Chương 72: Ambush (1)

Rowan sighed as he made his way through the forest—if he could even call it one anymore; the further he went, the more the trees thinned, to the point where he had an almost entirely unobstructed field of view. Wrapped in chains on his back were the crates of the party's stuff that he was carrying, and floating at his side was the hunk of boar meat he'd harvested earlier. As he'd been walking, he'd started to worry that the flesh might have been spoiled.

After all, he had no idea how long the beast had been sitting there, slowly rotting away. In the end, though, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It didn't look bad. And not only had the jaguar been eating it with no apparent problems, but the boar had also had a high toughness stat. Rowan didn't know for certain, but he thought something like that would slow down the meat's decay. His only real worry was that the bloodspawn's poison might have had an impact on the flesh.

Alas, with how durable it was, he doubted the necrotic effects would've spread far, and if they had, he would've seen it. He'd been walking for a while now, and he thought he was nearing his destination. If he remembered correctly, there should only be one more landmark before he would be able to see the destroyed town. But as he walked, half-occupied by cycling mana within himself, he suddenly drew to a stop as he saw someone step out from behind a tree ahead of him. For a moment, the two just watched each other.

Then, the man drew the sword at his waist, spinning it idly as he walked forward.

"I'm sorry, friend, but I'm going to have to ask that you give me those boxes on your back." He smiled.

"Actually, why don't you throw in that sword of yours, too?" Instinctively, Rowan tried to bring up the level of the man, but just like with Cynthia and the rest of the party, nothing happened. The man didn't seem too dangerous, but he remained cautious; everything he'd fought before this had been a beast of some kind, never a person. While some of them had been more intelligent in their fighting, nothing they'd done really compared to what a human could do. He also didn't have a good idea of people's capabilities.

He'd seen Henry, Eren, Lucas, and the twins fight, but that had been for just a few seconds before he'd drawn the bloodspawn attacking them away. Rowan was still confident he could win the fight, but without any measure of how strong the man before him was, he had to be careful. So, rather than responding to him, Rowan stayed silent. He didn't draw his sword, either, though.

Not only was he not used to the weapon, but doing so might draw an attack, and he wanted to see if the man had any more cards to play before they fought. Plus, he could always use his chains or mana.

"Not a talker, huh?" The man drawled, still smiling as he drew closer to Rowan.

"Do you think you can take me? Name's Robert, by the way. I thought you might like to know that before you died." Rowan let out a breath. It seemed he really had been lucky running into the people he had. With how kind and… normal they were, he'd almost forgotten about his first interaction with other people in the Tutorial. It had ended with him being sacrificed to save the rest of the people who'd appeared on the cliff with him. Now, the man before him, Robert, was threatening him.

Not even the 'give me your stuff, or I'll kill you,' but 'give me your stuff and I'll kill you anyway.' Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. So, realizing that the encounter was inevitably going to end in confrontation, Rowan loosened his control over the chains carrying the party's supplies, slowly easing their cargo to the floor. Once the boxes were on the ground, he rolled his back and looked up at his robber.

Robert, however, wasn't looking at him; his eyes focused on the crude wooden boxes that Rowan had just set down.

"Just giving up, huh? Handing it all over? Well, damn. Are you really that weak? Hell, I didn't even have to bring out the rest of the gang." The man, who'd seemingly interpreted Rowan setting down the boxes as a sign of surrender rather than just preparation for the coming fight, waved his hand. A moment later, a figure stepped out from one of the trees behind Robert. Then another. And another. Soon, eight had revealed themselves, stepping up to join their leader.

Of course, not all of them came from behind the nearby trees; the trunks weren't nearly thick or numerous enough to hide them all. Of the eight, only three had been hiding behind the trees. Two had come out from behind bushes and fronds, while another pair of them seemed to have been hiding in ditches that they had dug.

That final hiding spot was enough to make Rowan concerned; unless the pits they'd been hiding in had been dug out beforehand, that meant they'd known he was coming his way and had had time to prepare. Had they been following him? Watching him? If they had, they would've had to have been doing it for a while to have time to move further down his path and dig out hiding spots.

Not only had his perception been increasing along with his stats, but the constant vigilance he'd had to keep in the caves had only trained it further. And yet, even after all of that, he hadn't noticed anyone. Perhaps they all had high enough stats that they could sneak around unnoticed or see him from farther away than he could see them? Rowan hoped that wasn't the case. Because if it was, there wasn't much chance of him coming out on top of the fight.

In the end, he thought it was more likely that he was missing something important, like the group before him having some item or something of the kind. Of course, there was always the chance that it was pure coincidence that he'd stumbled upon them or that while they had been planning on ambushing him, the pits in the ground had just been there when they arrived. He didn't find either of those very likely. Shaking his head, he assessed the eight figures moving toward him.

There were six men and two women, though one of the men was more a boy than anything else. Rowan frowned as he watched the kid. He barely looked 16, but in his arms was a sledgehammer. More than anything, though, Rowan watched the boy's face. At first glance, the expression looked just like the rest of the bandits', but when he looked closer, Rowan could see the ill-concealed nervousness and fear. He sighed. A robbery was no place for a child.

If he were being honest, though, he didn't think anywhere in the Tutorial was a good place for a kid. If it came to it, though, he would defend himself, no matter the age of the attacker. Turning his attention to the rest of the group, Rowan refocussed. Of his eight opponents, only three of them had ranged weapons, with most of them armed with swords or other melee weapons. The trio who could actually harm him from afar consisted of two men and a woman.

The men were armed with crossbows, which, while they were certainly dangerous, weren't Rowan's main concern. After all, the woman had a gun. It was just a pistol, but it still scared him. And, with the many magazines he could see on her belt, he didn't think she would be running out of ammo anytime soon. Hopefully, his toughness would allow him to withstand any bullets that might come his way, but Rowan knew that he wasn't durable enough to just tank gunfire.

No, even if the shots weren't lethal, they would still hurt like hell. He would have to go after her before anyone else. As he prepared to fight, he glanced at the meat floating next to him. Then, he grabbed it and set it on top of one of the boxes he'd just put down. He'd been trying not to get it dirty by not allowing it to touch anything but open air, but he had bigger concerns now. Turning back to the bandits who were still advancing on him, Rowan took a deep breath.

His chains extended, two of them balling up into flails as he began to channel mana, forming a blade in his hand. He considered forming one of the exploding blades he'd discovered not too long ago, but decided against it; he didn't think he would need it, and he didn't particularly want to see a human explode. Then, at the last minute, he stopped the formation of the mana blade. Then, he began forming the blade into a disc, widening and reinforcing it as he went, even adding a handle so he could hold it.

He already had a sword, and, against opponents with ranged weaponry, a shield would be more useful than another weapon. Not wasting any more time, he drew the sword at his waist while continuing to form the shield. Rowan let out a curse as, before he could finish his preparations, the two men with crossbows opened fire.