Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 537: Bandits

CH537 Bandits

***

”Ah!”

A Fortuna barbarian drove his spear through a unique canine beast native to the core of the Hollowcrest Wildlands—the Drogg.

However, due to the creature’s insane vitality, it refused to die. Instead, it opened its jaws and began forming a sand lance, aiming to skewer the barbarian in retaliation.

Fortunately, he wasn’t alone.

A copper-skinned Fortuna party orc rushed in, glaive raised.

Swipe!

With a single slash, the orc beheaded the beast, whose body was already pinned down by the spear.

The orc grabbed the barbarian and pulled him back to his feet.

Like wolves, droggs hunted in packs.

And with one of their own dead, the rest began circling the two warriors responsible.

Both braced for the incoming clash.

But they never got the chance.

The droggs’ mistake was taking their eyes off the rest of the party.

While they focused on the killers of their kin, the surrounding orcs and barbarians surged forward and struck from the sides.

Minutes later, around sixty drogg corpses littered the sand, blood soaking into the desert sands and rock.

The twenty-five or so orcs and barbarians collapsed where they stood—some kneeling, others lying flat on the burning ground—as they dragged in desperate breaths.

From atop Dread, Alex watched everything.

His expression was calm, controlled and essentially expressionless.

But inside, he was anything but relaxed.

The intensity of combat had risen sharply since they entered the true core of the Wildlands.

Beasts either came in overwhelming numbers... or were terrifyingly powerful on their own.

In barely three hours, they had already fought and slain two Class 4 beasts.

On top of that, three separate packs of Class 1 and Class 2 creatures, each numbering over fifty.

To keep everyone alive, Alex had been forced to divide the expedition into rotating units, swapping them in and out whenever possible so the fighters could recover even a little.

Mana limitations also meant the spellcasters could no longer offer constant support.

The burden had shifted heavily onto the melee line.

’If not for the Fey Monarch bloodline boosting recovery under the sun,’ Alex thought grimly, ’the injuries would have piled up by now... and someone would already be dead.’

Alex looked toward Eleanore.

She moved from one injured fighter to another, her healing flowing smoothly, almost gracefully, as if it cost her nothing at all.

This campaign would have been far more difficult without her.

’Not only her,’ Alex thought as he glanced at the women riding at his sides. ’Without Zora’s firepower and Udara’s stealth and assassinations, we’d be having a much harder time.’

His wives made up the very peak of the party’s strength.

Once again, he was reminded of how much of a ’son of the heavens’ he was, to have married not one but three women like them.

Turning back to the battlefield, Alex reflected that one of the benefits of constant combat was the opportunity it gave to polish one’s skill.

The relentless, high-intensity engagements had sharpened many members of the party. He was already expecting another round of breakthroughs soon, especially among the weaker barbarians and a few of the orcs.

But the most important improvement was something else.

Teamwork.

They were beginning to understand each other... their strengths, weaknesses and habits.

People were starting to instinctively move to cover for others, or create openings for them to exploit.

Even the orcs and barbarians—so lacking in discipline in Alex’s eyes—were gradually meshing together, edging closer and closer to resembling a true military unit.

The final improvement, perhaps the most underrated, was their looting speed.

The constant threat of being attacked while stripping their kills had forced everyone to learn how to harvest materials as quickly as possible.

And Eleanore hovering nearby ensured they did it without ruining the loot in their panic.

By the time Alex returned from his thoughts, the droggs had already been butchered and picked clean of anything valuable.

Then—

”Alright, all of you, stop what you’re doing. Hand over everything you have, or get ready to lose your lives.”

An unfamiliar group suddenly appeared, surrounding them.

Alex’s eyes flickered with surprise.

The newcomers sneered, mistaking his reaction for fear at their sudden arrival.

Unbeknownst to them, that surprise came from a completely different reason.

Alex, thanks to his Spirit Sight and Senu’s shared vision, had already noticed this group tailing them for the past hour.

During that time, Fortuna had wiped out a pack of scavenger imps, a Class 4 Dune Croc, and now an entire drogg pack.

And yet, this group, with only ten One-Star Gold ranks among them, believed they could rob them?

”Do we really look that much like pushovers?” Alex asked.

The question caught Zora off guard and she burst out laughing.

”They probably think we’re exhausted, Master,” Udara offered calmly. ”We did fight two large packs of berserk beasts for our number, and then that desperate battle against the Class 4 berserk beast.”

”Ah, I see...” Alex nodded. ”That fight was troublesome. The damned Dune Croc detonated the berserk energy inside its body trying to drag us down with it. Without Eleanore, we would have been in a rather thorny situation.”

”Also,” Zora added, ”they probably think we’re weak. We don’t use coloured aura coatings like they do. They must think you’re some rich young master travelling with a bunch of Silver rankers.”

Alex nodded again.

Half of Fortuna consisted of Pangeans whose internal energy or mana pressure had to be sensed directly to determine their rank. Without visible aura coatings, Verdantean outsiders usually reached one of two conclusions.

Either they were terrifying experts above Gold—Combat Masters who had already shed such displays.

Or they were nobodies... commonfolk who couldn’t even being walking the path of ascension.

Since the party had needed numbers to bring down the Dune Croc, the bandits had obviously dismissed the first possibility.

Which was why they dared to block the road.

The bandit leader’s lips curled in annoyance at Alex’s calm reaction.

But at the same time, his eyes kept drifting toward the women. Greed, lust and possession flashing in his eyes.

And he wasn’t subtle about it.

”Hey, you brat—”

”You’d better choose your next words carefully,” Alex interrupted, his eyes turning frigid cold. ”Or they will be the last ones you and your men ever speak.”

***