The six of them looked around, taking a mental note of the 100 people who surrounded them. They all had masks on that covered their mouth and some form of marking on their body that had a red bear bearing its fangs, whether that marking was on them as a tattoo or simply on their clothes.
"The Red Bear bandits? What are you guys doing here?" Glenn was the one who asked. He knew who they were and didn't want to cross paths with them.
"We aren't even passing in your territory so why are you bothering us?" Lenny picked up his swords and was ready to throw down. He also knew how dangerous they were.
All of them were on guard, preparing themselves for the attack that would happen sooner or later. Their mana pulsed, spells at the ready to be released, and swords drawn ready to cut them down. All of them were on high alert, all but Joren.
Joren stared at the image of the bear on the people's clothing or skin. Normally, he wouldn't have batted an eye and would have attacked instantly, but that bear logo brought back some memories. Memories that he subconsciously suppressed, memories that his mind forced him to forget. But now, it was all coming back.
Joren recalled the day he wanted to go with his father during his work. He wanted to spend more time with him and see the city his father always went to. But on their way there, they were attacked. The group they were traveling with was all slaughtered and his father wasn't an exception. Even he himself was a product of their cruelty as they kidnapped him and sold him to slavery.
He remembered everything, which also means he remembered what he saw. As he cowered in fear, hiding away, he remembered what the people were wearing, the weird markings they had on their bodies, and the masks that they wore. He remembered a red bear on all of them, the same red bear the people surrounding him currently have on them.
"True, but you see, you pissed off someone you shouldn't have so they tasked us with eliminating you. No hard feelings." The man who spoke had similar attire to everyone present but he had a certain demeanor to him, one that gave the feeling of authority. He had long brown hair that passed his shoulders tied in a ponytail.
"May we know who we offended so we can make amends? I'm sure we can settle this civilly." Trying to calm the situation down, Glenn attempted to reason with the person he assumed was the leader.
"Under normal circumstances, I would have heard your plea, but unfortunately, what you did caused more damage than you realize, so you need to pay the price." The leader spoke.
"Bullshit!" Everyone turned to the sound of the remark to see Joren fuming in anger. His fists were clenched and the veins in his head were bulging.
"It was them!" Joren pointed
"What are you talking about?" Glenn asked
"I've seen those red bear symbols before. The people who killed my father wore them!" His mana flared up. Although he was only in the second circle, he had a ton of mana, so when he released it, all the bandits who weren't on his level felt an overbearing presence.
"What!? It was them?!"
"No way!"
"After all this time, it was these punks!"
Glenn, Lenny, and Pantera all were shocked at the revolution. They searched for years to find not only Joren but also the people who killed James, Joren's father. They had no leads and only got lucky when they found Joren.
"Who would have thought the people behind the death of someone who I viewed as a brother were the Red Bear bandits? You 13 stronghold bastards." Glenn raged.
"Heh, well, I have no idea who or what you're talking about and frankly, I don't care." The leader turned around, his arms positioned behind his back. "Kill them." He ordered.
93 bandits charged at the group of six, each of them wielding different weapons. In a circle, Glenn and the others prepared for the upcoming onslaught, but Joren, filled with rage didn't care about anything right now, he only wanted blood.
Large amounts of mana pulsed in his palms. Everyone could feel mana from the air get sucked into the palm of his hands.
The enemies drew closer but Joren continued to charge mana. The others were a bit agitated, not because because they were fighting against one of the 13 Bandit strongholds, but because they saw the anger on Joren's face and they hoped he wouldn't let his anger get the best of him.
"All of you are fucking dead! Haah!" He spread his arms out and a huge surge of energy blasted away everyone in its path. Trees were uprooted, rocks were sent flying, leaves danced in the air, and the bandits in the front were blasted away.
"Come on, don't let this chance slip!" Glenn shouted as he coated his sword in fire and cut down five bandits who were unfortunately injured by Joren's attack.
Pantera slammed the bottom of her staff into the ground and dozens of large vines sprouted from the ground wrapping around their enemies, crushing them. She used her magic to turn the uprooted trees into wooden needles and fired them off at the bandits in her line of sight.
Arnold slammed his fists on the ground and a large shockwave toppled anyone who was caught by it. He willed the earth to swallow them up, burying them alive.
Derry used her water magic to make water tentacles that acted like extra limbs. She would fire highly compressed water balls at the bandits, killing them on contact if they were far away, and those who were close had to deal with the deadly tentacles that split some of them in half.
Lenny coated his entire body in wind magic and zoomed around the battlefield cutting down foes left and right. He used a spell called 'Cyclone' and a large tornado sucked everyone in its path, cutting those who weren't strong enough to withstand the strong winds to shreds and sending those who can withstand it hurdling away.
Joren went from person to person killing everyone in one strike. Thanks to his mana force, he was moving like a snake. He didn't need to reposition himself using his own legs, he could just make mana move him. He cut off heads, crushed balls, gouged out eyes, and deepthroated some of them with his mana sword.
By the time some of the conflict died down, they had killed all 93 bandits. But that wasn't with ease. The weakest of them had no mana, but the strongest of them was at the peak of the second circle. Derry and Pantera were breathing heavily, especially Pantera because she healed anyone who got injured.
"Ho? It would seem like you guys are capable." He then looked at his dead men with a cold expression. "And it would seem my men are not." He turned to the 6 men standing behind him. "If you fail, I'll kill your families." The bandits didn't seem to take that well but they didn't argue, instead, they looked more serious.
"Everyone, be on guard, they are stronger than everyone else we faced!" Glenn shouted and everyone even the anger-ridden Joren was on guard. But that's when he noticed something.
At first, he didn't really bother paying attention to it, but now, he was questioning something. Joren could see mana, and not just the regular white color, but many colors. He saw these colors around Glenn and the others but he didn't think it was anything special because he thought mana was just many colors.
But after he learned that all of them have elements, he started to question whether the different colors of mana correlate to an element. His theory was confirmed when he was suddenly hit with a blast of fire.
"Joren!" Glenn rushed to check on him but was blocked by a wall formed out of earth. A man was standing on it with the same person who blasted Joren with fire.
Lenny and Derry stood back to back fighting against two bandits while Arnold and Pantera did the same. These bandits were stronger than before so they knew that working together was the better option.
"You may be strong, but you're just a kid." The fire bandit shot more flames at Joren but he used mana force to make a force field, blocking the attack. He could feel the intensity of the flames, how strong they were.
'This guy, he's in the 3rd circle! Fuck' Joren strained as he pushed back the flames.
"Get a load of this guy. Ha, don't push your luck kid. You may be strong for your age, but that doesn't mean you'll beat-" He felt something pierce his thigh. When he looked down, he saw a mana arrow lodged in his thigh. "Garhh, You little brat!"
"Heh, underestimating me will be the cause of your death." Joren stood up forming two mana swords in each hand. "Come, let's dance."