Chapter 59
That was definitely the bandits’ lair.
We retreated for the moment. I tossed the kite some meat with the bone still attached to shut it up, since it was making a damn fuss demanding food.
“Shall we move in?”
Tirsi, hidden in the bushes, asked. Before answering, I tossed the kite some more chicken.
“Screee? (How many humans?)”
“Kyeet. (Don’t know.)”
Don’t cock your head at me. It’s pissing me off.
I couldn’t believe bastards like these were descendants of the mighty dinosaurs. Thinking that dinosaurs somewhere in this world might also go, “I dunno,” like that one shattered my romantic image of them.
“Screee. Kyeck, screek. (Still, humans. There are some behind, too.)”
“…Kyeck? (…Behind?)”
“Kyeeet. (That way.)”
As it picked the meat off the bone, the kite cried out. That was unexpected extra information. Tirsi and I circled around to follow it without being seen.
“Screee! (Here!)”
“Kye-kye-kyem. (Quiet.)”
We investigated the spot the kite indicated, hushing its cries.
─Rustle.
What had looked like bushes was camouflage. You thieving bastards. They’d even made an escape route in case they had to run.
“What should we do?”
We hid nearby again and planned our operation. Even if we charged in through the spot we’d found earlier, the bandits inside would flee this way.
Since there were hostages, too, the only way to wipe them all out was for one of us to block an entrance.
─Crack.
Just as we were sharing the plan we’d come up with, we heard a branch snap in the bushes beside us.
We exchanged glances and changed hiding spots. Two people were approaching, making careless footsteps.
“Aw, shit. I’m fucking exhausted.”
“No wonder everyone hates going out to buy food. It’s nerve-racking, and all that going up and down is exhausting.”
The ones who appeared looked like bandits no matter how you looked at them. Two men.
They had bandanas wrapped around their heads, like that con-artist bastard I’d seen at Clara’s smithy. Were bandanas the symbol of assholes in this otherworld?
“Heh heh. Still, we’ll get to taste some women now, right?”
“They say they’ll finish the deal sometime this week and move their base. What was it? They said they didn’t want to do business where that Mithril-class adventurer woman lives?”
“Bullshit. If you’re scared of a woman, how can you be a bandit?”
“Heh heh. Should I tell the boss?”
“If you do, you’re dead too, asshole.”
They kept talking as they came this way.
Maybe they’d relaxed because they were close to home, but these idiots were busy outing themselves in conversation. These guys were 100% bandits.
─Nod.
Tirsi and I agreed with a gesture.
Ambushing first is usually a sure win, but this time we let them pass. If we caused a commotion right outside the lair and got found out, things would only get more troublesome.
Rustle….
The bandits continued chattering as they went into the cave.
Was it not a secret passage but a shortcut? Or maybe they were so stupid they’d made one and used it casually. Even on Earth, plenty of people used fire doors as emergency exits. That was safety complacency for you.
“──Those guys are planning their escape.”
A few minutes after the bandits disappeared, we finally spoke.
“Yes. We don’t know exactly when, but now we have a reason to resolve this as soon as possible.”
“I think we should move in right now.”
I said, looking at the entrance.
“Their ‘business partner’ is probably a fence or someone like that. Our papers are important, of course, but if the hostages they supposedly captured are alive, and those people are also merchandise to them──”
“──Then today might be our last chance, right? I was thinking the same thing.”
Tirsi gripped the wand and peered toward the cave entrance through the gap between hood and scarf.
“Shall we enter from both entrances at the same time?”
“Will you be able to defend yourself without me?”
“A lot of troublesome things have happened lately, so I learned a few spells. I have a shield spell that can be cast while moving, so I can cast it ahead of time.”
Tirsi gripped the wand and chanted a few spells.
One of the spells conjured a breeze that swept toward me, too. As it passed through my body, I felt lighter.
“What’s this?”
“<Breeze Walk>. It makes you move faster. It only lasts an hour, though.”
“Only? That’s plenty. It’ll be a big help.”
Maybe it was the spell, but my body felt light. When I tested my step, I barely made a sound.
“I’ll go in from the other side. We’ll follow the plan we made earlier. Understood?”
“Yes. See you inside, Arthur.”
