Chapter 10: The Men In Red (Revised)

As he was completely unaware of the growing interest surrounding him, Ira continued on unbotheredly. At the moment, he was attempting to decipher the book that could be considered the cause of his death. He felt as though he could just barely understand it, but the words remained in a cryptic pattern.  seem to line up a little more, and the faint whispering increased. The current page he was reading appeared to be- All of a sudden, Ira heard someone approaching and stored the book away.

“Hey, we're leaving.” Lance shouted up towards Ira.

Ira silently jumped down from tree and landed in front of Lance. “Lead the way.” He grinned.

Lance looked at the branch that Ira was previously on. It had to be at least thirty of forty feet in the air, but Ira landed without so much as a grunt. While they had been traveling with Ira for a few days, the shock value he brought with him never seemed to stop. The two met up with the rest of Lance’s friends and began to travel. The few days of travel seemed almost mundane, but they were still on the outer edge of the Great Forest so it was to be expected.

The party made their way through the woodlands before finally finding a lead, Ira being the one responsible for it. Due to his seemingly friendly and straightforward nature and his abilities the group began to think better of him. Even Gerald began speaking to him more than he would ever talk to any stranger. They often talked about the monsters with the best attributes and how would they win in certain conditions. Previously no one would’ve guessed Gerald would show so much enthusiasm on the subject.

“Look, Gerald, All I’m saying is you have to be quick enough to react otherwise strength is useless. A Cerberus hound is fast and strong right? ” Ira asked as he walked ahead of the party with Gerald. Since Gerald was the defender and carried a large kite shield, he would take the forefront of the group, this was arguably the most dangerous position, especially if they were to walk into an ambush. Ira on the other hand, was completely ignorant of proper party formation, and could care less about where he walked.

“Well, what about the cyclops?” Gerald countered. The cyclops was a huge beast measuring anywhere from 9 to 20 feet tall, often wielding large branches as makeshift clubs. They had immense strength, but incredibly low intelligence, making them easy to deal with in theory. In reality they were dreaded by any Mercenary below an A- rating.

Ira briefly thought about it, but ended up shaking his head.“Ah, isn’t it too dumb to plan anything? Plus has a huge target for everyone to see, since those hounds produce fire wouldn’t they be able to burn its eye?”

“Then the troll.”Gerald stubbornly suggested, unwilling to waiver in the slightest.

“Eh, It might be strong enough to beat a weaker Cerberus hound, especially with that regeneration, but-” Ira stopped in his tracks and his abrupt halt sent everyone else on high alert. The party drew their weapons and got into a defensive stance. They all unconsciously looked toward Ira to figure out the next step.

“What is it?” Lance asked as he vigilantly scanned the surroundings.

“People...and there not too far from here.” Ira’s nose slightly twitched.

“How many?”Sarah asked. They had already seen proof of Ira’s senses at work so there wasn’t a need to doubt him.

“I can’t tell the exact number, but it's more than us.” Ira responded.

The party tensed up after he finished speaking. In the bounty memo The Slaver was suspected of working with a group of people and had ties with an outside party, but it couldn’t be directly confirmed. If conclusive evidence of a third-party could be found, the bounty reward would be doubled, as the Kingdom was eager to put down such groups.

“Should we push forward?” Valerie asked in a concerned tone. There was a reason she showed hesitation, In fact that same hesitation could be found in the whole group with the exception of Ira. Truthfully, they lacked experience in killing. They engaged in combat with other humans before as it was common for mercenaries to fight if they had disagreements, but it usually never escalated to killing.

Ira turned to look at the others and saw them standing quietly in a weird mood. Seeing such a thing, he couldn’t help but to speak up,“Problem?”

“We...might have to…kill someone.” Zella spoke timidly. The expressions on the faces of everyone showed they shared her concerns.

Ira stared blankly at the group of mercenaries. “So?”

Ira couldn’t quite believe that they were so hesitant. He would never doubt his own stance on killing people, since it was proven, at least in his mind, that it was something natural. So he wasn’t able to see what their reservations were.

“You…” Lance started with surprise, “You’ve killed before?”

“And you haven’t yet?” Ira retorted as he asked disbelievingly. Mercenary work was incredibly dangerous at times and just by hesitating for a second, an enemy can seize the advantage.

Lance and his party were a little unnerved. Ira looked to be younger than them, but he claimed he had already killed. Added to the fact that their was no visible seriousness in his gaze. It was almost as if ending the life of another human being was inconsequential to him. Though, if they were to assume Ira thought that, they would be wrong. Ira didn’t see killing as a mundane task, but rather something natural.

