Chương 198: Chapter 196 – Mercenaries Fall.

Varkas, the leader of the Black Hounds, barked out some orders, and his people immediately began to move. Around twenty of the cavalrymen who had come with him surrounded the burned bandit camp while the rest went inside to see what had happened. The fire that had been started was now out, though a few glowing embers still remained.

"This looks like more than a simple investigation." Alexander said as he watched with Rusty while the mercenaries searched the camp.

"Was there something in that treasure chest they could want?" Rusty asked his guides while opening his system window. Inside his storage, he could not examine the contents clearly, since it appeared only as a box with a broken lock. He had noticed some papers inside, so it was possible.

"Perhaps, but it is more likely they are here to finish off any survivors. That is quite standard for villains like this." Alexander added, believing their purpose was different. In his view, they were eliminating loose ends and killing anyone who might testify against the merchants or the nobles in the settlement.

"Oh, why are they doing that?" Rusty asked, to which Alexander replied.

"To see if anyone is hiding or pretending to be dead." It reminded Rusty of the battle against the orcs, when after the fighting ended, people went around piercing the bodies of the monsters with spears. They were doing the same now, making sure everyone was truly dead. Yet from what Rusty understood, the bandits were supposed to be allied with the mercenaries. The more time he spent among humanoids, the less he understood how they operated.

Some were driven by family and comfort, while others were consumed by greed and would kill anyone or anything that stood in their way. There were also the cunning ones who hid their true intentions, and those were the ones he disliked the most. Rusty watched through his puppet helmet from a distant treetop, completely still. The mercenaries worked with practiced efficiency, making it clear this was not their first time doing such a thing.

They swept through the camp in groups, overturning ashes and stabbing even the charred corpses to confirm death. In a world filled with strange abilities, surviving being burned was not impossible. Their leader, Varkas, did not enter the camp. He sat on his armored horse, his dark coat swaying faintly in the wind, watching without showing the slightest concern for the survivors. In time, the men finished their search, and as expected, there were no survivors and no treasure left to claim.

He and Gleam had already taken anything of value, and the prisoners who escaped had done the same before fleeing.

"...." One of the soldiers spoke after returning from the burned camp. Rusty's skill allowed him to see through his puppet armor helmet, but hearing was another matter. However, he could still piece together what the group was doing by watching their movements. They seemed to have realized that someone had escaped. Rusty knew there were two groups involved: the barbarians and the regular merchants. The barbarians had fled toward the mountains, while the merchants had gone in the opposite direction.

It was likely that the merchants had learned about the bandits working with the nobles and decided to flee to another city ruled by someone else.

"Will they give chase?"

"Probably. They have fast horses. If they go now, they could catch up to those merchants in half a day." Alexander replied.

"Can they make it to the next settlement?" Rusty asked, knowing there were some villages and smaller cities in that direction.

"They might, if they do not make any stops along the way." Aburdon answered this time, and considering he knew the map of the area in detail, he was probably right.

"I see." It was clear that the mercenaries planned to chase the merchants rather than the group heading for the mountains. If any survivors reported to other nobles, there could be consequences, and their entire scheme might be exposed. Yet, knowing how the powerful operated, Rusty doubted anything would happen. Even if the captured merchants reached another city and told the truth, without solid evidence, nothing would likely be done.

"Will they leave a few people behind?" Rusty wondered. The only reason he had decided to wait was to get some easy kills and more loot. The weapons and armor these mounted mercenaries used looked valuable, and he also wondered how strong they were. When he had been an E-rank monster, he would not have stood a chance against Varkas and his men. But what about now? From his hiding spot, he could see the mercenary leader speaking with a raised hand.

It was easy to tell that he was ordering his forces to split into smaller groups. By their formation, it seemed that the largest group would pursue the merchants in the wagon they had escaped in, while the second group of five mounted riders would chase after the barbarian. However, the situation was not over yet, as three more people appeared to be heading back into the camp, probably to search it again in case they had missed something.

