“So, you two fine gentlemen are headed for Tupara?” Asked the peddler, who, not long ago, offered them a ride. He was, at the first look, a genuinely nice person. It was totally unexpected for someone who earned their coin by the famous ‘buying cheap, selling high’ method. But it would seem this bearkin middle-aged man was an entirely different story. His honest approach and lack of that cunning merchant’s aura made him a very approachable person.

“We are,” replied Veles. The wooden mask hid his face, a detail which the peddler didn’t mind at all. “Luck graced us with few fortunate opportunities. And we decided to cash it out in a less hostile environment…”

“Oho,” said the peddler as he steered the reins of a Patu Armadillo that was pulling their carriage. “It’s nice to hear that someone has actually gained something during these hard times.”

“True. Still, like always. There was a price to pay,” said Veles after tapping his mask.

The bearkin nodded in understanding after this gesture. “You are alive, my friend, that’s most important. Take it as another stroke of luck, and keep going forward!”

Veles chuckled at the attempt to cheer him up. “Thanks, but it should be curable. So, there isn’t anything to worry about.”

“Even better!” The peddler genuinely looked happy for him. After briefly looking at the two backpacks he and Davis carried, he added, “And you seem to be loaded judging by the amounts of mana those items exclude.” The peddler then puzzlingly looked at Davis. “Though, I don’t see the reason why your companion here is so down?”

Veles rolled his eyes under the mask. This childish sulk Davis had displayed for the past day was getting on his nerves. Ever since they received their classes and a boost in power, Davis got restless. His thirst for practicing his new skills was admirable, but there would be time and place for that, just not now. They first needed to settle down somewhere—this vagabond way of traveling around aimlessly in an unknown land would lead them nowhere.

“Just ignore him. He got rejected brutally and still can’t get over it,” lied Veles. And the quick glare he received from Davis was entirely ignored.

“Women can do that,” The peddler’s head rapidly nodded. “I tell you. Scary creatures they are…”

A snort reached Veles’s ear. It came from an alchemist girl who shared a space in this rather large carriage. She was surprisingly a human with black hair and dark green eyes—it was extremely rare to find humans in these lands. With the short time they’d spent together, he’d come to learn that she was an unaffiliated alchemist who offered her medical services to the large mercenary groups. Also, she knew a spell or two, which gave her decent fighting capabilities. Thus, she was currently serving as a guard to this peddler to hitch a free ride—the same as he and Davis did.

“See, told you,” the peddler added. “They are scary.”

“Shut up Dogbo, and control that beast,” she shot him an annoyed look. “The next time that thing pushes the cart out of the road, I won’t help you!”

“Hey, don’t blame poor Trida for that!” Dogbo, the peddler, protested. “She was scared by those rude bastards!”

Veles ignored the feminine name given to the armadillo, which was the size of two horses, and focused on the more important part. “Bandits?”

“Yup,” confirmed the alchemist girl. “We’ve been traveling for two days and were attacked twice. However, they were all below the Fourth Stage, a bunch of weaklings.”

Not replying immediately, Veles stuck his head outside the veil covering the carriage, faced the sky, and watched Vera circling around them. “I guess they aren’t beasts then.”

“That bird belongs to you?” Asked the girl as she followed his example.

“My familiar,” replied Veles. “And, by the looks of it, someone in our close proximity is observing us.”

“Make a stop Doglo,” she said in a rather ordering tone.

“As you wish, Lady Tora,” Doglo replied jokingly. The title clearly was a mocking remark. He tapped the armadillo three times on the specific part of its back. The beast immediately heeded his command. It made a stop and hurled itself under its protective outside shell. It had come to Veles’s attention that this type of creature was mostly used for transport, not only because of its ability to eat anything or a decent speed, but the perk of having this almost impregnable defense allowed merchants to save themselves from unfortunate events where they had to abandon their goods if the creature responsible for dragging their carts ended up hurt or possibly killed.

“We initiating the fight?” Asked Veles after stealthily nudging Davis, warning him not to go over the top.

“You and your friend are,” said Tora as numerous tiny vials danced between her fingers. “After all, I have no proof that whoever is following us isn’t with you. I won’t take that risk.”

“Fair enough,” said Veles as he proceeded to jump from within the veil covering the contents of the carriage. Behind him, Davis followed. He didn’t mind this situation, maybe, this was a good way to gain some merits with these two.

“Go for the kill,” Veles instructed. “Bandits that attack roads like this are usually well organized and have reinforcements on ready. So, get rid of them quickly before they call for help, we cannot afford to face thirty of forty men.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Davis replied simply. He twirled with his double-headed spear. The mana coursed through his body, elevating his physical prowess significantly.

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“Well, here we go then,” just as Veles said those words. His head tilted, and a sharp arrow zoomed past his head. Immediately reacting to it, he started drawing some random runes in the air. Of course, they were just random letters that served the purpose of making others believe he was a proper mage.

The runes he drew were pitch black with the same-colored fog eerily dancing around them. Having finished the two rows of gibberish text, the runes burst apart into the black smoke, which further coated his entire body, giving the impression that he’d cast a defensive spell on himself.

His attackers, however, were not standing still. Around fifty or so meters away, behind the line of the trees, a group of four emerged.

They skillfully split in two. The ones intending to face Davis were the guy wielding a shield with a short sword in his other hand. The second one was a burly man with a giant axe. Veles’s way came a guy with one massive shield and the other with a spear in his hands.

The one who shot the previous arrow stood behind the cover, getting the next one ready.

