[A/N: I'm not naming these bandits lol. Don't feel like it]
Glenn was fighting against someone who had the earth element. Every time his fire got close, the earth would put it out. He wanted to go to Joren to help out, but he was stopped by the earth bandit so he had to put his trust in Joren's abilities.
"Don't regret your actions!" Glenn spoke, readying his sword once more. "Because once this is over, all of you will be dead."
"You speak as if you have the means to kill me." The earth bandit chuckled
"Heh." Chuckling back, Glenn sent a wave of fire at his opponent. He didn't want to give him any breathing time so he fired three more while closing the distance between them.
The earth bandit blocked the first strike by making an earth wall, but after it got hit the second time, the wall cracked, and then pieces broke after the third strike, and the wall crumbled after the fourth strike. From the rubble, Glenn swung his sword at the bandit but was blocked by a barrier of rocks.
Instead of backing away, fire engulfed Glenn's fist and he punched the barrier, shattering it into many pieces, and forcing the bandit to make some distance between them. Glenn, however, didn't relent, rubbing the flat side of his blade, fire trailed behind his fingers until the entire sword was engulfed in flames, and when he thrusted his sword in the direction of the bandit, a long beam of fire rocketed towards him at frightening speeds.
"Shit!" The bandit tried to block the attack, but it was too fast and strong for him. Before he could even react, a gaping hole was formed in the center of his chest.
Making his way over to the body, Glenn sliced off his head, making sure he was dead. Although his heart was destroyed, he didn't want to take any chances. After that, he headed to where Derry was. He wanted to go help Joren, but not only did he trust him, he felt like this could be a good experience for him.
Derry was fighting someone with the wind element which affected her ability to use water magic. Every time she would use a Water spell, the bandit would counter it with a wind spell blasting her water away, so she resorted to her specialty, Arcane magic.
"Explosion." Pointing her staff in the air where the wind bandit was, the mana around him suddenly exploded.
"What the!" Heat smoldered the wind bandit's skin as the explosion of mana went off around his body. He crashed to the ground in pain, coughing up blood from the impact.
"Bind." Waving her index and middle fingers together, mana wrapped around the bandit like a straitjacket binding him in place. His body felt like it was frozen as he lay on the ground.
"Ugh, let me go bitch! I'll kill you!"
"Silence." The mouth of the bandit closed instantly. "Crush." As she spoke those words, the mana around the bandit increased in pressure. At first, it felt like a person started sitting on him, but then the pressure got heavier and heavier until he felt like his body was thrown into the depths of the ocean.
His eyes were red as they bulged out of the sockets. Blood was pouring from his nose and ears as he convulsed in pain. It kept getting worse and he couldn't even scream. Because he was a cultivator, his body was stronger than normal and he was also using his mana to counteract Derrys, but there was only so much he could take. When he couldn't handle the pain anymore, his mana stopped circulating and his body was instantly crushed by the pressure leaving only meat paste.
"Seems like you don't need my help." Glenn arrived
"Do you think I'm helpless?" She asked back
"No, but nothing wrong with helping am I right?"
"Yeah." Nodding, she left to check on Joren. Since Pantera always has her arms around him, she doesn't get as much time as she wanted with him so even though they were in danger, she wanted to be with him.
Glenn on the other hand went over to Pantera to help her out. Since she was the healer, it was best to make sure she was the safest. He only went to Derry first because she was the closest in his path.
When he arrived, he saw Pantera wrapped in armor made out of vines struggling against her opponent. The bandit didn't have an element but he was equally as strong without it. He tore through her vines pushing her back into a corner. Although she was strong, she was a healer who just happened to know how to fight.
"Ugh, get away from me! I hate clingy men!" Clasping her hands together, wood started breaking off from trees. She shaped them into needles and launched them at the bandit. She followed up by strangling his arms and legs in vines, forcing him to take the full force of the attack.
Each wooden needle broke off of the bandit's skin. Blood wasn't even drawn and he took the full force of the attack as if it was nothing. After the last needle bounced off his skin, he snapped the vines holding him in place and charged at Pantera.
