"I already miss going home..." Dante murmured these words as he pulled the trigger once more, taking down another target.
The enemies he would bury tonight would help stabilize the future of his organization, and thanks to that, the feds would stop investigating SAMCRO.
He was desperate to get off the police radar—who wouldn't be? Everything had been going well until he got involved with cocaine.
He had expected things like this to happen, but this was too much to endure without going insane. These were the consequences of a business that everyone wanted a piece of.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the end, Dante hadn't changed; only the people around him had. He was still the same—a killer without a shred of mercy when it came to eliminating his enemies.
Dante's gaze focused on the reactions of the opposing factions fighting each other to feed their egos. Throughout his time in the underworld, he had learned that all it took was the perfect moment to kill your enemies.
The same applied to those who were greedy and wanted more power within an increasingly small social circle.
"Zz... No signs of the National Guard. They'll definitely let these criminals kill each other."
"Zz... This is the perfect moment to strike both cartels and wipe them out."
Dante hadn't expected this.
His plans were shifting too much with all the new things he was learning in a territory he barely knew.
After taking out Andrés and Rubén, his plan had been to stay under the radar while the hitmen fought among themselves, tracking down the scattered groups leaving the battlefield to eliminate them one by one.
Reports had indicated that there were former soldiers from all over Latin America within the enemy ranks. Attacking them meant risking far more than just his own life.
But now that things had unfolded as expected and no external force had intervened, the perfect opportunity had presented itself.
"Zz... Be cautious when eliminating targets."
Dante swiftly grabbed his assault rifle and began searching for targets on his own.
That's when he noticed an unusual sound beneath him.
Someone was there.
Dante realized it instantly.
Earlier, when he had taken out the sniper occupying this vantage point, he had paid close attention to his surroundings at regular intervals. Naturally, he had been doing everything possible to avoid sharing the same fate as the sniper he had killed.
That's why he immediately adjusted his rifle and aimed in the direction of the sound.
Below him was a dark figure. He didn't even need to know who it was before firing.
Bang!
Dante's exceptional marksmanship once again proved that he was on par with the world's most renowned assassins.
He and his target were only fifteen meters apart. In this scenario, he had the upper hand, and with this shot, he had sealed that man's fate.
The sensation of taking another life didn't faze Dante. He simply remained silent, trying to distinguish the sounds around him from the distant gunfire.
"It's surprising that I can still pick up on sounds around me with all this chaos in the distance." Dante thought as he adapted to the ever-changing battle.
He had good hearing—his perception of the environment was far superior to the average person's—but he still knew he was exposed in this position.
Realizing this, he understood how terrifying it would be if he lost his advantage.
Seeing that body lying not far from him, a bullet in its head, he knew that if he let his guard down for even a moment, he could end up the same way.
The man Dante had just shot was definitely one of Andrés Reyes' men.
If not for Andrés Reyes' sudden death, that man wouldn't have called out to his companions in the distance, and Dante wouldn't have spotted him.
But before Dante could decide whether to stay in this position a little longer, voices rang out beneath him again.
"We've got a sniper up top!"
The lifeless, bullet-riddled body had drawn unwanted attention, followed by the sound of rushing footsteps.
At this point, Dante remained calm, thinking clearly about his next move as the footsteps neared his location.
"Everything's gone to hell..." Dante smirked coldly, quickly slinging his rifle onto his back, pulling out a stun grenade, and tossing it to the ground.
Boom!
As the grenade exploded beneath him, Dante sprinted forward, pistol in hand, facing the enemies hunting him without hesitation.
He couldn't afford to stay in one place any longer.
Even though this vantage point gave him control over the entire battlefield, he had no secure escape route if he became outnumbered.
If he was cornered, there would be no way out.
"Argh!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As Dante descended, he fired at every armed figure sprawled on the ground.
Boom!
Seconds after Dante had abandoned the sniper position, a rocket struck the exact spot where he had just been.
The blast wave and heat hurled Dante to the ground, making him tumble several meters before crashing against a wall.
Dazed from the impact, he quickly got to his feet and leaped through a window, resuming his escape.
Only then did he see dozens of hitmen surrounding the area, chasing after him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Assault rifle bullets kicked up clouds of dust as they struck near Dante. He turned to return fire, but some bullets hit his vest and arm.
Bang!
Dante rolled on the ground and, furious, hurled another grenade.
The explosion wiped out dozens of hitmen but drew the attention of others in the area. Even a truck with a mounted machine gun locked onto Dante, preparing to shower him with bullets.
He no longer had time to think about his plan. His priority now was getting as far away from that machine gun's range as possible.
He ran into the ruins filled with obstacles.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The machine gun opened fire on Dante.
Although he dodged the shots, the overwhelming hail of bullets forced him to leap down a steep slope.
"Damn it!" Dante cursed under his breath.
He had to ditch his assault rifle while fleeing.
He knew that, under these circumstances, keeping it would only slow him down. If he held onto that weapon, he'd never escape the enemy fire.
But Dante couldn't leave without a parting gift.
He pulled the pin on another grenade and tossed it onto his abandoned gear.
With only a pistol holstered at his side, Dante's speed increased dramatically, pushing his agility to its limits.
He felt like he had never run this fast before.
His reflexes were sharper, and his speed had increased.
Boom!
As he slipped into the shadows once more and entered stealth mode, the grenade he had planted exploded, setting off a chain reaction with the other grenades he had left behind. The massive explosion inflicted severe damage on the hitmen pursuing him.
Finally, he had shaken them off.
For the first time in his life, Dante had experienced the sheer force of overwhelming numbers.
If it had been a one-on-one fight, he believed he could have taken out the soldiers one by one, or even two or three at a time.
But when those numbers multiplied by ten, the only tactic left was to flee and hope to be fast enough.
After barely escaping death by rockets and machine-gun fire, he felt like he had just returned from the brink of hell.
Injured but not gravely, Dante moved swiftly into the shadows, with no intention of returning to the battlefield.
Even though the hitmen chasing him had suffered heavy casualties, more would come looking for him if he went back. Returning there would have been suicide.
But not everything was about escaping. As soon as he left the hot zone, his men met him.
"Boss, your wounds..." Crocodile stepped forward, visibly concerned.
"Nothing serious. Give me a status update."
"Our main forces are about to attack the front, but we're moving to more isolated areas to wipe out entire groups of hitmen."
Dante nodded slightly and said, "Then let's go."