Chapter - 92

"That was it?" Leo muttered, kicking a severed hand away from his boot, "A thousand mobs and no boss loot? Just a few thousand EXP?"

Leo flicked his wrist, sending a glob of black ichor flying off his Frost-Edge Longsword. He looked around at the carnage.

Piles of dead mutilated undead littered the ground, creating a carpet of gore that squelched under his boots.

He felt cheated. For this much work, he would have gotten drops, chest, maybe even rare items. But no! here he had done all the work for a bunch of trash experience points.

Before he could complain to Aiva, a sharp, cold pain spiked at the base of his skull.

DING!

[System Alert: Predator's Instincts Activated]

[Threat Level: HIGH]

Leo froze. The threat level had just increased. He wasn't wrong, it was just Round 1. There was someone else pulling the strings.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Slow, loud applause echoed from the darkness of the forest.

"Impressive," a smooth voice called out, "Truly very impressive."

Leo turned slowly. The Guardian Captain raised his battered shield, his eyes narrowing.

A man walked out of the shadows, stepping over a pile of dead boars with practiced elegance.

He looked like he had gotten lost on his way to a high-society tea party. He was dressed in a pristine, tailored suit of dark blue velvet, complete with a silk cravat and polished boots that somehow had no mud on them. He wore a monocle over his left eye, the gold chain catching the faint light. He was handsome, clean-shaven, and smiling pleasantly.

Behind him, a few men emerged from the trees.

They were the opposite of the gentleman. They were bulky, scarred savages wearing a mishmash of stolen plate armour and cured leather. They held heavy battleaxes, spiked clubs, and serrated swords. They looked like they just walked out of a cave to hunt for their prey.

[Faction Identified: Blackfang Bandits - Elite Unit]

Aiva revealed the crucial information to Leo. So, this was a robbery attempt orchestrated by the Blackfang Bandits.

'Did they come here because of me?' Leo could not help but wonder. He had once foiled their kidnapping attempt of the Lord's daughter, and here he was again, witnessing yet another heist of theirs.

Meanwhile, trailing at the very back in silence was a young man who looked like he was made of twigs. He was skinny, pale, with dark circles under his eyes that made him look like a raccoon. He wore robes covered in small bone fetishes that rattled when he moved.

In his hand, he clutched a glowing Purple Crystal Ball.

But unlike the smiling gentleman in the front, this skinny boy looked distressed. He was looking around the battlefield with wide, watery eyes, his bottom lip trembling.

The gentleman in the suit stopped a safe distance from the blood-soaked Temple Guardians. He bowed slightly, a perfect courtly gesture.

"Bravo!" he called out, his voice smooth as butter, "Truly magnificent. I heard the Temple's dogs were tough, but to slaughter my entire herd in under an hour? It's an efficiency that I can admire."

He looked at the Guardian Captain.

"Ahh! Sorry... Allow me to introduce myself," he said, adjusting his cuffs. "I am Bane."

"And though you slaughtered a lot of useful creatures, you have also saved me the trouble of feeding them. They were getting... out of hand."

While Bane talked, the skinny boy at the back wandered forward like a lifeless doll.

The boy ignored the tension. He ignored the swords pointed at him. He walked right past the Guardian Captain, seemingly unaware of the danger, his eyes fixed on a specific corpse.

He stopped in front of the massive body of the Level 26 Undead leader lying at the Captain's feet. The monster's head was severed, lying in the mud a few feet away.

The boy dropped to his knees in the filth. He didn't care about the blood soaking into his robes.

He reached out with trembling fingers and stroked the rusted helmet of the dead monster. Purple pus and black blood were leaking from the neck stump, pooling around his knees.

"My babies..." The boy whispered, his voice cracking, "My beautiful babies."

He dipped a finger into the purple pus oozing from the neck. He brought it to his lips and tasted it. He shuddered, a look of pure grief washing over his face.

"Drip raised you," The boy sobbed, caressing the dead face of the monster, "Drip stitched you together. Drip fed you the best villagers. Why are you sleeping? Wake up."

