Chapter 31: Chapter 28: Free From The Forest

Cold, pain, hunger, and thirst, it has been a long time since they became the first thing I felt in the morning, and damn it, I am happy to open my eyes feeling them.

 

But where am I? The ground is soft and muddy from the molten snow. The wind is also hitting my skin. These can only mean that I am out of that damned forest. But I am asking once again, where am I?

 

I opened my eyes and got up from the ground. Weirdly my body feels much lighter and even in better condition than before. Shit. No message from Voice explaining what rewards I got for killing that skeleton knight. Well, I can ask the source itself later on.

 

 I stretched my back and began looking around. I am still inside a forest. But I am standing on a human-made path with wheel prints left from a cart. "Gods kept their promise. I am out of that damned place." And the realization hit me.

 

"I left my money and the remaining equipment in that cave. Fuck!" I took a sad step forward but almost fell because I stumbled into something. "Well, well, well. Now I forgot about the money." It is the skeleton knight remains. So, with me, he got teleported here too.

 

Then a woof came from the trees nearby. On a tree branch, my wolf companion is calling me. I have no idea how he got up there, but he cannot get down. I moved closer to the tree and opened my arms. "Come one, boy. I will grab you."

 

Without hesitating wolf jumped into my arms, I managed to grab him, but the impact broke my balance, and we both hit the ground. We got unharmed, but he was heavier than I excepted. I should work out more.

 

"Okay, buddy, here is my plan. I will take the armor of this dead friend since he doesn't need it anymore, then we will follow these tracks and (hopefully) find a town or a village to reside in while I think about the future.”

 

I grabbed the skeleton knight's body. "Gloves and cloak can stay, I have better than what he has, and the helmet looks too small for me. But rest looks good." I started taking the armor pieces from the previous owner wearing them.

 

I first wore the padding. It was surprisingly comfortable, then the chainmail armor inside. Wearing these two wasn't much different from everyday clothing, now coming into the main piece, the plate armor.

 

Boots and leg pieces were simpler to wear, but the chest was a bit harder. It had hidden leather strips to adjust the open space between the back and front plates, then a metal hinge to support those strips. I saw them when removing the armor from the skeleton, but opening or locking them when they are on someone else and when you are wearing them is vastly different.

 

"It is flexible. I can move much as I can without no limitations, as I expected after seeing that knight around super fast wearing this." I finished wearing the armor by placing the shoulder pads in their place. "Now everything is ready." I raised the claymore used by the skeleton into the air and swung it around. It looked better than my sword, so why not take it with me?

 

Voice talked. "Weapon ability: Crimson Sword. Increases the user's speed and offers and projectile attack. Users can activate this ability simply by calling its name." So this is what that book called spell graved to a tool, and explains the agility the skeleton knight showed me in that fight.

 

"Well, we are ready, friend. Let's follow these tracks and see where they will send us to, hopefully somewhere good." But before going out. I want to test this thing. 

 

I looked at my new sword, then at my companion. "Hopefully, you are ready for a race. Crimson blade!" Claymore glowed in red, and everything slowed down. "Let's run."

 

The second I took my first step, I felt an excitement I didn't felt in years. I am running twice as fast as I ever did in my life. My companion is barely keeping up with me, and wolves are known to be fast animals. That's magnificent!

 

***

 

I ran for quite some time. I don't know how long, but the pain, hunger, cold, and even thirst are gone thanks to the thrill I feel. Wind hitting my face never felt this good, and my body never felt this light.

 

But I finally stopped when I heard a scream. It is a woman's scream. I looked at my panting companion. "We are going to do something stupid, so be ready." I turned towards the source of the screams and began moving there. Just a couple of trees away, there was another path, right next to the one we were walking.

 

We saw the crime scene shortly afterward.

 

A rather luxurious-looking carriage was circled by what appeared to be a group of bandits, and there were a couple of corpses lying on the ground. My theory is that they ambushed them, killed the horses and guards, and now going for the treasure.

 

Without making much noise, we began approaching the bandits. 

