Zayn took a step backward in surprise.
'How long has he been there?!'
Sol had arrived not long after the initial explosion. The bandits discussed their plans, completely unaware of him. He was not even in the walls with [Burrow] but standing quietly in a corner with [Invisibility] and [Muffled Movements] active. He had already checked their status pages and knew none of them had any way to detect him, so he simply waited to make his entrance.
The group of bandits were on edge with their hands on their weapons, ready to fight, but Zayn didn't give the command to do so.
"Well? I'm waiting. It's eleven against one. Are you all that afraid?"
Zayn knew better than to charge in after such an obvious taunt. It was clear to him this stranger was confident in taking them all on without an issue.
'I didn't want to play the hostage card so soon, but…'
Just as he was deliberating to threaten Sol with the hostages, one of his allies, still befuddled from drinking the past few hours, lost his sense of fear and attacked.
"Die!"
The bandit swung his metal quarterstaff, which grew three times its size as it closed the distance in a blink of an eye.
Sol stood still, making no move to dodge or block the quarterstaff. The drunk bandit had a smug grin on his face, believing his attack came too fast for Sol to react in time.
Ding!
When the quarterstaff hit his body, a metallic ringing sound came out as it bounced away.
Sol turned his head slowly to where he was hit and said, "You know, I usually dodge attacks, but your attack was even weaker than an Awakened Shieldbearer. Are you sure you're B-Rank?"
Awakened Shieldbearers were one of the weakest enemies in the Necropolis dungeon. Their stats mostly leaned towards vitality, but their strength was nothing to scoff at either. If Sol didn't actively defend against the undead's attacks, it would still hurt a little bit, but this bandit couldn't even do that much.
The bandit was undoubtedly B-Rank, the problem was that he was the bottom of the barrel of B-Rankers, they all were. He barely reached this rank after much effort with his common talents, and yet it was nothing to the man that stood before him.
"Screw you!" The drunk bandit was furious at being talked down to in such a way. He retracted his quarterstaff back to its normal length and charged forward. He believed his original attack didn't do anything because of the skill's effect of increasing his weapon's length at the cost of power.
Sol felt this was getting tiresome and raised his hand. "Yeah no. I'm done with you."
From his hand emerged a red beam that shot forward with frightening power. The drunk bandit was only able to widen his eyes in surprise before the beam blasted into his face and exited from the other side.
The rest of the bandits who watched this paled in fear. They knew they stood no chance.
Sol took out his Lipon in front of the fear-stricken bandits and activated it, releasing a blazing sword.
"Stop! We can't beat you, but you can't kill us!" Zayn yelled.
"Oh yeah? Why not?"
"The townspeople! If you kill us, my men will kill them all! I doubt you can finish us all off and save them in time!"
"Do it then."
"We'll let them live if you let us—! … Wait. What did you say?"
Zayn thought Sol would at least listen to his demands, but his response completely threw him for a loop.
"I said do it. Give the go-ahead to your friends that went downstairs. I won't stop you."
Sol deactivated his Lipon as a show of good faith.
The bandits looked at Zayn nervously; no one knew what Sol was planning.
Zayn's hand trembled as he took out his communication gem.
"Larry, kill half of them."
Seconds passed with no response from the gem. It made Zayn and the other bandits think the worst had happened.
'Are they dead?! Did he kill them the moment they left?!'
"Zayn, bad news!"
The bandits collectively sighed in relief, thankful they were still alive, but the next words that came from the gem made that relief short-lived.
"All the prisoners! They're gone!"
Zayn panicked. "What?! Are you sure?!"
"Yes! We looked everywhere and they're go—!"
Mid-sentence, the other side went completely silent.
"Larry? Are you there?"
Sol spoke in a neutral tone, "Don't bother, they're already dead."
"How?!"
Soon after Zayn asked that, four floating hands rose through the floor and positioned themselves behind Sol. Because the hands were like an extension of his body, they were naturally able to use skills like [Burrow].
Zayn was at his wits' end. They knew he could kill them easily, yet he was giving them false hope before promptly crushing it.
"Stop playing with us! If you're gonna kill us, just do it already!"
None of the bandits wanted to die, but as things continued to develop, what little hope they had was long gone.
"Oh, you finally noticed I was playing with you. Took you a while, wasn't making it very subtle. You wanna know why though?"
"Does it matter?" Zayn knew he had no choice. He never did the moment Sol appeared.
"It's because the sight of you all makes me livid. You all reached B-Rank, albeit barely, but you still did. You could easily become wealthy off farming B-Rank dungeons and missions. Even C-Rank dungeons would be incredibly profitable and would require little effort. You all could have lived a good life with the power you had."
As Sol continued to speak, the angrier he became. His emotions were so strong they began to affect the mana around him, making the bandits feel very real pressure.
"So why the fuck are you all here? Attacking, plundering, and hurting innocents."
A woman spoke, trying to appeal to his kindness, "Some of us had no choi—."
Before she could finish, a stone spike erupted from the ground and stabbed straight through her chest.
"You all damn well had a choice! None of you are level 15 bandits that can easily be killed if they encounter the wrong person! Need to eat? Go hunting. Need money? Dungeons and monster parts exist. Wanted by the kingdom? With your power, you can easily cross the border and start anew in another country. There is no excuse to behave the way you all have."
One of the bandits got on his knees and begged for his life.
"Please let me go! I promise I'll do as you say! I'll leave the kingdom, I'll start over and be a good person."
Sol activated his Lipon and swung his blade, sending a highly concentrated [Mana Slash] towards the man, bisecting him in two. Whether the bandit truly meant what he said and would have changed his life for the better would never be known.
"No. I made that mistake once already. I won't do it again." From his spatial ring, he retrieved four weapons and tossed them to his hands, which dexterously grabbed them.
"I don't usually get to be alone for long, and I have been thinking of a few skill combinations, so please cooperate while I try them out."