Angele decided to head back to the castle, but suddenly heard people talking from his right side.
‘Unknown targets detected, number of targets is two,’ the chip warned. Angele quietened his footsteps and crouched. He then moved towards the right side slowly. He was able to hear them clearly from a closer distance, but Angele only caught some of the words being spoken.
"…It has been 4 days…We won’t make it from here…" A man said with a deep voice.
"It’s fine… We will make it before he comes back from the silver mine… We can just wait a bit longer…but the time…" Another one was a lady with a sharp voice.
Angele hid behind a large terrain and crouched behind the bush. He listened to the conversation quietly, but the two were moving, and the voices disappeared in the forest shortly. The two reminded Angele of the criminals the baron mentioned before. Knight Audis said the criminals were like trained military members since they were not acting like typical criminals. They had strong fighting skills.
The baron was trying to capture those criminals when Angele first returned to the castle after being inflicted with severe injuries. He did not hear anything about the results. If they could succeed, there would be a celebration party, but if they failed, the baron would give out pensions to the families of the dead soldiers. It seemed that they just did not find any criminal when they arrived at the location.
Angele did not fear fights any longer after the battle with Dice, and he was actually a bit excited at the thought of it. He had the help of the chip, and he acquired a strong set of sword skills. He had also increased his stamina and strength and was now very close to the level of a knight. With the help of his archery skills, he had become a decent fighter, and all he needed now was another chance to gain more experience.
Though he had slain Dice, it was the poisoned blade that contributed the most. Angele decided to follow the two after thinking for a while. He followed the direction that the sound came from with the assistance provided by the chip. After about ten minutes, he found some footprints on the ground. The forest was soaked after the rain, so the footprints were easily visible to him.
Angele walked faster after he found the footprints. He could smell the aroma of roasted meat in the air after a while, and he stopped there. He surveyed his surroundings. The trees here were tall, and the leaves pretty much blocked the sky. Only a few streaks of sunlight passed through the small gaps of the branches. Even if it was morning, Angele could feel the chill of a dark night.
Angele took out his longbow and nocked a white-feathered arrow upon it. He dipped the arrowhead with poison as usual because he wanted to make sure that every shot would kill. Though he had a weapon on hand, he was focusing on the situation carefully.
If the criminals were really the military members of the Saladin Empire, he could easily get spotted by them. Saladin Empire was a country located within a large forest, and most of the people there were impressive archers. They were familiar with forests, and they were the best fighters in such landscape. The king of the Saladin Empire was said to have been a descendant of elves.
Angele was moving forward carefully, and the aroma of the meat was getting stronger. He was very close to their camp.
KA!
He accidentally stepped on something.
"Someone is here! Look out!" Someone yelled. Angele could understand their language since Saladin Empire used a similar language to Rudin Empire anyways. Angele knew he had been detected.
’11 enemies ahead,’ the chip reported.
Angele scanned the people and could see blue-colored lines marked on them. They were hiding in the bush and moving towards him quickly. They were like snakes, silent but swift.
Some of them were trying to shoot their arrows at Angele, and their arrows had a green color that made them hard to spot. Angele had no way to run, so he decided to retaliate. He fired an arrow and it hit one of their archers. He could hear the screams of the archer. Angele then hid behind a tree, and nocked another arrow on his bow. However, he first decided to lure some enemies out, so he kicked a stone to the air.
Three green arrows hit the stone at the same time, and all the arrows flew to the ground after the collision. Angele was surprised by the force applied on the arrow. They were no ordinary soldiers for sure, and they were probably close to the knight level. People could only fire such strong and accurate arrows after having body enhancements.
Angele fired his arrow right after they hit the stone and another man was hit. The man started to scream too.
"Surround him!" A man with a deep voice started to yell orders.
Angele could hear them drawing their swords, and it seemed like they have given up on ranged attacks. They were trying to use the advantage of numbers. Angele was getting excited, and he put down his bow and quiver on the ground quietly. He then drew his sword. Though there were no footsteps that could be heard, Angele knew they were getting closer.
Ding!
He blocked an attack that came from his right. The swords they were using were very thin and slim, only about the width of a finger. After blocking, Angele applied force on the sword to make the man lose his balance, then he sliced the man’s neck off.
Angele’s strength became powerful after eating a bunch of bamboo shoots. Dice’s sword made him even stronger. After he finished the first one, he moved to the left and dodged another attack from his back. He then pointed his sword towards the back without looking, and the man from behind was stabbed right in the chest.
"Harry!" A lady yelled.
Angele licked his lips and ran towards the front. He jumped towards the left side and slashed his sword towards the source of the voice. The lady blocked Angele’s first two attacks, but Angele easily sliced her head off. She died right away.
The chip’s analysis helped Angele catch every movement in the battlefield. There were eight people left, and they finally trapped him in the middle. They all wore green suits with tree leaves on them. The men all had handsome faces, and the females were all superbly attractive. Angele would probably hire them if they were not his enemies because he liked good-looking people for some reason.
Though he was trapped, he was not nervous at all. He realized that he was much faster than them during the fight. With the help of the chip, he could dodge every single attack easily.
"Angele! It’s Angele Rio! The son of Karl Rio!" A girl yelled in rage. She looked like she was about 17 years old, yet she was already participating in such operation.
"How is that even possible!" They were getting nervous.
Angele smiled as he started to enjoy the feeling of playing with fire. He rushed towards the girl in but a second and slashed her neck open. Blood splashed into the air, and her head dropped to the ground. She died with a surprised expression on her face with her green eyes wide open.
"Kill him! God! He just killed Elena!" Several men ran towards him in frenzy.
Angele slightly moved his body towards the side, and he dodged two oncoming slim swords. He also blocked an attack from the front and borrowed the force from the attacker to counter slash. He turned back and slashed through a man’s waist. The man got separated into two pieces and fell down to the ground. The blood coming out of him flooded the place.
The rest of them were surprised by his reaction speed. Before Angele moved to the next target, he suddenly raised his sword above his head.
DANG!
Angele blocked a black arrow and was pushed back from his position.
"I will make you pay!" A man screamed, rushing towards him from a bush. He was holding a black slim sword and started attacking Angele from multiple angles.
‘A knight!’ Angele thought as he became a bit surprised. However, since they escaped the baron, it was quite likely that they have knights with them, and Angele calmed down quickly.
He blocked the attacks with his crossguard sword quickly, and he found that the man had faster attacks than him. However, the man’s sword skills were lacking effectiveness. Sometimes it seemed like the man could be faster, but his unnecessary movements slowed him down. Angele blocked another arrow coming from the side and quickly checked the data.
‘Unknown target: Strength is greater than 2, Agility is greater than 3, Stamina is lower than 2, but is greater than 1. He is using his full potential.’ Zero reported.
Angele stepped back and crouched right away. He pointed his sword upwards without even sparing a look.
"It’s over." Angele said while jumping back.
The man stood in his original position like a fiddle. Angele’s sword went through his head from his chin, and blood came out like a line of water.
"No! Master Rica!" Some people were screaming in agony.
‘That’s the power of my sword skill set,’ Angele thought. His skill set was created by the chip, and it was pretty much like cheating because other regular skill sets always had certain flaws in them. The knight-level man fell down to the ground and died.
‘This is the first knight level warrior I killed all by myself!’ Angele was very excited, but he did not know why. He held his sword and rushed towards the other ones remaining. After the noises of metal clashing against each other, those people screamed as they died.
The forest restored its tranquility once again.