This was no longer a side quest. One of our party members has just been whisked away along with the hostage.
"Quickly! We need to go to their base!" [Wilharrow]
As expected of the Hero. He had fast judgments with the information given. Luckily for us, we had been given the location literally minutes before this event happened. Anyways, we followed Wilharrow's lead through the forest and ended up finding some kind of wooden fort. There was an entire encirclement of logs to keep us from seeing inside, along with some watchtowers that appeared to have a few guards.
"Strange… They're wearing armor?" [Raon]
"That's what's weird?" [Solace]
I didn't get why it would be strange for people to wear iron or maybe steel plating.
"No, Raon is right. Mere bandits usually only wear what they can make or find." [Wilharrow]
"I'm still not following." [Solace]
"It's more common for bandits to wear mainly leather and fur clothing since they tend to hunt in the wilderness." [Fina]
"Thank you." [Solace]
As always, Fina is the one to give a clear explanation.
"Okay, let's go in." [Wilharrow]
"Woah. No plan?" [Raon]
"The more time we spend here the more likely Leon and Elisse get hurt." [Wilharrow]
And so our decision was made. The only form of plan was to bum-rush the front gate, which probably wouldn't be that hard considering it was only made of wood. The problem was that we would most likely get shot at by the guards on the watchtower. Well, we still did it anyway.
"Go go go!" [Wilharrow]
We made a mad dash towards the front gate, expecting a hail of arrows. Surprisingly, nothing happened.
("...Seriously?") [Solace]
I looked up to see the guards with their backs turned, flinging arrows into the wooden fort. Inside, I could hear the clash of metal and a load of yelling.
"They're distracted! Break down the door!" [Wilharrow]
"I've got it!" [Solace]
I leapt forward with a fist wound back.
"|Explosion Arts|!" [Solace]
With just a single touch of my fist, the wooden doors turned to shrapnel.
"I-Intruders!" [Panicked Bandit Guard]
Pretty sure everyone in the camp knew that after what I just did. Really no need to say it.
("We're in!") [Solace]
The first thing I saw was a large group of armed men cornering Leon into a corner. Perhaps around 30 to 50? From what I could see, she had summoned her spirit and whipped out that comically large sword of hers. I also noticed cuts and bruises all over her body as she acted as a wall between the bandits and Elisse cowering behind.
"Kill her! It's just one girl!" [Large Bandit]
Among the men, there was one really big guy with a massive double sided ax to match his size. He had… Do people call them dreads? I think he had dreads for his light blue hair. He seemed to be the one in command. Other than that, he was shirtless and fat.
"Sir! There are other intruders!" [Bandit Grunt]
That's what I'm gonna call the extras. I literally had no time to memorize every detail at the time. There were just so many of them. Oh, I did pinpoint Gwain among them. He was on a stretcher or something with a pained expression. I guess we really did a number on him.
"Bah! Where are our watchmen?! All archers! On them!" [Large Bandit]
He pointed at us, which was soon followed by a ton of arrows.
"Get behind something!" [Wilharrow]
There wasn't much there for cover. All I could find were tents and a wooden cabin in the far back. Not that I could reach it in time. Thankfully, I'm pretty smart. Genius even.
"|Earthen Shield|!" [Solace]
I summoned up a wall that ate up all the arrows for me, just before I started returning fire.
"|Liquid Barrage|!" [Solace]
I am indeed a natural FPS player considering I took out at least half of the archers with that. While I was busy dealing with those guys, I saw my comrades run alongside the wall of the fort to get to Leon. Can't believe those guys just ditched me like that. The nerve.
"There's runners! Some get them!" [Large Bandit]
Around a quarter of the men cornering Leon split away and headed towards Wilharrow's group. Funny how they think Leon was a bigger threat when comparing the numbers.
("Guess I'll clean up here.") [Solace]
I aimed a finger at the archers and took them out one at a time with |Liquid Bullet|. I know Wilharrow asked me to spare them, but I honestly just aimed for the chest. Whether they lived or died was of no consequence in this situation.
"You have gained |Experience|. |Experience| limit reached. You have gained a level." [Spirit Guide]
That voice echoed a few times. I really should've expected that most wouldn't survive a hole in their chest.
"We're losing archers sir!" [Bandit Grunt]
The large bandit let out a frustrated grunt.
"Do I have to do everything myself?!" [Large Bandit]
He picked up his ax and barreled towards Leon. It was pretty fast, but I've seen Leon go faster. I expected her to dodge, until I saw Leon thrust her sword into the dirt and stood her ground.
"|Heavy Arts: Rolling Boulder|!" [Large Bandit]
"|Ancient Titan Arts: Steadfast Door||." [Leon]
She received the large bandit's attack head on, not even moving an inch. However, she knelt down with exhaustion after his attack passed.
"All this work for a girl." [Large Bandit]
He grabbed her by the throat and lifted as Leon tried to fight back. She threw hidden daggers from under her skirt, which seemed to bounce off this guy's skin. Not from hardness, no. It seemed to bounce off like it was interacting with jelly.
"Let go of her!" [Elisse]
Running up from behind Leon, Elisse punched and kicked the large bandit's leg.
"A child?" [Large Bandit]
He burst out laughing.
"And what if I don't?!" [Large Bandit]
Elisse teared up.
"Th-The Hero will beat you up!" [Elisse]
The large bandit scoffed.
"What? Like those guys over there?" [Large Bandit]
He aimed a thumb at Wilharrow and the others, still fighting through the split off group of bandits. Like, come on. What are they doing? They're just a bunch of Npcs (There were like 10-20 dudes).
"Nah. She means me." [Solace]
While this guy was having his fun bullying a little girl, I finished up all the archers and launched myself at him from a high vantage point.
|Vortex Arts|." [Solace]
Flexing my fingers, I tore through some of the skin on his arm. This caused him to release Leon and back away alarmed by my sudden appearance.
("Whoops, can't let her fall.") [Solace]
I caught Leon mid-air, kinda doing a little princess carry before setting her down next to her massive sword.
"Sit tight for me, will you?" [Solace]
Leon gave me a weak nod.
"Wh-Who're you?!" [Large Bandit]
Interrupting our little reunion, even though we haven't been apart long, I now had to deal with this fatso.
("Man, I was having a moment.") [Solace]
I felt Elisse tug at my leg with a nervous look on her face, so I just smiled and ruffled her hair.
"I'm the hero she mentioned." [Solace]