DING!

[Quest Update: Purge the Evil!]

[Progress: 5/5 Elite Bandits Killed.]

[Quest Complete!]

[Rewards have been deposited in the inventory.]

Leo quickly scanned the loot window.

[Rewards:]

[1. 10,000 EXP]

[2. 5,000 Gold Coins]

[3. 15,000 Silver Coins]

[4. 45,000 Bronze Coins]

[5. 1 Spirit Stone]

[6. 1 Random Spin]

[7. 3 Bronze Reward Packs]

"Holy hell," Leo muttered. The reward was just to OP, the gamer inside of him knew that.

If it was Eldora Online, he wouldn't have cared about the Gold or the Silver, but now every coin mattered and he just got thousands of them.

But the System wasn't done.

Suddenly he felt his body getting enveloped by a faint warm, golden light. It felt like a pure, revitalizing energy surged through his body. The fatigue in his muscles began to evaporate.

[Congratulations, Master!]

[Experience Threshold Reached.]

[Level Up!]

[Level 3 --> Level 4]

[HOST STATUS UPDATE]

Name: Leo Dragomir

Level: 4

HP: 2000 -> 5000

Strength (STR): 28 -> 39 (Max 1000)

Agility (AGI): 38 -> 50 (Max 1000)

Stealth (STL): 33 → 46 (Max 1000)

Stamina (STA): 45 -> 57 (Max 1000)

Intelligence (INT): 53 -> 60 (Max 100)

Charisma (CHA): 62 -> 65 (Max 100)

Leo clenched his fists. His HP had more than doubled. He felt lighter, faster, stronger. He felt like he could easily take on those two level 6 bandits at the same time without having to dodge and use cheap tricks.

"Level 4," Leo grinned, flexing his fingers, "Now we are playing with power."

He dismissed the screen. He had his rewards. He had his upgrade. Now, he just needed to survive the rest of the night.

He turned his attention back to the center of the clearing. But the comedy was over.

While Leo had been cleaning up the trash mobs, the main battle had collapsed into a meat grinder. It was turning into a butchery.

A level 28 Temple Guardian on the left flank raised his battered shield to block a blow from a Level 19 Bandit. He was holding the line, his sword flashing out to keep two other bandits at bay.

But just then something tore through the air, completely invisible in the dark night.

ZIP!

Before the tired Temple Guardian could raise his shield, a knife buried itself deep in the Guardian's throat, just above the gorget, severing the windpipe.

"GHK!"

The Guardian gagged, dropping his shield to claw his throat. Blood sprayed between his fingers, shining black in the moonlight.

The Level 23 bandit behind the Temple Guardian didn't hesitate. He swung a heavy, spiked mace. It connected with the Guardian's unarmoured head with a sickening wet crunch. The Guardian dropped on the ground as his skull caved in, twitching violently in the mud.

"I have to do all the work," Bane tutted, pulling another knife from his jacket.

On the right flank, another Temple Guardian was holding off two attackers, his white robes already soaked red from a dozen shallow cuts. He roared, driving his sword through the gut of a Level 16 bandit, disembowelling him.

But as the bandit fell, spilling his intestines onto the Guardian's boots, Bane threw another knife.

THWIP!

The purple knife hit the Guardian in the back of the knee, severing the tendon.

The Guardian collapsed with a high-pitched scream.

The Level 25 Heavy Bandit, a mountain of muscle wielding a massive warhammer, standing beside the Temple Guardian lifted his iron-shod boot and stomped on the kneeling Guardian's neck.

SNAP!

The sound of the spine breaking was louder than the clash of steel. The Guardian folded backward, paralyzed as his body became lifeless.

The remaining bandits swarmed him like piranhas. They hacked at him with axes and swords, chopping him into pieces while he was in all likelihood already dead . Limbs were severed. Armour was peeled back to chop up all his flesh.

"Two down," Bane murmured, checking his nails.

The third Guardian, the one Leo had seen blinded in one eye earlier, swung his sword wildly, backing up against the cart.

"Face me, cowards! The Light will burn you!"

"But the Light in your eyes is already gone," a bandit sneered.

Three bandits rushed him at once. One speared him through the thigh, pinning him to the wheel of the cart. The second drove a sword through his stomach. The third grabbed his helmet and ripped it off, exposing his terrified, bloody face.

They didn't kill him instantly. They stabbed him repeatedly, turning his white robes into a tattered red rag. He fell, gargling a prayer that turned into a gurgle of blood.

Now, only the Guardian Captain remained.

The Level 31 Elite.

He was alone. He stood in a circle of death, surrounded by the Level 25 Bandit and the last two surviving bandits other than Bane. His armour was dented, his shield was splintered kindling on his arm, and he was bleeding from a dozen wounds.

But he was still standing. And he was furious.

