Magnus hid himself completely behind the trunk and closed his eyes, imbuing mana into his ears to eavesdrop on the group of people below him.
"Mmmmh! Mhh! Mmph!!!"
Magnus heard a muffled sound of someone
"Shut her up! She's going to attract unwanted attention!"
A low yet loud voice commanded,
*THUD*
"Put her in the back of the carriage. We've been stuck in this goddamn forest for a few weeks now. Don't relax and keep moving"
The same voice that commanded his people earlier said.
"Who would've thought running away from adventurers into this forest would profit us in such an unexpected way"
"Hehe boss, I've never seen an elf before...*slurp*...can we-"
A fat man with a face that wouldn't even be weird if orcs were to think that he's their long lost brother.
"No! Pigface. We're going to sell her, she would fetch us massive fortune. Spotting elf alone is like a dream for us, let alone capturing one. This girl will be the first elf to be sold as a slave in centuries! It will definitely be the biggest topic in black-market"
"B-but-"
"No buts! Get back to work"
With firm denial from the leader, the pig-faced human reluctantly gave up. Well, that's what it showed on the exterior.
"Boss, which way are we going? This mist is really annoying, I can't point out any of the cardinal directions..."
A skinny man with insomniac walked up to the leader and asked.
"Compass is malfunctioned...'V-watch' have no connections...Let the forest hounds lead us!"
The leader muttered as he looked at the watch on his wrist before pointing at two forest hounds they captured as a guide.
""Aye Boss!""
The forest hounds started walking, but coincidentally it is walking towards the direction where Magnus is stationed.
***
Magnus can be seen hiddenly standing behind the thick tree trunk. His amethyst-like purple eyes were lusterless, indifferent and cold.
'Slave traders'
From the information he got, Magnus knew the possibility of war against Elves and Human waging. He certainly would not want that to occur, war is never good and thousands of innocent lives will be lost. This war is avoidable if he acts, so that's what he's going to do. Prevent it from happening.
Sensing that the carriage dragged by the forest hounds are coming his way, Magnus made a move by focusing his mana into his feet and started walking up the tree.
He needs to think and plan rationally about the best time to strike.
Going for a straight frontal attack will without a doubt be a suicidal action for him. Magnus is not stupid, he had fought countless battles and gained immense fighting experience. Magnus could tell at glance that the leader of the group is strong but stupid. From his observation, the leader uses polearm as his main weapon, a dangerous weapon if mastered.
A polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power.
Magnus had the disadvantage of having a small body which limits his close range's attack but he's confident in his magic prowess.
Thinking and calculating the best and efficient strategy to conduct in this situation, Magnus finally decided on one of the strategy he had in mind.
With one last glance at the carriage, Magnus made a distance between himself and the carriage.
'Take me in and tonight will be your doom'
Magnus unconsciously gave out a scary smile without him noticing...
***
-A few hours had passed by-
At nightfall,
It was a dark night, not even a single stars among the trillions in the night sky could be seen from the ground as it was blocked by the countless centuries old trees in the forest.
The only light source is the lone campfire set up by the group of bandits and part-time slave traders.
The people sat around the campfire whilst talking among themselves.
"Is this delightful feeling are what slave traders addicted to? We're gonna be rich!!"
"It was really unexpected. Elves don't usually go out alone, let alone an unescorted child wandering in the forest."
"Stop talking boys, who will be the guard for the night?"
The leader with a polearm leaning against his right shoulder asked.
"Me! I will Boss!"
A long lost orc's brother raised his hand and accepted the job enthusiastically.
"Fine by me"
A sluggish man with insomniac casually expressed out his opinion.
"Me too"
"Me three"
The other members of the group agreed as they prefer sleep than guarding.
"...Fine. Gríss, you'll be the guard for tonight. Don't fell asleep"
Even though the boss found Gríss or pigface's action suspicious, he still agreed nonetheless.
"Yes boss! I won't disappoint you!"
Gríss saluted with a hidden perverted smile that slowly crept up his ugly face. Unfortunately, no one in the group noticed it other than an 'outsider' who's spying on them stealthily.
"Whatever, get some rest boys, tomorrow will be a long day"
The boss commanded in a stern tone.
"""Aye boss"""
The three other members of the group saluted except Gríss who's responsible for being the guard for the night.
*Rustle*
Suddenly, the rustling sound of bush entered everyone's ears, halting their movement.
