Chapter 2 - Section 2: Bandit Fort Part III

The bandit hideout clearance was proceeding perfectly, sure Satou was losing a number of summon cards in the process but compared to that the experience of being a commander was better yet, getting to show off and experience a real battle as a true form summoner, having to settle the urge within to use his newfound strength to not dive into the battle itself but instead to calmly watch from the rear issuing orders to his summons.

The bandit forces who at first worked in cohesion with one another now disorganized and attacking at will trying anything in their power to stop the never-ending horde of monsters that was storming their base.

One thing that was newly discovered was that the death of a human did not result in any drops, or cards unlike when monsters are defeated.

Guess it's closer to being PVP in that sense since a normal player would just resurrect with a penalty but not actually lose any of their gear not wagered on a PVP duel.

There were still small parties of the bandits who were doing not too bad against the storm of Orcs, well at least until the Goblin paladin Hoogan entered the fray, or Satou and his party members would interfere and attack from a distance with their magic, and bows/throwing knives.

Those who worked together were reported to most likely be more of the Joquet knight forces since military training would heavily reinforce the strength in numbers but even still they could not consolidate all their forces into one since the monsters had separated their forces driving a wedge separating them into multiple parts of the cavern.

At the deepest depth stood the most seasoned warrior who'd come out from within a further carved fortification, the orcs stood no chance against them, and any retreating bandits were likewise cut down.

It was truly a despicable act where they forced their own forces to fight their hardest since retreat meant death, and in most cases so did fighting, but for each orc, they managed to defeat another would clamber forth.

The battle progressed and the bandit forces fell, with each human loss the orcs were the ones to concentrate their forces, and the fight turned ever more in Satou's favour

This war of attrition was even now taking its toll on the leaders who may be strong but with endless waves of combat even they would tire and run out of stamina eventually.

That is until a new opponent appeared, a knight in full plate mail emerged from within the fortification and walked calmly to the front lines before driving his greatsword into the ground, whereupon the entire cavern shook from the impact.

The fighting within ceased as the two battle lines temporarily stalled and a silence filled the air.

"I request a trial by single combat with the leader of this pack of savages for the right of victory" <Knight >

a request for 1-vs-1 pvp huh?

[Not something to be decided lightly since a summoner is a light armour backliner, and he looks to be a frontline tank]

"Do not worry master I shall stand as your champion" <Heracles >

Emerging from within the small army of Orcs stood Heracles who'd donned equipment provided to him by his master, brandished in one hand was his long spear which seemed to gleam in the sunlight even though no natural light could be found within this cave, and in the other a shield so polished it looked like it was a modern-day mirror instead of a tool to be used for defence.

" I stand as this side champion set to defeat you knight with no honour who threw his lot in with bandits" <Heracles >

'click'

"The nerve to spout such shite, when I'm finished with you, your forces will be mine, and you nave shall be bones upon the ground" <Knight >

Having succeeded at provoking his Heracles readied for single combat, now that the knight was focused on him and not fighting the true leader of their forces.

drawing his greatsword up from the ground and taking a stance with his sword raised high up above his head in the stance of the falcon, a powerful stance which allows the weight of one's own blade to be added to the force exerted delivering crushingly powerful blows that typically devastate any enemy who dares try to block.

'Swish swish'

The first exchanges of blows were one-sided, the Knights's blade missed its mark meanwhile Heracles with a calm face used his superior reach to stab his spear into the gaps between the plate mail attacking at the knight's joints.

After only a few exchanges the knight's demeanour already changed and his attacks became more savage, hoping beyond hope to land just one blow that could decide the fight in an instant.

Having sensed this Heracles dropped his stance lowering his centre of gravity as if to accept one of these wild swings and absorb the impact.

The first couple of swings still were dodge but when the knight performed a huge arcing horizontal swing, the time finally came, and his shield turned to receive the blow.

The blade's edge struck flush against the mirror shield before bouncing back causing the knight to lose his footing and stumble a bit, meanwhile, Heracles lunged forward from his low stance slamming the shield which had just received a tremendous impact into the open chest of the knight's armour.

'Booooom'

Upon contact the shield bash created such a sound that caused all the surviving knights and bandits to fall on their rears, meanwhile, the man directly behind the knight fell flat on his back as blood poured from his neck, his companions who'd looked over shrieked in fright as he was headless, everyone looked to see what had happened but it was all to clear.

There still standing but not moving was the knight a gruesome hole in his back with his armour bent outwards like something had burst out from within.

Having used his shield's special effect of absorbing impact damage and allowing him to reflect it upon his opponent Heracles patiently waited for his opponent to deliver a blow that would be absorbed the most, to be instantly sent back at him in a concentrated form.

The knight wavered before collapsing a hole the size of the centre circle of the shield bore through his chest out his back.

The rest being stunned were quickly dealt with by the orcs who were not stunned by this display.

"Good work" <Satou >

"Thank you, milord it was all thanks to the equipment you've bestowed upon me" <Heracles >

"Mmm?" <Satou >

After approaching to congratulate the victor something caught his eye and after bending over he picked up what could only be described as a drop item which was a first for a human victim, assuming this knight was indeed human,

But it was more the drop itself that drew his attention, it was a key.

In Yggdrasil, keys served several functions but this particular key type with ruby gems embedded in the handle was one for instance dungeons.

Materializing the key from the drop into his hand he rolled it around.

[Dungeons are the best place for grinding experience after all, instance dungeons more so since they are locked to a single party]

Almost like he was being driven by an external force his arm extender with the key still in hand as if he was placing it in an invisible lock before turning the key, a black doorway opened before him he walked inside.

"Master!" <Heracles >

The others who finally noticed the oddity rushed to try and stop him but all were too late the door that appeared out of nowhere had already closed

"At least she made it" <Raisa >

The only companion who managed to follow through the door was Kurama who had the greatest speed out of them all, but no matter what they did the door just stood there unable to be opened, with nothing being seen on the reverse side.

"We must simply wait for them to return, I know not where they've gone to but surely they will return" <Hereacles >

Disturbed by recent events. but unable to do anything about it the others continued their cleanup and rescue of the captured adventurers and travellers now that the bandits themselves had been dealt with.