Old bond

Ikky finished his story and looked at his sister.

She was sitting on his bed with her eyes and mouth wide open.

"Stop drolling on my bed!" Ikky laughed when he saw her face.

"Brother, did that really happen? Who was that lady? I want to play the game too!" she asked in excitement.

"You want to play too? Alright here." Ikky put his helmet on her small head and rotated it 720°.

"Stop it!" she screamed.

"You will need a bigger head, they are not making helmets for dolls." he laughed.

"Aaaa-a, you are small-head!" she yelled while running out of the room.

Ikky wiped out the tears in his eyes, he didn't expect to laugh like this, especially when the situation ahead of them was so dark.

'But, it's going to be alright. I will take care of it.' he promised himself.

It was time to log in to the game, but first, he had things to take care of.

---

"Finally! Do you know how long I've waited? Why didn't you answer sooner, and where have you been?!" Josh kept talking in his call.

"Sorry, when I jumped into the water I was sucked by some underwater tunnel and I ended up in a closed instance, completely cut out from the world." Ikky apologized to his friend.

"But why didn't you call me or wrote me when you woke up?" Josh was still angry, he felt like a side character.

"Actually.." Ikky explained the whole situation, not only about the labyrinth but also about the helmet.

"Wow-..., you lucky bastard, being able to go surpass safety features for a longer time, you basically got a higher-tier helmet for free. Yet, I was locked out in deep sleep just last night. Tche." Josh said with a voice full of poison.

"Now, now, calm down my friend." Ikky wanted to calm his friend down.

"What happened when I disappeared? Did you manage to get out of the forest without the problem?" asked Josh to change the subject.

"Actually, you own me, and you own me a lot, you lucky bastard," Josh started to explain what happened after he was kicked out of the water stream.

***

An hour later both of them met in the town near the fountain as they discussed by phone.

"Are you truly certain you want to go with only two of us again?" Josh asked with concerns, last time they got beaten pretty badly.

Ikky considered writing Lyra for help, but then he rejected the idea, he should be now strong enough to deal with that guy.

"Yea, I'm much stronger thanks to the classpath, I should be able to deal with that guy," said Ikky with confidence.

"But I'm not! I was only able to hunt a few monsters while tracking those bandits. I'm still level 8, both leader and his crew will be able to deal with me as easy as I can kill the Long-tailed Rabbit!!" Josh just couldn't stop complaining. It couldn't be helped, he spent a whole day tailing the moving bandits to find their next hiding location.

Ikky looked at his friend and checked the latest information on the quest.

[Quest - Miserable Seller (Hidden)]

-Condition: Anyone who buys more than two skills at once will receive this quest.

-Rank: Unknown

-Reward: Unknown

-Objective: 1) Kill all bandits and save the seller's family.

-You have failed to rescue the seller's family. The bandits moved to a different location, not known by the seller. You have to discover the location by yourself within 3 days, and save the family once again, otherwise, the family will perish under the Leader of bandits' rage.

-Duration left: 1 day, 3 hours, 27 minutes, 13 seconds

________________________________________

'It was just a day and a half at most, but the time in the game is running a bit faster than in, so I lost almost two days..,' Ikky was considering calling Lyra again, but he was worried due to the time limit, she might not even be from near town.

Ikky glanced at his status window, once again.

[Status window]

<Ikky>

-Level: 10 / Mystical Bowsman

-Strength: + 33

-Agility: +42

-Stamina: +37

-Intellect: +46

-Spirit: +24

________________________

-Charisma: +21 / -Fame: +115

-Available skill points: +15

-Unique Titles: Seeker of Truth, Explorer, Town Savior.

"Don't worry,...I will absolutely be able to deal with him," he assured his friend again, while those words were mainly for himself.

***

'So this is their hiding spot now?' thought Ikky while watching a campfire in front of the cave.

'Those guys honestly like rocky places, they even pick a similar spot as the last time.'

Currently, hiding behind a bush, both of them arrived at the edge of the small clearing in the forest. It was a few kilometers away and they had to walk for 3 hours to get there from the town. One would say that they were no longer tracking bandits, but rather criminals which were hiding from the world. That's how far away it was from any close road or town.

"Seems like the leader learned few things. Now he lives in that cave," Josh expressed in a whisper, but with a laughable tone.

