Yushin looks for the leader of the ambush while tagging but is unable to find him. They all wear similar cloaks and talk through party chat, so it is hard to see one that stands out right now.

Soon there is movement a bit distant on the road, two horses pulling a small wagon. The bandits begin to move as if they are waiting for this one group to come. A warrior-like figure walks ahead as the mercenary in charge, carrying longsword and round shield. He has black hair, is very tall at over two meters and has a large build.

Besides him, an archer lady with no distinguishing features except long black hair, and another warrior dwarf with spear and round shield completed the party. Aside from those three players, four City Guards NPCs with sword and shield are following behind. To guard a small wagon like this, a party of seven is already a luxury.

At first glance, Yushin thinks this party doesn’t have a great composition. But for smaller missions, they probably didn’t have much choice on the matter. There should also be a scout in front, so the chances of discovering the ambush earlier would be much higher, avoiding their fate. Lucky for them, he is there.

Waiting until they are in range, Yushin sends the warrior-like player a whisper from a distance. He looks like the chosen leader after all.

“Ambush ahead, around fifteen enemies in the woods. Accept me into the party and I’ll tag them.” To lessen the shock, Yushin sent it over a text message, not voice chat.

The mercenary leader freezes, is surprised. He debated internally whether to accept or not, is afraid of being misled on purpose. But soon goes ahead, decides to take the risk, is not like he can’t kick the person out right away if he causes trouble.

[Yushin has joined the party.]

The other two players also freeze, suddenly someone joins!

“What is going on?” The dwarf asked first.

“Seems there is an ambush ahead, keep walking slowly,” The Leader answered quickly. He is afraid of them giving away that something is wrong, and thus alerting the enemies.

Yushin sends the information over. On their screens the enemies appear tagged, some even have their weapons and a few more details. He didn’t send the info on Red Bird and Red Clown, but kept it to himself.

The trio is startled again, they didn’t know about this function. Seeing many people hiding almost makes them want to scream. The leader wants to make the caravan stop, but Yushin stops him from doing so. They have to feign ignorance and counterattack, only then the enemy can be caught by surprise.

“Get ready to fight them, no time to run away. I’ll start, you guys worry about staying alive for a while,” Yushin said.

The leader wanted to ask who he was but it was hardly the right moment. They are up against double their numbers and all players, while on [Wagon Protection Duty] there are four NPCs.

The City Guards combat prowess is something they are not aware of, but those that came along are only recently promoted rookies. It will be good if they can go back alive. Three players and four NPCs against fifteen players in an ambush, the result is not hard to predict. Now they have prevented the ambush and even got a mysterious helper!

When the wagon reaches a certain spot on the road and a bit before the ambush could take place, Yushin begins. He didn’t want to attack when the wagon was further away, since that could cause the bandits to give up and ran. He wanted them to think they could still ambush even without the right timing!

“Now!” He talks to party while rushing against the two reds, Red Bird and Red Clown. Now those two stopped talking and are focusing on the task at hand, eager to kill. Yushin fell upon them like a bolt of lightning and it will still take them a while to figure out what happened.

The spear, even without [Spinning Spear Thrust], had enough power to 1-hit Red Clown. Yushin already learned that putting all his weight behind the blow has an excellent effect on damage. After landing, he didn’t even bother to pull out the spear, but rushed with sword in hand, cutting off Red Bird’s head from his body!

Red Bird barely had time to scream in surprise before death!

Damage formula in Tales is a secret, unavailable to players. However, from fighting monsters and the players at Faint Forest, Yushin knows many critical spots are good for extra damage, like real life anatomy. [Pressure Points] are definitely a thing!

If the bandits had better armor, Yushin wouldn’t be able to one-hit them, but most of the group did not bother since they could die and damage it. This early in the game, who has money to spare? Also, why are they even trying to score from raiding wagons anyway? One of the reasons is this game is too hard, they already died many times!

