The harsh rain continued to fall, drenching the world below it with its murky waters. Denver, who took his eyes from the woods, smirked as he stared at both the weak and pitiful looking Vawn that groveled before him along with his trembling son Jae.
"Vawn... I wanted to play with you a bit more, but it looks like your time has run out; I hope you have a good trip to the afterlife."
After saying those words, Denver waved his hand, causing the bandits that held onto both father and son to ready their daggers to strike at their vitals. However, right before this could happen, a startling scene occurred.
"Ahhhhh!"
A tragic cry sounded from the woods, bringing a startle to Denver and his bandits.
"Huh? What's going on?" Denver angrily shouted as he knew of his men's capabilities, even if they were to make quick work of someone, they would do it silently and efficiently.
A bad feeling came over Denver as he felt a menacing presence from the air. Not wanting to ignore his senses, he hurriedly hoisted his claymore while commanding, "Forget the two of them and prepare for battle! It looks like our intruders aren't of the average standard."
"Yes, sir!" The bandits said as they tossed Vawn and Jae to the side, no longer paying them any mind. They then spread out into a circular battle formation as if waiting to be attacked from any direction.
Vawn coughed out blood as he crawled over to his trembling son and held his arm; Jae looked at his father while shivering as he spoke, "F-Father, what do we do?"
Vawn stared at the current scene as he spoke, "There's nothing we can do, but hope, hope that whatever is coming will not be of detriment to our lives."
Jae shook even more at those words, his innocent eyes eyeing the woods that now had a spooky air as an unknown danger seemed only moments from breaking loose.
The air grew even colder as the dense rain fell without an end, soaking the bodies of each of the bandits that silently stood as they glared at the bushes. No one ventured too far, as they were experienced enough to know that only by working together can one face the unknown.
Denver, through all his years of experience, had never encountered an enemy like this. Still, he remained silent and used his senses to perceive his surroundings. He couldn't even sense a trace of his enemy, as if the scream just now from his comrade had never transpired.
'Where are they hiding?' Denver thought as his eyes showed traces of fear, the claymore in his arm rattling due to his disturbed mood.
Suddenly, a thunderbolt flashed across the sky as the rumble sounded soon after, the moment this happened, a handsome, bulky, black-haired man in simple clothing appeared at the center of their bandit's formation. It was as if he was standing there from the beginning seeming to be one with their unit able to assume perfect synchrony.
When Denver saw this man, his eyes widen in shock; he couldn't even open his mouth to scream due to the terror he felt as his eyes swept across the eyes of the enemy, one that seemed no different from a bottomless pit of death.
Not only Denver, even the other bandits knew this as they had only discovered the man a few moments after Denver, the weapons in their trembling hands rattling.
"W-who is this guy?" Vawn uttered in a low tone, his eyes staring at the scene in bewilderment, but regardless, he was still in a bad position, so he watched in silence as he searched for an opportunity to flee.
At this moment, Marius stared at the men around in with an indifferent look. Though he wasn't trying to, he had unknowingly revealed a tinge of his past murderous intentions as an assassin.
Still, he didn't attack them despite being in a favorable position. He merely glanced at the person whom he had assessed to be the leader as he spoke, "Do you know what you've done?"
Denver gulped as he bit his lips and swallowed his fear before he replied, "You... how did you get here? How dare you question me? Do you know who we are?"
The bandits, as if being jolted by his words, soon recovered their bearings, their eyes shining with menace as they held their gleaming weapons with the intent to draw blood.
Marius shook his head and spoke with a sigh, "To think that those are your last words, it's a pity. Take these words with you to your next life, sometimes its best to not provoke random strangers. Grevlin, come here."
Denver and the bandits made puzzled looks as they heard Marius's words; they looked at each other before they glared at him.
"You foolish man, don't think that because of your mystic stealth ability used to get by us, you can scare us off! Because of your foolish actions, today will be the day of your death! Boys, kill him!"
Denver shouted as he commanded his men to attack; the bandits then rushed chopped their weapons towards Marius without any hesitation, the edges of their swords and daggers cutting through the rain in slow motion as Marius didn't even seem to mind it.
'Truly an idiot, not even dodging, does he think that he can block steel with his flesh?' Denver thought as he saw that Marius didn't know even show signs of dodging.
His eyes showed mockery as he could already picture the scene of him being skewered from all sides, but sadly, his dream was ill-fated.
With a sound similar to something hitting metal, the blades which touched Marius's skin halted with their points resisting against its surface, unable to sink even a millimeter into his flesh.
"Mo... monster!"
"It's a devil!"
The alarming cries of the bandits sounded across the area, as Denver, who had a look of terror in his eyes, spoke in surprise.
"Wha... what kind of monster are you?"
He never thought he would witness such a scene, even at his level, he would need to gather a vast amount of his mystical energy just to block blades from fighters with his hand's many steps weaker than himself. As such, one could see just how crazy it was for one to even think about performing this feat with just their fleshy body.
Vawn looked at this in terror as he couldn't even say a word, his son Jae, only tightly clenched on his father's shirt, not daring to look at the scene anymore.
At this moment, the only person at ease was Marius, who calmly stood with the different blade tips pressed against his skin. He treated it as if he didn't notice it as he eyed the woods. Soon, a childish but cold voice resounded.
"I'm here, father," Grevlin said, filling everyone with a hint of curiosity.
Not long after, Grevlin slowly walked out of the dark woods before standing at the opposing path.
When the bandits saw a small ten-year-old child appear, they looked on in shock as they didn't know what the hell this man was thinking of calling out his son in public.
Suddenly, Denver, who had previously been contemplating escaping, got an idea as he stared at Grevlin with delight before looking at Marius and laughed.
"Haha, you're quite a strong one, it must have been hard to master a Fleshy Body Mystical Art, but even so, all arts have a limit, and not only that, you've come to fight us all alone and brought your family. Truly a touching but similarly foolish act. Men, hurry and capture the boy!"
The bandits didn't even hesitate to charge towards Grevlin, each rushing from each of his sides.
"Not good!" Vawn said in alarm; his eyes showed traces of pity and helplessness as he knew that no father would be able to do anything once their children were at risk.
Denver smirked at this as he glanced at Marius; having pushed down his fear, he felt as if he was now in control. At this point, he was expecting to see Marius kneel and beg him not to kill his son, but oddly enough, the result was different from his imagination.
Marius had a calm look on his face as he didn't even look at Denver, his eyes gazed at the scene with the four bandits charging towards his son.
'Now show me, show me your resolve...' Marius thought with cold eyes as he looked at Grevlin, an unusual look far from his normal loving fatherly appearance.
Denver felt that the situation would flow as expected, but before he could even figure it out, a new change occurred.