Chapter 32: Stained Hands (Part 3)

*WARNING: This chapter may contain violance, gore and any other 18+ rated*

*DREP* *DREP* *DREP*

The bandits who took Litia from the village was on their way towards their hideout, with their horses' hooves making rythmical noise against the forest's ground.

"We will arrive soon, so make sure you behave yourself, kid." One of the bandit said to her who's riding the horse with him.

Litia only looked away and nodded her head silently.

"Tsk...hya!" The bandit clicked his tongue and sped up his pace.

Litia looked up on the night sky as she could see a bright moon in the middle of it.

Then she widened her eyes after seeing a shadow jumped up from the forest.

The shadow slowly getting closer as it jumped again and again.

Litia eyes brightened up when she remembered his words before she came with them.

'[Close your eyes...when you see me].'

She closed her eyes, shivering at the chilly night air that caressed her cheeks.

******

Meanwhile Rei who's on his way towards them are talking with Ray.

"What? You want me to train by fighting them?"

'That's the fastest and possible way.'

"But isn't that dangerous?"

'Dangerous or not...I believe you can do it.'

"Mhm...I'll do my best."

'Do you remember what I said? Kiritsuka.'

"Yeah, I remember...

[Don't kill, but hurt them to the point they want to die]."

'Heh, good.'

After Rei spoke those words, he dashed forward.

******

*DREP* *DREP* *DREP*

"Captain!"

"What is it!?" The captain looked over to one of his teammates.

"Something's approaching!"

They stopped their horses in the middle of forest, looking around but couldn't see anything.

'Hmmm...8 people this time huh, it's gonna be hard...' Rei observed inside of his head while hiding in between the darkness. He kept his observation for a while and recalling Ray's words.

******

5 minutes before, while Rei was jumping to trees by trees.

'Kiritsuka.' Ray called him.

'Yes?' Rei replied while focusing his steps on each branch.

'I shall ask you a question.'

"Uhhh?? Okay?"

'Okay then, so do you know a basic rule for a proper party?'

"I...don't know." Rei responded unsurely.

'A party consists of 4 types of people, [The Vanguard], [The Attacker], [The Defender], and finally...[The Support]. Now then...the question is, which one is the most important that hold the pillar for the team?'

"Hmmmm...[The Vanguard]?"

'Bububu! Wrong!'

"Eh?! Isn't [The Vanguard] the leader?"

'Of course, [The Vanguard] is important...but it doesn't mean [The Vanguard] is the only one who can pull the party together to reach their goal. If the [Vanguard] is the one who pull the party, now who's the one who pushed the team if the [Vanguard] couldn't pull it off?'

"...?!"

Rei widened his eyes for a moment when he realized something.

'Yes...When you're facing a party...you shouldn't aim the [Vanguard] first...but...

'the [Support].'

******

'Is that the [Support] that you mentioned?' Rei asked as he observed the bandits who were in group together, pointing towards the one with a hood over his face.

'You are right, [Support] job consists of something that will help a team to move forward, like that guy. I can guess his job is [Scout] or [Ranger] who have skill that could locate nearby enemies.' Ray explained.

'I see.' Rei replied as he was still in the darkness using his equipment skill [Shadow Movement].

'Now then, let the hunt begin.'

After Rei spoke those words, he disappeared in the shadow of the night.

******

"Hey! You said there was something!" The captain of the bandits shouted at the hooded man.

"I did hear a movement Captain!" The hooded man replied.

"Tsk...then go and check it! Everyone else, get ready." The captain spoke as he pulled out his sword from his waist.

The hooded man slowly get down from his horse as he began to walk around using his skill to locate the enemy.

"Did you get something?!" The captain shouted.

"No, I didn't see–bugh!"

*BAK*

When the hooded man about to finish his words, he was punched on his chin and dropped down to the ground.

The captain noticed a shadow moving around after knocking their [Scout] down.

"What the–?! Regroup!" With the captain's order, his team began to close up, creating a circle.

'Ohh, despite being a bandit they are pretty good.'

'Indeed, but...without their [Support] I hope they cann't last long.' As Rei spoke, he moved inside the shadow.

