Chapter 236: First Flight(2/2)

Chapter 236: First Flight(2/2)

Up ahead, there was an attractive-looking human woman, clutching at her bloodied leg, screaming in pain, sitting in the middle of the road. Her dress had originally been beige, but now it was covered in brown dust, and blood, and whatever fancy accessories it may have had in the past, had all been torn away.

I count twenty, including the woman, Edmund said.

I count twenty-three. There are two underground, and one hidden inside that fake tree on the right, Sylver said, as Edmund clicked his tongue.

I thought that was just a very old tree Who do you want? Edmund asked as he stretched out his small legs.

[Human Lesser Noble + Lesser Scribe 32]

[HP: 271 22%]

[MP: 70 60%]

[Stamina: 4 3%]

[Corpse Inferior]

[Soul Lesser]

How easy is it to fake a status? Sylver asked.

Pretty easy, Edmund said, as he stood up on his seat, lightly jumped, and landed on the roof of the carriage.

Alright You get the 4 guys in the trees, the 3 men behind us, and theres a group of 5 ahead of us. Try not to kill anyone, but if you do, dont worry about it, Sylver said.

Shout if you need help, Edmund said, as he nodded at Sylver, and disappeared.

There wasnt a bright flash of light, no bang, no intense wave of air, the only proof Edmund had used his magic was an ever-so-faint crackling. The hole in the clouds above probably gave it away, but people tended to not look up.

The faint sound Edmunds flight had made had also been masked by the noise of the wheels, as they came to a complete halt.

Sylver jumped down from his seat and did that little, half walk, half run, people normally did when they were trying to cover an awkward distance as quickly as possible.

Please, they-they- the woman tripped over her words and took a moment to take a shaky breath, as Sylver got close enough to hear her.

Before she could continue, the tip of Sylvers boot reached the bottom part of her chin.

He could have easily kicked her hard enough to send her head flying, but because he wanted these bandits alive, his kick merely knocked her out. He very likely loosened her teeth in the process, but in Sylvers defense, he didnt give a shit whether these bandits had teeth.

The already silent empty road somehow managed to become even more silent, as Sylver pulled his foot back, and clasped his hands behind his back.

I know youre out there. Next time you use pigs' blood, dilute it a little. And maybe have the bait wear something that will absorb the blood. People will have a harder time spotting the color difference, Sylver said towards the empty road and surrounding forest.

Sylver waited for a moment, then another, but everyone remained where they were. As bad of an actor as the girl was, the others were pretty good at masking their presence.

Surrender is still an option, Sylver said, a bit louder, as he took a step towards the unconscious girl.

Three, Sylver said, as he placed his boot onto the girls small head.

Two, Sylver said as the girls skull made a creaking sound as Sylver applied pressure with his boot.

One, Sylver said, as he began to place his full weight onto his foot, and heard a very violent intake of breath behind him, followed by a half gasp.

Sylver lifted his foot off the girls head and turned around.

A man with a dark brown beard was on the ground, pinned down by five shades, with a sixth that was strangling him with a thick leather belt.

[Human Hunter + Lesser Warrior 71]

[HP: 14,880 82%]

[MP: 0 100%]

[Stamina: 22,510 71%]

[Corpse Normal]

[Soul Petty]

Sylver cocked his head at what he read.

I thought you would be stronger

The man continued to struggle, but with Sylver this close to the shades, he didnt have a chance.

Sylver took a small step backward and watched as a glowing arrow whizzed right in front of his face, followed by 4 more arrows, that also missed him by roughly a centimeter. Sylver turned towards the source of the arrows and squinted.

A volley of arrows appeared out of thin air, and the few that would have hit Sylver were instead flicked away by his robe.

Edmund on the other hand would make people fight until they reached their peak, and only then would he kill them. Normally that sort of action would be best described as torture, or dishonorable, but the interesting thing was that Edmund had an eye for this sort of thing.

The way he explained it was that he could tell when someones heart wasnt in it.

If you didnt fight back with everything you had, he would just kill you, and with the speeds Edmunds magic could reach, more often than not the person wouldnt even realize they died.

In Sylvers opinion, those people got off easy.

Its the ones who fought back that he felt sorry for.

Because Edmund did something to them.

