"Raid the bandit camp? This late at night?" I frowned.
"Yeah, it's not like the bandits needed any reason to be here to begin with and eliminating the bandit camp as a whole is a much better deal to remove the threat in this place," Queen Tanya grinned.
"I think it is a good idea, Manato. It's not like we can avoid the confrontation against them to begin with. Once we are close to their location, they are sure to attack still so maybe a preemptive attack is a good thing," Pandora agreed to Queen Tanya's suggestion.
Well, she is not wrong. Those guys will attack us once we get near their base which is in the way. Their perimeter is also quite guarded as well with other bandits so even if we look for another way, they would either just start attacking us or ambush us along the way instead. Pretty annoying by the way.
"If that is the case, who will be watching the mansion while everyone else are resting?" I scratch my head.
"Don't worry, Manato. I will remain guarding the mansion and you guys should go ahead and infiltrate their camp. I would rather rest and enjoy the cold air rather than fight for now. Besides, you guys will just make a short work on those guys so I don't think my presence there is needed anyways."
"But you will be alone in guarding the mansion! Two is better than one, you know?" I tried as I can't just leave Pandora alone guarding the whole mansion.
"I will be staying behind as well, Master. I can still feel my hand is too unstable to be good enough to use in a fight and I am still too fatigued to do anything else so I would just be accompanying Pandora at this task instead," Lucia glanced at Pandora who smiled after hearing her words.
Hearing that, I felt relieved that there is someone else who is accompanying Pandora in this and not only by herself. With Lucia staying behind as well, Pandora has a company for the entire night while we are gone.
"Looks like your worries are now gone. So, how about it? Are you good at the plan or nah?"
I nodded and grab my weapon ready. "Then let's get ready for we will be deleting a bandit camp for the night."
...
...
...
After a little preparation, the two of us left the mansion, leaving the care to Pandora and Lucia to guard the place.
Queen Tanya wears her combat outfit while I wear my usual gear. But with less metallic components that are common on my gear since we are going for stealth. Although it won't be much of a big problem if I went to stealth, I just liked the gear I am wearing being much lightweight and easy to move around.
Queen Tanya and I sprinted from the mansion straight to the area near the bandits are camping. On the way, we spotted the areas where the men I eliminated have been killed. Although the bodies are not there, I can tell they carried them along with their retreat and didn't leave anyone behind.
"Those dead bandits are brought back along with them? Guess they do still care about the others even if they are dead," Queen Tanya commented after seeing the bloodstained sands that clearly indicates the area they have died in.
"Nah, I doubt those guys would carry the dead just for the sake of grieving for them. More like they needed to recover their belongings and stash them away instead of letting the dead keeping them," I answered, knowing well how the bandits behave. After all, I have defeated and interacted with many bandits in the past timeline. I have met and greeted them more times than I can think of.
We hid near the giant rock nearby and observed the surroundings first. A few men are spotted walking around the area, patrolling the perimeter for any enemies.
"Despite being bandits, they are quite thorough with their security," I commented.
"They are indeed quite disciplined for being mere bandits. But still, even if they are, there are still no denying that they are still a menace to the world and ensuring that they are gone is the best course of action to ensure the safety of the innocent people."
"Then, let's get to work, yeah?"
"Sure, here, let me do the opening act. Don't worry, it is a silent ability so they won't be able to do anything." nove)lb/In
Queen Tanya extend her left hand and form it like she was about to grab or choke something. Then, the bandits suddenly held their necks like they were being choked or something.
"[Phantom Hand]?" I frowned.
"Yep. I don't use it much but it is a useful ability that will definitely be good in either grabbing something in the distance or doing something like this."
The bandits keep on struggling as they were being choked by the invisible hand. It seems both are already struggling to breathe and are trying to do something on it. But it didn't take long for them to lose their life. They have breathed their last.
"Looks like they are dead," I said.
"Let's keep it for a bit in case they are still alive, just to make sure."
She held them up for a few more seconds before she slam them down to the sand, without a single life lingering in their bodies.
"Good. The coast is clear. Let's get into the camp."
We cautiously enter the perimeter of the camp. There are plenty of bandits inside as I have visited this place before and defeated them multiple times. I am quite familiar with the interior and exterior of the camp that I don't even need any map to look at this place.
During the first intersection of the camp, there will be an area where the bandits will be either resting or chatting in the area. It is the lounge or the area.
I grab one of the vials of Poison Gas Bottle in my inventory and ready it. Although I didn't made it, this is a superb product made by my mother, a result of hard labor and several experiments. You can say that her ways to make different things just made her more fascinated in making more stuff like this to be used in battle.
"What is that, Manato?" Queen Tanya pointed on the circular?bottle in my hands.
"Poison gas bottle. It is a quick poison that will envelop a small area filled with deadly poison that anyone inside the poison will rapidly lose health that even holding their breath will not work. This will be a good bottle of potion to deal with them silently."
I throw the bottle into the intersection and a few seconds later, green fumes appeared from where I have thrown the poison bottle. It didn't take long for the confused and coughing bandits to complain and are having a hard time inside it. It didn't take them that long for them to die as the place slowly went from making a small ruckus then slowly went quiet. They have perished from inhaling poison.
"Wow, that was a very fatal poison. They immediately died after a few while. Is it safe to go now?" Queen Tanya asked.
"Once the green smoke dissipated, the poison is gone and it is now safe to venture into the area where the poison was thrown or released. No need to worry about it."
We continue to move sneakily and checked the area we just throw in the poison in and we saw five guys who were drinking beer fallen off their couches and some are just holding their necks and mouth like they are trying to exhale all of the poison they inhaled. All of them are dead.
"How many bottles of poison do you have in your arsenal, Manato?" Queen Tanya asked.
"I brought 10 of them since that is the maximum I can carry. I used one just now so I only have 9 bottles left," I answered.
"Then let's use them strategically. We don't want to lose all of our potions in one go, don't we?"
And so, we proceed with caution and continue to lay waste to the camp. Not a single one managed to know what is happening inside the camp as most of the bandits there have died before they know what is happening.
Our methods of dispatching the enemies are either using the [Phantom Hand] of Queen Tanya or using the poison bottles I have. All of them are effective ways to deal with them and none of the bandits have survived either attacks. So we have ventured deep into the camp with just both ways of elimination. It took a few more twist and turns before we have reached the area where the Boss of the bandits and the treasury where the stolen goods are being kept by the bandits.
"Do you think the boss will die if the poison is used or not?" Queen Tanya frowned.
"Not sure but only one way to find out," I pulled out my last bottle of poison as we stare at the room where the bandit boss is currently staying in.