So far their journey has been peaceful, aside from the orc horde from the second day. There were occasional monster attacks but nothing that their crew couldn't handle.
"Captain, I'm detecting troops surrounding us." Malik saw them coming from a mile away.
"Monsters?"
"Humans."
"Send a discreet message to the other squads. Tell them to prepare for combat."
[Magical Message] a spell that can send out a message to someone that the caster has made contact with.
[We're surrounded. Prepare for combat.]
Bandits, no strong person actually decides to become one. There are multiple benefits to staying legal, so why do people take on such a path?
Stupidity is a rampant disease, mostly caused by misinformation. But no one with any real power like a person in C - Class would be part of such a group.
Matthew took out the Blue Tiger from his inventory.
"Malik, where's the strongest one among them."
"Three o'clock. Melee specialist."
"Rough estimate on distance and ability?"
"300 meters, High D-Class"
"Rokhan sound the whistle"
Instant.
In an instant, the blue tiger decapitated the bandit leader. In that instant the bandits couldn't even react. Some of them managed to shoot their bows, others struck with their swords but in the face of 10 veteran soldiers and 3 - C class adventurers. They were nothing but fodder.
These people faced demons in the fort of Nikaos, the bounty on the heads of these bandits is pocket change compared to the weekly wage that they got as volunteers in the army.
That's another thing, they VOLUNTEERED for the army. These are people who have no need for money, what they seek is glory and infamy. The last thing they'd die to is a bunch of bums who called themselves the "Azure Bandits".
The two squads were enough to take care of the 40 or so bandits but Matthew already took the Blue Tiger out of its storage so a one-sided massacre courtesy of his personal puppet ensued.
In less than half an hour 34 bandits were killed, 6 were captured and their leader's head was placed onto Matthew Khan's inventory.
They never saw it coming, the Virtuoso held nothing back. From the decapitated heads of their friends flying about to the near instant death that befell their allies. They would rather die fighting the veteran soldiers than try anything on the blue figure that killed off their leader.
The ones who got captured damn near pissed their pants at the thought of trying to escape. No torture was needed, though this didn't mean that the soldiers gave a shit. They were used as target practice until the group reached town, human dart boards.
They handed the bandits to the nearest town's mercenary den. Getting the bounty for their leader, a man that's worth 5 silver coins.
They only stayed in the town for one night. Eating from an inn felt like heaven compared to the meals they had to eat on the road.
They finished a few bounty requests from the town before heading out. Upon refilling their barrels and buying some supplies, the group headed north once more.
"Malik."
"Yes Captain?"
"How far is the frontlines?"
" At the rate we're going I believe that we'll reach the frontlines within 16 to 19 days. " Malik stated.
"This is assuming that we keep a steady pace sir." Rokhan chimed in.
They were going just as planned. He knew of the dangers that awaited them, the squads were also aware of their captain's plans.
A smooth trip could only last so long, especially since they were going through unprotected terrain for quite a while.
At the dead of night during the watch of one of the Alpha squad members, the bell rang as they were welcomed by the real dangers of the forest.
Red eyes surrounded the camp, each hiding their bodies in the darkness.
"W-what the hell?"
Nightwalkers. The first sign of the manifestation of a demon lord. During the night, manifestations of the dark lord will come out. In the form of lesser demons, lesser demons that disappear the moment the sun comes up.
Goat heads, leathery bat-like wings. The ability to breathe out fire. Winged-devils along with lesser earth demons.
They were in for a long night.
That night, even without the announcement from the frontlines. Some people have already found out that a new demon king has arrived.