The hideout

Aren met up with Lucian after searching the bandit's body. Unfortunately, even as the leader of bandits, he didn't have anything on him except for that greatsword.

On the other side, Lucian also seemed to have already killed the remaining six bandits with how there were more heads and cut limbs on the ground. If Aren hadn't seen it with his own eyes, how the adventurer in front of him ruthlessly and without hesitation, had killed the bandits; he wouldn't believe it was done by Lucian.

"Wow, you really managed to take the bandit leader alone." Lucian was suprised to see that there were only some small cuts on Prime's robe. For a moment, a look of suspicion also appeared on his face which he quickly concealed.

"It was a close fight. I only won because I was slightly faster than him." Aren replied in a humble manner. Yes, it really was a close call if only those two spells were not taken into account.

Then he saw that there was also a middle aged man holding a knight in chain mail armour. The man's sideburns were white while his hair was combed neatly. His eyes green eyes though were exuding the sorrow he felt

The sleeves of grey long coat he was wearing and his black pants had red blood smeared on their surface.

At a glance, Aren knew that the knight and the man were related. He asked Lucian. "This is?"

Lucian bent down and placed his two fingers near the knight's nose as he said. "This sir here is Baron Reiter. He was travelling to Havrick city with his family when the bandits attacked them."

The baron lifted his head and looked at Aren when he heard that there was another one of the adventurers. Although, due to Aren's hooded appearance made seem unapproachable, Reiter was still grateful to them.

"Thank you adventurer for saving the lives of me and my family. I'm most humbly grateful."

"Kaldier had been my most trusted knight since the time I inherited my father's title. He was always with me but now... sigh." as the baron said in an aggrieved tone, he once again lowered his head and looked at the knight whose eyes were closed.

But suddenly, Lucian grabbed Kaldier's wrist and exclaimed. "No, he isn't dead yet. Although his injuries are serious, his pulse is still there. It seems that he has stopped more blood from flowing out of using runic force. He might be saved if he's given immediate treatment."

This sounded like a heavenly music to baron's ears. Following that, the baron himself carried the knight back to the carriage and took the position of a coachman. With the healing potion given by Aren, he could still hold out for another five hours. That time was enough for the carriage to reach Havrick.

"About thirty of the bandits and two leaders are left now." Lucian took out his map and took a quick check as he said this.

"What shall we do about these dead bodies?" Aren asked, looking at the ground filled with bodies and gore.

"Well do a burial for the squires later. As for the bandits... burn them all."

"We can't delay or the other leaders will realize that something is not right. Come, the faster we reach the cave, the better." Lucian added as he started sprinting through the forest, which Aren promptly followed after.

...

Inside the silent cave, in a chamber for leaders. Two figures were sitting on their respective chairs. Among the three chairs near a small round table, one was empty.

Honker slammed his fist on the table as he bellowed. "What's taking that sh*t Goro so long? Wasn't he supposed to come at this time already.?"

"Today is his day... maybe he is having a ''nice time'' with some noble lady. Let it be, he'll come soon." Opposite to Honker, Gurlim was calmly sipping some beverages. It seemed that he was more tolerant in these matters than Honker.

As the most intelligent leader of Panther's claws, Gurlim had other concerns in his mind than feeling jealous like Honker.

Just two days ago, he had received a news that someone had taken the quest to raid their hideout. One was a well-known adventurer among E ranks and there was no information about the other one. It seemed that he was not from Havrick but from somewhere else. The rank F adventurer he placed in the guild had only managed to give him that much information.

As their bandit group had gained more notoriety, Gurlim already had plans about moving towards other kingdom. Unlike the other two, he knew more about the power of nobility. If they angered them more, then squads upon squads of knights might even come to search the whole area. So even if no one had taken that quest, he was already prepared to leave this area.

However, now that the quest was taken, the enemy might come to their hideout any time.

As the two of them waited for another fifteen minutes and there was still no sign of Goro, even the brawny Honker realised that something fishy was going on.

A solemn expression appeared on Gurlim's face as he said to Honker. "We might be attacked by enemy anytime. Tell our men to keep their weapons ready. I'll go on a lookout just in case."

Honker nodded. He knew that in these situations, they also needed the brains of Grulim along with their strength. Otherwise Panther's claws couldn't have stood still until now.

He quickly got outside and was ready to shout but realized that the cave was abnormally silent, just like when they occupied it at first.

There were no signs of the usually rowdy men. It was as if they had dissappeared into thin air. Even if they were asleep, they would at least snore but now even the sound of him stepping on a stone seemed as if greatly magnified.

Finding no one, he went to the room of his right hand man and found out that it too was empty. He did saw some signs of a struggle though. As the candles, which would mostly be lit were broken, with only some some still glowing.

He looked around the room and saw some broken pieces of glasses and a blood stain.

'This is?' he turned is gaze to the mirror embedded on the wall. It was broken in three large pieces, due to which there were three of his reflections. It seemed like a heavy object had crashed against the mirror.

As he was about to retract his gaze from the mirror, he noticed that a black robed figure had suddenly appeared behind his reflections.

Boom!

A dull sound was heard in the room, as two fists crashed onto eachother. Honker immediately backed away from the hooded man and got on a defensive position.

He could sense that the man's strength was not far off from his, being about equal to that of Goro's. Honestly, if he wasn't a strength based fighter, then there was no telling what would've happened if a punch with that much force landed on him.

Aren also felt that the bulky man's strength was really off the charts. Although for a while, his hand still trembled when he met that punch head on.

As the room was very small for him to manuever, he backed off and came to the broad passageway. The vision here was even darker than in the room but as Aren had a greater spiritual power, he could still sense his surroundings. If they fought here, he had a chance to win.

When he saw Aren backing off, Honker was confused at first but as he realized that Aren's strength was lower than his, he thought that Aren might be trying to run away. With this, his confidence also increased. He also got outside while maintaining the same defensive position. One could never be too cautious in a fight. Especially when one didn't know what the opponent wanted.

"Who are you actually?" he asked in a loud voice which echoed inside the cave.

"There is no use shouting. That another bandit leader won't be able to come, someone else is keeping him busy." Aren replied placidly.

"As for who I am, a dead man doesn't need to know that." Saying that, he rushed towards the bandit leader, who was shocked at Aren's phantom like speed.