Brazil: Criminal Empire - Chapter 185: I'm Going to Take On Three (Patreon)

The Battle Angels members looked at the reckless BOPE officers with those same amused expressions they always wore when they knew a good show was coming.

On the specially prepared sand field, the BOPE officers had removed their body armor and other equipment. They stretched and moved without all that weight holding them down, but their eyes kept drifting toward Rock and the members of the special operations squads.

Rock looked at the BOPE officers itching for a fight and beckoned with one hand. “Don't say I'm bullying you. Send your three best fighters at me together.”

The seemingly outrageous arrogance of that statement immediately caused an uproar among the BOPE members.

Rock was solidly built, but he was hardly some three-meter giant.

And now he was saying he wanted to take on three men by himself.

Everyone's eyes turned toward the three biggest men in the crowd, and the others immediately began egging them on.

BOPE's training focused mainly on armed tactical movement and the use of weapons and equipment.

But their unarmed combat skills were no less impressive.

When operating in the favelas, not every target needed to be killed.

BOPE were still police officers, after all, and arrest operations were an important part of their job.

That was when their hand-to-hand combat training became useful.

So in addition to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, BOPE's regular combat training included techniques from a variety of fighting styles.

Hand-to-hand combat depended heavily on physical attributes, what people often called having the right build for fighting.

And in this case, they were talking about a fighter's build, not simply looking handsome.

The three men everyone was staring at were among BOPE's best hand-to-hand fighters.

Two were white, while the third was mixed-race.

They averaged around 1.9 meters tall, with powerful builds and well-developed muscles without looking bulky.

They were not merely standouts in Ferreira's combat squad. Even across the entire BOPE battalion, they ranked among the best individual fighters.

Yet Rock had just said he wanted to take all three of them on at once.

That instantly made the other BOPE members even more interested.

Rock had already shown extraordinary CQB ability and astonishing speed moving through the jungle.

Ferreira simply had not mentioned that Rock had also been the one to spot the clue in the drone footage while they were tracking the sniper who had failed to kill him.

If Rock was not bragging, then his hand-to-hand combat ability had already reached the point where he could fight three men at once.

But these were three of the best fighters in the BOPE battalion.

Could Rock really accomplish the near-impossible feat he had just claimed and defeat all three of them together?

The three combat experts exchanged doubtful looks.

But Rock did not look like he was joking.

So after a short warm-up, the three men stepped in front of him.

“Mr. Locke, would you rather have us come at you one at a time?”

One of the BOPE officers smiled at Rock, offering the suggestion as a friendly warning.

No matter how many people they had killed, they were still decent police officers at heart.

Rock answered, “Man, thanks for the concern. I'll go a little easier on you when I beat you up.”

The BOPE officers watching from the side burst into laughter.

They immediately started urging the three men to attack.

Swept up by the excitement, the three BOPE officers settled into fighting stances and slowly closed in on Rock.

Rock casually raised his hands in a boxing stance and bounced lightly on his feet.

He was not particularly interested in defeating these men. During the earlier CQB challenge, he had already gotten all the Skills he was likely to get from them.

Now he was only doing this to make them give up any lingering doubts.

Rivaldo leaned close to Cassiano and whispered, “How many moves do you think those three can last against the boss?”

The other special operations members were also quietly discussing how long Rock would need to put the three BOPE officers down.

On the BOPE side, everyone was whispering as well. As far as they were concerned, these three men were already excellent fighters, and all three had heavyweight physiques.

With all three attacking together, even a boxing champion would have trouble handling them.

Each of the three BOPE officers was slightly taller than Rock and noticeably broader through the shoulders.

With the three of them surrounding him, it looked like three brown bears closing in on a puma.

The special operations members were betting on how long their boss would need to drop all three.

The BOPE officers were guessing how badly Rock was about to get beaten.

A constant buzz of discussion filled the entire sand field.

The mixed-race BOPE officer attacked first.

He drove a powerful front kick straight at Rock. Once his two teammates realized Rock truly did not care if they attacked together, they moved at the same time.

Both men swept low from opposite sides, aiming at Rock's supporting leg.

If Rock had no answer, he would take the heavy front kick head-on, lose his balance, then have both legs swept out from under him and be sent crashing into the sand.

But at Rock's current level, there was no need for complicated exchanges of technique.

He planted himself in a hard lunge and drove an elbow forward, meeting the front kick directly.

At the same time, he drew back his rear leg and snapped it out twice in lightning-fast succession, striking the two shins sweeping toward him from either side.

In an instant, the man who had thrown the front kick staggered backward five or six meters. One more step and he would have stumbled into the crowd. Everyone could see that the leg Rock had met with his elbow could no longer bear his weight properly.

A huge man over 1.9 meters tall stood on one leg, touching the other foot gingerly against the ground. The sight looked almost comical, but nobody found it funny.

The other two were already down in the sand, clutching the calves Rock had struck. Pain twisted their faces. Both were tough men, and they gritted their teeth hard enough to keep from crying out.

The noisy BOPE crowd went silent all at once.

Everyone had trouble believing what they had just seen.

They had expected Rock to use the large sand field to maneuver around the three men for a while, then break them down one at a time.

Instead, he had not dodged at all. He had simply met all three attacks head-on.

The front kick was especially shocking. The man had been wearing combat boots, and everyone had watched that heavy kick get driven backward by Rock's elbow.

Rock looked completely fine, while the man wearing the boots looked badly injured.

“Mr. Locke is a martial arts Master who is proficient in several fighting styles. He's the strongest fighter in Angel Defense and also our Chief Combat Instructor.”

Rivaldo stepped forward with a smile and introduced Rock to everyone, piling several impressive titles onto him at once.

Ferreira suddenly understood. “So those looks you were giving us earlier really were because you were waiting for a show!”

He turned eagerly toward Rock. “Mr. Locke, could you demonstrate a little more for us?”

“Commander Ferreira, do you want to experience it firsthand? I'd recommend wearing protective equipment. It'll make it less likely that anyone gets hurt.”

Since Ferreira had made the request, Rock did not mind putting on another demonstration for the BOPE officers who might become his employees in the future.

It would let them experience the strength of their future boss up close.

In the end, six active-duty BOPE officers put on protective gear and stood around Rock, each holding a thick striking pad with both hands.