Chương 76: Ambush (5)

Rowan clenched his jaw as the crossbowman fired his weapon. Then, pushing off the ground with all his might, he tried to avoid it. But he was just too late. The bolt missed his torso, but still struck his leg, digging into his flesh. Rowan yelped in pain as he was struck, but he did his best to ignore the wound as he stood and faced the two men.

Then, looking down at the shield in his hand, he let go of the handle and, after stabbing the sword in his other hand into the ground, grabbed its edge, holding it like a frisbee. He looked back up at the crossbowmen. One of them seemed to be almost done reloading. So, with a deep breath, he threw his shield. As it spun through the air, Rowan began forming more projectiles, readying himself to target the other man; the first of the crossbowmen wouldn't be in any condition to fight after he was struck by the shield.

After all, it wasn't just a shield anymore; he'd sharpened its edges, turning it into a spinning disc of death. A moment later, Rowan heard a cry of visceral pain, but he paid it no heed. Instead, he focused entirely on forming a few more mana projectiles, sending them flying toward the last of the ranged attackers. The man, seeing the projectiles being created by him, had tried to flee, but it was too late. The mana darts pierced through his body, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Then, Rowan turned around and faced the final bandit: Robert. [You have slain Human - Level 6] [You have slain Human - Level 7] The man was practically shaking in fear as his muscles strained against his bonds. But the chains binding him were simply too strong for him to break so quickly. As Rowan approached him, his eyes darted around frantically before settling on the figure standing to the side of the battle.

The boy, still clutching his hammer so hard his knuckles had turned white, just stared at the two of them.

"For fuck's sake!" Robert spat.

"Attack him already! Get me out of this!" The boy hesitated for a moment, but after another curse from Robert, he gave a jerky nod and ran forward. As the kid rushed him, Rowan just looked on in confusion. Just… why would he do something so stupid? Had the boy not just watched him slaughter his entire group? Was he trying to prove himself to Robert or something? A second later, the kid had reached him.

But as he brought his hammer down on Rowan, Rowan just lifted a finger and unleashed a torrent of mana, blasting the hammer out of his hands and into the distance. The boy stared at his empty hands for a moment before looking up at him with fearful eyes. But, at that moment, Rowan was forced to whip around as Robert rushed at him. While the chains were good at keeping opponents from fleeing, they didn't work quite as well at keeping them at bay.

It was something Rowan had learned fighting the mutated hound back in the tunnels. Robert still had his sword in his hand as he charged, awkwardly pointing it at Rowan even as his limbs were held by chains. The man cleared the distance between them in half a second, leaping forward with all his might. Rowan let the man come, wrapping his hands in chains as he prepared himself. Then, when Robert was mid-leap, he charged forward, sprinting past the man's sword and slamming a fist into his gut.

The sword-wielding man was thrown back, doubling over the moment he struck the floor. But Rowan wasn't done. With a grunt, he yanked on the chains that were still wrapped around Robert. Then, as he stumbled forward, Rowan darted in and slammed his fist into the man's chin, sending him flying a foot into the air before he crashed back down. The man groaned a bit as he fell to the ground, but didn't move, his eyes unfocused. For a moment, Rowan looked down at him.

Then, he moved and grabbed his sword from where it was stuck in the ground before returning to the incapacitated man. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. He raised the sword, preparing to put an end to the fight. Still, he hesitated; it felt wrong to kill a man who was lying on the floor defenseless and practically unconscious. Everyone else he'd killed had been actively trying to kill him. But… no. Rowan shook his head. He couldn't just let the man go.

After all, with how willing Robert had been to kill him, it was obvious that he'd killed people for their stuff and, if he were to be let go, would continue doing so. So, clenching his jaw, Rowan looked away and plunged his sword down. [You have slain Human - Level 9] He relaxed slightly as he received the notification. If he'd gone all out from the start, he might not It was over. Well, almost. Rowan sighed as he looked at the boy.

He was standing just a few feet away from him, still shaking in fear as he looked up at Rowan. Rowan didn't want to kill the boy; while the kid had tried to attack him, it had been tentative. More than anything, though, he just didn't want to kill a child. He'd had more than enough killing for one day. He didn't want to do something like taking the kid with him, either. He'd attacked him, and Rowan just couldn't trust that the boy wouldn't do it again at some time in the future.

He thought that the kid had probably been manipulated or tricked in some way by the other bandits with whom he'd been, but in Apocalypse Difficulty, there was no way of knowing whether or not someone was secretly a psychopath. And even if he knew the boy wouldn't betray him, he still didn't want to take someone under his wing; if he was planning on growing as strong as possible, something like that would only serve to hold him back. Rowan didn't think he was a bad person, but he was certainly not an angel, either.

He wasn't going to go out of his way to help someone who had tried to kill him, no matter how young they might've been. His musing was interrupted as the boy finally spoke.

"Please, I'm sorry. Don't kill me!" He begged, going so far as to fall to his knees. Rowan tilted his head as he looked at the kid. He didn't intend to kill him, but the boy didn't know that. He could use that to his advantage to try to get some of his questions answered.

"What's your name?"

"Archer! Archer Williams!"

"Well, Archer, you're gonna answer a few of my questions, alright?" Rowan waited for the boy to nod before continuing.

"You had an entire ambush laid out for me. How did you know I was coming that way?" The forest Rowan had been walking through was sparse, with dozens of yards between each tree. He'd been vigilant, too, so he thought he would have seen if they were tracking him. Of course, they could've just been well hidden, but he wanted an answer.

"It was her!" Archer pointed a shaky finger at something behind Rowan. Stepping back so the kid wouldn't try anything, Rowan turned and looked at what he was pointing at. It was the gunwoman who was lying dead on the floor.

"She-she had a skill or something that enhanced her vision! So we knew you were coming from far away!" The boy continued, stumbling over his words. Rowan nodded.

"Do you know how she got the skill?" The boy shook his head.

"No. She didn't tell us." Rowan thought for a few seconds before asking, "How many people have you done this to? Killed for their stuff?"

"I…I don't know. A lot." Archer gulped.

"But I didn't actually help kill them! I just stood on the side most of the time!" Still ignoring the growing pain of his injuries as the adrenaline wore off, Rowan continued to ask his questions.

"Why did you target me? Or do you just go after anyone you see?"

"Because we knew you were probably a classer; Victoria saw your chains and that hook thing with the meat on it! Classers always have good stuff." Rowan made a mental note that Victoria was the name of the fallen gunwoman.

"And you weren't worried that I would be able to, well, do what I did?"

"No! Well, yes." Archer stared up at him fearfully.

"We knew it'd be dangerous, but we thought we could win. We've killed a classer before. She got a few of us first, but we had more people this time!" Rowan frowned.

"Does that mean there are more of you?" The boy nodded, and Rowan continued, "How many? And where?"

"About… About thirty." Archer paused for a moment and pointed into the distance.

"They're at the camp over that way." Thirty… that was a lot. As much as Rowan wanted to stop them from attacking any more people, he'd already established earlier that he wasn't some saint who could do no evil. Trying to deal with the bandit camp would just be opening a can of worms. Plus, he was injured. Perhaps he would go see if they were still there in the future. For now, though, he was just going to continue on his way to meet up with the party. He turned to Archer.

Now it was just time to figure out what to do with the boy.