"Show yourself"
The boss of the group said in a slightly loud voice as to not attract avoidable attention from the beasts or monsters in this forest.
*Rustle*
With another rustle of the bushes, a boy with a short muddied dark hair walked out of the bush without saying anything.
"..."
The boss of the bandit group inspected the boy for a few seconds without uttering a word.
'He is dirty but his clothes seemed expensive and luxurious...he's definitely a noble. What's he doing here? Who cares, he'll at least fetch us a hefty sum of money, he's a noble afterall.'
Glancing towards his left, the boss gave Gríss a nod with his head.
"Yes boss"
Gríss answered before slowly approaching the lost noble boy.
"Are you lost little boy?"
Gríss asked as the boy reached his arm's range.
"..."
The boy didn't response, he kept staring at Gríss with empty eyes.
"Here...let me help~ YOU! *Chop!*"
Gríss kindly offered the boy his assistance by giving him a hard-enough chop to the boy's neck, knocking him out.
*Thud*
The boy fell down on the ground like a puppet with their strings cut.
"Throw him in the carriage with that elf"
The boss sternly commanded before going to rest.
"Aye aye boss..."
Gríss casually answered but he was annoyed on the inside that his plan went down one step because of this boy's sudden appearance.
'It's not like everything failed'
Gríss positively thought before carrying the boy like a sack of potatoes and walked towards the carriage where the elf is being detained.
*Creak*
Opening the wooden carriage's door, Gríss threw the boy into the carriage without mercy.
*Bam!*
The boy hit some of the boxes in the carriage, tumbling it over.
"Eek! *hic*..."
The elf girl was startled by the sudden loud noise and the sudden campfire's light that reflected in the carriage. She soon noticed the source of the noise as she glanced at a figure laying under the boxes in pity.
"..."
The girl kept silent without saying anything until Gríss closed and locked the carriage door, the inside of the carriage went back to darkness.
"..."
Losing hope, the girl went back to sob silently.
***
I was silently spying on the soon-to-be slave traders group of people for almost the whole day. Of course I didn't just follow them without doing anything productive, I was pumping mana in and out of my body continuously as I did so.
Pulsing mana helps one's mana quality and quantity to increase dramatically. It was an extremely advanced technique invented by me 900 years ago, it's easier said than done. You will need to have a full control of your body in order to do execute this 'Mana Pulsing' technique or else your mana vessel will have a high chance of exploding and thus, permanently disabling your usage of mana.
In worst case scenario, a coma, with eternal sleep. There's no treatment to it as of yet...the person who got their main mana core shattered would already be as good as a dead person, the same goes with mana vessel.
'Mana Pulsing' concept is simple, it works the same way as Cardiac cycle of the heart. The cardiac cycle is the performance of the human heart from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. It consists of two periods: one during which the heart muscle relaxes and refills with blood, called diastole, following a period of robust contraction and pumping of blood, called systole.
This is the same with Mana pulsing, but instead of blood, it pumped mana in and out, strengthening the user's body along with the quality of mana that resides in his body. Every time the user's heart pulsed, a slight stinging pain would course through his/her entire body.
That's why it's a dangerous technique to execute even if you have assistants by your side.
Anyways, as it's been more than 8 hours since I secretly followed them, my heart more or less pulsed around 38,400 times theoretically...it was painful but bearable.
Now that everything's ready...
I hid my backpack on the high tree's branch before engraving it with some of my mana for it to easily located by me in this troublesome forest.
Looking at the group of people below me in the distant with my mana enhanced eyes, I jumped down the tree and rubbed muds on my hair and face to look like a lost child. I didn't change my noble attire as it's a part of my plan to be captured by them, I don't want them to have hostage while I fight them after all.
***
And here he is after receiving a chop on the neck by the long lost orc's brother before being thrown into the carriage by it.
He wondered what would happen to him if he didn't protect himself with a layer of mana...dead by having his neck broken? Possibly.
*hic*
*sniff*
Magnus heard someone's sobbing from what he assume to be in the corner of the carriage. As the inside of the carriage is pitch black, he wasn't able to see anything clearly even his own hand, unless he imbues mana into his eyes that is.
'Anyways, I should wait for a few more minutes or hours until that pigface who's probably planning of doing something detestable comes in.'
*hic*
"..."
