Chapter 97: Chapter 90: Bandit raiding party

The signal was both simple and easy to understand. Moreover, it was something that fit in very easily into my character, and was something I could say at almost any time.

If the mission was working out and they were taking us back to their camp, I would yell the words “I want to go home” in elven. It’s doubtful some bandits would know how to speak elven, but there was always the chance.

Once we were at the camp, or if things were just going wrong and we needed to be saved, I would shout out the other signal to indicate they should attack. So, once I heard the magic words {here we are} from the men dragging us along at spear-point, I shouted out the other signal.

[Nooo! Mother! Help! I don’t like this, I want my mother!] I shouted. The elven word “mother” was the code word to call in the attack. They should be on their way right now.

The camp was rough, just a thicket of trees on top of which there were a few lookouts. I could see some wooden cages and tents deeper in. I thought I could even see some people inside the wooden cages. Looks like slave trading was part of the normal operation for these guys. Seems like I’d chosen exactly the right disguise to bait these guys.

{ey! Keep moving kid! Ye can shut up with that yellin’, ain’t nobody gonna hear ya’} The man behind me growled and hit me with the base of his spear. I staggered forward and brought my hand to my wrist.

Based on what I’d learned about my power, I could probably take out all these guys myself just by using this bracelet as the intermediary to take over this entire patch of trees and turning every root in the area into weapons. I could also do the same without the bracelet, but that would require pouring in a lot more power and likely transforming this entire area into some kind of power spot with sentient and likely very angry trees.

I needed at least one of the plants I was interacting with to have an awakened spirit in order to control them. My own living wood weapon could easily serve that purpose. Otherwise, I would have to awaken one of the plants nearby first. And, if I wanted to do it quickly, it’s quite likely I would also awaken every tree, bush, and blade of grass in a 50 meter radius.

Of course, even with my bracelet as an intermediary, I still leave behind a lot of my power after a move like that. It’s just not quite enough to awaken the local flora immediately.

It’s definitely something that should be used as a last resort. It’s exactly what I’d do if the cavalry didn’t arrive like they were supposed to, but it was preferable that I wouldn’t have to. And besides, this was supposed to be a training venture for the kids.

Yeah, these Hidan warriors consider slaughtering bandits training for their kids. That’s just how rough this culture is. That’s also how hard these Hidan guys are.

Fortunately, I wound up not having to consider worst case alternatives for very long. I only had to wait a few seconds after sizing up my options before one of the tree-top lookouts started calling out.

{HIDAN WAR BEASTS!} The man suddenly called out like he had just seen the end of the world itself approaching.

Everyone in the group escorting me and Rolwen spun around on their heels, now in a state of high alert and focus. At the same moment, I gestured with my head and started running straight into the camp.

{The brats!} One of the guys yelled.

{Leave them!} The leader-like guy retorted.

Yeah. They had more important stuff to worry about right now. To covert units like me and Rolwen, we call this a distraction. Time to see where we can put ourselves to the best use while we are still not being perceived as a threat.

Suddenly, I had a flashback to the night three years ago. The one that changed the course of this second life forever. When our little village was attacked.

Those dark elf assassins… they really had the right idea, didn’t they? Well, right now, the Hidan warriors were taking a role very similar to those dark elf female mages. It may be the middle of the daylight, but the fact nobody perceives us as a threat means that even though we are in plain sight we might as well be concealed even better than those dark elf assassins ever were.

My eyes quickly flicked around the camp as I identified the important points.

Fire pit. Men scrambling to get ready.

No obvious bedding. They likely sleep on the ground.

Weapons strewn about on the ground, men hastily picking them up.

Cage, probable slave prisoners. No guards.

Supplies. No guards.

Tent. Unknown purpose. Likely purpose, leader’s tent.

A man somewhat more imposing looking individual rushed inside that tent the very moment the alert was called out.

I took a circuitous route around the camp, avoiding the bustle of activity around the middle, and made my way to that tent. Before I arrived, I saw the same man who had run in there coming back out. Contrary to expectations, he was not wearing some armor or carrying a weapon he had run to retrieve. Instead, he had hoisted a large bag, around the size of hiking pack, over his back and was making as though to retreat.