A chance had presented itself, and Rusty now had an opportunity to eliminate a few of the mercenaries and perhaps gain enough experience to reach the next stage of his evolution. The mercenaries acknowledged the command with nods and began to move, but then Varkas did something unexpected. He raised his hand again to stop everyone, and one of the soldiers stepped forward and handed him a bow.

"Wasn't his weapon a sword?" For a moment, Rusty was confused, but then he noticed an arrow aimed directly at his position. In the next instant, his skill was shattered as the arrow struck the helmet he had been using as an extra set of eyes. The arrow hit the helmet with a sharp clang, knocking it from the treetop post where Rusty had hidden it. Through his link, Rusty felt the sudden jolt as the Puppet Armor connection was forcibly severed.

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"Uhhh…" The double vision disappeared at once, and the world returned to normal. Varkas's arrow had hit dead center. The helmet tumbled into the bushes below, and one of the soldiers quickly moved to retrieve it. Rusty had been watching from a safer spot in another tree, with Gleam positioned even farther away. The moment the soldiers found his helmet, he blended into the shadows using his skill and stayed perfectly still.

Some of them had entered the sparse forest, searching so thoroughly that he could hear their movements and voices nearby.

"Nothing here. It was just a helmet, probably something one of those drunk bandits tossed up there." The voices grew faint as they continued searching, but they never found his hiding spot. When they were done, they returned to their leader, who looked disappointed. He now held the helmet with the arrow still lodged through it. The force behind his shot was impressive, and Rusty realized that he might not be ready to face the mercenary leader in a real fight. The man's subordinates were not weak either.

They were on the lower end of D rank, though likely still weaker than the instructor Rusty had faced back in the settlement. Once the group decided the helmet was nothing more than a leftover from some drunken bandits, they turned away and left. Rusty waited until he was sure that no one was watching and that Varkas was out of sight before he finally moved.

"That was close. It's a good thing I didn't attack them." Rusty knew he had grown stronger, but he was not confident he could defeat Varkas in direct combat. Comparing humanoids to monsters was difficult since their leveling systems differed, yet Varkas seemed close to C rank, though not quite there. Perhaps after his next evolution, Rusty could challenge him, but for now, he needed to stay cautious and survive.

"Now then, I should get those three first! Gleam, stay close but only attack after I do."

"(•̀ ᴗ •́)و" Once the real danger had passed, everything else became much simpler. The remaining mercenaries did not seem very alert in their search, and they also looked exhausted. Although this group was far stronger than the ones he had seen back in the settlement, they were still well within his ability to defeat and much weaker than the bandit leader he had fought before. He barely needed to hide at all.

"Huh?" He began the fight by leaping out from behind a pile of rubble and attacking one of the unsuspecting soldiers. His halberd cut through the man's leg before sweeping upward and striking his neck. The two others reacted quickly, but one of them was immediately hit by Gleam's ranged attacks. The battle did not last long. Rusty found it much easier than he had expected. His level was already over twenty, and these soldiers only held simple classes.

Soon, the camp fell silent again and, as before, he stripped them of their weapons and armor. Once they had been relieved of anything noteworthy, just like with the bandits, Rusty asked.

"Do I need to burn these guys too?"

"Maybe dicing them up will be enough. Asking questions of someone with their head shattered is not easy" Aburdon cackled as Rusty wondered whether to set the three men on fire. If Varkas saw smoke and returned, he could foil Rusty's next plans. With a mace in hand, he began to mince the bodies and turned the three into unrecognisable messes.

"That should do it."

"Are you sure you do not want to become a demon lord, Rusty?" Aburdon asked in an amused tone. The sight before them was quite gory.

"No." Aburdon seemed pleased with the carnage while Alexander remained quiet. When it was over, Rusty shifted into his smaller form that was not covered in blood and took off with Gleam.

"Let us go after those five. We should be able to reach them before they get to the barbarians."

