The Bandit Leader, Mateo and Beltrand are just facing off, anticipating on who's going to make the first move.
And it turns out Mateo is the one that make the first strike by dashing and swinging his sword upwards. The Bandit Leader casually leap upwards, dodging the strike just mere centimeters away on his face.
The Bandit Leader is shocked but he don't even got the privilage of analyzing what just happened as Beltrand came frome the side and ready to plunge his sword on his abdomen.
The Leader repels Beltrand by swinging her slime covered arm splashing droplets of Flame God's blood to Beltrand. Beltrand have no choice but shift her step and dodge the attack, Beltrand distance himself and wait for a chance to strike again.
"Tsk!" Beltrand's annoyance.
"Mateo uses the chance and prepare for another mana infused strike aimed on the Leaders neck. The leader blocks the the sword with his slime covered arm and melts the sword. Mateo have no choice but abanddon his weapon and pulls another one from his Bag of Storage.
The Bandit Leader notice a glint on the side of his eyes and without even looking, he catches three arrows and melt the arrows on his hands.
And quickly follows a counter attack by tossing a barrage of Flame God's Blood on Shirna.
Shirna diveroll and dodges the slimes that quickly melts the ground, making numerous holes. Shirna stops but he didn't notice a blob coming on his way, yet Shirna seems not concerned.
And it's because Claustrine rise an earth wall in front of Shirna. The blob hits the wall and quickly creates a molten hole.
The moment the hole is slowly revealed, two arrows flies from it to the Bandit Leader's surprise. He manage to block one using his arm but another fly past on her head, grazing his cheek.
Mateo and Beltrand rushes in both of his flanks and ready to make a pincer attack while Claustrine throws spikes of ice to him.
The Bandit Leader had enough and amplifies the amount of slime on his hand and skillfully swings his arms. Scattering the slimes everywhere including the Ice spikes.
"Shit!" Beltrand screams as he got caught by surprise by the sudden move but both of them don't have time nor momentum to dodge.
Claustrine panicly cast an earth wall in front of Beltrand and Mateo which they hit face-on.
"Ouch." Mateo says. And he realize its purpose and watch the earth wall melts.
Beltrand and Mateo creates distance and just stare on the Bandit Leader who also just observe the four.
"This is problematic." Beltrand commented.
"I know right. We two can't really engage in close combat or else we going to melt us to death with those erratic Deistic magic." Mateo answers.
"Claustrine! Shirna! Can we rely on you guys on becoming the main offensive?"
"I know what you implying but it's difficult. Our enemy is skilled and tactical." Claustrine answers Beltrand's question.
"We need a more successful distraction." Shirna added.
As Grand Ecstasy thinks and creates plans. The Bandit Leader contemplates as he realized how organized the group he's fighting with.
"This group is too experienced. I didn't expected that there's lower gold ranked with these abilities."
He can't prolong the fight as the coordination of the group would surely lead them landing a killing blow who he didn't notice.
And if he tries to allocate goons to assist him, the group just decimate them as he sees how each of them systematicly kill majority of his crew.
"Shit shit shit! This is not part of my calculations!" The Bandit Leader screams to his mind.
Knowing that the stalement would end soon on Grand Ecstasy's favor, the Bandit Leader observes his surroundings in attempt of finding a way to break their coordination. Then he see's the main carriage where their clients is protected.
Grand Ecstasy's attention got caught when the Bandit Leader raises his right arm. Above him is a blob of red slime that quickly becomes larger and larger which makes them concerned.
"Another blood rain?!" Claustrine commented.
"Shirna, shot him!"
Shirna follow what Mateo says and shot the Bandit Leader. The Bandit Leader just catch the most of the arrows while let the other hit its non-lethal targets.
"Do you have any poisoned arrows?" Mateo asked.
"None! I still didn't refill my Yuriha blood supply." Shirna sadly replies.
"Damn it."
When the blob is large enough on his liking. The Bandit Leader looks on the main carriage which seen by Mateo. He now panics and run towards the adventurers too focused on the fight.
"EVERYONE GET OUT ON THE MAIN CARRIAGE!!!" Mateo's echoing scream, Claustrine moves as she also notices the Bandit Leader's plan.
Both adventurers and bandits notice the scream and to their horror sees the Bandit Leader now ready to throw the huge blob. Both side panics as they realized what's going to happen and run away on the blob's possible path.
The Bandit Leader throws the blob with intense force. Mateo and Beltrand quickly leaves its path.
Even Helyna and the others guarding the carriage leaves, but to their shock. They forgot someone.
