Chapter 9 - Betrayal

After Lin handed the sack of money to Gisdomed he instantly left assuming they would keep their word, but if Gisdomed decided it was a good idea to not fulfill his end of the bargain Lin would just massacre the entire tribe since their strongest fighter was Gisdomed who was only a fourth rank warrior.

And true to his word the Cruel Claw tribe began attacking any and all caravans that passed through the Eltois trail for the duration of the entire month.

It was around the third week of the month before the caravan that had the child that Lin deemed acceptable finally departed, Lin slowly followed them from a distance intending on saving the child when the caravan was attacked so that he would gain a loyal subordinate that was none the wiser that his family died due to his influence.

As he slowly trailed after the caravan Lin reminded himself that he needed to falsify the hirer of the Cruel Claw tribe so that it could not be traced and it would give the kid motivation to become stronger. It was when the sun was about to set that the Cruel Claw tribe decided to attack this caravan.

It was without warning when the Cruel Claw tribe members suddenly jumped out of their hiding locations to attack the caravan and that lead to a few members that were guarding the caravan to instantly die.

But it alerted the other members that guarded the caravan and they instantly drew their weapons to begin the counter attack against the bandits. However their hands began to tremble when the aura of 4th rank warrior washed over them, albeit that was quickly ended when they felt 2nd wave of aura wash over them.

However this second 4th rank aura did not originate from the bandits side but from one of the mercenaries that were guarding the caravans.

"Interesting I sure didn't expect a 4th rank warrior to guard a caravan this small" said Gisdomed in a mocking manner, but in his mind he though 'Damn this might actually be troublesome'.

"Likewise a 4th rank warrior like you should have no problems acquiring money, so why are you attacking a caravan group? especially one so small?" said the originator of the second 4th rank aura who was now revealed to be a blond man who covered himself in armor.

"I'm only doing this for a job I received although I was not interested in the start, but the fact that a 4th rank mercenary is guarding a caravan this small must mean your transporting either someone important or a rare artifact, no?" laughed Gisdomed

"That is none of your business!" roared the blond haired man

As the blond haired man began to see that there was no way to get out of this situation he ordered the guards to attack, and went to engage Gisdomed by himself.

As the two 4th rank warriors clashed Lin watched on uninterested and though 'Man I never really noticed it before since I've always insta killed my human opponents, but damn they sure are slow"

It was around two hours into the fight when the bandits began to gain the upper-hand, and while the blond haired man was distracted two bandits that were hidden fired crossbows at him. He was able to dodge the first arrow but however was unable to dodge the 2nd arrow as it would leave him open to be slashed by Gisdomed which would be far more dangerous than a arrow.

However he was not expecting the intense pain that over came him when the arrow pierced his skin, and he yelled "HOW SHAMELESS! using something like poison in a battle between warriors"

"I'm a bandit honor means nothing to me so long I receive my money" Gisdomed coldly replied

"To think a 4th rank warrior could stoop so low, banditry is one thing but double teaming, and poison!? Truly you've sunken the name of warriors" yelled the blond haired man

" Seeing as I'm not going to survive this battle, I'LL BRING YOU DOWN WITH ME!" and with that the blond haired man activated all the battle-qi he had within him and erupted with blinding speed.

Gisdomed was not prepared for the speed that the blond haired man reached after he activated all his battle-qi and was met with a slash that went all the way from his shoulder to hips.

"What a fool! had you used this earlier and escaped you would've lived to see another day, truly a man who do did not value his life" scorned Gisdomed

"A bandit like you has no right to say those words!" croaked the blond haired man as he spat out a blob of blood.

"It matters not seeing as your going to die" and with that Gisdomed walked forward and cleanly decapitated the head of the blond haired man right off his shoulders.

As the battle was over Gisdomed allowed himself a luxury and relaxed his body and rested and watched as his tribe members killed the remaining guards. However his instinct suddenly flared but he was unable to react and like the fate that befell the blond haired man the head of Gisdomed was cleanly lopped off by a wind blade traveling at blinding speeds.

It was when the bandits were about to kill the last boy on the caravan when they noticed that their boss had died and that led to a momentary panic after of which Lin raced onto the battlefield, his appearance was noticed with fear as he exuded the aura of a 4th rank beast. Without their boss Gisdomed to fight this foe the rest of the bandits of the Cruel Claw tribe was easily picked off one by one.

With that Lin arrived in front of the child that he had chosen, however the child took one look at him and fainted.

"HAHA, i never expected that the boy would faint after just looking at me, I guess the rest of the plan will have to be put on hold until he awakens" Lin laughed out.