Point-of-View: Misen Ragiu

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  Around 11:30 AM on the fifth day after we left for this Quest from the Rustlands……

  "Man, I'm so bored!" Groaned Rion, flicking sparks of black flames up into the air absent-mindedly.

  Grr, I have it far worse that you do……

  "We should be about halfway there by tomorrow night," Sighed Azeria, her tail swaying over the side of the cart.

  "And if we don't find anything and have to go all the way to the Goldlands before turning back, that means we're only a quarter of the way done," Chimed in Siela abjectly.

  "If there really are bandits attacking merchants, we should see signs of struggles where those incidents occurred……and the most likely area bandits would hide in along this route is the mid-point, which we should reach soon," Remarked Lusk objectively, adjusting his glasses, "And if we find nothing and reach the Goldlands, it should be fine if we teleport back."

  "Nice analysis and all, but now we're all gonna expect to find something by tomorrow, and if we don't, we're all gonna be, like, super disappointed and stuff, y'know? And that'll be on you," Sighed Rion, fanning himself with a breeze using his Wind Magic.

  "Er, I……sorry?" Replied Lusk, looking unsure about how to respond to that.

  "Yeah, you'd better be sor."

  "Would you all just shut up!? I'm trying to concentrate here!" I snapped, unable to contain my irritation anymore, "I'm the only one who's actually done any work over the past five days, so you don't get to complain, because……hold on, I'm sensing something up ahead."

  Yes, there is no doubt about it, I was definitely sensing something with my Lightning Sensory Field……

  "Woah, for real? It's about time, let's crack some heads open!" Declared Rion with a grin, punching his fists together.

  "Right, we should all keep our guards up," Said Lusk, drawing out four of his daggers using his tentacles.

  If I remember right, he had lost a tentacle or two when the Vampires attacked the Rustlands, however, it had grown back. Normally, lost Anima mutations were like limbs, they would not grow back……I don't know enough about octopuses to know whether or not they grow back lost limbs, but based on this……they probably do.

  But that is not what is important right now. I was sending several people within five hundred meters ahead of our current position, and we were slowly but surely closing in on them bit by bit. I felt my heartbeat start to beat faster as we got closer, a sense of unease inside me……

  "We should use a Store spell on the horses and carts, it will be more difficult to get back if they get damaged," Pointed out Lusk, as we got within three hundred meters.

  "Nice thinking, dude!" Exclaimed Rion with a grin.

  No one voiced any objections, so we did as Lusk suggested and continued on foot, with me updating the distance between us and the people I was sensing every twenty-five meters. It wasn't long before they came into sight……

  There were eleven people here……the exact number of people that had gone missing in this route over the two weeks before we were assigned this Quest. And most noticeably……they were all chained to large rocks like dogs, the chains only attached to their necks. I quietly drew out my Lightning Crystal dagger and began charging it with my Mana.

  Some of them looked a bit familiar to me……were these the merchants who had gone missing? What the hell is this? I mean, it's clearly a trap, it has to be……but I don't sense anyone else nearby. Something is definitely wrong……I wanted to get away from here right now, but……that would go against the objective of this Quest. What a damned pain, this is the worst.

  "So, like……this is totes a trap, right?" Remarked Rion, as we stopped about fifty meters ahead of where they were chained up.

  "Obviously……but if it's just bandits, shouldn't we try to draw them out and then kill or capture them? They're probably just lying in wait somewhere to attack us when we approach the captives, right?" Remarked Azeria cautiously.

  "No, I don't sense anyone else nearby," I informed her.

  "Really? That doesn't make any sense……," Frowned Siela, scrunching her eyebrows.

  "Yeah, we need to figure out a way to retrieve the captives and then retreat with them, that will be enough to complete the Quest, since we can interrogate them about what happened. After all, our main objective is to find out what's happening here, right?" I remarked, hoping that the others would agree with that.

  "No, that will not do. We were told to find out what was going on here and eliminate the threat, remember?" Objected Lusk.

  Tch, of course he'd paid attention, he was by a distance the most studious of the students in his class when I taught them.

  "Then I don't suppose you have any bright ideas, do y……?" I began, before trailing off as suddenly, dozens of people appeared out of nowhere, all around us.

  "Wha……wait, Stealth barriers, maybe?" Remarked Rion, as they surrounded us.

  Definitely bandits, by the look of it. I'm glad I began charging up my dagger early, it's got a destructive amount of lightning stored in it now. Still, there are a lot of them, at least thirty that I could see……we're outnumbered, though that shouldn't be a concern, since they're just bandits……or at least, that would be the case usually.

  Something's wrong here……it's like they were expecting us. If they were just laying in wait for another merchant to pass through, they wouldn't need so many men……and they were all armed with weapons too. I don't like this……

  "Let's scatter and wipe them out quickly, we-!" I began, when suddenly, a barrier activated around all of us, right as some of the bandits tossed some cans towards us.

  We sprang away from the cans, which burst into clouds of white smoke……I caught a slight whiff of it as I leapt off to the side, and immediately felt a wave of drowsiness hit me……sleeping gas? I immediately held my breathe before I could inhale any more. This is bad, we need to break this barrier quickly! Kusu, Lusk and Siela had inhaled too much of the smoke and were unconscious now, collapsed on the ground……Azeria was looking rather unsteady as well, as the smoke began to spread out.

  We can't avoid inhaling it for much longer, we need to get out of this barrier quickly or we're finished! Rion had realized that as well, and was slamming his fists against the wall of the barrier, cracking it slightly, but the barrier fixed itself in a matter of seconds……good, it's not so strong that we can't damage it at all. As he cracked it again with another powerful slam of his fist……

  "Out of the way, now!" I exclaimed, as I zipped towards him with Lightning Boost, my dagger overflowing with lightning.

