". . . Oh."

Now Shun was worried.

Looking at the updated Quest window, Shun realized how serious his situation was.

80. . . 79. . . 78. . .

It was very serious!

He was interested in why new information about his Quest was just now being told to him but he had no time to dwell in it as the timer was reaching 60.

"You two! When I asked you if there was any kind of danger that could potentially harm the village I could tell you didn't know at the moment did you come up with anything now?"

Shun couldn't help but be agitated as he looked at the Guards and talked to them with a sense of urgency as he looked around the outside surrounding area.

The outside was pretty plain with dirt making most of the area as if the surrounding grass was pulled out artificially with the grass growing in density further and further out. The village wasn't that big with it barely making up a small neighborhood back on Earth only big enough to hold its citizens and cabins that hold their small life stock.

There was a forest a good mile away that was very spread out with trees being a small percentage of it mostly being of grass a good quarter of a leg high.

Shun was seeing where those so called Bandits were, trying to pinpoint where they would exactly attack from. He had an idea of checking the original path but he didn't have enough time to run all the way over there.

"Danger? Ummm. . . Oh! Yes, back when we were choosing where to start the village I remember talk of a new group of bandits setting up base in a mountain East over. Though their power was small months ago I can't imagine them attacking us. So why do you ask?"

'So there is a group of bandits. . .'

Left Guard who had pointed to a mountain, Shun hadn't even a token notice of that was in the exact location of the path he traveled when coming to the village.

He wasn't one to speculate but if this was the case couldn't he have defeated them before they even reached the village if he knew of them before.

Clicking his tongue Shun with his Glaive in hand couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, he had expected the danger to be some monsters presumably goblins or some sort of fantastical creature but other humans was something he couldn't fathom even if they were Npc's.

Now his view on this battle was different, How could he attack another human being. His mind tried to come up with excuses but his mind was reverting to his old self.

He's never hurt anyone before. . . He's never even had malicious feelings for someone.

". . ."

Looking back to the two guards who still stood there with eyes passionate and steeled resolved his mind was switching back and forth between what to do.

Even after his passionate speech to them, he was right back in their shoes, not wishing to attack a human and potentially lose his life.

But even as he thinks that he knew that it didn't matter, this mission, a death in a tutorial, it didn't matter. He could just respawn and try becoming a great adventurer later, rewards regardless.

Though as he searched deep down what to do, the idea of just giving up rubbed him wrong.

It went past just competitive play and wanting the best reward. He wanted victory, Looking at the Glaive that stood straight up blade pointing to the sky reflecting the sun's light, he really felt a sense of power. As if he himself who was never strong nor smart was powerful, as if his body shouldn't give up just because there's a human being as his enemy and not another animal that was going to attack and kill the people of this village regardless.

Looking at the timer on the panel once more seeing it go down from the 30's slowly going down to the 20's.

Shaking off all nerves that built up in his body, the two guards who were looking at Shun in silence suddenly felt the same shiver that they felt when he gave his speech. At first they were becoming nervous again as the boy they were trusting and going into battle with had shrunk and was becoming a different person as his once fiery eyes wavered.

But that waver was stomped down the moment it rose, being replaced by an even fiercer set of eyes as his temperament once again stood at full attention, making the two guards feel smaller than before.

"Those bandits that you said was not a threat is coming down to this village this very moment."

Wide eyed, both Guards looked at Shun with bafflement.

But they weren't scared.

"I don't know their numbers and I don't know their strength. But I know my strength, and by the Gods might it will become the strength of this town!"

For the need of his future and these villages, Shun couldn't be the one to crumble. Not at this moment

"If what you've said is correct, they should appear not too far away from the main path you've created. We must go now!"

Circling his Glaive Shun broke out into a run.

The two Guards, shocked at first, ran right behind him albeit much slower.

'This feels, Great!'

Running at speeds he's never ran before. Shun was probably running close to a normal High School track runner speed down the curved path. circling the village wall.

As he ran Shun didn't even notice any form of difference in his body, his movements were smooth and he didn't even feel tired!

His body was in a condition he's never been in before. When he was in school and had to run laps he would get tired almost immediately, but now it felt like his body was on a different level.

Looking back seeing how his two other comrades in battle were doing, he wasn't surprised to see them sagging behind breathing hard already.