"You've got to be kidding me!" As she was about to use her trump card, fire split the path between them.
"Need a hand?" Glenn asked coming to her rescue
"Oh, how nice of you to drop in! I'm a healer you know, close combat is not my strong suit!"
"I know, but don't worry, I'll handle this, you go to Joren, Derry is already there, Although I trust that he's okay, I'm still worried."
"Got it. Good luck." Without waiting for a response, she ran to where Joren and Derry were.
Lenny was having a good time fighting the bandits. Since he got stronger, he wanted to test out his strength and he finally got the opportunity to. His opponent also used dual swords like him, the only difference was that the bandit had the water element.
"How is it? Are you having fun as well?" Lenny asked
"You're about to die, and you're asking if I'm having fun?" The bandit asked back
"Listen, man, you wouldn't understand. The thrill of battle really gets me going. The feeling of my swords cutting through flesh, and blood being spilled under my feet, makes me feel whole. But it's only fun when you're winning. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with losing but I'd rather lose in a spar than a life-or-death battle you know?
"That's contradicting! How can you love blood and battle but only if you're winning? That's stupid!"
"Not as stupid as your mom!" Lenny fired back
"Son of a bitch!" The bandit rushed at Lenny which prompted Lenny to rush at him as well. Their swords clashed making a loud ringing sound that everyone could hear.
"I'm going to kill you." The bandit spoke
"You can try." Lenny used wind magic to increase the air pressure around them, overpowering the bandit. Smiling menacing, he headbutted, then kicked the bandit away.
The bandit tried to shoot some water spells at Lenny, but he simply repositioned the water spells using the wind and shot them back at the bandit. Not letting up, Lenny grabbed the hilts of each sword and locked them together. "Wind vortex." Sying the name of the spell he was using, the swords rose into the air, spinning at frightening speeds. It made a vortex that sucked up everything in its path including the bandit.
"No! Stop! Let me go!" Getting sucked by the wind, the bandit tried to run away, but the wind was too strong. He was swept up and flung into the vortex only to be chopped into many small pieces once he came in contact with the swords.
"That was brutal." Arnold walked up to Lenny with a head in his hand.
"You're carrying a severed head bro."
"Ahh, you mean this?" Arnold dropped the head on the ground, then stomped on it. "I don't know what you're talking about, bro." He smiled and then walked off
Joren had drank a healing potion to ease his wounds, but it paled in comparison to Pantera's healing magic. All the burn burns and deep cuts he had were healed in an instant.
"Thanks." When he expressed his gratitude, Pantera gave a 'Ha! I can help him and you can't smirk ar Derry which made her cross her arms and puff her cheeks
'I guess women of all ages are the same when it comes to showing off.' Standing up, Joren dusted off the dirt on his attire and stretched his body. Glenn, Lenny, and Arnald all showed up as they had taken care of the bandit that stood in their way.
"And then there was one." Joren looked up at the last bandit, the leader, sitting on a tree branch observing everything that went down.
"I'll admit, the intel was not accurate. You lot are a bit stronger than we assumed, but that's not a problem." Jumping down from the tree, the bandit landed with a thunderous boom, picking up dust and dirt in the process.
"Not a problem? You just lost all of your men and you're the last one." Lenny spoke
"Expendable, they were. Pawns. Tools if you want to call them that. If 99 of them couldn't beat the six of you, then they were useless."
"Well, you're going to be useless as well once we're done with you!" Vines started wrapping around Pantera's body as she prepared for battle.
The bandit closed his eyes, chuckling to himself at Pantera's remark. He opened his eyes and looked at them with indifference. "Like I said, you're not a problem." In an instant, he kicked Pantera in the gut knocking her out cold as she was sent flying.
No one could react to his speed. It was as if he was there one moment then the next moment, he wasn't. Everyone turned their heads, seeing the bandit leader standing next to them in the spot that Pantera was in.
"Do you seriously think I'm as incompetent as my men?" Purple lightning crackled around his body as he kept his hands behind his back. "If so, killing you will be easier than I thought."