Chapter 528 Going For A Bandit Hunt

-----

The next day, we waited until the night to strike. We assembled a group composed of the two fire ghosts, a few available Hobgoblin Warriors, and Magicians that wanted some EXP and were prepared to kill, the Goblin Chief, and Syllis and a few valiant Rabbit-kin fighters. Of course, I also brought with myself my Undead. Partner insisted on coming, Emeraldine, and Lucifer too, but I left them all back at home because they were too strong and would end up stealing all the EXP.

Tonight's plan was to raid a Bandit Hideout connected to many more near a large mountain range covered in snow that lays right behind the Old Majin Kingdom. This bandit hideout was detected by my scouting Undead and the Rabbit-kin who always are scouting the surroundings with their stealth, agility, and speed.

We traversed roughly two kilometers to get here, but I put everyone inside my shadows and flew at an incredible speed, reaching this place in just a few minutes. I guess that's the Agility of someone with my stats, we can really do insane stuff. I feel like I am a superhero in a way… Maybe if I ever go back to Earth, I could disguise as a heroine and- nah that's way too cringe.

"We are here…." I looked around, finding a large forest of pine trees surrounded by bluish grass and a few herbs that grew in these icy conditions. The night was cold, as a snowstorm was hitting hard, covering everything with snow.

I looked into the mountain in front of me using my special phantasmal senses and adjusting my vision like a hawk, quickly finding the hideout of the bandits, a small cave opening with a few things outside, mostly trash, it was clear people was living inside of there.

The first hypothesis we had when we saw Bandits hideouts near my home was that they perhaps ran from the mainland due to being persecuted and settled down in these cold lands where nobody will follow them as easily.

But they're surely paying the price, it is cold as fuck in here. They're probably surviving due to having high stats. If they're bandits that have lived enough and are experienced enough to run away from the mainland and survive in this hellish snowscape, I bet they're at least Level 20 by average. With that, their stats are high enough to withstand cold temperatures naturally and are strong enough to hunt wild animals or monsters for eating.

According to Syllis and my Phantom Familiars spying there, this is the largest nest of Bandits, I've not seen their stats much as these Familiars are incapable of seeing status, but they're fairly strong, like above average, and there re roughly 120 bandits here. They constantly hunt monsters around E Rank or even D Rank in large groups of over thirty, there are never casualties as they've got two Apothecaries that make Medicines, and even a Healer with them.

Above all, they don't have any slaves here, but they have a lot of merchandise they had stolen. I remember spying that they had several wooden boxes with gold coins, a few other boxes with colorful ores, and they had tons of food too, mostly veggies and fruits, and bags after bags of seeds. They also have weapons and other things. It seems that, from what I've heard about their conversations, they're a famous band of Bandits known as "Red Fangs" who are contracted by Nobles.

They attack carriages from enemy nobles of their contractors, kill them, and steal everything they've got. Like this they accumulated a lot of riches. Recently, however, they were chased away by their previous contractor and almost captured by the noble's guards, they had to flee all the way here. A few died in the way, but they're still all going strong.

They're all like a big group of mercenaries in terms of companionship, but they're still nasty pieces of shit that I don't care about, so they're going down. And well, aside from their escapade, I do remember they were talking with a shady person, someone who was covered from head to toe on clothes and covering its face with a weird mask. It hid its power well through magic accessories, but the amount of power it was hiding was considerable…

Since that person came weeks ago, they had been moving and preparing for something and they had even sent scouts near my territory, as if they were getting ready to launch a raid in my village. To stop that, we are slaughtering them all first.

I will also get all the nice loot they have and raise them as Undead because they look strong enough, those apothecaries could become good assistant to do some alchemy recipes. We need more competent workhand after all, they'll be zombies but I'm sure they'll do their job just fine.

After making up my mind, I sneaked across the forest rapidly, ignoring the many herbs I could pick for later, and reaching the entrance of the bandit hideout. It was currently 3 AM in the morning, I hoped they would be sleeping by now, but still saw several of them still awake and kicking, which was freaking annoying to be honest, I wanted to kill them on their sleep if possible.

However, their security was terrible, the entrance was wide open and nobody was guarding it. I guess monsters don't get closer to their hideout anymore after they killed so many for hunting. Ice Wolves are growing in big quantities a kilometer or two away yet they have yet to attack them. It seems odd, but the only thing I can think about is that they're just afraid of getting killed, perhaps.

My shadows spread out like a lake of darkness, as several of my Undead emerged from within, alongside the rest of my allies.

"Silvio, Francesco, lead the Undead first. Syllis, Goblin Chief, you guys follow them from behind. I'll watch from your backs."

It was time for a little bandit hunt, how nostalgic.

-----

Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.