Go where the bandits came from

Not daring to follow the bandits towards where more of their allies were, I headed down the corridor they came from, careful not to be noticed. The cave here slowly descended, until it came to a makeshift prison. Rusty metal bars and a single bandit guard were the only things standing between me and my party. The bandit was the same man that had beaten me back on the road, the wound I gave to his side fully healed. He sat by the bars, drinking booze while my party sat bound and gagged inside the cell.

“Hey jackass!” I taunted, drawing the knife I had taken from him.

“What the fuck...?” he mumbled, quickly downing the last of his booze before standing and drawing my sword. “Runt actually came back for more. I’m impressed.”

“Yeah. And this time it’ll be different. I know your tricks now! Steal!” I cast the spell once more, having more luck than last time, as the enchanted bracelet appeared in my hand.

“Huh? Oh shit!” he exclaimed, charging me. I quickly slipped the bracelet onto my arm, feeling a surge of energy rush through me as the enchantment activated. I blocked his charge with ease and stabbed him in the forearm, causing him to drop my sword. He bellowed in pain before rearing back and punching me in the face.

“Pfft! That’s it? Damn, this thing really works huh? No wonder you could catch my sword!” I laughed as his full **** punch couldn’t leave a mark due to the bracelet’s enchantment augmenting my durability.

“Fuck,” he cursed, backing away. He scrambled to try and get my sword once more, but I kicked it away from him, stabbing him in his shoulder as he bent down.

“Take this!” I shouted, punching him square in the nose, sending him tumbling onto his back.

“P-please don’t!” plead Guzno. “Have mercy!”

“How many have said those same words to you? Did you accept the pleas for mercy from those adventurers!? Or that innocent old man!?” I berated him, ready for vengeance. He cowered back into the corner, the fear of **** seeping in.

“Please...” he begged.

“You aren’t the only one. We’re going to get rid of all of you lowlife murderers!” I declared, stabbing Guzno in the heart. As the life faded from him, I took the to the cell from his belt. Unlocking the cell door, I went inside, cutting the bindings that held my party.

“Thank you so much!” sobbed Sofia as she tackled me into a hug. She was dressed in a simple poncho and not much else, her usual clothes having been destroyed. “I thought we were gonna die!”

“Wha? That’s not what you said on the wagon ride over here!” said Alice. “You said Flynn would definitely save us.”

“Shut up! I was still super scared! They had even beat Lucy!” Sofia admitted, letting go of me.

“Yeah, Alice! You were shaking the whole time too!” Flora said.

“More importantly,” Lucille segued, “were you able to locate our belongings? We’ll need them if we are to get out of here.”

“I didn’t exactly do much in the way of searching. You guys were priority number one. They can’t be far though,” I said, grabbing my sword off the ground and putting it back into its sheath. I handed Lucille the knife I had been using.

“Thank you,” she said.

“No problem. I figure it’d be best in your hands. Now let’s get moving. You three, stay close, let Lucille cover the rear. Try to stay quiet and don’t be seen. We don’t wanna start a fight until we’re at full strength.” I said, leading the party back through the corridor to the main cavern.

Inside the main cavern, there were significantly more people moving about than before. Bandits were rushing about, weapons drawn, most heading towards the main entrance.

“Attack! We’re under attack! Monsters!” shouted a bandit running down the corridor opposite of us.

“Great, monsters too,” Flora muttered quietly.

“Exactly,” I whispered, beaming. “The cavalry has arrived! Minerva brought Gor along and is distracting the bandits.”

“Then we should make use of this opportunity to retrieve our weapons,” said Lucille.

“Any clue where they’d be?” I asked.

“I think they may have left them inside the wagon,” said Flora.

“That’s likely true,” said Alice. “When they took us out of the wagon, I didn’t see anyone move our things from it.”

“And where’s the wagon?” I asked.

“...near the main gate,” Sofia sighed.

“Never an easy solution, huh?” I said, drawing my sword. “Let’s move up carefully. If they see us, I’ll hold them back. Lucille, go with them and protect them until they can get armed.”

“Got it,” said Lucille. We crept along the cavern wall, inching towards the main cavern entrance corridor. With all the commotion, we made it surprisingly far before a bandit spotted us.

“Hey! There! The prisoners have escaped!” yelled a bandit, calling for help from his friends, who all proceeded to chase after us.

“Get going!” I yelled, blocking the progress of the pursuers. Luckily, these guys didn’t have any enchanted gear like Guzno and those other two from the road did.

I sidestepped the first bandit’s charge, sticking out my leg and tripping him. The second swung directly for my neck, which I ducked under, stabbing him in the chest in return. The first bandit scrambled to his feet, flinging a nearby rock at me. It bounced off my enchanted body, and I quickly cut him down as more bandits began to swarm out from the mess hall corridor.

Glancing behind me, I saw Lucille struggling to fight with only a knife, locked in combat with a pair of bandits herself. I quickly used bolster on her, causing her movements to speed up, letting her easily dodge the enemies attacks and land a devastating counterattack, killing one and maiming the other.

Sofia, Alice, and Flora regrouped with Lucille, now rearmed. Flora passed Lucille her sword, getting given knife as a form of self defense rather than her old rusty sword. We all gathered together once more in the main cavern, facing off against the bulk of the bandits. Just as we were about to attack, the main gate burst open behind us, the wood shattering to bits as Gor slammed a pair of bandits through it.

“Gor!” cheered Alice.

“Gor save friend!” bellowed the cyclops, crushing a bandit underfoot. Behind him, Minerva charged through the now defunct gate, riding atop her now fully healed manticore.