It was probably a bad idea for them to be tired already before any real battle had even started but there was no time to take their time and get there in a slow manner. Looking at the time on the panel and seeing it now heading in the 10's his urgency rose once more.

Looking back . . . to see how far away the two were and seeing the gap getting bigger as he ran, and seeing that they weren't catching up any time soon, Shun yelled back at them to slow down and that he would reach there first to preserve their energy.

Pushing himself to get to there before anything drastic happened, he noticed that as he ran he wasn't even close to being tired yet it was as if he was getting more energy as he ran.

Reaching the destination of the path with only a couple seconds left he was shocked to not see nobody there.

'Are they going a different direction!?'

Already planning to check a different direction, once the timer on the panel hit Zero he started hearing noises. Mostly soft footsteps with rather loud voices approaching from the path.

Looking back to the path, almost a mile down, Shun finally saw what was going to be his enemies approach with no care as to how loud they were being.

A large group, probably more than 50 men not particularly equipped but it seemed that they were more so than him with a lot of them wearing good metal and good leather armor, fur coats that seemed to be made of some kind of wolf like creature indicative of the shape and color. And seemed to have weapons that were definitely better than his, almost too good for people of their standing.

They were all mean looking with dirt and grim all over their body as if not even caring for hygiene, seeming very rowdy as they moved clumsy and heavy footed almost stomping.

A lot of them weren't that impressive, if Shun was being honest. There were some that looked threatening but most of them looked like foot soldiers that were expendable. Looking through each person one by one as they walked their way to the village. His mind cemented that fact, but there was one that drew Shuns attention the most, in the back, with muscles spilling out of there brown gi like outfit that was torn around the arms at the shoulders as if there was once sleeves there as he wore leather pants and boots. A face scarred near the mouth with a serious expression on his face, with hair black and cut unevenly pushed to the back, skin seemingly cleaner than the rest but still dirty and tanned.

That man was the most threatening in Shuns opinion, he was quiet, hard faced, and didn't make any kind of unnecessary movements like the rest of them.

But the thing that made him the most intimidating was the feeling Shun got, he couldn't explain it but it was as if an animal was looking straight at him.

". . ."

Shun who was looking straight at him didn't feel the need to look at anyone else.

Though it seemed that he wasn't using any kind of weapon, Shun could see the glimpses of a handle behind his back.

As the group was approaching, not even a 10 meters away now. The bandit group who finally seemed to notice Shun stopped moving as they pointed and whispered to each other.

Shun who was standing in the way between them and their target with his basic clothes and glaive in hand didn’t even seem fazed at their appearance.

"Hey you! Youngin! Don't you understand that yous in the way!"

One of the more grimier grunts in the bandit group yelled at Shun waving his crude sword in a shooing motion as if telling a kid to move.

". . ."

"Hey! Didn't you hear me! I said move! My boss ain't gonna be happy with yous in the way!"

Getting angry at Shuns silence taking it as defiance as he looked at him with no expression pushing the glaive in his hand with no care between both hands as the pole end stuck to the ground.

Now being laughed at by his companions for being ignored by a brat, the man whose face was becoming redder as they laughed at him now went with a rather different approach to getting Shun out the way.

Fiercely glaring at Shun, the man broke away from his group and stomped his way over to Shun.

Shun watched him as he went his way over to him, lifting his sword high not hiding his intentions. Now in range the man swung his sword down towards Shuns head.

It wasn't a surprise that Shun dodged seeing as he could see the attack from a mile away and the fact that there seemed to be no power or speed in it, making it quite easy to dodge. Jumping back a step letting the sword completely miss and fall forward to the ground.

It may have seemed that Shun was calm and completely unbothered by the attack on the outside.

But inside he was scared shitless. His mind was running a million miles an hour, his insides going cold and sweat stained his back as he watched the man who seemed angrier than before, surprised that Shun dodged as if he wasn't supposed to do that. Lifting the sword the man tried attacking again now running at Shun swinging his sword with more effort. But it seemed to not matter as Shun dodged once again, and thats when this swing and dodge game started between the two, and to Shun, it was starting to get repetitive.

The swings were slow, easy to predict, and had no kind of different pattern of swings. Swing, miss, lift, swing. The same pattern over and over.

And so Shun tried going on the attack this time. Stopping to a halt, putting his right hand near the start of the blade/end of the shaft and placing his left on the middle most side of the pole.

Swinging his Glaive in a position forcing his blade away from the man, Shun swung the pole end towards the mans stomach.

