One by one. Two by two. Three by three.
The barbarians started to step into the firelight, their silhouette twisting through the fog like a nightmare given legs. Twenty of them fanning out, encircling the clearing with practiced quiet.
'This is sleeping magic that interferes with the mind tricking it into going to sleep.' Ard thought.
He ignored Corre who was looking at him and acted indifferently.
Corre then gave up on analyzing me and drew his blade with a hiss as he spoke with a loud voice.
"Everyone—!"
No one moved. Because almost no one was conscious.
However, the knight captains and two more knights had woken up, forming a circle formation.
Dr. Angelo, wide-eyed and trembling, whispered.
"A sleeping miasma…?!"
Ellie steadied Jane on her feet. "What the hell is going on? Why can't we wake the others!?"
Meanwhile, Zayn continued sleeping.
Peacefully.
Snoring.
I have the urge to throw him into the fire to wake him up. To me, it seemed like he was just sleeping. Completely vulnerable.
One of the bandits stepped forward, his muscles rippling through his armor. He wore a wolf skull for a helmet, fur robes draped over his broad shoulders, and a giant axe slung over his back.
"Drop your weapons," he growled. "No one needs to die."
It was obvious he was the leader.
Corre's grip tightened. His voice turned grim.
"…Big Jack."
Murmurs rippled through the conscious adventurers.
"The bandit?"
"Jack the Butcher…?"
"What are you doing here?" Corre asked.
According to the records, Jack the Butcher was a man who usually attacked merchant groups but at the same time took the pleasure of even targeting adventurer parties and looting them.
There were also some rumors he had ties with the prominent noble families in the area but nothing was proven.
Jack threw his head back and laughed, a sound like a hyena choking on bone. "Ah—fame is such a burden. Because of my fame, I have to relocate you know."
With a large grin, he raised a hand. The barbarians tightened their circle.
"But if you know who I am," Jack continued, voice thick with confidence, "then you'll do yourselves a favor and lay your weapons down. Bring me your valuables, your artifacts—everything. And maybe I'll let you crawl away."
I casually shifted backwards, and trimmed my presence as if I joined the background, just enough to make me look more harmless. I didn't touch Zayn. Then I put myself between the knights and the snoring brat behind me as I stayed on the rear.
My eyes observed though.
A sleeping miasma, huh? Subtle. Effective. But ultimately pointless.
I deliberately breathed it in and circulate within my veins but my demonic body filtered out toxins unconsciously and easily. The others seemed to have done the same thing to achieve the same effect, just with a different technique which allowed them to move normally.
However, the numbers game was not in their side.
It was twenty bandits against 4 adventurers, a kingdom mage, and four knights. Nine in total. More, if they include me and the other non-combatants.
I also took notice.
Bandits were common in the human realms—especially in places like this. Mountains. Borders. Forgotten roads. In the past, I'd wiped out entire hideouts without thinking twice.
Sometimes, I even let myself get captured. It was… educational. I had experienced getting tied with other humans and sometimes even being near sold to what was referred to as nobles. It was pretty entertaining times.
But I cannot do that here.
I observed.
Judging by their physiques, some of the bandits were barbarians—especially the leader, who was clearly powerful. I squinted my eyes and could see the mana within him was way above average. Under normal circumstances, targeting a group of carriages carrying high-level adventurers and knights were suicide.
Quite the nerves these bandits have. But I understood why.
Sigh.
"Oi," Jack barked. "Did you idiots go deaf?"
But the knights weren't intimidated. The knights went on the offensive, drawing their swords.
The tall knight drew his blade.
"Knights—forward!"
"Tsk."
The bandits moved forward, and attacked as well, swinging their weapons. The bandits went flying. The knights were top class! However, the bandits were calm as they were reckless.
Steel rang against steel.
The clearing exploded into chaos.
Corre and his party, after conversing with the knights, charged straight for Jack, recognizing him as the greatest threat. However, the bandit leader met them head-on only laughed as if he saw a joke.
Dr. Angelo didn't cast a single spell.
Instead, he was scanning the surroundings—just like me.
"The miasma…" he muttered, stroking his beard. "It's still active. This isn't residual. Is it a caster… or an artifact?"
Artifact, I confirmed silently.
I chose to lay low on the sidelines, acting like I was a mere teenager protecting my younger brother who wasn't waking up no matter how hard I was shaking him.
Also, I had already observed the enemies.
Against Corre and the others, they were strong. But in my standards, their might was average at best and that was me being modest. I could kill them all in just three seconds.
What was only interesting were the sleeping miasma and how could a group of bandits have gotten such an artifact.
I smiled at this, since Dr. Angelo still hadn't realized, when I had already noticed that the bracelet in the right hand of the leader bandit was the one emitting the sleeping miasma.
Bang!
Jack the Butcher was confident. He roared his guts out and surged forward.
Against Ellie and Corre, Jack met them head-on. Their blades struck—clean, reinforced with mana.
Jack didn't dodge nor braced.
