Ch.50The Road to Faerus Vale (2)

“Protect the lady! Don’t let those brutes even touch her with a finger!”

“Yes, sir!”

I was watching the fierce battle from a distance.

From what I could estimate, the party under attack seemed to be transporting a noble lady somewhere, while the attackers were bandits—though unusually well-equipped and uniformly dressed for common thieves. They were likely an established bandit group targeting the escort for ransom.

“You useless bastards! Over twenty of you dead and you still can’t open one damn carriage door! Push forward even if your arms get cut off or your legs break, you worthless scum!”

“Why not make this easy? Just hand over the fine lady to us, and we’ll be on our way.”

Hmm, truly a statement befitting a bandit.

Their status as bandits meant I needn’t show them any mercy, and what that implied was clear.

I looked around, spotted the bandit archers firing arrows, then drew my twin swords and spurred my spotted horse forward.

“Hiyah!”

“Huh?”

The bandits, with no concept of perimeter security, suddenly found a mounted dual-wielder in their rear, and before they could react, I swung my swords.

Slash!

“Arrrgh!”

When an archer died instantly with his abdomen sliced open by me, his death scream drew the attention of the other bandits.

“W-who is that guy?!”

As the archers were cut down, the bandits fell into confusion. After killing three archers from horseback, I quickly dismounted.

Shing! Clank!

Then, I sheathed my twin swords and gripped a halberd with both hands, pointing it toward the enemies. One bandit took my bait and charged at me, snorting with rage.

“Damn it…! Ruining our almost-finished job! Die, you bastard!”

“Hmm…”

I held the halberd close to my body and waited until the bandit wielding a double-headed axe came near.

When he swung his axe and came within striking distance, I pulled back the halberd as he moved inside the blade’s range and slashed at his waist.

Clank!

“!”

“Ugh!”

“You’re wearing armor, I see.”

“Hah! Your armor will fetch a good price!”

“Even if melted down, yours would still stink.”

With the sound of chain links scraping, I didn’t draw blood, but that hardly mattered.

The impact disrupted his attack, and I created some distance before wearing down the bandit’s stamina with successive thrusts. Then I swung the halberd wide, striking down the bandit’s axe.

Clang!

“Aaagh!!”

The bandit, having lost his axe, turned to flee, and I held the halberd with one hand, summoning all my strength to throw it at his back.

Thunk!

“Gaaaah!!”

The halberd pierced through his chain mail and burst his heart. I used Tuta to bring the halberd back to my hand.

“Th-that damned man uses sorcery!”

The bandits who saw me use mark magic began calling me a sorcerer, and they all turned their attention to me.

Sorcery?

A proper mage would have coughed blood at such a description, but unfortunately, I’m a vanguard class.

Whoosh!

“Ugh?!”

“Smoke screen out of nowhere?”

I concealed myself with Blark, strapped the halberd to my back again, and drew my twin swords.

Then, using Barkal to leap high into the air, I came down on a bandit who had spotted my position a moment too late. The bandit beneath me would never move again.

Crack!

My sword was pulled from the shattered body, and the bandits, realizing I was no ordinary opponent, hastily began to surround me.

I looked at those encircling me and used Ignatus on the enemies directly in front of me. Flames materialized in mid-air and burst forward.

Whoosh!

“Gaaah!”

The fire wasn’t particularly strong, merely setting their shabby clothes ablaze, but that was enough to disrupt their stance—and in real combat, a disrupted stance meant death.

“Hup!”

Swish! Stab!

I swung my swords in both directions and thrust, instantly killing two bandits and breaking the thin net of enemies surrounding me.

Next, I bound an attacking enemy with Behde, then slit his throat as if cutting a cake. I used Tuta to grab the shoe of a fleeing bandit, making him fall, then pierced his back through to his heart.

“You goddamn sorcerer bastaaaaard!!!”

Enraged at watching his comrades die helplessly, one bandit charged at me in fury…

Slip!

“Whoa?!”

When I created water with Crewors, he slipped and fell. I specially stabbed his neck from top to bottom, giving him a painful death.

Shing!

Drip… drip…

“That makes ten…”

I raised my blood-stained twin swords and charged through the bandits.

“Stop the sorcerer!”

“Aaaah!!”

I paid no attention to defense.

I was wearing Double Mail and had Pentin to reduce pain.

I began swinging my twin swords in all directions, reducing the enemies one by one, and with each strike, dull thuds against my armor and heavy pain began to weigh on me.

“Die!!!”

From the upper left, a diagonal downward strike.

From the lower right, a straightforward thrust.

From the front, an upward slash.

“Hnngh!”

With a battle cry, I kicked away the sword of the first attacker from the front, then blocked the sword coming from the upper left with my crossguard, twisting the blade to slice his neck.

Simultaneously, I twisted my body to avoid the straightforward thrust from the lower right, reversed the grip on my right-hand sword, and stabbed backward to kill him. Then I tripped the frontal attacker and pierced his heart with my left-hand sword.

“That’s thirteen…”

I muttered, shaking my dizzy head.

The physical drain was worse than expected.

Mark magic used life force as payment, and since I had been using marks almost recklessly, the backlash was naturally severe.

“Damn it!”

I quickly drank a potion from my belt and dodged an oncoming spear thrust.

A long spear of about 4-5 meters, even longer than my halberd.

Judging by the flexible blade, this person seemed professionally trained in spear techniques.

However, it was useless against me.

Bang!

“Argh!”

I used Tuta to push away the spear blade, then struck it with my left-hand sword and pulled it toward me.

Stab!

“Guhk…”

Naturally, my right-hand sword pierced his heart, and I swung my left-hand sword to cut his spear in two.

Thud!

“Fourteen.”

I shook the blood off my swords and looked at two bandits approaching with grim expressions.

Armed with crudely assembled armor and greatswords, they clearly gave off the aura of elites. I readjusted my stance and began to clash with the two elite bandits.

Clang! Clang! Boom!

“Grrrgh!”

“I’ll give you credit for toying with our brothers.”

“But you chose the wrong opponents. Now die!”

I struggled to parry the greatswords of the two bandits who were applying fierce pressure while changing positions, and let out a groan.

The situation looked dire, but I still had plenty of time.

Thud!

“Fancy moves won’t save you!”

I deliberately rolled on the ground, and the two bandits, thinking I had fallen, quickly closed the distance to finish me off.

But I had Blark, a mark that created smoke, and smoke began to rise from beneath me.

“What?!”

“He can use it aga—”

Thunk!

One bandit’s words were cut short.

I had stabbed his neck with the twin daggers I had fixed under my armpits.

The other bandit, wildly swinging his sword, met the same fate, and when the smoke cleared, only I remained standing.

Shing…

I put the daggers back under my armpits and picked up the two longswords I had dropped.

“Sixteen…”

As I muttered this, the bandits began to retreat.

They had failed to inflict any meaningful damage on me while sixteen of their number had been slaughtered.

“Good heavens… even the Claymore brothers were defeated…”

“Run! He’s not someone we can handle!”

As the bandits near me began to flee, those fighting the guards also started running away without hesitation. Seeing this, I sheathed my swords again.

Watching them flee like that, I thought that bandits will always be bandits. Just then, I sensed a presence behind me and placed my hand on my sword hilt again.

“Easy there. We’re not enemies.”

“Ah… the carriage guards.”

Fortunately, they were the guards from the carriage, and I removed my hand from the hilt and whistled for my spotted horse.

Clop! Clop!

As my horse galloped over from a distance, people looked back and forth between me and my horse. Then a middle-aged man who seemed to hold a high position among the guards approached me.