The bandits team broke cold sweat, feeling the wariness and tense atmosphere that surround them. Fortunately, they still could see their surrounding thanks to the moonlight that brightened the forest.

Howevee, when the clouds slowly covered the moonlight, the whole forest was engulfed in darkness.

And finally it started...

"Ack–!!"

Following the sound, they saw a shadow dragging one of them into the dark forest.

"Becareful! There's something around here!" The captain tried to calm his party down.

But...

.

.

.

"Hmp–?!"

.

.

.

Slowly...

.

.

.

"Gah–?!"

.

.

.

One by one...

.

.

.

"Ack–?!"

.

.

.

It didn't last long until his party was reduced to no one but himself.

The captain was starting to panic, his breathing laboured and came in short gasps...his fear and anxiety quickly build up, swallowing him down and that caused him to make a desperate move.

The captain of the bandits dragged Litia into his arms and aimed his sword towards her neck.

"Don't come near! or I will cut this girl's head off!!" The captain shout out of desperation.

When the moon showed up again, it revealed a bloody scene.

The party of the bandits was wiped off, his men were laying on the ground groaning in pain and most of them were unconscious with a few cuts on their body.

And then he showed up...

A man in a black armor with his beast looking helmet. He looked like a hungry beast that has preyed on its enemy, but despite that...his red scarf was the one thing that stood out the most.

The captain was suprised seeing this man appeared in front of him, with his both hand occupied on something.

His right hand was holding a black sword that was covered with blood and his left hand was holding onto one of his party and it seemed like he was dragging him just now.

*DROP*

Rei dropped one of the bandits on the ground as he walked towards him.

"W-who the fuck are you?! Do you know who you are messing with– Bugh?!"

The captain continue to yell in fright as he tried to keep this man out of his sight but when he's about to finish his words...

Rei grabbed his face with his left hand and lifted him up, causing him to let go off Litia from him and loosen his grip on his sword.

"Seriously...are you trying to make me recall that one hellish day?" Rei spoke coldly as he mentioned the day when Litia was turned into hostage.

"But this time...not anymore." Rei quickly threw him away, making him crashed towards a tree.

"Ack!?" The captain screamed in pain as his back crashed against it

Rei looked at him for a moment before he went to check on Litia who still had her eyes closed.

"Litia, you can open your eyes now." Rei spoke.

When Litia opened her eyes, she could see many of the bandits were on the ground and the one who stood in front of her was Rei.

"Mr. Warrior!" Litia cried and ran towards him then hugged his waist.

Rei patted her head and smiled from behind his helmet, "I'm sorry for having you go through scary times."

Litia nodded and kept quiet as she still clinging onto him tightly.

"Now then..." Rei turned his head around to look at the captain who tried to stood up.

"U-ughh..huh–??" As soon the captain looked up his body suddenly froze and paralyzed.

[Intimidate] has been activated as he gave off his red aura to pressure the captain.

The captain trembled in fear as he couldn't move his body. He could only stand there, looking towards Rei who slowly approached him.

"Now then...shall we begin with a few question?"

When he spoke, his red and yellow eyes glinted in the dark through each slits of his helmet.

Afterwards...a scream rang out throughout the forest.

******

After few minutes, horse steps could be heard running through the forest and the one who rode it was a single man.

He arrived shortly in front of a large cave that was located near a mountain.

There're two person guarding the cave entrance as they walked towards the man.

"Who are you?!"

They used their torch to see who it was...

And found out that he's the captain of the bandits from before.

"Oh! it's you." one of the guard said. "Well, get in."

But the captain didn't answer nor respond to him in any way.

"Oi! Are you deaf? And where are the others?" They approached closer to him but when they tried to shake him off a bit...the captain fell down to the ground.

"What's wron–huh?!"

When they took a closer look they could see he was unconscious with his eyes rolled back and somehow shaking in pain.

"Don't bother."

A voice came out and they noticed a person standing right behind them.

"W-who the fuck are you–huft!?"

Before they could shouted, Rei immediately used his [Intimidate] to paralyze them first then with a swift movement, he gave a punch on each of their faces with blinding speed that was enough to knock them down out cold.

