At night the Plains had this serenity to them that almost forced you to drop your guard.

I was still cautiously moving forward nonetheless. My right hand always on my sword hilt ready to draw it anytime. although it was just short before midnight the moon and all the stars illuminated the area around me so that I could see quite far on the flat plains.

That was until my path lead me into a Forest. The Road cut right trough the Forest which lead to the situation that on both sides of the Street were dense Trees and Bushes.

´If I were a Bandit then I would use this as ambush place.´

My own thoughts made me grip my sword tighter looking around paranoid. And as if to mock me I suddenly heard a terrifying scream from my left. I whirled around  immediately drawing my sword. I gripped it tightly with both of my hands in a defensive position. But for naught. There was no Bandit or Monster bursting trough the undergrowth.

Even after a few seconds there was still nothing to be seen. And just as I had already believed that I had misheard things there was another scream from up front.

I stepped back and readied my sword but then I realized that the screams didn't come closer. They came from inside the Forest. After I had realized that I immediately ran up the small rising that differed the Road and the Forest. I fought myself trough some very thick undergrowth and immediately noticed how much darker it was inside the Forest.

I stopped. Then I opened my Status Window and distributed the Points I still had left. I did this because I didn't know what would happen to undistributed Stat Points if I died. And if I really had to fight some scary Monster at night I wanted to fight it with my full strength

Status WindowNameChiameLevel13EXP7100Memory98100ProfessionChampionFactionNoneSpouseNoneGuildNoneTitlesNoneHealth170/ 170Health Regen5/ minMana220/ 220Mana Regen:10/ minStrength25Agility11Vitality12Wisdom5Intelligence17Toughness0Attack25Defense0Physical ResistancesSlashing125Piercing125Crushing125Elemental ResistancesFire46Water7Wind13Earth0Light10Darkness56

This was actually the First time that I distributed Points into vitality but if I was a Tank Class I might as well get myself a bigger Health Pool. Besides if I had more HP then I could Learn more about my enemy even if he would defeat and kill me in the end. And even if the 1 Point in Agility wouldn't change much it could as well save my life.

After I had checked my Status window once again I closed it and looked around. And as to urge me on right there was another scream coming a bit from my left. I turned towards it and trying to be as silent as possible I moved forward.

However my Sneak attempt was diffused by all the rustling I caused and I realized that whatever was up ahead would have noticed me already. So I shoot my sneak attempt into the wind and started to rush forward. With my sword raised before my chest I came slithering around a big tree.

What I saw was a bit unexpected. What I saw was one half naked Girl in the middle of the Three Big soldier like looking Guys. But instead of a rape situation like you may expect from such a setup it was rather the other way around.

The Three Guys were all gagged and bound to trees there Faces and bodies covered in bruises and small wounds. One of them was in a worse condition with three missing fingers. They laid besides him on the floor and I could guess that the reason he lost them was the Girl.

She had smooth olive skin and Black hair that went down to her shoulder. She had a beautiful face with a cute nose and mysterious yellow eyes. Her ears were pointed and longer then humans so I guessed she was something like a Dark Elf. Which was kind of racist from the Game makers considering that Dark Elves often were used as sadistic Enemies in other games as well.

Her Yellow Eyes fixated me and a smile spread on her face. She opened her arms wide revealing one nasty looking knife in her hand.

Dark Elf: "Welcome to the slaughter Festival Handsome. I am so glad that you joined us today."

´Yep knew it. Sadistic bitch.´

Taru: "Sadly I don't think I got an invitation. I have to decline your offer of joining."

She looked at me surprised before having a laughing fit. The sound of her laughing was kind of nice but I guessed that was because she had such a melodic voice. She caught herself again.

Dark Elf: "Snappy huh? But I like that on my prey. Its much more fun to break a Confident young Man such as yourself. Those Guys are so Boring."

Taru: "Then how about letting them go."

