CHAPTER 42: The bandits and another fake name

"Holy hell…" I whisper as I slowly stood up looking behind me. As my hunches were right, this area is in an illusion barrier or another dimension because I don't see the fire anymore as it disappeared with the ripple. The sky is clear blue as if there was never a fire.

I turn back around and I stop moving as soon I see the area didn’t look like the one in my memory. Some of the people who had a cover in their face are scattered on the ground. A couple of them are ripped in half while some of them twist the wrong way. Trees on the area are either missing twigs or snapped in half or off the ground as if someone picked it up and threw it back down.

I notice the one that I remembered from last night and I see him leaning on the wheel of the carriage holding his intestines from coming out of his ripped stomach. His hand is glowing green as he slowly heals himself. I approached him and as I got close, I notice he had his eyes closed and it looked like he was crying blood.

Cough*

Cough*

“W-who’s there?” He says in a weak voice.

This guy, he can’t see. Seems like he’s going to die anytime. I whisper in my mind as I slowly walked to him.

“R-Radik. I-is that you? W-w-why did you come back h-here.” He asked and I didn’t respond. “R-Radik. You-“

“That dude is dead. Kind of got himself cooked alive. Now, where’s the girl?” I tell him as I lean down closer to his face.

“W-who are-“ He started asking me before coughing up blood.

“Let's say, I’m the help Radik sought. Now, where is the girl?"

“H-help?” He stutters and I can see him breathing heavily as he held onto his stomach.

"Yes," I tell him. If he trusts me, the more information I can get out of him.

“T-t-thank god.” He whispers and I can hear his breathing relax a bit. Maybe he’s dying, or maybe he trusts me. Either way, he doesn't have long to live and I’ll make sure of it after I get the information out of it.

Cough*

Cough*

“S-she is a demon.” He tells me and I can see his body is shaking.

“A demon? Who?” I asked him.

“T-the girl we f-found.”

Must be Suyeon. Did she do this?I say in my mind.

“B-be careful. Our leader is dealing with her right cough* cough* now. But he is also h-having a hard time.” He tells me and he kept coughing blood as it almost hit my face.

“Tell me what happened? The more information I know, the better for me to handle the situation.” I asked him and he gave me a weak nod. Luckily he didn't open his eyes or else I would have to kill him before I get the information out.

“W-when we took her. S-she slept cough* cough*- soundly. We waited for daytime here b-before going back to the base s-since we-we’re a-all tired. I-it’s when a-after she woke up i-in the morning. She- cough* cough* vomits* Huah* huah* S-she started screaming someone’s name. And everything happened so fast a-after that.”

Damn, she went crazy. I crouch down towards him and I grabbed his intestine that hanging from the side. He felt me tug that made him wince in pain.

“Cough* Cough* W-w-what are you doing?! Stop that!” He shouted and I can feel his body shake more.

Why is this guy not dead yet, I’m holding his intestine for fucks sakes. I say in my mind.

“Hey, why are you not dead? Your insides are out.” I asked him as I firmly held onto his intestines.

“I-I-I was originally a healer. So I-I has the ability to slowly regenerate. E-even severe wounds.” He explains to me and I can hear the nervousness within his tone of voice.

"Oh, cool," I tell him as I pull on his intestine and I see him spit blood.

“S-stop! Stop! W-what are you doing?!” He held onto the hole on his side trying to prevent me from fully pulling out his intestines.

“Oh me? Nothing. I just want to see how long your intestines are.” I nonchalantly tell him as I tug on his intestines playfully. In slow motion, I pulled his intestines out his body and he screamed in pain as blood spurt out of his open wound.

"S-stop! P-please! S-spare me!" He screamed in pain as he grabs his intestines with his both hands trying to prevent me from pulling it out more as he falls to the ground.

"Come on~ I just want to see how long it is!" I yanked out his intestines as hard as I can and it slipped off his hands. I see that the intestines also pulled out some of his other crap inside his body. He started vomiting blood as it probably filled his lungs. His hands went to his throat as if he couldn't breathe and he let out a painful gasp for air. I see him claw his throat to the point he's scratching his skin and blood trickled down but it soon stopped as his hands went limp and he flopped to the ground like a rag doll.

I came close to him and poked him in the cheeks. “That’s what you get for disturbing my peace.”

BOOOOOOM!