"How rude...do you not know that there's someone sleeping."

Rei spoke and soon after, he tied the three of them on a tree with their mouth gagged with rope so they won't be calling for help.

"Now then, is this their hideout?"

Rei asked while looking at the entrance of the cave.

'I could feel a small trace of magic...hm? Now I get it.' Ray spoke.

"Get what?"

'They use a [Magic Item].'

"[Magic Item]?"

'[Magic Item] is an item that was casted with rune of magic inside of them and most importantly, everyone can use this item to cast [Magic] just like a [Mage].' Ray explained.

"So you mean, if I put a rune magic for [Fireball] then you can cast [Fireball] without having a [Mage] job?"

'Yepp, and they casted this large barrier to cover the whole place...no wonder the knights never notice this.'

"So...what should we do now?"

'Hmmm, let's focus on saving the children first. cause if we focus on them they will try to take one of the children into hostage.'

"Yeah okay." Rei nodded his head and walked inside the cave. By using his aura, he focused them on his eyes that allowed him to see in the darkness.

As he walked in, he could see the cave stretched out deeper than he had thought. He kept going until there's two branching path.

"According to that captain guy...the children was on the left path." Rei mumbled while turning to take the left pathways.

'Yeah, and the right path...I sense a strong pressure coming from it.'

When Rei turned his eyes to look at the right path, he could feel shivers crawling down his spine.

"Indeed...let's go now."

When he went inside of the left path, he could see a bit of light that came from a torch.

'Kiritsuka.'

"I know." Rei noticed there were two guys standing in front of some kind of steel door.

Rei quickly hid in the darkness and observed them at first before he swept them away in a flash.

*BAK* *BUK*

"Ack?!–"

As they fell down to the ground, Rei stared at the steel door in front of him.

"This is..." Rei took one of the keys from the guards and used it to unlock the door.

*CLICK* *CREAK*

When he open it, he could see cells lined up on each side.

He widened his eyes when he walked in and saw many children was being kept inside of these dark cells.

"What the hell." Rei fisted his palms tightly as he walked inside, looking around the room.

The children looked at him with eyes that looked like a dead fish. As if they lost their hope to be rescued.

"Houston, what the hell is this..."

When Rei asked those question, Ray couldn't help but be silent.

"Answer me!!"

'...Kiritsuka, this is the reality of the dark side of this world.'

Rei gritted his teeth, "But that doesn't mean they could do this?!"

Rei couldn't contain his anger any longer as for these children being kept like this...and for the first time in his life seeing these things.

Ray couldn't comment to that because that is the reality of it.

But soon...he saw another steel door in front of him.

"Huh?"

Rei slowly approached it...

.

.

.

.

*TAP*

.

.

.

.

*TAP*

.

.

.

.

*TAP*

As he stood right in front of it...and when he was about to reach his hand towards the knob...

"Kiritsuka! No! That room!" Ray yelled in that moment, as he noticed something was wrong coming from that room but...

it was too late.

*CREAK*

When the door creaked open, he quickly looked around.

The room was rather small, a bit dark and poorly ventilated. There's nothing worth noticing except for the tang scent of blood that invaded his nose. He scrunched his nose in disgust and saw the floor was stained with old and fresh blood.

Rei looked up and noticed a plump man standing in front of something while holding some kind of whip and when he directed his eyes down...

.

.

.

.

.

*THUMP*

.

.

.

.

.

*THUMP*

.

.

.

.

.

*THUMP*

.

.

.

.

.

There's a little girl with blonde hair laid out motionlessly on the ground...and her body was covered with fresh scars. The whip broke through her skin, drawing out blood that started to darken and some of it landed to the floor.

*THUMP*

Rei widened his eyes when he saw it...

And on that moment...something awaken inside of him.

'Kiritsuka calm–' Ray who noticed the situation was halfway through his speech when Rei already walked closer towards the man.

*TAP*

*TAP*

The plump man turned around after he heard someone coming his way,

"Huh?! Who the fuck are you?! Wait...where are the guards?!"