"(•̀ ᴗ •́)و" Finally, Rusty and Gleam left the bandit encampment and set out on their last mission. It was still bright outside, so they decided to fly higher than usual, hoping not to be noticed by the five mounted soldiers. After some time, they spotted the soldiers galloping through an open field not far from three barbarians who were running away.

"They didn't make it far. One was injured." Rusty said as he observed the barbarians. One of them was limping and leaning on the shoulders of the other two. They had not managed to get far from the camp, and even though the mountains were visible in the distance, they would never reach them before the five mountain warriors caught up. The barbarians, however, were in luck, for their savior had just arrived.

"Gleam, fly in front of them and gain some height. I want to try something."

"(╹ -╹)?"

"Just trust me on this!"

"(ᵕ—ᴗ—)" Gleam was not entirely sure about Rusty's plan, but she obeyed and climbed higher. Once she was a little ahead of the galloping mercenaries, Rusty leaped from her back. His form shifted into his massive goliath frame, and the two axes he had taken from the bandit leader appeared in his hands as he descended rapidly.

"Now then, let's increase my weight." He activated his skills, increasing his weight as much as possible and braced for the impact. His descent was swift, and the mounted warriors never saw it coming. Rusty struck the ground with the force of a falling boulder. The impact cracked the earth and sent a shockwave that threw the horses into panic. Two mounts reared and tossed their riders before bolting in terror, while another was crushed completely at the moment of impact.

A cloud of dust exploded outward as he hit the ground. His body took some damage from the fall, but he quickly used his SP to recover. Before the first mercenary could react, Rusty swung both axes forward and hurled them at the two men who had just fallen to the ground. One was instantly impaled, while the other managed to roll aside to avoid a fatal blow, though his arm was still caught by the sharp blade.

"These aren't that bad." He wore the bandit leader's gloves, called the weapons back to his hands, and prepared to strike again. Two men were already dead, three remained, and the real fight had just begun.

"Monster!" One of the surviving riders shouted as he fumbled for a spear, but before he could act, a barrage of mana bolts flew toward him as Gleam provided support. Rusty had to admit that this way of fighting worked well. He distracted the enemies on the ground while Gleam attacked from a distance, forcing them to split their focus. Divided attention in battle often meant death, and soon another man fell. Only two remained.

One of the remaining riders charged at him with a spear, while the other was attacked by Gleam, who fired from above. The man tried to shoot her down from horseback with his bow, but she bobbed and weaved through the air, easily avoiding every arrow. In return, she fired back with magical arrows made of pure mana.

"Stay back, demon!" The other soldier lunged, but Rusty caught the spear shaft mid-strike. The wood groaned in his grip before splintering with a single twist. He stepped in close and swung his axe upward in a brutal arc. The mercenary barely managed to block with his short sword, but the force of the blow sent him staggering backward and tumbling off his mount. It was clear that the gap in power between them was too great.

The man drew a second weapon, a mace, and tried to fight back, but Rusty barely reacted to the hits that landed. His body hardly flinched, and he didn't even need materials to repair himself. At his current level, these enemies were little more than walking experience points. Soon, the man fell beneath Rusty's weapon. Congratulations you have gained a level. Another surge of energy filled him, and his progress bar climbed even higher when Gleam struck down her own opponent with a devastating blast.

Although she was not as strong as Rusty, her stats were still far above those of a typical D-rank human. The advantage of flight and magic was something that arrows alone could not overcome. Rusty stood among the fallen mercenaries and opened his status screen. He was close to his goal, only a few levels away from twenty-five. A few more dungeon dives would be enough. After that, he would finally return to the Soul Forge to claim his new body and meet an old friend.

"I wonder how she's doing," He said while picking up the weapons left behind. In the distance, the three barbarians watched him for a moment before turning to flee. He let them go. Their strength was far below his, not even worth the effort. With this battle finished, his current mission was complete, and it was time to expand his abilities even further.