章 45: Sneaking into the bandit fort
Silver Blade and Radiant Shield took the lead as light fell into the tunnel. They surged out, finding themselves in a small room smelling of herbs. Two shabby white herbs and shelves with various tinctures made up the furniture.
"Huh? Who are you?"
A surprised voice came from a young female Ratkin standing at the side, clad in a white coat. Her face looked haggard, her body showing clear signs of a beating.
"Quick, Lersra. We are here to save you. Come with us."
"Really?"
At this moment Scrarn peeked out of the tunnel, reassuring their healer, urging her to leave with them.
But the latter hesitated.
"I… I can't. Those bandits took my book away. I can't let it fall into their hands!"
Silver Blade was just about to explain the situation when a door was shoved open with a rumble.
"What's going on here?!"
A bandit suddenly entered, shouting loudly, scanning the party with a fierce and observing face.
Silver Blade felt a strange pressure as she checked the newcomer.
[Lazy Locust Bandit Captain
Rank: Elite
Level: 10
HP: 2000/2000]
Radiant Shield frowned as he faced the elite.
"What's up with those HP?"
Liam urged everyone to leave the tunnel as he explained hastily.
"Level 10 is a threshold in the game.
Now hurry up guys, we need to win. This quest will become more difficult the longer we delay."
With Liam's warning Silver Blade didn't wait for the bandit to make the first move. Shoving the beds away, she immediately engaged, even before the entire party could leave the tunnel.
"Intruders! Are you here to kidnap our healer?!"
The bandit bellowed angrily as he swung a huge wooden club like a small tree trunk, veins on his arms moving like snakes.
[Stance – 9]
"Attack!"
Quickstep led the charge, eager for a fight. Attacks rained down on the bandit captain crashing against his makeshift armor.
But when the players saw the numbers popping up, they almost didn't believe their eyes.
[-25!]
[-26!]
[-11!]
"Where is my damage?", complained Silent Acacia, distressed.
Liam wore a grave face as well, the fight more difficult than he expected.
"Don't hold anything back!"
"Yes, sir!"
Cyclone answered jokingly, using her new level 5 skill which allowed for a higher firing power.
[-85!]
[-85!]
[-85!]
Everyone stared at the huge numbers above the bandit's head.
"How? Cyclone casually out-damages all of us."
"My item effect triggered.", explained Cyclone with a foolish giggle.
"I won't let you leave!"
The bandit captain yelled with a deep voice. He shoved his body past Silver Blade, his eyes clearly focused on Cyclone.
"Oh no, you drew aggro!"
"Careful!"
"Protect Cyclone!"
Attacks came from all sides, but the elite ignored them, eager to take out the pesky mage.
The air stirred as a heavy club was swung, threatening to bash Cyclone's head in.
The blond woman panicked.
"Stay away from me!"
Using her [Push] skill, Cyclone gained some distance, interrupting the elite's attack.
A moment later Radiant Shield bashed his shield into the pirate's back, prompting him to turn around and stare at the tank in hatred.
"Good job!"
Liam praised as he swung his blade again, the sharp edge cutting through the air.
[-28!]
After another round of attacks the melee classes built up enough fury to use their skills, drowning the elite in attacks.
"You will pay for angering me!"
The bandit captain huffed heavily. He raised his club over his head, his arms turning red, vague steam rising from them.
"Careful! He's using a skill!"
The bandit captain wildly swung his club, going on a rampage, sending the party into a mad scramble.
No one dared to get near. Herbs and bottles were shattered to pieces.
"ARGH!"
With a guttural roar the bandit captain suddenly made a short jump. Not even Liam had expected this as the bandit abruptly cornered Balm.
"Nono, stay away!"
"Don't use your skills!"
Silver Blade quickly warned the young mage. She knew from a quick check that the bandit's skill couldn't be interrupted.
"But, but…"
Balm stammered; her body frozen as the bandit would surely kill her the next second.
Suddenly a burly back appeared before her.
"Don't worry, honored mage. For no harm will befall you."
"Radiant Shield!"
Balm exclaimed happily; her eyes focused on the broad back.
Cyclone had watched her friend with worry, but now her look turned somewhat peculiar.
Radiant Shield on the other hand did his job, blocking the heavy club. His stance was emptied immediately, some damage coming through.
[-34!]
But the bandit's skill wasn't over yet, landing another solid hit.
[-195!]
Radiant Shield groaned as more than a third of his HP were gone.
