Bab 10: Advent
"Cain, looks like things aren't looking so good for us..." A tall thin man with short fair hair said with low hope.
He sustained a shoulder injury with an arrow and was currently laying slumped against one of the carriages while being treated by their healer in their party. The arrow was barbed leading to a messier wound that slowed down the healing process.
"D-Don't give up just yet, Jack! We'll make it through this! I promise! Don't you want to go home and see your daughter you haven't seen in weeks?" An innocent-looking young man with short brown hair and hazel eyes that showed a strong will shouted back.
He looked like he was still in his teens. He was clad in leather armor that still looked new. The same could be said to the short sword he was awkwardly holding in his hand.
"Heh, you're right, Cain. We'll make it back and I will see her again before I- ack!" Jack said before he winced to the pain of his arrow wound.
"Please hold still! You already lost a lot of blood." A young female healer in their party pleaded while in tears, desperately trying to heal his wounds.
"I'm also not planning on dying today. All the pretty girls are still waiting for me back home." A scruffy-looking adventurer in their party said.
He looked to be around his early-30s. He was wearing a light leather garb that covers the chest and a cloak. He was wielding knives and there were multiple knives attached to his outfit. A rogue-like adventurer.
"If you have time for jokes, focus on helping us get out of here alive!" A young-looking female mage in their party shouted at him from behind with a bit of annoyance.
The female mage and the healer looked very similar to each other both having identical azure hair colors and aqua blue eyes. Both were in their teens and have slim figures. They were wearing similar clothes with a garb decorated in blue with a white blouse and culottes style knee socks under a flared skirt.
The differences are that the mage is a little taller with longer hair that reaches down her waist while the healer's hair only reaches down her shoulders adorned by a white flower hair bow. Both looked to be around their mid-teens with the mage looking around 15 whereas the healer looked to be around 13.
"D-Don't mind Brady. He always acts like this even at the worst of times." Jack said with a bit of shame that he was making them look bad in front of a cute girl.
"Come on. Can't a guy dream a little before his death? Whatever. How ya holdin' up, Jacky?" Brady asked him.
"Uggh... 'Status'." Jack strained.
『Status』
Name: Jack
Sex: Male
Age: 22
Race: Human
Class: Archer
Level: 8
Rank: E+
State: Wounded
HP: 412/680
MP: 441/600
「Stats」
STR: 35
CON: 33
AGI: 45(+2)
DEX: 47(+1)
INT: 30
「Skills」
Skills: [Bow Techniques: 3] [Bow Arts: 1] [Tracking: 1]
「Equipment」
Forest Horn Bow
Reinforced Leather Armor
Horn Wolf Light Boots
Silver Heart Pendant
"I'm hanging in there. Can't exactly shoot when my shoulder's like this..." Jack said after ascertaining his status and his current condition.
"Focus, everyone! Lord Helder's barrier bought us a break so we need to use this time to recover and prepare!" The young mage shouted to everyone.
"And Cain, please don't get yourself killed. We only just met but..." The young mage said to Cain.
"I won't, Miss Layla! Don't worry!" Cain said without hesitation.
"Ha Ha Ha!! Give it up, bastards! Your barrier won't hold for long! You will all die soon and we'll take everything including the women and children for ourselves!" A bald bandit who is the leading bandit shouted in a vile manner.
A middle-aged man whose name is Helder was standing amidst the carriage group. He clicked his tongue at the fact that the bandit leader was right about the barrier. Helder is a middle-aged man with short silver hair and a beard. He's wearing a high-quality noble attire suit and was wielding a magic wand with a red gemstone that is currently illuminating a bright light. He was focusing on maintaining the barrier he cast to give everyone time to recover and think.
"Once the barrier runs out, take all the valuables, women and children. They look like they'll make a good profit when we sell em' as slaves. Especially the daughter of a noble! But of course, not before we have our fun with them first!" The bandit leader gave a burst of loathsome laughter.