"COME ON!" The Captain roared, holy fire bursting from his blade, illuminating everyone in a blinding white light, "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE, HERETICS? I WILL SEND YOU ALL TO HELL!"

The Level 25 Bandit was the first to charge at him, swinging the warhammer in a strike meant to flatten a tank.

The Captain moved his sword as he easily parried the attack as sparks flew when the holy steel met iron.

SLASH!

His glowing sword cut through the warhammer, splitting it in two and continued to cut through his plate armour like it was paper. He cleaved the massive bandit from shoulder to hip.

The Bandit froze in his tracks. He looked down, surprised, as his top half slowly slid off his bottom half. A torrent of blood and organs spilled out, steaming in the cold night air.

The two halves of the giant hit the ground with a wet thud.

But the Captain hardly cared right now. He spun his sword and caught a Level 19 bandit in the neck, decapitating him instantly. He thrust backward, impaling a Level 19 bandit through the chest.

Within seconds, the Captain had slaughtered the remaining filth. The bandits lay in piles of severed limbs and shattered bone.

He stood alone in the center of the ring, panting, his sword dripping.

"NEXT!" The Captain screamed, looking around wildly. "WHO WANTS TO DIE NEXT?"

"Impressive," Bane's voice floated through the air, smooth and unimpressed.

Bane stepped into the circle, stepping delicately over the disembowelled corpse of a Guardian. He drew the weapon at his hip.

It wasn't a sword. It was a Rapier. Thin, elegant, and glowing with a pulsating, violet light.

"But you are tired now," Bane said, "I will make it quick for your valiant effort."

He moved.

He didn't charge like those savages. He flowed in the air like a blur of blue velvet and purple light.

The Captain swung his broadsword in a killing blow aimed at Bane's head.

But as the sword came down, he wasn't there anymore.

He had appeared behind the Captain in the blink of an eye.

And before the Captain could turn to block, he thrusted the rapier.

Not once, but twice.

STAB! STAB!

He severed both of the Captain's hamstrings in two lightning-fast strikes.

"ARGH!"

The Captain collapsed to his knees. But even through the pain, he tried to raise his sword, but Bane kicked his hand, and the sword flew out of his hand.

The Guardian Captain slumped forward, supporting himself on his hands.

Bane walked around him. He stood in front of the kneeling Captain, looking down with a pitying smile.

"You fought well," Bane said politely.

The Captain looked up, spitting a glob of blood onto Bane's polished boots. "The Light... will burn you..."

Bane looked at the blood on his boot.

He sighed.

"Now look at what you have done," Bane spoke with a helpless look on his face.

And without saying anything further, he thrusted the rapier forward.

The tip entered the Captain's left eye and punched out the back of his skull.

The Captain stiffened, twitched once, and then slumped forward. Dead.

The forest fell silent in an instant.

The only sound was the wind blowing through the trees.

The ground was a slush of mud and blood. Three Guardians lay butchered. The Captain lay dead at Bane's feet. The rest of the bandits were scattered corpses, missing heads and limbs.

Everyone was dead.

Except Bane.

And Leo.

Leo stood alone on his side of the field. He was panting heavily, despite the level up. The mental fatigue of the fight was catching up to him. His Wyvern-Leather Armour was slashed open across the chest from the earlier skirmish. Blood dripped from a cut on his arm, the sweat blinded him in one eye, and his thigh throbbed.

He was in bad shape.

[HP: 800 / 5000]

The level up had boosted his max health, but the accumulated damage and exhaustion still weighed on him. He felt stronger than before in his mind, but his exhausted body couldn't keep up.

And this smiling snake? He hasn't even broken a sweat.

He looked at the carnage. He looked at the bodies of the men he had treated as meat shields. And those idiots died before completing their jobs.

Fucking useless imbeciles!

He looked at Bane.

Bane stood amidst the corpses of his own men and the Guardians. He wasn't even out of breath. His suit was still spotless.

He pulled a silk handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the rapier clean.

He looked at Leo.

A smile spread across his face.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The sound was jarring in the quiet forest.

"Magnificent," Bane said, his voice smooth and terrifying, "To think that the weakest of the all would be the one to survive till the very end. Truly magnificent."

Bane put the handkerchief away, and pointed the rapier drawn.

"This is no luck!" Bane said, "You remind me of myself from all those ears back. Weak!"

"But we both know our way around the pile of corpses like a rat. We know how to survive."

"You would have made an excellent bandit," Bane said, stepping over the Captain's body, walking slowly toward Leo.

"Would have!" Bane shook his head.

"I am afraid," Bane sighed, raising the rapier.

"It is time to bring the curtains down."

** ** ** ** **

[

Author's Note: With this chapter I have crossed 150k words. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Do vote with Power stones and Golden Tickets.

Thank You!

]

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