crash! craack! rip!

The hunters' house was in a state of an absolute mess as the three men rummaged every corner of the building, not leaving any place undisturbed. The furniture was thrown aside, broken objects and tools sprawled all over the floor, and any clothes found were ripped apart, as if they had precious jewels hidden within them. But no such valuable entity fell into the bandit's hands even after they had ransacked the entire place.

"Are you sure there's something hidden here. I feel like we are just wasting our time," one of the bandits voiced his opinion with a reluctant frown.

"Shut up! There's no way a hunter of that level would only house a few low-class monster pelts!" the raspy-voiced bandit replied with irritation.

His build was on the smaller side compared to his companions and a blonde mohawk rested on his bald head as a distinguishing feature. The other two bandits had well-built bodies with rippling muscles endorsing their brute strength. All of them were bare-chested, equipped with steel swords and leather bracers on the forearms.

An ugly expression donned upon the mohawk bandit as he scanned the entire house. They had already overturned every nook and cranny in the place without any reward. The other two had long since given up and were almost on the verge of leaving, but they didn't have a say against their teammate's decision. They could only watch him pace around the hall with a deep frown, lost in his thoughts. Just when he was about to pass through the bedroom entrance...

creak!

The mohawk bandit was startled by the sudden movement beside and before he had the time to observe the figure pouncing upon, a sudden sense of crisis overwhelmed his senses. Moving by pure instincts, he slashed upwards with his sword right in that instant, as if to parry an overhead strike.

swish!

But much to the man's surprise, the sword only slashed through open air and he lost his balance for a moment. He could only see a fist arrive right in front of his eyes at that moment before he could put up his guard.

pow! Crack!

It felt as if bring struck by a hammer. The nose of the mohawk bandit instantly broke with his face distorting under the tremendous impact. With a perfect follow-through of the punch, his body went airborne for a moment crashing into the dining table with a loud bang!.

shua! shua!

The assault had not yet concluded as two small knives whirled through the air, instantly reaching the man's chest aiming to pierce through the heart. But this time, reddish mist rose all over the bandit's body, halting the momentum of the knives as they lodged themselves a tiny bit into the skin, letting a small trickle of blood flow out. Only now could the man gaze at the figure that had attacked him out of nowhere.

Legas held a bitter smile on his lips showing his disappointment at the failed ambush. As far as he was concerned, he had timed the sneak attack perfectly. But not only was the bandit able to just react to the strike but had almost parried it without even looking at his direction. It was because of his presence of mind at the end moment, that he had retracted the sword by circling it within his wrists to avoid the bandit's strike and create a gap to plant in a punch in the meanwhile. But that was just a temporary wound, and even the throwing knives afterward had failed miserably.

swish!

Right in that instant, the boy suddenly felt a chill creep up his spine and he hurriedly twisted his body, sidestepping to the left, barely managing to avoid a sword that whizzed past his ear before slamming onto the ground. He could notice the brute bandit's expression changing into that of a surprise in that split second, but before he could steady himself and counter back, a similar chill crept up his spine for a second time.

slash!

The other bandit slashed forwards aiming at the boy's head with a wide haymaker. Seeing as this blow was unavoidable, Legas turned his back on the strike, letting his scapular muscles take the brunt of the attack. The bandit snickered, seemingly mocking the boy's decision. But very soon he had to wipe off that grin, as the sword slash did not result in the expected spurt of blood. Instead, the bandit felt as if he had cut at the thick hide of a monster.

A golden brownish pelt was visible from within the torn fabric of the boy's tunic, one he had wrapped around his body in the basement as a temporary makeshift armor. It was a life hack taught by Shreya and although its efficiency was not even a hundredth of a real armor made out of such a resilient hide, it was still better than not having any protection.

Still, even though the monster pelt prevented his flesh from being cut, the sheer momentum of the sword was not efficiently absorbed and Legas felt a scorching pain in his back due to the heavy impact. The momentum made him stumble forwards as he tried to regain balance before rushing into the room.

whoosh!

