Chapter 99 - 99: What's Inside The Chest?

'What is this', Vadne asked herself as she saw Lambert raise the greatsword above his head with both arms. 'What is this frightening feeling, as if something terrible is about to happen, Lambert brought the blade down, his thundering voice roared out as iron met iron.

"Smite!!!"

Shock spread throught her body as she saw the gruesome scene, the orc had lifted his shield overhead to try and block Lamberts colossal blow, the orc a full set of heavy armor so even though dodging would have been far wiser he was unable to he could only rely on his banded iron shield.

"It is done", Lambert said after executing his attack.

Looking up into the sky his eyes were searching for something, but he soon lowered his head in disappointment. 'It would seem that I can not access even a single sliver of my vast light energy reserves, at this moment I am no stronger than a mere mortal man and can only rely on my fleshly body to overcome whatever trial I am about to face.'

Looking down at the bandit chief, Lambert couldn't help but sigh, "Allow me to give you mercy", Lambert said as he raised the great sword once more.

SHATTER*

As he raised the sword the blade could no longer hold on and finally fell apart. 'That last blow was too much for this sword', Lambert before turning his attention back to the bandit chief.

The chief laid on the ground, his breathing was weak and his body broken, but his eyes held no pain or fear, he only stared at Lambert with respect. He was an Orc, a member of a race of warriors, he's the greatest goal, other than making heaps of money, was to die in combat.

He still remembered when his opponent's blow slammed into his shield, it was as if he was slammed by a giant, first, his arm broke in more than fourteen places, then the shield came crashing into his ċhėst followed by the blade who's momentum was unaffected by his attempts at blocking it. The shield crushed into his ċhėst and broke his sternum and a few ribs, which in turned puncture his lungs and other organs yet, to his dismay he was still alive, though bȧrėly even after all that, his heart was still beating yet he would now die slowly. The Orc had only gratitude when he saw Lambert was going to finish him. 'My friend's, my comrades, I am coming', these were his last thoughts as the mace crushed his cranium and splattered destroyed his brain.

"You fought well, but now it's time you rest, go be with your god", Lambert said as he picked up the Bandit chiefs mace, and with a quick and decide swing he crushed the orc's skull, 'My friend's, my comrades, I am coming', these were his last thoughts as the mace crushed his cranium and splattered destroyed his brain, the bandit chief died with a smile on his face.

Lambert stood up and felt the weight of the mace, 'it will do for now, he thought before making his way to the last surviving bandit, the guy with the leather shield.

Vadne also came forward while drawing the ȧssassin by one of her feet.

"So what are you going to do with this poor bastard", Vadne asked as she looked at the unconscious bandit. Even now she is glad she didn't harbor any thoughts of actually killing Lambert when she tried mugging him, not that she had such a thought in the first place, she didn't mind killing monsters or Bandits, since they would threaten other travelers, but killing an innocent traveler on the road was never her style, no to mention Lambert wasn't even armed.

'Not that he particularly needs a weapon to be dangerous, she thought as she cast a peak at Lamberts monstrous physique. 'Forget what I said about a troll, there's is definitely a giant living in him'

"I should put him out of his misery, he has ruptured organs and a concussion, he will either wake up in extraordinary pain before dying or he will die in his sleep before waking up. I don't really want to take that chance and let him suffer."

"What do you care, he tried to kill us, he is just another bandit that kills people for money, why pity him," Vadne asked confused.

"I don't need any information from him, so why make him suffer, what's the point. Will it make you feel better knowing you made another suffer a slow and painful death just because he was not a good person. What do you think that will do to your soul, it will destroy you until only darkness remains, in the end, you will end up no different from the evil you hated, killing without remorse to achieve your own goal." Lambert said as he stared deeply into the distance before raising his new mace and bringing it down on the bandits head.

'Mercy', lambert thought.

SPLAT*

The bandit was killed with one swift blow to the head.

"Seems like you are more soft-hearted than I thought", vadne said before dragging the ȧssassin into the abandoned tower.

'I wasn't always', Lambert thought before walking away leaving the corpses to the animals.

As Lambert entered the tower he saw Vadne tying the ȧssassin to a wooden chair, the tower was circular with two floors the ground floor and the top one, the might have been more in the past but the top half of the tower was missing. The ground floor had a few bookcases with very old-looking books a few barrels and sacks probably filled with food. Walking up the curved staircase, Lambert came to the top floor, in the middle was a campfire with four small tents surrounding it, each tent had a single bedroll. There was also a ċhėst that was probably filled with the bandit's ill-gotten gains.

"Why would they set their tents up here and not on the ground floor, the fire is still acceptable since they wouldn't want to get suffocated by the smoke, but why the tents?"

Lambert went towards the ċhėst and opened it, looking at the contents he couldn't help but grin.

"Well, hello"