AN: This chapter looks to have 4 parts in it due to the length of it overall. This is part 3. :)

Also, I had to make a minor edit in the last chapter. I forgot to cut the experience points he earned in half since Rhea is in the party as well. (Ero doesn't calculate into it since her EXP is given through sharing directly.)

Chapter 9.3: Bandit's Cove

“Are you serious?” asked Scott softly, while he looked at the unconscious bandits in the room up ahead.

“Yes. They are obviously logged-off.” said Rhea.

“Wow, so they are not even able to wake up? You can’t wake up when you’re like that.” said Ero.

“They could at any moment. It depends on when they log-in again.” said Rhea.

Scott looked to his beautiful elven companion. “Why not just leave completely like you do sometimes?”

“You get a well-rested bonus if you leave your body in a safe place. This would count as a camp or a town for them, though they aren’t protected as much because of their status.” said Rhea.

Scott’s eyes darted back to the sleeping murderers. They were in a place where they felt extremely confident and safe. It would be their undoing. “So, is there a penalty if we just kill these player killing asshats while they’re AFK?”

“Nope, murderers aren’t given such a protection.” said Rhea. A slight smile crossed her lips.

Scott grinned at her then started to move forward. Free experience and loot, here they come!

The scent of alcohol and the stench of unwashed bodies was quite potent in the room as Scott slipped through the shadows. Rhea opted to circle the room from a different direction.

Ero rubbed her chin then flew upward toward the ceiling so that she could get a better view of the corridor up ahead. She would act as the early warning system in case, the grisly business at hand needed to be complete before others came.

In this small room there were eight unconscious players, murderers all. Some people might balk at the idea of killing someone in their sleep. It might be unseemly, or make some people feel uncomfortable. There would be morality issues rattling around within the minds of many who might contemplate such an action.

Scott merely looked at the scarred face of a man named Asswhooper76 then shook his head. He had not realized that players in this world would be allowed such stupid names, or that there were possibly at least seventy-five other gods who had decided that Asswhooper was a good name to go by as a character choice.

Oh well, it did not matter. He reared back then punched Asswhooper76 in the face. When he did not wake up, Scott grinned. He punched the helpless murderer several more times. Each blow took off dozens of the bandit’s health points, but he kept snoring away. Rhea was right, he was obviously logged out. That was the nature of this room. The bandits could not sleep in a town inn, so they had rooms like this for their avatar bodies while they slept.

Scott finished murder-punching Asswhooper76 then glanced over to see Rhea neatly decapitate a slutty looking bandit woman named Secret Whisper. She had once been fairly pretty, and looked like she was probably fairly popular among this bandit sect given the rest of her feminine architecture. The fact that she was wearing some sort of lacey lingerie probably added to that.

Was he morbid for noticing that sort of thing? Perhaps, but since he was currently killing people in their sleep, he chose to disregard that kind of thinking.

They moved on and continued their grisly work. None of the bandits awoke, and soon they added eight more dead bandit players to their kill roster.

They started to loot the room and the corpses not long after, while Ero continued to watch ahead. A battle report arose that caught their attention.

[Battle Report]

You have defeated eight known murderers during a government sponsored bandit subjugation mission! Your intimacy with the kingdom of Eizen has grown.

+ 22347 EXP

+ 11237 Fayth

+ 47 Ability Points

Item(s) Acquired:

Dagger of Thrusting X 1

Medium Pearl X 1

[--]

“Dagger of Thrusting?” asked Rhea.

Scott lifted the dagger he had just looked off of the corpse of a bandit named Jerry Sweets. “This thing probably.”

“Ah, neat.” she said, before she went back to stripping the silky lingerie off of the body of Secret Whisper. It was black with a red bow, lacey white fringe, and a heart-shaped cut-out at the cleavage.

She lifted it up and held it over her chest. “Does it suit me?”

“You’d look better without it.... but sure.” said Scott with a smile, before he rolled Jerry Sweets over and started to rifle through his pockets.

Rhea smiled sweetly at him then looked down and blinked. “Nipple rings?”

Scott glanced over to his love interest but she gave him a look. “Hey, don’t say it out loud if you don’t want me to look.”