Just then, a dense killing intent suddenly assaulted his senses from behind, halting his advance. As the boy immediately turned around to respond to the attack, he only felt a foot getting in contact with his stomach, before he flew away like a bullet, crashing into the bedroom wall on the far end.

bang!!

"Ughh! cough! cough!"

Legas wheezed due to the intense pain, landing onto the floor with a loud thud! The crippling pain in his stomach felt as if a rod was shoved into it, twisting the insides under the vicious blow. Saliva and mucus drained out from his orifices as he coughed hard with a flushed and contorted face.

The mohawk bandit stood at the door entrance with his visage warped in fury. Blood trickled continuously from his mangled nose making him look as if he had a reddish french beard. Strange mist surged out from within, deepening his presence by a level and increasing the heavy murderous aura permeating through the room.

"You fuckin mutt! Don't get carried away!" the bandit growled, the other two brutes standing right behind him as they surrounded Legas, cutting off his escape route. The boy was trapped.

Legas was barely able to stand with wobbling legs as he pointed the unsteady longsword towards the three men. He could feel the tension in the air which made the hair on his body stand on its end. Now that the bandits are serious and he had lost the element of surprise, a second confrontation would only result in death. Still, the boy's reddish face glowed with determination as he lowered his stance and sucked in a large amount of air as if to raise a war cry.

"LORAAAA RUNNN!!"

swish!

A figure instantly leaped up from behind the savage trio and dashed away through the hall. The bandits who had been waiting for Legas' charge were startled at the abrupt shout. By the time they turned around, a petite girl was already halfway sprinting towards the door entrance. With the hallway being empty, the little girl bolted through the place completely unhindered.

"What!"

shua! shua!

Legas hurled a pair of throwing knives at the two brute bandits who were just about to give chase. They were halted for an instant, easily deflecting the lousy projectiles, but that slight delay was enough for Lora to dash out of the house. Her speed was unnaturally fast in comparison to her petite physique, and her tiny legs almost blurred out of normal vision.

swish!

"You bastard!" the mohawk bandit roared when he saw the girl disappear past the broken door and his face was flushed red with anger. He grit his teeth so hard they could shatter at any moment.

The bandit felt humiliated, getting played at by the hands of children, and just when he was about to rush towards the hateful boy, he saw a black shadow creeping up at him from the corner of his eye. A bright red sword slash was instantly unleashed and the shadow was cleaved in two.

crash!

But as if the heavens itself was mocking him, the bandit only found the shredded pieces of the boy's tunic, and the monster hide lying on the floor. Glancing to his front, the only thing that remained was a broken window and the figure of Legas was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll skin you alive, you runt!"

The moment he landed out of the window, Legas darted with explosive strength swirling around the house. On reaching the backside, he could see the figure of Lora sprinting away in the distance and the two brute bandits who had circled from the opposite direction.

The two sides arrived at the same time facing each other, and the bandits instantly changed their targets. Legas didn't hesitate for a second as he spun around with his forward momentum, hurling his father's longsword with all of the strength he could muster.

schiing!

The weapon resembled a terrific flying disc as it shredded all of the tall vegetation in its path, it's speed not hindered in the slightest. The bandit was flustered for a moment, not expecting the abrupt and bizarre action. A similar mist rose from within him as he slashed at the weapon head-on, while the other brute dashed past him towards the now weaponless Legas.

The bandit raised his sword overhead for an obvious strike, carefully observing the boy's next maneuver. But to his utter surprise, Legas pulled out a rusty dagger in an instant and rushed straight at him as if wanting to evenly duke it out.

Both the figures neared each other at an instant and the boy hadn't slowed down in the slightest, making the bandit assume the act was not a feint. Seeing this development, he swung the sword downwards with all his might aiming to split the young man in two.

swish! crash!

