XXXVI

  The pounding of steps was all he heard behind him, causing Kaz’s heart to sink as he thought that the Bandits were also attacking from behind him. He was surrounded, but a whole range of emotions hit him as he heard a strong, confident voice behind him,

  “Kid, do not fret, we’re part of the Adventurer’s Guild from Sarus, and we’re ‘ere to capture these Bandits.”

  Kaz halfway turned to the source of the voice, trying to keep an eye on the charging Bandits. A huge gust of wind blew right through him, and then he saw the Bandits that were charging them were suddenly knocked off their feet, landing roughly on their backs, gasping in pain as the air left their lungs.

  Before him stood a group of four Adventurers, and his danger senses were spiking, feeling the aura that exuded from them. Leading the group was a ginger haired Dwarf who had a massive battle axe resting on his shoulders, wearing expensive looking leather armor plated with iron in vital areas. He had a friendly smile on his face, which did not match the oppressive frame and gear he was sporting.

  As he looked closer, he noticed the stone emblem that was embedded to his armor, on the right chest area of his armor. That’s a Stone Stage Adventurer Badge. This meant that these people before him were already past their first Revelation at the minimum. Kaz simply gawked at them, unable to create words from his moving mouth.

  Before he got a chance to speak, he heard more roars behind him, and with a startled turn, he looked from where the commotion came from. To his horror, dozens of Bandits spilled out from the two buildings, all of them brandishing various types of weapons. He saw some wearing light armor, and some that looked like they were wearing scraps of clothing that they stole from the goblins he fought.

  Kaz subconsciously took a step back in fear, realizing how much of a mistake it was for him to go down this side path. He heard a light chuckle from behind him, and the same Dwarf who addressed him earlier, reassured him,

  “Don’t ya worry about it, kid! We got it from here, and I’d prefer it for ya to stay behind here with Elmdiara, who is also a Mage, and just shoot a few [ Mana Burst ] here and there.”

  With a slight nod in fear, he stepped aside to let the Dwarf and a rather glum looking Elf to go into the fight. He was honestly worried about just the two of them running into the fight by themselves, but Kaz knew they already had their first Revelation, so they knew their limits to this. And if he was able to take on the Dwarf Bandit at his Resonance, this would be easier for this group of Adventurers, sort of like how he handled the Stonerock Goblins now at his current Resonance.

  Kaz watched in amazement as he witnessed the Elf, who he now assumed was some sort of Rogue calling, disappear from his view and appear near a Bandit, slitting his throat and moving on to his next target, knocking them out with the butt of his dagger. He then gulped, realizing that if the Elf wanted to, he could have done that to Kaz when he was facing the other Bandits if he did not realize he was an ally.

  Light, but oddly cute giggling came from beside him, and he saw the Human Mage, who was named Elmdiara, looking at his shocked expression. She composed herself, occasionally letting out a giggle, and told him, “I understand that it might be frightening to see Treyre go all out against these Bandits, but he would never do this to someone undeserving of such an end.”

  All he managed was to nod. He continued watching the fight, as more Bandits joined the fight, and this time, he focused on the Dwarf Fighter. He swung his battle axe with ease, managing to cleave into several bandits at once, causing them to fall onto their knees in pain. As someone was coming from behind him with a dagger, he felt a light breeze of wind and saw an airy [ Mana Burst ] collide with the Bandit, sending him flying.

  Shooting a quick look to his right to the Wind Mage he was just speaking to, he saw her still pointing her staff at the Bandit on the ground, and he felt another slight breeze, and off went another [ Mana Burst ], this time knocking the Bandit out unconscious. Kaz watched the Human Mage in admiration, feeling like a young kid again.

  As the battle went on, he occasionally sent out his own [ Mana Burst ] to Bandits who seemed to be isolated from the rest, and each time he cast his Ability, he saw Elmdiara side-eyeing him with curiosity. He wondered what she was thinking, but hopefully it was something positive about him, and not negative, as he didn’t want to get the same treatment the Bandits did.

  Broff easily cleared through the various bodies of the Bandits, each one looking like a practice dummy that unfortunately met the dull side of his axe. Almost every Bandit failed to land a strike on him, and if they did, it was so minor that it seemed to be a light scratch on him. If someone told Kaz that Broff was a Defender, he would easily believe that from the way he was able to defend himself from the small horde of Bandits.