The other is because someone commissioned them to strike at [Free Forest’s] deals. The [Wagon Protection Duty] type of mission is always given to guilds, if they complete with success there is payment and their prestige rises. The bandits were promised coin for each successful attack, and they could even keep all the spoils!

If they kept paying for armor, there would be a lot less coin in the end.

Red Bird’s scream startled the entire bandit group!

“What’s going on?!”

“Whose scream was that!”

The bandit leader is about to give a roll call when suddenly there is movement from the mercenary leader ahead.

“To arms! City Guards, to the front, raise your shields!” He issued the command and the NPCs rushed forward forming a small shield wall.

Ambush leader is startled, now things are definitely going to be much harder. He is thinking what went wrong and what is happening right now, how could he know Yushin happened to his raid?

He knows something is very wrong, he hears screams and then silence. If someone is dead, they can’t talk to party. Right now he has no way to know who died and who lives. Party screen only shows names, not statuses. As things stand, he must make a decision.

Since he has no idea what is happening, he cannot retreat. The Wagon is only a bit further. Even if some are sacrificed, if they raid it the mission will be a success. He grits his teeth, commands a full out assault, raises bow to aim and fire a barrage!

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Many arrows fly from the woods, but no magic. The Wagon Band is aware of the ambush, defending is much easier. The Lady Archer hides behind the wagon and counters, knowing where the enemy is attacking from is a huge advantage. Soon the first players rush forward, nine in total. That leaves four archers behind in the woods, including the leader!

Yushin is running swiftly, finds his next target. The archer has no time to react. This figure comes out of nowhere, [Spear Sweeps] him down with the shaft behind his legs and finishes by impaling with the spear. He only has time to scream “Dan…!” before dying, but the other players are too busy attacking to understand.

Now bandit leader is aware someone is in the woods with them, cannot focus on giving commands, is looking around crazily. Yushin should have started with him, but he didn’t know the leader was. Now that bandit stood in the woods, looked around in fear, realized something was wrong. Even If he is not the leader, is a good player worth taking down quickly!

Bandit leader sees something, someone running very fast towards him. He carries a spear in hand, has medium black hair roaring in the wind and a runic tattoo on his face!

Bandit leader aims, uses [Quick Release] without hesitation!

[Parry!]

The first arrow is deflected with ease, Yushin keeps running forward without stopping. He could use the woods to take cover, even run around them, but he keeps himself from doing so as not to make the enemy run and buy time. He wants to cut to kill and move on!

[Quick Release] fires again!

[Parry!]

[Quick Release!]

[Parry!]

“What…!” Bandit leader is in awe of the opponent’s skill, he tried the timing to parry before, is hard to grasp. Yet this random guy in front of him did it three times in a row without even stopping!

The delay between the arrows is low with the skill, but Yushin had already run in front of the leader, he will not give him time to attack again.

[Spinning Spear Thrust]!

One-hit K.O.!

The Bandit Leader dumbly stares before death, regretting not running away the instant that figure appeared.

Yushin alone killed four people, including the leader. He sees items drop and is surprised, is a skill book. Grabbing it, he keeps moving forward, has no time to spare. His party members are still fighting with their lives on the line.

Only two archers left, Yushin glances sideways at the battle, they are managing to hold out well. One injured NPC retreated, but the Warrior-Leader is a good player, manages to hold out, even injures the bandits some.

Lady Archer takes down one archer in the woods, then switches to striking at the incoming assailants. The dwarf is wounded but NPCs are helping him, defend attacks, will hold on for a little longer.

Yushin soon finds the last archer, which didn’t seem to realize the others died. That one will not even know how the reaper took his in-game life. A few seconds later he spawns in the city, is confined and looks around for his other party members, they all have a dejected look on their faces. He wanted to ask what happened, the only thing he knows is suddenly taking damage and dying!

Without archers and the leader, only remaining nine enemies, some even wounded. The Wagon Band are also in a bad shape, so Yushin doesn’t lose time, joins the fray. The Warrior-Leader sees figure incoming, braces for the worst. Above his head, however, is Yushin’s name!

