Chapter 285 No Longer An Issue
"Wait a sec, where are you-!" Mirage tried to ask Izroth what he was up to, however, before she could even finish her sentence he had already taken off.
"Should we follow after him?" Midnight asked.
Mirage released a helpless sigh as she shook her head and said, "Follow after him? Hah..." She was amused by just the thought of trying to keep up with that kind of speed. If they tried to keep up his pace while he was using that skill then they would be running for the rest of their lives!
"Forget it, he can take care of himself. Besides, we have plenty of enemies right here in front of us." Mirage said as she dashed forward and struck at one of the charging bandits.
Bang! Crrrrrk!
Mirage's fist slammed into the bandit as a wave of electricity rushed over from her fist directly into the body of the bandit causing him to become paralyzed. She quickly followed up with a combination of fist strikes and within a few moments, the bandit had collapsed to the ground in defeat.
"So weak!" Mirage spoke in a surprised tone. It had only taken her around five seconds to deal with that one bandit. However, she would not let her guard down simply because she managed to deal with one bandit. In the end, if she were not careful, the members of the Silver Hawk Merchants Caravan could be killed. After all, their level of strength was mediocre at best.
Ying Yue turned to look in the direction of Izroth's flickering silhouettes as they slowly vanished one by one. One could see that there was a saddened yet troubled look in her eyes.
...
Meanwhile, a group of five people was watching the attack on the Silver Hawk Merchants Caravan traveling through the Tiger's Mouth.
At the front of the group was a burly male with a scruffy beard on his face. He wore a full set of leather gear with a light metal shield on his back and a warhammer dangling from the belt on his waist.
"Boss Barbello, this is a huge score! That crest definitely belongs to the Silver Hawk Merchants Caravan! It's a lucky day for our Slaughter Bandit Society!" One of the bandits said. The person he called Boss Barbello was the burly man at the front of the group, as well as, the leader of the Slaughter Bandit Society, one of the more well-known bandit groups within the Tiger's Mouth.
However, Barbello currently had a large frown on his face. It was just as his underling said, the Silver Hawk Merchants Caravan was surely the good fortune of his Slaughter Bandit Society, but there was one thing that he did not understand. Why were they so poorly guarded while traveling through the Tiger's Mouth?
With the countless number of resources at their disposal, it should not have been difficult for them to hire a full professional escort group and yet they were relying on a bunch of green nosed adventurers to protect them.
"I don't like it one bit. Everyone knows those silver birdies are overprotective when it comes to the safety of their merchandise." Barbello said with furrowed brows.
"Boss, you're looking a gift horse in the mouth. This is a blessing from the legendary bandit Seven Nights Gideon himself! Do you really want to pass up such a once in a lifetime opportunity?" One of the bandits said.
"Of course not you idiot! All I'm saying is that something isn't-" Just as Barbello was speaking, he heard the sound of a scream enter into his ears. However, this was not the sound of the caravan members or the adventurers screaming, instead, it was a member of his own Slaughter Bandit Society!
"Gah!"
"There's someone- Ahhhh!"
"We're under attack!" One of the bandits guarding the lower perimeter ran up to report, however, as he ran forward an overbearing aura descended from behind him that only lasted for a split second. At the same time, a flickering silhouette could faintly be seen for a brief moment before fading out of sight.
Barbello had a shocked expression on his face. Did he just see a ghost? No, that was impossible seeing as the Tiger's Mouth did not any specter type creatures that roamed about. As a rush of thoughts ran through his head, the bandit who was just running forward to make a report had come to an abrupt halt.
"What are you waiting for? Report! Who's attacking?!" Barbello ordered. His first thought was that one of the other bandit groups had returned and went against their word after it was decided that his Slaughter Bandit Society would have the rightful claim to the caravan. But, the scouts that he positioned at key locations should have been able to warn him before they got this close.
Unfortunately for Barbello, the bandit who he was talking to had already departed from this world! The eyes of the bandit went entirely white as his body fell over and crashed into the ground.
Barbello and the other bandits around him were startled by the sudden collapse of that bandit.
Barbello felt a drift of wind breeze past his back that was accompanied by a fearsome pressure. This caused shivers to be sent down his spine! Had someone managed to get close to him without him even realizing it?! He reacted swiftly as he grabbed the handle of the warhammer at his side and twisted his body as he swung the warhammer full force.
However, his warhammer struck nothing but empty air. When he turned around, he saw that there was no one there! Was he just imagining things? No, there was definitely something out there!
'I see, so that's the leader.'
NPC Name: Barbello, The Slaughterer(Elite)
NPC Level: 40
NPC HP: 102,565(100%)
NPC Knowledge Level: 3.03
NPC Name: Slaughter Bandit(Normal)
NPC Level: 40
NPC HP: 14,520(100%)
NPC Knowledge Level: 1.26
Izroth used the combination of his Flickering Steps and First Baneful Sword: Destruction to eliminate the Slaughter Bandits as he moved through the forest.
