Following the man in the shadow's orders, the raiders began to expand the range of their enforcement of the convoy by a couple of hundred meters.
This forced Kekkai to have to retreat further into the rear to avoid being spotted.
Even though he didn't get the entire picture, Kekkai had more than enough to work with.
The raiders seemed to have joined groups because there were well over 90 thieves that patrolled the hostages alone. Much less the vast amount that made a tight perimeter around the convoy.
/This isn't going to go well if I decide to barge in without securing the hostages. And they're too many of them on guard for me to sneak in./ Kekkai Groaned while fiddling with the Image in his mind.
Although Kekkai complained he was still in no rush to attack because he had seen that even though the hostages had been roughed up a little, some were even limping. None of the raiders were doing anything besides corraling them along the road.
Kekkai knew this meant that they were in no immediate danger. His going in like this, Would, put them in danger as the raiders watching carefully by the sidelines would immediately grab them up and use them as human shields.
Even if they didn't do so(Even though he bet they would), Kekkai didn't like the odds of 1vs100 in this situation whatsoever.
The very reason he went practically unscathed in his last attack was that Kekkai used the fact that they bunched up into the small valley mouth as well as using his sharp and slippery movements to cause chaos among them while attacking.
He didn't think that would work in this situation. Not only are these raiders on horseback armed with swords and crossbows that would make it easier for them to kite around Kekkai and shoot at him while he tries to catch up. But the absolute number disparity is another thing.
Not counting any of the stronger people that might be hiding among them, even elephants can die if enough ants bite them to death.
Even though his armor fortifies his body with BodyxTechnical stat totaling 48 points per armor. It calculates based on a single tick of damage. If he is hit individually enough times by something that can pierce through all his Armor stacks he will lose his invulnerability and all that is left is his Hp, which doesn't regenerate during combat!
Taking a look at the setting sun, he decided to work in the darkness instead and wait for them to lead him back to their camp. This way when they drop off the hostages he can either save them or make sure that the bandits can't reach them.
As Kekkai decided to bid his time and wanted to sink further back, another change occurred.
A loud whistle sounded from the caravans and the raiders began to stir. Two more whistles and then everyone began to shout and saddle their horses.
/I was found!? Impossible! I was sure that I avoided all the sentries!/ Kekkai froze for a moment before glaring and reaching into his coat.
Only, he soon realized that the whistle wasn't meant for him. The raiders had charged forwards along the road. Leaving only about 40 people to guard the convoy as they forged ahead.
/is something happening up ahead?/ Kekkai wondered
Looking back at the guarded convoy he hesitated before deciding not to risk it. There were still too many bandits here.
After a couple of minutes of silence, there was the sound of screaming and yelling in the distance followed by a large explosion.
/Well, it looks like there was another convoy up ahead./ Kekkai whistled when he heard the loud explosion /And it sure looks like they're giving them one hell of a fight!/
The convoy guards had become at this time, hesitant about whether or not to leave the convoy and join their companions.
A couple of explosions later Kekkai began to grow restless as well, thinking about whether he should join the fight when they are occupied to save the prisoners.
Sadly it was neither the guards nor Kekkai who lost patience first, it was one of the captives who did. Taking advantage of the guard's distraction a tall thin man made a run for it. It seemed that during the journey He had somehow managed to cut free of his bindings.
Running off alone, however, didn't let him get far because within ten steps four different bolts lodged themselves into his back and out of his chest.
After looking down at the bolts in his chest and the blood that came out, he stumbled for a second before two more bolts finally put him down.
There were screams from the rest of the captives at this time but a bulky bandit came to them with a raised saber. Kekkai doesn't know what threat he said but it made all of them immediately shut up and stand there, quivering in fear.
The Bandit nodded as if pleased before motioning for his men to take care of the corpse. The prisoners could only watch as they tied a rope to the corpse and drag it off by a horse.
At this time from one of the carriages, a tall figure slowly stepped out. Wearing a full-bodied suit of black Samurai armor, a man with a Ōdachi tied to his side.
/And here we go, the classic boss./ Groaned Kekkai as he watched the man come out of the cart.
When this man stepped out the entire guards were silent and lowered their heads. The samurai wore a Mempo mask as he gazed deeply into the distance where the explosions came from.
/Called it./ Kekkai thought
As he stood there for a moment he motioned to one of the bandits on the side. The bandit immediately came to his side and surrendered his mount.
However, when the man stepped to saddle his mount a whistle sounded in the distance once again along with some hooting cries.