Yushin goes forward like a bullet, wants to hit the enemy flank and ease the pressure on the wounded dwarf. His first target is a warrior with a longsword, he [Spear Sweeps] and doesn’t waste time on the kill, jumps forward with [Spear Thrust] on the next one!

The spear hits sideways in a clean hit, the wounded bandit dies. The one in the ground from Spear Sweep is killed by the dwarf right away. The tide of battle instantly changes, from nine bandits seven are left.

“Archers! Archers! Take this guy!” The next bandit screams to party, then yells for the leader, but no response comes. He is distracted, receives an arrow to the chest, falls down and disappears in death.

The Warrior-Leader has no time to be impressed, a single mistake and he will go down. The NPCs are in a dangerous zone, only the lady archer is still full of HP. Her only problem right now is not having enough arrows, as the shield wall in front of her is still up, letting arrows fly freely.

Six bandits left, the next one falls to a sequence of thrusts with the spear. The remaining five are now aware they’re on the losing side and begin to despair. Yushin joins the combat, kills left and right, now the enemy wants to retreat, but who can flee from him?

He trained on the Faint Forest, running and chasing, no one in this combat has more experience than him!

Yushin encircles. Who tries to run, is the one he kills first. He prevents them from running to the best of his abilities and soon all the bandits are dead. No more items dropped, only the leader’s. The Wagon Band is wounded, but alive, and no NPCs fell. To them, that battle was almost a miracle.

Yushin smiles and looks at the group, “Well done!”

The Warrior Leader bows, “Thanks to you, friend. You’re really a lifesaver.”

The others also give their thanks. Checking the party screen, Yushin knows this warrior name is Nobody The Wanderer, the Archer Lady is Whirlwind Fury and the Dwarf is Calanag.

“Does this happen often?” Yushin asked.

“I’ve run as bodyguard since the first day and did many runs. This is the first ambush. I really need to be more careful next time,” Nobody The Wanderer said, lowering his head slightly in shame. Had Yushin not appeared, wouldn’t this be a catastrophic run?

The other two also said they never encountered a bandit raid. Moreover, a player raid. Calanag and whirlwind Fury are with Free Forest, but Nobody Wanderer is [Loose Player]. That is, he hasn’t joined any distinguishing influences.

They talked about moving resources using [Caravans and Wagons]. While players can carry their stuff on inventory and other special means, normal merchants and NPCs need to carry them over somehow. This is how commerce to the settlements, villages, and cities work, even through different kingdoms!

Right now the danger of those missions is big. Many players are not skilled enough for the main monster lairs and decided to focus on raiding wagons and banditry. Player Kill and stealing are also ways of increasing skill.

Yushin frowns, now knows this Wagon is Free Forest’s protection duty, it will go to a nearby village. If successful will give prestige and coin. If it fails, loss of prestige right away. With guilds on the verge of open war, from behind the curtain, they will do everything to undermine each other’s progress. Hidden war already started, other guilds will target Free Forest, how can this attack be a coincidence?

Behind there may be Red Clay or Golden Rose. If Yushin had to guess, and by logic, it should be Red Clay. Golden Rose has more power right now, can take other approaches. Small acts like this are most likely done by smaller guilds. even player guilds trying to sow confusion and create conflicts are a possibility. What if it is a random attack? What if player guilds are trying to use the confusion and profit? What if it is Golden Rose trying to set Red Clay up?

Right now he doesn’t know the answer, but the possibilities are there!

“Do you guys know anything about items dropping? I thought items didn’t drop on death, but some did.”

“Oh, those are probably [Stolen Items]!” Whirlwind Fury explained, she killed a bandit before and got some items to drop, “Stolen items will drop on death before some time has passed. Those guys definitely raided someone before we came here.”

“Um, but how did they steal it in the first place?”

“Heh, [Thief Skills]!” She talked happily. She is the kind that gets really excited when sharing knowledge, “My friend told me they have a passive that gives a chance for items to drop on death as long as the target is marked!”

Yushin is dumbfounded. Thief Skills are definitely a huge danger!