Chapter 19

〈 Episode 20: Repelling the Bandit Group 〉

*

Crush.

The ashes crushed under the man’s foot crumbled weakly.

Ignoring that, the man continued to approach his target.

After all, there was no way he could hear such small sounds from this distance.

‘I’m sure. It’s that guy.’

Murky-colored blonde hair.

And a physique that seemed a bit small for wandering outside the barrier.

Coupled with the Relic he was holding, it was definitely that boy he had seen before.

‘Why is he alone?’

The last time he saw him, he was with a red-haired monster girl.

However, it seemed that for the past week, he had only been spotted wandering alone.

‘Did he not follow the girl?’

Here, outside the barrier, it was better to harbor questions.

The more questions he had, the higher the chance of survival.

But as a bandit, he couldn’t afford to miss a sure opportunity.

‘Anyway, the girl isn’t around, so this is certainly a good chance.’

That boy was weak compared to the girl.

His senses told him that.

It was the senses that had allowed him to survive outside the barrier for years, so they could be considered fairly accurate.

‘Then…’

He raised his hand and signaled to his subordinates.

‘Start the attack.’

At that moment, the archer shot the bowstring he had drawn.

And the hidden subordinates began to rush out with their weapons.

He calmly watched the arrow flying through the air.

‘It will hit.’

That premonition felt certain.

The arrow was heading straight for the boy. And even if the boy noticed the arrow, it would be hard for him to dodge it immediately.

However, in the next moment, something strange happened.

Swoosh

The arrow slicing through the air suddenly curved sharply near the boy.

It wasn’t just a miss. The arrow had clearly curved.

His senses suddenly began to sound alarms.

‘What is this?’

The boy was already rushing toward the archer.

*

[Subduing the Bandit Group］

A bandit group residing outside the barrier is launching an attack on you. Repel them all.

Danger Level: B

Reward: 35 SP

Despite my status having improved a bit during this time, the difficulty was still quite high.

If the danger level is B, it means that characters with mediocre growth should start avoiding the challenge.

But right now, I was in a pretty good situation in terms of items and skills compared to my status.

‘Just don’t let my guard down.’

This was definitely a good opportunity.

But letting my guard down was out of the question.

I recalled my first quest.

‘I almost died to a wolf.’

Of course, I was different now than I was back then.

Since the moment the quest popped up, I had been wary of my surroundings.

‘Should I hold off on using Wind’s Power for now?’

Two straws were spinning in the air beside my head.

This was training to increase my proficiency in Wind’s Power while capturing Chaos Beasts.

It might seem trivial, but maintaining Wind’s Power took a considerable amount of mental effort, so I wasn’t confident I could maintain it while giving it my all just yet.

It was at that moment.

Crush.

I felt a presence.

I had felt it before, but Alan’s body was rather sensitive to sudden stimuli.

Not particularly useful, though.

‘Did they come?’

As expected with the term ‘bandit group,’ it wasn’t just one person.

It looked like at least nine were approaching from all sides.

I began to assess them, pretending not to notice.

‘Four with swords, some with spears or axes, and one archer?’

Of course, that wasn’t all; there could be more hiding somewhere.

‘Well, if there’s an archer, things get complicated.’

There wasn’t time to worry about an archer while engaging in melee combat.

Of course, if they had any common sense, they wouldn’t shoot arrows when their allies were intermingled, but expecting common sense from a bandit group was laughable.

So, the priority target narrowed down to one.

‘First, take down the archer.’

It was at that decisive moment.

I saw the archer drawing an arrow on his bow.

‘At this distance…’

The archer would shoot before I could reach him.

However, it wasn’t far enough that I could avoid the incoming arrow.

Not knowing the archer’s bow skills, I needed another method.

‘I have no choice but to use Wind’s Power.’

At the same time an arrow flew toward me.

I withdrew the power I had from the straws floating in the air.

And I focused all my nerves on the quickly approaching arrow.

‘Now!’

Something divergent from the power was detected.

The power was faster than anything else.

While it was impossible to catch the arrow with my hands, I could deflect it using my powers.

“Phew…”

Successfully deflecting the arrow caused an overwhelming fatigue to wash over me, and I exhaled.

I still couldn’t manage to engage in melee combat while pulling off stunts like this. Therefore, it was right to deal with the archer first.

I began to charge toward the archer.

“Grab him!”

The bandit scoundrels around me jumped out. But they couldn’t catch me.

That was because I was utilizing my experience as a track athlete to my advantage. Furthermore, the Relic Gravitas Replicant I was holding had lightened its weight due to its inherent effect.

For a non-hero to catch me in a sprint would be a tall order.

The archer, flustered, hastily started to nock his next arrow.

But it was already too late. I had closed the distance enough to reach him.

I raised my sword. A strange resistance was felt from my arm.

‘I knew it.’

It was Alan’s resistance.

He was hesitating to kill these guys, even though they were the ones trying to kill him.

‘Idiot.’

No wonder he ended up dead every time.

Of course, I wasn’t devoid of aversion to killing someone.

But here, in the Chaos Realm, killing an enemy was an unavoidable choice. If you didn’t take them out for good in one strike, they could turn into a Chaos Beast.