I felt the ground shake violently after the explosion. I slowly stood up and looked around. I noticed the brick road goes on till I can't see it anymore. Before following it, I decided to get a better view of my surroundings to see what the hell is creating the tremors.

“Seismic step!” I jump up towards the sky and as I reach the peak of my jump, I see the forest look entirely different. The trees are different from what we have encountered and it feels like I entered another dimension like the hidden dungeon.

BOOOOOOOM!!

A large explosion happened from a distance and trees flew to the sky along with dust and dirt as if a giant is going on a rampage in the area.

That’s where I need to go.I whisper in my mind.

"I need to hurry," I whisper as I descend down the ground. As soon as I touch the surface, I sprinted towards the direction of the explosion speeding through the forest with ease. It wasn't long till I reached the source of the explosion and the whole area was covered with dust making it harder for me to see what's in it.

"Fucking dust. Item bag." I took out a sword and used my skill to encase the blade with the wind. I swung towards the dust and a tornado formed like before sucking up everything.

“Ah! Ahhhhhh!!!!” I hear a female’s voice scream and I see her get sucked up in the tornado as it twirled her around spitting her at the top.

“Oh shit. Haha.” I jumped up towards her catching her in midair.

“Y-Yasu? Yasu!” She suddenly hugged me that that made me choke a little bit. I can feel her body tremble as we descend back down the ground. “I-I thought you left me! Uwaaaaaa!”

She started crying and I activated my chef’s coat skill to protect us from the fall.

BOOM!

I felt the impact as we land on the ground on my back. I feel her slowly loosening her grip and she sat up wiping her tears while her breathing spasm as the aftermath of her wails.

“I-hic*- though you-hic*- l-left me.” She says as she kept wiping her tears while she sat on top of me. I didn’t say anything and just stared at her crying when I suddenly notice a shadowing moving behind her.

“Watch out!” I pushed her to the side placing myself on top of her and I felt a sharp pain on my back right around the top right near my shoulder blades. I see her looking up to me with a worried look. I slowly turn to see a dagger lodged in my back as the guy from last night held it in place also looking at me surprised. I glared at him making him back up and I slowly stood up facing him. I see he's a complete mess as his right-hand limp to the side. His clothes are riddled with rips and twigs stuck in between. “That fucking hurt you piece of shit.”

“Y-you. Y-you’re the one I-I felt last night.” He stutters and I can see he’s badly wounded.

“Felt? You faggot. You felt me last night while I was sleeping?” I asked getting irritated.

“W-what? n-no your demonic aura-“ He tried to explain but I wasn’t listening as I clench my fist.

"Pound!" I sunk my fist in his abdomen while I shift the weight of my punch to launch him upward. I can see his eyes go wide as he loses air before he went soaring up the sky like a bird. “Suyeon! Get up!”

I felt a quick wave of pain as my muscle tense where the knife is lodged in causing me to go on both knees.

“I-I-im sorr-“ She tried to touch the knife to pull it out but she looked confused on how to go about it.

“Forget about the knife! This fucker needs to know whom he’s dealing with! Time it and kick him!” I tell her as I point up the sky watching descending towards us.

“O-ok.” I see her stand in front of me looking up waiting for the guy to come back down. She suddenly ran towards a spot a distance away from me.

What is she doing?I say in my mind and I’m starting to feel the aftermath of the dagger lodged in my back.

“Fuck, this hurts-“

“Three-step combo!" I hear her suddenly shout and she started moving to do different positions like last time while she looks up.

Did she gain a new skill? Her movement is different.I whisper as I see her jump up as the guy descends down towards her. The last step she did was in an upwards-kicking position as she jumps up the sky at an unbelievable speed. Her foot met the abdomen of the bandit and the shockwave of the explosion caused him to soar so far up in the sky he became a faint dot. The trees around us swayed away from us while the ground below her erupted causing a huge crater.

"What the fuck," I whisper as I see her land safely down the ground as if she was doing the finish on a gymnastic routine. She quickly ran towards me still with a worried look as she inspects the dagger lodged in my back and I can feel my arm going numb.

“W-wh-wh h-h-how. I-I’m sorry. I-its because of-“ She stuttered looking frantically at the knife lodged on my back.

“Relax, I’m not going to die from this tiny shit. I’ve been through worse.” I say remembering how I have been eaten alive a year ago. I see her on a verge of tears hovering her hand on the daggers handle. "Grab the handle and pull it out. I can't reach it."

