Chp.27: Starting the first mission

Once they got a place to sleep and eat, the group had completely got all the 'basic necessities' of human beings. As a result, they could fully devote themselves to their chosen mission. After all, it was part of their plan to make a good impression. If they hadn't completed a mission, in fact, someone could have suspected that all the prey they had brought had been killed by others and that they had stolen them; but if they had instead completed one of the more difficult missions, no one could have doubted their abilities. At that point, the path to being admired by everyone in the guild would be paved, and getting information would be a breeze.

The group quickly reached the city gates and set off across the countryside. Their mission was to eliminate a particularly large group of bandits. It was a band that had been formed by a shady individual named Roschark, who already had a long history of crimes, and who had taken advantage of the situation to gather deserted or fugitive beastmen soldiers to form a small army of sixty individuals. They were stationed not far from Atharka and attacked the merchants and passers-by they could find, and in fact leaving the city was now considered dangerous. They had also recently started raiding some of the adjacent villages. Normally the city guard would have dealt with such a large group of criminals, but since most of the soldiers were still stationed in the territory of the Baudonia City Alliance, the guards in the city were too few and too low a force level to be able to organize a punitive expedition: even if it was unlikely that Roschark's gang would have won, many soldiers would have died as well, and consequently maintaining order in the city would have been impossible since the few remaining guards would not have been able to control everything the perimeter, and the criminals would be king. So they had cleverly decided to ask for help from the guild of adventurers: even if the mission spoke of exterminating the Roschark's gang, in reality it was an invitation to join the city guard to attack their opponent all together.

Indeed, if Rhaegal, Corgorin, Serengal, Efren, Carlos and Sarah had no help, they would not have dared to face them. After all, what fool would choose to fight such a battle? Six against sixty? The enemies outnumbered them tenfold. But of course, the dragons had a way of making up for the difference in numbers. "Okay, sisters. Change of hearts!" Rhaegal exclaimed as soon as they were far enough from the city, pulling off his top armor.

Corgorin and Serengal imitated him, remaining completely bare-chested. Even though they were technically showing their breasts, they didn't seem to feel any shame. After all, dragons didn't think much of their private parts, and besides, those weren't their real bodies. As soon as they were bare-chested, they dug a hand into their flesh and yanked out their hearts. As if it were the most normal thing in the world, they put it in their dimensional bag, and then took out another one and put it in the old heart's place. After that they put on their clothes and armor as if nothing had happened. "Perfect, now we are ready"

Efren, Carlos and Sarah appeared to be on the verge of vomiting. "Seriously, I'll never get used to this" the woman said in disgust.

"Would you rather face sixty bandits using just level gold strength?" Serengal asked her rhetorically. "Remember, we can't be killed, but you can. I'd say that watching us do this is a small price to pay to stay alive"

What Rhaegal, Corgorin, and Serengal had just done was swap their avatar's heart, which contained a level gold mana core, with one that instead contained a level adamantium mana core. The best thing of commanding a corpse was that body parts could be swapped out at will, so they could use similar tricks to increase their strength whenever they wanted. Since they knew that among humans it was illegal not to be part of the military if you were above level gold, while in the city they would use a level gold mana core. But when they had to go on a mission… then they could use a level adamantium mana core they created using dragon blood.

In that world, strength was everything. The stronger a creature was, the harder it was to kill. Whereas most of the bandits they would face were level silver or level gold, a level adamantium would make patties of them. Of course, there was always the possibility that they might get the better of them by numbers: after all, many enemies could attack from multiple angles, and thus could potentially strike a vital point. But the dragon avatars were reanimated corpses, with no vital points…and they also had great basilisk armor on them, which made them practically impenetrable. With these premises, exterminating sixty adversaries seemed silly.

"Okay, weapons out" Rhaegal said as he pulled a greatsword from his dimensional pouch. It was a gigantic sword, at least three feet long, and they'd obviously taken it from an ogre corpse. Corgorin and Serengal instead took two daggers each, extremely long and sharp, which belonged instead to some of their fairy victims.

"So what's the plan? How are you going to lure them out?" Carlos asked.

"Oh, they'll be the ones who come to us" Corgorin explained. "From their point of view, we are an easy prey. Remember that they think that adventurers can't be higher than gold level. Even if we wear this armor, observed from a distance they won't notice that it is made of great basilisk's bones. No predators would give up attacking such tasty prey. They will attack us, trust me"

"All we have to do is walk to where they were last seen" Serengal said. "It's too bad we can't use our senses while we are in these bodies. With our sense of smell, hearing and vision, catching us by surprise would be practically impossible for such insects..."

Efren, Carlos and Sarah refrained from commenting. From the way the dragons spoke, it sounded like they were thinking about how to hunt a beast, not people. But deep down they'd long ago understood that dragons don't see humans, beastmen, or any other race much differently than how they see animals. Besides, what they were saying wasn't wrong at all: there was an high chance that the bandits would reveal themselves without them doing anything to attract them.

The group continued walking for a few hours, heading towards the place where the bandits had mostly been sighted and therefore it was probably close to their hideout. Very soon the city dwarfed in the distance. They spent the time behaving normally, pretending to be just ordinary traveling adventurers, in order to fool the bandits more. Finally, after almost three hours of walking, something finally happened: an arrow was shot at Rhaegal, who grabbed it and blocked it with one hand. He knew that this was clearly a warning, otherwise many more arrows would have been fired. Probably, the bandits had thought that he was the most dangerous due to his bulk and his armor and had tried to hit him on the head to scare the others.