"THE CLIENT!" The acting captain of adventurers screams as he watch the blob creates a shallow trench on the ground as it travels. A blood red destruction that guarantees death to any unfortunate or dumb enough to block its path.
The adventurers have no choice but to just watch the impending catastrophe.
.
.
.
.
The adventurers are shocked two see the main carriage got encased by thick iron walls. The blob of Flame God's blood is going make a direct contact on the walls made of Iron.
"B-But that Deistic Magic can melt metals" Norm commented as despite being impressed that someone can creat such wall, he's not confident that it can stop a magic gifted by the gods.
Yet, the wall manages to resist the melting ability of the deistic magic. The blob explodes on contact, sending smaller blobs everywhere.
"Mages! Prepare to defend everyone!" The battle hardened adventurer commanded.
Norm alongside other mages cast Earth walls for larger blobs and other strays that might hit the other carriages. While the remaining strays are dodged by the other adventurers.
The ground are now full of holes of varioius sizes while below the iron wall is a deep trench created by the huge amount of Deistic bloob splashed down.
On the distance is Claustrine planting her staff on the ground and using it as a support, clearly exhausted from intense Mana usage. The adventurers look at her especially Norm and Fleur who run towards her.
"Claustrine is that your doing?" Fluer asked.
"Y-yes. Please can you call Mateo and Beltrand for me?" Claustrine softly request to both who nods and then screams the name of Claustrine's friends.
The Bandit Leader meanwhile. After watching his magic fail, is now full of anger and disbelief
"What the fuck you just did?!" The bandit is in shock as from all his raids, with exceptions of barrier magic which only Clerics are capable of. He didn't see someone that manages to block such potent magic that came from the god of fire itself.
The adventurers and bandits finally snaps back to reality after hearing the Bandit Leader's scream and they start to fight each other again.
The Leader then slowly walks towards Claustrine, Mateo and Beltrand who now talking to each other, slimes dripping form his hands and making even more holes on the ground. But his walk was interrupted by Shirna who continues to shot arrows at him.
Meanwhile, Mateo and Beltrand are questioning Claustrine which is now leaning on both Fleur and Norm.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"What is that thing? That's not steel right?" Beltrand asked as he point on the wall.
"Yeah. T-Those are pure tungsten. To be honest, I'm just gambling on if those really works on resisting the Flame God's blood, hehe." Claustrine seems proud to herself.
"Tongstin?" Fleur's confusion.
"I never hear such magic before." Norm commented with awe.
Meanwhile, Mateo understoods the feat.
"Good job Claustrine."
"Hehe thanks."
"Anyway, why you call us here?" Mateo asked. Claustrine tries to stand on her own feet and she tap his staff on the ground. From there, the ground lights up and two crudely made sword made of Tungsten rises in front of them. After casting the spell, Claustrine slumped again but she was catched by Norm and Fleur.
"Are you ok?" Fleur asked.
"Y-yes. My Mana is just depleted."
Beltrand and Mateo picks the swords.
"Why this thing is so heavy?!" Beltrand commented as he was surprised on the unsual weight of the sword compared to its size.
Mateo meanwhile is not surprise as he knows how dense Tungsten is.
"T-That swords are made by the same material that blocks his magic. D-don't complain if they look so ugly and blunt but I'm sure they can do the job, j-just fuse them with Mana."
Mateo and Beltrand nods to Claustrine.
"G-good. Be sure that you... return... them... to.... me..."
Claustrine's exhaustion finally catches and she falls asleep on Norm and Fleur's embrace.
"Sweet dreams." Mateo's genuine words.
"Please bring her to safety." Beltrand's request.
"Leave it to us."
As Norm and Fleur carry Claustrine to the carriage where the wounded are getting healed. Mateo and Beltrand walks back to face the Bandit Leader again.
"Ok! Let's go!" Beltrand screams.
They see that Shirna is still holding the Bandit Leader who little by litte manages to walk near Mateo and Beltrand.
"I'm out of arrows." Shirna says.
"Thanks on holding him. Leave it to us and help the other adventurers." Mateo's order. Shirna nods, unsheaths his daggers and dash towards the Adventurers and Bandits.
The Bandit Leader is now losing his patience and cool as he see the dwindling number of his goons and the impending failure of the ambush, with no other choice but to face the two adventurers with completely different power compared to the rest. He amplifies his magic, ready to fight to the best of his abilities.
Mateo waste no time and go for the offensive as he dash and make a full swing downwards. The Bandit Leader notice the attack and prepare to block Mateo's sword and melt it using his magic.
"!!!"