She did as I told and the minute she touches the handle, it sent pain all over my body causing me to drop to my knees. "Agrhhhh!!!”

“I’m sorry!” She screamed as she drops on her knees about to cry.

“Stop fucking crying! Just grab it and pull it out!” I tell her getting frustrated she can’t do a simple task. She grabbed the handle again and I winced in pain. She started pulling the dagger out but at the slowest pace imaginable making me feel the dagger at every inch.

“Ahrhhh!!!! Yank it out quick! Why the fuck you’re pulling it out so slow!” I shouted at her and I can see tears coming out of her eyes.

“I-I’m sorry!” She apologized as she closed her eyes and quickly yanked out the dagger.

“Nnggghhhh!!!!” I muffled my voice as I clench my fist waiting for the pain to subside.

Hah*

Huah*

“Fuck, that hurts. Item bag.” I took out a piece of meat and started eating to help me regenerate faster.

Swooooosh!

BOOOOOOOM!

Something erupted behind me and when I look back, I see the person she kicked upwards into the sky, on the ground. Blood splatter on all direction like someone slammed a tomato on the floor. His body was completely mangled as the impact of the crush denied him of a humane figure.

“Hah..” I whisper as I slowly stand up walking near him. “Well, that’s just overkill.”

I notice something shines on his finger making me crouch down to get a better look.

Whistle*

“A diamond ring. Hmm, this will look good on my mother.” I decided to remove the ring off his finger and placed it in my dimensional bag. I hear Suyeon scuffle behind me as she follows me to get a better look.

“I-is he dead?” She asked.

"Do you think he looks alive?" I asked her and she shakes her head. "Where did you learn that skill? Is that new?"

“N-no. It’s the same it just changes position when I look up the sky.” She tells me as she points up with her blood covered hands.

"Oh, so the poses depend on whether you're looking up or straight," I tell her and she nods.

“Y-yeah. I used it on a couple of them earlier.” She tells me making me remember the guy who had his intestines out.

“You did all of that?” I asked her and she nods happily.

“Y-yeah. T-they tried to tie me up a-and told me I should be happy I would be sold. T-then…t-this guy, tried to u-use his thing to me s-so I kicked him and managed to get away. T-they caught me so I did what you taught me to do." She explained and it always baffles me how she gets caught up in all trouble without doing anything.

“Wait, don’t tell me you. Ripped them apart with your bare hands?” I say studying her blood covered hands. She nods happily to me and I just stare at her at awe.

"Well, what do you know? I didn't need to come and save your ass." I tell her and her eyes lit up.

“S-save me? You c-came to save me? I-I thought you left me…” She felt happy as she fixes her hair removing it away from her face.

“Leave you, when you could do shit like this? There is no way I would leave you.” I tell her smiling at the carcass of the bandit.

“S-so are you going to cut them up?” She asked me.

“What?” I asked her.

“T-to eat. You always cut up everything we kill.” She told me and I know she isn't joking.

“FYI, the only thing I don’t eat is human flesh. That’s why I didn’t cut up the governor to eat. That’s taboo.” I tell her and she just nods.

“What do we do with them?” She asked me while looking at the corpse.

“Nothing. Leave them there for the birds to eat or for their own people to find. They don’t even deserve a humane burial.” I tell her as I started walking back where the carriage was and she quietly followed. We both followed the trail but then I decided to walk off a bit to not run into anyone. As I sat down on the ground, I noticed Suyeon started collecting sticks.

“Hey, stop that. We’re not camping here. I just need to let this wound heal then we’ll be on our way.” I tell her and she nods dropping the bundle of sticks she was hugging. She slowly walked towards me and sat near me as she takes out a water container to wash the blood off her hands.

"How about this area, do the trees look similar?" I asked her and she looked around.

"Oh! They're the same!" She suddenly was full of energy. Even I was excited. We're getting closer to finding out clues on where they went. Now the next thing is to find an adventurer or anyone and ask them if they spot any odd-looking people. But I don't think we'll find any adventurers here. It seems like this illusion barrier is made to keep people out.

The best thing to do now is to keep following the trail. It might lead somewhere. After I felt my wound healed fully, I told her to change clothes. I did the same since we’re both covered with blood. If we managed to come across a bandit, the last thing we want is to attack us on sight.

