Chapter 188 Worse than monsters

The two maidens' strongest attacks met head-on which created a shockwave that formed a gust of wind. Valdel and the others were now worried about the result of the battle, as a thick layer of smoke was blocking their sight. This might be a problem for the others but not for Valdel who can somehow sense the flow of mana.

When Valdel tried to sense the flow of mana, he couldn't get a good fix on Lara and Ashley. The amount of mana that was released by the two of them made it harder to pinpoint their mana signatures.

Valdel was getting a bit impatient as he started running towards the two. When he got close enough the dust had already cleared. Ashley had her left arm dangling in a weird position, while Lara had a sword sticking onto her shoulder.

Lara who was no longer showing her scary visage had turn back into her stoic look.

"Why did you stop? Are you showing me mercy?" Even though her facial expression was stoic, her voice clearly sounded irritated.

"Speak for yourself, you could've gone for my heart but at the last moment you shifted your punch." Ashley who was badly wounded smiled faintly, and for a very brief moment, Lara did the same.

"I see... Then this should be a draw."

"Yup it's a draw." After saying that it was a draw Ashley lost consciousness. Before Ashley's body hit the ground Lara caught her.

"Hmph, I guess you're barely worthy enough," Lara spoke in a whisper.

...

While the two girls were done with their fight, Ren was also finishing up with his own battle. Ren was currently walking inside a cave that some bandits made into their base. As he was walking around the sound of screaming and begging could be heard. The stench of blood and death was all over the place.

...

A few minutes ago Ren had entered their base and demanded that the bandits hand over all their treasures. He told them that if they give him what he wanted they would be spared. Unfortunately, the bandits didn't accept his generous offer and attacked him. Of course, what happened next was to be expected, Ren and Silika had defeated every single bandit with ease. Right now Ren had gathered all the surviving bandits into one spot as he looked around their base. Silika guarded the prisoners as Ren wandered around.

After a quick look, Ren was able to see that the bandits had kidnapped a bunch of women. Seeing them all tied up and bruised, showing a lot of signs that they have been raped and tortured made Ren feel a bit of irritation. As he looked closer he noticed that there were even some with missing arms and legs.

When Ren approached the women they started cowering in fear, some even opened up their legs inviting him like it was second nature. Seeing them act like that just made Ren feel even more irritated.

'What is this? Why am I feeling something like this? Normally I wouldn't care this much, the weak are always devoured by the strong... That's what I always thought, but... What is this emotion?!... Never mind, no use thinking about it now. I just need to do as usual and do whatever I want to do.'

Ren approached the cowering women and started to heal them, once he was done he untied them. This made the group of women look at Ren confused.

"You're free now." After Ren said those words he no longer bothered with the women and headed back to the bandits.

...

Once the bandits saw Ren approach they started to beg for mercy. Yet before they could even get a word out they felt a very frightening aura emitting from Ren. It was as if an invisible hand had gripped their throats.

"You know when I entered your base, I had a silly thought. Aren't bandits and goblins practically the same?" Ren who was emitting such an intimidating aura suddenly started talking which confused the bandits. They all thought that Ren would start killing them, but instead, he suddenly compared them to goblins.

"You bandits are like goblins who hide their bases in caves like this. Same as goblins you also rob and kill unsuspecting travelers. Also like goblins you take women and rape them, but then unlike goblins you torture the women. If that wasn't enough you even mutilate them." When Ren said the last sentence his bloodlust grew even more intense.

The already fearful bandits were now peeing in fear, some were even defecating as they cried.

"In the end, my silly thought was just a very silly thought. Since you people are worse than goblins, you're worse than monsters! The goblins rape women to reproduce as there are no female goblins. They do this for the sake of their survival, which I cannot fault them. You, on the other hand, not only rape your victims you torture them for no reason other than entertainment. I am by no means a saint, nor am I a hero of justice, and it would be a stretch to say that I'm a good person, but I still have a bottom line, but apparently you people do not."

Ren clasped the head of one of the captured bandits and then started to squeeze it until it turned into a flat piece of meat that was flowing with blood. The other bandits who saw the fate of their compatriot were horror-stricken. They wanted to escape but their legs weren't working.

"I do things for a reason, for example, I'm killing you right now cause I said I would. I even gave you foolish b*stards a chance for survival but you dismissed it. You people, on the other hand, have no honor, have no pride, nor do you have any purpose." While Ren was talking he was crushing the heads of each bandit one by one.

"Well, I guess you people might have a purpose, but it doesn't seem that way to me. You... Oh, you're all dead." Ren stopped talking when he noticed that there was no longer any bandit that was alive. Only a pool of blood and flesh were left behind.

'Even though they're all dead, this irritation I have still won't subside.' Ren thought that by killing the source of his irritation, he might feel relieved but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

"Silika go and ask the captured women if they have a home to return to. If they do, head to town to feed and clothe them, then give them some money for the journey back to their villages. As for those that have nowhere to return to, tell them that they can follow us back to New Grenton. While you're doing that, I'll be rummaging through the treasures in this cave."

Seeing how irritated Ren was at the moment, Silika simply bowed her head and left.

...

Once Ren was all alone in the cave he headed towards the treasury of the bandit group. Looking at how big the group was Ren was sure they had a vast amount of stolen goods. When Ren got to the treasury, it was as he expected this particular bandit group had stolen quite a lot.

Ren quickly started to hoard the treasures, and as he was stashing away the loot he acquired in this raid, he noticed something familiar in the mountain of stolen goods. He saw an old box with an engraving written in a language only known to demons.

Ren brushed his hand on the engraving and said the words, "To my little nymph."