The Samurai stopped, then stepped down from the horse and handed the reins back to the bandit. After that, he returned to his carriage and disappeared inside.
/Talk about a badass./ Kekkai Whistled
A few minutes later the raider party returned. This time They returned with only 20 people left and in between, stood a group of teenage girls and an old man.
The old man who was beaten and bloodied was wearing a set of Monk robes and all of the girls except for one were dressed in deep red and black ceremonial clothing.
Every one of them was silent and solemn as the Bandits kept a distance from them with Crossbows and spears trained on them.
The only one who wasn't solemn was a young girl about 12-14 years old who wore a gorgeous dress with long white sleeves with golden bangles at the end.
The girl was acting like she was on a tour, pointing here and there with a curious look on her face. Not acting at all like she was a captive.
/Is it just them or did all the rest of their convoy die?/ Kekkai wondered.
As he watched one of the bandits broke off from the group and went to the Black samurai's tent. Opening the curtain he bowed and spoke hurriedly.
After a minute of speaking, he left the carriage. When he left he brought a whistle to his lips and blew hard on it while signaling with his hands.
The convoy began to set off once again, following behind Kekkai stalked them silently. Or at least he tried.
When he was wondering who the Monk and Girls came from. because the attire of the monk reminds him of the Temple of Fire. As he examined them the girl in the white dress tilted her head up for a second, then turned and looked exactly where Kekkai was located before grinning and nodding.
This frightened Kekkai a little bit, ducking back in a hurry he cursed the girl repeatedly in his mind, Kekkai guarantees that girl was some type of sensor and that she had most likely detected his sight before she locked onto him.
Worried that the little nod and grin the girl gave would compromise him and his position, Kekkai immediately began to back off and try to circle the Convoy.
Ten minutes later the convoy took the prisoners across one of the river bridges, this time none of the prisoners tried to escape when they had the first man killed and didn't want to be made a second example.
Half an hour later the convoy began to change course as it broke off from the road and got underway heading off into a more dry region.
/Here we go./ Kekkai thought as he crouched in a field of tall grass half a kilometer away.
The wind rippled and shifted through the grass as he waited for the bandits to show him the location of their base.
He couldn't tell what was going on anymore besides what he can see from a distance as the Psychic link with the towers couldn't reach across such a gap.
As he waited he could only helplessly check his buff timers and grumbled when he saw that his [Nourished] buff had expired and he only had a little over an hour and fifteen minutes before his [Buzzed] buff vanished as well.
Taking out one of his homemade shotguns from his backstrap he pointed it into the grass across from him.
"Come out slowly with your hands above your head, it may not look like it but my weapon can punch you full of holes before you can take three steps," Kekkai explained indifferently
Seeing no movement after a few seconds he flicked his wrist and the handle of the shotgun straightened up till it looked like a baton, shifting his aim a little to the right before firing.
A silent concentrated blast of heat and energy fired from the gun, punching a foot-wide circular hole into the grass and dirt.
"Sorry, did I say holes? I meant one hole, that will be through your chest." Kekkai stated humorously
The grass shifted as a black-haired teenager dressed in a fancy mix of robes and armor slowly walked out into his line of sight.
But even though he still had a weapon trained on him, the kid glared at Kekkai, as if unafraid of his strange weapon.
"Where are they taking them?! I swear if any harm comes to -" The boy started demanding before Kekkai interrupted him.
"Oh, shut up kid! If I knew where they were taking them I wouldn't be tracking them now would I? The only reason why I didn't kill you already, is because I found you trying to sneak into their ranks several times already and nearly get caught multiple times." Kekkai chastised while holstering the weapon back into its strap.
"Oh, And by the way. Your stealth technique is terrible, who taught you such a method?" Kekkai looked pitifully at the boy.
This made the originally rigorous face of the boy flush a little before he made a hollow comeback.
"At least I managed to get this close to you!" He said with a raised chin, his face declaring 'What about now? I got you their look.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, boy I heard you coming to a couple of hundred meters away, kid. Smelled you coming from farther!" Kekkai scoffed at him before motioning him to follow before turning around to return his sights to the moving convoy.
The teenager wavered for a moment before silently walking to his side. When he reached him that sweet flowery scent that came with him made Kekkai's face frown.
"And what man, much less a ninja wears so much woman's perfume? The smell of flowers is so overbearing that you reek!" Kekkai complained while looking disgusted at the kid.
The boy's embarrassment became even deeper as he remained silent with his head down.
