Chapter 17 - My First Hunt

[CAUTION... BE ADVISED... 9 HUMANOID HOSTILES FOUND IN THE VICINITY... I HAVE MARKED DOWN THEIR LOCATION WITH HEADERS.]

There was no more time to waste, I started running instinctively. I just felt it in my guts... More experience... It was not much time after I had started to run that I reached the location. I hid myself in the bush immediately. I had no clothes, furthermore I fought better without revealing myself. A work that needed to be done stealthily.

I spotted them. They looked like bandits, exhausted as if they'd been running for a long time, maybe from someone or something dangerous. Their agitation was obvious; weapons unsheathed, tightly gripped in their trembling hands. It was clear why HYM had flagged them as 'Hostiles'. I also noticed one more peculiar thing. There was a wiggling sack under the tree, which the bandits surrounded.

"HYM... Can you do something..." as I was saying, my vision started to blur and distort. I could see random colors at some regions of my sight. Even though I was new to this experience, I understood what it was. --[Thermal vision]--.

And about the wiggling sack? It seems like my suspicions were valid, as something humanoid was in that sack. This could either be kidnapping or a hostage situation. If I have to rescue whoever was in that sack, I had to deal with the bandits swiftly. I began to formulate my plans, weighing my options... Then suddenly I started to see things. Not like understand but actually visualize what was going on. I could see the bandit's path of moment. I could sense who was the least alert out of them. I could see stones and branches which could potentially be used as weapons by or against me. I could even see where the ground was slippery and where it was muddy. Every information just came to me through my eyes. This must be --[BLOOD SAVORING STRATEGIST]--

Well then... I had no more reason to beat around the bush. I picked up a stone and hurled it at the tree just above the sack. As soon as all the bandits turned in confusion, I pounced on the furthest one from the group. He was a beast-kin archer, which is odd as archers should be the last line of defense. Even in this world. They probably were so agitated that it resulted in their formation being a mess. But what could make them this scared. They are not weak by any means. They each could probably take out an entire hobgoblin patrol single-handedly. I wanted to ponder more on the topic, but I had no leisure for it. Seems like even though I took the archer out when they were distracted, they could already sense that their companion was missing.

I had to make this job quicker. Using my familiar, I created a Lance. I used it to pierce through 2 more Beast-kin, killing them. In doing so, I unintentionally let my presence be known by them. Seeing two of their comrades die made two of the most scared bandits flee, dropping their weapons. Meaning they were already down to 4. They start to back against themselves to cover all their blind spots. But all of these were futile. Since my presence was already known, I stepped out of the bushes. Seeing me, they were stunned. At that exact moment, I cast a MANA-circulation restriction magic, which was a forbidden magic used to restrict mana flow hence killing the targets just like a restriction of blood circulation but more fatal but just as slow. But I did not care about the ethics. I then walk over to the biggest one out of them who was still alive and able to talk even after being under my spell, which was by my guess the captain of the group judging by his resilience. I stood in front of him. He was so scared that he seemed to wet his pants. But I did not pay it any heed, I asked "What's going on?"