Silence pervaded the atmosphere until Ira caught on..

“Look guys, all you have to do is kill them and move on. That’s not so hard.” Ira said with a chuckled before leaving the group behind. Lance and the others stared at his back as he departed, each one of them thinking of something different. In the group Sarah was perhaps the most serious about her skills and practiced with the bow diligently. That being so, she understood two things. One, she would never be able to advance her skill if she hesitated to kill. Two, killing another person would be far easier for her seeing as she would be the furthest away. Realizing that she stepped forward with a resolute gaze and followed behind Ira. She was immediately followed by Gerald, Lance, Valerie, and finally a reluctant Zella who was the most timid. They had all reached similar conclusions and were resolved to cross the line.

……………………………….

Not too far away. A middle-aged man with short hair walked around the ramparts of a half built fortress, this man was the one known as “The Slaver” and the fortress was his temporary base of operations. The half constructed fortress was covered in plant growth, the walls were filled with cracks, the overall state of the fortress was decrepit, but it still stood.

Inside the fortress walls were a large group of twenty or so bandits, some drinking, some poking at people trapped in cages, and some eating happily. Their strength wasn’t anything to be shocked about, so it was hard to believe The Slaver got around this long with such a small and worthless group. One could assume it was just by dumb luck he evaded capture, but that would be incorrect. Two identical people dressed in red robes, stood behind The Slaver. He knew they were above his own level of strength, and filled with mystery. Their skin was pale, almost to the point of looking sickly, with dark circles around their eyes while their bodies were completely hairless.

“Our master.” “Says the last shipment was low.” The identical men spoke in a incongruent manner. One would start a sentence and the other would finish it, adding to the unnatural feeling they gave off.

“Tell him it’s been hard with bounty placed on me… The Kingdom is starting to get suspicious, and not just them but some people in the black market aren’t too happy. Since I’m not going through the proper channels a lot of people are out for me. This is what happens when you go against the order of things.” The Slaver explained aggressively, he only chose to be rude with the identical men because they wouldn’t react, however he would never take the same tone with their master.

“That was a given, did you think.” “That there would be no trouble.” The identical men said in voices lacking emotion. They then continued.

“You’ve been paid in advance.” “And because of that, you have an obligation.”

“If you show any signs of backing out.” “We will deal with you accordingly.” The identical men warned.

“Your master has been good to me, so I’ll naturally fulfill my end. Just make sure there is a place for me after all of this.” The slaver said. Although The Slaver dared to speak rudely to them he knew better than to show dissatisfaction or even worse, disloyalty. The two identical men were way stronger than him, and more than capable of wiping out everyone in the broken fortress.

“Our master will keep his word.” “As long as you follow his orders.”

“Pure Slaves.” “Make sure your men don’t touch any of them.”

“And soon enough you’ll be.” “Rewarded with power.” The identical men gave words of assurance.

The Slaver was satisfied with the answer and was just about to speak again but-

“Helloooooooooooo!” The voice of a young boy echoed all around the fortress. Interrupting the atmosphere and shifting focus to the source of the sound.

A black-haired boy with yellow eyes, dressed in black stood in front of the fortress with a friendly grin.

…………………………….

“Hellooooooooooo!” Ira shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing the attention of everyone in the fortress.

The captured civilians looked on, hope appearing in their eyes before it receded back into misery. They thought they were going to be rescued but were met with a boy who seem to lack awareness. In their perspective, for Ira to walk straight into a bandit camp, was equivalent to placing himself in a cage and handing himself over.

The harsh looking men, who numbered about twenty watched Ira closely. Although he was just a young boy, if he could get this deep into the Great Forest, he had to possess some capability. The slaver and the two identical men watched him, from the ramparts.

“That boy.” “Isn’t as simple as he seems.” The twins men spoke.

Ira looked up towards the ramparts with a brief look of surprise. The Slaver met his gaze, staring directly at Ira.

“It’s you!” Ira shouted. Meanwhile, the bandits began surrounding him.

“You wanna die kid?” A balding man with a patchy beard spoke in a harsh tone. Ira ignored the man and instead swept his gaze past the approaching bandits.

“Hmm…” Ira raised his finger and pointed at the balding man.

“Hey, could you kill this guy first! I’ll handle a few of them and leave the rest to you. Then I’ll go get the slaver.”Ira yelled loudly.