"I didn't say I was a ninja." He whispered "I'm a samurai!
"You already suck at being a ninja, much less a samurai. You rely on sneak attack tactics, even though you suck at sneaking, wear light easy to maneuver armor, and carry no sword with you. How are you anything but a Ninja." Kekkai listed off with his fingers while giving the boy a 'Do you think I'm an idiot' look.
"My sword was confiscated before we were attacked! If I had my blade I would never need to escape and would have cut down all those Raiders!" The boy whined under his breath.
"Sure kid." Kekkai rolled his eyes.
"You don't look much older than me." He accused
Kekkai just looked down at the kid who was close to two heads shorter than him.
"But my mind is much more mature." He states matter of factly.
"Just stick behind me kid, keep quiet, and try not to do anything stupid. Because if I find your companions without you and have to explain that you did a braindead move to get yourself killed I probably won't hear the end of it." Kekkai instructed
"I'm not stupid but I won't just stand behind you like some coward. I can fight! Those bastards wouldn't stand a chance against me if I went all out!"
"Then why are you here? Hmm? if you're so special why couldn't you beat all the bandits earlier?" Kekkai asked while stalking through the grass
The teenager was silent.
"Look kid, there are many people who wipe this group clean, you might be one, but you made a mistake and it's gonna cost you." Kekkai lecturing.
"It's up to you if it's going to cost you its weight in gold or bronze. Whether you want to boast and overestimate your ability and risk killing your friends or Let the professionals get your friends out of trouble without a scratch." He said reassuringly before patting his shoulder.
Silence pervaded the air for a couple of minutes as the teenager was lost in his thoughts.
"I'll listen to you. Get my master and friends out, Please." He asked bowing deeply
"Just leave it to me!" Kekkai turned and grinned
/But aren't you also new to this?/Nikkita pointed out
/Shhhh! He doesn't need to know that! Plus I'm not new, I've spent weeks refining my technique with guildmates during guild wars. My skills are tried and Tested!/ Kekkai explained hurriedly
/This kid's friends are going to die./ She states blandly
/Oh ye' of little faith, trust me! They'll be out without a scratch on them!/ Kekkai boasted
Soon they arrived at their destination, a massive block-type mountain, the raiders rode ahead and signaled, and Kekkai and the teenager soon saw the bandit's camp.
If you could call it that.
The gate itself was a heavy draw gate made of wood and metal and was embedded into the mountain itself. 5 watch towers and their sentries scanned the land and kept watch, each one of them guarded by swarms of raiders. Kekkai counted at least 90 from the outside alone! There was no telling how many lurked inside.
"This doesn't look like a raider's camp at all! There's too many, it's more of a military fortress than a camp!" Kekkai Exclaimed.
"No, even fortresses wouldn't have so many guards. Didn't you find it strange that there were so many people transporting the prisoners? From what I know, even raids count to 30 people at a time at the most, but this time it's vastly different! I thought that it was a planned attack and someone had leaked that my master would be traveling through The Land of Stone! But it looks like bigger forces are at play here." The teenager was also surprised as he witnessed the fortress in front of them.
As the gates lowered themselves and the motorcade entered the mountain Kekkai narrowed his eyes and began to examine the mountain. Seeing the flat mountain top he grinned.
"Do you know how to use Chakra to scale walls?" Kekkai asked suddenly
"Umm, yes?" He confirmed while confused
"How about nature transformation? Are you proficient in earth escape?" He inquired quickly
"I have Earth, Fire, and water attributes. I'm best with Fire. earth and water nature transformations not so much." He explained dutifully.
"Good enough, we are going to scale the side of the mountain!" Kekkai patted him and then started running to one of the side corners where there were no patrols stationed.
"What? The mountain? What are we scaling the mountain for, don't we need to get inside?" The teenager asked while running behind him.
"We are getting inside, idiot. It's just that we can't go from the front door because it would cause too much commotion. And it's a mountain even if they had secret escape passages it would take forever to find and they might be guarded as well!" Kekkai explained
"So tell me, imagine if you have a box that you can't get open, and this enclosed area is like that box which you can't open from the front, behind, the sides, or below. What is the only possible area to open it?" Kekkai asked with a grin.
"Above?" He asked
"Thats right! We're going to break in from above!" Kekkai confirmed.
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Authors note
Hey readers, here's the second part.
I had lost the save file and had to rewrite it but here you go.
Also please comment! I need to know if you like how the story is going!
Love, Author👌