Chương 62: Book 2 Chapter 14 - Standing Up To Bandits

Nash had only been the bandit group leader for about a week. He had killed the old leader, Wesley, in his sleep, after getting assurances from both Hugo and Mason that they would support his takeover. They both had more violent tendencies than Wesley had allowed, so they had been quick to back Nash up when he suggested the takeover to them. Wesley had been too weak to lead them effectively. Not weak physically, of course, which is why Nash had to kill him while he was sleeping, but weak in deportment.

Too many times he had let a good haul slip away because of someone's sob story. Nash wasn't weak. He would help the bandit group get rich, after which more bandits would want to join up with them. The other five in the group were still getting used to him being in charge, getting used to the new way of doing things, but they would come around eventually once the money started rolling in. You had to take what came your way, without giving in to everyone's sob story, that's what Wesley hadn't been able to do.

That's why Nash ignored the young couple's complaining and immediately told them to cut it out. If he wanted to get rich, he needed to take what was rightfully his. If this family wasn't strong enough to keep their stuff, then they didn't deserve it. Most bandit groups were full of tier 1 mages, led by a single tier 2, someone strong enough to gather their own following and enforce their commands. Nash's group was special.

They were smaller than many bandit groups, but having three tier 2 mages meant they were much stronger than they appeared at first. Wesley had routinely missed out on taking advantage of that fact, instead showing too much mercy and leniency to the groups they robbed. Nash knew his group was strong, and would use that advantage to the full extent. Nash was wary of this newcomer though. Until you knew how strong someone was, you had to tread carefully.

His approach was to always start slow, and gauge someone's strength by how they responded. If they were scared, like this young family had been, that meant they were weak, and he could take whatever he wanted. He looked around for a moment, checking for a horse, wagon, or carriage of some kind that might have been carrying the newcomer. He didn't see one, which meant she was travelling by foot, and without any guards.

That meant she was either strong enough to protect herself, or fast enough to avoid confrontations. She had been invisible, which could mean a number of things. There was only one way to know for sure, he needed to try and gauge her strength.

"Who are you?" he asked, once he was standing next to Hugo and Mason.

"No one of importance," she responded calmly. She seemed slightly nervous, but that could just be because there were so many bandits in Nash's group. Nash didn't want to risk it. Killing people was messy anyways, so Nash wanted to avoid a fight if he could help it. This wagonful of stuff would sell pretty well, so if they could get away cleanly with it, that was the best bet for now. A fight would increase the risk, without improving the potential gain at all.

"What do you want?" he asked, trying not to show any emotion. Until he knew how strong she was, he would try to play nice.

"Nothing," the young woman replied.

"Just take the wagon and go."

"No!" the husband of the young family began to say, but a look from the newcomer silenced him. Good. Very good. That meant she didn't want a fight either, which meant they really could just take the wagon and go.

"Put that away," he said to Hugo, gesturing to his sword, which was still being held menacingly.

"Mason," he continued, "get the wagon moving. The rest of you, move out!" Nash stayed with Hugo near the back of the wagon as it rolled out, keeping an eye on the family and the newcomer in case they tried anything. After they had moved the wagon a few hundred yards away from the family, he began to relax. It looked like they would get away without a fight of any kind. Nash had plateaued at tier 2, which had pretty much killed his chances of ever making a name for himself.

Most wealthy houses wouldn't start paying well until you reached tier 3, which meant he was stuck to a lifetime of guard duty. It paid better than the menial jobs that mortals had to do, like cooking, cleaning, gardening, and the like, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Nash's appetite. That was why he had turned to banditry. It was the same reason most bandits turned to banditry, honestly. They could rob a few travellers per week, and make way more money doing way less work than if they were simple guards.

You just had to pick your targets wisely. Just when Nash was about to fully relax and stop watching the five people receding into the distance, one of them disappeared again. It was obviously the newcomer mage that had suddenly appeared, using some kind of invisibility illusion. Nash immediately went into high alert. She may have just moved on, or she could be heading their direction. The invisibility implied that she was heading their direction.

"Hey!" Nash shouted to get the other bandits' attention.

"That mage is heading our way. Weapons out!" Nash pulled his axe out from the loop on his belt, and began powering up his left fist with ice magic. Hugo drew his sword again. He was itching for a fight. Good. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Mason unslung his shield from his back and rested his spear in the small notch the shield had for that purpose. His face was a mask of focus and purpose.

He was the best fighter in the group, and the only one that Nash was scared of. The other five drew their weapons too, looking more nervous. It made sense, since they were all tier 1. They honestly acted mostly as support during the group's raids, since they weren't as strong or as fast. Wesley had been weak on the raid targets, which meant the group hadn't been in as many fights as some other bandit groups, but at least they all had some training.

They would do fine at harassing the opponent while Hugo, Mason, and Nash took care of her. At tier 1, the five weaker bandits didn't have enough mana to throw around very many spells, and would likely keep their mana for their mana shields. That was good, it would mean less injuries when this was all over. Mason fought similarly, using his mana both for shielding and for bursts of speed as he channeled the mana through his body.

