Elena and the female elf, both were surprised by this. They didn't see when he moved there and how? They were also surprised that he still had so much power to fight. This elevated his position in their subconscious mind. They didn't know that he is so powerful. 'Did he hide his power all along?' That was the question that popped up in their head.
The two remaining bandits was in a troublesome position also. After seeing their companion dying in an instant in Arthur's hand, they tried to quickly move away from Arthur. But just as they tried to move their body, it oddly became slow. Their body was not functioning as they want it to. It became slow and heavy to move. Their feet wobbled and their hands also started to become numb. They are slowly losing the functionality of their body limbs. From the outside, it looked like they were freezing up in fear.
And that's the impression Arthur wanted. He killed one assassin and feed the other two the potion so he could create this scenario. He wanted the two girls and the assassins to think that he's stronger than anyone here. In this way, he will have advantage in future.
Arthur walked towards the two assassins slowly. He had a dark expression in his face. He tried to scare and intimidate them. But it looks like he's not that intimidating as they are not completely scared because they are struggling to move away from him.
So, he tried to intimidate them in another way. He walked towards them with his sword dripping blood droplets. He raised his sword and pointed at the two assassins who tried desperately to move away from him.
"so, which one of you wanted to get a taste first of the girls?", Arthur asked them with his eyes blazing fire in them.
"not us…not us…, it's the one who you killed said that. We were just joking, ha..ha-h.", they both answered the same. Arthur was surprised that they could lie in sync too. 'Is there some secret to it?'
"oh, but both of you agreed to his proposal, you can't deny that as I heard all of you yell that out. How are you going to take responsibility for that?"
"we don't know. You tell us. What do you want?", said one of the afraid assassins.
"hmm, how about this, if you tell me who sent you, I will let you go.", said Arthur flatly to one of the assassins.
"really, you will keep your promise. You are not lying to us, right?", asked the other one.
"My word is my bond."
"I will tell you everything I know. So, let us go, okay.", they tried to confirm again.
"deal"
"we are just some rogue fighter who were hired by our team leader who came here with us. He approached us and told us that he has a work for us which will get us a lot of money. We needed the money so we decided to take the work. We never met him before in our life.", that is what they said.
"is that true?"
"yes, that's the truth. Now let us go."
I don't know if what they said is true. But, I already have everything planned out.
"OK, you can go now. Don't ever do anything like this.", Arthur said that to one of the assassins and swung his sword towards the other one.
"noooo…."
He killed the other assassin directly without giving him any chance to retaliate. There was a brief silence after that and then, the last remaining one of the trio screamed loudly.
"you…you..you lied to us. Why did you kill him?"
"because you guy's lied to me. You didn't tell me the truth. So, I will give you one more chance to speak. Speak carefully."
"we didn't lie. It is the truth. We told you all we know. You are breaking your promise now.", the last one already couldn't move anymore. Looks like he is finally paralyzed and only his mouth can speak. He lost balance of his body due to paralysis and fell on the ground. It looked like he is really feeling scared too.
"oh…, you didn't lie really? Sorry, I just had to make sure if you are telling the truth. I only need one person alive to confirm the story, so I killed the other guy. But it looks like you were telling the truth so he died in vain. But the good thing is I didn't choose to kill you. You should be happy that you are a free man now.", Arthur said that in the friendliest way possible. But that didn't sound so friendly to the listener.
"you bastard, you are messing with us, aren't you? You are just having fun killing us."
"what? I let you go alive and this is how you thank me? Ungrateful wretches!!! I should have chosen the other one. What to do now? Ahh, I have an idea. Let's send you to the same place as him. He will be happy if you accompany him. I am sure of it.", Arthur reprimanded the last one and then he killed him too.
Now, the three of the four assassins are dead. Only the leader who knows everything lives. Arthur hoped that Elena's team leader would be able to deal with him. Then, this battle will truly end.
When I turned around after killing all three assassins, I saw the shocked faces of Elena and the female elf. They were looking at me like they are looking at monster. I was satisfied with their shocked expression. when I saw their funny faces, I smiled brightly at them.
Then. I pointed at the corpse of the assassin trios and spoke up.
"people don't know how to express goodwill nowadays. Now, they are dead for their own mistakes. I was already too generous by offering them a way out.", Arthur told them with a cheeky smile.
Elena and the female elf just rolled their eyes at him.