Now that Felix had created a few more skills that could help him in the battle, he felt a bit confident, so he straight up walked towards the bandit with a bold smile.
The bandit raised his head, watching the boy come closer, and turned back serious-faced as he knew he should handle his opponent cautiously.
"So what if you're a mage? I'll knock you out just like how I did to your fireball teammate.", the bandit mocked trying to anger the boy.
And that really did anger Felix, whose smile extended until his lips almost touched his ears, resulting in a strange expression on his face.
"Well that's too bad, I'm not the same as I was before...."
His words confused Roven and the bandit, but Felix didn't care as he raised his hands and created a few more spikes.
'Earth Spikes!'
The bandit was attacked by the earth spikes from behind him, but he was prepared as the moment he saw Felix raise his hands, he jumped out of the way.
'This makes it much simpler.', thought Felix as a plan formed in his mind.
He suddenly dashed forward, getting near to the bandit, who in turn raised his sword to initiate an attack.
But when Felix was about three meters away from the bandit, he used another one of his skills.
'Dust Blast!'
A sudden mini storm of dust and debris, made up of sand and rocks got created out of nowhere which blasted off onto the bandit.
"Shit-!"
The bandit cursed at the new skill, and quickly raised his arms to defend his eyes and face from the sand attack.
The mini dust storm hit the bandit, the rocks inflicting small cuts on his body and pushing him a few meters away.
Felix used this chance when the bandit was covering his eyes to use another skill.
'Silent Steps!'
A few seconds later, the bandit lowered his bloodied arms and surveyed the area with narrowed eyes.
"Hmm? Where did he go?", he muttered.
The bandit looked around, but except for Roven and the fallen Steve, he couldn't find anyone else.
Hiding in a corner away from the bandit's sight, Felix stood frozen as he healed himself.
'Terra Drain.'
A dense earthly energy rushed into him starting from his legs, and spread all over his body rejuvenating his stamina and healing his minor wounds.
This skill worked only when he was standing still, so he hid from the bandit as he couldn't battle and heal himself at the same.
Some seconds later, he could feel that he had gained some stamina back to use more of his skills, and the bandit was also getting impatient while slowly moving towards Steve.
'Let's do this.'
Felix held his sword that he had picked up along the way and sprinted towards the bandit.
The skill 'Silent Steps' was still activated, so the bandit didn't realise him getting closer.
Felix quickly arrived beside the bandit and swung his sword, attacking the red line that appeared on the bandit's arm.
"Squelch"
Before the bandit could even react, his arm separated from his body as blood flooded out.
Felix didn't waste this chance as he jumped ahead with an Agility Burst before arriving behind the bandit, and stabbed his shortsword into his back.
The bandit couldn't block or dodge the attack as his whole body was held tightly by the earth spikes, so Felix easily stabbed him.
After stabbing him, he pushed his sword deeper as the bandit tried to resist, but then he used the most critical skill.
'Corrosion!'
The baleful energy rushed out from his body and penetrated the bandit with the sword as a bridge, destroying and corroding the bandit's insides.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
The bandit howled loudly in pain, as he released his weapon and tightly grasped the shortsword coming out from his chest.
The pain he was feeling right now was a hundred times more than what he felt when the spikes stabbed him, causing him to lose his mind as he couldn't even resist the attack or the pain.
"NOOO!! LET GOOO!!! AAAGHHH!!"
His screams continued as Felix had a content smile on his face from the bandit's suffering.
"This is what you get for hurting Eric and Steve."
At last, Felix concentrated all of the corrosive energy and released it endlessly, directly into the bandit's heart.
The bandit grew paler, and a few seconds later, he stopped shouting as his arms fell lifelessly and he lost the light in his eyes.
[Ding!]
[You have killed a being higher than your own rank.]
[You have gained 100 skill points.]
Hearing the chime from the system, Felix let go of his shortsword and fell on the ground in exhaustion.
He took deep breaths as using all those skills had taken a toll on him, which his current Zero Rank body couldn't yet handle.
Roven walked over as he glanced at the cold and dead body of the bandit, before muttering in disbelief.
"I can't believe you actually killed a Rank 2 being...."
Roven couldn't believe if he was just seeing things or if it was the reality.
Felix did not only kill someone one rank higher, but two ranks higher than his own, and if people came to know this, then he won't be just regarded as a genius but a goddamn monster.
Giving an awkward smile, Felix got up to his feet as he suggested.
"I know you have a lot of questions, but before that we have to heal Steve and also rescue Eric from their hideout. So let's leave that for later, alright?"
Roven nodded seriously and asked as he glanced worriedly at Steve's injured body.
"Do you have a plan? I don't think it'll be easy for us to do all this."
Closing his eyes for a second, Felix pondered briefly about the situation and quickly arrived at a solution.
He opened his eyes and told his plan.
"I got it! You will carry Steve back to the inn and get our carriage to the gates."
Roven curiously responded with a question.
"And what are you going to do?"
Felix raised his lips and replied in a confident tone.
"I'm going to rescue Eric.....and raid the bandit's hideout."