The bandits took pause, and then burst out laughing.

“I think the kid’s gone crazy.” The balding man laughed, but it was cut short by an arrow that tore through his throat, causing him to stumble and fall. The surroundings went quiet as the man emitted a harsh groan and then ceased all movement.

Before anyone could react, Ira sent the corpse flying with a kick.

“That guy was ruining the mood, right?” Ira’s sarcastic comment broke the silence, snapping everyone back to reality.

“Bastard!” The rest of the bandits charged Ira, although a few weren’t trained properly, they held more combat experience than the bandits that lurked around villagers. Some of these bandits were soldiers who deserted or ex-mercenaries who were forced to quit due to their own crimes.

The closest bandit was greeted by two punches, one landing square in his chest and the other right in his nose. His sternum suffered fractures and his nose was completely broken.

“Ahh!” The bandit cried in a high-pitched tone, as an immense pain surged through him. Ira seized the bandit by the collar and brought him in close. At this time a few of the surrounding bandits were already swinging at Ira, but didn’t land any hits due to his human shield.

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Another arrow flew out from the foliage surrounding the fortress but was blocked by a quick bandit using a shield.

“Go find that fucker!” A bandit yelled, causing a part of the group to split off towards the forest.

Ira’s human shield continued to cry each time Ira used him to block a hit. Hearing their comrade scream, the bandits slowed their assault, which gave Ira enough time to counter. He threw the body of the now half-dead bandit at the ones surrounding him, knocking a few down. Then he drew his sword and began attacking. Each one of his basic strikes carried an inhuman amount of force behind them, the weaker bandits were unable to resist the blows and would either suffer broken limbs or be killed outright.

“Aaaaah!”

Ira’s sword cut right between the webbing on a bandits fingers and through his hand. Ira kicked the bandit away and spun 180 degrees thrusting his sword into the eye socket another bandit who attempted to catch him off guard. By the time he was done, Ira was surrounded as the bandits completely encircled him.

“It’s over now, nowhere to run.” A bandit taunted but met with a swift kick from Ira who then grabbed two other bandits and slammed their heads together before disappearing from sight. When he reappeared he was on the ramparts reach for the Slaver.

The men in red reacted simultaneously, sending throwing knives into Ira at incredible speed, hitting his hands and chest, giving The Slaver enough time to dodge.

“Shit! He almost got me, you guys should be quicker.”The Slaver complained, a slightly worried expression on his face was apparent as his forehead became slightly damp with sweat. The two identical men ignored him and kept staring at Ira.

“You got some nice friends, Slaver.” Ira smiled.

“You’re with the Mercenaries Union?” The Slaver asked as his expression looking calmed due to the sense of security the men in red gave him, calmed his heart.

“I am, so you should just-” Suddenly, Ira had a feeling something was wrong but it was already too late to react, the identical men began speaking so fast that it sounded as if they were speaking gibberish.

“Curse of Distortion.”

“Hey, what the hell are you-”

Ira yelled, his vision began to become distorted. He felt a sense of disequilibrium, and just barely managed to stay upright.

“Curse of Binding.”

“Hey! Cut that out!”

Red vines with hook thorns, emerged from the ground and wrapped themselves around Ira’s legs, restricting his movements. When he attempted to move, the deeper the vines tore into his flesh, within a few seconds his legs were completely bloodied.

“Curse of Sickness.”

“Damn it!” Ira yelled.

“Curse of Bleeding.”

A small amount of blood ran from Ira’s nose.

“Ha, this isn’t very fair.” Ira looked incredibly pale and sickly. Curses fell under the category of black magic and were widely scorned by the general populace. Anyone caught practicing illegal black magic would be persecuted and killed if found guilty so it was generally untouched. Though most curses could be resisted as long as one had an adequate amount of mana, but if they had a high amount they could just outright dispel them.

“Good luck dispelling that chain curse. Even if you have enough mana to resist your body will erode in a week or so.” The Slaver’s gloating was misplaced as he didn’t know of Ira’s abnormal healing rate.

Ira made a small laugh at his words and shook his head. Ira began  to raise his legs, the thorns tore into his flesh, cutting deeply into his calf muscles, but he continued to raise them.

“Kill him!” The Slaver shouted at the men in red, but they stayed silent and just watched Ira with interest.

The first vine finally broke under the stress, freeing Ira’s left leg. Repeating the same motion, Ira raised his right leg and broke the second vine without as much resistance, since the curse weakened when the first vine broke.

