Zareth's excitement for this battle reached a peak when he felt the hilt of his sword in his hands and made the decision to treat it seriously.
According to the stats, the bandit had roughly the same degree of power as Braemos.
But when he sparred with Braemos, it was a fight of blades, not a true battle.
The strategies would be radically different if it were a true fight to the death between two guys since they would both have everything to lose.
Zareth was also capable of using mana in actual combat.
Zareth's approach did not cause the bandit to hesitate; instead, he charged at the young kid while holding his cleaver.
Zareth imbued his feet with a significant amount of mana as he drew within ten feet of the man, dramatically enhancing Flash's effectiveness, before taking another stride.
He quickly vanished from the area, leaving a small hole in the ground below, then reappeared behind the bandit, his sword already covered in blood.
His grasp on his hilt was solid, and his expression on his face was extreme and stern.
Out of nowhere, the robber suddenly stopped sprinting, and then he turned slowly around.
'Was he holding back all this time?'
In complete disbelief, the bandit thought to himself.
Zareth also turned to face him as he slashed the air with his sword to clear it of all the blood before resheathing it.
The robber began spitting blood out of his lips, and then his body abruptly disintegrated into dozens of fragments that resembled square portions of meat.
Zareth slowly returned to his normal state as he looked away from the corpse of his defeated foe.
*Ding*
'...'
[Several enemies slain]
*Ding* [You have leveled up multiple times]
*Ding* [Achievement Completed! First Blood]
*Ding* [Achievement Reward: 500 Bonus EXP]
[Status]
Name: Zareth Vanaheim
Species: Human
Bloodline: Unknown
Age: 10 Years
Combat Power: 26
Level: 13
EXP: 90/225
Vitality: 100 Years
Health: 74.0/74.0
Stamina: 69.0/69.0
Strength: 62.0
Agility: 67.0
Defense: 58.0
Body: Basic Earth Bound
Rank: Earth Formation (0.17%)
MP: 78/78
Skills: [Exceeded 5 skills, click this tab to open the skills menu]
After briefly glancing at his statistics, Zareth turned his attention to the adventurers.
They appeared to have managed to fend off all of the bandits by themselves due to their excellent teamwork and expertise, but they weren't in great health.
The rest of them were on the floor panting heavily, with just Arthur standing and casting a healing spell on them.
Liam appeared to have suffered significantly more harm than either Jasmine or Braemos, who appeared to have only minor cuts and bruises.
With their weapons having penetrated his armor and his internal organs, the robbers were not entirely powerless.
Zareth first saw that Liam's chances of surviving were minimal, but despite this, Arthur gave it everything he had and the others had faith in him.
After assessing the situation, Zareth saw that the second enormous brute, who had been watching the merchants, was now marching over to him and the adventurers with a thudding step.
His expression was filled with utter rage, and his hands were clenched. His jaw tensed, and his eyes creased.
Looking back, Zareth noticed that the merchants were all tightly bound together, with no room for mobility.
He noticed Silio giving him a direct glance.
'Thank you.'
He mouthed to Zareth, not wanting to make any noise.
He was still crying, but this time from relief and gratitude that his life had been saved.
As the bandit approached them, Arthur also noticed him closing in.
"How pathetic! You couldn't even defeat a gang of wood-by adventurers!?"
A voice suddenly sounded from behind Zareth.
The burly bandit stopped on the spot, as he looked to be frightened by the man behind that voice.
Everyone else also noticed, Zareth turning to look at where the voice was coming from.
It was the shorter fat man from inside the stall.
Looking behind him, Yan could be seen incapacitated on the ground near the stall.
Zareth didn't know how whether he had been killed, or just knocked out.
"Boss! It was because of him! He's Rath!"
The bandit yelled in a frightened tone, trying to justify what had happened by blaming Zareth.
Of course, he wasn't wrong in the slightest.
"Rath?... Rath! You're saying this bastard is Rath?"
On hearing this, the burly bandit only stood there without saying anything, as he had no way to actually prove his statement.
"Okay, fine! Who he is doesn't matter at all! I will get rid of him if he is the issue."
The fat bandit's demeanor abruptly changed to one of malice as he dug into his pocket and pulled out something.
Zareth was mostly just considering how to get rid of these two as quickly as possible at the time.
He utilized Flash to rapidly dash in front of the overweight bandit without giving it much more attention.
Zareth performed this while simultaneously releasing a small amount of his murderous intent where only his adversary could sense it.
The bandit's eyes widened and his nostrils flared in fear as he experienced this craving for blood.
Zareth's hand was about to strike the bandit's double chin when he abruptly felt a very strong force close to his gut.
He quickly glanced down and saw the bandit was holding some type of orb in his palm, unleashing a great deal of wind mana.
He immediately attempted to use his own wind mana to neutralize the effects but was unsuccessful in doing so because this wind mana was on par with that of his parents.
He was launched over the ledge several feet in the air.
Even Flash couldn't have gotten him back over to the route in his current state.
Looking down again, he saw how far up this ledge actually was: below him, a fall of more than two thousand feet led to nothing but a huge, far more perilous forest.
One of the many obstacles separating the more dangerous areas of the forest from the less dangerous ones was the mountain they were traveling on.
They had previously been in the Jormount forest close to Bolnuir and the Joutenheim kingdom, but beyond this ledge lay a region that was far more wild and uncharted, home to creatures with far greater might.
He immediately turned to face the obese bandit, who was now more than 100 feet away.
As he waved dismissively goodbye, the bandit grinned a little.
Zareth felt a tinge of rage come over him since he detested the concept of losing.
The fact that he was to blame just fueled his rage.
He was far too haughty. Even though he was aware of how to behave in a fight, he was unaware of all the dangers this world may present.
Take, for instance, the orb the bandit was carrying.
He was not going to, however, let that fatty escape with the victory.
Finally, after taking another glance at the forest below him, he allowed this woodland to become a positive in his thinking.
He knew that rather than being difficult, it would just forge him to become even stronger.