'It's official, u003cMana Slaveu003e is now my favorite spell.' Gray thought with an ecstatic grin as he continued to observe the chaos ongoing right in front of him.

The Bandit Boss with his fearsome presence, paused as he stared ominously with his glowing violet eyes at his next unlucky victim currently bleeding out from the attack earlier.

"B-boss!?" The bandit uttered with he looked at the armored man with unadulterated fear. "What's happening!? Why are you doing this!? N-no!!!"

The bandit's pleas of cry and terror were fallen into deaf ears as the Bandit Boss delivered a mighty downward slash with his bardiche, resulting with a horrific scene of the bandit screaming in utter agony when the blade of the axe sank right into his flesh, effectively cutting his body horizontally in half before disappearing into pixels as per death's intention of this world.

All of the hapless bandits who get to witness such a spine-chilling scene had their spirits and morale drastically lowered as their entire body shook in utter dismay at how brutal their adversary is.

One of the bandits out of the six remaining seemed to have realized something as he shouted for all his fellow comrades to listen. "The boss must be controlled by some sort of magic!! He wouldn't attack us mindlessly just like that!! Quickly, let's find that Mage sc.u.m controlling him!!"

'I don't think so.'

Of course, Gray was not wasting his precious time by simply just looking at the dreadful proceedings. Instead, he utilized such a convenient moment as he prepared two charges of a full-powered u003cArcane Boltu003e, one from each hand, and instantly hurled the magic projectiles into their direction, causing a ma.s.sive explosion that could be felt around the entire encampment.

And with the bandits being cluttered closely in one spot, the area of effect spell effectively accomplished its fatal purposes.

Since the bandit's health was already low as caused by the powerful circular slash of the Bandit Boss earlier, they stood no chance of survival against Gray's potent magic and perished from the attack.

The elf though is still equipped with the set of chainmail armor when he performed the spell, meaning he does not currently have the Intelligence bonus that he normally has from his robes. Even so, the spell is still more than enough in annihilating the bandits from existence.

As the smoke cleared off, the elf could now see five crystals littered around the battlefield as he approached the area while the Bandit Boss, with his great resilience, managed to survive with him being down on his knees while holding his bardiche that was standing to support himself.

'Hmm, only five?' Gray rubbed his chin with a frown. 'I could have sworn that there are six of them.'

Indeed, the elf's statement was spot on as he saw one severely injured bandit crawling for his life away.

As the bandit was about to drink a health potion that he conjured from his Inventory, Gray immediately stopped the bandit's intentions as he blinked right in front of him and quickly kicked the potion, sending what little hope that was left away.

Gray then picked up the dying bandit by his neck as he eyed face to face with him with a contemplating expression.

'Hmm, now that I think about it, I haven't had a proper snack for three months, only resorting to the Arcane inhalant that was provided by Master.' Gray thought with an eldritch look as his eyes started to glow.

The bandit was too weak to fight back as Gray took this opportunity to feed on him. u003cArcanaphiliau003e certainly made its baleful mark as the elf opened his mouth and begun absorbing the bandit off his succulent Mana Essence, turning his flesh drier with each pa.s.sing moment as a result before eventually turning to pixels.

+20 Permanent Bonus to Mana!!

'Huh, so an average human does give me only twenty.' Gray nodded to himself at this information. While in his self-contemplation, he heard multiple footsteps coming to his direction. 'It appears that more of them are coming here.'

Gray mentally ordered the Bandit Boss to stand up and prepare for the next part of the skirmish.

'I wonder how Isamu and Selena are doing?'

***

"What the!?"

One of the bandits at the center of the clearing said as he and his fellow bandits all heard the explosion coming nearby.

The most senior of the bandit group quickly ordered four of his subordinates to check out what exactly had transpired in the area of destruction.

With the four bandits departing from the clearing, all of them are now on high-alert as their eyes wander around the area for anything that is out of the ordinary while gripping their respective weapons firmly.

"Argh!!!"

All of a sudden, the senior bandit has fallen down on the ground while clutching his head in pure agony, an influx of pure magic invading his mind as he attempted to fight back whatever is trying to a.s.sault him inside.

"Hey old man, you alright!?" A concerned bandit quickly a.s.sisted him.

'Slaughter them all.' A voice, this time a female child, called out inside the older bandit's mind as it entranced him to perform the dark action.

In a quick motion, the older bandit stabbed the younger one to the stomach with his longsword. All of the bandits that are around the vicinity were stunned with immense shock and confusion at seeing the seemingly act of betrayal being played right before their very eyes.

"What's the meaning of this, Derek?!!" One of the bandits pointed his blade as he spoke on his comrades' behalf with intense rage in his questioning to the older bandit.