Yet the Bandit Leader instead quickly cancels his plan and makes distance with Mateo, dodging the swing who instead hit the ground and make a sizable crater. Mateo's intent visibly shown.
"Tsk!" Mateo dissapointment.
The Bandit Leader meanwhile have a flashing image of what's going to happen if he block the full swing. If he didn't notice how crude the sword Mateo's using...
His arm will completely decapitated as he quickly realize, that the sword is made with the same material that blocked his devastating iron melting magic earlier.
Beltrand follows on Mateo's attack as he manage to sneak behind the Leader who counter by creating a wall made of Flame God's Wrath before Beltrand even reach him, stopping Beltrand on his track.
The Leader create more distance while sending barrages of thick fluid to both Mateo and Beltrand. He ensures that his gaze not leaving on the two.
"Beltrand lets split up!"
"Ok!"
With Mateo's order, the two dashes on their sides, making the Leader to have no choice but to focus his attention on one of them. His instinct telling him that the black haired swordsman is more dangerous than the blond bulky one thus he prepares for Mateo's attack.
Yet Mateo instead suddenly stops his movement and look at the Leader with murderous intent.
"Shit!" He screams and quickly look behind him.
With only inches of space, he manage to dodge Beltrand's sword plunge aimed on his stomach.
Knowing what might follow, the Leader focus his gaze again on Mateo only to not see him at all. Then a realization hits him.
He quickly rolls on the sideways and his hunch was proven correct when it turns out Mateo was already plunging down above him, slamming his sword to the ground. Sending debris everywhere.
The Bandit Leader quickly postures himself, to his dismay. The two are not willing to give him breathing time as both Mateo and Beltrand dashes again.
He have no choice but to engage in close combat. Dodging the tungsten swords while also sending counter-punches with his slime coated fist. He's still trying to create distance despite the circumstances yet the two are always one step ahead of him as they continue to close the gap for each attempt.
"Give me a break!" The Leader screams in annoyance.
"No!"
He makes a blood wall again yet Mateo and Beltrand already anticipated the defensive manuever and move to the Leader's blind spot the moment he lost sight of them due to the red hot wall he made.
STAB
STAB
Mateo stabs his abdomen while Beltrand manages to strike his shoulder. The Bandit Leader instinctively flail his hand to send red slimes everywhere to send the two away from him.
Despite his injuries, the Bandit Leader is still standing and not minding the wounds. Showing that he's not just a lowly bandit leader as he got the power and endurance to give to his opponent.
But he knows that his injuries would slowly become his downfall on the long run. Guaranteed that the pain will becomes even more intense the more he exerts force.
The Bandit Leader waits for the two to go for an offensive again and his patience pay off when Mateo and Beltrand dash forward. When the two is in front of him, he slams his slime covered fist on the ground.
Yet the moment the Leader smash the ground. The slime splashes everywhere. Tiny lumps flying towards the two fighter who decides to stop the attack and leap backwards.
Beltrand and Mateo deflects the droplets with ease using their tungsten swords. But the Leader is not done yet as he sweep his hand horizontally, sending an arc of crimson red fluid towards them.
Mateo and Beltrand regains their footing and dodge the arc by ducking. Yet the Leader don't want to give them time to breath as he sends even more swiping attacks in multiple angles. Each sweep dodged by Mateo and Beltrand and for every arc dodge, the two seperates themeselves in order to focus the Bandit Leader's attention again to just one of them.
Now both of them are on his side, Mateo and Beltrand strikes agan. The Leader meanwhile anticipated their attack and the moment the two is starting to get closer, he claps his slime covered hand really hard. Sending another wave of droplets around him.
"!!!"
Mateo and Beltrand are caught off-guard on the surprise attack. Yet there's turning back now as their stamina is getting low and can not afford to do another marathon of avoiding the enemy's attack especially when the Bandit seems prefered to fight them from a distance.
Their only choice is to push forward and lower the damage by dodging many crimson droplets as possible.
As the two force their way by dodging and resisting non-fatal droplets who either graze their skin or too small to even cause huge injuries. But some lumps are just impossible to dodge that they have no choice but to coat themselves with Mana and hope for the best.
A lump of crimson slime touch Beltrand's leg and torso. He grind his teeth and resist the pain. Meanwhile, sizable lumps scattered on Mateo's arm and some parts of his body. Just like Beltrand, Mateo didn't flinch and move forward.
With their clothes burned and some of their skin scorched, Mateo and Beltrand finally reach their striking zone. The Bandit Leader also shocked to see the perseverance of his enemies.