Rhea laughed a little then plucked the little golden hoops from the dead bandit. They would fetch a nice price. She rolled Secret Whisper over then snorted. “A tramp stamp, really?”

Scott started to look but Rhea snorted at him and he rolled his eyes. It was like she was trolling him.

After pulling off Jerry’s shoes and shaking them Scott idly remarked. “Are we horrible people?”

“No, I don’t think so.” said Rhea before finishing her task of stripping Secret Whisper nearly naked. Only her slutty panties were left. Every little bit of loot counts!

Scott nodded lightly before pulling a gold earring out of Jerry’s left ear. “Hmm, something’s not right about this.”

“Hmm?” asked Rhea.

“Well, it’s just that this was too easy. Sure, the guy with the ring was something, but...” said Scott.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure we’ll have a tougher fight when we find some bandits that are actually active. There might even be a few hired locals.” said Rhea.

“Right. I wonder how many there are. I think the mission briefing said, at least forty.” said Scott.

“Yeah, probably all around the same level too. Bandit groups like this tend to always stick together since it’s hard to make any headway with a murderer’s mark. They would probably level together and reincarnate together, mostly.” said Rhea.

“They all reincarnate at the same time? Isn’t that a bit stupid?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, but it is a roleplaying thing. There will probably be at least a handful of higher level bandits with decent equipment though, so be careful.” said Rhea.

Ero shot back toward them when they finished looting the recently deceased bandits. “Hey, Listen!”

Scott flinched slightly as horrible memories of his past in gaming came over him. “What is it?”

The little fairy said, “Shhh. I heard a fairy interesting noise.”

Scott and Rhea grew silent and listened carefully to see if they could hear what Ero had mentioned. After a moment, the sound of metal scraping on stone could be heard down the long sandy corridor. Someone was coming!

The trio made up a quick plan and then set it into motion. Ero was given a strong thin rope, and then they all moved toward the corridor entrance. They took up positions on each side of the entranceway. Scott was on the left, Rhea on the right, and Ero fluttered quietly above the entrance out of sight and made her rope into a noose. After a few seconds a low whistling sound could be heard, followed by a loud and sonorous fart.

Rhea made a disgusted face, and Scott tried not to laugh. Ero merely ignored it and waited.

A crude laugh echoed their way and not long afterward a fat bearded bandit walked through the door. He barely had time to blink when the carnage in the room become visible because a thin rope dropped down around his neck. Ero flew upward with all her might, choking the man so that he could not scream.

The bandit named Stud Beard clutched feebly at his throat in surprise just before Rhea and Scott launched simultaneous attacks to his side. Two damage numbers rose up above the man’s head and he died instantly. One number was eighty-three. The other was two thousand six hundred seven. Rhea’s blade’s atomic edge special option cared nothing for physical defense and it showed even when attacking another player. Special level based resistances aside; she could kill most things in one hit when using that sword.

They looted the late, unlamented Stud Beard’s corpse then moved into the corridor. Scott acted as the vanguard despite the fact that Rhea’s statistics were far better. His rapid casting speed would clear a path quite well if need be. The dynamic trio made their way through several series of rooms before they found something that made their eyes light up with joy.

“Such shiny, much want.” said Scott.

Ero and Rhea nodded at the same time, their eyes wide and a slight touch of drool coming to their lips. They had found the bandit’s treasure room. It was strangely unguarded, but as the bandits had worked together for quite a while and they all seemed to be players, it made sense. They were deep underground and there was only one entrance. They did not think anyone would find the backdoor so easily.

“Alright, payday!” said Scott in an excited whisper, before he started to grab random loot to put into his inventory.

The girls made a quiet outcry as well then giggled happily as they looted the bandit treasure room of all of their misbegotten gains. Bandit slaying had been profitable before, but that was nothing compared to looting a player ran bandit outfit!

Scott found something that nearly made his eyebrows shoot right off the top of his head. He showed it to Rhea and she grinned then raised her thumb.

He grinned at her then gazed longingly at the gauntlets that he had found. He then eyed several bits of armor and other weapons of interest. There was a good chance that he would be upgrading his wardrobe here once more. But first they had to clean the room out and divide the spoils properly.