44
My Villains Chapter 44
12. Night of the Fireflies (2)
Suddenly, I was reminded of the science fiction novel ‘The Invisible Man’.
In that novel, the protagonist invents and takes a drug that makes his body transparent, but I remember the setup being quite harsh. His retina becoming transparent so he couldn't see, or having to completely strip naked to become fully invisible...
In contrast, the magic potion I obtained from Tobald was a much more generous item. There was no need to undress, and my vision didn't change.
Not being able to see my own body was disconcerting, but since I had mentally prepared myself sufficiently, I didn't fall into panic.
I moved slowly, taking utmost care not to make clanking noises from my armor.
As I was about to exit, counting the remaining duration in my mind, one of the sentries suddenly turned his head towards me.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Just now, it seemed like the ground over there sank a bit."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
No matter how invisible one is, it's unavoidable to leave footprints on dirt ground.
I froze like a statue, holding my breath, while the sentry sitting on a boulder stared at where my feet were for a moment.
Ugh, I don't have much time left.
The momentary anxiety passed as the sentry soon yawned widely and looked away. I swallowed a sigh of relief and carefully moved my feet.
Each time the thick soles of my boots touched the ground, there was a faint sound, but fortunately, the May night was not particularly quiet.
In the distance, the sound of crashing waves could be heard, and nearby, a stream of water flowed noisily towards the sea.
Additionally, there were occasional bird chirps and rustling of animals, and my footsteps blended into this series of noises.
Though my stealth was amateurish, the lax sentries didn't notice, and I was able to safely enter the campsite.
The exit of the secret passage was located under a small mound that rose on the riverbank.
I guess that flowing river must be the 'Salt River'? Beyond that river, past the small forest, there should be a plain area where the reinforcements had lit signal fires.
Alright, it seems I've escaped the encirclement as planned... But there are more bandits than I expected.
The night watchmen gathered around the central bonfire, the sentries guarding the secret passage, and those sleeping nearby - altogether, the number of bandits seemed to be at least thirty.
About a dozen horses were tied to a nearby large tree, and I thought perhaps half of them belonged to Tobald's group.
The other half seemed to belong to the six or seven men who had settled near the bonfire, and I guessed this because they were equipped with fairly decent armor.
In the Middle World, horses were quite expensive livestock.
War horses, treated as strategic resources, could sometimes cost hundreds of gold coins, and even a cheap mule would require spending a few gold coins.
Given this situation, mounted bandits were naturally quite rare. Even among the bandit group surrounding South Harbor, those who could truly be called mounted bandits were less than half.
In other words, about half of the bandit group, despite their name, were on foot, according to the guard captain's explanation.
Recalling this, I carefully approached the bonfire.
Weaving through the sleeping bandits was quite a thrilling endeavor.
Ah, I hate this kind of thing. I absolutely detest games like tag or hide-and-seek.
Just as I was internally complaining, a sudden night wind swept across the riverbank.
The bonfire flickered and the bushes rustled, but it wasn't anything significant, so I continued moving. However, the resting horses one by one raised their heads and started making a commotion.
"Damn, what's suddenly going on?"
"Why are they acting up?"
...Damn, that's what I want to say.
It seemed the horses had noticed my presence somehow. Maybe they caught my scent since the wind was at my back.
One of the bandits guarding the bonfire nervously scanned the surroundings.
"Those things don't act like this for no reason. Is something there?"
"There's jack shit."
Even while saying this, the other bandit got up, dusting off his bottom. Then after briefly looking around, he grumbled softly.
"Must've been bitten by bugs. Making a fuss, these bastards..."
"Where?"
"Gotta calm the horses down. If the riders, I mean, if the gentlemen riders wake up, we might get beaten for no reason. You come too."
"Hah, whatever."
Oh, what's this?
The two bandits grumblingly approached the horses. Leaving the bonfire unattended.
...What an unexpected stroke of luck.
Grateful for this sudden fortune, I took out the bundled cloth wrapping the lump of poison from my chest.
I quickly threw the cloth bundle into the bonfire and climbed up a nearby mound.
Crack, pop! There were a couple of loud burning sounds, but no one seemed to find it strange.
After lying down among the bushes on top of the mound, I held my breath and felt for the falchion at my waist.
Shing.
The sharp blade let out a low cry, but the bandits was still deep in sleep.
Soon after, white smoke began to rise from the bonfire and spread along the ground. The poison pill was burning in the bonfire, releasing a weak toxic gas.
