“I don’t like useless killing. I will stop if you pull back, but I will kill if you don’t.”
“Oioi, can you see the situation? I know that one is merely a rank E.”
“No matter how much of a rank A you are, don’t you have to fight while protecting other members? You better turn a blind eye to us without causing trouble rather than showing off that strange spirit, don’t you agree?”
Where did they learn that information from? The bandits knew that they were all low-rank with the exception of Gaien. Even though the number of bandits hidden and visible aiming at Nack were unknown, it was clear that this was not an accidental encounter.
“There’s no need to listen any.”
“Leave the number of people to two.”
Shin and Tsubaki made eye contact. The negotiations broke down. No one here thought it would end any other way. They only wanted time to prepare so as to lessen the damage while observing the other side.
Gaien shook his head a little, reacting to Shin’s and Tsubaki’s remark. That was the starting signal for the attack.
In the next moment, an arrow shot by Tiera flew out from inside the canopy, and was sucked up into the thicket where the bandit hid in.
“??!!?”
There was no scream. However, a dull sound of something hitting the ground was audible.
One red marker that existed on Shin’s map disappeared. Was it the head or the heart? It might have hit one of the two. The HP vanished in a single blow. It was an instant death.
“Tsk, what a failure. You guys, do something!!”
The leader appeared to curse, far from mourn over the death of their comrade. The bandits rushed to attack after they received their instructions.
“Then, two bandits per person. Leave the person alone if you can’t do it. You heard the story.”
“With no injuries?”
“You should listen to the directions, do as you like to the others, I don’t care.”
Gaien and Tsubaki calmly exchanged disturbing words. It was as if they were used to it. Even though there was sure to be a level difference between Tsubaki and the enemies, she didn’t seem to be eager at all.
Gaien stayed as he was, and Shin and Tsubaki scattered to the right and left, distracting the bandits.
Three bandits were going for Gaien, one for Tsubaki, and two for Shin. Was there any ?Analyze? skill holder among them? The low-level was after Tsubaki rather than Gaien.
“Are you making fun of me?”
Anger was mixed in with Tsubaki’s words. The bandit whom she faced was certainly stronger than Tsubaki when one only looked at levels. Still, just because the bandit was stronger didn’t mean that they would be able to knock her down easily.
A chill ran through the back of Tsubaki’s neck, to place where the she thought the bandit hid his hand. She immediately close the distance, caught and pulled the bandit’s sword with her gauntlet.
“Heh, you have some nice intuition, don’t you?”
The man looked at her, like he was making light of Tsubaki’s body. Red aura was being released from the sword grasped in her right hand.
She shifted her gaze and saw the surrounding state. All of the bandits, though the colors were different, had weapons that gave off an aura like the man in front of Tsubaki. Did all the members have a Magic Sword, they appeared to have weapons with similar characteristics.
Apparently, besides from the level, there also seemed to be a reliable chance of success due to the equipment.
“Don’t put up much resistance. I can’t enjoy it if I kill you, kukuku”
The bandit noticed that Tsubaki’s gauntlet was just a common mass-produced item. It was not possible to defend with this. Therefore, he had no doubt about his superiority.
“If you see me as being only small, you’ll experience pain for looking down on me.”
“Haa, say that after you defeat me!!”
The bandit lunged at her while speaking. Was the attack aided by the sword? Obviously the speed level was faster than before. However, Tsubaki didn’t lose. She was enveloped in a white aura and ran before the bandit arrived at her position. The real nature of the aura was ?Spirit Manipulation • Katsusen?.
As the name implied, it is a martial art skill that strengthens the body, although an inferior version. As for the ‘Katsusen’ that was attached there, aside from body strengthening, it indicated that it specialized in speed increase.
Tsubaki left a white afterimage and jumped toward the bandit’s chest, and drew back her fist. Though the bandit was surprised that Tsubaki’s speed was faster than his own, he judged that it was not possible to clash with it, and instead tried to guard with his hand that wasn’t holding the sword.
But Tsubaki’s aim was not to deal damage. She aimed at the hand that was holding the sword. The bandit’s reaction was good, but he didn’t read Tsubaki’s aim until after it happened. The fist wrapped in her gauntlet directly hit the bandit’s right hand, breaking all five of his fingers. Bones poked out from the bandit’s fingers, as they bent in the wrong direction.
“Even if you have a good weapon, you are untr