Their rage immediately s.h.i.+fted to wary however as the old bandit Derek revealed his now glowing violet eyes for all of them to marvel. In an instant, Derek charged in without hesitation as he attempted to slash another of his former ally.

While this was ongoing, three rapid violet blast seemed to have suddenly come from out of nowhere as it was hurled into their location, causing an explosion similar to the one that they have heard earlier.

Fortunately, well for them at least, not all of them were caught in the impact since they were all scattered in their formation. Thus, the bandits who were far away from the blast were spared from the destructive act. Of course, that may change along the way at what they are going to face next.

With the smoke clearing out, the bandits who were still alive witnessed two figures making their entrance nonchalantly as if they owned the place. One was a cat-folk clad in a set of steel armor, gripping his greatsword proudly while menacingly baring his sharp fangs. His companion, however, was the real anomaly as the bandits held confusion upon seeing a female child walking alongside the cat-folk.

But still, they could not help but oddly feel that the child is the more dangerous out of the two as she stared at them with a cold calculative look.

***

With Isamu and Selena making their grand arrival, they eyed their opponents meticulously for their next action to come.

The bandits all readied their weapon as they took their respective stance in preparation for the inevitable combat.

"Let's see," Isamu said to his Sentinel companion. "Each bandit has around 1,900 Health more or less. I'll take those three on the left while you handle the other two on the right. Sounds fair?"

Selena merely nodded as she shrugged her shoulders in response, agreeing with the cat-folk's suggestion.

Isamu then initiated the battle with an erupting roar as u003cWar Cryu003e made itself known throughout the entire camp, making himself even more intimidating than ever before. He then quickly dashed right at the three bandits that he chose with the use of his u003cCourageous Chargeu003e, knocking one of the enemies into the ground.

Another one of the bandits from behind attempted to stab him at the back but Isamu proved to be significantly quicker as he sensed him and reacted accordingly by performing a side-step to the right. While the bandit was slightly off-balance from missing his attack, Isamu took this perfect opportunity and immediately delivered a u003cHeroic Strikeu003e on the bandit's vulnerable side, dealing huge amount of 1,005 physical damage with his skill that has improved drastically during his three months of training with Krothu.

Anyways, the battle raged on as Isamu continued to display remarkably in the way he managed himself in the fight. Despite being outnumbered by three, this does not serve to hinder the cat-folk in any way as the bandits lacked the formal combat training as shown by the way they move and attack with wasted movements.

Add to the fact that he's a cat-folk, so he was able to dodge the bandits' slow and predictable attacks with ease and following up with either u003cHeroic Strikeu003e or a basic attack if the former is in cooldown.

In the end, the three bandits were exhausted at their combat with the cat-folk, their health down by a dangerous margin with their stamina dwindling while Isamu was barely winded as he was still good to go.

"Tsk, you guys are not much of a challenge after all!! I've fought a cripple with no limbs who can fare better than the three of you combined!!" Isamu smirked defiantly in an attempt to taunt the bandits who retreated a few steps away. Speaking of taunt, his provoking remarks were actually the usage of one of his skills, more specifically, the u003cChallenging Shoutu003e, which lowered their defense by 15% as well as taunting them to attack him if they did not pa.s.s a Willpower check.

"Why you!!!"

Indeed, the three bandits' Willpower is definitely low as they were affected by Isamu's skill, succ.u.mbing to their frustrations against the cat-folk as they charged blindly at him. The three bandits are also well-aware that running is not an option since as the popular saying goes... Never try to outrun a cat-folk, meaning it's a do or die situation for them.

Isamu grinned in triumph at his skill working at seeing the three bandits charging to his direction closely with one another. The cat-folk then prepared to end this fight with a single strike. At the right moment of them being close, Isamu took advantage of the significant size and weight of his greatsword and delivered a powerful cleaving attack at the three of them, slas.h.i.+ng off their respective torso as they were sent harshly into the ground bleeding to death.

The cat-folk rested the sharp tip of his weapon's blade into the ground as he could now breathe easy at seeing the body of these three adversaries shattering to pixels before reforming into crystals in the end.

"Heh, I suppose my new skills are unneeded," Isamu smirked to himself proudly at achieving victory. He then turned his attention at Selena to see how the girl was faring in her own fight.

"Hey Selena, how goes your-"

Isamu's cheerful remarks were instantly halted as his eyes widen with wary upon seeing a sight that was definitely not pleasant.

Blood was shown everywhere around the ground as Selena stared at her latest bandit victim with an emotionless yet blood-curdling look. Her right arm is shown to be radiating with an aura of violet energy as it pierced deeply right inside the bandit's chest with her hand protruding in the end from where the b.l.o.o.d.y hole was made, showcasing a grotesque scenery of gruesome murder.