Now Shun wasn't expecting it to hit him, instead he thought he would only graze him or the man would dodge it completely. But it seemed that the person really was a grunt as his body didn't even process Shuns pole finding its way to his stomach, he was so focused on trying to hit his target that he wasn’t paying attention. But what Shun didn't realize, was that it wasn't that the man was slow but him that was incredibly fast.

His insane movement speed and instantaneous switch from defensive to offensive caught the man off guard.

The man who was now holding his stomach in pain was still gripping his sword's handle as he felt the pole which he hadn't even realized was heading his way crash into his ribs.

Feeling the contact of his Glaive and the mans body, Shun felt his body jolt in surprise.

". . ."

Swinging his Glaive once more in a circular motion and then thrusting the butt end of the glaive once more to the mans stomach the man tried to scramble out the way but failed as Shuns pole slammed its way back to his ribs, making the man fall on the ground.

The man had dropped his sword in the impact of the attack and was now curled up in pain holding his stomach, gritting his teeth.

Surprised at the defeat of the man, Shun didn't even have time to think close on anything as an overwhelming force of violence surged in his head.

Not waiting for some sort of signal, Shun shot out from his position to the bandits.

"!?"

Shocked at seeing their comrade defeated so easily, the men were fumbling on what to do as they went into readied their stances running their way to Shun, holding their weapons rather clumsy.

Looking at the huge group of bandits running their way to Shun, sense came back to him as he turned his focus of direction somewhere else now running to the far most right of their group.

Going to the one who seemed the least prepared of an attack, Shun went ahead and swung his pole to their head.

But it seemed this one had a bit more skill as he moved his head out the way of the strike.

Shun who had missed the attack, as to Avoid getting caught up in some sort of close combat interaction jumped back and went back to running in a different direction, doing a 180 turn and breaking off into a sprint the other way and went to attack any that seemed weak and unable to dodge his strike of the pole.

There were some that weren't ready for his unexpected attacks to different parts of their body as to avoid their armor and actually hurt them with his pole, it was becoming clear to the bandits that not even one of them were able to get even close to attacking him.

And although Shun wasn't doing any lasting damage to any of them as he tried to go for the head and ribs for those who were wearing leather armor. It seemed his pole attacks weren't very effective in the long run.

But it wasn't just the Bandits that he was attacking that he needed to worry about, it was the ones that tried to sneak past and attack the village that became a problem as well.

Looking to see if any were, he was relieved to see the two guards were finally getting to the field. Dodging an odd attack that seemed aimed at his legs, Shun who jumped back, ran to a position that was facing the Bandits once more.

Back in a position where he faced them, both sides seem to stop as they looked at each other.

And for the first time since entering this world Shun was starting to get tired, breathing heavy and sweating a bit, he stared at the Bandit group who for the most part seemed fine. Some were definitely tired and some were injured as well from Shuns random attacks to their bodies but most of them were fine to fight potentially more energy than before. Even the man from the beginning was back in the group now holding onto his sword with a pained expression, it seemed Shun had hit him the hardest out of all of them.

". . ."

But no matter how much he tried Shun couldn't help but look back at the man who was still in the back staring him down. It wasn't just now, as he was running around attacking the bandits Shun was more focused on him than anyone else. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't attack him. There was just something stopping him from doing it.

As if he was pushed back from whatever power that man had.

". . .Hey boy!"

But as if hearing his thoughts that same very man yelled out to him getting everyone's attention.

Shun hadn't realized how calm the man was as he walked past all the Bandits who made way for him

"Why are you in our way."

Now standing right infront of the group looking straight at Shun who was struggling to stay focused as the man's pressure pushed past Shun and over his body. It was hard to find words as he tried looking into his eyes, which were black and devoid of any kind of fear or anger looking back at him with calm pressure. It was as if he was trying to subdue him just by looking at him.

"You are planning to attack this village. I can't allow that."

Putting emphasis on "Can't" Shun who was confronting his eyes with the Bandits tried to match his pressure with his own.

Shun, whose body didn't want to let up, stood straight, anticipating any kind of attack or words he may have towards him.

"You wish to stop us by yourself? Ha! You can't handle the thought of killing with your blade can you! Thats why you've been doing weak attacks with your stick. You're powerful but you lack the will to kill. So get out of our way and I'll promise not to kill you. . . well not now."