The sound of sobbing is starting to distract Magnus that is why he decided to start moving his body by pushing out empty boxes that is laying on top of him.
*rumble*
*Thud*
"Eek!"
*Thod*
*Thot*
'Much better'
Magnus thought as he freed himself from getting buried under several empty boxes.
"..."
'Hmm?'
The sobbing sound disappeared for some reason.
'...Now then'
Magnus stood up before slowly making his way towards the corner of the carriage blindly where he last heard the sobbing sound of the girl.
*Creak*
One of Magnus's step came in contact with a certain part of the carriage that generated a wooden noise, with that little noise, a startled sound was heard by Magnus.
"Eek!"
It was just for a moment but it was enough for Magnus to pinpoint the girl location in the darkness.
Of course, he could make the job easier by infusing mana into his eyes to enhance it, but he didn't want to waste a single drop of mana.
In this critical situation, wasting even a bit of mana unnecessarily might make him lose his life in the upcoming battle. His mana capacity is also limited, he didn't have his previous mana capacity that is even larger than ancient dragons. It's only a matter of time before he regained his previous mana capacity.
Heading towards the source of voice which is very close to him, Magnus crouched down and knocked on the wooden floor three time to let her know he comes in peace and try to relax the girl a bit.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
"..."
Magnus needn't have to see her expression as he could sense her trembling body reduced.
"..."
Magnus was thinking of writing on air to ask the elf girl if she could read but he threw that thought behind his head as it would be a waste of mana. What would happen if she can't read yet?
Guessing where her face would be in a sitting position, Magnus lifted his right hand's index finger and brought it forward.
*Tap*
Magnus's finger comes in contact something soft yet hard at the same time, ignoring the flinching girl, Magnus knew that he had perfectly touched what wants...a piece of cloth around her mouth that the bandits tied to prevent her from screaming.
Without wasting any moment, Magnus got closer to the girl and untie the gags with both of his hand behind the girl's head.
"Fuaa!"
The girl huffed. The gags seemed to be limiting her breath.
As she stabled her breathing rhythm, Magnus signaled her to be quiet with his index finger touching her soft lips, making the girl flinch before understanding what Magnus meant by this gesture.
"...*nod*"
Magnus felt a reluctant nod from the girl before retracting his hand.
'First step, done. Next step, cover her eyes t-!'
Before Magnus could finish his thought process, he heard footsteps slowly approaching the carriage he's in.
His intention of covering the girl's eyes with a piece of cloth is to prevent her from seeing the possible gruesome scene that is about to unfold in the near future.
Thinking hard within a split second, Magnus decided to use the noble jacket he's wearing as it was the closest cloth to him and the time is running out.
Opening his dark brown jacket in a swift manner, Magnus covered the girl's face with it before stationing himself near the carriage door. Magnus still have his black skintight shirt on which has little to no protection if he were to get hit.
*Tap*
*Tap*
The steps got closer before halting in front of the carriage door.
Magnus readied himself by channeling mana all over his body stealthily, his eyes narrowed and sharpened before the coldness overtook it.
*Ti-creak*
The sound of the carriage's locks being removed at a slow paced can be heard by both Magnus and the nervous elf girl whose face is being covered by Magnus's jacket.
*Creak*
As the door to the carriage is then opened by a few centimeters, it was at that moment Magnus released his contracted muscle in his leg, propelling himself forward at a speed that even he can't control at the moment.
He made a mistake...he isn't used to the sudden power-up he obtained which is the result using Mana Pulsing technique.
Magnus had no time to think as his small body passed through the carriage's door and is about to pass the pig-faced 'Gríss' by his neck side.
As the lower half of Magnus's body passed Gríss, Magnus killing instinct kicked in.
His amethyst-like eyes turned bright 'crimson' within a blink, this is one of the skills he inherited when he's a hero.
Magnus constricts his right hand's muscle within a second as his upper body is about to fully pass by Gríss's side.
*Fwoosh!*
Gríss suddenly stopped in his track before turning back as he felt like something just flew past him.
As he fully turned back, he saw the same boy he threw in the carriage far away, standing near the campfire while holding onto something with some liquids dripping out.
"huuwaa huuu...waaaa?!"
The sound that comes out of Gríss's mouth didn't form any words and only air comes out as if his vocal cord is not working or present. Gríss unconsciously grabbed his neck where his vocal cord or thyroid is...well, what's remain of it.
