The Bandit Bursts In
A carriage sped away from Qelern and headed toward the Dragon Mountain Range.
Normally, anyone who ventured into the Dragon Mountain Range took every precaution.
They had no way of knowing which monsters they might encounter or how long the crossing would take, so they stocked up on supplies and paid special attention to their escorts.
But the carriage that had just entered the sixth vertebral entrance of the Dragon Mountain Range had no escort at all.
Only two figures in gray robes sat on the driver’s seat, their hoods pulled low.
Even if the sixth vertebral area had fewer monster attacks, entering without any protection was madness.
Yet the two men in gray robes showed no concern whatsoever for monsters or fear.
They conversed calmly.
“Two squads?”
“Four squads will link up in two weeks at the wyvern habitat. And two squads are on their way to the orc settlement they discovered several months ago after spotting something unusual.”
“Something unusual?”
The shorter figure in gray robes asked, and the burlier one answered respectfully.
“We sent familiars to investigate, and they found about two hundred humans who have already taken up residence there. None of them are orcs.”
“Humans have settled in the Dragon Mountain Range?”
“Yes. All two hundred have the same black hair as the man we met in front of the inn earlier.”
“Black hair… How curious. Black hair, you say.”
“I was surprised too. Same as him…”
“Watch your mouth!”
The shorter one shot him a cold glare, and the burlier man quickly shut up.
“W-Wrong, sorry.”
“Don’t mention that name again. If you want to keep living.”
“Yes, yes! I won’t forget.”
“And tell the two-squad leader. If he can drive out the orcs and claim the territory, he’s definitely not weak. When we get there, don’t move recklessly—observe.”
The burlier man let out a low groan.
“Ugh… It might already be too late.”
“Why?”
“Today at dawn we received a message. He said he’d take on the scouts first. If they followed the plan, they might have run into the orcs by now.”
“If it’s only scouts, there aren’t many. So don’t worry. Just pass on my message if you hear from them again.”
“Yes, sir.”
“One more thing. If there’s another clash, capture them all. They’re rare, so they’re worth studying.”
The burlier man bowed his head, ready to answer.
Just then, a voice cut in from behind.
“Want to talk more? Who are you doing to?”
The two men spun around in shock to see a single figure standing on the carriage roof.
It was Jin Chen, face twisted in fury.
“You!”
“How did you get here!”
“Shut up…”
The two men stared in horror as Jin Chen stomped down.
Kwaaaaang!
The carriage exploded and collapsed on the spot.
Hiiiiiiing!
The horses screamed and fell backward.
The two men on the driver’s seat were hurled off just as fast.
Thud! Thud!
“Guh…”
“Kyaaak!”
Jin Chen landed in front of the two men pinned to the ground and spoke.
“Answer the question. Before I kill you.”
“From your reaction, you’re connected to the humans who settled in the orc settlement.”
“Sir, what do we do?”
“They heard us. Kill them.”
The two men started to rise, but Jin Chen kicked off the ground and charged straight at the burlier one.
Whoosh!
He closed the distance in an instant and clamped his hand around the man’s neck.
Kwaduk!
“Kyaaaargh!”
“Didn’t you hear me say shut up?”
“Grrrrr!”
“Dark Hands!”
The shorter man unleashed dark magic, and dark hands erupted from the ground right under Jin Chen’s feet.
Tududuk! Tuk!
They grabbed his legs and yanked.
Jin Chen stomped down.
Kwaaaaang!
The ground shook violently. The dark hands shattered and scattered.
Kwaaaak!
At the same moment, Jin Chen hurled the burlier man, whose neck he still gripped, away.
The shorter man watched his subordinate flying toward him in terror.
“Bon Wol!”
Tududuk!
White bones shot out of the ground and formed a wall in seconds.
Kwaaaang!
The burlier man slammed into the bone wall at full speed.
Wuduk! Pwaeong!
He smashed through it without losing momentum.
“Kyuuuk!”
The shorter man leaped forward and slammed the burlier man into the ground.
Pwaeong!
Staring at the crumpled body, the shorter man ground his teeth.
“Grit… You’re not nothing. But that’s it! Kill him!”
Before the words finished, eight figures in gray robes burst out from the shattered carriage wreckage. They charged Jin Chen like the shorter man.
Kung! Kung! Kung! Kung!
Kuuuung!
In an instant they surrounded him and attacked without mercy.
Whooshing fists flew through the air.
Jin Chen took one step forward and punched.
The fist hit the man’s belly with a massive explosion.
Kwaaaaang.
