Chapter 21 - Bandits 

Gravis walked behind the group of hunters. His armor was one solid, so it was really difficult moving his legs and arms. He constantly had to concentrate on keeping the obsidian 'flowing'. It was draining, but he also realized that it helped him temper his will.

The hunters in front of Gravis were nervous. They felt Gravis' Will-Aura. They didn't know what a Will-Aura was, but they still felt it. It felt like a wild beast trailed them, waiting for a chance to strike.

Gravis kept walking in silence. He wanted to know more about the world and any essential towns or cities nearby. Sadly, he had to remain mysterious, so he didn't initiate a conversation. He needed to wait for them to start one.

"We will arrive in our village in about two hours. The bandits should come tomorrow. That's the best opportunity to strike them," Sarah said after hours of silence.

Gravis was happy that he could finally talk. "There will be no issue. When they arrive tomorrow, I will bestow death upon them!" Gravis sneered, but the others couldn't see it. "That the bandits exploit your village, shows their weak will and power."

They heard Gravis' disdain but kept quiet. Even if their village was weak, it was still their home. They didn't like someone calling their home weak. Yet, they knew that they lived in a different world than the Earth Spirit.

Sarah continued. "You should not underestimate them. They have three people with tempered skin. Our village, in comparison, only has two, my father and me. If you stop one, we can fight equally."

Gravis felt relief. They only had three people with tempered skin. "I said, I will bestow them death, and I will keep my word. You only need to watch," he commented. "If those bandits are so strong, why wouldn't they attack a bigger human settlement?"

Sarah laughed dryly. "You must be joking. A town has, at least, one individual with tempered skin and muscle. They wouldn't even know how they died. A city would be even scarier. The head of a city must have a fully tempered body, or they wouldn't be able to be the head of a city."

Finally, Gravis got some information about this world. There was no mention of energy gathering realm cultivators yet, so this was probably an area far away from the core of power of this world. He estimated that he could kill anyone with tempered skin. It didn't matter if they had also tempered their organs and blood or not. If the enemy didn't have a strong will, he might even be able to kill someone with tempered muscles.

He had killed a low-rank demonic beast once, and those can only be killed by people with tempered muscles, usually. Yet, with his luck, there might be an issue with those bandits. He had to be careful.

The party continued to walk and arrived outside the village after two hours. It wasn't very big. From one end to the other, it spanned about a hundred meters. The village was comprised of simple wooden huts, and all the villagers were outside their houses.

The men looked relieved when they reached their home, but Sarah furrowed her brows. "The villagers are all outside. This seems unusual, unless..."

She realized what might have happened and turned white. "The bandits arrived early!" She shouted and sprinted into the village. If the bandits arrived, and she wasn't there as intimidation, they might go beyond their usual 'rules'.

The men also blanched and quickly ran after her. Gravis watched her leave and finally got an opportunity to do something he wanted to do for a long time. He started slowly changing his armor to actually have joints. All this 'sloshing around' of the armor was really draining him. After some seconds, he did some jumps and saw no more issues.

Sarah just went beyond the village's border and continued to run into the middle. Gravis cracked his neck to relieve some tension, and also sprinted to the village. Even though the obsidian armor was heavy, he ran just as quickly as Sarah.

When he went beyond the village border, he saw a wall of villagers blocking his way. They weren't looking at him, but into the village center, where Gravis could hear a loud commotion. Gravis continued running, his steps incredibly loud due to his obsidian armor.

The villagers heard the commotion behind them and turned around. There, they saw an imposing black armor charging at them. They screamed and jumped to the side. The villagers further in front heard the screams, turned around, and also quickly jumped to the side.

A clear street appeared where Gravis charged, and he could finally see what was happening at the center. About ten people in leather armor, carrying short iron swords, watched in smugness, as three people fought Sarah and a middle-aged man.

Sarah was fighting with two of them, while the middle-aged man fought with another one. The middle-aged man was already severely injured and bled from multiple cuts across his body. He probably had to fight off all three of them at the beginning.

"Hahaha! What an opportunity you have given us, girl. We have weakened your father, and now even you won't be able to stop us!" Shouted one of the men fighting Sarah, while wearing a wide grin. "Today, you will warm our beds!" Sarah gritted her teeth but didn't say anything.

The bandits on the side started hearing loud, metallic footsteps and looked to its source. They saw a madly charging, black armor running to one of the bandits fighting Sarah. They didn't know what to do, but one extraordinarily courageous man jumped in front of Gravis and slashed his sword at him.

Gravis slashed the sword and continued charging.

BANG!

The sword broke upon hitting the saber, but that was not the end. Gravis charged through the man, breaking all his bones and throwing him several meters away. With the armor's ridiculous weight and his speed, he had built up a lot of power. Charging through the man only slowed him down a little bit.

The fighters heard the boom and turned to Gravis, but they were so engrossed in their fight that they didn't notice Gravis until he was already upon them. Gravis formed a fist and used all the accumulated power of his charge to punch the man who spoke with Sarah earlier.

The man noticed Gravis too late, and the fist hit the side of his head, the obsidian exploding from his fist. The man's skin only got a bruise, but his skull and brain were utterly destroyed. The corpse shot into the distance and completely destroyed a wooden hut. Sarah's eyes widened, and the bandits blanched. Gravis knew that the initiative was important, and didn't wait for a single second longer to start his second attack.

He used the saber in his other hand, to attack the other person fighting Sarah. The man quickly held up his sword to block.

BANG!

The sword broke since it was only a mortal iron weapon. Gravis was using a saber made out of void-stone. It wouldn't be useful in the energy gathering stage, but it was incomparable to iron swords. The saber tore through the sword and cut deeply into the side of the man's torso.

The man was shocked and couldn't believe what just happened. Since joining the bandits, he never was in this kind of battle, where the enemy outclassed him. Gravis saw his hesitation and immediately acted. He reared back and punched the back of his saber, which went deeper into the bandit and severed his spine and organs. A final kick to his saber completed the job and bisected the bandit completely.

The bandits to the side looked in shock, while the bandit, fighting the middle-aged man, turned and retreated. The man realized his chance and grabbed the bandit, and since the bandit was in a panic, he couldn't defend himself properly. The middle-aged man took the bandit's arm and threw him over his shoulder, right at Gravis.

Gravis saw this and didn't decline. He raised his saber as high as he could and used his full-strength to chop. A full-powered attack couldn't be used in an even fight since the enemy could avoid the long-winded attack or just counter-attack in the wind-up phase. The bandit did not have this chance.

Gravis chopped down with his full power, and his saber lodged itself into the middle of the bandit's head, after going through his brain. The corpse was stopped in the air, and slid down the stuck saber, leaving a long line of blood and brain.

Gravis turned to the bandits on the side. When the bandits saw him turn to them, all their hair stood up, and they fled out of the village. At least, they would have, if the villagers, angry from all the torment the bandits brought, weren't blocking them. They tried to push through, but the villagers held firm.

One bandit took out his sword, but before he could do anything, he was cut in half by a black saber. The bandits couldn't defend themselves, and Gravis took their lives as quickly as possible. He might not pity his enemies, but he didn't want to see innocents getting hurt because of him.

He finished the bandits quickly, and the villagers looked in fear at the monstrosity, which just committed a blood-bath. The middle-aged man stood protectively in front of Sarah while she sighed in relief.

After standing still for some seconds, Gravis turned to Sarah and shouted:

"Your wish has been fulfilled!"