Ninth Quest (2)

Chud.

Vivian caught a Black Nake by the head with her hand.

Splat!

She squeezed tightly, causing the eyeballs, blood and guts of the snake to burst out.

Thud.

She released the snake and it fell to the ground.

She then swept her gaze around.

Even after killing quite a few I still haven't encountered any Peon…

I'm gonna try going left…

Vooom!

She burst out into a run.

Up ahead she saw a Treebark.

Whooosh!

She swung her sword as she passed by the Treebark without even looking back as she continued running.

This time around, she noticed 2 Sunkiss monsters.

Whooosh!

Whooosh!

Just like the Treebark from earlier, she simply swung her sword as she passed them by without looking back.

Vivian suddenly stopped.

She found herself exiting the forest and was in the middle of a dirt road.

She looked to her left.

It was nothing but an endless view of the dirt road and plant life on the sides.

She looked to her right.

From a distance, she noticed a carriage parked in the middle of the road and there seemed to be a group of armed men surrounding a carriage. And slowly but surely, one by one, the people inside the carriage were stepping out.

Vivian knitted her brows.

There can only be 3 things…

There's a house or inn there that travelers can rest…

That's an excavation or expedition team looking for some secret treasure or monster…

Or that's a robbery…

She massaged her chin.

Either way, I'm still curious~...

Her eyes narrowed into slits and her lips turned into a huge grin.

Vooom!

***

At the carriage.

"Hurry up!" a male carrying a curved sword shouted. He was accompanied by 7 other men who were all carrying weapons such as daggers, clubs, spears and whatnot.

An old man, an old woman, 2 female teenagers and a little boy slowly stepped out of the carriage. They all had a face painted in fear save for the old man who put on a brave face despite his fear.

There was also the driver who was standing on the side and had his hands up in the air while being guarded by 3 men.

When the rest of the family finally stepped out of the carriage, they were sent towards the driver.

The leader of the armed men turned to 4 men and nodded.

The 4 men immediately rushed forward and began unloading all of the valuable things on the carriage.

The leader returned his gaze to the family but landed them specifically on the 2 teenagers, his eyes greedily eyeing their figure.

"Don't worry, as promised, once we take all of the VALUABLES, we're going to let you go."

The rest of the men grinned as they also eyed the 2 teenagers. There were also a few that eyed the little boy and licked their lips.

The old man and woman hugged the 2 teenagers and the little boy.

All of a sudden, the animal pulling the carriage became restless and started thrashing around, startling everyone before finally turning around and running away.

The leader blinked a few times from the unexpected incident before he finally snapped back.

"I don't care if you have to kill that damn animal or destroy the carriage, just bring back all the valuable things!"

The 4 men who were in charge of unloading the valuable things gave chase to the carriage, leaving the leader and 3 armed men who were guarding the hostages.

Noticing that everyone focusing on the runaway carriage and the 4 armed men who gave chase, the driver cast a Class Magic spell at one of the guards beside him.

[Whistle].

The driver had no idea if his spell worked. Although it prevents a target from casting any skill and magic for 5 seconds, the higher the Magic Force of the target compared to the caster, the lower the chance of it taking effect. Nevertheless, he still followed it up with a skill. 

Pa-riiip!

The driver delivered a [Power Fist] on a guard's face and it shredded a huge chunk of his skin and flesh along with a few bones, killing him immediately.

Psssh!

"Argh!"

The old man took advantage of the situation as well, activating [Poison Strike] and punching another guard on the side, causing a green mist to explode and weakening him. 

Everything happened so fast the the old woman, 2 female teenagers and the little boy only began screaming in panic right after the green mist exploded. 

The remaining guard rushed towards the old man and activated a skill.

[Dagger Stab]. 

Woooh!

Rip!

The old man was able to evade but not completely. The invisible force or power accompanying the dagger from the [Dagger Stab] skill managed to shred a portion of the old man's clothes and skin on the left shoulder.

"Dear...!" the old woman cried out.

"Grandpa!" the 2 teenagers and little boy cried out.

Tch!

The leader clicked his tongue and brandished his curved sword as he watched the scene.

