As Val looked around the camp, which had been turned into a battlefield, what he sore shocked him to the core. There were corpses and blood everywhere, the scenery was completely stained in blood and death.
Val's heart froze, he had killed animals and monsters before, so the sight of blood was not that shocking, but this was the first time seeing mutilated human corpses. It was only now that Val realized he was the primary cause of all the death here. He had been the one who had killed the majority of the bandits. He was the one who painted this canvas with blood. The plethora of emotions that Val had been ignoring suddenly came to the forefront of his mind and heart, causing a physical response.
Val vomited his guts out, his eyes open wide, tears welling up, and he was visibly shaking. He did not know why, he did not know what he was feeling, everything was so new to him.
Leo sore his partner in this state and immediately used [Lightning Speed Dash] to appear next to Val. He began to rub his head against Val's leg. Val was able to shift his focus to Leo, moving his hand to pat Leo's head and neck.
This helped Val calm down, regaining some of his senses, he looked around seeing everyone looking at him with regret and sadness.
Everyone knew that as an adventurer, you would often be surrounded by blood and death, and would have to kill regularly, however, it was still a tough pill to swallow for such a young boy.
Mr. Gregory approached Val and began to speak to him,
"I know it is hard for you right now, you must be feeling a vast range of emotions but this battle is not over, the most powerful enemies are still alive. We need to try and assist Jamal as much as we can, if we could provide him with an opportunity, he will be able to eliminate the last three bandits."
Val met Mr. Gregory's eyes, and just simply nodded, he did not feel like talking right now. If he had spoken everyone would have heard how shaky his voice was.
Mr. Gregory continued, we just gave Mark and Becky a health potion, so that they can heal their wounds, do you need one? Unfortunately, we don't have a mana potion with us, as they are too rare to travel with, without reason."
Val's eyes opened wide, health potions were rare, very rare. Alchemists could create healing enhancement potions that increased your natural healing or the healing done by a skill but could not replicate the health potion, which healed you over a very short time, usually within a minute. Health potions could only be found in dungeons. It was the same for mana potions, except they were even rarer. The value of these two potions was astronomical. Both were considered life-saving treasures.
Val replied with a shake of his head, he had no wounds, he was just tired and his mana was lower than he would have liked.
With Val's response, everyone looked toward the fight between the strongest warriors here. Jamal was holding his own and would have been winning if the bandit boss did not have such strong defensive abilities.
It seemed like the four were just going through the motions, they were just waiting for the other to make a mistake, but they were far too experienced to make a mistake for no reason.
Mark and Becky made their way over to Val and Mr. Gregory, when they arrived Mark asked,
"What's the plan? How can we help Jamal, they are significantly stronger than us. Would we not just become a liability for Jamal?"
"You're right, you may be unable to do anything offensive wise but you can create a distraction that Jamal can utilize to deal damage to the bandits or kill them. Val, you will use your spatial skill to appear behind the bandit boss and attack, your job is not to kill him but rather to force his attention on defending himself, leaving the B-Rank bandits defenseless. Mark and Becky, you two will approach Jamal and inform him to attack the B-Rank bandit when he sees Val appear behind the bandit boss. You will attack the other B-Rank bandit at that time also, and Leo you will also attack the bandit boss with your ranged light ability. Val, you should leave as soon as Jamal has made his attack against the other bandit, you will be in a dangerous position, so you shouldn't stay there too long." Mr. Gregory promptly responded and explained the plan.
Everyone quickly got into position and was ready to act.
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Jamal had been fighting the bandit boss and his subordinates for a while now and he was getting frustrated. He had been able to deal with two of the B-Rank bandits fairly quickly, but with their boss's support, he had not been able to deal any more damage to them.
As Jamal separated from the bandits after a clash of attacks, Mark and Becky arrived next to him. He looked at them and they quickly and quietly explained the plan.
Jamal was not very fond of the plan, and Val would be in quite a lot of danger if the plan was not executed quickly and precisely. Jamal honestly cared about Val's safety more than everyone, except Mr. Gregory. He knew that Val would become a powerhouse in the future and he wanted to bring him to their side as quickly as possible. He might not have the power right now, but his talent was surely ridiculous and when he found out about his Spatial Talent, he knew he had to make sure the kid survived.