Further adding to the man's shock, his attack had missed the target as the sword impacted the grassy soil with a heavy thud!. Legas had dove headfirst into the dreadful swing, barely avoiding the sword that swished above his head as he rolled past the bandit, and immediately changed directions with effortless movement, before bolting towards the little girl with an explosive lunge.

The other bandit who had just deflected the whirling sword could only gaze at the deep reddish gash on the boy's back in amazement. Just how much courage does one need to dive into a life-threatening attack, and how much skill must he posses to avoid it?

"Fools! Hurry up and give chase!" the mohawk guy roared right after arriving at the scene, and the three bandits immediately resumed pursuit.

Lora had been running with all her might, not caring about the events unfolding around her. The entire time she had only focused on running one step ahead at every instance and she knew, if she performed her part without failure Legas will take care of the rest. Even as her breathing got rougher by the moment, her legs showed no signs of stopping.

"Lora!" Legas' voice arrived right from behind.

"Brother!"

"Come here.....huup!"

Legas pulled his little sister by the hand, lifting her in a princess carry in one smooth motion. Lora clenched her hands around the boy's neck and could finally heave a sigh of relief.

The wall was not very far from their house, around fifty meters or so. Feeling the threat looming in on them, Legas' put forth all of the strength into his legs, as he grits his teeth running as hard as possible. The explosive stamping of his feet created cracks on the hard ground as the boy unlikely glided atop the ground. But that was not all, as his insane agility let him constantly change directions like a pesky Horned Rabbit.

Although the aura covered bandits behind had blinding speeds when in a straight line, the mosquito-like zig-zag path did not let them push the full throttle. Legas zoomed through the tall weeds with uncanny control as he seemingly flew farther away from his pursuers.

After only a few breaths of time, the siblings were right in front of the wall and Legas still showed no signs of stopping. Lora clenched her brother with all her strength and closed her eyes at that moment, while Legas lowered his center of gravity before jumping forth with tremendous might, launching a flying kick on the wooden barricade.

clack!

The unexpected sound of a metallic mechanism rang out as a wooden plank, two spans thick, crashed down on the ground like a trap door. The siblings immediately got past the wall through the gap and in no time, disappeared into the darkness.

"FUUUCK!" the mohawk bandit roared with his raspy voice, reaching the area a few seconds late.

"Damn that kid, is his balls made of steel or something?"

"You! Don't dawdle around. Hurry up and chase them!"

"Huh, but is there any need to do so? It's just two kids after all," the brute bandit spoke with reluctance.

"We have already found the hidden vault in the house. Let's hurry up and get to it before someone else does!" reasoned the other.

"Are you crazy? We can't let them escape!"

"Man, calm your anger. He is that archer's kid, right? I'm sure he knows the forest like his backyard. He can lure us into any high-class monster territory or any other trap! Why should we follow him to danger!"

"You fools! If we couldn't bring him back that would be the real danger," the mohawk bandit said with exasperation.

"Didn't you see the fates of those who failed to subdue the village?" he continued after looking at the quizzical faces of the two.

"The boss doesn't want weaklings in his brigade. What do you think will happen when he finds out that we couldn't even catch two kids, who are still wet behind their ears and let them run away?

"That too, the kids of that archer who killed so many of our members!", At this point, the expressions of the brute bandits had already turned into one of horror.

"Then let's go and find them now! What are we waiting for!" one of them urged, restlessly eyeing their mohawk superior.

"You both give chase. Make sure not to lose them. I'll follow you shortly after."

"Why? What you gonna do?"

"Idiots! Who will tend to the huntress' treasury then! Do you want to let all of that loot fall into one of those pipsqueaks' hands?"

"Plus, let that kid taste some sweet, sweet despair as he stumbles through the forests. hehe!" the mohawk guy turned around, walking towards the village with a lascivious smile

The pair of brute bandits made angry faces for a second, but could only let it go since their life was on the line here. With mist-covered physiques, they dashed into the forests with all seriousness.