The man flew backward and crashed into a tree.
Kwaduduk.
The tree snapped under the impact.
Jin Chen swung again.
Thud! Thud! Pwaeong!
The others flew backward even faster and smashed into the ground.
“Hmph! Not enough!”
Before the shorter man could finish speaking, the men who had been flung rose again.
As if nothing had happened, they slammed their fists into the ground once more.
Jin Chen looked at the shorter man and said.
“You still need to explain about them. That’s why I came after you in the first place…”
He seized the neck of the jiangshi that had just arrived and continued.
“So I could ask why you’re here.”
“N-No way!”
The shorter man was shocked, but Jin Chen swung the jiangshi like a club.
The other jiangshi that had attacked from all sides collided with it and flew backward.
Pwaeong! Thud! Thud!
Kwaduk. Shurruk.
The jiangshi, hunched low, dragged their feet and slowed.
Jin Chen swept his gaze over them, then swung his fist at the jiangshi whose neck he still held, unable to move.
Whoosh.
A faint vibration formed blue light on his fist.
The fist struck the face.
The jiangshi’s head exploded into pieces.
Pwaeong!
“N-No way! Corpse blood jiangshi are so easy!”
The shorter man was horrified, but it was only the beginning.
Whoosh!
Jin Chen moved in earnest, launching into a full assault on the jiangshi.
Bang!
Pwaeong!
Their bodies were tough enough to withstand aura and fifth-circle magic.
Their strength and speed were more than enough compared to Sword Expert.
They were weapons of overwhelming power.
Pwaeong!
One. Two. Three.
In seconds, the heads of three jiangshi burst.
T-This can’t be!
He couldn’t lose all of them here.
Not when his own position and life were at stake.
The shorter man ground his teeth and shouted.
“Baru use ru, bu du at su!”
In an instant, black energy rose from the exploded jiangshi like smoke and detonated.
Kwaaaaang!
Explosions tore through the air. The jiangshi’s flesh exploded outward.
Pshshshsh!
Pieces of jiangshi flesh buried themselves into the ground, trees, and rocks without mercy.
Thud! Thud! Kuduk! Pwaeong!
The force was so great the spears flew on and on, even after punching through wood and stone.
Kwaduk.
The ancient trees, not to mention the rocks, collapsed with holes drilled clean through them.
As if he had cast an eighth-circle spell.
The result of just four bodies.
The battlefield was now a complete mess.
In one corner, something twitched.
Four jiangshi, huddled together, bodies curled tightly.
The ones that hadn’t been destroyed by Jin Chen.
“Move!”
A voice came from inside the curled figures.
Following the shorter man’s order, the jiangshi slowly rose.
Their gray robes were rags. Black liquid flowed endlessly from the holes in their bodies.
Bubbling.
Black liquid boiled and foamed without pause.
When it hit the ground it melted the soil and released a foul stench.
The shorter man stared at the jiangshi covered in black liquid and twisted his face.
“Damn it… A complete mess.”
I wonder if we can even complete our mission now.
Thinking that, he slowly looked around.
No sign of the black-haired man’s body.
It had been completely pulverized, it seemed.
Then.
Four blue swords appeared in the sky.
Shuuuuk!
Four blue swords descended exactly onto the heads of the four jiangshi.
Zzaaeong!
With a sharp sound, the swords sank into their bodies.
At the same moment the jiangshi bodies collapsed.
Thud. Thud.
The shorter man widened his eyes and shouted quickly.
“Dark Transfer!”
Swaaaa!
Black energy instantly wrapped around him.
Just as he tried to move to the coordinates he had set,
Kwak!
A hand pierced the black energy and clamped around his neck.
“Kyaaaargh!”
“Where are you going? You haven’t said a word yet.”
“G-Guh… If you kill me, your masters won’t let you live!”
“What now? The moment I heard you were touching my subordinates, I decided I wouldn’t spare you.”
“Kk… You… You can’t help them. By now your subordinates are all dead…”
Bwaaak!
Jin Chen’s fist smashed into the shorter man’s face.
At the same time the hood covering his face fell back.
The shorter man’s appearance was revealed.
A figure with pointed ears and black skin.
Jin Chen stared quietly at the handsome man who was impossible to tell apart by gender, then slowly scanned the surroundings.
The space was scorched.
The power of the jiangshi explosion had been tremendous.
Too great to stop, except for a few of his men.
“Never do that.”
Jin Chen gripped the shorter man’s neck tighter and slammed his foot into the ground.
Whoosh!
He vanished at a speed faster than ever before.