Kang Oh, Tasha, and Sara annihilated the bandits.

With a single swing of his sword, Kang Oh would kill two or three bandits at a time.

Tasha's blood red energy swept through the bandits, while Sara's breath turned them into ice statues.

The bandits were never a match for Kang Oh's party. Moreover, their ringleader had died early on.

"T-They're monsters!"

"Run away!"

The bandits couldn't withstand their assault any longer.

They didn't have a speck of loyalty. The bandits ran away without any concern for their 'comrades'.

Kang Oh grinned and stabbed the retreating bandits in the back. If they were going to give him experience for free, then who was he to refuse?

"Sara, stop them!" Tasha yelled, her eyes glowing red.

Executing Harpoon!

Tasha summoned hundreds of harpoons.

"Got it." Sara raised her hands into the air.

Northern Wind!

Sara summoned blue wind, which froze the ground and the bandits' feet.

"All of you, die!" Tasha crossed her arms. Hundreds of glimmering red harpoons shot everywhere.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The nearby bandits were skewered by the harpoons.

"Uhahk!"

"Ugh."

The battlefield was filled with their cries of agony.

Kang Oh, Tasha, and Sara finished off the rest of them. It was all too easy.

Stab.

Demon Sword Ubist was thrust through a wolf man's heart. He was the last man standing.

[You have defeated a Black Bandana Bandit.]

[You have leveled up.]

Kang Oh grinned.

Breaking his limitations had quadrupled his experience gain, so he was starting to level up like crazy.

Kang Oh had hit level 480.

It felt like he'd keep leveling up until he hit level 500. After that, the amount of experience he'd need to level up would increase significantly.

"Let's go."

Kang Oh's party headed to the vertical cliff's giant entrance.

* * *

The interior was as complex as a maze.

'Where are they being held?'

Kang Oh's mission was to rescue the captive Forney Tribe. However, he had no idea where they might be.

Thus...

He paid for a guide.

"Hehe, this way."

The bandit wore a servile expression. His face was swollen and he had a black eye.

"Are you sure?" Kang Oh glared at him, and smiled brutally.

"O-Of course!" the bandit replied.

"You know what'll happen if you're wrong, right?" Kang Oh swiped a finger across his throat.

"I-I understand."

The fearful bandit led Kang Oh's party to where the Forney Tribe was imprisoned.

They encountered some bandits along the way, but they weren't an issue.

In no time at all, they reached their destination. There was a long corridor in front of them, and caves on either side sealed off with iron bars.

Kang Oh looked through the jail cells. He saw a variety of species, which included humans, dwarves, anthromorphs, etc.

"Are the Forney Tribe here?" Kang Oh yelled.

"W-Who are you?" A man warily peeked through the iron bars and scanned Kang Oh's form.

"Are you part of the Forney Tribe?" Kang Oh asked.

"Yes."

Kang Oh looked over the man and the people behind him.

On average, the Forney were about 150 cm tall, and possessed varying horns on their heads. They also wore clothes that resembled qipaos, both men and women included.

"I came here to rescue you," Kang Oh said, sporting an amicable expression.

"R-Really?"

"Yes. Please back away from the bars. Sara, come here."

Sara returned to her demon sword form.

Swish, slash, swish!

Three swings was plenty.

Crack!

His blade's Absolute Destruction ability broke through the iron bars.

"Thank you!"

They walked out of their cell and expressed their thanks.

"Please save us too!"

"P-Please rescue us!"

The other prisoners desperately begged for his aid, pushing their heads and hands through the iron bars.

"Please step back. You might get hurt if you don't."

Kang Oh cut through all of the bars.

Prisoners flooded out of the jail cells.

There were about two hundred of them in total. The Forney Tribe made up about half of them.

'Doesn't seem like that's all of them.'

"Are there other prisoners here?" Kang Oh asked the Forney Tribe's representative.

"Yes," the representative replied. Then, he knelt onto the floor. "Please save them too. We'll never forget what you've done for us."

Kang Oh quickly stood him up.

"Don't worry. I'll save them all."

'If I don't, then the God of Creation will unleash his wrath on the entire continent.'

"Hey." Kang Oh looked to the side.

"Y-Yes?" the guide yelled in shock.

"How many more prisons do you have?"

"There are four others."

"Four? Are there that many people imprisoned in them too?"

"Yes."

"Hmm."

If he freed all of the prisoners, then he'd have about 1,000 people on his hands. Gathering all of them and then leading them to safety would be a huge problem.

'This won't work. I have to take care of the Black Bandana Brigade first.'

The more prisoners there were, the harder it would be to protect them. Thus, it would be best if he took care of anything that might do them harm, and then safely lead them out of the base.

"Please follow me. We'll lead you out of the base first. Hey, lead us to the entrance." Kang Oh pushed the bandit's back with Sarahoff.

"Y-Yes."

Kang Oh and the bandit stood in front, while Sara, Tasha, and the two hundred prisoners followed him from behind.

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any resistance along the way. They weren't attacked by any bandits.

But when they exited the cliff, they were surrounded by the Black Bandana Brigade.

"Was it..."

"You?"

Two voices rang out.

The first voice sounded weaselly, while the other was rougher and huskier.

Kang Oh saw a giant 3 meter tall man, as well as a man that wasn't even 1 meter tall.

They were the Black Bandana Brigade's bosses, the brothers Gide and Mide.

The smaller man was the older brother, Gide, while the larger man was the younger brother, Mide.

Gide was a mixed-blood, a man who was born between a human and a dwarf, while Mide was born between a human and an ogre.

There were about 500 bandits around them. There were a variety of species mixed in, including humans, anthromorphs, Lizardmen, orcs, dwarves, etc.

"If you surrender, I'll let you have a beautiful death."

