Chapter 93: Adaptation
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A few minutes earlier, the shady group of thieves led by a wild cat-kin beastn, who had been tailing Frank's party due to desiring to steal the expensive equipnt that the kids were wearing, was left in a bit of shock.
"T-Those kids have infinite Mana or sothing?!" asked the rat-kin beastn, whose stature was the smallest of the four.
"This is weird, and we haven't even seen them use any kind of Mana Potion either!" said the dog-kin beastn.
"They're Initial Stage at Rank 1! They can't be able to conjure so many spells through only three hours, this is ridiculous!" said the black cat-kin beastn.
"Could those kids have so kind of special artifact within them that increases their maximum Mana and Regeneration?" wondered their boss, the wild cat-kin beastn.
"That's… maybe that's it?!" asked the rat-kin beastn.
"Then we should steal from them even more!" roared the dog-kin beastn, barely overing his presence anymore.
"Maybe we could kidnap them too, if they're from a rich family, we could extort even more money…" said the black cat-kin beastn.
"Hey, nice one, newbie!" said the leader, the wild cat-kin beastn, praising the newbie black cat man.
"But having so much mana is dangerous… we have to catch them by surprise!"
"Indeed, we should catch them while they go back through the corridors, whenever they relax and begin chatting like the stupid kids they are!"
"For real, kids in a dungeon? If it were not because of their rich parents and their artifacts, they would be dead at already,"
"Indeed… And now due to their parent's irresponsibility of leaving them to go without anyone strong to protect them, we will rack so nice money,"
"Damn, the boss is surely going to give us a raise for this!"
"Alright, they're moving… Let's go!"
At their Boss command, the group of bandits slowly walked through the shadows of the dungeon, approaching more and more, and cutting their distance from Frank's party…
However, sothing that they did not notice was that Frank had set a few thread traps in the floor… and that a small, fist-sized floating eye was spying on them, glancing at everything they did. Although it was not capable of hearing what they said, Frank was constantly staring at them through one of his eyes, knowing that they had recently gotten overly excited for so reason and that their speed had increased greatly from before.
"Ah, we are getting closer!"
"Sssh! Be quiet…"
"Fuhuhu… That Fox-kin girl seems pretty cute, could it be fine to have so fun with her after kidnapping them?"
"Do whatever you want, but don't kill them, they're precious money bags that can produce even more money from their rich parents… We got luckier than we imagined… Maybe fortune is finally smiling at us," said the leader of the group, as he took off his two daggers, which he enhanced with magic.
And then…
"Hm?"
"Oh?"
"W-Wha…"
"My legs are kind of stuck… Eh?!"
The four n glanced at their feet, which were stuck into the ground.
"What is… wait, this thread, isn't it the magic of that brat?!"
"This thread is all sticky, ueggh…"
"Wait, it is a physical thread and not magical?!"
"You're right… It's like a thread made by a spider monster, not magic threads that are ethereal and dissipate after a bit…"
"Tch, just take off your boots and catch them, the kid might have already noticed us!"
"Alright!"
Flash!
As the leader of the party ordered his lackeys to take off their boots and run towards the kids who had noticed them and left so sticky thread traps, the threads moved as if they had beco alive, entangling the four tightly, and then, by using so kind of magic, their entire bodies were Bind by a magical force!
"E-Eeeehh?!"
"Gyyaaauu!"
"W-What the heck?!"
"What is this…?! They are alive…?! Wait! Trap magic?!"
The leader of the party of bandits struggled, and many of them began to use all of their offensive spells against the threads!
However, for so strange and bizarre reason, the threads keep multiplying, as more appeared one after another, no matter how much they tried, they were still tightly bound into them, as alongside the threads themselves, there was so kind of binding Magic Spell that reinforced the threads.
"T-This is bad!"
"We got trapped!"
"My Mana ran out already?!"
