himself for any potential conflict.

"Should we help our boss?"

Estella's men seemed to be getting restless, their anger piling high, as they watched their boss not immediately beat Arthur.

"Are you crazy? Do you really think our boss, who is very good at fighting, will lose to that stupid guy? Look at her, she's just playing with her prey!"

"Our boss is very strong, she won't be easily defeated," one of them reassured.

They were all fully prepared to attack simultaneously if anything happened to Estella. And they seemed impatient to beat Arthur.

"I won't let anyone who insults The Kraken breathe easy!" one of them exclaimed angrily.

Arthur felt he had enough information from Estella and wanted to end their fight immediately.

"You seem to be getting serious, Mr. Glitzy?" Estella said sharply, her temper flaring.

"I think so," he answered calmly.

At that moment, Estella quickly lunged toward Arthur and began throwing her fists rapidly. However, Arthur was able to catch both of her hands swiftly.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" she shouted angrily.

Smiling faintly, Arthur threw Estella's body away and delivered a sharp punch to her stomach, sending her crashing to the floor. He then pressed down on her back with his knee and held her hands behind her back.

Witnessing the fate of Estella, all of her men quickly readied themselves to attack and moved nearer to Arthur.