Not using magic, or some sort of secret sword technique, Edmund infected people with his enthusiasm for battle. It was nothing more than pure undiluted charisma, the kind thats impossible to put into words, people just lost their minds whenever they fought against him.

It didnt matter who they were, what they did, or what they stood to gain or lose by defeating him, people just lost their fucking minds, and couldnt think of anything other than beating him.

If a person had that inside of them, Edmund would bring it out.

Truth be told, it was a power almost as deadly as Edmunds other abilities.

The three men were so focused on Edmunds floating weapons, that they didnt notice that one of them tripped for a final time, and with a giant smile on his face, lost consciousness, as Edmunds metallic mace hit the man on the back of the head.

Sylver looked around, and while he was waiting, sent his shades out to find a good spot.

The ax wielder was the next to go.

He roared with so much oomph in his voice as he attacked Edmunds ax for the final time, that it would have made Sylver flinch if he hadnt been ready for it.

Sylver mostly remained where he was, and waited for the battle to conclude.

He wasnt in a rush, he enjoyed watching the way Edmund manipulated his mana.

Even in the Ibis, there were less than a handful of mages that came anywhere near close to Edmunds level of skill. Some of it was due to natural talent, sure, but Edmund wasnt the sort of man who was satisfied with merely being better than everyone else, he wanted to be the best there ever was.

And to his credit, he was pretty fucking close.

In terms of combat ability, there were maybe 4 people in all of Eira that came anywhere near him, in a one-on-one fight, Edmund never lost.

The fight with the swordsman ended in an extremely classic spinning of the blades, that resulted in the mans sword being whisked out of his hand. Thankfully for him, by the time his eyes informed his brain that his hand was empty, the hilt of Edmunds sword had already struck him in the back of the head.

The three floating metallic weapons floated towards Edmund and merged into a single bubble of liquid metal. The warm-to-the-touch blob formed itself into a thick blade, and as Edmund reached out towards it with his hilt, it solidified into a sword.

Sylver stayed quiet as Edmund mumbled out a quick prayer for the three fallen warriors. He walked over to the swordsman and very gently used his fingers to break off the tip of the mans sword. The shard of metal melted in Eds hands, as if it was quicksilver, and was then inserted into Edmunds sword.

It only now occurs to me Couldnt we have just had the dark elves come with us? Edmund asked as Sylver shook his head.

Ive never used this waystone before, Sylver explained, as Edmunds eyes widened slightly.

Ah So this is one of those. Were not going to end up in the demon realm, or something, right? Edmund asked as Sylver shook his head again, albeit a bit less confidently.

I mean considering Im not exactly an expert when it comes to teleportation, the chance is very small, but I wouldnt say its impossible We should be fine, Sylver said, and now it was Edmunds turn to make a face.

This is the waystone you made when you failed to transfer skills and perks from one man to another, right? Edmund asked.

I wouldnt say failed, but yes, Sylver said.

How likely is this to kill us? Edmund asked.

Us? Considering Im already dead, and you cant die, very unlikely. But if youre asking about these guys Sylver made a so so gesture with his hand.

Edmunds beliefs were mostly centered around fights, and people who could fight, his opinions regarding already defeated opponents were

Very convenient for certain people like the type that needed corpses to grow stronger. Sort of how a vulture might follow a pack of wild dogs.

***

After a few minutes of traveling into the forest, they found an empty clearing that was good enough for what Sylver was about to do.

The unconscious bandits were laid out in a neat circle around Sylver and Edmund, all twenty-three of them, with their heads pointed towards the middle of the circle. What Sylver couldnt store in his [Bound Bones] had been burned into nothing by Edmund.

In terms of complexity, using a waystone was simple enough that most magically gifted children could do it. There wasnt much skill involved in the process.

Sadly, the waystone Sylver had made was only sort of a waystone, despite what the item description might say.

He channeled his mana into the small rock trapped within his internal ribcages shoulder blade, and immediately felt a response from the magical tool. It felt thin, and slimy like Sylver was trying to catch a long slug, but the harder he squeezed, the more the slug slipped away.

Sylver gave up on maintaining complete control over it, and instead directed the slippery effect to where he wanted it to go.

Without any warning Sylver, Edmund, and the 23 unconscious bandits, all glowed bright blue for a half second and then disappeared.