The red blast enveloped me. It was so bright that I closed my eyes out of instinct. I had no time to put up any kind of defence, and it was too late to apparate away. Was this the end? Already? I hadn't even gotten started!

I expected his suicidal blast to tear my body into pieces, but even after a few seconds, the impact didn't come. Slowly, I opened my eyes again. Instead of red lightning, a blue translucent sheen appeared in front of me. A few small red sparks were still visible in the area, taking hold of rocks and pebbles as if they were the target of their dead master's ire. The shield had covered my body in a bubble. In my pocket, I found the origin of the phenomenon. The brooch Cerion had given me shone in the same blue hue that the shield around me did.

I didn't know how to feel about that revelation. On one hand, Cerion had quite possibly saved my life by giving this to me, on the other, I didn't want to take too many handouts. I wanted to earn what I got, Like I had earned my class by wasting away for a decade. Still, I owed Cerion my thanks. Even if it was frustrating, Ueron had gotten one over me at the end. I couldn't deny that.

I took a moment to grab whatever valuables Ueron had. His corpse was wearing an armband that looked like it was enchanted and he had a spatial pouch around his belt. I wanted to grab both, but I wasn't confident he hadn't set up another trap by using his equipment, so I left it where I found it. Hopefully, none of the weaker bandits would take off with it.

I decided to go take a look at Cerion, to see how his battle was going. The noise that came from his general direction had mostly abated, so I was confident he was doing well.

When I got there, however, I found a bloody Cerion facing an even bloodier berserker. He had held out against Bor on his own, but he didn't look like he could keep going for much longer. Unlike Cerion, Bor didn't seem to be hindered by his wounds. He looked like he was stronger and faster than ever. It seemed we had underestimated how strong Bor was, because we focussed on Ueron too much.

I decided to intervene in Cerion's battle and charged at our opponent, sword drawn.

When I got close, I blocked Boor's sword on behalf of Cerion. It was a heavy blow, that pushed my armoured feet a few centimetres into the ground.

"I can understand how you got so beaten up, considering this is what you've been dealing with!", I called out to Cerion as I wrestled Bor for control, a battle that I was quickly losing.

"Don't interfere in my fight, Arthur!", he replied frustratedly.

"Now now, Cerion. Since you interfered in my fight, I get to interfere in yours as well."

"That's how that works, is it?", he mumbled.

"It is.", I replied smugly, only to be tossed several meters away by virtue of Bor's lunge.

From there, the battle stalled. Bor regarded both of us for a moment without attacking. Eventually, he spoke.

"Did you kill Ueron?", he asked in his deep, rumbling voice.

"He's dead.", I replied simply.

He regarded me morosely and spoke in a monotone voice.

"Then you shall join him."

I grimaced and grit my teeth, but still mustered a cocky smile a moment later.

"If you want Ueron to have companionship in hell so badly, then I think you would be a better fit. We don't really get along, you see."

Bor fell for my taunt and shouted something incomprehensible, before charging at me like a raging bull. I prepared my defences by charging up my overloaded maelstrom, which blocked Bor's first strike, despite the fact that a lot of my overloaded mana was dispelled to do so. He hit almost as hard as the tsuchigumo brood mother had. 'Almost' wouldn't be enough, however.

Cerion had taken this time to chug a health potion, stabilising his wounds and letting him continue fighting. He flew into a smooth combo of sword slashes and ice spears, which all flew at Bor as he kept up his assault on me.

Our number advantage became evident at that moment, because when he turned to block everything my partner had thrown at him, I took advantage of his turned back by piercing it with numerous maelstrom blades, which also gave me the opportunity to create a curse mark. He shouted out in rage and stomped his foot, activating a skill. It threw us both through the air, though we recovered and resumed the fight quickly.

From there, our advantage only grew. The more Bor got hurt, the higher his physical stats became and the stronger his skills became. The downside of that was that he also became more and more frustrated as the battle dragged on. That, combined with an apparent loss of intelligence in return for strength, made him a very predictable opponent.

If there was one death sentence for a warrior, it was becoming predictable and falling into a routine. It would leave reliable openings that your opponents could take advantage of.

Bor, for example, was starting to overextend his horizontal sword swings, and would shout too long when he activated his stomp skill, allowing us to get a few cheap shots in.

Like that, Cerion and I switched our offensive and defensive tactics sporadically, catching him off guard each time. Each time, his wounds would aggravate. We hadn't given him time to drink any more potions either, and while Cerion was getting tired and starting to run out of mana, I could still keep going for a long time.

Eventually, the wounds and exhaustion got to Bor first. He collapsed onto one knee and held himself up with his sword, but it was clear he had lost the battle. He looked at us with a furious expression.

"You two honourless curs had to fight me together to defeat me! As a result, you don't deserve an honourable death either."

I laughed out loud.

"Who was it that sneak attacked me? Wasn't it your boss?"

He snorted.

"It doesn't matter any more. DO IT NOW!", he shouted at the top of his lungs.