"It can't be… Was it all a trap? Maybe that kid… the older one was an elite?! But his presence was sure of Rank 1 Initial Stage!" said the leader of the group, as his face showed undying frustration, his teeth gnashed angrily as cold sweat began to drip out of his neck.
Suddenly, a floating white eye made entirely out of light appeared out of nowhere, right above the four!
"E-Eh?!"
"That's an eye!"
"An eye made of light?!"
"Idiots! That's a tracking spell, we got set up from the beginning!" said the leader, as he was frightened by the sight before him, the floating eye ant way more to him than his lackeys could imagine!
He could already rember those tis when he confronted elite magus from other organizations, they were always incredibly prepared, to the point that whenever soone discovered a tracking spell tailing them from behind, it ant their doom!
"No way, no way!"
"Are we going to get killed?! By those brats?!"
"Maybe they will let us here… perhaps we could escape after we try very hard?"
"Before we even manage to break through this trap, we'll most likely be eaten alive by the monsters in here, idiot!" said the leader.
"O-Oh…"
"It would actually be way better if they ca, we could sweet-talk our way out and maybe trick them… though if they are so intelligent to set this up, it will most likely not work… Prepare yourselves, if they really co, you'll have to beg for your lives like little kids!" said the leader, gnashing his teeth as he could not muster the thought of begging for his life like a pathetic rat to so rich brats that he was planning to assault and kidnap.
As the party of bandits barked and cried in what awaited them, the steps of a single person ca through the dark corridors…
"Well, there you are… (The typical cliché bandits… I really thought that I could get away from you, but I guess that every Isekai has to have so… Ah, as if this were fantasy, everything is real… Maybe if it were truly fantasy, I could find so comfort in plot armor, leaving them to go and hoping for them to be good… But nope, this is reality. And people don't change like this…)" said Frank.
"T-There he is…"
"You're the brat… that did this?!"
"What kind of magic is this? I've never seen actual thread producing magic before!"
"Shut up, you idiots, ask for rcy!" said the leader, shutting down his lackeys as he glanced at Frank's serious face, whose light on his eyes had faded away.
Frank rembered what had happened yesterday, the Oni incident had marked him more than he had thought.
The words that Matsuo gave to him were still resonating within his heart.
If he wanted to live and be secure, he needed to kill those that would have tried to kill or assault him.
Even such a Clan as the Monk Clan of Tokyo, who taught righteous things believed that the best way to survive was to defeat your enemies… and that ant killing them.
Frank, a week ago, might have never ever considered killing soone.
But now, the reality where he is now is very different than the one from before.
From before getting his Ability.
From before having the power to travel worlds.
From before experiencing exploring a distant and different world, with its unique culture and people, a world filled with wonders but… many, many dangers.
And he could not fall back. He could not simply run away from this world.
This power of his, which he believed he got accidentally, was now weighing him down with the responsibility of saving his howorld.
He could not be the sa, he had to force himself to be different, to change.
Frank, despite how he looked or how he interacted with others, had quite a dark past, his life was always hardship after hardship, even in a world, compared to others, as safe as Earth, there were different types of hardships to suffer, and he went through many.
He knew, deep down, that he was not a completely innocent person either.
Such experiences forged his mind to be… different.
He was capable of adapting to things faster than most people.
He had, through his entire life, expected things to always go for the worst case possible.
Because of this, his ntality was made so he would quickly adapt to the situations.
And now, he had already adapted to the new situations he was in.
"(But before that, I might as well extract them so info…)" thought Frank, sighing, as he walked closer to the four bandits and used Ginseng's Mana Drain to drain them completely dry of any Mana.
"M-My mana is completely gone now?!"
"Agh!"
"I feel so weak… is this mana sickness?"
"P-Please, spare us! We promise to serve you! We will tell you anything! W-We will give you anything as well! But please, let us live…" said the leader of the party, trembling as he began to sweat intensively.
"Sure thing, speak. From where do you co from? And what organization are you from? Tell your nas as well," said Frank, as his aquamarine eyes flashed with an eerie light.
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