As the last of the four bandits died, Felix decided not to sheath his sword back as he wasn't satisfied yet.
"Just 40 skill points from the four of them is not enough. Maybe I should hunt the others too...."
Glancing around the maze-like narrow alley, Felix recalled where he had come from and moved towards there while slowly submerging into the ground.
*****
"Alright, it's enough running."
Steve muttered to himself and stopped in the middle of the alleyway before turning around and waiting for the bandits as he wielded his sword.
As soon as he saw the figures of the bandits arriving at his spot, he flashed forward and started to attack them with a bright smile on his face.
On Roven's side, the boy was running through the confusing alleys and attacking the bandits while sneaking upon them from the shadows.
He didn't think it would be a good idea to face them head-on in the narrow space as they could easily surround him, so he took them out one by one without facing any trouble.
The one who was having the most trouble was Eric, because after quickly dealing with the three bandits with his fireballs, the bandit with the headband who was of the 2nd Rank encountered him.
"Shit!"
Eric cursed as he sent another fireball towards the Rank 2 bandit.
The bandit was agile as he easily dodged the fireball and continued looking at the boy mockingly.
He was waiting for the boy to get himself exhausted, all the while playing with him for burning their horses.
From the beginning, Eric had already used a lot of fireball spells, almost reaching his limit at this point, and without a mana potion, he couldn't use them as much as he wanted.
In such a tight position, Eric had a pale face as he brainstormed on how to handle the situation.
A few minutes later, he still couldn't hurt the bandit who was patiently lurking around him, and after some time, Eric ran out of mana as he dropped down to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Well, well, it seems playtime is over for you...."
The Rank 2 bandit walked over to the tired and scared boy as he teased.
Eric gulped as he looked above at the man coming towards him and crawled backwards on the ground.
"No running anymore, too.", the bandit arrived beside Eric and pulled at his hair as the boy resisted.
"L-Leave me!"
Taking out his blade, the bandit smiled as he responded.
"Did you forget? We had a deal, so you're going to become a hostage. But don't worry, your friends will be there too."
Explaining kindly with a twisted smile, the bandit hit Eric on the head with the back of his blade and knocked him unconscious.
Carrying the unconscious boy over his shoulder like a sack of money, the bandit walked away from there towards their hideout to keep their product safe.
Steve winked with a big smile at that.
Shaking his head, Roven gave a helpless smile and suggested after glancing around the alleyway.
"We must find Eric and Felix too, they should've handled the Rank 1 bandits by thenselves, but I can't say the same regarding the Rank 2 one."
Steve frowned and countered with growing battle spirit.
"It may be not possible if we're separated, but I strongly think we can take down that Rank 2 bandit if the four of us surround him together. What do you say, Roven? Wouldn't it be a perfect way to kill that asshole who wanted to take us hostage?"
Sensing the killing intent oozing off from Steve, Roven sighed speechlessly feeling a bit tired and gave the matter a serious thought.
"Hmm, even if we could, I wouldn't want to risk it. As I've already mentioned before, this mission is too difficult for us, so let's not put ourselves in any kind of dangerous situation."
Hearing their team leader's thoughts, Steve didn't know how to respond as he clenched his fists before releasing them with a sigh.
"Alright, let's do as you say then. But what after this? Are we supposed to escape from the town?"
Roven gave a small smile seeing the hot-headed boy agree to his advice and opened his mouth to respond.
Only that he couldn't say what he wanted as another familiar yet dirty voice teased.
"Kheke you want to escape from here? Well too bad I'm not planning on letting any of you go."
Steve and Roven widened their eyes in shock and quickly turned around to find the bandit with the headband staring at them, his eyes carrying a mocking look as he walked near to them.
They took a step back with alarmed expressions, and frowned as they felt their backs sweating from the sudden tense situation.
"Oh yeah, I also caught that fireball boy, he was crying not to hurt him when I knocked him out haha.", the bandit added taking pleasure at their feared faces.
Suddenly it felt like the temperature of the surroundings went cold as a blank look emerged on the two boy's faces.
"You what?", Roven asked as his body trembled with a wide glare on his frosted face.
Steve on the side could be seen taking deep breaths as if trying to hold himself back from charging recklessly at the bandit.
The bandit felt a bit intimidated from the stares the two boys were giving him, but he felt more embarrassment for getting scared by them.
"H-How dare you look at me like that you little bastard! Let me show you you're fucking place!", he stuttered angrily with a mad look and dashed forward taking out his sword at them.
"Roven, no matter what, don't try to stop me." Steve warned and held out his sword, which started to tremble a little as he concentrated his mind.
Looking at his friend who was letting out the power that could come to hurt him in the future, Roven bit his lips in frustration but didn't stop him.
As the bandit crossed half the distance towards them, Steve kicked off the ground and met him head on as his sword glowed dangerously.
A few moments before both of their's swords met, the bandit became shocked when he saw a powerful force emanating from the boy's sword.
'No way- Is that...'
He couldn't continue his thoughts as their swords clashed with terrible force that sent shockwaves through the alley.