"Ah! You're really good, adventurer!" a voice exclaimed. The bushes moved and a wolfman emerged from them, followed by several other crossbow-wielding beastmen, in turn followed by others wielding swords and knives. "I admit to being impressed by you. You are undoubtedly a formidable warrior. In show of respect, I will grant you the option of surrendering peacefully"

Rhaegal ignored him. He made a quick calculation and realized that there were only twenty bandits in total. "I assume you're not Roschark" he said, remembering that the leader of the bandits was supposed to be a human.

The wolfman laughed. "Of course not. I'm his second-in-command, Svavrosk. The boss doesn't have time to hang around the road for hours waiting for some idiot to pass" he said. "It used to be fun... but now fewer and fewer people come here. The boss is tired of dealing with the banditry and has preferred to start planning his next moves"

"I figured so. I expected that I wouldn't find him here" Rhaegal said.

Svavrosk looked surprised. "Did you expect that?"

"Of course I do. Having a large group, it would be foolish of him to use all his men, and therefore himself, for a single task, a very easy one I should add" Rhaegal replied. "Robbing passersby is a relatively simple task, so the best choice would be to divide his men and send only a few to carry it out, while he and others can use this time to study bigger plans"

Even though they were very different physically, it was easy for the dragons to understand how humans would act. When they were in the Karbraland Great Forest they often split up to hunt animals or loot the bodies of dead ogres or faeries, for these were easy tasks and without great risk. Haku, on the other hand, while helping them from time to time, spent much of his time thinking and planning. There was no reason to think that the leader of the bandits wouldn't do the same.

Svavrosk looked quite admired. "I didn't expect an adventurer to be so experienced. It's the first time I've met someone like you"

"Well, for a while I was a… sort of bandit myself" Rhaegal replied. "Therefore it is easy for me to imagine how you think"

"Mh. I'm impressed, adventurer. All right, you managed to pique my interest, so I want to make you an offer" the wolfman said. "You and your comrades give us all your belongings, and then I will take you to our boss. You are intelligent and also seem very strong, so he will surely welcome you if you choose to join us. After all, if you have been a bandit in the past, why not be again now?"

Rhaegal burst out laughing. "But I'm still a bandit, my friend. Can't you see it?" he said amused. "I'm here now, and I'm about to rob you of your possessions and your lives. Isn't that the same? After all, stealing from other thieves is still stealing, and you might have something interesting with you"

Svavrosk's face lost its joviality and his mouth contracted in a snarl. "Would you like to face us? Do you realize you don't have a chance?"

"How arrogant. Establishing that your enemy stands no chance against you without knowing anything about him. A rookie mistake, any predator would laugh at you" Rhaegal said shaking his head. "Let's do it like this: if just one of you manages to hurt me even once, I will stop and let you go alive"

Svavrosk seemed to explode in anger and pulled a machete from his pants. "If you want to die, then we will accommodate you! Take them out!" he yelled, and immediately the crossbows fired.

But obviously none of the arrows hit them. Efren stood behind Rhaegal and used his body and armor as a shield, while Corgorin and Serengal grabbed Carlos and Sarah and used their agility to dodge the bolts. Their movements were so rapid that the arrows could not even touch them. As soon as he saw this, Svavrosk turned pale. "W-Wait a moment! You can't just be level gold! How..."

He didn't have time to say anything else: Rhaegal lunged forward and in a few moments closed the distance between them, and planted his greatsword in his chest. The wolfman spat blood and let out a gasp as he felt his body being rapidly cut in two. "I told you not to take your opponent's strength for granted" Rhaegal told him. "Don't attack a prey unless you're really sure it's a prey. Remember this next time... oh, sorry, there won't be a next time for you"

Svavrosk shivered for a few more moments, realizing that he had made a terrible mistake. What he had before him was no mere adventurer... he had to be of a very higher level! Level mythril? Maybe even level adamantium? He never knew: seconds later, the light in his eyes went out and his body fell to the ground.

The other adventurers seemed shocked by the sudden death of their commander and the demonstration of force by their enemy, but this certainly did not stop them: animated by anger and fear, they threw themselves against the group of adventurers with their unsheathed weapons. But of course it would have all been in vain. Corgorin smiled seeing them coming on him and grabbed Carlos by the torso: "Sorry, boyfriend. It looks like you'll have to fly"

"What are you... AAAARGH!!!" Carlos shouted as the dragon threw him upwards. Serengal did the same to Sarah. The two adventurers found themselves flying several meters high, while instead the two dragons threw themselves against the bandits. The speed and strength of a level adamantium was extraordinary: within seconds, sixteen bandits fell with their heads severed, and Corgorin and Serengal reappeared under Carlos and Sarah just in time to catch them again before they crashed to the ground.

Both Carlos and Sarah had wide eyes and dilated pupils, and from the color of their skin they looked as if they had lost two or three years of their life. "Never do that again! I thought I was dying!" Sarah yelled at Serengal.

"Sorry, but it was the easiest way to kill them all and not risk a stray arrow hitting you" the dragon replied placing her back on the ground.

"Yeah, and then it was funny!" Corgorin laughed, but she wasn't at all kind and threw Carlos to the ground making him grunt in pain.

"Funny my ass! I almost had a heart attack!" Sarah yelled. "You could at least warned us!"

"Come on, guys, don't be so angry..." Efren tried to calm them down.

"Shut up! You didn't get thrown in the air like you were a sack of potatoes!" Sarah exclaimed, shushing her companion.

"Stop it, everyone!" Rhaegal snapped. "Our work isn't done yet"

The group looked in the direction indicated by Rhaegal: some bandits, about three of them, were running away. "Do we let them go?" Efren asked.

"Of course. Where does a beast go when it's hurt or frightened? It takes refuge in its den" Rhaegal replied with a satisfied smile. "Let's follow them. They will lead us straight to their hideout"