“Now let’s try this again.” Ira looked at the three in front of him and smiled brightly, his yellow eyes seemed to beam with life. Seeing Ira break away from the vines so easily the Slaver drew his sword immediately. In his mind Ira became even more of a threat than before.

………………………………..

Outside of the fortress.

Lance’s sword cut deeply into the face of a bandit and instantly killed him.

“Shit!” Lance clenched his teeth as he blocked an incoming blow with his round shield.

“Lance!” Gerald swung his mace at with the bandit assaulting Lance, crushing his skull and sending his brain matter flying.

“Come on! Who’s next!?” Gerald gave an uncharacteristically loud roar, his aggressive bearing and large stature caused some of the weaker bandits to become hesitant.

Without warning Gerald swung fiercely striking another bandit and turning his face into fleshly chunks that fell to the ground. It had to be said, the mace was an effective weapon to use on monsters and humans alike. Seeing their comrades disfigured by a mace caused the others to hesitate. In addition the number of the bandits were already lower because of Ira, the chances of survival were looking slim for the bandits if they stayed on the offensive.

All of a sudden an arrow, shot from the treetops and, found its way into an unsuspecting bandits skull. Next, a bright red ball of flame, flew into from within shrubbery, landing directly on another bandit.

“Aaaaah!” The bandits tried to put the flame out, but it was too late, his cries dimmed as the stench of burning flesh spread all around. A charred smoking corpse was left on the ground, causing everyone to feel nauseated.

Without much delay, an incredibly sharp icicle flew from the same direction the fireball came from, sailing through the air.

A bandit with his guard down was hit in the chest by the icicle, and fell as it tore through his shabby makeshift chest plate and lodged itself between his lungs.

“Euh…Euh…Euh…” After a few weak tugs on the icicle and small groans, the bandit slumped to the ground, releasing his last breath.

“Fuck! I’m leaving!” A bandit shouted, dropping his weapon and running away, letting his figure disappearing from sight.

“Damn it!” Another bandit followed suit. Immediately after the remaining bandits ran away. In battle, one person fleeing could have a domino effect, causing anyone else with a weak heart to flee. No matter how high the number of enemies it is, once their morale is broken completely the battle will be over.

“Haah!” Once the battle was over Lance fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath. Valerie, and Zella all emerged from the shrubbery while Sarah climbed down from a tree and followed behind them. As they looked at the aftermath of the fight they could only feel nausea . After Ira rushed ahead, the others made a plan to somehow lure the bandits into an ambush, surprisingly, Ira somehow knew Sarah was aiming for the bandits near him and told her to shoot.

Lance thought of Ira, or rather, the way Ira easily used brutal means to kill his opponents, most commonly those who killed others would be reminded of it. That’s why most knights, soldiers, bandits, mercenaries, and assassins all shared one hobby and that was drinking.

“Lance…” Gerald spoke before pausing, “...We have to-”

“I know.” Lance interrupted in a grim tone before gathering his thoughts. Ira was still fighting with the Slaver inside the fortress and seeing as how he didn’t come back, he could have met with some difficulty. There was no way of telling what tricks the Slaver had up his sleeve.

“Hah…Let’s go get him.” Lance stood up and looked at his friends. Would they be able to do this again? Could they get used to killing? Or maybe it was just him with reservations. Lance thoughts were halted as Gerald placed a hand on his shoulder. They looked at each other before nodding.

The party made their way closer to the fortress, there were dead bodies that were littered at the entrance, each dead in a gruesome way. Not to far away was a cage full of different people, young and old, men and women, each one looking quite miserable. Upon seeing the Lance’s party their eyes lit up.

“Save us!” “Hey, Let us out!” “Hurry up!” The cries became louder and louder, the captured slaves were increasingly excited by the prospect of freedom.

“Hey, you see a guy around? Black hair and yellow eyes?” Sarah asked, she noticed that Ira wasn’t around.

“T-They ended up inside.” An old man spoke.

“Alright. Sarah, Zella, and Valerie, you can stay here and get these people to safety. Me and Gerald will go in and see what’s happening.” Lance ordered. The team nodded in acceptance and split up, since it was harder for most Archers and Mages to fight indoors, he had to decide against sending them in. Gerald and Lance walked to a decrepit door and opened it.

“Come on.”

Lance and Gerald stepped inside and shut the door behind them.

…………………

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