As I offered my advice I couldn't help but notice that all the guys nodded strongly on my offer. She just giggled again waving me off.

Dark Elf: "But then you would be the only one I could play with and you Humans break so easy that it wouldn't be any fun."

I was sweating. She had subdued these three trained soldiers of unknown Level without hurting them a lot which meant she was considerable skillful. I was playing with fire.

Taru: "Well maybe playing with me will be more fun then you may think."

She laughed again with her beautiful voice. I couldn't come around noticing how her breasts trembled while she did that. Hey Don't judge me she almost wore nothing to begin with so I was somewhat forced to notice. She somehow noticed my stare and covered her skin with her hands with a fake expression of embarrassment.

Dark Elf: "Pervert."

I felt like I got struck by lightning. This was to much of a anime situation to ignore. This really sucked.

Taru: "Fuck you."

My counter seemed to bring her out of role for a second but she caught herself and grinned again.

Dark Elf: "You will regret this."

´Opps.´

It seemed my counter was more effective then I had thought. Playtime was over.

Dark Elf: "Now. DIE!"

As I had expected from her clothing and choice of weapon she was considerably faster then anything I had faced before. I immediately regretted that I had to fight her with not just a new but also slower weapon. I even doubted that I would have had a chance with my old sword.

Luckily she didn't seem to notice my insecurity and started with a dash attack from up front. She tried to ram her knife into my heart but I was able to stop her dash with a strike from above. I thought I had got her but in the last second she leaped of the ground and spun trough the air. Her jump was so powerful that it carried herself over me and she expertly landed behind me.

While she was still landing I turned around and with another downward slash tried to split her in half. And again just before It connected she dodged to the side. Since my sword was so heavy I couldn't stop it from connecting with the Ground biting into it a little bit. This immobilized me for a second and she moved behind me.

Against such a fast opponent I couldn't stand a chance with my speed. So the only thing I could hope for was that I could survive some of her attacks.

I turned around as quickly as possible but I felt her Knife stabbing into my side. Luckily it was deflected by the Chainmail shirt which caused her to retreat back in surprise. She was still in the action of retreating as I came around with a horizontal swing. She blocked it with her Knife but was pushed back quite a bit.

She stumbled over a root and I immediately jumped after her. Somehow thanks to my increased strength my jump was higher then usual. Which lead me to miscalculate my downwards arc.

She managed to dodge in the last second by doing a incredible flexible side flip. But this time I could stop my sword before it connected with the ground. I immediately changed the trajectory of my slash and aimed at her hip.

She had only just connected with the floor but was able to see my attack coming and back flipped over the edge of my sword again. But that was exactly what I had expected to happen so I changed the flow of my hit again and this time like a baseball player swung my sword towards her with all my might.

I thought I had finally got her but she had brought her Knife in front of her before I could connect. However she had unstable footing and her Knife was brought before her in a rush so as my hit connected it actually flung her Knife to the side and bit into her stomach.

But for some reason the little piece of Clothing that she wore protected her from my Sword biting into her flesh.

Yet the Force was still there and it catapulted her trough the air and she crashed against a tree with a loud `thud`.

She fell onto the ground groaning. She had hit her head pretty hard from what I could tell and I used the break in the fight to look at my health bar. To my own surprise it had only gone down by 50 HP. This was barely a third of my Life and while it sounded a lot it really wasn't considering all the opponents before her had at least done Three/Fourths of it with one attack.

She was still fighting to get up but instead of coming after her I reached for my belt and grabbed one of the Healing Potions. I could as well try it out right here. I had to test it sooner or later anyway.

I opened the Flask with a movement of my thumb and set it on my lips. I chugged it down in one go and after the minty tasting liquid had left my mouth I checked my Health Bar again. It was completely filled. But I expected that much. After all those things cost 1 Silver. They should actually be able to at least fill half of my Health Bar for that price.