"Bastards! Not if we can help it!" The young adventurer Cain stood his ground from the vile remarks of the bandit leader and shouted back.
The boy faced the bandits with both his hands grasping his sword and pointing it at the bandits in front of him. However, he wasn't exactly standing firm and completely steady. Even though there's currently a barrier standing between him and the bandits, his thin body was trembling against the odds he was facing due to his lack of experience. No one could blame him though. He was only a newbie adventurer who just registered recently and already he had to face a life-threatening battle for the first time. In fact, one can say that it's actually quite impressive for someone as green as him to be able to hold fast against such an encounter this well for this long rather than completely freeze up or break down like many new adventurers when encountering something like this.
"W-Wait! Cain! Please be careful!" The healer pleaded.
"Don't worry about me, Lyra. Please continue to heal Jack and tend to the others." He was referring to one of the carriage guards that had sustained injuries. He was struggling to remain conscious.
"Ha Ha Ha! You're pretty brave for a kid, but ya only making your suffering last longer! Just let us end it for you. I promise I'll make it quick for you." The bald bandit laughs.
"Tch!" Cain clicked his tongue at that remark.
"Haa, fuck it! Alright, kid, I'm with you to the end." Brady suddenly said as we walked up and stood at the young adventurer's side.
"Brady... T-Thanks, Brady," Cain said and smiles with appreciation.
"Don't mention it. Can't exactly let a kid outdo me in terms of being a man, let alone die like one." Brady gave a wry smile.
The young mage, Layla, remained silent when she heard what was said and then gave a small smile.
As scared as they all were, they were mentally prepared for this. They know just how dangerous this world can be when they sign up as adventurers. When looking at the odds, they were all expecting to die today.
"You adventurers there, if you can run, I would much prefer it if you were to take my daughter and your client and run. We'll buy you as much time as we can. So please, take Irene and run." Helder suddenly spoke up.
"B-But-" Cain tried to speak but struggled due to having been taken aback by what Helder just said.
"Father!" A shout was heard at one of the carriages. It was a crisp and puerile voice, that of a girl's. The source of the shout reveals a beautiful delicate little girl with shining silver hair and azure eyes standing at the open carriage door.
"Stay inside, Daughter! Everything's going to be fine!" Helder shouted in reassurance to his daughter.
"But father! I want to help!" The girl pleaded.
"Do as I say, Irene! Please... It'll be all right. We're almost finished." He gave a gentle smile to his daughter despite the situation.
At her father's pleading command, she reluctantly hides back inside her carriage.
"Oh-ho! The little noble lass is prettier than I thought! Boys! Make sure she doesn't get away!" The bandit leader commanded.
"On my signal, take my carriage and run to the nearest town. We will do our best to provide you with an opening to escape." Helder said to the group of adventurers.
"Lord Helder..." They couldn't argue with a noble who was acting like a father much less in a situation like this.
"Are you ready, Mr. Alden?" Layla turned to their escort client who is a young-looking merchant and asked.
"Y-Yes!" The young merchant replied, doing his best to remain calm.
"The same goes for you, Ly. If anything happens, make sure you'll run and make it out safely." Layla said to the healer with a gentle smile.
"N-Not without you, sister!" Lyra shouted back with teary eyes.
"Ha Ha Ha! Don't worry, girls. I'll make sure to take good care of you two." The bandit leader said, licking his lips.
The older sister clicked her tongue and glared at the bandits with a loathing look while pointing her gleaming magical wand at the bandit leader.
•••
From approximately 200 meters out at the outskirts of the forest, on top of a small hill, laid a truly beautiful small unclothed little girl with ineffable purple hair atop a conspicuous rock watching the spectacle unfold. The sight truly makes it look ethereal even in a world of fantasy.
The loli was relaxing and watching what she had observed to be a bunch of unsavory bandits attacking a company of adventurers and guards. From what it seems from here, around 20 ruffians, all men dressed in weathered clothes, some were shirtless showing off their muscly bodies and armed with various worn-out weapons like daggers, shortswords, bows, pretty much the standard old medieval weapons on the low-budget side.