One of the things that caught him off guard was the low knowledge level that these bandits possessed. However, he found that a low knowledge level was a reoccurring pattern amongst most NPC and players alike!
Excluding Kaz and Orion, the NPC with the highest knowledge level that he had come across was Robin, the vice-leader of the Silver Hawk Merchants Caravan. However, even Robin only had a knowledge level of 7.25, a far cry from Izroth's own knowledge level. Even Kaz possessed a higher knowledge level than that of Robin's!
After he saw Orion's monstrous knowledge level, Izroth felt that he was still incredibly lacking compared to most others, however, he had not yet found a single individual with a knowledge level even close to his own!
'Well, I shouldn't expect too much from these bandits. Perhaps I'll pay a visit to the magic capital of Proximus.'
Although Izroth had many thoughts at the moment, it did not stop his sword from reaping the lives of the nearby bandits one by one. Each strike was targeted at one of the bandit's vital points and released an overbearing aura.
Woosh!
«Critical Hit»
-15,688
The tip of Izroth's blade brushed past the neck of one of the nearby bandits quickly ending his life in the process. At the moment, Izroth's attack was an insane 2,061 points! Along with his deadly accuracy and monstrous movement speed, there was no stopping him.
Izroth gained the cooldown reset on his First Baneful Sword: Destruction. It was his main choice of attack when dealing with the Slaughter Bandits. As long as he landed a critical hit, the cooldown timer on his First Baneful Sword: Destruction skill might as well be zero! Not to mention, it did not cost him any energy to use the skill.
"I see you!" Barbello shouted as he brandished his warhammer and smashed towards Izroth's head. At least, that was his original intention. However, how could he keep up with Izroth's current speed? Barbello's warhammer only struck one of Izroth's silhouette's and missed its target by more than a few meters.
Every time Izroth eliminated one of the bandits, Barbello would launch an attack. Unfortunately, Izroth would already have moved on to his next target and constantly left Barbello confronting his silhouettes. This caused Barbello to boil with anger on the inside.
"Everyone gather up!" Barbello commanded. However, there was no one who followed his orders. To be more precise, there was no one left to obey his orders! Before he even realized it, he was by himself. Even the other four bandits that were by his side at the start of everything were long since killed off!
To make matters worse, he still had no idea who or what was behind all of this!
"Show yourself you coward!" Barbello roared.
"I'm right here." Izroth said in a carefree manner. He had shifted his position to attack Barbello from his blindside.
"You-!" Barbello tried to turn around to defend the attack, however, it was too late. He felt a numbing feeling spread through his entire body. He could not move! At the same time, he lost suddenly lost most of his will to fight!
Izroth paralyzed Barbello using Serpent's Bite. Then, while constantly remaining in Barbello's blindside and eliminating everyone around him first, he was essentially toying with him. However, this was not without purpose. Izroth found that the effects of his Soul Pressure skill were more effective if the target's willpower was first affected by outside sources.
While he could bring about the same effects on someone like Barbello without using such methods, he would have to waste too much Essence to invoke the weakened state of his Soul Pressure. Izroth did not know what they would face once they went even deeper into the Tiger's Mouth, therefore, even though he wanted to end this battle quickly, he did not want to throw away his Essence.
'I still have ten seconds left on Flickering Steps. I'll end it before then.'
Izroth's Sword of the Storm slashed out without restraint as his attacks tore through Barbello with ease. He was still within range of Midnight's Totem Auras and so with the added attack speed bonus, Izroth was capable of attacking five times within one second! With a high level of power behind each of those attacks, each strike was devastating!
...
Around thirty seconds later...
Mirage frowned, "Is the attack already over?" She could have sworn that she heard that voice say first wave. In that was the case, shouldn't there be a second wave coming?
"They could be using a hit and run method. We should remain on guard for the time being." Midnight speculated.
Shhhch...
The bushes nearby rattled around and immediately caused Mirage to take an offensive stance.
"Hit and run? Looks like the second wave is here!" Mirage said as she charged forward with electricity crackling around her fists. She struck out with her fist towards the bushes, however, her eyes widened when she saw who it was as she stopped her attack.
"Are you a rogue using stealth now?" Mirage said jokingly as she shook her head.
The person who appeared from within the bushes was none other than Izroth!
"Oh? I figured you would have called me a bandit from the way you attacked me." Izroth responded in a carefree manner.
Mirage smirked and said, "Well, whose fault is it that you ran away without saying anything? More importantly, where did you go? Did you see any bandits on your way here?" She relaxed her offensive stance as the electricity around her fists died down.
"Bandits? I saw a few. However, they will no longer be an issue." Izroth responded as he walked back towards the caravan.
"No longer an issue?" Mirage questioned with a confused look on her face. What did he mean by that?