  What puzzled Kaz the most was that Broff and Treyre were only knocking some of the Bandits unconscious, while mostly going for the kill. He wondered why they were doing that, so he decided to ask the Cleric, as the Mage was busy taking out the Bandits herself.

  Timidly, he shuffled towards the Cleric, who was watching her two melee fighters with intense level of attention, and softly asked her,

  “Sorry, Miss Cleric, I have a question,” the Cleric nodded, without breaking her focus from the fighters, prompting Kaz to continue, “Why are they only knocking some of them out, and while some of them are getting killed?”

  With a steady voice, with almost no emotion behind it, she answered his question, “The Guild and the whole Town asked us to spare the higher tiered Bandits, hoping they would be able to imprison them and hold a public execution for them. Some are getting slain because they are too weak, and aren’t as important, as they seem to be simply the bottom of this organization.”

  With a nod of his own, it made sense to him. They were only going to slay the ones who had no voice in the organization, the ones who were at the bottom of the power structure, the ones who got bossed around by the higher ups. While keeping the shot callers alive, they would be able to question them and then actually hold them accountable, as they were the ones who ordered the weaker ones to commit the crimes.

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  Meanwhile, the Bandit numbers were winding down, and the two melee fighters seemed to be doing just fine, working up a sweat but no signs of physical exhaustion was present in them. If anything, this looked like a conditional training, as the two combatants used as little physical energy they could, not wasting a single movement.

  The Rogue, Treyre, was impressive on his own. He now switched to a more combat focused mode but was still able to dodge and parry most of the Bandits, sort of mimicking the way Kaz fought. Kaz made sure to pay attention, making mental notes of the way the Elf was moving his body, everything looking like one fluid motion. He noticed that the Elf moved before the weapon was flying at him, already predicting the strike from his opponent, and using his predetermined movement to his advantage. He would make his own strikes, driving his daggers into the Bandits while they were still in the middle of swinging their own swords or axes, unable to stop their momentum.

  With a heavy sigh of exhaustion, Kaz sent out his final [ Mana Burst ], well, his seventh one, but he wanted to save some Mana Points just in case he needed to cast more Abilities for whatever reason.

  By now, most of the Bandits have been dealt with, a few laying unconsciously or in a state where they couldn’t move, but most laying in their own small pools of blood. He already witnessed both Elmdiara and the Cleric beside her already drinking a mana potion each, but he didn’t want to waste his last mana potion when his input wasn’t even needed in this moment.

  Movement caught his eye, and he saw the Dwarf Bandit, the one he fought earlier, slowly climbing to his feet after laying unconsciously. The Dwarf did a quick scan of the area, seeing that his comrades were all getting torn apart, and decided to make a run for it behind the tree line. While the Dwarf limped away, Kaz felt another bubble of rage come through, similar to the one he felt earlier. He couldn’t let him get away.

  With a burst of speed, startling both the Mage and Cleric, he took off after the Dwarf, ignoring the two women call out to him, their voices dying out in his ears, as he only heard the blood rushing within him.

  Gripping his glaive tightly, he blindly ran into the tree line after the Dwarf, following the small trail of blood left behind by the Dwarf. He felt his vision tunneling, not looking around him like he should, he only focused on the trail of blood and what was ahead of it, a figure limping slightly in the distance.

  With a deep guttural roar, Kaz raised his glaive above his head, and charged at the Dwarf. The Dwarf turned around slowly, as any sudden movements would cause him to pass out. With a wince, he saw Kaz charging at him, and with a pitiful grin, he closed his eyes, and spread his arms out, accepting his death.

  Kaz did not falter in his steps, and clenching the glaive with both hands, he pointed it downwards, stabbing into the Dwarf’s chest with all his might. The momentum carried them forward, causing the Dwarf to fall backwards with Kaz following him, landing roughly on the ground, embedding the blade of his glaive enough deeper into the Dwarf’s chest.

  Choking out blood, the Dwarf smiled weakly, and rasped out, “Ya done did it, kid.” With even more anger, Kaz straightened up on his knees, and in a frenzy, stabbed the Dwarf’s chest over and over again until he tired out, his rage and anger disappearing.