They were attacking a carriage party which consisted of two different-looking carriages, 5 armed guards clad in iron armor, helmets, and either iron swords or spears, a party of 5 adventurers made up of a young-looking swordsman, an archer, a rogue, a mage, and a healer. There are also others like that middle-aged noble, a young merchant by one of the carriages, and a little girl hiding in the other fancier looking one.
Both sides all looked pretty low-level from what Viola has observed so far.
'Bandits may be a poor bunch that goes after gold and women, but can't they have hygiene on their shopping list as well? Their stench may not be as bad as goblins, but they could really use some deodorant.'
Even though the distance was over 200 meters away from where she is, she was able to see, hear, and smell perfectly clearly as if she was right there where the action was.
They were speaking a language completely unfamiliar to her. Certainly not a language you'd hear from Earth. At first, she didn't understand a single word for the first couple of sentences. But then very shortly after just half-listening to a couple more dialogues, she could already quickly start to understand the words and even the entire conversation that were spoken. Her mind was already automatically deciphering everything that was being heard. She could already start to fully understand word for word that was being said and was now also confident enough that she could speak the language practically fluently after just listening to it for a couple of minutes. This skill 『Cosmic Mind』 is just that splendid!
'Ok, so from what I can already tell from here is that they acted too much like real humans. Not some kind of NPC from a game, but who knows? This world might still be Epoch Fantasy Online but turned real. Kinda like what happened to the NPCs in a certain skeleton overlord novel.' She hypothesized.
After all, from what she has seen in this world so far, the landscape was unfamiliar to her as well as the monsters she has met in the forest, yet there are some monsters that she did recognize from the game like some of the forest serpents she recognized as Acid Serpent and Henry the Blood Bear which cause her to question whether she's in a completely different world unrelated to the game and it's just a coincidence or some kind of hybrid between the game and some other fantasy world just based on EFO.
'Hmmm... interesting to see the skill <Desperation Barrier> being cast in a wide range out here. It's a spell where you cast a strong temporary barrier where nothing gets in and nothing gets out. Apparently, it was cast by that middle-aged man who I presumed is a noble and father of that girl that briefly made an appearance from her carriage.' Viola thought as she continued to observe the standoff between the carriage company and the bandits.
The good guys, in this case, are outnumbered 2:1 with two injured on the rooting team and 3 dead on the bandit side. The injured are unable to move while the healer looks like she's struggling under pressure making the healing process slower as her concentration seems to be in disarray. She also seems to take occasional worried glances at what looks like her older sister.
"A younger and older sibling pair on an adventure, huh..." That nostalgic sight tugs at her heartstrings as she watches.
That young adventure kid is also in the same boat. Looks like he's struggling at the thought of taking a life while having the lack of confidence to be able to protect his friends.
'Seems like most of them are novices. But I do have to give the kid some credit. Despite all that pressure, he's still doing his best.' She smiled at the bravery being showcased by someone so young. It reminded her of herself when she was younger.
'The barrier only serves to stall time for recovery and cover from the bandits' bow units. They did manage to take out three of the bandits before they started getting overwhelmed and started sustaining casualties. But it was thanks to the quick thinking of that noble that placed the barrier, preventing any further causality for now. But it doesn't look like it'll last for long. At this rate, they'll be slaughtered and the ones that are planning on making a break for it won't get too far.' Viola concluded.
'Seems like they won't be able to handle it on their own after all. Looks like it's time for me to jump in. Literally.'
Making up her mind to save them, she hopped off the boulder and right as her bare feet softly landed on the ground, the ground beneath her dents inward as she did one single big leap, shattering it as she flew upwards towards the fight.