“Ok, you ready?” I asked her as she ties her hair to a ponytail using a string I gave her. The front of her hair covers her face making her look ridiculous. “Wait a minute. I stop her as I took out a dagger from my bag. I gently grabbed the hair hanging down her face and using my dagger, I cut it just right above where her eyebrow is giving her bangs. Ever since we got out of the boar town, she’s been looking like the grudge following me around. But after cutting her hair into bangs, I paused as she looks at me in the eyes making my face feel hot.

Cough*

“E-ehem. This is better, now you can see better.” I tell her and she nods happily. But at that moment I knew, she looked way better than Hiroko if she got one of them girly hairdo. We scavenged what we can from the broken up carriage and all of the bandits, emptying their pockets. It might be messed up to scavenge a dead body but it’s survival of the fittest. After collecting what we can, we started following the brick road that continued non-stop. It felt like we were walking forever. We kept walking until we saw the carriage again.

“What the…fuck, we’re going in circles?” I whisper as I stand in front of the broken down the carriage. This trail, now that I noticed. This trail was built probably just in case someone gets in the illusion barrier without knowing. A person can follow this trail forever not knowing they’re going in circles over and over again.

“Fuck,” I whisper walking the opposite way. I walked back looking around to see if there’s any beaten path that breaks off the brick trail but nothing. I kept track in my mind by counting and it approximately took us at least two hours walking from one edge of the illusion barrier to the next.

I decided to try and figure out the center of the illusion. If it took us two hours to reach from one side to the other, if we walked for an hour, it should bring us to the center. From there, we can look for anything that may be hiding another path. There might be more of those guys and by the looks of it, they might be slave trader or bandits. Which means, there are people here or maybe a base hidden somewhere. If we find that it, I might find more clues where Daikichi and Kana are or even better, I might find them in there. We walked following the trail one last time. I was too busy counting in my head as I look to the ground that I didn’t notice a person until I almost bumped into him.

Well, don’t you look like you belong to a museum? I say in my mind as I see the old man stand in front of us.

“H-hello. I-I needs help. P-please, my granddaughter is hurt. Help me.” The old man says looking at me.

This old man, probably one of them. Must be a trap.I say in my mind as I notice the ring on his finger is similar to the one I took from the dead body.

“Sure~ bring me to her,” I tell him while smiling and he looked like he was about to cry thanking me.

Nice acting you old fuck bag.

“S-she’s just up ahead in the forest. We were gathering herbs w-when she hurt herself.” He tells me. “Thank goodness I found you.”

“Well, aren’t you lucky. I was actually heading somewhere after dealing with an issue near the illusion barrier entrance.” The minute I said it, he stopped walking. He didn’t bother turning around but I can see his breathing is getting out of pace. “Now why did you stop old man~ Come on. Bring me to your granddaughter~ I somehow want to meet her~”

“Y-you. Who are you?” He asked me slowly turning around. Rather than showing fear, he’s glaring at me.

“Why you looking so mad old man~ Come on, we don’t have enough time to chit chat, bring me to your granddaughter~,” I tell him and he suddenly took out a sword from the cane he’s holding.

“Oho~ Want to fight now. Well then~” I say as I clench my fist waiting for him to make the first move. Suyeon stayed behind me looking around wary of her surroundings.

“Who are you, or you will die here.” He says trying to scare me.

“Pfft~ I have known you’re a bandit the minute I saw you. My name is irrelevant at this point. Say, mind pointing me where your hideout is?” I asked him trying to validate if they are bandits or not.

“Everyone!” He shouts and suddenly, bandits came out the bushes and behind the trees. There were so many of them that they surrounded us both side. Suyeon turned around and now we’re back to back looking around us.

“Now now, relaaaaax~,” I say raising my arms as if I was going for a hug. “ I came here because I was asked to help a carriage carrying valuable merch.”

“Carriage? Who asked you?” I see him still wary of my presence.

“Radik, the carriage driver….” I would fight them but it’s better to get on their good side and infiltrate their base rather than being brought in as a prisoner. “He asked me to help some bandits that were being attacked by a demon.”

“Y-y-you. You can’t be Olin right?” One of the bandits who had his face covered asked happily.

“Ah~ Yes that Olin,” I say smiling at him not knowing who the hell this Olin guy is. I see the old man relax is stance along with everyone else but he didn’t make a move.

“Is that so. The mighty Olin, finally grace us with your presence. Came here to relax after doing an unimaginable thing right?” He asked me and I just nodded not knowing what the hell is he talking about.