But now I was sidetracking. I looked at her again and she was standing already. But It seemed as if she was still dizzy from the impact. I wasn't nice enough to overlook that. I grinned. [Charge].

I closed the distance of 15 Feet between us in a flash and rammed my sharp pommel into her unguarded stomach. [150]

The Impact caused her to fly back again once more crashing against the tree. She spitted blood and fell forward but I had learned my lession of not following up the last time and instead of letting her of with just that attack I slashed upwards. Blood flew everywhere as my sword cut trough her stomach, chest and the left side of her throat. [800], [220].

With just a change in Class and change of Weapon my Damage had taken a whole new level and now it was even turned towards Physical Damage. Which was good considering that this Elves armor also seemed to block parts of my magic Damage. If my Attack before hadn't been blocked by that Piece of Cloth of her I would have dealt over 2000 Damage already.

My swing was so big that I had step back a bit as to not lose balance but it didn't matter as I saw the Elf was still stunned. I took a firm stance and swung my sword in a horizontal arc towards her neck. I suspected that on NPC enemies like her the critical hit point would always be the neck.

Dark Elf: "WAIT!"

My Sword connected wit her neck and in one clean motion cut right trough said one. [970], [340].

I was unable to land the expected critical but it didn't matter seeing as she fell before me anyway. She fell face first onto the ground and exploded into light Particles immediately. This indicated that she was indeed just a minor enemy just like the Logars.

You have Killed a Thale Hunter.

+2000 EXP

´So the Dark Elves in this game were called "Thale" huh? I guess roughly around 2000 Hp.´

I sheathed my sword and noticed that I had left a big scar on the tree with my slice just now. It was quite deep and I was surprised since I hadn't felt much resistance at all. It seemed my strength had actually changed something.

While wondering if I was on equal terms with a Logar yet I turned around looking at the Three crying guys.

I guessed those tears were tears of joy seeing as how they were smiling while crying. I walked up to the first one and undid the knot on the piece of clothing that gagged him. He coughed loudly and gasped for air.

After he had calmed down a bit he immediately said.

???: "Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you we would have been tortured and killed by that crazy bitch."

Taru: "Nothing to sweat about."

While saying that I tried to undo the knots around the ropes that held him against the tree but I noticed they were more complexly knotted together. I stood up again and wiped over my forehead. They were really complex and tough knots.

So I decided that instead of fiddling around with them forever I drew my sword again. Before they could say anything I had stepped back and slashed at the tree. The Guy that was bound to the tree before fell over as the ropes gave him free themselves falling to the ground as well.

It was a clean and very deep cut. While studying the cut in the tree I wondered if I could actually fell a tree in one swoop. That would be kind of cool. Putting those thoughts aside I released the other guys the same way and stepped into the middle of the three guys.

 After they had coughed up the two of them immediately headed for there more injured friend. It seemed he had bleed a lot seeing how he was really pale. It could as well be from the shock but if those guys really were Soldiers like there Uniform suspected they should be prepared for things like this.

I stepped up to them and nodded at one of them.

Taru: "How is he doing?"

Soldier 1: "He will make it but we need to somehow sew his fingers back on quickly."

I realized that for NPCs this was another really unfear point. If they lost limbs they stayed lost as long as they lived. Sewing them on would at least give him a chance of keeping them. But sadly I had no sewing stuff with me neither did the other two look like they had.

Taru: "Well... If you don't suddenly pull out some sewing stuff I don't thing the situation will change."

Soldier 1: "So you don't have any either. Fuck."

Soldier 2: "Hey. Ta help me here."

While the first guy named Ta and I had talked the other one had laid down there friend. He held the cut of fingers in his hands and moved them to the other guys hand.

Soldier 2: "Hold the fingers onto the wounds."

He suddenly turned to me.

Soldier 2: "Give me a Healing Potion. Quickly. We can still save his fingers!"