'So how will I handle this? Something to hide my identity? Nah, I don't even have a superhero suit let alone ANYTHING to wear. Ah, shit… speaking of which, there I go jumping in without thinking again. What's the point of my accelerated thinking when I don't even use it? It's how I died in my last life! I guess old habits really die hard. Not that it's that big of a deal. Guess I kinda "jumped" the gun on that one teehee~' She awkwardly chortles at her own joke.
'Well, it's a little late to back out now as I'm already in mid-air and heading towards the dropzone. Ah, fuck it. They're just going to have to see my "full" identity.' Committed, she prepares to position her body for the long-awaited "superhero landing".
'Speaking of all this superhero talk, whatever happens, I'll deal with the responsibility. Never a fan of the Clark Kent life. Just years of toiling and living a strenuous life without doing anything. I'm done with that shit. And right now, after dying to Truck-kun technically, saving those in need in this new world is the first step in finally doing something with my fresh life. And with that in mind, here comes the landing. Here goes!'
"Superhero landing!!" She shouted right before she landed with a loud *crash* causing a dust explosion meters away from the bandits and carriage group where she landed with her fist and knee hitting the ground and sending out a large amount of dirt flying out.
"W-What in the-!?" Some of the bandits shouted.
'Heh. Nailed it.' She proudly thought as she managed to nail the totally impractical landing she always wanted to pull off at least once ever since she got a body that could actually do so.
Everyone present was thoroughly shaken by this turn of events and was momentarily stunned while staring at the dust cloud where the sudden source of the spontaneous explosion happened.
"Have no fear, Superloli is here!" The broken language of the cutest and most indescribable high-pitch childish voice sang out from the smoke.
Viola couldn't help but cringe now that she heard herself saying that after making such a showy entrance.
'Ah damn it. It sounded so much cooler in my head.' But the result was a lot different when the voice that said it sounded like an adorable puerile voice of a little girl with a broken accent when trying to speak a new language for the first time.
When the dust dispersed, everyone could start to make out the mysterious person that showed up out of nowhere. The first thing everyone noticed through the dust was her eyes as they were the single most beautiful and eye-catching pair of eyes anyone has ever seen and the owner of those eyes happens to be the most beautiful person they ever laid eyes on. Her skin would make people believe without a doubt that no mortal would possibly be able to possess. Her glossy hair looks like it's incapable of getting dirty as it is long enough to cover some of her important parts.
Because of how mesmerizing her beauty was, it took a second for everyone to notice that the person with a beauty that was beyond description was a child who was currently nude. Everyone there had faces that were all bright red like apples when they saw her while some tried to cover their eyes. Well, they "tried" to.
For the lustful bandits, despite her child-like appearance, that level of beauty would cause them to drool to the point that they would outdo a waterfall.
"Well well! Look at this, boys! Looks like we got ourselves a little pervert here and boy is she one pretty little flower!" The bald bandit who is believed to be the bandit leader said in absolute delight.
'Pervert?... Actually, I guess he's right. It's not my fault I'm naked right now, but I am kind of a pervert considering my collection and browser history. Haa~... I bet everything back home: my manga, PC, console games, and comics are all collecting dust right about now. And I truly hope no one goes through my "Work" folder! They're for stress relieving, I tell ya!' She suddenly has a longing yet dreadful realization as a shiver went down her back.
"Prettiest flower I've seen in my life, I'll tell ya! Ain't nothin' like it!" One of the bandits said, staring at her butt.
"She also looks like one of them half-elves. Those are rare, boss. Especially one of such quality. You reckon she's royalty?" Another bandit licked his lips as he spoke.
'Half-elf? They don't think I'm a vampire but instead a half-elf? Well, I guess with the ears, I can see it. But aren't there still some differences of features between half-elf ears and vampire ears? Well, it works for me I guess.' She presumed.
"Hehe! Even though she lookin' a bit young, with those high-quality looks, we'll make it rich just by selling her alone!" The big bald bandit shouted with heavy laughter.
