Chapter 21: Duel at Mt. Dune Part I

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Vasin mountain range...

The Brutal hound bandit crew's hideout is in a great cave in the rocky Mt. Dune, the size of the cave is comparable to a regular castle with numerous smaller caves deep inside.

In one of the wider caves deep inside the hideout, a buff man with maroon-colored hair, and a horizontal scar across his face above the nose, is sitting on a large high chair, his chin rests on his right fist, and is staring at a slender man with black hair standing in front of him, around them are three other buff men.

"They might've set some kind of trap Ger", the man in front delivered his opinion.

"But we can clearly see that his men are positioned way far back, in fact, they only brought around fifty men", one of the men on the side stated his observation.

The hideout is situated on a rocky mountain, with a good view of their surroundings, which makes it easier for the bandits to spot any large number of men coming from certain directions.

"Is it really the new viscount? That boy has a loose screw, asking you for a duel?", another man on the side added.

"We can't be sure if it really is the viscount himself, but we are certain that there are only two men standing 50 meters in front of the entrance at the widest path to the hideout, and one of them is that white devil. The fifty men are half a kilometer away and well see them coming, so it would almost be impossible to catch us off-guard", the last man on the side of the room entered the conversation.

The five men are the main core of the bandit crew, they were once a member of a mercenary band that turned criminals.

Two hours earlier the white devil appeared in front of one of their unit and issued a challenge to their leader, but the odd thing is that the new viscount is said to be the one who will duel the bandit leader. The whole crew became restless thinking this is a ruse to confuse and trapped them, but after two hours of being vigilant and checking the area around the hideout, they concluded contrarily.

Since on second thought, trapping them would not be easy for the viscount's army, after all, there are two other paths they can use to escape the mountain, and based on their understanding, the lord's current army would not be able to cover all three paths around the hideout. In the event that the lord decides to cover all escape routes, the bandits are confident that they can pick the direction that has a weaker group and run through them. It would be hard to continue sending troops to run around the rocky mountain.

The bandit boss is contemplating on the possible optimal decision, he is a cautious man but once he made a decision he will commit to it.

"So the remaining possibility is that boy of a viscount really believe he can beat me, or trick us, maybe by sending that white devil to fight instead, or escape the crew back to his men", Geron elaborates on his thought process.

"Which we are not fools to give chase, right? If they are able to escape us", the slender man reminded everyone, considering the crew has a lot of hot-blooded men.

The bandit boss added, "also the crew would expect their boss to fight, won't they? Fear is what we use to hold our men together, not loyalty or comradeship. This group of rabid dogs will tear each other for control if we let them smell weakness from the leadership".

"Let's go".

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At a wide rocky space, fifty meters away from the entrance to the bandit's hideout.

Eric is standing next to Drake, sixty meters in front of them are four dozen bandits waiting for the show to start.

He decided that after a month and a half of consolidating his rule, its finally time to jump into action and tackle the problems one by one. Eric knows that he is not an elaborate strategist, also he doesn't have the money to hire mercenaries to bolster his forces, finally, he doesn't have any allied nobles in the area who he can ask for assistance, but he is confident that he can win a fight.

The young lord knows that his forces of around almost a hundred thirty men are enough to win a fight against these bandits, but he is also certain that he will still incur a number of losses and injuries, which he can't afford at the moment. Moreover, the bandits are not simple-minded that they will just venture out of their base to clash with the viscount's army in an open field.

The viscount's plan of action is simple, he will fight and kill the leader, then with just his elite men of knights and amateur knights, he will cut their numbers bit by bit. It would be helpful if they become disorganized and fight among themselves, regardless he can come back over and over until he finally got rid of all the bandits while minimizing or possibly incurring zero losses.

He is relying on his intuition that the bandit leader will accept his challenge, and would try to show off his prowess in front of his men. Either way, Eric is confident that he and Drake can escape unscathed to his men in a distance using his ability, in the event that the bandits attack altogether.

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After two hours of waiting, a loud cheering was heard from the crowd of bandits...

Now that Eric can see the full force of the bandits, he is somehow intrigued, how does a band of outlaws with less than sixty members now have an abundant number of aura users. They have nine knights, five of them middle level including the boss, fourteen amateur knights, and seven trainees, more than half of their numbers are awakened's.

The bandit boss has appeared with four men in tow standing thirty meters in front of Eric, the young lord then ordered Drake, "move back fifty meters". Which the tall man complied.

The bandit leader's brow arched thinking, 'this boy is really gonna fight by himself?', then he ordered the men beside him, "go back!".

The bandit leader moved closer to Eric, now with a closer look, the man is around his late thirties with a ripped body wielding a short-staffed halberd on each hand, looking calm and confident, only wearing a tunic on his upper body with an iron left shoulder guard.

"You are far away from home, milord", Geron initiated a conversation to somehow ascertain the young man's state of mind.

Five meters away Eric mockingly smirked and said, "small talk is useless to a dead man".

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