There wasn’t all that usual ‘give us all your money’ talk. It was evident with the first arrow that those guys were out for the blood. So, not wanting to give them any advantage, Veles started drawing another set of runes. His assailants weren’t even halfway there when he finished, and six black arrowlike objects floated before him. With another push of mana, he propelled them forward, each homing toward their target.

One flew directly at the tree the archer was hiding behind, destroying his focus and interrupting the arrow he was about to send their way.

Three of them aimed directly at the guy holding a giant shield. He acted accordingly and placed himself in front of his buddy as he activated some kind of spell that enchanted his shield. The blackish arrows made an impact and visibly shook him. They dispersed into a black smoke. The guy with the shield lowered his guard and smirked Veles’s way.

For the last two, they each went for the two going for Davis. Making a smarter decision, these two, instead of blocking them, decided to dodge. This was rather easily achieved, considering the arrows weren’t that fast to begin with.

“Focus on the mage,” yelled the one with the shield and a sword. “He looks like an apprentice! Go hard.”

Amused by his deduction. Veles took a saber from his belt. Using a long blade felt alien to him, but it would have to suffice for now. He, like Davis, rushed toward them. With the corner of his eye, he saw the archer in the back sanding another towards him. However, he was unfazed. The archer’s aim was ridiculously off. The fog around his body worked by messing with his assailant’s perception, further proven by the arrow missing him entirely.

Already facing the shield guy, Veles swung his saber without putting much strength behind it—not wanting to suffer from recoil. At that moment, from his right side, a sharp tip of the spear barely missed his hip. Backing up in surprise, Veles saw a spear bandit looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

“The spell he cast on himself messes up with our vision. Try to smell him,” deduced the spear-wielding bandit. Making Veles click his tongue in dissatisfaction. Facing beastfolk could be troublesome sometimes, especially someone having a dog lineage like the guys he currently faced.

But the next moment, Veles smirked. He moved to the left, away from the spear wielder, more toward the shield guy’s side. The effect of the three arrows that the guy taught blocked, should’ve already affected him. Veles kicked with his full strength the bottom corner of the giant shield and exposed the bandit’s upper body. The guy momentarily lost control, because Veles’s hit nailed perfectly in the place that would distort the weight of the shield. Not wasting any second, Veles maneuvered further left while skillfully aiming at both exposed forearms of the shield-wearing guy, thus skillfully chopping both of them.

The poor bandit didn’t even make a sound as his hand fell down. His whole body was ashen pale, and beads of sweat poured down his face. He just stared at nothing. Veles, not taking any chance, swung horizontally at his clearly exposed neck. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to cut him properly. The spear bandit pushed his teammate out of the way.

Whatever, he was out of the game anyway. Dodging another stab from the remaining guy, Veles backed away once again.

The fear and bewilderment shown on the spearman’s face were enough for Veles to take a couple more steps back and start drawing another set of fake runes. But it seemed it would be unnecessary. A very tiny vial hit the guy in the face, exploding in a tiny cloud of purplish green. It hadn’t even been a second before he inhaled it, and his body instantaneously went limp, hitting the ground.

Not stopping with the rune drawing. Veles just switched his target, going for the axe bandit who was currently in a fierce exchange with Davis. Another two blackish arrows formed before rushing forward, one making a clear hit in the shoulder while the second narrowly missed.

The axe wielder didn’t react much to the physical impact, but not even a second after the effects took their toll. He noticed something wrong and retreated, but just two steps were enough for him to falter and fall on his knees. His skin turned paler, and on top of that, his hair started visibly falling off.

Davis finally took a breather and focused on the remaining person. He enchanted his body with a gush of mana and performed his overly-trained stab. His aim was at the center of the small metal-covered shield of the last bandit. When the tip of his spear connected with it, a sheer force sent the final bandit stumbling. This made it enough for Veles to hit him with another blackish arrow, rendering him useless too.

However, this encounter wasn’t done yet. Archer, who was in the background, had fled the moment the shield guy fell.

“I will go for him,” said Veles to Tora, who was quite cruelly finishing the spear guy she hit with her little potion.

He rushed for the trees, not waiting for any reply. It didn’t take him long to make sure nobody was watching him.

“Now let’s see.” He focused on the connection he had with Vera. His little arrogant owl was tasked with keeping an eye on the last guy.

Feeling the connection clearly, with a small pop sound. Veles vanished from where he stood and appeared right in front of the guy. His palm raised forward, perfectly aligning with the guy’s forehead. After the impact, the archer’s butt kissed the ground.

“W-what…” In total disbelief, the archer just stared at Veles.

With a gentle wave of his hand—instead of it being in the shape of an arrow—a round ball of blackish mana splashed the archer’s face. He was too lazy to shape it any differently. Nonetheless, it provided the same effect. The last of bandits had his life wither into nothingness.

Veles waited for a moment for it to calm down. He then grabbed the now-dead guy and held him by the back of his leather vest. Wanting for it to be more believable, he teleported both of them back to the place he was previously.

Dragging the corpse out of the woods, the first thing he noticed was Tora studying the withered bodies. He just dropped the archer’s body to the side and neared her.

“Are you aware of how creepy you look right now?” Asked Veles. Pointing out the pure curiosity Tora displayed while cutting the dead body with a thin, sharp knife.

Hearing his voice, she faced him, her eyes beaming with interest. “Whoa, was that spell a curse? All the vitality from their bodies vanished! It’s a curse, right? It couldn’t be anything else! Come show me!”

Veles almost flinched as she grabbed his arm. In the background, he saw apologetic Daglo. Gesturing him to stay strong.