"Hahaha."

Gide and Mide smiled wickedly.

'Hmm.' Kang Oh slightly furrowed his brow.

His original plan was to kill all of the Black Bandana Brigade, and then lead the prisoners to safety.

However, that plan had gone up in smoke.

Kang Oh looked back.

'Doesn't look like they'll be able to fight.'

Their faces were filled with dread. They were in no condition to fight.

"Please stay inside. I'll take care of them. And... Tasha."

"Yeah."

"Protect them for me."

"What?"

It was clear she didn't want to. 'Why me?'

"Please."

"Then what about them?" Tasha pointed at the bandits with a sharp nail.

"I'll take care of them. You keep them safe for me."

"Will you be alright?"

Kang Oh nodded his head.

"Tch, fine." Tasha clicked her tongue, but ultimately accepted Kang Oh's request.

Kang Oh stared at the two brothers, Gide and Mide, once more. Then, his gaze settled on the smaller one.

"Hey, dwarf."

Gide's forehead creased. 'Dwarf'. He hated being called that.

"Do you want to die?" Gide roared.

"Ha, someone as short as you is going to kill me? If you can, go ahead and try. If you're too afraid to give it a shot, then go back to drinking your mother's milk."

Kang Oh wanted him to attack him first, so he could finish him off quickly.

However, Gide didn't fall for his trick.

"Hmph, you really think I'd fall for that? Everyone, kill him!" Gide ordered.

"Uwaaahk!"

The bandits charged at him from the front and the sides!

Devil Trigger.

Kang Oh was clad in Ubist and Sara's respective energies.

His face was covered by a beast mask with frozen horns, and icy gauntlets and greaves encased his arms and legs.

Swish! Swish!

The closest bandits threw their nets and chains at him. Some of them even threw spheres at him.

They were poison bombs. Poison darts and poison spears came flying at him too.

Kang Oh backed off and swung his demon sword.

Swish, slash! Clang! Bam!

He cut the nets, deflected the chains, and avoided the poison bombs, darts, and spears.

"Throw projectile weapons from afar! Those in front, attack him in threes. Exhaust him! He's strong. Don't rush," Gide yelled sharply.

Once he heard that his men had been easily killed, Gide realized that Kang Oh's party wasn't to be underestimated.

Thus, he had set up a perimeter at the entrance.

Kang Oh had finally taken the bait.

Now all they had to do was wait until Kang Oh got tired.

However...

Kang Oh was no easy fish to catch.

No, perhaps he was a whale that no fishing rod could hope to catch.

Slash! Tempest Tiger! Yuki-Onna's Breath! Abyss Claw!

His power was overwhelming.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

None of the bandits could hope to match up to his strength.

Plus, he moved so gracefully, allowing him to dodge all of the bandits' nets and chains.

In an instant, more than fifty bandits had been killed.

"Brother," Mide said, unable to witness the one-sided fight any longer. "Shouldn't I get involved?"

Mide was the strongest member of the Black Bandana Brigade. An enemy's head would explode with a single swing of his club.

"Not yet," Gide said firmly.

"But..."

"Wait until he's tired. Even you'll have trouble against him right now."

"Understood."

Gide ordered the ringleaders to hold off too. Ultimately, the only ones who died were their low level henchmen.

Kang Oh killed bandit after bandit. He had killed more than 100 bandits at this point.

Despite that, there were still more than 400 bandits left.

"Haa, haa."

His breath quickened, and his Stamina went down below half.

However, he had no time to rest. After all, the bandits wouldn't let him collect himself.

Gide's lips curled upwards.

"Haha, you can't beat this many people by yourself!'

It wasn't their intention to kill him. He just wanted them to make him swing his sword one more time, and give him one less second of rest.

Kang Oh could hear the warning bells ring in his ear.

'I can't keep going like this.'

His Stamina would hit 0 before he could kill all of the bandits.

'I need to conserve my Stamina!'

Kang Oh began to kill the bandits while conserving as much Stamina as possible.

First, he used Switch to store Ubist into his inventory.

Because Ubist was a greatsword, it took a lot more effort to swing it, which consumed much more Stamina than a normal weapon.

Whereas his longsword, Sarahoff, was much lighter than the average weapon.

He also deactivated Devil Trigger.

Kang Oh didn't require any powerful techniques or the demons' power at the moment.

He also changed his fighting style.

Kang Oh didn't use any of his skills that consumed a lot of MP, and focused on thrusting his sword with minimal movements.

After all, thrusting required less Stamina than slashing.

He turned to the side, adjusting his stance to look more like a fencer.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Sarahoff's sharp tip thrust forward again and again like a shining star.

Plus, Kang Oh didn't dodge every one of their attacks either.

Most of his Stamina had been depleted, but his HP was still sitting at 98%. He assessed the strength of his enemies' blows, and allowed any weak attacks to hit him.

His armor's set effect, Dragon Armor, was really putting in work. It reduced all damage by 30%, and sometimes made the bandits' attacks miss on their own.

Kang Oh also concentrated on his footwork. When he was hit, he would unleash a vicious counter.

"Hoo. Hoo."

He also deliberately took deep breaths.

When did it start?

Kang Oh felt as if his body became relaxed. However, his thrusts became more natural and refined. The power behind them had increased as well.

'Aah.'

Kang Oh recalled his meeting with Sword Duke Sven.

Grandpa Sven had told him that his blade would 'gradually become freer'. At the time, he didn't understand what he meant, but now he could understand it, if just a little.

'He was trying to tell me to relax.'

In other words, he wanted him to use less strength in order to swing his sword with greater speed and power.

Discarding any unnecessary power behind his blows would make it freer and more natural.

At that moment...

A system message popped up.

[You have been enlightened.]