Chapter 87 - 86: Two More To Go.

Grey had sensed eleven more humans deep inside the forest. 

After making sure that the rest of his group was okay, he headed deep towards the forest where he had sensed the rest of the eleven humans. 

Among eleven humans, ten of them were not particularly strong, but there was one strong human. The mana core and the aura he had sensed from that human were on another level than those of bandits. 

Maintaining his stealth, Grey traveled from one tree to another until he reached the place where all the eleven humans were present. 

From the top of the tree, Grey saw a camp of bandits. 

'The reason they are camping here is most probably to capture the people of Macropus tribe to sell them or something' 

Grey looked around to find the stronger human that he had sensed, but he wasn't able to find any. But later he saw a young woman, tied down to the tree. 

The thing was, the stronger human that he sensed earlier is this woman. 

'This woman... did she purposefully get herself captured? cause there is no way that bandit would be able to capture someone of her level. 

Maybe she has some objective. Well, I will find out myself...'

Jumping out of the tree, Grey landed in the middle of the camp. This attracted the attention of all the bandits present in the camp except for the ones who were sleeping. 

The blood that was smeared on Grey's face and his crimson-stained clothes made all the bandit cautious,

"Who -- who are you?!!" 

Without paying any heed to what bandit had asked, Grey turned his attention towards the tied up woman,

"Do you have a mission?" asked Grey cutting the chase.

There was a shock in the young woman's face, which later disappeared like it was never there. With a straight face, she answered, "Yes, I am currently in one." 

"You got some balls kid---" 

Before the bandit can complete the sentence, Grey looked at him as he said "Shut up, you will only be talking when I let you talk."

Grey had paralyzed all of the bandit's movement, using his Ormr bloodline eye. Simultaneously he exerted great pressure that weighed down on them. 

The pressure that Grey puts on his opponent mimics the feeling of painful agitation in the face of danger. in simpler terms, the pressure mimics the feeling of fear. 

The effectiveness of the pressure depends upon the opponent. 

Due to the pressure, the bandits didn't dare to oppose Grey. 

Grey turned his attention towards the woman, with an awkward smile he said, "Oh, I am sorry, I think I ruined your mission." 

"How so?"

"I kinda killed some bandits on the way here. well, they tried to capture me, or at least that was their intention." 

"You killed them?" asked Bandit, enraged. 

"Yes, and you guys will join them too," said Grey as he turned his attention towards the rest of the bandit. 

Drawing his blade, Grey proceeded to slaughter each of the bandits with ease. The ones that were sleeping were also woken up, but well they were sent to sleep again, this time to an internal sleep though.

Wiping the blood off the sword, Grey spoke again "So what was your mission?" 

"I shouldn't say this to strangers, but since you got involved in this, I will let you know. In short, I suspect these bandits of planning an organized crime, most probably they want to raid Macropus tribe, to capture them and sell them off to slave market."

"Was there a particular reason for letting yourself get captured?" asked Grey. 

"I just wanted to make sure that they are not part of an organized crime. If not, then I would have disposed of them. But if there are more of them, then I would need a proper plan, to dispose of them efficiently without letting them flee away." 

"Do you think there is a possibility that there is more than one bandit camp?"

"I believe so." 

Grey felt like she was a pretty upright person, even the way she talked didn't have any unnecessary talk, she only talked about necessary things and avoided any useless conversation. 

Letting out a sight, Grey opened his mouth, 

"I will help you find other bandit camps since I ruined your plan."

"How will you do so?" asked the young woman, curious.

"I have a few tricks." 

Closing his eyes, Grey focused all his attention on sensing his surroundings. Using the power of Minerva, Grey tracked every little source of mana or any other energy near him. 

Around the distance of 100 meters, he could sense six different sources of mana. Those were the mana of his friends.

Extending his reach to 500 meters, he still couldn't find anything else other than some random monsters. 

On the distance of 1000 meters, he found two different places where there were multiple sources of mana. 

To be sure, he focused his attention to sense more of his surrounding, his reach was around 2000 meters now. Finally, he extended his reach to 3000 meters, there weren't any sources of mana that indicated that it could be bandit camp.

Using Minerva seal's power, he can see things as black or white. Things that are not mana are just pitch black, different form of energy is seen in different colors. For example, the mana is mostly white with a faint hint of blue in it.

Opening his eyes, Grey spoke up, "There are around two more camps, each camp having no more than 30 men's." 

"Huh? you were able to sense them from here?" asked the young woman, shocked. 

The fact that Grey was able to handle multiple bandits effortlessly already had caught her attention, now she was even more curious about Grey. 

"Yes, it's my power," replied Grey. 

"Owl?" 

The young woman was asking about his seal marking, to which Grey gave an affirmation with a nod. 

Clearing her throat the young woman regained her composure, 

"Ahem, forgive my rudeness, I wouldn't pry any further. will you help me find the right direction to find the camp?"

"Then what are you going to do?" Asked Grey.

"I will dispose of them, but I will be needing your help."

Letting out a chuckle, Grey spoke up, "You don't need my help, you can handle them yourself. You want to observe me, don't you?" 

The young woman's expression again changed with that of a surprise, A smile curved upon her face as she said "You are correct."

Raising both of her hands slightly she continued, "but I can assure you that I don't have any ill intention towards you."

"I don't mind going with you, but I will have to inform my group." 

"Sure."

Grey went back to inform his group, he specifically instructed everyone to camp in the forest itself since it will soon get dark. 

No one was actually worried about Grey since they knew him very well. Well, not everyone, with the exception of---

"Big brother are you going somewhere?" asked Illya, worried.

"There is something big brother has to look into, I will be back in around an hour," said Grey.

"But....", Illya's gaze was flitting around the forest, not settling in one spot.

A smile curved up on Grey's lips as he patted Illya's head "Don't worry big brother will be back." 

For Illya, it was a reassuring smile, "Okay!! then I will wait here!!"

Due to getting separated from her parents, Illya had developed separation anxiety. But, she was ready to trust Grey.

After informing his group, Grey headed back to where the young woman was waiting.

"By the way, may I know your name?" asked Grey to the young woman.

"Oh rude of me, my name is Hina," said Hina sincerely.

"My name is Grey, nice to make acquaintance with you." 

Pointing towards the southwest side of the first, Grey spoke up "Both of the camps is on that side, we will take one at a time since it's better to not underestimate the enemy." 

"I am sure you already know, but I will tell you just in case. We will make it quick, showing hesitation while killing them will only waste our time and we can't let anyone escape away." Instructed Hina. 

"I understand," said Grey.

Grey found it interesting that how she relays each of her statements like a military command. It made him believe that she has some sort of connection to the military or she belongs to a well-known military family.

Traveling through the forest they reached the first bandit camp, they cleared that camp with ease. Of course, they were stealthy about it. 

The first camp had around 28 people in it, they were all killed before they could get a chance to even resist.

After watching Hina fight, Grey was more sure about the fact that Hina was insanely strong, even her sword art had a level of its own. 

Refined sword art, upright demeanor, fine judgment, and the way she drew her sword to kill without any hesitation, these factors made Grey even more sure that she belonged to some military family, If not, then she must be someone important. This was Grey's line of thought.

There was one more thing that Hina had noticed, despite no significant change in facial expression, Grey's body was trembling vigorously, his breath was unsteady.