However, with an indifferent expression, the purple-haired girl completely disregards the yapping dirty animals as her glittering pink amethyst eyes shifted toward the carriage party. She then looked right at the young adventure kid. Her slit-shaped crystalline amethysts pupils, void with emotions yet it gave it an even more unique charm, seem to stare right through his very existence. This caused the boy to completely stiffen up and blush against his will and no matter how hard he tried to be courteous to look away from her naked body, her beauty and those eyes of hers seems to make it physically impossible for him to do so. When staring into such eyes belonging to a being of such breathtaking beauty, he has never felt so insignificant in his young life as the strong will that was shown in his eyes before was gone and was instead replaced with only a look of awe.
With a voice that cannot be described by mortals despite a bit of an accent, she spoke to the boy. But then there was an odd discrepancy. The words that she spoke do not match her majestic looks and voice at all.
"By the way, good job there, kid. You reminded me of myself when I was young." She commended as she gave a smile and a charming 'thumbs up' that just broke the record of her beauty that everyone had before or at least still processing before it came crashing down on them from all that.
"O-Oh...um er..." No one present can respond to such an extraordinary phenomenon, let alone a young kid in his teens that barely saw what life has to offer as he finds himself also physically unable to form a proper response to her unexpected comment.
"Oi! Little girlie! You ignoring us?" The bandit leader suddenly spoke up.
Quite amazing that the bandits weren't as stunned by her looks like the others did, but that was probably due to their overwhelming lust for her that overcame their bewitched state. It was practically shown by the visible bumps on every single one of the bandits' pants.
'Talk about being only able to think with your dicks...' She thought with pity and disgust for the bandits who she only sees as pitiful animals before her.
"Sorry kid. We'll talk later. Got some noisy pest here that needs to be taken care of first." Viola said to the young adventurer as he could only stare in stupefaction.
Turning back and facing the bandit group before her again, her cold and indifferent expression returns with no other trace of emotions that could be seen from before.
She was completely unabashed about the fact that she was standing in front of other people completely naked. Can't say it's a good first impression of her first superhero debut and entrance. But that's the least of her concerns.
"Come over here, girlie. Come play with us for a bit. Because it sure looked like ya already ready to be played with." The bandit leader gave a sickening chuckle as he ogled her body.
With a passionless glare, she continues to remain silent, eyeing the filthy animals before her that kept making noises.
"Yeah! Come on over, you pretty little thing. We won't hurt you. We only want to play." Another bandit said while drooling.
"...Pff-" The little girl suddenly snickered, breaking out of her cold stoic expression as she held up her delicate-looking hand to her mouth.
"Eh?" Everyone was surprised at her sudden change of expression from cold to sudden laughter in a situation like this.
"Pff-hahaha! You guys are hilarious!" She held her stomach and started laughing. She couldn't help but giggle in the most adorable, melodious, and girly laughter that just caused the charmed state timer of everyone present to reset.
"Oi! What's so funny, little girl?" The dastardly bandits said, feeling anger arise.
"Oh, nothing, just your pathetic attempt at luring unsuspecting children. Why don't you offer some candy while you're at it? You might have a chance with a teenager that was strung out last Saturday night!" She continues to mock and ridicule the pitiful bandits as she giggles.
Despite her seemingly carefree attitude toward the situation, she has not lowered her guard even for a second. She knows she shouldn't underestimate anyone in this world. For all she knows, fantasy humans could all be superpowered and some of these bandits should be suspected in case of the worst-case scenario. So just to be safe, she won't be pulling her punches too much. Not against scums like them.
She also has the jump over them as they are underestimating her because she only looked like a delicate little girl to them.
"What did you say, you little brat!? It doesn't matter. Let's see if you can keep up that laughter of yours after we have our way with you!" The now angry bandit leader shouted and was just about to step forward to attack but was stopped after they heard a cold chuckle that seemed to send a completely different signal. A chilling one.
"Heh..." She gave a snicker and smiled, revealing her sharp white little fangs.
'So these fucking bandits are into raping little girls I see. It gave me another reason to not hold back!' She thought, feeling a sense of rage brewing up.
