"Hihihi, hahahaha!" Viper's left hand was covering his face while he was laughing loudly. He took his hands off his face. His expression suddenly became fierce and hideous.
"Bastaaard! How dare you act high and mighty! You damn CRIPPLE!" Viper furiously shouted, then he quickly moved toward Feiyu. He moved his whole body closer to the ground, then used his snake form. He was moving left and right, trying to confuse his prey. Feiyu kept adjusting his posture based on the direction of Viper's attack.
VENOM FANG
Boom! Viper suddenly accelerated. He instantly arrived in front of Feiyu, and his death touch was pointing at the neck.
Feiyu stepped to his side. He grabbed Viper's hand, then rotated his body.
WATER FLOW STYLE: SHIFT IMPACT
BOOM! Viber was thrown to the ground, causing a big crater to appear. All the speed and force accumulated by him were used on his body.He coughed out blood. His organs hurt, and he could not breathe.
Feiyu continued his attack. He put more aura on his index finger.
WATER FLOW STYLE: POINT IMPACT
He used his index finger and hit the acupoints of Viper.
A leg and an arm of Viper suddenly swelled.
Pop! His arm, leg, and chest exploded. His heart exploded inside. The acupoint hit by Feiyu blocked the outflow of aura. The aura accumulated inside and exploded. Viper could stop the explosion if he stopped releasing his aura, but he was not aware of that. It happened so fast that he did not even have time to curse and scream.
Feiyu was panting. It was actually hard for him to breathe because of his injury to his rib. He was just acting calm and stimulating Viper to use snake form. He needed to end the fight before his breathing problem could incapacitate him. Viper could even toy with him if his breathing problem became obvious.
Feiyu went to Viper's corpse and took the ring. According to intelligence, the death touch was a fatal weapon. It helped Viper kill aura masters when he was still an assassin. He did not use it immediately before because he was longing for a hearty battle.
Although aura masters can remove poison from their system, death touch injected so much poison at once that aura masters could not keep up with the spread of poison. When the poison of death touch spread, it prevented the release of aura, leaving targets defenseless and weak in front of a crazy assassin Viper. The best way to prevent it was by not letting it touch the skin.
Defense of peak 3rd level was very tough. Viper cannot penetrate their defense, so his targets of assassination were below this level. He needed the snake-form aura for acceleration and to increase the penetration power of death touch against the 3rd-level aura master if he was fighting head-on. Aura masters were alert. They could sense energy at a short distance. Aura masters and magicians were like light bulbs to them. It was quite difficult to get close without making them alert, unless assassins can mask their energy.
Death Touch was made by a master runesmith and a poison master. The master of Viper commissioned it to be made. The poison could be cured by many casts of detoxification magic or the intake of many detoxification potions. The magic rune for detoxification was complicated and very difficult. Only a few in the kingdom were capable of quickly casting it and were able to build the magic skill in their sea of consciousness. Feiyu was one of them. He took the pouch of Viper and took out an antidote for death touch poison, then he looked around the battlefield. There were many holes and cracks.
"Aura masters and magicians must be suppressed immediately if they break the law, or else they will just cause more harm," thought Feiyu as he observed the damage caused by the fighting. He could imagine the miserable consequences if the fight happened within a city. Many ordinary people will probably be killed.
He looked at the situation in the stockade. Many bandits were killed by arrows. The archers were like killing machines. There were corpses that were burned and turned into ice. He could see the signature marks of magic arrows. The corpses were probably bandit magicians or aura users that received special attention from archers. Most of the remaining bandits surrendered, and only a few bandits clad in aura are still resisting. A few royal guards were protecting the rescued captives, including Calvin and his wife.
Feiyu moved toward the resisting bandits. The aura users were killed. They all committed many heinous crimes, and they were too dangerous to keep. They must race against time to raid more bandit dens, so he quickly helped the other guards.
"Sir, the prince arranges a healer for healing common folks near here to fool the noble's eyes in case we need them if health potion is not enough. We need to disguise ourselves if we approach the healer tomorrow," said the adjutant, who was concerned about the swelling arm of Feiyu. Health potions could only recover 5% of health. They only have a few potions, and some of them were used on captives who are on the brink of death.
"No, we must leave in the evening. My left arm is already out of danger. The remaining bandit dens only have a 2nd level aura master, a few weak magicians, and aura users. I can kill the bandit leaders with one hand. Our action here will be noticed in a few days or even tomorrow and spread immediately. We must not let those aura users and magicians escape. Many of them are remnants of the forces of Duke George. They will always be a source of instability. They were hidden by nobles before with a hidden agenda.
They took over bandit dens and are hiding behind the scene. The prince said that making people's lives miserable is probably deliberate. The remnant force of Duke George might have bigger plans. We must remove them at all costs because it will be difficult to find them if they escape. It is our only opportunity to remove them. Leave the severely injured guard and be healed tomorrow. Eat and rest. We will leave in the evening."
Feiyu ordered a guard to inform the official arranged by the prince. He and the official had a discussion. Edgar had already arranged everything. Money, jewelry, foods, and people looted by the bandits will be kept in the territory of nobles trusted by the king.
Edgar especially asked Marco to convince those nobles. The nobles agreed in exchange for 10% of the bandit's loot, except for people.
Rescued captives that require healing will be kept in the allies territory, but those that don't need it will return to where they came from. People who don't want to return will be arranged by Edgar later, especially the women who lack the will to live. Food will be given to villages looted by the bandits, and the wealth taken from bandit dens will be mostly used for the recovery of villages and towns ravaged by bandits.
Supply points were set up along the route of each team of royal guards. The royal guards easily destroyed many bandit dens in just a few days. Only a few bandit dens had decent resistance but still got destroyed quickly. By the time the nobles knew, only a few small bandit dens were left.
Feiyu and Dan's team escorted the bandit's loot and rescued captives to the capital. There were a few cages in the middle of the royal guards. The people in the cage were Baron Bass and his family. His close aide was captured in the bandit's den, and solid evidence was taken by guards in the baron's house. He closely cooperated with bandits. He let bandits ravage villages. He helped sell abducted women and children. He tortured women. Edgar will hang Baron Bass in the capital to scare the monkeys.