The Secret of the Village Hidden in the Forest Part 3

Walking through the darkness of the night among the trees trying to make as little noise as possible, Ryul and I walk around the village to get to the place that Ari told us the hostages are. Even though this is the first quest that we do on our own, I don't feel nervous. And Ryul seems as calm as I do. The plan is simple. Ryul and I will take care of freeing the hostages they have outside the village, and for that, we need to first find the bandit who has the skill to communicate through telepathy with Borak. Once we take care of that, Leona and the rest will eliminate as many of the bandits scattered around the village, at least until Borak and the hooded wizard move into action.

Having to go around the village at a slow pace took us longer than expected, but we are finally here. Hidden in the bushes, we can see the hostages tied and leaning against some big rocks, and besides them, there are a man and a woman tied to a couple of trees. They are both quite injured and appear to be ****. I imagine they are the adventurers of the other group. Besides the hostages, there are five bandits around a campfire eating and drinking. Just like Ari said, the bandits here don't seem very strong, and the hooded magician who could give us trouble isn't here either. Everything seems to be going well. It would be easy to take care of the bandits now that they are distracted, but before that, I have to find the one who uses telepathy.

Looking at them one by one and examining the clothings and weapons, there are only two that could be our target. One of them has a staff by his side, and another doesn't seem to have any weapon near. The rest have physical weapons. While we continued to observe, the bandit who had no weapons got up from where he was sitting, went to where one of the hostages was, and grabbing her hair violently, he pulled her to him. Then the bandit tried to take off her blouse while the girl screamed and the rest of the bandits laughed.

"Darx, we have to act now!" Ryul told me upon seeing the horrible scene.

"Agree!"

"Leave that bastard to me." Ryul told me with an enraged expression.

If Ryul is going to take care of him, I'll take care of the guy with the staff. After giving the signal, Ryul entered his [Earth Stance] and then used [Deadly Rush], and at the same time, I created a [Water Spear]. The moment I threw the spear, Ryul with incredible speed smashed the bandit who was trying to **** the girl with his shoulder, throwing him hard against a large rock that was in the distance. The sound of his body being destroyed by the impact and then falling to the ground leaving a large bloodstain on the rock he hit.

At the same time, my spear hit the other bandit at stomach level and was also thrown hard into the distance while splashing water to the hostages. The other three bandits quickly stood up confused, not knowing what was happening, but before one could act, Ryul continued his attack. [Rising Sun Kick]; a pretty strong upright kick, that struck the bandit under the jaw and with such **** that it lifted the bandit even higher than Ryul's height. I can see that Ryul is not holding back at all.

"W-WHO ARE YOU?" One of the bandits yelled.

In my case, taking the life of someone still weighs on me, even if it is scum like these bandits, but doing everything possible to put that aside, I took out my two swords and rush against a bandit who also uses a sword. Although the bandit used a skill against me, I beat him with ease without having to use one of my skills by burying the sword that my mother gave me in his chest. And by the time I remove my sword from his chest, Ryul had already taken care of the last of the bandits.

Ryul and I stared at each other for a moment, "All good?" Ryul asked me.

"Yeah... It seems that we took care of the one using telepathy before he could warn the bandits in the village."

We were quickly interrupted by the screams of the hostages.

"Wait! Don't yell! We are the good ones," Ryul told them, "We are here to help you."

While we tried to calm the hostages and free them, I canceled the summon that I left in the village, which would let Shalia and the others understand that we achieved our objective and that they can now get into action.

"Thanks for saving us! Please help those two adventurers. They tried to help us but were caught." A woman of advanced age told us, pointing to the two tied up in the tree.

"Of course!" I reply.

I ran up to where they were, and after cutting the ropes with which they were tied, I laid them slowly on the ground. It doesn't look good at all. What the hell did they do to them? Their bodies are extremely hurt, and when I looked at their hands, they took off their nails. It seems that they were being tortured. Knowing that there would be injured people among the hostages, I brought with me some potions that Syvis gave me, but I doubt they will be of much help to them. Shalia needs to use her healing magic on them as soon as possible, and maybe then the potions will have a better effect. The only thing I can do at the moment is use an ointment that Syvis gave me on their wounds.