According to Ellen, inhaling it wouldn't kill, but it would temporarily paralyze the extremities.
As I quietly surveyed the camp, I swallowed the pill I was holding.
Ugh, it's dry. Due to tension, my mouth is dry and the medicine doesn't go down well.
Since I've taken a high position, I should be able to avoid the low-lying toxic smoke... But you never know.
Taking the antidote in advance would neutralize the poison even if I happened to breathe in the smoke.
As the white smoke crept and covered the campsite, the sentries guarding the secret passage started cursing.
"Huh? *sniff sniff* What's this? Which idiot threw wet wood into the bonfire?"
"Yeah. What the hell is this smell?"
The toxic smoke emitted from the bonfire was low to the ground, so the sentries only smelled the strange odor but weren't directly inhaling the smoke.
Good. Now I'll wait until the sleeping ones are sufficiently poisoned and then signal...
Woong.
In the middle of that thought, I was enveloped by a strange sensation as if something was washing off my body.
Instinctively looking down at my hand, I saw that the invisibility effect had ended, and my thick leather gauntlet was gleaming a pale green in the moonlight...
...Wait a minute. Pale green?
"Hey, what's that?"
"Crazy- It's a monster!"
With the sudden shout, the nighttime camp began to wake up in an uproar. The sentries who were kicking at the toxic smoke on the ground were now pointing at me.
Although the invisibility had worn off, the reason I was instantly spotted by them while hiding in the bushes on the mound was...
Because I was emitting a fluorescent green light from my entire body!
"Damn, what is this!"
They said there would be side effects from the crude magic potion, but was it not just that the duration was short? How could it turn a person into a firefly!
"Wake up, you damn fools!"
"We're under attack!"
Like skilled bandits, the men who were snoring moments ago instantly got up and prepared for battle.
One shaking his head to shake off sleep.
Another falling on his behind as he tried to get up in a hurry.
Yet another picking up a goedendag (a club with a spearhead) and pricking his palm, drawing blood.
It was utter chaos, but unfortunately, they didn't seem to be affected by the paralytic poison.
Either the time for the poison to spread or the potency of the toxic smoke itself must have been insufficient.
"Oh well."
Since it's come to this, I might as well go wild and draw their aggro.
If even one of them escaped, the numerous bandits lurking in the reed field would come chasing after me.
I quickly got up and cut the inside of my palm with the falchion.
As the blade was covered in blood, I activated the 'Blood Thirst' skill, tinting my vision red.
Whoosh!
A piercing sound that made my hair stand on end.
I hurriedly adjusted my grip on the shield to cover my upper body, and an arrow that split the darkness struck the shield with a heavy thud.
"What is that? Is it human?"
"Shut up and keep shooting, you idiot!"
Hitting a target with an arrow at night is extremely difficult.
Archery is a challenging martial art to begin with, and the darkness of night further limits visibility.
But the current situation was a bit different. My body, glowing as if under a spotlight, dispersed the curtain of darkness.
Whoosh, thud!
Damn, the arrows won't stop! Just how many archers are there?
The helmet that narrowed my vision, the constant barrage of arrows, and the unfair veil of darkness made it difficult to accurately assess the enemies.
Stubbornly pressing forward was the only option.
Most of the arrows either stuck shallowly in the shield or bounced off weakly, but occasionally some would strike my helmet or greaves.
Each time a hit landed with a clang, spreading a dull shock through the impact point, a reassuring sense of relief and the thrill of survival licked my spine.
Ugh, armor really is the truth. When I get back, I'll spend all my money on better armor.
I lowered my upper body slightly, trying to use the shield to cover from below my eyes to above my knees.
My steps that followed were cautious but unwavering.
"Kill him!"
After blocking perhaps fifteen or so arrows?
As soon as I descended the mound, a bandit lunged at me, swinging a long-handled logging axe. He was aiming to cleave my shield as if chopping firewood.
"Hup!"
I held my breath and followed the axe's trajectory with my eyes. Just before it hit the shield, I deflected the axe blade with the boss protruding from the center of the shield.
Clang!
Enjoying the light vibration in my left hand, I immediately thrust forward with the falchion.
"Keh, keurk."
The bandit whose throat was pierced became a shield, dragged by my rough grasp, blocking the line of fire of the archers.
The bandits, bewildered by my reckless charge, swung their weapons, but they couldn't penetrate my round shield.
"Uh, uhh..."
Phoenix's height is just 190cm.
A large warrior like that, pushing forward recklessly with the weight of two men and strength beyond that of an ordinary person, became a decent technique in itself.
