One by one, the bandits started to give up fighting back and ceased their struggle as the ghosts touched and caressed their bodies.
Starting from the cook who had given up fighting altogether from the start, followed by the others who had also given up knowing their resistance was futile, the lights in their eyes began to change one by one.
Some still decided to struggle, but about half of the bandits had given up and their eyes had changed.
The one who orchestrated the whole thing waited for a few more minutes, letting the rest of the ghosts who were still fighting control over the bandits' bodies win their fights.
No matter how hard they struggled, knowing that they would eventually fail would certainly become a strong deterrence for the bandits to not give it their all to retaliate against the ghost's control.
And his plan worked.
After waiting for a few more minutes, the majority of the ghosts that he sent to the hideout had won their fights and had taken control of their targets' bodies.
Although there were still several of the bandits who hadn't given up, he decided that it was already enough for his plan.
"Go wild and have your jolly revenge folks."
He smiled as he sent his voice to the tens of ghosts he had made a deal with.
The second those ghosts heard his command, they stood up and roared in unison.
The moment they stood and roared, so did the bandits who had given up.
From their sitting position, they all suddenly stood up and screamed their lungs out, catching the attention of everyone in the bandits' hideout.
The ones who were still fighting control against the ghosts became even more frightened as they heard the mad screams of their comrades, finally letting their whole being fully consumed by fear.
Which resulted in them ceasing their struggles and letting the ghosts take control of their bodies.
These ghosts that had just gotten a new body then also did what their other kind did, causing more and more screams to be heard inside the bandits' hideout.
The bandits who had stood up and screamed didn't just stay still in place.
They all had been told what to do, and the constant voice in their heads reminded them of what to do.
'Go out and brandish your swords.'
'This is the moment that you've been waiting for.'
'Use the bodies of your enemies to take revenge.'
'Slash their necks and stab their chests.'
'Remember what they did to you.'
'This is your time to make them feel what you feel.'
These sentences were heard over and over again in the vengeful ghosts' heads, fueling their desire for revenge as they ran outside their tents with their weapons brandished.
No matter who they saw, the second they saw each other, they all started swinging their weapons as they saw the faces of the bandits that had been responsible for killing them.
None of them thought about defending themselves as the only thought in their heads was to kill the opponents in front of them.
Things had gotten as what the one who controlled all the ghosts wanted, but to make sure that all the bandits, not the only ones who were possessed were taken care of, he spewed out some chants and affected the tens of ghosts.
If before they were hacking and slashing whomever they saw, this time, they all moved in unison as they targeted the bandits who hadn't been possessed by one of them.
The few bandits who were safe from the ghosts' possession had all woken up and got out of their tents.
The screams of those possessed bandits were enough to alert the entire hideout and they all didn't know what had happened.
But the second they saw their comrade slashing each other like a madman, fear began taking over their hearts as they were stuck rooted in place.
They didn't know what was happening in front of their eyes, it just didn't make sense.
It was something straight out of a nightmare and none of them even had nightmares this scary.
They were all still watching silently and didn't move from their spots until they noticed their comrade suddenly stopped killing each other.
The moment the possessed bandits stopped stabbing their swords against each other and instead turned their heads towards the other bandits who weren't possessed, the real chaos was about to descend on the bandits' hideout.
After turning their heads and recognizing the bandits who weren't possessed by their kind, all the possessed bandits started running forward with all their might.
Heading towards none other than the bandits who weren't possessed.
They all had been watching in fear before, but now that they actually saw their maddened comrades charging toward them, the bandits finally woke up from their stupor and they started running away.
Even with swords and shields, bows and arrows, or any kind of weapons they had strapped onto their bodies, none of the bandits even have a sliver of thought about fighting back against their crazed comrade.
They all saw how those people abandoned defense altogether and only focused on swinging their weapons at the person in front of them.
None of the bandits wanted to deal with that kind of enemy.
Especially when that enemy was their own comrades that had gone crazy.
All the bandits turned their tails and ran as fast as they could. Moving their feet as fast as they could towards the dark empty forest to get away from the crazed bandits.
However, with their hearts filled with fear, their plan to flee didn't go as they planned.
A heart filled with fear was the easiest, juiciest target a hex could affect.
Some of them suddenly tripped on their own feet, some crashed into a tent as if their eyes didn't see it, and some who had fear deep-rooted in them even completely lost their ability to move.
Just like what was happening to the possessed bandits before their bodies were taken control of by the ghosts.
Due to all this mishap, the crazed bandits succeeded in catching up before they began slashing their weapons without mercy.
The bandits who weren't possessed tried calling out the names of their comrades, shouting out loud to beg for mercy, and some even started praying despite being an atheist and never prayed before.
But none of their efforts worked as the possessed bandits had all lost their own senses and the ones who were controlling their bodies were the vengeful ghosts that had possessed them.
'Praying with your heart filled with fear and the absence of faith.' Farrel shook his head.
'Are you praying to your god or are you praying to your fear?'
Farrel thought as he watched the scene of slaughter from one of the ghosts' eyes.
'Well, my three-day labor finally almost came to an end.' He thought as he watched the possessed bandits killing each other again after killing all the ordinary bandits.
In the dead of the night, the sounds of screams, shouts, and clashing blades finally died down as the last of the possessed bandits killed everyone in the area.
And as if remembering whose body he had right now, the possessed bandit swung his sword for the last time.
This time instead of aiming toward his enemy, he aimed the sword at his own neck and killed himself.
"Good job folks, you all had done a great job!"
Looking at the dark empty forest, Farrel squints his eyes, seemingly seeing something through the walls of trees and darkness.
"Now there's only one last pig we need to slaughter."