I was about to move forward without stopping to breathe after confirming the deaths of bandits, whom I slit their throats, but—
"!!!"
I braced myself for the entrance leading to the back. It was because I sensed that two of the survivors were heading toward me.
Soon after, the bandits appeared.
One was a very large man. He must have been about two meters tall. He had the rough appearance of a bandit and carries a large axe on his shoulder, which was appropriate for his physique.
The other was a slender man. He looks small because of his partner, but I think he is about 180 centimeters tall. He was stout and had the appearance of a splendid warrior. He already had a long sword in one hand and was ready for battle.
It seems that my camouflage from [Disguise] won't work against these guys. I feel that they are on a different level than the bandits I've seen up until now, and I'm now facing them head-on. Even if I could disrupt their minds with Mind Magic, there was a good chance they would adapt right away.
If that's the case, I had no choice but to settle the matter by pure combat. I've trained in this area, after all. I believe I can make it work.
I took out the second dagger from my waist and confronted them. The dagger's advantages are its maneuverability and the number of moves it can make, and I intend to take advantage of these.
Boom!
By concentrating [Body Stenghtening] on my legs, I leap out like a bullet. I think I got off to a perfect start with no preliminary movement or shift in my center of gravity. In fact, the two enemies reacted to my approach as soon as I had dived into their attack range. It must have been a good start because I could also see a sign of surprise.
My first priority is the swordsman. The axe-user was too large that he wouldn't be able to fully display his strength inside this cave. Hence, I decided to crush the troublesome enemy first.
Holding one dagger in my hand and the other in the opposite hand, I swung the dagger. The enemy could not attack well because I was already outside the range of his long sword. In contrast, my slashing attacks were not hindered by my short sword and small stature.
One slash, second slash, third slash. The super-infight sword fight proceeded to my overwhelming advantage, and every time I swung my dagger, the enemy's wounds grew worse.
Incidentally, the axe-user was completely unable to attack properly. The swordsman and I are too close to each other, and most of his attacks are large, making them easy to avoid.
In terms of pure swordsmanship, the enemy is unquestionably superior. Even in such a situation, he's able to stand around and not get fatally wounded. However, I'm able to completely take the fight at my own pace.
It was not just the advantage of the difference in physical ability or the distance between. There was one more thing that gave me an advantage.
My new spell, after [Appraisal], called [Prediction].
Just like its name. It uses Mind Magic to read the target's hostility and intent to kill, and thereby detects the trajectory of the attacker's attack. The advantage of this method is that it can calculate the trajectory of an attack with great accuracy because it focuses only on hostility and intent to kill.
My slashes struck unilaterally, increasing the number of wounds and, consequently, blood loss. As a result, the swordsman's movements became less precise. The balance he had managed to maintain was broken, and he was finally fatally wounded.
"Wha—!?"
"!!"
A slash from me grazed the swordsman's right wrist.
However, due to the inherent difference in our abilities, I was only able to graze him. Nonetheless, the graze was enough to end the fight.
I had, after all, injured his dominant wrist. Even if it did not significantly reduce his strength, it would cause an error in his precise swordsmanship. I'd just have to take advantage of the opening.
As I had predicted, the swordsman's movements slowed down shortly after.
I infused more Mana into the dagger in my hand.
The spell of transmitting Mana to a weapon is called [Magic Coating], which I have been practicing since I started hunting bandits. It functions similarly to a tool version of [Body Strengthening], enhancing the performance of an inorganic object to which Mana is directed.
The fact that it's similar to [Body Strengthening] naturally means that there's a similar disadvantage—if too much magic power is poured into the object, the object will be damaged—Therefore, this spell is generally not used for ordinary tools, but for weapons made of materials such as magic iron, magic steel, and mithril, which has large Mana capacity. Nonetheless, the effect is only a 20-30% increase.
In case you are wondering, the dagger I have is made of steel. I can also eliminate the disadvantage of the [Mana Coating] by understanding the structure of the object.
However, I'm not familiar with steel, so I can't be as reckless as I'm with [Body Strengthening]. Despite my best efforts, I believe I can only achieve about three times the enhancement. Also, I've never seen actual magic iron or mithril, which are commonly used for [Magic Coating], so I'm weakened in the opposite way at this point. I think it can become stronger if I mastered it, but I will deal with it in the future.
That's how I was able to slice off the heads of the bandits with a mere dagger in spurts because I kept activating the triple-strengthened [Magic Coating] from the very beginning. It's incredible that the sharpness has improved so much that not a single drop of blood sticks to it.
—So, with such a high-powered dagger, what am I planning to do to the swordsman?
"—!!"
I swung a sideways cleave toward the swordsman's slightly gaping torso.
The air filled with heat from the fight calmed down as if it had been showered with cold water.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, no one moved. Probably, both of them were pressured by the spirit I give off.
Then, after four seconds. Things started to move.
"Ugh…!?"
The swordsman vomited blood, not only from his mouth but also from his abdomen.
Then, the swordsman slowly collapsed. He was severed in the abdomen and fell to the ground.
Normally, a dagger cannot cut a man in half. This is due to its lack of power and reach.
However, my Mana made it possible. The power of the blade was increased to the utmost limit with [Body Strengthening] and [Magic Coating], and only at the moment the blade bit into the enemy, the blade was extended with materialized Mana.
The materialization process consumes more than half of my Mana, so it is not a technique that can be used over and over again, but it was an excellent special move that compensated for the weakness of the dagger and caught the enemy off-guard.
I defeated one enemy. Usually, I would be happy about this, but I didn't have time to relax.
"Guu—!"
I was struck immediately after the swordsman fell.
I was able to take a passive stance with my [Prediction] and thanks to the fact that I hadn't turned off my [Body Strengthening], I was not seriously injured, but due to a child's light weight, I was blown away. I collided with a wall on the other side, finally ending my levitation.
"Hack—! Hack—!"
I cough from the sudden attack, but I don't have time to catch my breath. Because a giant axe was already swinging down on me.