"Are you ok?", Balm appeared somewhat timid as she asked with worry.
"Of course. A mere bandit can't bring me to fall!"
Luckily, the bandit's skill ended, forcing him to enter a weakened state.
Silver Blade immediately noticed the opportunity.
"The boss is weakened! Use everything!"
A huge chunk of HP disappeared from the elite, sending him below half health.
Silver Blade took over the aggro again. The process repeated itself. Although Cyclone didn't land another double hit, the bandit elite's HP were slowly dwindling down.
Before falling the elite used his skill again, not contend with traveling to the afterlife alone. But after seeing it once, everyone was prepared, not giving the bandit any chance.
He died with grievances on his face.
"Phew. Did it. It was indeed not that easy this time."
"Yeah, it was just an elite, but both our tanks lost more than half HP."
"At least we saved out health potions."
While the party discussed animatedly, Balm approached Radiant Shield with a shy expression.
"Radiant Shield, thank you for saving me!"
"Oh no need to thank me, maiden! This is what a hero should do!"
Cyclone snickered as she walked by them to pick up the loot. Getting a green-magic bow, she handed it to Silent Acacia without discussion.
"I really need this. My damage this fight was abysmal."
"True, true."
Cyclone playfully mocked as she looked at the rest of the loot in her inventory.
"Oh, what's this?"
As the mage took out a yellowed scroll, everyone looked at it in confusion. Even Liam only recognized the item type but couldn't tell the exact effect without inspecting it.
"Wow!"
Cyclone exclaimed joyously but didn't show any signs of explaining. Quickstep rolled her eyes as she implored the blond woman:
"Can you tell us more?"
"More what?"
"You know exactly what I mean…"
Feeling that her friends were ready to beat her up, Cyclone snickered and revealed the scroll's contents.
"It's a summoning scroll! It allows us to summon the bandit captain once to fight for us!"
"Really? Such a good deal?!"
"Doesn't this make the dungeon raid way easier?"
Liam listened calmly, not wanting to douse everyone's excitement. Although a summoning scroll could be powerful, a dungeon wasn't beaten purely with stats.
While the group discussed animatedly, Silver Blade turned towards the Ratkin healer.
"We have killed the bandit. Please, follow us now to safety."
"I'm sorry, brave adventurer but I can't go like this! I need my book back!"
"Ok.", sighed Silver Blade exasperatedly. "Where is your book?"
"It should in one of the captains' rooms upstairs."
"Good. We will hurry up."
A prompt appeared before the party, reminding them to refocus on the quest.
[<Faction> Quest: Assist the village leader]
[Step one: Speak to Scrarn]
[Step two: Enter the Lazy Locust Bandit Fortress through Scrarn's tunnel.
[Step three: Defeat the bandit captain.
[Step four: Retrieve Lersra's precious book.]
[Restriction: Relationship of friendly or higher with Ratkin village.]
[Failure conditions: Lersra dies.]
"Damn, we are still not done?", questioned Silent Acacia.
"Another fight lies before us.", spoke Bloody Edge sternly.
But Liam shook his head.
"No. We can't fight this one, we are too low leveled."
"Hmm? Then what should we do, expert?"
"One of our thieves will have to do the job."
Silent Acacia and Bloody Edge looked at each other in surprise.
"Are we going to steal the book?"
"Exactly. Which of you wants to go?"
Silent Acacia and Bloody Edge stared at each other, both eager to give it a try. Silent Acacia hoped for a challenge while Bloody Edge wanted to prove himself.
Eventually Acacia gave in, planning to take the role of a security net in case Bloody Edge fails.
"Good idea babe. If he doesn't fail it wouldn't be challenging for you anyways."
Quickstep happily talked to her boyfriend, sending a jab at Bloody Edge.
"Hmpf. I will be silent like a shadow, besting every thief out there!"
"Just leave."
Silver Blade shook her head as she sent Bloody Edge away. Now the party could do nothing but wait, hoping for Bloody Edge to successfully retrieve the book.
At the same time, outside. A pair of eyes watched the Ratkin village leader from the shadows.
"Perfect! I have been pondering on hot to get into this bandit lair. Who would've thought that someone would come and draw so much attention.
Today I, Black Rat, shall steal the bandit treasure! This precious quest will be completed easily."
A thief cladded in black came out of the forest, carefully throwing a hook to climb the fort's wall.
If Liam were here, he… wouldn't have recognized the thief anyways.
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