The Temple Guardians looked at him with disgust. Even Leo felt a little nauseous. The guy was treating a rotting corpse like a dead puppy.

Drip's head snapped up. He looked at the Guardian Captain.

His eyes were manic. They swirled with purple mana, glowing with madness.

"You broke Drip's toys," he hissed, "You hurt them."

He yelled clutching the Purple Crystal Ball to his chest like a doll.

"Drip worked hard on them," he said, his voice rising to a shriek, "Do you know how hard it is to find a body that big? Do you know how much mana Drip poured into him?"

He pointed a shaking, pale finger at the Captain.

"I will avenge them," Drip promised, his voice dropping to a horrifying, guttural growl that sounded like wet gravel.

"I will peel the skin from your holy bodies. I will piss on your burning flesh. I will make you scream until your throats tear, and then I will raise you so you can scream forever!"

"Drip will make you..."

SLING!

The Guardian Captain didn't have a whole day to listen to his monologue.

'I will do this!'

'I will do that!'

For Fuck's Sake! He was a bloody tired, injured, religious fanatic who had just killed a thousand zombies. He had zero patience for a skinny boy threatening him.

So, while he was going on and on like a stuck gramophone, the Temple guardian was already done.

The Captain stepped forward and swung his broadsword in a flat, horizontal arc.

THWACK!

The boy stopped mid-sentence. His eyes remained wide, filled with madness and love for his dead monsters.

A thin red line appeared on his neck.

His head slid off his shoulders. It hit the mud with a wet thud, rolling next to the big Undead he loved so much.

His body remained kneeling for a second, blood fountaining from the stump, before tipping over into the muck.

The Purple Crystal Ball slipped from his dead fingers. It rolled across the uneven ground, bouncing off a rock.

It stopped right at the polished boots of Bane.

Bane didn't look horrified. He didn't look angry. He looked delighted.

He bent down and picked up the ball, pulling a silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe a speck of mud off the glass surface.

"Finally," Bane sighed contentedly, holding the ball up to the moonlight, "I have been eyeing this little trinket for months. That boy was such a possessive little brat about it. Always 'my babies this', 'my magic that'. It was exhausting listening to him."

He looked at the Guardian Captain with a genuine, warm smile.

"Thank you, Captain," Bane said, "You saved me a difficult conversation regarding his future in our organisation. Good help is so hard to find, but bad help... well, it just tends to lose its head."

He tucked the crystal ball into the inner pocket of his jacket, patting it securely.

His demeanour shifted. The pleasant smile remained, but his killing intent flared, sharp and cold as ice.

"However," Bane said, smoothing his suit, "Just because I thank you... doesn't mean I intend to let you live."

He gestured to the carnage around them.

"You have killed my pets. You are exhausted. You are bleeding. And you are carrying something that my Big Boss wants very, very much."

The savage bandits behind him stepped forward. They cracked their knuckles, raised their axes, and grinned.

They stared at the four exhausted Temple Guardians like a pack of wolves looking at wounded deer.

"Hand over the box," Bane said softly, "And I will make it quick."

"Resist, and I will let the boys have their fun before we kill you. And trust me, they have very... creative definitions of fun. You know... It has been a while." Bane winked teasingly.

Leo watched from near the cart. He was calculating.

'Aiva,' he commanded, 'Are there more hiding in the trees?'

[Scan Range Limited to 70 Meters (Level 3 Base + Skill).]

[Current Hostile Count: 12 (1 Deceased).]

[No additional heat signatures detected within current range.]

Leo nodded. Eleven elite bandits. One boss in a fancy suit. Versus four exhausted guards and one gamer who was getting really tired of people interrupting his travel plans.

He looked at Bane. This guy was a smiling snake. He knew he had an advantage, still he did not dare rush in. He was still assessing the situation, perfecting his plan.

Leo gripped his Frost-Edge Longsword. In front of absolute power, no amount of planning was going to save him.

Leo's best bet. Let the Temple Guardians protect his ass.

"Round Two," Leo muttered, "Plan? Don't die."

** ** ** ** **

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.