 

The victims appear to be a young boy, a girl even younger, and a woman in her thirties. The boy tries to keep the bandits away with a short sword he barely holds in the air with both hands.

 

The only reason they are alive is that outlaws are making fun of their desperate situation and playing with their minds. I can hear their mockings.

 

"Come one, little boy, don't be this mad."

 

You are reading story Emperor Of The North: Rewrite at novel35.com

"Yeah. Put that big sword away, or I will be scared."

 

"We are just doing our job here, taking your everything."

 

"And maybe we can play with those ladies too. What you say, will you do a good deed to these poor souls and let us do that?" Sick bastards. They will be good targets for my new sword.

 

After closing a certain distance, I coughed to take their interest. "Gentleman, I appear to be lost in this forest. May I learn where the closest human settlement is? I am short on rations and need to go there fast."

 

Bandits turned towards me. There are seven of them. It will be problematic, but I can handle this encounter.

 

"Trying to play the hero, don't you?" One of them shouted. And others followed his words.

 

"We got ourselves a brave one, don't we?"

 

"I don't know about you guys, but I will keep the cloak."

 

They killed a couple of guardsmen already. I suppose they are ready to kill one more man today.

 

The first bandit to try me was a short bandit running toward me with a short sword. "First to kill keeps all the loot!" He shouted while closing the distance.

 

"Crimson blade." My sword glowed red, and the bandit's moves began slowing down. I dashed forward and landed a clean slash to bandit from his side. The blade pierced through his clothes and skin. Now there was a large slit on his body.

 

The sword's spell wore off after the strike. "Well, that's the first one." Other bandits were looking at me with shocked faces. "Good, keep standing like that." I quickly shot an ice piece toward the closest bandit.

 

The surprised man failed to dodge the projectile. Ice projectile hit his throat and destroyed it. The bandit fell to the ground and will probably die. "That makes two."

 

Wolf got the third bandit. He sneaked at the terrified man and suddenly jumped to his throat. He bodied him to the ground and slowly ripped his face with sharp fangs. It was a bloody scenery I wasn't expecting from my fluffy companion.

 

After that, I killed the fourth one with a stab to the hearth after I parried his weapon, and I killed the fifth bandit when he was trying to run away with a shot to the back of his neck, right to the spinal cord.

 

The sixth bandit tried to kill me with a surprise attack on my back, but I barely managed to block his strike. "You are too much of a hassle. I will enjoy slowly torturing you to death." He tried to threaten me.

 

"The only thing about you that can kill me is the damned smell of your mouth!" I kicked him in the stomach and cleaved his head off his body with a single strike of my claymore. "Now, where is the damn last of you."

 

The last bandit managed to escape to the forest. Well, too bad, but I can kill him next time. For now, let's see how traumatized the civilians are.

 

"Hey, any wounds need to be treated?" I moved closer and crouched next to them to see if anything was wrong. 

 

But shortly after I crouched, the boy's eyes opened to their maximum extent, and he screamed. "On your back!"

 

 The fleeing bandit sneaked at me for a cheap shot. That bastard, do you even care for your life? Damn it. I tried to turn towards him to block the attack, but shit, he will land his attack. I bit my teeth to endure the damage.

 

"Not today." An arrow came out of the forest with a whistle and hit the bandit's head. Impact pinned the corpse to the ground.

 

"I don't know who you are, but thank you, friend. Now, drop your weapon, and we can talk." I turned towards where the sound came from and saw a small group of people with green-colored cloaks moving out of the forest. They have professional-looking equipment, and the people bandits just tried to rob them and seemed happy to see them.

 

I put my sword back in its place. "I am always open to a friendly talk, and maybe you guys can show me the way to the closest town."

You can find story with these keywords: Emperor Of The North: Rewrite, Read Emperor Of The North: Rewrite, Emperor Of The North: Rewrite novel, Emperor Of The North: Rewrite book, Emperor Of The North: Rewrite story, Emperor Of The North: Rewrite full, Emperor Of The North: Rewrite Latest Chapter