‘Kill.’

< Trait [Absolute Obedience] activated. >

The faint feeling of resistance in my arm vanished.

And I swiftly swung the lightweight Gravitas toward him.

As I slashed down at an angle, when it met him, I released a portion of the weight.

Crash!

A violent tremor echoed through my hand.

At the same time, shards of him splattered onto me.

Yes, I needed to do it this decisively.

I smiled at the frozen bandits charging towards me.

‘You messed up by touching me.’

Recognizing that smile as a provocation, several bandits charged at me.

Of course, a bunch of average bandits had no chance against my B+ ranked swordsmanship.

Moreover, the temporarily weight-released Gravitas Replicant bore a destructive power that could not be blocked head-on.

“Graaah!”

The two bandits that had lunged at me were shredded in an instant.

Seeing that from behind, the remaining bandits seemed to realize they were outmatched.

They each pulled out black spheres from their pockets. It was the same item they had used to escape from Gwen before.

‘Are they fleeing?’

There was no reason to chase after fleeing enemies.

After all, the quest’s objective was to repel the bandit group, not to annihilate them.

But the smoke bombs they detonated were somewhat troublesome.

Bang

The black spheres exploded upon hitting the ground, and black particles began to seep out.

The black particles quickly filled the area, rendering my vision paralyzed.

This got troublesome. This way, I’d be vulnerable to sudden ambushes.

‘The quest difficulty was definitely B.’

Then it couldn’t end this simply.

There might still be something left.

Thinking that, I remained tense amidst the dark fog.

‘…’

At that moment, Wind’s Power sounded an alarm.

From behind.

I hurriedly turned my head to find a dagger approaching my neck.

*

The archer was instantly split in two.

The other two underlings who had charged at me also swiftly perished.

Seeing this, the remaining bandits seemed to escape without needing a command.

In one way, it could be deemed the worst situation.

It was hard to save each individual person outside the barrier.

He thought about how he had raised this bandit group.

He had felt the same when the red-haired girl killed one of his subordinates last time; it had stung terribly.

And now three had died, one of which was even a valuable archer.

Yet still…he felt a strange excitement building inside him.

‘That’s it.’

His gaze was solely focused on the Relic the boy was holding.

At first glance, it looked so ordinary it was hard to identify as a Relic, a plain sword without any adornments.

Yet he knew. Most of the boy’s power came from that Relic.

He trusted his instincts.

He had never been wrong.

The boy was weak. But when wielding that sword, he was powerful.

So, there was but one answer.

‘I will definitely get that sword.’

Losing a few subordinates didn’t matter.

He wouldn’t need to replenish his subordinates now.

With the money earned from selling that sword, he would restore his identity as Sakh.

And then, he would put an end to this hellish life.

He poised his dagger.

At that moment, the bandits had filled the area around him with darkness using the smoke bombs they detonated.

He had all the conditions for victory perfectly set.

‘Night’s Shadow.’

That was the name of the dagger he held.

It was the weapon that had protected him since he became a wanted man.

And simultaneously, it was a Relic.

He quickly melted into the darkness.

With the effect of the Relic Night’s Shadow, as long as there was a degree of darkness, he could completely erase his presence.

Having erased his presence, he slowly crept closer to the boy.

Finally coming within reach of the boy, he swung his dagger.

The boy, who was completely unaware of his existence.

The dagger headed directly for the boy’s neck.

‘One strike, and he’s dead.’

It was at that moment he tightened his grip on the dagger.

Stab.

Pain shot through his right hand.

It was a different kind of pain from what he had felt up until now—an unbearable agony.

As a result, he had no choice but to drop the dagger from his hand.

The falling dagger.

Above it, his palm appeared.

On his palm was a wound he had received from his own dagger not long ago, and around it, something dark red was spreading.

(Thief)

(Trash)

(Hopeless)

Voices began to echo in his head.

It was no voice he had never heard before.

He had heard it before when he had severed his left arm.

It was the sign of a Chaos Beast transformation.

‘Damn it.’

*

‘What the hell?’

The man dropped the dagger before reaching my neck.

I was relieved, although I didn’t know why.

This time, I had truly come close to dying. I could say it was sheer luck on my part.

However, the next thing that unfolded was not so fortunate.

“Grah!”

The man who had dropped the dagger began to scream.

At first, I couldn’t grasp the reason behind his strange behavior, but I soon caught on.

The man’s body was gradually swelling.

‘Chaos Beast transformation!’

I had to stop the Chaos Beast transformation at all costs.

Human Chaos Beast transformation was exceedingly dangerous.

The reason why human-shaped Chaos Beasts were seldom seen outside the barrier was that, for some reason, humans could not fully accept chaos unlike other animals.

If a human transformed into a Chaos Beast, that beast would rampage endlessly, ultimately leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

So, that was something I had to prevent at all costs.

With that in my mind, I swung my sword.

Thunk.

Something sprouted from where his left arm used to be, grasping my sword.

It looked more like a bizarre tentacle than an arm.

‘This is getting really ugly.’

That was my thought as he got thrown aside along with my sword.

*