Chapter 357 - Bandit Camp Raid

Mercury inspected the model 'Hound' under the dim starlight and quickly found that its forging quality was about grade 3, he nodded to himself before he quickly made another 4 and made them guard the camp, then his figure disappeared as he began passing through the ground below him, being an excellent earth mage this was easy for him, soon he made it down about 2 kilometers and found the raw iron ore that his new skill [Metal prospecting] had shown him, he quickly made a small cave around himself before he put his hand up to the deposit of raw metal and after he solidified the earth around the entire deposit he used [Metal assimilation] and quickly absorbed the entire thing, after checking the essence shop he muttered

"About 54.000 points… Nice"

Then Mercury decided to call it for the night and returned to the surface where it was a few hours before sunrise, there he quickly began making weapons with his new skill [Minor metal weaving] for the people that had not been fortunate enough to bring their weapons so they all were armed, as he was absorbed in making weapons Asma silently arrived at his side, sat down and leaned against him as she spoke

"Mercury… Warm…"

"Well I am alæive so of course I am warm, did you sleep alright?"

"Mmn… was cold all nigth…"

"What about now?"

Asma snuggled up to him even further before she spoke happily

"Now… all warmed up…"

"That's good…"

As the two lovers were flirting the sun began to rise, soon Julia arrived and took Mercury's left side, then came Marie and hugged him from behind, the 3 women all commented that he was warm and soon they began to nod off again as the rest of the camp awoke, Ben commented when he saw Mercury and the 3 women

"...Can I hit you now Mercury?"

"No, you'll wake them up, wait a few hours… Why don't you hunt us some food?"

"This womanizer… Fine, I'll be off for a bit"

After successfully shooing off Ben Mercury showed a smile and closed his eyes as the warm sunlight and proximity to his loved ones warmed his body and soul, about half an hour later Ben returned with a few rabbits and prepared them before he began roasting them under a fire spell, soon the smell of roasted meat woke up the rest of the camp including the 3 that were snuggling against Mercury and soon the entire camp was eating their fill, expect for Annabel that was feeling guilty and refused to eat when Mercury offered her some, Mercury sent a few eye signals to Max that eventually carved before he stood up, walked over and sat down next to Annabel and stuffed some food into her mouth once she began protesting, Max half force-fed Annabel half a rabbit before she finally said that she had enough with a slightly blushing face, then Max nodded and began eating his fill, Mercury exchanged glances with the 3 woman and it looked like they all agreed that Max and Annable were very cute

"Alright people, let's move"

Then they began walking west again, the walk wasn't as silent as yesterday, the group had lived up a bit and were chatting with each other as they walked

"I still can't believe that you got a skill that made it possible to make around grade 3 forged items"

"What's so unbelievable about it Marie?"

"Well… Never mind, I forgot for a moment that you're literally the living god of metal…"

"Yeah that I am, though don't worry, I won't be able to stop forging anytime soon"

"Mercury?"

"What is it, Max?"

"What's this sword made of?"

"Well its a bauxite, iron, adamantium, titanium alloy so it's made of a lot of different metals"

"I see…"

Max swung the sword around a few times before he muttered

"It's light yet it feels strong and flexible…"

"Yeah that's per design"

"I see…"

Around noon the group meet with the first civilized people since they had been transported to the Klaman islands, well civilized was a stretch

"Hand over all your valuables! The women are coming with us too!"

Mercury raised his hand to stop the group of about 10 bandits on horseback being massacred at once and spoke

"Leave 3 alive"

The bandits never knew what hit them before they could blink there was only 3 of them left alive, the group spent more effort in shooting the startled horses than they took in killing the bandits, the 3 survivors was brought before Mercury that showed a smile and stomped his foot bringing up 4 walls of compressed earth around him as he began 'chatting' with the bandits, the only one of the group that was taken aback was Annabel that looked at Max that brandished his new sword in  a half-circle making a half-circular blood splatter around him, when he realized Annabel was looking at him he sighed before he stabbed his sword into the ground and walked over to her and asked her

"Do you hate me now that you know I am a killer?"

"No… It's just…"

"I know… dad told me this a couple of years back ' in this world, there are two types of people, there are normal people and then there's scum… Scum steal from, kill and torment normal people, they deserve nothing but death, so of course, I am proud that you killed some scum'"

Annabel nodded before she repeated

"People and scum…"

Max nodded, then Annabel visibly gathered her courage for a few seconds before she reached up and wiped away some blood splatter on Max's face, Max blushed slightly but didn't pull away from her gentle touch as she spoke

"Your dad might be right…"

About half an hour later the earth walls collapsed into the ground and Mercury appeared alone, the 3 bandits that were with him were nowhere to be seen, he clapped his hands and spoke

"Alright, who fancies a little bandit extermination before noon?"

The group quickly moved towards the bandit encampment on horseback, they arrived about half an hour later, Mercury and the rest didn't waste any words and dismounted their horses before they stormed into the camp, Mercury lead the charge with his newly made aluminum gauntlets and raised his hands into a boxing stance as he spoke

"Boink!"

As he spoke the head of a bandit turned into a red paste Then he disappeared from view and reappeared in the center of the camp, his ears had picked up something that couldn't wait, after offing two bandits keeping watch he bent the bars of a prison wagon with several frightened people inside as he showed a smile

"I am here to help"

One of the people quickly fell to his knees as he spoke, he appeared to be a mercenary, he pleaded

"Help my companion please! she got injured doing our failed assault on this camp, if she dies I---"

"It's alright, I am a healer of sorts"

Mercury walked over and quickly advised the people present

"Stay in the wagon, my companions are raiding the camp and won't be able to tell if you are a bandit or not… Now let's see here"

As Mercury got to work helping the beaten-down mercenaries in the center of the camp the rest of the group made swift work of the bandits

"Priority target!"

The model 'hound' quickly answered Julia's yell by firing its spike gun at a heavily armored bandit that appeared to be the leader of the group, the spike hit the bandit leader right in the chest and penetrated his armor sending him flying backward, he was dead before he hit the ground, the remaining bandits began fleeing, to which Julia simply spoke an order to the 5 model 'Hound's'

"Sic 'em!"

The five metal dogs charged forwards and quickly chased down the remaining bandits, as they did Mercury appeared along with 4 mercenaries that had been captured by the bandits, the 4 mercenaries stared blankly at the group that had wiped out the about 50 bandits in less than 15 minutes before they gave their thanks, the leader a demon man named Jhon spoke

"Thank you all very much for coming to our rescue, as I discussed with Mercury we'll lead you to the nearest city where we'll award you for rescuing us"

The members of the group nodded, and after helping the injured lesser beast woman named Qil who Mercury had just finished treating, into a clean tent the rest of the mercenary group introduced themselves

"My name is Hen"

"And I am Mick"

After the rest of the group introduced themselves they began looting the bandit camp as they did the rest of the day passed and eventually they were all gathered around a campfire where they ate and made mary with the expensive bottles of alcohol they had discovered in the bandit leaders tent, it wasn't until late that night that they went to sleep leaving the night watch to the now 10 Model Hounds Mercury had ensured them would be able to keep them safe for the night