Rei ignored his words and continued walking towards the girl, kneeling down when he's within reach and looked at her.

'Kiritsuka!!' Ray shout at him, trying to catch his attention but he's not responding to him.

"Oi!! I said who the fuck are you?! Don't ignore me!! You pieces of sh–!!"

*CLINK*

*SLASH*

.

.

.

.

.

.

*THUD*

"Huh?"

Ray widened his eyes as he saw something that shouldn't have happened...

.

.

.

.

.

The man that was standing behind him...

*SPURT*

Blood sprayed up and his head fell down to the ground...

As for Rei...he was holding his sword on his hand that was stained with the man's blood...

"Shut up..."

.

.

.

.

.

And that very moment was the first time in his life...

.

.

.

.

.

He murdered someone

.

.

.

.

.

[You leveled up!]

To be continue...

*Rei's current status*

=======================================

[STATUS]

NAME: Kiritsuka Rei / Ray Houston

JOB : Blacksmith

TITLE : [The Reincarnator], [Time Traveler], [Quick Learner], [Beast Slayer], [Die Hard], [Jack of All Trade]

Level: 30 >>> 31

[HP: 4050/4050]

[MP: 485/485]

[FATIGUE: 0]

EXP: 100/38500

STATUS POINT : 12

__

STRENGTH : 101

AGILITY : 71(+5)

VITALITY : 76

INTELLIGENCE : 61(+5)

SENSE : 66(+5)

[SKILL]

<PASSIVE>

Blacksmith Mastery Lv6; Sword Mastery Lv6; Battle Instinct Lv6; Super Growth LvMax; Fire Magic Lv4; Aura Lv5; Cooking Mastery Lv3; Knitting Mastery Lv3; Alchemy Mastery Lv2; Pain Resistance Lv1; Speart Arts Lv1!!NEW!!

<ACTIVE>

Fire LvMax

Blacksmith Flame Lv1

Horizontal Slash LvMax

Vertical Slash LvMax

Omni Slash Lv3

Persona LvMax [Locked]

Imitation Fire Sword Lv3

Shukuchi Lv5

Weapon Breaker Lv1

Intimidate Lv1

Sprint Lv1

Focused Block Lv1

Speart Arts: One Strike Lv1 !!NEW!!

=======================================

=======================================

[Black Helmet of the Unknown Beast]

Grade: Rare

Type: Helmet

VITALITY: +15

Durability: 100%

A helmet that was created with unknown material, it is unclear how it end up into this shape but there's a mysterious power coming out from this helmet. Like a wild beast that are hiding its fangs.

Skill:

[Beast's Will]

Using the power of the mysterious beast, it allows the individual to temporarily increase STRENGTH, VITALITY, and AGILITY by 15.

Duration : 45 sec.

Cooldown : 65 sec.

=======================================

=======================================

[Black Breastplate]

Grade: Rare

Type: Breastplate

VITALITY: +20

Durability: 100%

It was created by unknown material, but it doesn't give any kind of effect, only the black color.

=======================================

=======================================

[Black Arm + Leg Guard]

Grade: Uncommon

Type: Arm and Leg Guard

AGILITY: +10

Durability: 100%

It was created by some unknown material, but it doesn't give any kind of effect only the black color.

=======================================

=======================================

[Black Boots of the Unknown Beast]

Grade: Rare

Type: Booths

AGILITY: +25

Durability: 100%

A pair of boots filled with dark energy that was created from unknown material. It gives the wielder the ability to move between shadows.

Skill:

[Shadow Movement]

A skill that allows its user to move along in the shadow and slipped inside enemy's defense to strike.

Duration: 35 sec.

Cooldown: 40 sec.

=======================================

=======================================

[Corrosive Black Sword]

Grade: Epic

Type: Sword

STRENGTH: +50

Durability: 100%

A sword that was created using the claws from an unknown beast that roamed the night. The claws contains dark energy which allows its user to apply corrosive effect to anything the sword touches.

Skill:

[Corrosion]

Due from its dark energy, it could apply [Corrosion] status towards everything it touches, including the wielders' enemies.

=======================================