  After some time, with only his heavy breathing occupying his hearing, he suddenly felt nauseous, and had to jump off the Dwarf and run by a tree, throwing up behind it. He felt himself throwing up everything and then becoming extremely jittery as he realized what he just did.

  “That was your first kill, wasn’t it?” A quiet but firm voice sounded behind him, causing him to jerk up in fright.

  Before him stood Treyre, the Elven Rogue. He relaxed slightly but nodded shakily. Deciding to sit down and hug his knees.

  The Elf simply sat right next to him, not saying anything.

  After some time, Kaz started rambling, tears falling from his eyes, “He was there when I first got robbed by Bandits when I began my journey. I was essentially outcast by my home town, and during my journey to Sarus, him and a group of them robbed me in the forest, and he beat me up for speaking up. I have never felt so low before, and when I saw him today, I couldn’t control myself.”

  With a deep breath, trying to compose himself, he continued rambling, with the Elf not saying anything or reacting to his story so far, “I felt this rage boil inside of me, and I just wanted to kill him, to make him suffer more than he made me. After killing him, I don’t feel relieved like I thought I would feel, I only feel empty now, as if I spent all my energy for what feels like nothing.”

  Silence followed his little rambling, occasionally the sound of his sniffling echoing in this empty part of the space, the Elf in his same monotone voice, spoke to him, “Taking the life of another person is never easy. That is a power that we have control over, and do not take it lightly. That is what separates a person from a monster.”

  With that, he stood up and motioned for Kaz to join him. With one last look at the dead Dwarf, who didn’t disappear like the monsters he faced, he began following the Elf, pondering the few words he said.

  Back in the clearing, there were only a handful of Bandits left, and two of them began charging at the two casters who were isolated from the chaos below. Within a blink of an eye, the Elf Rogue disappeared and reappeared behind the two Bandits, digging one of his daggers into the side of the neck of one of them, and throwing his dagger into the back of the head of the other one, instantly halting their advance.

  Pouting, the Wind Mage whined at him, “I could’ve handled them, Treyre. Let me have some fun.”

  With a slight grin, which surprised Kaz, the Rogue disappeared again, appearing besides the Dwarven Fighter. Besides him, he saw the Cleric looking at him, slightly distressed, and asked him, “Are you alright? I sense that you are hurt, but not physically. Do you want to talk about it?”

  Shaking his head slightly, he replied meekly, “Not at the moment, but I will recover, do not worry about me.”

  When the fighting stopped, there was an eerie quietness that filled the clearing, besides the occasional moan of pain coming from an injured Bandit. The casters approached the melee fighters in the middle of the clearing, stepping over the countless bodies.

  Broff spoke out, pulling out hand restraints out of a bag that appeared in his hands, “Let’s restrain the unconscious ones, and group them all up together. Once we do that, Treyre, return to Sarus and request several transport wagons from the Town Guard. And also, Mera, please ‘eal the ones who are restrained, because we do not want them succumbing to their wounds.”

  With nods all around, everyone sprung into action, grabbing a few restraints each, except for Kaz, who monitored the whole situation, unsure of what to do. He decided to examine the two buildings, which were a lot closer to him now, and in the twilight, he saw a shadow from one of the top windows of the house. He blinked several times, wondering if he was already imagining things.

  His breath hitching, he noticed a lone figure walking towards them from the main house. This guy looked serious, and he walked towards them, clenching two daggers. He quickly informed the group, trying to keep his voice calm, but his voice peaked and cracked, “Guys, someone is approaching us from the main house.”

  Everyone sprung into action, dropping the restraints and summoning their weapons, which he noticed disappeared after they began restraining the Bandits.

  With a low growl, a serious tone in his voice, Broff ordered Kaz, “Stay back, kid. Truly. Do not interfere and run towards the edge of the clearing. If we fall, run as fast as you could towards town and let them know what happened.”

  With panic rising inside of him, he made a run for it, unable to keep himself together. The group of four faced the newcomer, and then the Bandit appeared before them, speaking out to them in a deep, sultry voice, “You guys have managed to ruin my day, and potentially my whole operation. Let my blades cause you all to sing in agony.”