“Let’s do that, Ash. You did well too, kite. Here’s your reward.”
“Kyeeeeeeeek!! (Food!!)“
I tossed the kite the remaining chicken leg and moved to the other side. I went around in a wide arc, returning to the entrance we’d found first.
Shasha-shak─.
I stood in front of the entrance. I took off my bag and hid it in nearby bushes. As before, there was no one standing guard at the cave entrance.
That was their mistake.
‘Stupid bastards.’
If they’d posted a lookout, they might’ve heard the fighting and tried to escape. The results were always a mess when stupid people squeezed their limited intelligence to the max.
Those who lived in accordance with the rule of law could still be protected by the law even if they made mistakes──but not murderers and robbers.
Killing bandits who committed crimes in this otherworld was not a crime.
Because people lacked a sense of human rights? The opposite. ‘People’s’ rights were respected by not looking after the rights of trash bastards.
Britannia did not treat those who paid no taxes as people.
Some even sold themselves (自賣) into slavery to pay their taxes. And yet the poor and their dark evolution, the murderous robbers, paid no taxes and disrupted public order.
That was why I called criminal bandits ‘humanoid trash mobs.’
Those bastards had dared make me come all the way out here?
“Grrrrrrrr.”
I let out an animalistic growl and roused my hatred.
“Trauma──on.”
I unleashed the anger in my heart. From the suite in my heart, another me, forged from violence and murderous intent, was born and roared: Professor Slayer.
─Kill the professors!!!
─Kill the professors!!!!!!!!!
─Kill every professor in this world!!!!!!
“Grrrrrr─!! I can’t take this anymore, Ungnyeo!!”
I suppressed the rage boiling my brain and whispered as if chanting a spell.
“<Summon Cloud>!!”
Pshhhhh─.
A white cloud formed around me and seeped into the cave like fog. It was similar to the smoke effects often used at idol concerts.
This spell was one of the reasons I’d decided to storm the bandits’ lair alone.
──And its name was.
“Cowardly Leaf Style Camouflage Concealment Jutsu──Mamamu (魔磨霧).”
Mamamu.
In other words, a fog that grinds down demons.
The high-density water vapor created by <Summon Cloud> completely blocked people’s vision, like a cloud. Numerical superiority built on a bunch of nobodies meant nothing against this spell.
Of course, my vision was blocked too in the fog-filled cave. I could cheat a little and overcome the visual obstruction from the fog, though.
Shuuuu─.
The spell was still unfamiliar, but as I took my time, I gathered fog of the right density and volume. I could feel my mana decreasing in real time. It was much less than I expected.
‘Or maybe my mana pool has grown a lot.’
Either way, it was nice to have mana to spare.
The fog I created would remain until I dispelled the magic. Just as Hotulucil used a spell to manipulate clouds and restore the soil’s fertility, I could manipulate the fog while my mana held out.
‘Though I can’t use it as an attack spell.’
It was impossible to make the fog move quickly and give it killing power like a blade or hammer.
That was a limitation of the spell itself. Giving water vapor both long duration and control, plus that kind of physical force, required high-level magic skill.
If I could do that, it’d basically be an AoE skill with almost no cooldown. As a shitty imitation of a mage, I’d never be able to use a spell like that even if I had one.
Still, this much was enough for today.
‘Block their vision and beat them up with Beast Regression.’
A perfect plan.
“Nin-nin.”
I murmured softly, transformed into a Kimchi Ninja, and entered the bandits’ lair. The fog followed me, obeying my will.
Fill the cave with fog using magic? That’d be stupid.
‘Why make more than I need when it follows wherever I go?’
A dense fog covered the ten meters around me. Since the cave was narrow, it obscured an even larger area than I’d expected.
This was a boon. The bandits outside the fog couldn’t tell what the hell I was doing. That would prey on their fear.
What if I wasn’t human, but a monster?
What if I was a crazy psycho murderer, even though I was human?
That was why a murderer in the fog of night was so terrifying.
Even if they shot arrows, it’d be damn hard to hit me. And even if one happened to hit my body, it couldn’t pierce Beast Regression’s mana coating.
‘All I need to see is the ground under my feet.’
