The man stopped thrusting and threw the girl down. He turned to face the intruder, red faced from the prior physical exertion. At first, the man was angry for being interrupted, but a smile quickly masked his scarred face, “Looks like we just got us another one! Elves catch a good price these days and his face ain’t too bad eith–”

In one fluid movement, Cyrus leapt forward, unsheathing his sword and slashed upwards decapitating the man. Blood sprayed rained onto the men behind. Gently landing, Cyrus stood still allowing the other men time to understand what just happened. 

“What did you do to boss?” The remaining six men drew their weapons, but their faces could not hide their shock.

“How cliché... First, the rape, now your stupidity.” Cyrus only shook his head in disapproval. “Look, I killed your ‘boss’ and I’m about to do the same– forget it.”

Believing in the strategy of numbers, the group circled around Cyrus. He dashed towards the nearest bandit, stabbing right through the man’s neck and killing him instantly. Without pulling his sword out, he used his leg to push the body off of the sword and into an oncoming man, knocking him to the ground. Cyrus escaped the encirclement by jumping over those two men and quickly slid his sword across the struggling bandit’s neck underneath. Spinning around, he reached into his cloak and threw two knives in quick succession into the neck and heart of another bandit charging with an axe overhead. Stumbling forward, the man fell face first, blood pooling around his convulsing body.

“Alright, that’s a good enough test run for me. Seems like I really am like my character from the game. But my bloodlust and ease for killing is kind of unsettling, it just feels too natural.” His abilities did not betray his mastery of the warrior class and he knew it. By this time, the last three bandits surrounded Cyrus, but he only smiled as they came closer.

Cyrus thrust his sword into the stomach of the man to his right. Letting go, he knocked the man behind him over with a low leg sweep. From his crouching position, Cyrus leaped towards the last bandit, letting a weak attack from the sword slide over his arm gauntlet. He then hooked his arm around the back of the man’s neck and pulled down sharply, effectively breaking his neck.

With this happening within the span of a few short moments, the last surviving bandit didn’t even have time to get up before Cyrus walked with his sword, still covered in blood.

“I promise elf sir, I won’t be doin’ no more of this if you let me go. You can take the girl, but please, please let me go.” The man pleaded while poorly attempting to stifle his sobs.

“I have a few questions, so if you answer them maybe I’ll do something for you. Alright? And stop crying, it’s uncomfortable.”

“Sure, sure. I’ll answer the questions ya got.” The man rubbed his face with his bloodied sleeve, leaving streaks of blood on his face.

“I guess that’s better. Anyway, what country are we in?” 

“Rosea Forest in Elderon Kingdom.”

“What’s the date and who’s king?”

“Well, I ain’t really know the date elf sir, but the king is still Rainier, that’s fer sure.” The man explained, hoping there would be no backlash for not knowing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Suspicious, Cyrus quickly asked what had happened to King Walter, the king of Elderon in Fantasy Unlimited.

“King Walter’s been dead fer ‘bout three hundred years. I think that’s wha’ my Ma said before.” The answer left Cyrus speechless for a moment.

“That’s all I needed to know for now. Here’s what I’ll do for you.” Cyrus cut the man’s head off in one clean cut, giving him the least painful death of the group. He cleaned his sword of the blood. Then he retrieved his knives, cleaned those as well and put them back. Underneath his robe, the light armor that Cyrus wore held a few sheathes of varying sizes, two of which belonged to the recently cleaned knives.

He walked towards the blood speckled girl, and noticed that she was unconscious but breathing normally. Cyrus undid the gag and the bindings. She had bruises on her face, and her body was covered in scratches and bruises as well. Luckily, her body didn’t show any signs of serious injuries, but he wasn’t too sure. As a warrior and a hunter, his new body came with certain knowledge of the humanoid and animal physiology, but he didn’t know enough to diagnose things like diseases or inconspicuous internal injuries. The mostly likely possibility is that she was going through shock and her mind shut down. Taking his cloak off, Cyrus wrapped it around the naked girl and scooped her up. With no other idea, he decided to take her back to his house in an attempt to nurse her back to health. 

Looking at her, the girl seemed quite young, at most several years younger than his twenty-four year old self. He couldn’t tell how attractive she was under all the grime and bruises, but he wasn’t particularly interested either. Cyrus knew that he only saved her because she reminded him of his hospital days. What did strike him as interesting though, were the pointed ears poking through her tangled and dirty silver hair. Even if he was an elf too, it was still surprising to see someone that wasn’t human. Cyrus fought off the urge to touch her ears, repeatedly telling himself that it would be creepy.

Walking back the way he came, Cyrus left the bloody scene relieved to have finally gotten some answers. He was smart enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to help or save every person he found. But he still couldn’t decide on how to react the next time.

Cyrus remembered using his arm gauntlet to deflect an attack, and checked to see if it was damaged but not a scratch was found. Forged with dragon scales and lightweight adamantite, his armor would stop most attacks. But opting for light armor, Cyrus was only fitted with a connected chest and back piece, and gauntlets for his arms and shins. “I feel like I’m too overpowered.” He continued to walk, not troubled by his vulnerabilities due to his type of armor.

After thirty minutes of walking, Cyrus reached his house. He laid her on the couch in the living room and did another thorough check up. Somewhat satisfied, Cyrus took his armor off and sat down across from the girl. Cyrus knew he would need to find some herbs soon to help heal some of her injuries so he made a mental checklist of what he would need. A darker tinge of orange sunlight filtered through the window. Cyrus knew that the sun would be setting soon and quickly went out to search for the necessary ingredients. 

A/N: Writing is fun but mentally exhausting... Not sure when the next chap will be up. Hope you guys are enjoying it