"Do you think I could throw a rock to block the exit?" he asked full of hope, already imagining how angry would 2 meters tall bandit be.

"I don't think so, the entrance is twice as high as the tents, which means you would need a stone bigger than you can move." Ikky calculated, and for a second he was surprised at how easily he was able to do the math.

'Did I turn smarter from all of those points in the Intellect?' he laughed in irony.

"So what's your plan? And for the god's sake, don't even think of using me as bait again." Josh said without a place for discussion.

"Don't worry, a frontal attack from both of us should be enough," Ikky answered.

"You are kidding right? I won't survive ten seconds against five of them. They are still level or two higher than me!".

"If I remember correctly, most of the bandits died from three or four arrows, they should have around 120HP on level 8, 150HP on level 9, and 180HP on level 10," Ikky remembered that the first bandit died with 3 arrows and Josh Leap attack.

"My attacks were only doing a single attack digit! The highest damage I did was Thirty-six and that was with the skill I bought from you," Josh said and continued.

"There is no way to survive long enough to hit them ten to twenty times."

"Then be my bai-"

"NO!" Josh interrupted him before he could finish.

"Tche, give me a second to think," said Ikky.

'I currently have 42 agility. With two titles giving me +15 to every stat, means that I previously had 27 agility. The same should be with strength, since I currently have 33, it should be 18 strength when I last fought with the bandits.' Ikky continued to calculate his previous and current stats.

'So I've previously used 36 stats as a boost to damage, now I have +15 passive stats and Intellect as an additional boost. That should be... around 73 stats, which is more than double.' Ikyk finally finished his calculation.

He didn't even have to count in the Mana arrow as it also provided additional 10% damage.

"Okay, listen up. I can kill both levels 8 and 9 with two Multishots, considering the distance, I should be able to hit all five remaining bandits with two Multishots before they reach me." Ikky started to explain his plan.

"Problem is any level 10, as it will survive with a few HP. You will need to help me with them, your Leap attack should be enough to kill one, and then you need to buy time if there would be more, in the meantime I will try to deal with the enemy leader." Ikky finished his explanation and waited for Josh's feedback.

"What if everybody of them is level 10?" Josh asked worriedly.

"...then you will run," said Ikky.

"Fu*k you man."

***

"You ready?" Ikky asked his friend.

"No, but Yea," Josh replied, thinking that running as bait might not be a bad idea either.

Both of them seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, then Ikky sighed and stood up.

"Alright let's go."

When he came out of the bushes, he only saw two bandits, a level 9 and a level 10. Ikky took out his bow and used a Guided arrow along with the Mana arrow while aiming at the higher-level bandit, it was the perfect target to start a normal attack.

~Shoot~

"Argh-hhh!"

Sounds of pain could be heard through a silent forest. The other bandit reacted quickly as he clearly remembered what happened two days ago.

"ENEMY! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" he yelled while falling to the ground.

It was their leader's tactic, if they are attacked by an archer, they should lay on the ground to reduce the available area of impact. Shortly after, additional three bandits appeared from the cave. All three of them held some kind of shield in front of them.

"..." Ikky was momentarily stunned, he didn't expect the enemy to preapre defense against arrows.

He stalled his attack trying to figure out a solution, there was no time to stop as he would soon be discovered, but shooting an arrow into their shield wouldn't help either.

At that moment he discovered a faint green dot on the enemy's head.

'What is it?' Ikky tried to figure out what it was when he suddenly remembered. 'It's Seeker of truth passive! The enemy weakness!'

A smirk appeared on his face.

"Guided arrow, Mana arrow, Multishot," Ikky aimed at the sun.

~Shoot~

"Where is he? Can anybody see him?" yelled one bandit.

"Over there!" one bandit pointed at the silhouette standing approximately seventy meters away.

"You are a dead boy! Just wait till I ge-" he didn't finish his sentence as an arrow pierced his head. The same could be said about the other four bandits.

(-87 critical hit dealt) All five bandits screamed in the pain.

At that moment the last bandit exited the cave.

<Leader of bandits>

-Level: 12 (Elite)

**********

A/Notice: Since I'm out for the weekend, the next chapter will come with a delay, so probably be Sunday evening.