I put up my best act and try not to let any anger show on my face. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

When we first spotted them, I lost my composure and tried to rush there, but not before I was pulled back by Alan.

"Patience, we're outnumbered and there's not enough cover for me to get close without being spotted first."

"I don't think I'll be able to keep my spell from hurting the merchants either. They're packed too densely."

"I don't see Liarelle either and they're missing one of their numbers," I added.

"Doesn't look like their lives are in immediate danger at the moment, we should retrieve Liarelle first before deciding how to deal with the rest," Alan said calmly.

"Let's go with that," I clenched my fist tightly. If they even as much harm a hair on her head...

"Hey, I know you're out there! Come out and surrender unless you want the campfires extinguished with their blood!" one of the bandits called out.

"Great. The cla.s.sic 'come out and surrender unless you want your friends killed' card," I muttered under my breath.

"It's just the threat, we should stick to the-"

The bandit stabbed Darius, causing him to groan in pain. Blood was leaking out of his abdomen.

"I know you're out there. If you don't come out fast, he's going to bleed out - not even the G.o.ds can save him."

I couldn't contain my rage anymore, so I started walking out from my cover.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing, Mike?" Telara whispered hardly.

"I'm going to kill that guy. You two find Liarelle and rescue her, I'll buy you some time. Oh, and gimme a blade" I said coldly, my eyes hard.

"Hey guys, I was wondering if we can negotiate a bit. We don't actually mind you taking the wares, but would you mind sparing our lives?" I walked towards the center and dropped the shortsword Alan gave me.

The bandits stared me in silence before bursting out in laughter.

"Ya hear that boys? Another sucker surrenderin' to save his friends," one of the bandits howled. Someone hit me at the back of the head and I fell forward. I got on my knees, trying to rise and found a blade pointed at my face.

I scanned around looking for the caster and found him leaning on the side of a caravan. Dressed better than the rest of the thugs, he stood out like a sore thumb. When Alan reported told us that there was a caster amongst them, Telara had warned us to beware of him. Merely knowing a few spells doesn't particularly make you a mage. It's similar to how being able to cook a few recipes doesn't actually make you a chef. Even so, the ability to cast spells still makes him worth being wary of.

"Don't take me for a fool, boy," the chief bandit said. "You think I would believe that you and big-buffo there are the only ones escorting the merchants? This forest is dangerous place, it would take at least eight of you to get through the woods unscathed."

"Believe me, I know that. I almost got killed twice there myself. If it were not for big-buffo, I would've been dead by now. I don't know how you got him, but if you saw how he fought against dem animals, you would've believed that he was actually the beast instead," I said, still kneeling. The bandit chief smiled then nodded his head. One of the guys grabbed my hair and pulled, revealing my neck and put a blade against it.

"Out. Now!" the bandit chief shouted.

Silence.

"Doesn't seem like your life is worth much to them, kid. After slitting your throat, maybe I'll have some fun with the priest girl later. Dune should be done with her just about now," he smiled lecherously.

I really wanted to jump forward and murder him so badly, but the proximity of the blade against my neck prevented me from doing so.

"Kill him."

"Wait!"  Telara slowly walked out of hiding, her two hands up in the air. I noticed their caster jerked straight in response. His eyes alert.

"Boss, this one is dangerous," the caster said.

"Oh? I knew there was a caster amongst you since there were traces of unnatural burns on your trail. That's why I had my boys gathered around the hostages tightly. Looks like I made the right call," he chuckled. "Kill them all."

*whoosh* I felt blood dripping on my face. But it wasn't mine. The guy who held the blade on my throat had an arrow sticking out of his. He released me from his grip and abruptly fell to the ground.

"Archer! Use the hostages as covers!", they drew out their weapons and each of them took up a human s.h.i.+eld.

An arrow landed between me and the bandits. Attached to it was a fuse nearly burning out.

"Eyes!" Telara voice whipped. I closed my eyes and a flash of light exploded from the arrow. I opened my blurry eyes and saw the bandits clutching their eyes in pain. They had dropped their weapons and released the hostages from their arms. "Run!" I shouted. The merchants ran and stumbled like sheeps as more arrows flew and felled another two bandits. Making use of the confusion, I rolled towards a fallen blade on the ground, grabbed, and plunged it to the closest man beside me. I pulled and kicked him down, and directed my intent towards the bandit chief. "Oooh, you're going down!", my eyes were deadly. I charged ahead, aiming my blade towards that son of a b.i.t.c.h. I sensed a sudden tingling sensation and felt gooseb.u.mps rising up from all over my body. I turned to side and saw the caster channelling some kind of lightning spell on his palms. Before I can react, he released a strike on me. I closed my eyes in resignation, having no way to dodge it in time. I reopened my eyes and saw a barrier present. It must've dissipated the strike before hitting me. I turned towards Telara and found her directing her palms towards me. I nodded in grat.i.tude and continued on with my charge. I brought my blade to the chief, which he easily parried. He's no amateur at swordfights. I continue my a.s.sault on him and found out that I'm no match. I managed to exchange a few bouts with him before he eventually flicked my blade away with his, delivered a slash, and gave a kick which sent me sprawling. My chest burned with pain, I touched it grunted painfully. There was a big b.l.o.o.d.y gash on it. I lifted my head and saw Alan fighting evenly against three men. Telara was burning away the other caster's barrier. Lying closely behind her was a charred corpse on the ground, foolish enough to try her. I guess her spells works in close range too.

The bandit chief was upon me, staring me down with fury in his eyes. He swung his sword at me and I barely dodged it by rolling sideways, causing his strike to miss and hit the ground instead. I stood up and tackled him. We both fell and I got above him. I punched his face a few times, venting my rage. He took out a knife from his belt and drove it into my ribs, and I screamed. I grabbed his hand with my both of mine, preventing him from pulling out and stabbing me again. He pulled harder, causing me to stagger closer and headb.u.t.ted my face, then wrestled me aside whilst pulling out the knife. I laid there on the ground. Weak and wounded, bloodied and bruised. The chief kneeled beside me on one foot.

"You fought good, boy. Looks like my crew are no match for your party," he said coldly. I feebly put my palm on his chest and he chuckled, "A fighter till the end, eh?"

He held the knife with a reversed grip and raised it up to slam the blade down on my chest, but not before I materialized the my soulblade on my hand through his heart.

"Heh, gotcha."

The chief dropped his knife and the soulblade de-materialized, leaving a hole in his chest. He dropped to the side, completely motionless. I lifted my head and saw Alan dealing with the last bandit. The two that he fought lying soulless on the ground. Telara had finally managed to break through the other caster's defense, lighting him up like a bonfire. I turned to where Darius was and found Liarelle kneeling beside him, desperately trying to heal the unconscious man with every single ounce of magic she had.

I felt my body losing temperature due to excessive blood loss. The pain started to fade away together with my consciousness. "Third time's the charms, huh?" I muttered to myself. I closed my eyes and found myself gently drifting away into darkness.

"Ow, ow, it freakin' hurts! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? I just slept for a while, hoping to regain my power a bit and woke up to this? Look at you, you're almost on the brink of death again! Do you know how hard is it to recover even a miniscule amount of power? It's gonna take most of what I've gathered to heal those injuries," an irritating voice resounded in my head. "Hey, are you listening? You're gonna die if I don't do anything. Hey… Hey! Fine, I'll do something about it, so you'd better be grateful and thank me next time!"

I blacked out.