“We got bored beating on the bandits outside, so we decided to come join the main event!” Minerva said, stopping the manticore next to us. Gor joined the lineup as well, armed with an uprooted tree he carried in from outside.

“Thanks for the help!” I said. “Time to put these guys in their place!”

“Agreed,” said Lucille, drawing her blade.

“W-what the hell are those things!?” stammered a bandit.

“Monsters! How the hell’d they get in!?” screamed another.

“Look! It’s the Witch of the Woods!” observed a third.

“How are we meant to face off against those things!?” the first bandit asked. From the mess corridor came another familiar looking bandit. It was the one who had clotheslined me during my fight with Guzno on the main road. He seemed to be some sort of sub-boss in their organization, seeing that as soon as he came out, the bandits cheered and regained their lost morale.

“Vice Boss Victor!” one bandit yelled, raising his sword in the air. “We’re saved!”

“Calm yourselves. There are merely six of them. The two monsters cannot change that. Kill them, and their monsters will pose no threat to us,” Victor declared, pointing a lance towards us.

“Yeah, he’s right! Come on, we can kick their asses, even without the boss’s help!” agreed a bandit. The rest cheered.

“That’s not good,” said Sofia. “They’ve gotten their morale back.”

“Then we should focus fire on that man, no?” said Minerva, pulling a staff shaped like a root from the manticore’s saddlebag.

“Yeah. Sofia, save your mana for the boss, we can handle this guy,” I said. She nodded, stepping back behind Gor.

“Now, kill every last one of them!” shouted Victor, leading the bandit charge.

“Gor, run wild,” ordered Minerva. Gor bellowed, meeting the bandit charge, swinging a full tree into the mass of bandits. He easily batted some aside, but others managed to get cuts in on his exposed legs.

“Alice, focus on keeping Gor healthy! Lucille, you’re with me on cleanup,” the pair nodded. Alice began casting her healing spell, still working at range, but losing efficiency. Lucille joined me as we rushed in to pick off those Gor had launched off balance.

As we stabbed bandits on the ground, Minerva had the manticore shooting its spikes into the crowd of bandits, some shots landing in instantly fatal areas, while others had the venom incapacitate the enemy.

“How dare you!” yelled a voice from behind me. Turning, I saw Victor speeding over, much faster than before, his lance aimed right at me. “Die!”

“Shit,” I cursed, barely able to avoid being impaled by the bandit miniboss’s high speed charge. Noticing the glowing boots, I figured he had some sort of speed augmenting enchantment on them, like how formerly Guzno’s bracelet enhanced durability.

“You okay?” asked Lucille.

“Just fine,” I groaned. “Stay away from this guy. One charge like that connecting, and you’re a goner. At least I have this bracelet going for me.”

“Alright, then. I’ll leave him to you,” she said, heading off into the main fray to assist Gor.

“Oh? How noble...it disgusts me. I’ll take great pleasure in skewering you. No more toying with you like before,” Victor said, brushing the sweaty black hair from his eyes.

“Yeah, well, too bad you won’t get the chance,” I said, taking a fighting stance against him.

“Is that so...we’ll have to see about that.” Victor said, launching another high speed charge without warning. I barely avoided the brunt of it, but his lance nicked my arm, drawing blood despite the bracelet’s enchantment.

“Damn!” I cursed.

“Oho...looks like your enchantment isn’t enough to protect you from me...I’ll just wear you down...” cackled Victor, speeding around me in circles, nearly faster than my eyes could keep up with. Another charge clipped my right thigh. A third resulted in a cut on my left forearm.

“Dammit...I can’t keep this up...” I muttered, trying to come up with a plan. All I would need is to stop one charge, and I could take him down, but he’s just too fast, those enchanted boots doing wonders for him.

“Now it’s over, time to die!!!” declared Victor, doing one last head on charge, his lance extended in front of him. Suddenly, roots sprouted up from the floor, entangling his feet, causing him to slide right out of his enchanted shoes from the momentum. He stumbled, trying to regain his footing.

“Take this! Mana Blade!” I yelled, taking the opportunity to hack straight through his lance, leaving him unarmed. The mini boss scrambled to his feet, running back towards his shoes, but they were crushed under the weight of Gor’s body, crumpling to the floor atop the enchanted shoes. “What the hell?”

I turned to see what had caused Gor to fall, only to see the boss of the bandits himself. The man with the skull tattoo was adorned with several pieces of jewelry, all glowing with magical energy.

“A single punch...” gasped Lucille, clutching her arm, remembering what the boss had done to her.

“He’s decked out with enchanted gear!” I yelled, rushing to Lucille’s side. To my relief, the Cyclops was still breathing, but the blow had left him ****.

“Yes! Boss, you’re here! Please, kill them all!” pleaded Victor, hiding behind the man with the skull tattoo.

“Kill them...oh my poor brother, you misunderstand. These women are all high value goods. They MUST be secured for our partner,” said the leader, cracking his knuckles.

“Huh!? But boss, these guys are way more trouble than they’re worth! Look, they even took out Guzno! Their boss has his bracelet!” said Victor.

“I thought I told you already, Victor! Now get in line, or-” yelled the boss. A spray of blood shot out from Victor’s body as his head fell from his neck to the ground.

“Oho? What was that about killing my precious specimen?” said a figure, stepping out from the shadows, sheathing a cane sword.

“I thought I told you that we could handle it. You don’t need to concern yourself with this,” said the bandit boss, seemingly unfazed by the person’s actions.

“Oho? I shall do as I please. I refuse to entrust my business endeavors to the seeming incompetence of your foolish underlings, and thus, I shall join the fray as well,” declared the figure, stepping into the torchlight.

“What the hell!?” I demanded. “It’s...it’s you...”