Aric had seen and even used drones in his previous life, so he knew how to use them if given the chance. But the drones of the future were something else. Since these were reconnaissance drones, each one had a central system with an inbuilt rudimentary AI that could understand human commands and direct the drones accordingly.
So, when Aric commanded the drones to follow the trails and relay back the position, the AI system embedded in them enabled them to perform spy work as well. Aric had spent a bit more credits to add this feature to the drones. With the help of his communicator, he instructed them to follow the trails and report back.
He had heard that the bandits would sell the children, women, and some men as slaves, so they couldn't move fast with a group of people, and Aric could only hope that their destination wasn't nearby.
As the drones flew up, Aric used his communicator and lens to get an all-around view of the forest and the trail they were following. The communicator provided a 3D view of the surroundings directly in his lens and showed hundreds of marks left behind by the bandits.
He didn't expect the drones to be so capable, but then again, this society was probably not so developed, and their anti-spy skills were lacking. This played in Aric's favor. Along with using the spy drones to check for any followers, he himself wore a black suit and covered his face. He was ready to vanish at the first sign of trouble.
He traveled with the drones for a full two hours. During this time, he realized that the trail, which wound through patches of forest, was more alive and dangerous than he had anticipated.
While following the drones, they showed him a pack of wolves. Even in the darkness of the night, the drones were able to livestream the wolves from afar. When he saw the colors on the wolves, he felt a chill run down his spine—not from the darkness, but from fear.
The wolves had a white coat with trails of azure running through their fur. They looked majestic, but the sight of blood around their mouths was unsettling. Each wolf was larger than any Aric had ever read about, like the Alaskan or the Eurasian. These wolves were at least twice the size of those on Earth, and Aric was convinced they were magical, despite the lack of clear indications.
Aric had to take a detour to avoid them, thankfully without alerting them. After two hours of walking cautiously, stepping on dried leaves and unpaved roads, he finally reached the bandits' location.
They had set up a small shelter with rudimentary tents and a campfire in the center. The kidnapped people were huddled together on one side in a circular formation, while the bandits lounged around the campfire, enjoying meals and laughter.
Of course, Aric observed all this through his lens, keeping a safe distance to avoid detection. The campfire cast a bright glow, and Aric decided to return to his room on Earth. He planned to attack after a few hours, not at that moment.
Two more hours passed.
Aric returned. As soon as he arrived, he checked his surroundings. The drones were on standby mode, and using his communicator, he checked the positions of each of the bandits. There were eight bandits around the campfire. One, who was a fire mage, was inside a tent, asleep. The other three were stationed a little away from the campfire.
Aric slowly drew his pistol and approached the nearest bandit. His camouflage and lens allowed him to move as silently as possible. The lookout seemed drowsy, almost on the verge of sleep.
Taking a deep breath, Aric aimed his pistol at the side of the man's temple. He wanted to make as little noise as possible, so shooting him from the side would be optimal. The plasma bullet would hit the tree behind, masking the sound.
*Pop*
A small sound emitted from the pistol, and the body hit the ground seconds later. The man seemed to have died in his sleep. The noises of insects and the occasional tweets of nocturnal birds helped dampen the sound. Aric repeated the procedure with the other two bandits, eliminating any potential interference.
"That was easier than I thought. Why was I expecting resistance on the first kill? I need to stop watching movies. These people aren't trained at all," Aric thought after dispatching the other two.
Now, his real work began. Slowly, he approached the campfire after circling it twice, memorizing every detail of the surroundings. He knew that killing eight men without alerting everyone was impossible. He would need to teleport multiple times, and he couldn't use the same location repeatedly. Thus, he committed the entire layout to memory after just two circles.
With the layout memorized, Aric prepared for his revenge. He took a deep breath and pointed his pistol at the men. He also made sure that his shot would pass through maximum of the bandits and also not hurt the kidnapped guys. He for sure could say that his first shot would instantly kill 3 men and maybe hurt a 4th guy.
"Yippi kay ye. Motherfucker." Aric hushed under his masked and took the shot.
The plasma bullet passed through like a bullet through three sleeping men on the ground and also passed through the leg on another. This time there was a lot of noise as the moment the bullet hit the 4th person, he let out a loud cry.
"Ahhh.."
"What? What happened?"
"Lamela.. Ricard.. Hyroin.. Where are you?"
"Come out you fucking rot. I will kill ya."
"There you are.. You ugly piece of twat."
Aric didn't actually hide himself and came out slowly, appearing into the light away from darkness. The bandits saw a small boy wearing a full back suit over his body and even his face being covered with a mask with pointed ears above the forehead.
The eyes were red in color and none could see the irises. No amount of skin was visible and only the outer black suit remained.