Mark, Becky, and Jamal got ready for their operation, just waiting for Val to appear. The bandit boss observed them, not understanding what their plan was, as the 2 new additions, were not strong enough to make a big difference. He also did not understand how his men had lost. He had not witnessed their fight for a while, as he had been engaged in battle with Jamal but he knew that if these adventurers had joined their battle it meant that his men had fled or were dead.
Suddenly, Val appeared behind the bandit boss, signaling the start of the plan. The bandit boss was very strong and experienced, he would not allow himself to be assassinated so easily, thus he was able to defend himself with earth and metal before Val could strike him. When Val realized he could not land a blow with his short swords, he used [Ice Spike] to further distract the bandit boss and allow himself to separate and make space. At the same time as Val appeared, Jamel moved to attack one of the sub-leaders of the bandits, attacking him with a slash of his sword that was covered in wind moving incredibly fast. This skill gave Jamal's sword additional range, penetrative power, and slashing power, it was also invisible to the naked eye. The bandit was not expecting the attack and thought his boss would create a strong enough defense for him. Unfortunately for him, his boss was preoccupied with the surprise attack. The bandit was gruesomely sliced in half, from shoulder to hip.
Mark and Becky had also approached the other sub-leader and attacked with their weapons. They did not expect to be able to defeat the bandit. Their job was to simply keep him busy. They were able to successfully keep the bandit preoccupied whilst his companion was killed by Jamal.
When Val sore Jamal kill the sub-leader of the bandits he was prepared to immediately use his [Port] skill to flee the range of the bandit boss, however, he locked eyes with Jamal, who used his hand to point to the other sub-leader and indicate Val should head over their and attack.
Val followed the orders, using [Port] to appear behind the sub-leader bandit who was engaged in battle with Mark and Becky. The bandit boss tried to warn the subleader by yelling at him, however, Jamal quickly appeared and attacked him. He could no longer spread his focus, having to pay full attention to Jamal.
When Val appeared behind the sub-leader, he attempted to use [Stab] to pierce his heart, unfortunately, he was able to dodge. Val followed up by using [Ice Spear] at the feet of the bandit. The bandit was once again able to dodge by jumping in the air. However, this left him vulnerable and Becky capitalized on the situation by throwing a dagger at the bandit. The bandit once again attempted to dodge, he was able to not be hit in any lethal spots by the dagger but his arm was still cut pretty badly.
Becky and Mark were smiling widely as if it was their victory, Val, however, did not understand. Val did not know Becky had another Talent besides her sword talent, she also had Poison Talent. It was low level, so she could not freely use it in battle but she had skills that allowed her to prepare stronger poisons before a fight, and that dagger contained one of the most potent poisons she could create with her Talent.
The bandit was staring at the trio, who had been able to wound him. He was pissed and believed when he counter-attacked he would make them pay. However, whilst having these thoughts, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
He dropped to his knees and Mark immediately moved and decapitated him whilst he was distracted by the effects of the poison. The sub-leader would have died eventually from the poison, but Mark did not want to waste time.
The trio's attention was instantly shifted to the battle between the bandit boss and Jamal. They had just locked up, the bandit boss using a shield he created from metal to block Jamal's sword. They soon separated and as they separated a laser beam was quickly shot at the bandit boss. The [Lazer Roar], which had been shot by Leo, who had been waiting patiently for his time to shine, hit the bandit boss in the shoulder. It did not pierce straight through like it had previously, but it did pierce the skin and knock the bandit boss off balance. This gave an opening for Jamal, who quickly shot forward, using a Wind Talent movement skill, slicing forward with his broad sword covered in wind, slicing the bandit boss in half at the waist.
The bandit boss died immediately, and everyone except Jamal dropped to their ass in exhaustion. This had been an extremely tough and exhausting battle, and everyone needed a moment to calm themselves, they still had a lot to do after all.