As his hand comes in contact with his neck, his blood runs cold before a tormenting pain struck him.
"Aaaaaa! huuuuu!"
He can't even scream as only the sound of air that comes out of his lung is heard.
Remembering that the kid near the campfire is holding onto something, Gríss made a grabbing gesture as his vision started darkening.
Gríss hopelessly pleaded the boy to give him his thyroid back as if putting it back on would solved everything, it's not a lightbulb. Unfortunately for him, that isn't how it works.
The last thing he saw before going to hell is the sight of the boy throwing his thyroid away.
*Thud*
Gríss's lifeless body fell.
"..."
'That's one odd sensation'
Magnus recalled his memories of holding fresh thyroid before remembering the girl.
'I need to get the girl out of here first...'
Magnus then silently made his way towards the carriage ignoring the corpse of Gríss.
*Creak*
Magnus opened the carriage door and saw the girl peeking at him through the gap between his jacket.
'It won't be good if she see that guy corpse...Haa'
Magnus sighed as he walked over to the girl and cover her face with his jacket more securely once more before enhancing his body with mana and pulled the girl's hand.
The girl blindly followed Magnus out of the carriage, she could smell a small amount of iron in the air but she is a kid so it's normal if she didn't know what the smell actually is.
Magnus had lead the girl to the tree where his belongings is kept before carrying her in a princess carry as walking up the tree while carrying someone with a piggy style...not a good idea.
"Eek!"
'Is she seriously 'Eeking' at everything...?'
Magnus thought before ignoring the girl's sudden noise and focused his mana on his foot before walking up the tree vertically, once again ignoring the girl's 'Eeking'.
*Whoosh~*
A chilly winter wind softly blew past the duo.
'It's winter soon, so...my birthday is knocking on the door'
Magnus thought as he remembered his old days with his mother and 'friends'.
Stopping on top of the sturdy branch, Magnus put down the girl before jumping down without leaving any message for the girl.
'Better make the world a little cleaner place for now'
Magnus is going to take out the remaining scum of the world.
***
The campfire has been distinguished by Magnus as he stealthily walked over to one of the three tents.
Arriving in front of the tent, Magnus didn't need to bend down as his height is not tall enough for him to do so and entered the tent with cold eyes.
In the tent, Magnus stood before three sleeping figure. They all are sleeping in a weird position.
Without wasting any more time, Magnus released a very thin mana strings from his three fingers, and manipulate it to go around each of their neck.
Using his other hand, Magnus get a hold of all three mana strings and without mercy, pulled all of the strings in a quick manner. That's how he detached their heads from their body, instantly killed them in one go.
Magnus then came out of the tent unscathed with the same cold eyes. It was possible for Magnus to end three people's life easily due to them being defenseless.
'2 more to eliminate'
Magnus thought as he approached the other tent where the leader and the insomniac guy stayed.
As Magnus is close to reaching the tent, he suddenly frowned and went on high alert as he felt a movement inside the tent.
*Swoosh!*
A sharp dagger flew out of the tent in a fast manner towards him.
Reacting quickly, Magnus tilted his head to the side, narrowly evading the dagger before jumping back and hides in the darkness.
Magnus narrowed his mana enhanced eyes and look at the tent's entrance while hiding in the distance.
***
"What is it Kal?"
The leader of the bandit group asked his right-hand man
"...Probably a small fast beast in this forest"
The insomniac or Kal replied in a tired tone.
"That thing must have good speed and instinct to be able to dodge that throw of yours Kal"
"Yeah yea-"
As Kal turned towards his boss,
*Piw!*
*Splat!*
He suddenly stopped in his track as his body started getting cold and numb. Within a second later, his vision darkened before falling on the ground lifeless. That's the outcome of letting his guard down.
*Thud*
"KAL!"
The boss roared in shock, seeing his right-hand man sudden death in front of his eyes with a coin sized see-through hole in his head.
*FWOM!*
The leader emitted intense mana and enveloped himself with it, his guard skyrocketed.
Glancing at his polearm by his side, he pulled it close to him before rushing out of the tent in fury.
*Fwoosh!*
"Show yourself bastard!! Gríss! Hem! Dicken! Come out!"
He shouted before calling out his companions for a backup.
*Silence~*
Receiving no reply, his face darkened in realization.
