Raising his sword into the sky, rlin chanted once more before he swung his blade down on the last bandit. Heavy strike activated, he received the notification for it as his blade cleaved through the bandit’s shoulder and the stagger effect triggered.
"More incoming!" One of the rcenaries yelled out, causing rlin’s gaze to snap towards the path they had just travelled.
There he saw two of the bandits limping towards them with their weapons drawn, the third bandit was nowhere to be seen. They were quickly closing the distance, causing rlin to rush.
rlin tried to pull his cleaver from the bandit’s shoulder but wasn’t able to, the blade was wedged in the bandit. He struggled with the blade for a few seconds before giving up, he let go of the cleaver and instead unsheathed his gladius, cleaving the bandit’s head off with one swift motion.
「Highway Bandits remaining: 3」
Feeling frustrated, rlin grabbed the hilt of the cleaver and briefly chanted, causing the cleaver to fade away, being sent back into his inventory. rlin leapt off the cart and sprinted towards the other two bandits.
The two bandits readied their blades, both entering defensive stances as rlin entered combat range. Monts before he struck, a bolt flung out from the treeline, embedding itself in rlin’s calf.
Suddenly losing his balance, rlin fell forward, his montum dragging him along the road as his bare skin was ravaged by the rough pavent. The intense stinging sensation pulsing through his body was drowning out any command to move, giving the two bandits an opportunity to strike back.
"Open inventory." rlin chanted as a chipped blade was thrust into his upper thigh.
The second bandit was greedier, he took his ti limping towards rlin’s upper body rather than taking the easy strike to his legs. As he raised his blade to strike, a dagger impaled itself into his chest, causing him to stagger backwards.
rlin pushed himself off the ground, deflecting another sword strike with his shield. The distinct whistle of a bolt flying through the air caught his attention now that he was paying attention for it. When he noticed the faint glint of a bolt flying towards him, he ducked out of the flight path, successfully avoiding it.
Raising the gladius above his head, he struck down on the bandit who had stabbed him in the leg. The bandit raised his sword to block the strike, but as he did, the edge of a shield was thrust into his face, sending him stumbling back. Taking advantage of the situation, rlin swung his blade, cleaving a deep gash in the bandit’s torso.
The bandit was clearly in pain, but it wasn’t enough damage to kill him. rlin thrust his blade towards the bandit’s chest, but it was parried away by the bandit with a dagger in his chest.
Another bolt tore through the air, but it was from the sa location so rlin could avoid it with ease. Taking a step back allowed both bandits to regain their composure, the bandit with the knife in his chest ripped the blade out and began using it as an offhanded weapon.
rlin limped forward, chanting as he closed the distance to the bandit he was close to killing. He swung his blade down once more, forcing the bandit to block, and then thrust his empty hand towards the bandit.
Expecting a repeat of the previous move, the bandit took his spare hand from the sword and braced himself to take the shield’s impact. But rlin had unexpectedly grabbed hold of his clothing rather than throw a punch. Confusion arose in his mind, until rlin completed his chant, and the word "ignite" echoed in his mind.
Suddenly a small fla erupted on the man’s sleeve, threatening to spread if it wasn’t put out imdiately. The bandit broke the stalemate, choosing to back away and deal with the sudden fire than continue the fight.
With one bandit distracted, rlin’s attention snapped back to the other bandit, who at this point had snuck behind him and was preparing a devastating downward swing. rlin threw himself forward, causing him to hit the ground and tumble, but these few scrapes were a preferred alternative to having his back cleaved open.
"Open inventory" he chanted, causing an inventory window to appear. He reached inside, pulling out a handful of sling bullets.
The bandit rushed forward, his blade recklessly thrust towards rlin’s chest, who knocked it aside with ease. Seemingly expecting such an event to occur, the bandit was already prepared with rlin’s dagger in the other hand, already attempting to take rlin’s life.
Easily blocking the dagger with his shield, rlin shoved the bandit back and thrust his blade into the bandit’s side simultaneously, causing him to cry out in pain. The whistle of yet another bolt reached rlin’s ears, although this ti the bolt was behind him, as he turned his back to the shooter.
He ripped his blade from the bandit’s body and dove to the side, a bolt flew past his upper thigh, hitting the bandit in the lower stomach.
"Friendly fire, what a way to go." rlin retorted as a notification appeared before him.
「Highway Bandits remaining: 2」
The bandit who rlin had set alight was still frantically trying to put out the flas, and had only just successfully ripped his sleeve off, now throwing it to the ground. His forearm appeared to be severely blistered.
The bandit turned to face rlin once more, but he was swiftly t with a handful of sling bullets pelting his face, followed by a blade thrust through his heart, a quick execution before he could even react.
「Highway Bandits remaining: 1」
rlin heard a rustle in the bushes, followed by the faint footfall that grew ever quiet, indicating that the crossbowman was fleeing.
"You’ve been a real pain, and now you’re running away..." rlin mocked as he dashed into the treeline, following the sound of the last bandit, "Co back here, coward!"
The footsteps grew more frantic as rlin closed the distance. Even with a damaged leg, he could still catch up, aning the bandit had most likely sustained so form of leg injury after falling from their horse.
A few monts later, the sight of a man scrambling away with all his might filled rlin’s view, but all he could see was an easy target, the man left his back unguarded. With a single strike, rlin’s blade pierced through the bandit’s chest, pinning him to the forest floor.
It was only now that rlin realised he didn’t have his dagger to deal the finishing blow, he left it on the bandit’s corpse. Now resorting to strikes with his fist once more, he bashed his shield against the helpless man’s skull repeatedly. Blood splattered all over him but he paid no mind to it, until eventually the man was dead.
「You have completed the quest, "Clear the route to Macedonia", visit the rcenary guild to receive your rewards.」
rlin ripped his blade from the bandit’s corpse and then checked the area near the corpse for any loot drops, to which he found nothing. Disappointed, he now made his way back towards the road, unsure of how far into the forest he ran.
It wasn’t long until he breached the forest path, his rcenary companions seed terrified as he appeared before them, now covered in blood.
rlin collected his dagger, sending it back into his inventory, before searching the area for loot. Out of the six highway bandits, only one had dropped loot, which was just a single silver coin.
The envoy, with assistance from the two rcenaries, managed to get the wagon back onto the road and were waiting for the fight to end so that they could continue. rlin cast cleanse on himself before entering the wagon, the various sources of blood were magically stripped from his body before vanishing.
As the wagon continued on its journey, the scenery opened up from a forest to yet another open plains, albeit with various rivers and streams interrupting the landscape, and a large walled city clearly visible in the distance.
The large walls grew larger as the distance between the party and Macedonia shrunk, until eventually the wagon was stopped at a large portcullis gate, standing on either side of the gate were what looked to be two heavily armoured knights.
The envoy flashing the strange snake symbol was all it took for the knight to start speaking with him respectfully, and re monts later they were all led inside with a smile.
Inside the walls was a perfect looking Victorian era city, the architecture had no Greek or Roman influence to be seen, unlike the last town and village. From what rlin could see, the housing was all tightly-packed brick buildings with fancy wrought iron fencing and the streets were clean and nicely paved, illuminated by large lamps featuring an eerie spectral fla.
"Welco to Macedonia, it’ll take us a few more minutes to reach our destination." The envoy announced, but nobody in the cart seed to pay him any attention, rlin was too busy admiring his surroundings and the two rcenaries were distracting themselves while hoping the quest would end faster.
Eventually the wagon stopped in front of a walled off area, the gate of which sported the familiar snake logo.
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