My field of vision was roughly shaped like a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant. I’d left the space above the floor two meters ahead of me clear of fog so I could see.
I used this to get a glimpse of the cave’s interior layout.
If I hadn’t done this, I’d have been banging into walls and falling over, putting on all kinds of slapstick comedy.
And if a bandit showed up in front of me──
“You bastards!! What’s with this smoke!! Is there a fire?!”
──I was the only one who could see him.
A person’s legs appeared two meters ahead in the gap in the fog. I clenched my fist, dashed forward, and punched into the space above his legs.
Thwack!!
“──Guh!”
The bandit had no time to be startled by my sudden appearance as the fog parted. My punch caved in the chest of the man wearing cheap armor.
─Thud.
When I moved aside, the bastard’s corpse fell forward, blood pouring from its mouth. It was as if a bomb had gone off in his solar plexus, shattering his ribs and even his heart. There was no way he could survive.
I rubbed my fist as if checking the sensation left at my fingertips.
‘Easy.’
It was no wonder the bandit had been taken out so effortlessly.
Since the space above the floor was thick with fog, they couldn’t see until they were within a meter of me. That was because the fog had an empty zone shaped like an upside-down funnel.
From the bandits’ perspective, it must feel like some fog was approaching, and then One-Punch Man suddenly popped out from right in front of them.
In other words, while the fog remained, I could land the first surprise attack on every enemy.
There was no chance some bandits could dodge this attack. To deal with this ambush, you’d need the skill and reflexes to avoid some jaywalker darting out from between cars in the next lane while stopping without scratching your car.
‘Anyone who could do that would be an adventurer or mercenary.’
Drip─.
I stepped aside to avoid the blood flowing from the corpse’s mouth. I coldly looked down at the bandit’s corpse, lying with his eyes wide open.
This was my first kill.
‘It’s not as big a deal as I thought.’
I didn’t crumple up going, “Killing is scary, waaaah,” like in war movies that went for realism. Nor did I think this bastard would show up later in my dreams and cause a scene.
If some people suffered PTSD after killing someone, I guess there were also people who didn’t. I was probably the latter.
I felt strangely disgusted, but to survive in this otherworld, you needed a bit of a psycho streak.
In this otherworld, getting blood on your hands was inevitable sooner or later. This was a world where even a fourteen-year-old country girl could stab a goblin to death with the sickle she’d been using to harvest rice, then go back to helping with the work.
Even if I’d stayed at the university and lived quietly, I might’ve suddenly been attacked and killed one day by a murderer, assassin, or monster. I’d learned that while exploring ruins during my days as a slave.
If it was inevitable that I’d get my hands dirty with blood someday, there was no reason it couldn’t be today.
─Whoosh.
I loosened the fist I’d been clenching tight.
I would show no mercy in this fight.
These bastards attacked and killed people.
There might be some who hadn’t killed anyone yet, but they’d get their hands dirty before long. You become stained by the company you keep. There wasn’t a decent bastard among people who hung around murderous robbers.
‘If I let them live, they might come after me for revenge later.’
If they came at me head-on, saying they wanted revenge, I could beat the shit out of them and be done with it. But fair and square wasn’t in the vocabulary of murderous robbers. They’d probably poison my food or something.
They might hold a grudge not only against me but harm Frang too.
It was better to kill them here.
─Clink.
I slipped the axe from the bandit’s belt. I wasn’t about to get these pieces of trash’s blood on Frang’s weapon.
But why the hell did this weapon look like a barbarian warrior’s axe? It sure suited these damn bandits.
“Aw, shit!! You idiots!! What the hell is this fog?!”
“Why hasn’t Jacob come back? He said he was going to check it out!”
The bandits panicked when they realized the fog was spreading. They couldn’t even see their comrades’ faces in the dense fog, so they must’ve been fucking scared and confused.
This was how powerful it was to control natural phenomena.
When people heard “druid,” they imagined someone touching grass or spreading plagues, but the true power of nature lay in the sky.
Storms and thunder were also part of nature.
A druid, one who commanded nature, was in other words someone who wielded the power of God.
Therefore, the night of slaughter that would unfold in this cave tonight──was divine retribution I would deliver in place of the heavens.