Since I had one of them still hanging on my belt he had seen it and if didn't want to be a complete scumbag I had to give it to him. It was to save the future of his friend after all.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Taru: "Sure. Here you go."

I took the flask out of my belt and held it to him. He snatched it out of my hand without even the slightest hint of a thankful expression.

Soldier 2: "Ta! Hold his fingers closer to the wounds. Nathan. Open your mouth."

The Third guy. The one with the missing fingers was named Nathan and responded weakly with opening his mouth. Ta held the fingers in his hand and very close to the wounds in the order they were cut off before. Then it snapped inside me. They tried to save his fingers by using the healing potions power while holding his fingers onto the wound. It was a brilliant thought.

And it seemed to work because after the Second Guy shoved the flask down Nathan´s mouth and it was silent on the clearing for a few seconds Nathan gasped loudly shooting up. All three of us stepped back in surprise at his new vigor. He looked at his unscathed hand with a expression of pure bliss. He looked at the Second Guy for a second before hugging him tightly.

Nathan: "Ohh. God. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you so much you damm asshole."

Ta: "Calm Down Nathan. He cant breath."

What Ta said was indeed true seeing as the Second guy already tapped onto Nathan´s Shoulders and arms trying to free himself. Noticing that he let go of him and after a second were they starred at each other all three of them started to laugh loudly.

Nathan: "Thanks Elijah. Without you I would have lost my arm."

Ta: "Yeah. I still cant believe we did it."

Elijah: "Yeah. I cant believe we actually survived either."

Seeing the three of them praise themselves while sitting on the ground laughing made me feel kind of left out. But the situation changed as Nathan gave me a quick glance. He went silent. After a second the other two followed his example first looking at me and then becoming silent. That Ta guy scratched his and nervously started.

Ta: "So...... I... Well no... We thank you for saving us.... and we also apologize for our rude behavior. It just...."

Elijah: "It was necessary. If you want to give someone the fault then blame me. I was the rude one after all."

Nathan: "But it was only because of me. So its my fault really."

Seeing them talk like that I for the first time noticed that they were relatively young. The cute one of the Group was that Nathan guy with his brown bob haircut and his pale skin. I guessed him to be around 16 maybe 17. that Ta guy although bigger was about the same age and had spikey brown hair with a round nice looking face.

The one that looked most mature and seemed like the leader type of guy was that Elijah. He had blond shoulder long hair and sharp facial features with piercing blue eyes. Glasses would have fitted him well. Yet he was still probably around there age. At best he was 20.

´So they are all younger then me.´

Taru: "As I said before its nothing to sweat about. I just happened to be in the area as I heard your screams."

Elijah: "Well. That just may be so. But it doesn't change the fact that you saved us and even offered us help without even questioning me."

Taru: "That's because it was urgent. I had caught up with what you planned just a second after that. Brilliant Idea by the way."

That Elijah guy averted his gaze and scratched his head in what I would call embarrassment.

Nathan: "Well. I thank you for saving me....... but...."

Taru: "But?"

Nathan: "Well........"

Ta: "We don't really have a lot of money."

Elijah: "We really cant offer what little money we have. But its fine if you take something else.

You might need some help with some thing´s right. I mean like carrying that sword. It must be annoying for you."

I thought about what he just said for a few seconds before I got what he indicated.

Taru: "No. Don't worry about it. I did this out of free will. I don't want no payment."

Elijah: "But..... Are you sure?"

Taru: "Hell yeah! You just get out of here quickly."

I had declined his offer so vividly because he actually tried to sell himself as my payment. And even if it was out of free will I would never accept something like this. I even hated the idea.

Elijah: "Yeah. We will. Thank you very much for saving us.

Come on lets get out of here quickly Guys."

Both Ta and Nathan hadn't caught up with the situation yet but as there friend stood up they did the same and after a few more bows and thanks they vanished into the direction of the street that lead back to the city. I stretched myself and turned around as well.

