The morning sun had just begun to peek over the eastern horizon, casting golden rays that filtered through the dense gaps of the trees in the hills leading to Antrows City. However, this natural beauty stood in stark contrast to the tense atmosphere shrouding the bushes along the main road. The bandit troop, now bolstered by Keyzier's presence, lay in wait at their ambush position.
Keyzier crouched behind a thorny bush, wearing a black hood that concealed his ash-white hair. Beside him, the bandit leader gripped a greatsword, his breath heavy with greedy anticipation.
Before long, the creaking of carriage wheels and the rhythmic thud of footsteps began to echo. A fairly large merchant caravan appeared around the bend of the road.
"Look at that," the bandit leader whispered. "Plenty of loot. But wait... they have guards."
Surrounding the merchant wagons were five adventurers walking with a vigilant stance. They wore shimmering silver armor and held their weapons with practiced ease. These were no mere amateurs.
"Charge!" the bandit leader bellowed, shattering the silence.
The clash was inevitable. The bandits leaped from their hiding places with terrifying roars. However, the group of adventurers reacted with lightning speed. The protector in the front line immediately deployed a massive shield, while the mage in the rear began chanting protection spells.
The adventurers dominated the flow of the battle. Their sword techniques were incredibly precise, repelling the bandits who relied solely on numbers and brute force.
The bandit leader began to panic as he saw his men falling one by one. "Key! Do something!" he shouted in desperation.
Finally, Keyzier descended into the fray. With a forced, cold gaze, he leaped into the center of the crowd.
In an instant, the atmosphere of the battle shifted. Keyzier unleashed a flurry of spells without long incantations, leaving the adventurers stunned. Before the party could even get close, Keyzier rendered them helpless with his magic.
In a short time, the adventurers' defenses collapsed entirely. Keyzier struck down the mage with a lightning strike, immobilized the knight with gravitational pressure, and locked the movements of the remaining members using binding magic.
In the blink of an eye, the party of adventurers was defeated by Keyzier. The situation turned 180 degrees; the bandits cheered in victory while the adventurers now knelt helplessly, destined to be prisoners.
Triumphant cheers echoed as the bandit troop re-entered their cave headquarters. They brought back abundant loot: crates filled with silk, expensive spices, and gold coins. However, the most valuable prize for them was the new prisoners who would bring in a hefty ransom.
The bandit leader laughed with satisfaction while slapping Keyzier's back hard. "Hey Key, great work taking care of those adventurers! Without you, we might have been driven back into the forest!"
Keyzier smirked a false expression he forced as naturally as possible to mask the turmoil in his heart. "No problem, Chief! Let's make them prisoners! I want to vent my frustration on those adventurers! They always act so holier-than-thou, when they're just weak mercenaries!"
The terrified merchants and the wounded adventurers were led into the darkness of the cave along with all the plundered goods.
As they passed through the prison area, Donovan, who was waiting behind the iron bars, caught sight of his friend walking arrogantly.
Seeing this scene, Donovan became furious with his childhood friend. He gripped the iron bars until his knuckles turned white, his anger reaching beyond a rational limit.
"Keyzier! Why do you look so happy after becoming a bandit?!" Donovan roared, his voice thundering through the prison room and making the other captives shudder. "Didn't we set out from the village to go to Antrows to become adventurers? Didn't you promise Rin and Grandpa to be a hero? Have you completely lost your mind?!"
Keyzier stopped in his tracks right in front of Donovan's cell. He stared at Donovan with a gaze filled with feigned annoyance and contempt.
"You're so noisy, Novan! Every day you've been nagging me since we left the village gate! Are you my mother or something? Stop trying to run my life!" Keyzier replied in a harsh and piercing tone.
"You're a real bastard!" Donovan spat on the floor in front of Keyzier's boots. "I regret protecting you back then! Never consider me your friend again! You aren't the human I once knew!"
Donovan's words acted like a trigger for a burst of power within Keyzier. The atmosphere around the cell suddenly became incredibly heavy. An extraordinary pressure of mana radiated from Keyzier's body, causing the bandits around him to take several steps back in fear.
Keyzier raised his hand and began to strike Donovan using various magical elements in rapid succession. First, ice magic froze Donovan's legs so he couldn't evade. Then, a stream of water magic slammed into his chest until he gasped for air.
Before Donovan could recover, lightning magic struck his body, followed by earth magic that hit his stomach, and finally, wind magic that sent him flying back, hitting the cell wall with immense force.
The attack was so brutal that Donovan fell slumped and unconscious on the dirty prison floor.
"That's my last warning, Novan! If you chirp one more time, I'll turn you into ash!" Keyzier threatened in a voice as cold as the ice he had just released.
Novalia, who had been huddling in the corner of the cell covering her ears, now stared at Keyzier with eyes swollen from tears. Her body trembled violently seeing the young man she once considered a savior now turned into a cruel executioner.
"Big Brother Key, why have you become like this?" Novalia asked in a trembling voice that was nearly breaking. "Why have you become evil? Didn't you want to be a great adventurer?"
"Novalia, you'd better shut your mouth before you become my next target!" Keyzier snapped, directing a sharp glare at the little girl. "You are needed for the ransom we'll demand from your parents! Don't annoy me, or you'll regret it!"
Keyzier then turned and walked away with the bandits, who were laughing and praising his "greatness." They felt they had found a future leader with perfect strength and ruthlessness.
But behind that convincing mask, in the shadows of the dark cave tunnels, Keyzier felt his world collapsing. Unknown to Donovan and Novalia, Keyzier was deeply devastated after striking the friend he cherished so much. The hand that had just released the magic trembled violently beneath his cloak. Every blow he landed on Donovan's body felt like he was striking his own heart.
He felt an overwhelming nausea as he remembered the harsh words he had hurled at Novalia. However, he had no other choice. He swallowed the bitterness in his throat.
But to gain the absolute trust of these bandits, he had to do it all. He had to become a monster to exterminate the monsters.
Keyzier forced himself to stay focused on his primary goal: he had to discover where the bandits hid all their treasure before he could free all the captives and end this madness.