Coward. That’s definitely not happening. If this was Earth, maybe I’d remember his features and report it to the authorities later. Here, I knew what kind of stuff bandits got up to. With the people over in that cage as evidence, I’m certain this man has done some rather atrocious things. There is no proper criminal justice system in this world. So, there’s only one way to handle a despicable worm like this who hurts the weak and then ditches his own underlings to die the moment things go to shit.

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I ripped the bracelet from my wrist, and it rapidly transformed into a short spear. {Coward!} I shouted in the human language as I took a running leap.

The man turned in response, just in time to get a spear straight through his throat. He collapsed and there was an audible chink of metal coming from the bag he was carrying.

I turned around to re-assess the area around me. First, to see if any of the guy’s underlings saw what just happened. The answer to this was yes. Most didn’t but there were definitely at least two very stunned and horrified sets of eyes on me right now. They would likely be alerting the rest any second now.

The second reason was to see the what Rolwen was up to. He was next to the wooden cage, and seemed to be talking to someone inside it, making a lot of very strong hand gestures.

Finally, was to see how the raiding party was doing. I didn’t have line of sight on them yet, but the sounds of battle had definitely started.

{The kid just killed the boss!}

I couldn’t help quirking a smile as I saw several of the people running to engage the raiding party almost miss a step when they heard the news.

{That elf kid killed the boss! He has a spear!}

{The Hidan! The Hidan are still coming!}

{The kid! Someone get the elf kid! Kill it!}

{Kill the elf?! Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how much that kid is worth?!}

Disarray. Music to my ears. This kind of panic and discord is a million times more disruptive than what simply having their leader flee would ever get us.

Well, let’s turn up the chaos a little bit.

I turn the simple sharpened-stick like spear head of my weapon into a small weighted ball about the size of a fist, and then lengthen the shaft into a chord. I hold on to one end, and then begin spinning the weight overhead before throwing it into the crowd.

The chord swings around one guy’s arm, tying him up before the weight bashes him in the hand and forces him to drop his weapon.

He doubles over with a muffled curse, and then I pull hard on the chord, yanking his arm hard enough to make him stagger several steps toward me. Immediately afterward, I had the weight shrink and vanish, then made the chord shorten itself, releasing him from it’s grip as the line rapidly retracted toward me.

{Help up front!}

{Get the kid!}

Conflicting orders were flying left and right. That attack was enough to goad a few into coming my way, rushing with their weapons readied.

I smiled and retreated back into a nearby bush. I waited for my would-be attackers to reach me, and then thrust a hand forward in the wind kata. The man advancing toward me was suddenly thrown backward as his back exploded in a fountain of blood and gore, causing everyone running behind him to stop in stupefied confusion as to what had just happened.

I leapt out of the bush, spear at the ready, and it suddenly extended in length to puncture the next person in the line as he was still trying to figure out what had happened to the guy standing next to him.

Around the same time I dropped the guy, a trio of war rhinos and their spear-wielding riders were crashing their way into the middle of the camp, leading a line of smaller and more agile predator animals and their child riders. The adults cleared the path on the sturdier animals, while the children need only rely on the hunting instincts of their mounts to clean up the mess behind.

Rolwen climbed up on the cage and started shouting [Friendly] over and over again, waving on the war party with his arms and directing them away.

I retreated back to stand proudly over my kills, content to only add to the pile if someone was stupid enough to keep pursuing me. As it so happened, such an idiot did exist.

There were five in the party who had rushed me. I’d killed two. Another two had some sense to them and had fled left and right, trying to get as far away from this place as possible. The last guy though, he had gone mad with fear. He lifted up an ax and shouted out a wild battle cry, before he started running straight toward me.

I didn’t even have to lengthen my spear. All I did was level it at his heart. He kept running, and he threw himself directly onto it.

After that, it was just clean-up. From the moment I had shouted the signal until now, only around 10 minutes had passed. It was a well disciplined and organized war party, consisting of some of the fiercest cavalry in the world and armed to the teeth, Vs. a disorganized mob of bandits who were armed with whatever junk weapons they could scrape together, effectively unarmored, and thrown into complete disarray from start to finish.

They never even stood a chance. This was just a complete one-sided extermination from start to finish.

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