Listening to the Bandits words, Shun knew he was correct. He was scared of using the blade of his Glaive, not for anything superficial like being scared of seeing blood in a game, but for his mental state. He knew everything so far was a game and there couldn't possibly be any real world consequences and there shouldn't be a reason to be scared of killing an Npc as that was essentially his mission but after seeing the village Npcs, seeing them react to losing their lives and experiencing pain, he was scared of doing something lethal and hearing or seeing something that would change him for good.

Looking at the blade part of his Glaive, Shun was still scared of that truth.

Dropping his head, the bandits saw this as him surrendering and that same bandit that Shun had defeated first almost instantly ran at him.

"You think i'll just let you go after all that! Die!"

Swinging wildly, the man who wasn't even paying attention to Shuns Glaive that was now in the air, as he continued to believe that Shun had given up and accepted death was completely unprepared for when that same blade came down and cut straight into his body from his shoulder blade down. It didn't cut him in half only stopping half way down his chest breaking through the shoulders bones and past his ribs. But it wasn't over, Shun with his hands now shifted to the end of the pole raised his right leg and kicked the body off the blade pushing him off.

Shun who wasn't lowering his head anymore looked at the Bandit with eyes that almost made the Bandit Captain almost take a step back as he watched the boy he just called weak kill his underling easily with that spear as if there was no problem. Blood gushed out the dead Bandits body as it dropped to the ground in a thud.

Shun who was staring at the dead body with shaky hands, as the blood dripped off his Glaive, suddenly stopped shaking and looked at his right hand

'That. . . wasn't so bad'

Shun expected to be sick to have thrown up. But other than a sight nausea and fear of seeing all that blood and the body, he felt completely fine.

Looking at the blood that was still gushing out of the bandit he didn't feel sorry for taking his life at all.

'Why should I. He was just about to kill me. I guess I understand those anime characters now. . . what's the point of showing mercy to someone who wasn't going to show that same mercy to me.'

Turning his attention to the Bandits Shun didn't feel a sense of restriction anymore. Twirling the Glaive, swiping the blood of the blade. Shun started walking his way to the bandits.

"What are you fools doing! Attack him!"

The Bandit captain whose calm face contorted into a snarl, shouted at his underlings who were just as surprised at the killing they just witnessed and hesitated at first before running out to fight after seeing their boss glare at them.

"We got this! Don't worry Terra we'll handle these Bandits!"

Shun who was now sprinting towards the incoming enemies didn't even have to lift his Glaive as the two Guards who came after seeing the fantastical attack of Shun and started attacking some of the bandits off with their spears.

The two were a sorry sight to see, barely being able to dodge attacks of the bandits while simultaneously missing with their own attacks. They were doing good for their skill but it was still a bad sight to see.

Looking at the two Guards, Shun had wanted to help them but there were too many bandits and not enough of them.

Attacking all those who were coming after Shun killed them with quick blade movements and unpredictable thrusts and long swipes it was hard for any kind of attack to get close to Shun as he would always dodge back before swinging his Glaive at any enemy cutting into their body killing them instantly.

The ones that had metal armor and better leather than others and were able to get off with pretty badly cuts and gashes in their armor but were still alive.

Shun knew it was because of this game's A.I that gave him knowledge of using a Glaive that he was even able to use at this level. But even with this magical mastery at using this weapon he would still miss and attack using wrong movements and techniques that had almost gotten him killed a few times if it wasn't for his armor and dodging maneuvers.

He knew he was still new to using this weapon and it was impossible to be proficient at using it so these mistakes were normal but it was still hard knowing the information on how to use it and not being able to perform it the way he knew how to.

Dodging yet another blow and taking another with his armor, Shun was starting to get overwhelmed.

He had taken out close to 10 or 11 of their members already but it looked to not matter as there hasn't even been a dip in their size.

As of right now Shun was extremely tired as sweat covered his entire body. But it wasn't the time to focus on how tired he was. Watching all directions, Shun knew he was surrounded, the Bandits had finally been able to stop his fast movements and trap him in a circle of 7 people cutting off all directions of escape.

". . ."

He couldn't go through this circle without taking some sort of damage.

Looking around for the weakest member of the circle, making sure not to stop moving, circling his movements, keeping the Glaive in constant movement pushing any that wanted to try to attack him away.

It was then did he see one of them, for a split second, put his sword down. It was only for a split second but right now that was all he needed.