He tries to punch Beltrand with his crimson slime coated fist. But a glint of light flashes in front of him and after half a second, his fist got decapitated. It's now flying far from them.
Mateo succesfully cut his arm. The thick slime coating his hand and half of his arm can't even hold and melt the tungsten sword.
The Bandit Leader screams as he continues to counter-attack. Ignoring the pain of his arm getting cutted and the slime cauterizing the fresh wound. With his other arm, he then attempted to slam Mateo with his coated hands.
Yet Beltrand is the one that attack next as he cut the Bandit Leader's arm entirely. The Bandit Leader knowing his impending death decides to just bring the two with him as with his other arm with decapitated hand. He amplifies his magic and now the entire arm is covered with extremely thick crimson red slime that also reach his shoulder.
The Bandit Leader screams in anguish as he feel the hellish pain of the slime scorching his arm. He reduce his specialized mana coating that protect him from getting burned and just put most of it on the final attack. The Bandit Leader prepares to slam his arm to the ground.
.
.
.
But before he do his final attack. Mateo decapitates his head. The headless body cease in motion as the Bandit Leader watch his defeat on third-person view. His head is thrown away and lands to the ground as Mateo and Beltrand walks away. There, he see his body falls alongside the thick slime. The slime spreads on the ground under his body, quickly burning and melting it.
But despite his remaining seconds of life viewing the scene unfold. He never feel any pain. In fact, he spend his last thought in relief as he never feel the grotesque pain of being burned anymore.
Mateo and Beltrand stand and watch the body engulfed by the puddle of red slime. And then the Flame God's Blood also disappear as the mana sustaining it are no more, leaving a deep hole on the ground.
"AHHH!"
The sharp pain strikes the two, making them kneel to the ground.
"Shit! Now the adrenaline is gone, it's a lot more painful than what I imagined!" Mateo complains.
Beltrand laughs.
"More painful than our Mana training?
"On the closer look. This is nothing to compared to that." Mateo chuckle and then flinch again as the pain appears again.
"Fuuuuck!" Beltrand screams as he also feel the pain.
"Cleric!" The battle hardened adventurer calls as he run towards the two alongside two adventurers.
The clerics alongside Sophia rushes towards Mateo and Beltrand. After seeing the injury, they spend no time and they starts healing them.
"How about the other bandits?" Mateo asked.
"There's nothing to worry anymore. We successfully killed all of them."
"Killed?" Mateo asked again.
"Yes. We can't afford to bring such skilled and dangerous bandits alive until we reach Bolaire. Besides, it would give a bitter taste to other adventurers." The adventurer said with a sad solemn expression on his face.
"How many adventurers?" Beltrand asked as he understand his reaction.
"Four." The adventurer short answer. Everyone stays silent.
"No need to blame yourself. This is just one of things us adventurer sign up to." The adventurer says then give a mature smile.
"You guys are really reckless! That kind of magic can dig deep into your flesh!" Sophia reprimands his friends as she continue to heals them.
"Hehe... Then it means our training paids off." Beltrand answers then flinch due to pain.
"Anyway. I decapitated their leader so his head might be somewhere nearby. Please call a mage specialized in ice magic and preserved it." Mateo's suggestion.
"Ohhh... Want to show it to the guild?"
"Yes."
"Very well. I also confused that such powerful bandit are unknown to us adventurers."
The leader stand up and starts to search the head of the Bandit Leader.
After some time. Claustrine finally awakes and the first thing she do was to remove the tungsten walls that covered the Main Carriage. And then Mateo and Beltrand gives their sword to Claustrine.
"Thanks. I'm curious on what kind of training you did" -Mateo.
Claustrine then disolves the two tungsten swords back on the ground.
"I also curious on your training. It seems that Gilmore's training methods are something."
"How can you say that if you sleeping during the half of our fight?" Beltrand asked.
"Sophia says that you guys resist Flame God's Blood. That's something a mere Gold adventurer like us can't do you know. Besides, I can feel how much heavy your mana is now compared to the past. What training you did exactly?" Claustrine asked with curiousity.
"Sorry. We promised to Gilmore not to tell anyone." Mateo dodge the question. Claustrine sighs.
"Ok fine. Anyways, good job." Claustrine pats the shoulder of the two. Mateo and Beltrand also put their shoulder to Claustrine.
"Good job for us." Mateo says.
Far from them is Shirna. Just watching with a solemn expression. He feels distant and conflicted.
After removing the earth walls, leaving the body of the bandits far from the main road for the mosnters to eat and burrying the fallen adventurers with respect. The adventurers then continues their journey to the City of Bolaire.