"I definitely shattered some of their bones."
Alexander had tried to hold back when incapacitating the two bandits that had attacked him, but he was still not used to the incredible physical enhancements the orichalcum ring provided.
Still, he had managed to avoid killing either of them. Not because he felt that it was wrong to take their lives, but because he wanted information from them.
"Looks like the archer has taken off." Alexander noted, seeing a path of trampled grass and broken branches near a large tree around eighty meters away.
For a couple of seconds, he contemplated what to do before coming to a decision.
Taking out the twin umbral steel daggers, he used the enchantments within them to conjure his shadow limb and took off running.
With his boosted abilities, he quickly caught up to the fleeing archer.
Understandably, the bandit looked astonished to see that Alexander was gaining on him so quickly. There had been a sizeable distance between them, and he had a decent head start
Instead of continuing to run away with no chance of escape, the final bandit swiftly turned around and pointed his hand towards Alexander.
On his wrist was a thin metal band made out a vermillion metal.
From his hand, a ball of fire around a fourth of a meter in diameter appeared and flew towards Alexander.
It was not particularly potent magic, but nonetheless, it posed a decent threat.
For his part, Alexander was a bit caught off guard.
The magic tool the bandit had was clearly on the weaker side, but it was still imbued with an offensive spell. Such items were not inexpensive, and normally not something a random grunt would have. From what Alexander knew, in most bandit groups, only members of the leadership would possess magic tools with any offensive capabilities.
With a deft step to the side, Alexander avoided the ball of fire and closed in on the archer.
Unable to use his main weapon at such close range, the bandit was forced to resort to his magic tool and continuously let loose flames at his pursuer.
However, there was a massive gulf between the quality of magic items that the two possessed. Alexander was capable of movements beyond what an unenhanced human could keep up with. In only a couple of seconds, he was right on top of the bandit.
As a last-ditch effort, the outlaw conjured a small and unstable blade made of flames and swung it towards Alexander.
'It looks like he's moving through mud.' Alexander thought, watching the attack heading towards him as if it was in slow motion.
Thanks to his current heightened abilities, he could perceive and think far faster than normal.
Along with his boundless strength, he truly was capable of feats that would be considered superhuman.
Alexander easily knocked the man's hand away with the flat of his sword.
Then with a fluid motion, he stuck the bandit's stomach with a heavy palm strike.
A spluttering grunt erupted from the archer's mouth as he took the heavy hit and went flying through the air from the impact.
By the time he landed on the ground a few meters away, he had already lost consciousness.
"I think I held back sufficiently this time." Alexander said, a proud look on his face.
He had been afraid that his strike might rupture the man's internal organs, but thankfully, that did not seem to be the case.
The bandit was still breathing and there was an absence pf blood coming out of his mouth. Though, he had seemed to have spit up his last meal.
"That should do it."
Using a bundle of rope he had in his dimensional cache, Alexander tied up the archer.
After that, he walked back to the road and found the other two bandits still splayed out on the ground.
Both of them had broken bones and were unable to move without extreme agony. It was impossible for them to get very far no matter how hard they struggled.
"Glare all you want. The two of you brought this down on yourselves." Alexander said without remorse as he tied up the thieves and dragged them off the road to where he had left the archer.
Once he had them all lined up and awake, he began questioning them about where their base was located.
Naturally, none of them talked. For outlaws, they were unusually disciplined. A normal bandit would have spilled everything that they knew about their compatriots if it would help them personally.
'I knew that I was going to have to do this the moment I decided to go after people like them.'
Steeling his resolve, Alexander drew his sword and jabbed it into the throat of the archer.
He had undoubtedly seen Alexander use shadow magic. It would be far too risky to even consider letting him live.
The remaining two bandits looked on in fear, seeing one of their own suddenly killed before their eyes.
"I don't know how you are able to do this to people so easily. It makes me feel sick." Alexander said, his tone heavy.
This was the first time he had ever killed anyone. Feeling his sword slide through another person's flesh was nauseating.
Nevertheless, these men had attempted to kill him in cold blood, and had most certainly left a mountain of corpses behind them as they murdered and pillaged the people that traveled this road.
So as much as Alexander was repulsed by what he had to do, he would not stop. For his own ends, and to eliminate outlaws that only preyed on the hard work of others.
Due to his show of force, the remaining two bandits loosened their tongues.
When Alexander had captured them alive, they had figured he was too soft to kill them.
Yet he had just displayed that he would mercilessly dispatch them if they kept quiet.
Within a matter of minutes, Alexander had the information that he wanted. Some of which was undeniably disconcerting.