Shifting his hands he gripped the Glaive with both hands almost to the end of the pole and swung it all around the circle as if swinging a sword making the blade particularly dangerous.

It only lasted a few seconds but seeing all of them back up, Shun shifted his hands back into place and went into an all out sprint for the bandit that he chose to kill first.

And for the bandit he didn't have any sort of warning as Shuns Glaive struck him straight in the head killing him instantly and not even giving him any way of survival.

But it wasn't over for Shun yet.

Seeing another one of their comrades die, the rest of the 6 Bandits went into action running to Shun weapons out hoping to attack him as his blade was stuck in the head of their dead comrade.

"!?"

It was only then did Shun realize what a bad idea it was to go for the skull and not the neck.

Trying to pull his Glaive out the skull which was giving him a struggle, as if not wanting to let go of his blade in vengeance.

As the bandits got closer did Shun finally pull the blade out quickly spinning around and attacking the closest to him which was hard to do since it was to his far right which was almost the opposite of his Glaive's position.

And he found it was a very hard thing to do as the Glaive was very hard to wield with its heavy weight and very unbalanced body.

Putting more force into his spin kicking off his right foot, he pushed his limits and lifted the blade, pushing the blade up into the air then down to the bandit as if in an upper spin slice.

It wielded results but not like how he wanted. Only slicing the chest that was already covered in leather armor. It was lucky for Shun that his attack was able to cut past the leather drawing blood. He wasn't sure if it killed him but it for sure made him collapse on the ground a good few feet dropping his weapon.

"Ah!"

His attack was almost perfect if it wasn't for one of the Bandits finally landing a strike on Shuns body that wasn't protected by armor and going skin deep.

Shun who instantly felt pain on his back lept back in what could only be his attempt to dodge yet another attack. Turning around, Shun found all the remaining 5 Bandits chasing after him.

The pain on his back would have to wait as he once again ran in a curved "C" shaped path.

Attacking in a head on fight would only lead to more injuries so he went with a plan that would make them slow down and be unprepared for an attack from the side.

And it seemed it worked, the Bandits who were running a straight line had to curve to follow Shun only to slow down as they did, turning and switching stances that were already prepared.

Shun who was ready instantly attacked the front two killing them instantly with one swing to the necks cutting into both of their throats.

He put a lot of force and power into that attack, and it showed as both bandits heads were detached from their necks.

Blood flowed out like a geyser streaming all the way until they fell down. Stopping the last 3 bandits that were chasing him, as they almost fell

Shun was about to go on the attack again, froze when he remembered the two Guards.

Whipping his head back he was met with the two Guards back to back bloody and heavily injured, trying to defend themselves from the many Bandits who were at that point almost playing with them as they went to go for the kill. Shun saw a few bodies scattered and he instantly felt a sense of pride at the fact that those useless Guards had actually killed some of them but instantly grimaced at their current state.

Shun wanted to curse himself at that point. He was so focused on killing the ones in his way that he forgot that his main objective was to protect the village and its people.

Completely ignoring the Bandits that were about to attack him, Shun ran to help them.

But as all things didn't go as he planned, another couple of Bandits blocked him from helping, attacking him with their weapons.

'How many of them are there!?'

Swinging the pole of his Glaive at the bandits and then right after, doing the same with the blade end. Shun who was becoming more and more adept with his Glaive killed every single Bandit in his way with a heavy gash to the neck or the chest, some even losing limbs because he missed with his strikes.

He just couldn’t understand as to why their numbers didn't stop.

Shun was almost covered with blood as his body was covered in some cuts, the largest still being the one at his back while everything else was shallow and barely going past his armor and clothes. He was becoming extremely tired as his body was now drenching with sweat and his breath became haggard.

He couldn't get past the bandits that would keep popping up no matter how many he killed.

Watching the bandits that were still on the brink of killing the 2 Guards. Shuns anger was growing more and more as he continued killing. And you could tell by how ferocious and destructive his swings were, giving more room for gruesome deaths. Stabbing into the gut, cutting of legs, cutting them almost in half, etc.

"Don't think you can try to attack our village and get away with it!"

Yelling at the top of his lungs a man middle aged and hair greying at an age it shouldn't, muscles that were broad, an old face, wearing the same clothes as the 15 other people with him. This man and the other people were wielding weapons that Shun recognized as the same ones from this village.