And just when he was about to join in, a blinding light passed in front of him. 

Pscht!

Thud.

An arrow made out of lighting suddenly came flying out of nowhere and shot through the guard who activated the [Dagger Stab] skill like he was made out of paper and electrocuted him along the way before he finally fell to the ground.

Everyone stopped and was staring at the dead guard's body emitting smoke before turning to the direction of where the attack came from.

There they saw a beautiful but strict-looking woman with purple hair and red highlights wearing a brown cloak and gold necklace, indicating she was a Priest. She also had a Copper I Rank pendant on her neck,  which indicated she was an adventurer. She carried a sword on her hand and was looking at everyone with an amused smile on her face.

"Is he dead?" Vivian asked and tilted her head to the side.

She stared at the burnt corpse emitting smoke for a moment before examining her left hand.

"It's funny…"

She closed and opened her hand.

"I don't feel anything…"

Vivian recalled watching clips of military veterans talking about their first kill. Some talked in a somber tone, while others cried in front of the camera. But they all had the same message: Taking a life isn't easy, especially on your first time because it will leave you in some sort of state where you ponder about the futility and meaning of life.

She also tried asking her father who was a policeman and her uncle who was in the military about their thoughts regarding the subject matter. Although her father didn't say anything and just brushed her off, she believed that her father and uncle had the same message.

"Maybe because it's only human trash?"

Vivian then glanced at the other guard who received a [Power Fist] on his face from the driver.

"Or perhaps it has to be melee? Well, they did say that stabbing someone with a knife is something very personal."

She glanced at her sword.

Sword or kitchen knife…?

"Priestess!" the driver called out. "Please help us fight these bandits!"

Although Vivian was only a Brown Cloak and Copper I Rank, they surmised that her [Lightning Arrow] was enough to tell them that she more or less had some strength.

"A Priest?" the leader bandit said and smiled as ran his eyes at Vivian's whole body. "I've never played and killed a Priest before."

"Ahhh!" the old man cried out in pain.

"Kyaaah!" the 2 female teenagers cried out as well.

The bandit who got struck with [Poison Strike] earlier finally recovered and threw a [Wind Arrow] at the old man's chest.

The driver dashed forward to take care of the bandit. Meanwhile, the bandit leader licked his lips before charging towards Vivian.

His plan was to injure her little by little to force her to use all of her healing magic. And once that happens, he would start to "properly play" with her.

Vivian focused and the world began to move slower through her eyes.

Hmm…

As expected…

His Agility is a bit higher compared to the monsters in this forest…

She looked away from the bandit leader and stared at the other bandit who was engaged with the driver.

Even among these people…

She returned her glance at the bandit leader.

But still…

They're all the same…

All of them…

Weak…

But at least I'll be able to vent out some of my frustrations... 

Thank you, medieval world...! 

She turned her gaze to the other bandit.

I wonder what Affinities these people have…?

Maybe I should just maim all of them first before I ask them…

And oh, there were also those other 4 who ran away to chase that carriage…

She returned her gaze to the bandit leader once again.

Oh, he's already here…

Whooosh!

When the bandit leader was about to enter Vivian's attack range, she stepped forward and swung her sword.

The leader was frozen in a thrusting position when Vivian appeared blurry for a moment and then appeared behind him.

He was about to turn around to face Vivian when a thin red line suddenly appeared on his legs and he felt his upper body sliding forward.

Thud!

Splash!

Thud, thud...

Blood came bursting out from his remaining legs, while his separated legs were still left standing for a moment before shortly falling to the ground and bleeding out as well.

"AAAHHH!!!" the leader screamed in pain and thrashed around on the ground, causing blood to be sent out flying everywhere.

"Pffft...!" Vivian suppressed the urge to laugh as she watched the bandit leader screaming and thrashing on the ground in pain while spraying blood everywhere.

She was about to heal his wounds when all of a sudden, the leader bandit regained some of his bearings and cast a spell.

[Lesser Chaos Transformation].

Blaaak! 

An ethereal pale grayish color of bones and flesh came out of the bandit leader's remaining legs and formed a new pair of pale grayish legs that looked more like an alien than a human or monster.