Bab 10: 10Next!
The condition of his parents infuriated Arthur. His eyes turned red as blood, and his grip on the sword hilt tightened. The first time, he felt regret that he could not kill.
But Arthur did not dare to move forward as it scared him at the thought of bandits harming his parents.
Unlike the last time, Alvar and Emilia were out of the cage. Bandits hung them to the gallows by their hands tied together with the ropes.
However, ropes went over the execution instrument and tied to a mooring ring on the wooden platform.
The couple was twitching in pain as their thin muscles were not strong enough to bear their body weight under gravity.
While they were hanging by their hands, beneath them were many wooden spears. They would die as long as the bandits would cut the ropes.
"Mum, dad…." Arthur muttered as his mind went black. He thought he could fight back to save them. But he underestimated the bandit's cunning methods.
"Kanha…Leave…please…." Emilia struggled to speak. In pain, she squeezed out a smile to persuade Arthur. If she were to die now, she would leave best for her child. That was why she was trying to smile now.
Arthur suddenly felt pain in his chest as if some invisible power squeezed his heart. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. But that didn't work, Arthur only felt an urge to save them from the predicament.
He then tried to move towards them. However, many hands stopped and warned him not to move. Arthur gritted his teeth and looked at the prime culprit of the incident.
"What do you want?" Arthur asked.
"What an emotional scene! Trust me, even my heart moved" Stanwick said, clapping.
Then he continued, "How about we play a game? If you win, I will let you and your parents go."
"What game?" Arthur asked with a heavy heart. He would be a fool if he were to trust his words. But he didn't have an option now. Even if he wanted to save them, the only way was to confront the bandits.
But could they allow him to do as he wished? No! They would threaten him using his parents.
Thus, playing along with him was the only chance.
"It's a simple game. Look around you, I have 105 brothers. I will send them to attack you, and you need to defeat them."
"That's crazy!" Emilia shouted before Arthur could answer.
"You are not in the place to bargain," Stanwick said, "I divide the game into the 14 levels. In the first round, you will fight against one opponent; second round, two opponents; third round, three opponents. The same pattern follows until you defeat all my brothers."
"But if you cannot defeat them…" Stanwick stopped talking as he looked at Arthur.
"If I cannot?" Arthur asked nervously.
"Your parents will tell the treasure location and die," Stanwick replied, "don't say I am unfair. I can easily kill you and torture them to know what I want."
"It's my grace that gives you a chance to save your parents."
"Easy, isn't it?" Stanwick grinned.
Arthur didn't reply and blankly looked at him. Rejecting wasn't an option. But his dire situation demanded a plan to save his parents and himself from bandits clutches. If he were to use the lightning power, he could easily defeat them.
However, that would endanger his parents' life. Stanwick might have found out about his arrival through the spies he placed around the camp. But he doubted that they knew about his lightning physiology. From his carefree attitude, Arthur could deduce Stanwick underestimated him.
Arthur said nothing about it. If there was anything, it relieved him.
'I let him underestimate my power. When the time comes, I will have the upper hand,' Arthur thought.
There was another reason he chose not to use lightning. He didn't know Stanwick's true strength. It said that West-skull bandits were the weakest amongst the four. However, Stanwick was a mysterious individual.
There were also rumors that he was preparing to revolt against the Windville bandits. Adding to that, Arthur knew he was not the Stanwick match. He could injure Uncle Layman thanks to his speed.
But that strategy would not work here, as there were many people to restrict his speed. Even if he was confident in dodging them, it would, nonetheless, slow him down.
Even if it's for just for a second, it was enough for a powerhouse like Stanwick to finish him. Not to mention, Stanwick could easily defeat Uncle Layman.
With that all in his mind, Arthur refrained from using the lightning and replied nonchalantly, "Easy."
Stanwick frowned when he heard Arthur's reply. When he asked previously, he was mocking Arthur. He liked to kill people in despair. But he couldn't see the despair instead of the fearless eyes oblivious to the surrounding danger.
'That's not the eyes of an amateur kid! What is he playing? Acting? Let's see how long you can keep,' Stanwick sneered and waved his hand.
The bandits moved with his signal and formed the circle encompassing Arthur.