I didn't like the dense Forests atmosphere so I to went out of the Forest back onto the Street.

I took up my journey towards the mountains again and once more bound two Healing Potions onto my belt. It really was easier to reach them this way after all.

~~~~~

After I had continuously traveled with a tense feeling on the road between the trees I had finally gotten to the part were the Forest became thinner. The Trees stood further apart and there was little to no undergrowth that could hide enemies. I relaxed a bit but as if to bitch slap me I heard another scream. However this time It came from up ahead and shortly after it I heard a horses neigh.

It seemed behind the next height of the road something happened. Something involving horses. I heard a loud crash and unsheathed my sword just in case.

As I had braced the hill my eyes set sight onto a small battlefield. There were two parties in the battle. Or better said three parties.

One of them was a group of what seemed like bandits seeing as they wore all kind of clothing and used everything that one could use as a weapon as such.

The Second one was the owner of the carriage which seemed to hold onto some kind of purse and cowered behind the third party.

Said Third Party consisted of only one Escort which was hugely outnumbered by the 15 Bandits. It was a Girl of considerable beauty. I knew that because it was clearly reflected on the Bandits Faces. The licked there lips ad whistled towards her.

The Carriage which was drawn by the horses before had broken and both of the horses were dead so escaping wouldn't be easy. And it seemed the girl knew that. Because while the Bandits still whistled at her she drew two short straight swords which looked like they were made with the intention of looking like Ying and Yang. One of them was Black while the other one was completely white.

The Whistling stopped immediately and instead the Bandits readied there weapons.

One of them couldn't stand the suspension and rushed forward his axe raised high to split the Girls head. But instead of blocking the strike the Girl sidestepped his attack and in a flash was behind him. Her Swords glowed for a moment and they left small traces of light in the air in the form of a cross after she had attacked him. He stumbled forward towards the Merchant but he didn't even make it till there as the Girl set after him ramming one of her swords right trough his chest. The Bandit flinched and twitched a few times before vanishing while still upheld by her sword.

I was impressed to say the least. The Dodge and attack that followed was unlike anything I had seen till yet. But what was more interesting was that moment were her swords glowed.

´Was it a skill? Just who is that Girl?"

While I was wrecking my brain on that thought the girl was attacked again. This time it was three Bandits at once. There coordination seemed rather lax so I guessed they had no experience working with each other. Nor were they trained fighters which was clearly visible by the way they held there weapons.

The Girl again seemed to think the same as me because she didn't move until the very last second. She dodged a club by just a hairs breath and used the body of the attacker to hide from the other two. She circled around the group quickly and with two snappy moves attacked the backs of two of the Bandits. They cursed loudly and turned towards her. She was already in a defensive position again.

Or so it seemed. She reminded me of a snake that slashed out as soon as her prey was close enough.

But she was so fixated on keeping her eye on the three enemies in front of her that she forgot the ones behind her. One of them came closer his club ready to attack.

I coughed, then put my fingers to my mouth and whistled as loud as I could.

The sudden sound caused everyone but the Girl to turn there heads.

She used that exact second and dashed forward her swords glowing again. She cross-slashed one of the bandits she had attacked before and he as well fell down exploding into light particles.

This of course caused the other Bandits to focus back onto the fight. I began running down the hill. The Girl quickly danced around another Bandit and with two attacks to his chest and feet killed him as well. But now she was circled by four of them unable to retreat back because of the carriage and more importantly the merchant behind her.

She dodged one of the attacks and sidestepped another. She dealt out two quick hits but was forced to retreat leaving her enemy unfinished. She dodged again and again but eventually she had to block an attack. It caused her balance to be shifted and she couldn't dodge the next attack. It hit her in the side but it seemed she ignored the pain and pushed the attacker back with a counter attack. He lost his eyes and after a second of stumbling exploded into light particles.