“Holy hell, Olin. In the flesh. What the hell this is the best day of my life.” The same bandit who shouted Olin’s name earlier in surprise approach me and held out his hand for me to shake it but I ignored him and turn towards the old man.

"Sorry kiddo, had to be sure. We are actually going to the edge of the barrier to check why the carriage hasn't arrived yet. Did you say you helped them? Where are they?" The old man asks me.

“That’s why I was looking for your base to let someone know they’re dead. I got there too late and the demon murdered them all.” I tell him hoping he’d buy the story.

“What?!” The old man shouts and I see him stare at nothing for a good minute. “I told them not to travel at night since there’s been a commotion outside the illusion. Fuck. Did you happen to see what the demon look like?”

"Well, it was a female demon that had pale skin and fangs. Bright red hair that matches her iris. Injured her but she fled before I did the finishing blow." I tell him a lie I made up on the spot thinking about the ogre queen and the overlord on the hidden dungeon.

“Shit, how did a demon get in here? I just talked to them a couple of hours ago now they're all dead." The old man whispered to himself.

“Shit, what do well tell the boss?” One bandit says towards the old man.

“Nothing. We’ll say the carriage never came and clean up the mess ourselves. If he finds out no one stopped them from leaving at night, I’m sure we’ll get blamed for it since we’re on guard duty last night.” The old man tells him and I can see they all look worried.

Who the hell is this big boss? I asked in my mind.

“Wait, how did you get through the illusion barrier?” He asked me and I got confused.

Ah shit. Fuck, what do I say?I say in my mind while trying to keep a calm look.

“The only way to get in here is using these rings.” He says as he raises his hand showing me a diamond ring. The same ring I picked up earlier on the dead body.

“Can we see the ring?” One of the bandits asks and I’m starting to feel irritated.

“Tsk, so many fucking questions. Maybe I should kill all of you here so I can get on my way.” I whisper and I see most of them touch their weapon including the old man.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! C-come on now guys. R-relax.” The Bandit says.

“Are you sure you’re Olin?” The old man says and I can see his expression change.

“Dimensional bag,” I whispered and the bag dropped in front of me. Everyone was startled but they couldn’t take their eyes off the dimensional bag as I pick it up from the ground.

“A dimensional bag, now that is something I’ve never seen.” He says as I place my hand inside the bag to take out the ring and show it to him.

“Seeeee~ Jiji, he’s the real deal. N-now guys let not draw our weapons okay?” The bandit says and I see the old man and everyone relax.

“Sorry kiddo, had to be sure ya know. No one has ever seen Olin’s face except our leader and he’s quite busy right now in the town with new livestock that’s running amok. Damn new adventurers from a far-off land.” He tells me and that caught my attention.

“New adventurers? Who? What do they look like? Do you know their name?” I bombarded him with questions thinking about Daikichi.

“Whoa, whoa. Relax. Some new adventurers appeared out of nowhere. They had weird clothing and gave us issues when they were brought in.” He tells me and it's making me clench my fist inside my pocket.

“Tell me, how far is the town from here?” I asked him and I can see his eyebrow twitch.

“It’s about an hour away walking from this checkpoint.” He tells me and he turns to the Bandit that seems to idolize me. “You, lead them to the town and give him and his- I’m sorry sir Olin. But who’s she?”

The old man points at Suyeon who’s behind me hiding as the boys hover around her like bees.

“She is my disciple. A Bandit in training.” I tell him and he raises his eyebrow.

“A beautiful bandit? Well, that’s something you don’t see daily.” He whispers. “Well then, we’ll be on our way. Men! Move out!”

All of them started walking towards the direction we came from.

“Please keep this between us.” The old man says and they all walked off towards the brick path.

Fucking cunts. Gullible shit bags. They believe anything anyone will say. How in the world are they bandits? I say in my mind as I started following the bandit who led us through the forest. He talked non-stop about what he wants to do and what he wants to become and how he idolized me. It seems like Olin is some legendary bandit.

“Ok, we’re here.” He says as he stops right in the middle of the forest. I look around and I see nothing but trees.

Here? The fuck.I say in my mind as I prepare myself just in case he led us to another ambush.

“Here? where?” I asked him as he looks at me happily.

“Oh, that’s right. It’s your first time here. Give me a minute.” I see him bend down touching something on the ground.

A string? As soon as he got ahold of the string, he pulled it and the ground started sliding sideways opening a staircase leading below the surface. No wonder I don’t see any buildings. Their hideout, It’s underground.