"First round, start!"
"Boss, I'll go!" Viden said, sauntering from the bandit crowd. Viden was in his adulthood with an age of around 25 years. He had black skin and a visage that was flickering in confidence and wickedness with a black skull tattoo above his left eye. He was a double-edged ax user.
Although Viden was young and weak, in his eyes, Arthur was nothing but livestock waiting to get slaughtered.
"Wait!" Arthur suddenly stopped Viden as he looked at Stanwick.
"What is it?" Stanwick asked impatiently.
"I have a question. Who injured Claire?"
"You meant that purple-haired b*tch? I thought of bringing her to the camp. Pity, I stabbed her abdomen in anger," A man who was standing behind said, hearing Arthur's question.
"And who are you?" Arthur asked calmly.
"Vice-captain, Kallus!"
"Thanks for answering," Arthur nodded with a glint in his eyes
"Let's fight!"
"Hehe…It's your blessing to die in my hands!" Viden was not a talkative man. After mocking Arthur, he immediately attacked him, swinging the ax, hoping to cleave Arthur into the two.
Arthur dodged the attack with his nimble body and kicked the Viden stomach, forcing the latter to retreat a few steps back.
Arthur only invested 30% of his strength in the kick. So he knew it didn't injure him. Without the lightning supplementing his body, his strength did not differ from the Viden.
"That's so humiliating, Viden. You let a kid kick you," a voice rang from the Bandit group, followed by the mocking laughs.
Viden's face was red in shame when he heard his comrade's words and looked at his stomach where Arthur kicked him. He could see the footprint on his shirt and that infuriated him.
How could an ant-like Arthur injure him? He looked at Arthur with venomous eyes and said, "You are so dead, boy."
Arthur ignored his words instead attacked as he cleaved the sword at him.
Viden startled as he didn't expect Arthur would attack and hurriedly blocked the sword with the ax handle, however, the handle neatly cut into the two pieces before the sword dashing towards him.
Every face turned ashen as they saw their comrade falling in front of them. As bandits, it was true they were wicked and wouldn't hesitate to commit crimes, but that didn't mean they didn't have feelings. Bandits were also human and also had emotions.
However, death didn't come as they were expecting. The sword stopped a few inches away from his face while the sword tip on his neck.
"You lost," Arthur said coldly
Viden nodded, gulping in fear.
Arthur took the sword back and turned around to return to the center. But at that moment, viciousness flashed in the Viden's eyes as he suddenly attacked Arthur's back. They were bandits after all. If Arthur would get an injury, it was his mistake of being careless.
That being said, Arthur's battle instincts were too scary. Before the ax could even travel half-way, he slightly bent his body and threw a kick.
Viden flew in the air, crashing into the bandit's group.
"I hate blood. Please don't force me," Arthur said, returning to center, "Next!"
When Arthur said he hated the blood, it was a lie. He didn't want to severely injure the opponents, so they would think he was a naïve boy. His parents were still before his eyes, struggling between life and death.
Stanwick frowned. He didn't mean it when he called them brothers. That was only to deceive them and earn loyalty. So his frown was not directed to the Viden's care but the force behind the kick.
For an expert like him, he could easily produce such a strength, but according to the Intel, Arthur didn't awaken the aura yet. And as for the lightning, they hid it from the public and except for the Alvar trustworthy subordinates, no one knew
But how could he defeat Viden easily? is he concealing his strength? That makes no sense. Even the peak genius who awakened aura was 14 years old.
Not to mention it will take at least 2-3 years to form the aura core. For the first time, Stanwick felt he took the wrong step, and couldn't help but thought, 'How did he learn the base location?'
Stanwick shook his head, stopped worrying. Then he gestured with a hand to send two sub-ordinates. A minute later, they faced the same fate as the Viden.
"Next!"
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"Next!"
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"Next!"
The bandits shuddered in fear as they heard the word 'next'. They never thought a simple word like 'next' could be so horrific. After a few hours of continuous fighting, Arthur had already fought through the 12 stages and won.
However, it came with the price. Unending fighting exhausted him and blood seeping from the various parts of the body. His shoulder and waist had cue ball-sized holes and the blood still oozing out of the wounds.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone