Author's Note: Chapter 10 is here! Omedetou Gozaimasu! *clapclapclap* Watch out for our MC getting an amazing superpower. Or not? Don't worry, he will still move towards OP-ness at the speed of a large boulder in a plain field.

Chapter 10: Encounter in the Dark

Paul followed the bandits until they reached the river. It was already getting quite dark, so he had dared to get as close as 50 meters. From time to time Paul could hear them talking, but he could not make out what they were talking about.

He was already only following them only by looking at the minimap and avoiding any obstacles. Hunting with Marcus had taught him various techniques to sneak up on prey, but those were mostly suited for the forest and he had not used them in the dark.

The bandits were zigzagging close to the riverside, apparently looking for something. Doing so in the dark seemed kind of silly to Paul though. The three people had some distance between them, probably to cover a wider area. That also had the effect of them speaking a bit louder than before, so Paul started to understand some parts of their conversation. He was now only 20 meters away from them, slowly following and trying not to make any sounds.

“I told you that they had taken the raft from here… It’s much closer. If they had taken the other one we would have already found it by now”

“Shut up! You weren’t even present when they hid it the last time. Just because it was at this spot before does not mean it has to be here now”

“If they used this it and came back with it, shouldn’t it be downstream anyway? I mean, the river would have taken them further on the way to the other side and then again back…”

“See? Let’s continue searching for now. It’s not like you have any other important business to do. The prisoners will still be there when we come back, probably. This is just a reconnaissance mission. No danger whatsoever”

“Yea, fine. Still, I don’t think it would be such a big deal to just look for the damn rafts while there is still some light? I mean, doesn’t *looking* involve being able to see shit?”

“I already told you to just be quiet. No point arguing about it. We will do our job properly and head back in the morning.”

Paul had gotten some decent information while listening to them. For one, they were in fact looking for the raiding party. It also doesn’t look like there would be any other bandits coming, so it was just the three. And they did not expect combat, so they were probably lightly armed.

They also planned to stay outside until morning, but Paul did not plan to follow them for long. The longer he followed, the higher the chance to be found out. And if they headed into a stretch of forest, it would be harder to sneak around. It was already pretty dark, but it was worse in the forest, and there dry sticks and obviously trees all around, so sneaking was a lot harder if you couldn’t see where you’re going.

Paul could barely make out two silhouettes in the dark, but he knew where the third one was from the minimap. He silently took out an arrow and prepared his bow. He snuck up to the bandit closest to the left, away from the water until he was approximately 15 meters away from him, ducked down into the grass, then aimed. Due to the constant bickering and chatter he could sneak up comfortably.

He aligned the arrow with what he thought was the bandit, sent a short prayer to Helena and released the arrow. The bow did not make much of a sound, but the arrow missed the bandit splendidly.

“Wow! What the hell was that? Did you hear that?” The bandit froze and started shouting.

Fortunately Paul was still hidden for now, so he just prepared a second arrow, and took out a third one while he was at it.

“I didn’t hear shit. Don’t try to scare us just so you can go back to the base, you wont find the entrance anyway in the darkness.”

“No, seriously. I swear something flew by right next to my head. I could even feel the wind. …must have been the biggest bug ever.”

Paul had an idea. It could either work well or not at all, but it was worth a try. He opened the interface menu and set the minimap setting back to “rotate with view”. He then held the bow in straight front of him and looked down the arrow. In theory, if the enemy was exactly “north” of him on the radar, he shouldn’t be able to miss at this distance. Of course, this would not work with a difference in height, but right now the terrain was level and he wasn’t hunting gnomes.

Paul didn’t wait for the bandit to move much further away and shot again.

You hit Michael for 10 damage.

“Ugh, fuck, I was bitten” the bandit started shouting wildly. “Fuck, no! It’s an arrow”

Paul immediately followed with another shot, using the minimap for guidance.

“Urgh” the bandit dropped to the ground not shouting anymore.

You hit Michael for 20 damage.

Michael is [bleeding]

Michael is [confused].

Michael is [scared].

Michael is bleeding for 5 damage.

Seemed like the second hit was much more effective. “Michael” was not dead, but as long as he was out of combat for now, it was good enough.

The bandit in the middle was not far away either, so Paul just used the same method again and shot.

No message in the log.

“Where are you, asshole. Michael, are you OK? Say something”

Paul took aim again, this time a little lower, carefully aligning the radar with the arrow.

“Aaaah, fuck!!” He heard the bandit drop to his knees. “He’s behind us!”

You hit Ryan for 15 damage.

Ryan is [bleeding].

Ryan is bleeding for 5 damage.

Michael is bleeding for 5 damage.

The third bandit did not say anything, but walked towards Paul’s position. He heard the metallic sound of a sword drawn out of its sheath.

Paul did not move away after confirming that the third bandit’s direction was slightly off, he was suspecting Paul to be further away. Paul quietly readied his spear after tucking away the bow.

The unharmed bandit was about 5 meters away from him and obviously sneaking. Without the radar, Paul would not have been able to locate him. He lowered the range of the minimap to the lowest setting and used the same method he used with the bow before. When the bandit was just a meter away, he thrust his spear forward into the direction he was looking. A hit!

You stabbed Oleg for 15 damage.

Oleg is [bleeding].

Oleg is [confused].

“Argh” a rustling sound later Oleg fell to the ground. Having hit all three enemies in the dark, Paul decided to finish Oleg first, as he was closest. He stabbed his spear into the dark where he expected the enemy to be. Miss!

At the same moment, something hit his shin.

Oleg hit you for 5 damage. *graze*

You are [bleeding].

You are bleeding for 1 damage.

Ryan is bleeding for 5 damage.

Michael is bleeding for 5 damage.

Paul tried not to cry out. Oleg must have swung a sledgehammer or cleaver while swinging wildly into the direction the first attack came from.

Paul retreated a bit and stabbed again with his spear. He hit something hard. Either armour or bone, Paul could not tell.

You stabbed Oleg for 10 damage.

Oleg is bleeding for 3 damage.

You have stopped [bleeding].

Silently praising his own regenerative powers. Paul silently stepped to the side, circling Oleg, who was still stabbing and swinging at an invisible enemy.

“Oleg! Michael! What the fuck is going on?!” Ryan seemed to be disoriented. He could not be blamed, the situation was surreal.

Paul grabbed the spear with both hands and thrust it forward as hard as he could.

You stabbed Oleg for 30 damage. *crit*

Oleg is [unconscious].

Ryan is bleeding for 5 damage.

Michael is bleeding for 5 damage.

Michael is [unconscious].

Oleg is bleeding for 3 damage.

Michael and Ryan were bleeding profusely. While Michael was already out and just bleeding to death, Ryan was still kicking and shouting.

“Asshole! Coward! Don’t think you can fuck with us and go unpunished!”

Paul was thankful for his shouting, it made it easy for him to locate Ryan and masked his own approach at the same time.

“Did you run away?! Ha! We will find you, and then we will skin you! And the same goes for-urgh!”

You have hit Ryan for 40 damage. *fatal crit*

Ryan has died.

You have gained 80 XP.

Paul had aimed for where the noise came from and thrust down hard. Easy as stealing candy from a baby. Except that no one would steel drooled on candy from a baby.

Paul finished off Michael, then Oleg. It was more a formality because they would have bled to death anyway.

Oleg has died.

You have gained 80 XP.

For successfully overpowering a group of enemies in near total darkness, only trusting your 6th sense, you have gained the skill [Night Vision].

Superneat! Paul had at some point expected to gain a title Bunny-Butcherer or Snake-Killer while hunting with Marcus, but this was actually an achievement that felt like he had earned it, yet it was totally unexpected.

[Night Vision: Beginner Level 1, 0%]

Active: Ability to gain better vision in dark environments at the expense of mana. At higher levels, effects becomes stronger and mana consumption is reduced.

He had also acquired the [Sneak] skill, which was basically silent movement. He wondered why it took so long for him to get it, but allocated one of his two remaining skill points to learn it. It seemed useful in a variety of situations.

Paul could have sworn he heard his overpowered-ness rise while reading the description.

Paul activated the skill and closed the menu. He felt a strange sensation in his eyes as he looked around. He saw nothing. Looking at the sky, he could see the stars, so his vision was still there, but the ground was nearly black. Looking at the interface, he saw a small bar saying [Night Vision] underneath his health and stamina bar, indicating that the skill was in fact active.

He stared at the spot where he expected late Oleg’s remains. Pitch black.

“Fuck! I finally gained a good skill and it is bugged!”

He carefully fumbled around in the dark, searching for whatever weapon Oleg had hit him with. He found Oleg’s extended arm, and we he followed it with his hand, he found the grip of a weapon nearby. Picking it up, he was disappointed again.

So damn light! Paul confirmed it to be a very short sword, or a large dagger, depending on the perspective. He didn’t bother checking the info for now and continued searching Oleg for valuables. He did not find any rings or a necklace, but his hands became sticky somehow. He went down towards Oleg’s belt, searching for a purse or similar. The only thing attached to the belt was the sheath for the sword.

He fumbled around in the dark until he had opened the belt and removed it. After some more fumbling, he was able to put the sword in the sheath and fastened the belt around his own waist, avoiding having to carry it around.

Only having the minimap and his memory to rely on, it took him quite some time finding Michael’s corpse. Michael had a small purse with some coins and a dagger attached to his belt. He started getting a headache from the terrible loot and his useless new skill. Trying to avoid fumbling around again, he just took the money out of the coin purse to put it into his own pouch. At least that was the plan, because when he tried to open his pouch, half the coins slipped from his hand into the tall grass. Compared to his somewhat epic fight earlier, this was total slapstick. Paul’s headache got worse. He unfastened the sheathed dagger and tucked it into his belt.

After finding the last deceased bandit and searching halfway through Ryan’s belongings he felt like his head was splitting open from the headache. At least it had gotten a tiny bit brighter and he was able to distinguish between grass and corpse, as long as he knew that there was a corpse. The problem was the headache, which had gotten so bad that he could not even concentrate anymore.

His health was still full, although he was gradually loosing stamina now. He also saw that the [Night Vision] was still running. He opened the [Menu] to close it, which was quite tricky with the splitting headache. After disabling the skill, he checked the character screen and found that his mana had gotten down to 1/75. To pain was likely a side effect of mana depletion. It also did not stop after disabling the skill, but Paul did not care at this point. He crawled a few meters away from the dead bandits, lay down into the grass and closed his eyes.

He only woke up hours later. He immediately got up and looked around. He was still next to the river with a bunch of bandits nearby. He was lucky, because the sky was already getting bright and it would not be long and the sun would rise. He was finally able to take a proper look at the “battlefield”.

Michael had an arrow sticking out of his grown. “Looks like a bad case of morning wood” Paul said to himself before chuckling from his own bad joke. Paul stopped smiling after remembering that had deliberately enlarged that “target area” when adjusting his new body. No wonder the poor guy was out after being hit like that in the dark.

The arrow that penetrated Ryan was sticking out of his upper thigh. Considering Ryan had bled as much as Michael, it had probably ruptured a major blood vessel.

Paul crawled over to Michael’s body and looked through the grass. He had dropped some coins there, and tried to find them. He noticed a lot of blood on his hands and looked down on his body.

Paul felt like he was going to get a headache again. He had touched all over the bodies while searching for loot, and had unknowingly smeared blood all over himself. Luckily his armour was black, so the stains did not show. He cursed his own stupidity and went back to search for loot again.

He did find a few copper coins and a small silver coin after a few minutes, and tucked them away. The armour Michael was wearing looked good enough, so he unfastened the straps and took it off him. It was inferior to the black armour he was already wearing, but should fetch a couple silver coins, especially as it was nearly free of blood stains.

After confirming that there was nothing else to be had from dead Michael, he went to look through Ryan’s things. He found that Ryan actually had a sword and he was wearing a thin, black cloak. The cloak was probably full of blood as well, but it could not easily be seen because of the colour. The dead bandit had nothing else of note on him.

Paul checked the last body and found that apart from the sword he had already taken, the badit had worn an iron plate that was strapped to his chest and only covered the area over his heart. He considered leaving it behind, but decided against it. Unfortunately, the arrows that missed were nowhere to be found, and the ones that hit were crusted in blood. He decided to leave them behind.

The sun was starting to rise and he assumed that the bandit party was soon to be missed by their friends. He decided on a somewhat risky cause of action. He dragged the dead bandits to the river, undid his belts, quiver, shoes, armour and everything else that was not soaked in blood, then stepped into the water. He then walked a few meters into the river and confirmed that he was far enough from the bridge to be out of sight. One after the other, he pulled the bandits into the water and sunk them.

The bodies were still fresh, so they did not float. If the other bandits came looking, they might overlook the spot here. It had not much meaning, but in the end he did want to wash himself anyway and with the bodies missing, the others bandits might assume that the search party ran into a guard patrol or something, or simply deserted.

He collected his stuff and quickly walked along the river, towards the bridge. He had wrapped his spoils into the cloak and was hoping that he would not be searched. He had considered telling the guards about the bandits and collecting the bounty. He was afraid of becoming a suspect himself though. Last time, there were several witnesses, including a merchant. A known bandit was among the corpses, and it happened on a frequented road.

This time, there were only three lightly armed guys and everything happened in the wilderness. One of them had an arrow shot into the back. Add no other witnesses, and the story might be twisted around so that Paul comes under suspicion of being a bandit himself or in league with them somehow.

It might be paranoia, but he did not want to take chances.

He approached the bridge from behind a slope and stashed his spoils, still wrapped in the cape, in a hard to see location. Unless you knew they were there, you would probably not find them. He only kept the dagger for now. He then passed over the bridge and greeted the guard, who was on duty again. He told a brief story about a failed hunt and went into the city.

After washing himself properly at the inn and bandaging his leg, he looked over his current belongings. His clothes looked terrible. There were lots of washed out but clearly visible bloodstains all over his shirt, and grass stains, blood and a cut on his pants.

He had checked his purse and found that he had picked up two small silver coins, several big copper coins and some small ones. Together with his previous funds, he had 13 small silver coins, 9 big copper coins and around 20 small ones.

His spear and bow were actually quite OK, but he was down to 5 arrows.

He grabbed the newly acquired dagger and his money, had a quick breakfast downstairs and then headed to the market square.