"…You serious?" Ellie muttered as their blades struck.
Metal screeched as his swords came up, blocking both attacks at once. The sheer force behind his counter sent Corre and Ellie skidding back several steps, boots carving trenches into the earth.
Eyes widened.
Jack rolled his shoulders. "Hah. That tickled."
"…What?" Corre muttered.
Corre and Ellie, both warrior-class adventurers, held the frontlines against Jack. Unlike ordinary fighters, faint currents of mana pulsed beneath their skin—thin, controlled, and smooth. It was very silent and beautiful. But it was clear it was not capable of further evolution.
It was the kind that came from years of tempering a body and a limited amount of mana that had already reached its limit.
They had mana.
Just not much room left to grow.
Corre's stance sharpened as he reinforced his arms, mana flowing into muscle and bone in practiced channels. Ellie did the same, her movements lighter, faster—her strikes carrying more weight than her frame suggested.
If one could use mana, they were far beyond normal humans.
But Jack was bigger and taller.
And he was more talented.
Beneath his hulking muscles, a rough, unstable flow of an absurd amount of superior mana surged through his body—crude, forceful, and excessive.
It wasn't refined like Corre's or Ellie's. It was brute reinforcement magic from a large pool, pushed through flesh without care, turning raw strength into something monstrous.
It was very clear who was stronger in magic and physicals.
Everyone reacted in surprise at this.
I waited for a moment.
'Not yet...' I said to myself.
Seeing the expression on everyone, Jack then laughed.
"Oh?" he said, rolling his shoulders as a superior surge of mana rippled visibly beneath his skin—crude, violent, overflowing. "Surprised?"
He took a step forward and the air seemed to ripple.
Then another.
"Just because I'm a bandit, everyone looks down on me," Jack continued, spreading his arms reinforced with magic that was practically leaking out but at the same time still more than enough, "You think this is all I'm capable of?"
The pressure alone forced the those nearby to brace.
"If I wanted," Jack said, voice booming, "I could rule territories. Build armies. Sit in a lord's chair and take a hundred wives!"
He grinned beneath the wolf skull.
"But that's boring."
His eyes burned with savage delight.
" "…Too boring!!!"
Jack planted his foot and mana flooded his legs turning them into springs.
PANG!
Then he vanished.
"Corre—!" Ellie shouted.
Jack had launched forward like a cannon shot. His blade crashed into Corre's guard with terrifying force!
Corre was able to reinforce instinctively—mana flaring—but the impact made him hit the ground hard. Even the knights froze at Jack's display of power.
Jack didn't pause. His smile went wider.
He twisted his torso, mana surging again, and drove his fist into Ellie's abdomen before she could fully recover her footing.
Her mana flared too late.
"Ugh…!"
"—"
"AHHH!"
She gasped as the blow lifted her clean off the ground, her body crashing heavily into the earth. When she could no longer move, Jack threw his head back and flexed the muscles in his arms.
Slowly, he turned his gaze toward Ellie's body lying broken on the ground. Behind the wolf-skull helm, his eyes gleamed—dark, feverish, crawling with an unsettling hunger and lust.
"I'll make sure to take very good care of you," he said, his voice low and thick with malice. "You and that female archer."
The look in his eyes made the meaning unmistakable.
Before anyone could move, he brought his boot down—once, then again—crushing her stomach without mercy.
Ellie's body convulsed again before going limp.
It was over in an instant.
Too fast.
No one could reach her. No one could stop him.
Jack noticed the frozen expressions, the fear and anger tightening in their faces. He grinned wider, savoring it. Jack pounded his chest as he stepped on the unconscious female warrior's stomach, "COME ON! WHO'S NEXT!?"
His smile got wider when he saw Corre and the tallest knight Faller left the enemy he was going against and attacked Jack together, acknowledging his strength.
He then screamed, "Whoo!!!"
He seemed entertained and I was too. In reality, Faller, the tallest knight was far stronger than Corre. So were two other knights, but I wasn't going to watch any longer.
Wearing my poker face, I then casually stood up from where I was standing, and my shadow created by the firelight grew naturally and overlapped with Jack, and in the next moment, the face of the scary Jack showed confusion and then fear.
"…What?"
His body stiffened and fear crept into his voice.
I was expressionless.
Then bang!
Jack couldn't move.
Corre and Faller didn't hesitate.
Steel pierced flesh. Bones shattered. Blood sprayed as Jack was decapitated.
I watched calmly as my shadow slipped forward, plucked the bracelet from Jack's wrist, and swallowed it whole.
"…Tacky design," I muttered.
The bracelet disappeared like it was never there. It wasn't exactly the most beautiful anyway.
Jane and the other male adventurer's arrows whistled through the fog, dropping fleeing bandits one by one. The rest broke and ran in fear after seeing the ever so confident Jack get defeated all of a sudden.
Some had successfully escaped but that was none of my business.
I sat back down.
Zayn snored.
"…Unreal," I sighed again.