*Piw!*
A whistle-like sound can be heard getting closer to him in a fast manner from his blind spot.
Raising his polearm and swinging it to his right,
*Clang*
His polearm shook a little, deflecting what seemed to be a pebble.
'A pebble...Is it Simia-type beast with intelligence? No, they don't live in this area...then, what is it?'
He pondered before getting into his polearm's stance. Even if there's no light, he could still see a little with his mana enhanced eyes and his range is limited.
Adventurers would be able to cope this kind of situation professionally as they explored dungeons and towers. So this kind of situation where light source isn't available is not uncommon, they could just cast a spell that create Light-orb.
It's a spell that used null attribute that everyone has to create a convenient light orb. But he, who's a bandit with no proper education would never be able to cast one.
*Piw!*
*Piw!*
*Piw!*
Three consecutive whistle sounds came from his back,
"This mother-*Clang!* *Clang!*"
He deflected two pebbles and dodged one.
*Piw!**Piw!**Piw!*
Then so, another round of deflecting pebbles goes on, infuriating him as it was not an easy job to deflect them in the dark.
*Clang!**Clang!**Clang!*
"Damn it! Submit, O wind, and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!"
He's lost it and conjured a wind barrier spell by chanting, the barrier is formed and protects him from all possible direction and angle with almost non-existing blind spot. Conserving mana while facing this troublesome enemy is a big mistake.
*Piw!*
*Puff*
The wind barrier did its job by stopping the pebbles.
*Piw!*
*Puff*
*Piw!*
*Puff*
The blocking continues
'This fucker! If this keeps on going, I will runs out of mana!'
He thought as he started looking around to find where the pebbles are being thrown. It didn't take him even a minute to find what's he's looking for by judging from the angle that the pebbles hit his barrier.
'There!'
His eyes turned bloodshot in the darkness as he cancelled his spell, dissipating the wind barrier he conjured before dashing in a zigzag manner towards the source that is responsible for throwing pebbles.
Little did he know...he has just shortened the time of his death by running towards the source instead of running away.
"DIEEE!"
He yelled at the top of his lung, which is a stupid and somewhat bold thing to do.
As he's about to to swing his polearm.
*FOOOM!*
A bright light that appeared out of nowhere shined his eyes, due to the sudden change, his eyes couldn't immediately adjust to the sudden light and thus blinding him temporarily but that didn't stop him from swinging his polearm.
It was then he felt something rushed passed him along with the feeling of his polearm slashing something.
He suddenly lost control over his body as the momentum he generated from the running he did, made him roll over the ground like a ball before embracing death.
***
"Haa...haa...haa...ugh"
'...It hurts!'
Magnus can be seen crouching on the ground while clutching his side in the darkness with his entire body drenched in his own sweat that people would have mistaken him for going for a swim.
'I've almost exhaust all of my mana from all that throwing...That last flashbang was cool heh...I shouldn't have been careless...'
Magnus recalled the one-sided fight.
He consecutively threw quality mana enhanced pebbles for a few minutes which took more than two-thirds of his mana thanks to that guy stupidness.
Magnus was delighted when that guy conjured a wind barrier as he knew that things will go as planned, and he's right. That guy did locate his position via the angle that the pebbles hits his barrier.
When the guy rushed towards him in a zigzag manner, Magnus didn't panic or anything as he casually focused on the wood he's holding before heating the wood up with fire mana.
The wood did get hotter but showed no sigh of lighting up, that's because he is controlling the photons that is generated from the wood.
As light is made up of photons, which are like tiny packets of energy. When an object's atoms heat up, photon are produced from the movement of atoms. The hotter the object, the more photons are produced.
Using this concept, Magnus successfully created something like a bright flashlight that acts as a flashbang to blind his opponent.
As his opponent is temporarily blinded, Magnus used instant acceleration technique to close up to his opponent and finished him.
Fortunately, Magnus did successfully killed his by piercing his heart but...unluckily, the polearm managed to cut his side. The wound is not very deep and critical, but it will definitely be life-threatening if he didn't perform first aid on himself.
As Magnus's body haven't gain tolerance to pain yet, the cut is very painful to him.
*Stetchz*
Magnus torn out parts of his skin-tight black shirt and stopped the wound with it before covering it.
'I won't be careless next time...'
Magnus gritted his teeth in pain.
*AWOOO!*
'Oh right, the hounds...better feed them some 'food''