After sensing the bandit's degree of strength, she finds them to be of absolutely no threat... to her that is. For everyone else, these pests need to be exterminated ASAP.
Channeling a bit of mana throughout her body and focusing it on her arms and legs to strengthen her body and further increase her speed and power, her expression changed to one of anger as she emits the most dreadful bloodlust and killing intent no one could possibly imagine. This process of mana enhancing was something she figured out while hunting in the forest. The process came naturally to her.
"You who are no better than goblins, don't pray for your god because you won't have time to pray for something you don't have." She gave a cute yet bloodthirsty smile where, to the carriage party, they saw an angered goddess. But to some of the bandits, they saw the devil.
"What was tha- ack!" Before anyone could react, let alone the poor unsuspecting bandit leader, the bald bandit was immediately cut off and instead yelped from a blow with the force of a thousand trucks landing right into his solar plexus.
No one noticed how Viola instantly got in front of the bandit leader nor could they spot her attack as it happened way too fast. The only thing anyone could register was the sound of a loud explosive impact of something moving at the speed of sound making contact with flesh and the loud sound of bones exploding within a human body.
Despite how much shorter her legs are now, it didn't mean anything if they're moving this fast to the point that the world is moving at a standstill to her. And because of that, she didn't stop there after having just annihilated the bandit leader in a blink of an eye.
Moving so fast, she instantly flickered to every single bandit at an impossible speed while landing a blow at rapid succession at every bandit right in the center of their bodies before any of them could even react and giving each and every one of them the same fate as the bandit leader. Each punch that was too fast to track made an explosive sound due to her punches breaking the sound barrier and making direct contact with the bandits' bodies while sending out a wave of air outwards from each blow and the explosive sounds of bones shattering echoed throughout the surroundings.
Each of her flicker jabs completely obliterated the entire skeletal system of the bandits and turning their bodies into literal ragdolls as their now ragdoll bodies flew far into the distance of the field in different directions away from the road they were just on while leaving a trail of dust behind before crashing and bouncing across the field in the far distance. Her tremendous strength and speed have allowed her to effortlessly overpower every bandit in the area within just a matter of seconds.
*Thud*
Multiple thuds of the bandit group ragdoll bodies were the only thing that could be heard from the distance afterward before complete silence overtook the area with the exception of the wind howling.
What just happened was completely unbelievable as every single one of the bandits disappeared as suddenly as they appeared when they ambushed the group. And the culprit behind it was the most delicate and dainty-looking little girl who looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly.
Staring at the aftermath, even Viola was equally surprised herself.
'D-Did I just Faora-Ul them to the next Isekai world?? So weak! I didn't mean to kill them... yet. I wanted them to suffer more by having them choke on their own blood and mashed organs. If that's the case I could've just flicked them, let alone even channel enhancive mana.' She realized she really needs to get a better grasp of her strength now that she has tested it on some of the humans of this world.
'Those bandits were the first humans I have killed in this world, yet I felt absolutely nothing. Seems like I'm still me.' She thought with affirmation.
Turning towards the carriage group, she then casually asked them while sounding like what she did just now didn't just happen, "Now, is everyone all right?"
However, she didn't get a single response back. Checking again, everybody there just stood slacked-jawed and eyes wide opened in their spot as they stared vacantly and absentmindedly at her.
"Uhhh... hello?"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Fallensnug
Fallensnug Hiya everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I've made a few changes in the novel. For instance, I added a rank next to each skill name whenever they are being inspected and I changed the name of the game just by switching the two names. There might be future changes. Anyways, thank you so much for all my readers being so patient and those of you that continued to support me and giving me power stones. I don't want you guys to feel like you are wasting your power stones on this novel. I know it's been one heck of a while. I would ask for you guys' forgiveness for it but I feel that it's wasted on me as I would probably continue to pull this shit in the future. School can be... a marathon. I'm really am not fit to be a good author.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone