Chapter 182
Chapter 182
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Bandits
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The party members woke up one by one.
Their faces were slightly tense.
"Is it the enemy?"
Ignis summoned her weapon with sharp eyes and asked.
I opened my senses and scanned the surroundings.
"Monsters... no."
It was humans.
About a dozen humans were approaching while surrounding the carriage.
They weren't coming to make friends.
"What's this? A carriage... here?"
"Aren't they the ones we were chasing?"
The whispering voices of the bastards outside could be heard.
"Marie and Ailin, stay here."
"Understood, Master."
"M-Master..."
Leaving Ailin, whose face mixed anxiety and worry, behind, I opened the carriage door first and stepped out.
The bastards flinched upon seeing me emerge from the carriage.
"That's the guy."
"Are the women inside the carriage?"
Women?
I scanned them.
Plunderers' eyes gleaming with killing intent and greed.
Ignis followed me out of the carriage.
Ayla and Luna came out next, and upon seeing them, the bastards' tongues licked their lips. Their eyes brimmed with sinister lust.
"Whew~ Malcolm, just like you said, killer beauties. Prettier than the elves I saw in the capital."
Not just as pretty as elves—they were elves.
The bastards wore gleeful expressions.
As expected, they weren't approaching with good intentions. Anyone could tell they'd come dead set on robbing us.
'Have they been tailing us since the fortress?'
We hadn't bothered hiding our tracks...
If they put their minds to it, following us wouldn't have been an issue.
I had earned some grudges... but this wasn't the reaction of those with a grudge.
"That big lug looks tough... but a mage with that build? Nothing to worry about then."
"Surrender. I'll kill you clean."
Sure enough, no survival option.
The bastards were brimming with confidence.
They had reason to be.
For bandits, they were Awakeners.
All of them seemed able to wield aura, and one was even a mid-4th Circle mage.
With power like this gathered, and their numbers overwhelming ours, we must have looked like fish in a net to them.
They reminded me of those thug Awakeners from the early Gate days who ambushed hunters from behind.
'People are the same everywhere.'
"Lord, what shall we do? They look like ruffians."
Ignis asked for my input.
"What do you mean? Leave one for interrogation and wipe out the rest."
"Crazy bastard. You really think you can take this many..."
-Crunch!
Ignis moved like lightning.
Her spear had already thrust into the mouth of the blabbering bastard. He toppled backward with vacant eyes, dead before he knew what hit him.
"Crazy bitch! Kill her! No—capture the women alive!"
I hurled a mana spear at the mage I'd already marked.
"Sh-Shield!"
The mage panicked and hastily erected a shield, but my mana spear shattered the barrier effortlessly and plunged into his chest.
"Gah!! L-Like this... so pointlessly..."
Mages could pull some escape trick. I finished him quick while he was off guard.
"Fuck! These guys are bad news. Stall the red-haired psycho bitch—grab those bitches first!"
Hostage play?
Solid call in this situation.
Ignis and I aside, Ayla and Luna weren't easy marks for them. Sure enough, Luna and Ayla were struggling against the swarm tactics of two or three per girl.
I used my telekinesis ring to bind their movements.
"M-My body!! Fuck! M-Magic! Someone deal with that mage!"
They were decent enough to resist without fully locking up.
But that was plenty.
All aura-wielding superhumans.
In fights decided by split seconds, any movement hindrance?
Fatal.
With my aid, Luna and Ayla suddenly had breathing room.
Ayla leaped atop the carriage and rained arrows, piercing the sluggish bastards' skulls.
Luna mercilessly reaped the bandits' lives with her lightning-clad sword, while Ignis showcased overwhelming might on the other flank, butchering them.
"Die!!"
One bastard swung sword aura at me.
I wrapped my staff in mana and met it head-on.
"Crazy fuck! I'll cleave you staff and all!"
-Smash!
His sword that shattered.
"What..."
His eyes quivered, sensing death from the oncoming staff.
My staff smashed down over his eyes.
-Crunch!
His face caved in as he crumpled.
Dead, no doubt.
Head pulverized—not even a zombie survives that.
The bandits were finally realizing something was wrong.
"F-Fuck! Run!"
I telekinetically snared the fleeing ones.
They flailed their arms in resistance, but it was futile.
The three women's savage onslaught followed.
I dragged one live catch over with telekinesis.
Still got questions to ask.
The bandits were all cleared out now—only the one I pinned remained breathing.
"Hey, what the hell are you guys?"
Ambushing innocent adventurers like this—pure scum.
"Da-Dark Blood Clan."
No fight in him; he spilled it easy.
Strong survival instincts.
Dark Blood... edgelord name.
"Dark Blood Clan? What's that?"
New to Slumber, so of course I didn't know.
"Master. One of the three major adventurer factions. Among the worst-reputed ones."
Marie explained from the carriage.
"Got it."
His story went like this.
Slumber's famous powerhouses were already known by name.
But to them, we fresh arrivals were unknowns.
A weird guy traveling with nothing but women.
Not tied to any major guild, so no blowback—prime easy prey.
Skills like theirs wasted on banditry.
The strong just get stronger.
"You know where the 11th floor entrance passage is?"
"Y-Yes!"
"Where."
"Th-That's hard to explain... I-I'll guide you."
Obvious scheme.
"To the west?"
The bandit's eyes darted, then he answered.
"Yes, to the west."
He figured spilling the direction was harmless.
"Got it."
"Th-Then..."
Hope lit his face.
But a mana spear speared his chest.
"Yo-You... bastard... why..."
"Why what..."
11th floor entrance?
It was a goal for this labyrinth run, but if we miss it, we come back later.
No rush.
I had time.
Dragging him around as a "guide" meant feeding and housing him...
Worth the hassle?
Better to off him now than babysit a schemer—even if it means missing the passage this trip.
"Cl-Clan will avenge..."
He gasped his last with eyes full of hate and died.
Whatever.
That wasn't the point.
Now for the fun part: looting time.
Bandits or not, had to admit—they were decent.
Wonder what items they'd drop... exciting.
"Luna, point out any magic items."
"Got it."
Not up to Lilia's artifact level, but magic items fetched top coin on their own.
No downside to grabbing them.
-Rumble.
I used telekinesis to dig a deep pit in the earth.
Gathered the corpses, dumped them in, and buried it over.
Magic's so damn convenient.
Telekinesis ring... any upgrade path?
Ask Lilia when I get back.
"Let's move."
Bodies cleaned spotless.
We headed west again like nothing happened.
After a while, monster spawns clearly ramped up.
And we found a Dimensional Rift.
The Dimensional Rift opportunely spat out a mid-grade Corrupted Being.
It was a quadrupedal beast-type Corrupted Being, with that signature glossy dark-red skin.
"Th-That's?!"
"Wh-What's that? A mo-monster's coming out!"
Familiar sight to me, but Luna and Ayla recoiled in shock.
"Hmm... so Hell's Gates exist here too."
"Hell's Gate? Does Lady Ignis know about it?"
Luna urgently asked Ignis.
"Yes. In my homeland, we called them that. Our world perished because we couldn't handle them."
Ignis's world really fell to Dimensional Rifts...
"Th-The world perished?!"
Luna and Ayla's eyes trembled at Ignis's words.