Chapter 39: Trade Deal (2)

"He is someone that I trust to bring with me. Satisfied?" 

To Van's surprise, Verro's tone held a bit of anger. The man raised his hands and took a step back.

"Of course, shall we get on with the deal - huh?" 

Their attention was stolen by the slave girl, who suddenly turned her head to the side, staring into the distance. The man shook his head.

"Maybe the cuffs are messing with her head. Anyway, as I was saying, let's do what we came here for." 

The man turned around, picking up a wide wooden box, which was basically a chest. He turned back around, pulling out a sealed letter.

"The information." He handed the letter to Verro who immediately stashed it. "And the technology."

He popped the lid of the chest to show Van and Verro the contents. Van saw a pile of metal tools, tubes, and glowing blue objects.

"As requested, this technology can be fed mana to detect everyone that enters, as well as kill any target within its range. Just get someone to put it all together then plant it in the ground around the estate." 

He shut the lid, handing the chest to Verro. With the business concluded, the two parties prepared to leave.

"It was a pleasure doing business with Lord Raphael, blah blah blah…"

"Get ready." Verro suddenly whispered to Van.

"What?"

Before the man holding the leash could finish speaking, a bunch of dots appeared in the sky, slowly growing bigger. As the objects continued to fall towards the group, Van realized what they were.

"Mana Bombs!"

Before any of them could react, the bombs reached them. 

Everything around them exploded, dust and rubble blocking vision. Van braced himself, only for Verro to raise a hand over his head, catching the bomb about to land on Van. Verro tossed the bomb to the side where it exploded before handing the chest to Van and disappearing.

"Guard this." 

On the other side, while the man with the leash was stunned by a bomb exploding near him, the woman got up and kicked the back of his knee before wrapping her cuffs around his neck, quickly taking his life.

Behind her, only half of the men remained unscathed. She immediately searched the man's corpse for the key, freeing herself once she did.

"FOR THE SERVANT BANDITS!"

Van heard someone yell from the side, and plenty more voices that surrounded them roared in response. He heard footsteps all around him and the sound of battle, before feeling a burst of mana in front of him. 

'That must be the girl! She freed herself!'

The dust slowly cleared around Van, revealing a battlefield. Everywhere he turned he saw people wearing brown robes in poor condition, fighting and killing Lord Angus's men. Van could tell from the mana signatures around him that many were on the same rank as he, a Knight.

Turning to where the sounds of battle were the loudest, Van saw the woman in a fierce battle with Verro, mana flying in the air with different abilities at play. Before Van could observe any further, he felt something pierce his shoulder from behind.

"That still hurt!"

He turned around to see a man wearing brown robes holding a knife, half of it in his shoulder. Even with Pain Resistance, a stab wound hurt pretty bad. Van quickly turned and slammed the wooden chest into the man's head, knocking him down.

He pulled out the knife as more enemies wearing brown robes appeared. All of them were at least 2nd Sword Knights. Severely outnumbered, Van put down the chest and pulled out the knife from his shoulder before wrapping his body in mana.

"Give us the chest and we'll spare you!" One of them called out as he raised a dagger.

Without answering, Van punched the man with mana, making his head snap back as he fell down. Van then threw the knife at another oncoming enemy, burying it to the hilt in their chest.

'I fight unarmed anyway.'

Charging at the enemies, Van used everything he had at his disposal. He dodged attacks, and even gave and received some, blocking the ones he couldn't dodge with mana. He even tossed one of his own mana bombs to quickly take out a group of his attackers.

At random spots, the ground burst with mana, killing and maiming some enemies. Van didn't care that he was killing people. He had already mentally prepared himself to kill long before he came to Fendor. Right now, he was fighting for his life.

Van's skills and his Combat Arts were being pushed to their limit. With barely any room to breathe, with endless enemies coming after him, he decided to step it up a notch. Van layered his fists with more mana, making his strikes even more powerful as he began to punch holes through his enemies, killing them instantly.

While more costly on the mana, it allowed him to tear through his attackers, so Van deemed that it was worth it. Though his body was wrapped in mana, there were Knights among the enemies that seemed to have equal or more Swords as Van, their attacks making it through his defense.

Covered in bruises and cuts, Van kept fighting, swinging his fists in every possible direction, blowing off limbs and body parts wherever he punched. He was covered in blood by now, and his mana was continuing to drain at an alarming rate.

Unfortunately, Van had a limited mana capacity, unlike the seemingly endless wave of enemies. Van felt his mana weaken, and it became harder to breathe. Right now, he was at risk of mana exhaustion, and the fumes he was running on wouldn't last much longer.

The attacks were beginning to do serious damage to Van, the wounds on his body cutting deeper. His fists slowed down, and before he knew it, he was knocked down. He fell on his side, vomiting blood as the bandits immediately lost interest in him. They excitedly grabbed the chest and began to retreat.

"No…" 

Van mumbled as his vision began to darken. His own blood began to pool beneath him and mix with the blood of the dead bandits. This was bad, real bad.