Hugo was a mixed fighter like Nash, and lightning was sparking all over his body in anticipation for the fight. Nash had never learned any illusion magic, at least not enough to camouflage his whole body, but he was sure it was possible at tier 2. He hoped this mage was only tier 2, if she was tier 3 then their chances wouldn't be as good. With Hugo and Mason fighting by his side, he figured they might have a chance either way though.

The fact that the mage was heading their direction was soon evidenced by a small dust cloud that quickly made its way to their group. Although she was invisible, the dust cloud gave her position away, and she was moving fast. * Kiara had waited until the bandits were a safe distance from the family before chasing after them. She almost went right into fighting when she got there, but decided that might be unfair.

Some of the bandits looked scared, and hadn't seemed all that interested in robbing the young family in the first place. Then again, they were bandits. They had chosen this lifestyle, and they routinely robbed people out here on the roads, so she wasn't sure how much mercy they deserved from her. That being said, she didn't feel right just killing them wantonly. The tricky part would be making sure the family stayed safe after she was gone.

They were likely an entire day or two ride from Portish still, and she couldn't babysit them all the way there. If she was going to have mercy on any of the bandits, she needed a way to make sure they wouldn't just go steal the family's wagon again after she was gone. That was all assuming she could even win a fight against eight armed bandits, three of which were tier 2. She was pretty excited to find out. She stopped about twenty feet from the group and let [Invisibility 2] drop.

"Let me kill her, Nash," Hugo said the moment she became visible.

"Are you here to fight us?" Nash asked her. She nodded.

"Yep! But anyone who doesn't want to participate in the fight is welcome to drop their weapons and sit down. I won't harm anyone that stays out of the fight." She looked around expectantly to see who would take her up on the offer. Three of the tier 1 bandits hesitated, then dropped their weapons and sat down on the ground.

"Cowards," Hugo muttered, gazing hatefully in their direction. The other two tier 1 bandits stepped forward, standing just behind Nash and Hugo. Kiara noticed that Mason didn't look anywhere other than at her. He was dialed in, his spear resting on his shield in a very practiced manner. His confident stance also spoke volumes about his skill with the spear. He was slowly edging to her left, looking for a flank.

"Last chance," Kiara said. Mason continued circling to her left, while the other four began fanning out, trying to circle her. Kiara smiled excitedly and pulled her sword from her soul space. The moment it appeared, Nash perked up, any hint of his previous hesitation gone.

"She has a storage ring! That's a big score for us, boys." Interestingly, the three bandits that had sat down all perked up at the comment, picked up their weapons again, and rushed forward to join the fray. Only two of the bandits had swords: Hugo and one of the tier 1 fighters. Nash, the leader, carried an axe, while the other five all had spears. Kiara had practiced plenty against other swordfighters, but not as much against other weapon types.

She realized now that was a gap in her training that she should address at some point. For now, she took up Air Stance to try and maintain her distance. Hugo seemed to be the most aggressive of the bunch, and he rushed in with a loud shout, electricity crackling all over his body. Kiara parried his blows quite easily, but the electricity travelled through his sword and into hers, shocking her hand slightly with each blow. That was unexpected, since magic usually didn't work on her.

She wasn't sure what to make of that. As she parried Hugo's first few blows, she stepped quickly to her right to put distance between her and Mason. His intense gaze and the way he carried himself made her the most nervous of any of the bandits, and she didn't want him to join in quite yet if she could help it. The other bandits rushed in behind Hugo, arriving milliseconds after he did. Kiara used her superior speed to move right, out of the semi-circle they had begun forming around her.

Her repositioning gave her a small reprieve, which allowed her time to analyze that first engagement. Hugo was sloppy with the sword, he was kind of using Fire Form, but not in a way that worked well at all. One on one, she would have dispatched him in record time, but the swarm of other fighters made it hard to capitalize on the openings he left her. And the electricity travelling through the blades had come as a rough surprise.

The sword contact had been very brief, especially at the speed they both moved at, but each block still delivered a small electric charge to her hand and wrist, which was jarring. The other thing she noticed was that, similar to fighting Lord Grivalt's guards, the tier 1 bandits were too slow to be of any real danger to her. Their attacks felt sluggish, and their movements were slow. If they surrounded her, she would be in some trouble, but as long as she kept her distance, she could handle them just fine.

Even the three tier 2 fighters were much slower than her, almost by half. Their speed felt very similar to how she felt when fighting Lord Grivalt, but fighting three of them at once was tricky, especially with the other bandits pitching in. Having moved out of the semi-circle, she only had three fighters to worry about momentarily, while the others chased after her. She continued backpedaling to try and maximize the time she had with fewer opponents.

One of the three whose attacks she was still parrying was Nash, the leader of the group. His left fist was encased in ice, which he routinely used to shoot tiny, sharp shards of ice at her. The ice bolts were incredibly fast, and she instinctively flinched as the first few hit her. Being constructed entirely of mana, they dissolved on contact, to where she didn't even feel the impact on collision.

None of the bandits had figured out the trick that Lord Grivalt had used to blind her, and Nash seemed to be the only one intent on throwing spells at her in the first place. She figured the others leaned more towards being close-quarters fighters instead of long range mages, and were saving their mana for shielding, instead.