Though they were bandits, they were merely ordinary humans, and they were helplessly pushed back by my bulldozer-like charge.
"Crazy- Stop! Don't retreat, hold your ground!"
"Stab his weak points!"
Loud shouts rang out, but no one was resisting properly.
The frontline bandits who were backing away finally got tangled with their comrades in the back row and fell.
I quickly swung the falchion to remove the head of my shield and began to slaughter the fallen bandits.
After killing about six or seven in an instant with powerful sword strikes, the 'real mounted bandits' finally stepped forward.
"You trash, get out of the way!"
"Stop interfering and scram!"
The men who stepped forward shouting roughly were all equipped with sturdy armor.
They wore lamellar armor made of wood or bone fragments, or chain mail, and wore iron helmets with nose guards or chain coifs.
Four out of seven were holding large shields with curved swords or iron clubs, while the remaining three were tightly gripping large iron flails or double-headed battle axes.
Wait, aren't curved swords or spears the standard for mounted bandits? Why are they using such brutish weapons?
"Huu, hu-"
Apart from these complaints, perhaps due to the influence of the 'Blood Thirst' skill, something hot welled up in my chest.
It could have been unreasonable anger towards the enemy, fighting spirit in the face of a difficult battle, or a dirty desire for murder.
Whatever it was, I let out a roar at the bandits who were slowly surrounding me, as if pouring out that hot sensation.
"Kuaaaaargh!"
As two of the bandits flinched at the beastly roar, I leapt forward as if throwing my body.
I made a long cut on the exposed leg below the shield, and blood spurted along with iron rings. Before finishing him off, I turned the shield sideways to block an iron club.
Thud!
"Kuuugh."
"Pounce on him!"
The ensuing melee.
Since they were equipped with proper armor, it wasn't easy to end their lives with a single attack.
When I deflected the shield protecting the vital point, a large axe blade flew in from the side, and when I dodged the surprise attack and thrust with the falchion, it only left a shallow wound due to insufficient force.
"Injured ones, fall back for a moment!"
"The back! Aim for the back, you fools!"
The seven bandits charged in, shouting roughly even as they sustained multiple wounds. They seemed to be looking for any opening, thinking that if they could succeed with just one attack, they could catch me.
However, the bandits' fighting spirit was soon broken.
It was because of the arrows and magic flying towards the back of their heads.
Swoosh, thwack!
An arrow that suddenly flew in struck the shoulder of a bandit holding a shield and iron club.
Glancing in the direction the arrow came from, I saw Grania leading the rest of the group as they emerged from the exit, attacking the thieves.
Good, this ambush isn't a complete failure then.
"Urgh, damn it,"
Meanwhile, the one hit by the arrow was stepping back with the arrow lodged in his shoulder, and I didn't miss that opening to charge in.
"Keouk!"
As my lightning-fast kick struck his shield, the retreating bandit tumbled over.
The number of people surrounding me instantly became six, and half of them were cowering from the successive arrows flying in.
That was the end of it.
The one with the iron flail had his brain scrambled by my falchion piercing through his eyeball, and the next one had his knee shattered by the shield's edge before his neck was severed.
One was engulfed in flames after being pierced by a Flame Arrow that seared through the darkness, and another had an arrow lodged in his throat while shouting.
The one swinging the double-bladed axe had his collarbone shattered and chest split open by my falchion, spewing blood like a fountain, and the last one fell with his forehead cracked after being hit by my falchion head.
"Keu, damn it..."
The bandit who had fallen after being hit by an arrow started to flee, throwing away his iron club, as he saw his comrades being slaughtered in an instant.
However, he didn't get far before his own feet tangled, and he fell hard.
"W-why is this happening..."
Not just that bandit, but other thieves also rolled on the ground while trying to escape. The paralyzing poison they had inhaled earlier was finally taking effect.
As the bandit with stiffened limbs was crawling on the ground, he noticed a strange glow approaching from behind.
The pale green light emanating from my soaked body was mixed with a dark red bloodiness, creating an eerie yellow glow.
Faced with that ominous light, the bandit began to mutter something with a trembling jaw.
"L-light that illuminates the mortal world, save me."
It wasn't a fitting phrase for a thief who committed evil deeds.
"Illuminate the valley full of death, gack!"
The clumsy prayer was cut short by a blood-soaked military boot.
"Heuheuh"
I groaned lowly while stretching.
An inexplicable sense of satisfaction pounded in my solar plexus.