I took action and decapitated Bor after an apparation, which he hadn't been ready for, though he had looked ready for death.

From the cliffs around us, I started hearing light footsteps. Even with my enhanced hearing because of [Versatile senses], I could just barely make out that it was a large group.

"Cerion, ambush!"

He looked surprised at my declaration for a moment, before he calmly walked over to me.

"Can you give me my brooch back? We can use that."

I was stupefied.

"Uh, sure...", I replied with my mouth hanging open, handing him the golden brooch.

A moment later, at least a hundred men and women appeared on the cliffs and boulders around us. They all activated their skills and ranged attacks. Various elements lit up around us. Water, fire, earth, wind, and even what I guessed was the plant element. All their skills activated at once and flew at us, forming an armada of skills and spells in all colours I could imagine.

I would've actually been impressed, if it wasn't for the fact that even without Cerion's brooch I could've survived this easily. Tier 2 attacks just couldn't hurt me enough to stop me from healing and fighting, unless they hit a weak spot. It seemed that Bor had even more prepared for us, though, because cracks in the ground appeared and lit up brightly.

A moment later, everything made impact all at once. Cerion and I were covered in the blue shield his brooch had created, which blocked all of the attacks without cracking, even the rupturing earth that had blown up.

As the dust covered our sight beyond the bubble, I turned to Cerion.

"What the hell is that brooch?!"

"A tier 5 protective talisman my dad gave me. Pretty handy, huh?", he said jovially.

"Dude, not fair...", I complained.

He smiled.

"Get your own."

A moment later, the dust settled again and Cerion dropped the shield. We shot into action and rushed through the smoke at everything that moved.

With my maelstrom and [Overloaded sword] I tore through our opponents, killing several bandits with each swing. Limbs fell and guts were spilled. Head flew and some people tried to run. It was a feeble attempt. With my apparations and ranged attacks, none could escape.

Some begged me to let them live. I refused.

After a few minutes, the ones who resisted were dead, while Cerion had taken some prisoners and left them in the centre of a clearing. I walked over to Cerion.

"Do we really need these fuckers to live? We're not going to be able to escort them out of the Thalia hills."

"Didn't we need a witness as extra evidence?", he asked.

I grinned. This would be simple.

I turned to the group of unarmed bandits.

"Alright you murdering pigs! We need a person to act as a witness to this gang's crimes and dealings. Any volunteers?"

They started murmuring and looking at one another sceptically. No one spoke up. Snitches get stitches, and all that good stuff. I grinned.

"By the way, we only need one person. Furthermore, we can't afford to feed the rest. So... the rest of you will be killed here. Decide amongst yourselves who will be accompanying us.", I added as I walked away.

By the time I had reached Cerion's resting position on a boulder, I could hear screaming and fighting. Sure enough, they were bandits. They had acted as I had expected.

"Did you really have to do that? It's cruel.", Cerion said disapprovingly.

"Well, I'm not exactly doing this for my entertainment. It's only as cruel as they make it, by the way. They could just vote on someone and all die a painless death by our hands, but instead, they decided to fight to the death. That's the type of people they are, Cerion. They wouldn't have become bandits if they cared about anything or anyone more than themselves and their own will and wants."

Cerion sighed and nodded.

"I... think you might be right. It just doesn't sit well with me. I don't think we should sink as low as they have."

I stared at him. Wordlessly, I got up and walked back to the clearing. A lot of bandits had already died. There were only ten or so people left, most of which were brawling with rocks. One old, white-haired man had sat down and accepted his fate with a grim smile. Even when another bandit lifted a rock to smash his skull, he didn't do anything.

"That one will do...", I murmured to myself.

I drew my sword and killed the bandit that was attacking the old man. Afterward, I [Overload Aura] to warp some overloaded mana and clasp it around the remaining bandits' necks. Then, I squeezed. A moment later, they were all dead.

My improved control over [Overload Aura] allowed me to make a variety of constructs now, though they were still rather weak as far as their structural integrity went. A tier 3 could probably just shrug off these constructs I had learned to make. Still, baby steps.

I walked over to the old man.

"Ready for death, are you?"

"I am.", he said simply, without looking at me.

"Yet you were one of the final surviving bandits, even without my intervention. From the blood on your clothes, I can tell you probably killed a few yourself."

This time, he looked me in the eyes.

"I wasn't ready to die yet at that point.", he said with a little more spirit in his voice.

I regarded him coldly.

"Do what we tell you to do, and you might just live a little longer."

He nodded wordlessly. I gestured for him to follow me and returned to Cerion.

"You're back already? Who's that?", he asked.

"They finished their discussion. This old guy will be our witness. Let's go back to the hideout to wait for Cara and Emer. They shouldn't take too much longer."

Speak of a devil, and you shall see its tail. Right as I finished my sentence, a large dome of fire became visible far on the horizon.

"On second thought, I don't think we'll have to wait at all."