  He glanced back at me and leapt away as he met my gaze, as I took aim and flung my dagger at the fading cracks with as much precision and momentum as I could possibly generate. The dagger shot forward, slicing and crackling through the air, before……it got lodged in the cracks before they could fade, and in the blink of an eye, a bright flash erupted as a massive part of the barrier wall shattered.

  I shot through the opening and grabbed my dagger before it could hit the ground……good, it still has a bit of lightning charged into it, I'll charge up some more. Rion and Azeria quickly followed after me as the barrier began to regenerate, making it out just in time……the other three were still inside, but that could not be helped, they were all unconscious. The bandits were all looking rather unsure as to what to do……they really had been expecting us, and had expected to capture us with that barrier.

  "Waste no time……let's kill them all," I remarked, as lightning crackled around my dagger.

  "You got it!" Grinned Rion, slamming his fists together before zipping up using Flight and blasting several of them with wind-enhanced black flames, roasting them alive, "Take this, Hellfire Barrage!"

  As they screamed in agony before their cries fades as they got burnt to death, Azeria shot towards more of them on all fours, black and orange flames blazing around her……her movements weren't as sharp as usual, because of the bit of sleeping gas that she had inhaled, but she was still too fast for any of them to even try to fight back.

  She evaded as one of them swung a sword at her by getting low, and then leapt up with a small ball of lava in her palm, slamming it onto his face and melting it off as he let out an excruciating shriek of pain.

  Four others then surrounded her and began to drive their weapons towards her, when suddenly, flames burst out all around her, black flames to her right and orange flames to her left, burning them all alive simultaneously. As a handful of the bandits began approaching me, I decided to try out a new move I had been working on……they were all lined up nicely, perfect……

  I maxed out my Lightning Boost to x4.2 and shot towards them, as I funneled more and more Mana into my dagger……and then, as I closed in on the one who was nearest to me, I pointed the dagger at him, and then compressed and sent out a powerful, concentrated streak of lightning straight at him from the tip of the blade, which struck the middle of his chest, went through and continued on from out of his back, branching out into three smaller streaks……now, Chain Lightning!

  Two of the three streaks struck a couple of bandits who were close behind him, the lightning going through them and each branching out into three more streaks from their backs again, six in total, which struck three more bandits……before running out of power and dissipating. The first bandit I struck, along with the next two, were dead……and of the other three, one was unconscious while the others were on their hands and knees, unable to move.

  For this attack, I compress the lightning in my dagger into a narrow straight line and then force it out from as small a point as possible from the end of the dagger, and then, for some reason, after it hits the first target, it branches out into three smaller streaks, each of which branch out into further three streaks if they make contact with a person.

  I should be able to take out upto ten people with more charge into my dagger. Now, then……it looks like we have killed about fifteen of them between the three of us, we should soon switch to captur……suddenly, a blur shot towards Rion, reaching him before he could react and sent him flying back, crashing onto the side of a cliff with a powerful impact.

  He collapsed onto the ground as he fell down from the rocky surface, knocked unconscious. What was that!? A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, with wild, tangled black hair, a thick mustache and a rather muscular body……but more noticeably, he had horns on either side of his forehead, sharp black claws for fingernails and a third eye on his forehead……features that Kuro had displayed after gaining Demonic powers……

  Before I could process or make sense of this, Azeria shot towards him with flames swirling around her and swung her claws at him, coating them in flames as she did……she gashed and seared the side of his bicep as he narrowly avoided getting his arm ripped off. I noticed that the other bandits had all backed away now……I continued charging my dagger as I shot towards the man at top speed, lightning crackling around me.

  Azeria leapt towards him again, when he smirked and swung his fist up at her, creating a large, rising fist of earth from the ground below, which slammed onto her midsection. She let out a gasp of pain as I heard something crack, before she got sent flying back and crashing onto a boulder. Earth Magic, and fairly powerful at that……this is really bad, I'm the only one left.

  He turned his attention to me with a wide smirk, cracking his knuckles as he walked over threateningly. I just need to graze him once with my dagger, that will transfer the charged up lightning straight into his body, and hopefully kill him. I picked up a sword from the ground and zipped towards him while running lightning through it and continuing to charge up my dagger.

  I swung the sword at his neck, he swiftly raised a column of earth to get in the way of it, shattering the blade as I connected. Damn it, I don't know if this will be enough to kill him, but I don't have any other options to turn to! I flicked my wrist across to fling the dagger at him from close range……and it struck him, piercing his left shoulder, as he let out a scream of pain as his body crackled and glowed with lightning.

  He collapsed onto his knees, his hair standing up on end while wisps of smoke appeared from his body. Damn it, he's not dead, I need to finish him! I charged lightning into my left hand and swung it towards his neck, aiming to crush his throat……when suddenly, he caught my wrist before I could grab hold, and before I could react, a column of earth shot up towards me and struck the middle of my left forearm, snapping it in half.

  I let out a loud cry of pain, as he coughed slightly before laughing triumphantly and standing up, kicking my shin to upset my balance, knocking me down to the ground and pinning me down by pressing his foot down on my chest. I began to charge lightning in my right hand, but before I could fire, an earth spike went through my palm, eliciting a stifled gasp of pain from me.

  "What the hell are you? A Demon?" I inquired with a growl.

  "Hah, wouldn't you like to know?" He replied tauntingly, before driving his fist down towards my face.

  This Quest turned out to be a real big pain……give me a break, it's just one thing after another! I felt a sense of exasperation and resignation as his fist closed in on my face……and then, everything went black……

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