Sadly there was another Bandit filling his place in the blink of an eye. I had almost reached them now but three Bandits stepped into my way trying to block me of. They intended to take us down one at a time but they were enemies. And that meant I didn't have to get into sword reach to attack them. [Lions Roar].

After the scream had subsided everyone even the Girl couldn't stop starring at me. The Bandits turned and focused on me. Suddenly the whole force of 11 Bandits concentrated on me. I grinned nervously at that. I was playing with fire yet again.

´Maybe next time think before you rush to help someone.´

The First Bandit had reached me and attacked with a battlecry. But sadly he wasn't prepared for me to just attack myself. He wasn't able to dodge my full powered upwards swing which bit him into the side stopping his attack immediately. The Sword went so deep into his chest that it stopped only short before where his heart was. [870]. [ 420].

He twitched weakly but before I could even think about pulling the sword out for another attack he already exploded into light particles.

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

´No Fancy Name. No nothing. Just plain Bandits. That's good.´

I wasn't disappointed by how little EXP they dropped I was just glad that they didn't seem to be very tough opponents. If they would have been much tougher then this fight would have surely ended with me dying.

I still stepped back and brought my sword before me again in a defensive way waiting for the next attack.

Two Bandits attacked this time. But luckily like before they didn't seem to have any cooperation as one of them rushed ahead leaving the other one behind. This made it easy to focus on him and I saw his attack coming easily. I parried his straight sword with my sword and in one fluid motion cut of his head. [940], [470].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

I brought the sword before me and used my longer reach to stab at the chest of the next incoming bandit. It easily pierced trough him his rush only stopping as he had reached the armguard. [850], [350].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

With just some swift strikes out of the Overwhelming force of 11 Bandits only 8 were left. Or better said only 6 were left. While I was fighting those three the Girl had thrown herself into battle again and now the Bandits got back for what they did to her before. She rushed at her turned backs and with quick attacks ended one after the other.

I grinned. [Charge].

I rushed forward ramming my pommel into one of the bandits stomach. And while he wasn't stunned by the attack he was considerably surprised. [150].

Surprised enough to be unable to react to my follow up attack. It was a wide horizontal slash that halved him in one motion. [890], [500].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

My sudden charge brought even more chaos into the Bandit group who was already unsure who they should focus at.

I used the confusion to cut down another one with a diagonal slash. [910], [430].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

While I had cut down two more of them she also had taken care of another one. There were only three left and all of them were closer to me then to here. I grinned as I jumped into the air and swung my sword down onto another one. [850], [470].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

I cut trough the bandit in one go and immediately changed the flow of my attack. I turned and with a wide horizontal arc cut apart one Bandit that tried to flee to the Forests. [920], [450], [1380].

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

I turned and searched for the last bandit. Somehow this whole ambush situation had turned into a Competition on who could kill more of the Bandits. Or at least it did for me.

The Last Bandit was focused on the Girl but was sandwiched exactly between us. It looked like he had pissed himself from fear. He was shaking all over and the Girl looked at him disgust on her face. He went to his knees and dropped his weapon.

Bandit: "Wait. I beg you. I didn't mean to... Aggghhh."

[870], [490]. I had stabbed the begging Bandit right trough the chest holding my sword with one hand. Ever since my strength had reached 25 I was able to hold it jus fine with one hand to. Maybe this was the games way of telling you that you are to weak for a weapon. By simple making the weapon really heavy.

I wondered what kind of weapons would appear later on if this really was how it worked.

You have Killed a Bandit

+650 EXP

You have Leveled up

+2 Status Points

I grinned as I saw the Level Up window. Its been a long time since I had last leveled up. Or so it seemed. I sheathed my sword after the Bandit had vanished into the usual light particles and looked at the Girl.

---

Well. Hello again. Surprise second chapter is surprising.

Hope you enjoy this action packed one. With this chapter I wanted to establish just how strong he had gotten. How much difference a few stat points and a class change made. Hope you enjoyed it.

Till next Sunday. Bye.