"Darx, we have to hurry and go help the girls." Ryul told me, "Only then we can finish this faster and heal the wounded."

"Unfortunately for you, I can't let you go."

We heard a voice from the shadows of the forest.

Surprised, Ryul and I stood in the middle of where we heard the voice and the hostages. All this time, I have been on the alert, and at no time did I notice someone approaching us. And even now that I hear the voice, I still can't find him.

"Show yourself, you son of a bitch." Ryul yelled at him.

"As you wish." The same serene voice spoke and with that, from the shadows, a person appeared who had a hood that did not allow his face to be seen.

"Who are you?" Ryul asked him.

"Hmm... good question. Hmm... you can call me, 'hooded man'."

"What? Hoo....ded man!?" Ryul reply to him, "Stop playing the clown with me, you idiot. I'm going to kick your ass."

"I'm not a clown, I'm a magician! See!?" Moments later, he raised one of his hands which made us put on guard, and then take a rose out of nowhere. "You see!? I am a magician."

This guy must be the magician Julia told us. His calm voice makes me think that he doesn't feel threatened by us. I wonder what his rank will be? With that armor he's wearing, he doesn't show any skin. And in the same way, I cannot see him carrying any weapon. What is his purpose? We need to finish this as soon as possible otherwise Leona and Shalia will have to fight not only with Borak but also with the rest of the bandits alone while Ari rescues the girls that Borak had locked up.

"What is your goal by staying here? If you just wanted to steal, you could have done it and escaped. Why stay knowing that adventurers would come after your group?" I asked.

"My goal is somewhat.... complicated, to say the least. The short answer is that we are looking for someone and we know he is here. However, we haven't been able to locate him, so to speak."

"You spill the beans pretty easy, huh." Ryul spoke, "Why don't we continue like this and tell us who you are looking for?"

"Unfortunately I cannot tell you that, but in return, I will tell you a secret. I noticed that you two were looking for someone before attacking and I assume you figured out that Borak was communicating remotely with someone."

Did he see us when we were hiding? Exactly how long has he been aware of our presence? Wait, if he knew we were here, why didn't he do anything? Unless...

"Don't tell me..."

"Yes, that's how it is!" The magician spoke, "None of them were who you were looking for. I am the one who communicates with Barok. In fact, I already told him what was happening here, so your companions must be having troubles right now."

"Curse! Darx, let's not waste any more time here. Let's take care of him and go help Leona and Shalia. "

We thought we were setting a trap, but the trapped ones ended up being us. I trust in Leona and Shaila's abilities yet they are alone against a large number of bandits including Borak. I just hope that Ari isn't found out too. Ryul and I should have the advantage against a single opponent. Even if he plans to keep us apart, we just have to defeat him and reunite with our teammates. However, it still bothers me that the magician is so calm even knowing that we are two against one. And if he had wanted, he could have attacked us when we were not aware of his presence.

Ryul started out using [Mantra] to increase his physical strength and speed and almost instantly he entered his second passive skill [Heaven Stance] which is his defensive stance. I suppose Ryul also feels that there is something strange and he wants to start with caution.

"Interesting...!" I heard the mage say.

"Tss, I'll erase your cocky attitude in a moment," Ryul said, "Darx, cover me."

I summoned my water spirit. Let's make this is a three against one. Being a magician his defenses must be weak. Syvis told me that mages are really good at fighting from a distance, but in contrast, their defenses tend to be worse than those of other classes, so as a countermeasure they always try to keep a distance. I will attack from here to measure his defenses and give Ryul a chance to get close and attack. If Ryul closes the distance, the fight will be ours.

I conjured a dozen waterballs and made my summon do the same. We sent them flying towards the mage. He began to dodge them doing some strange movements. The way he moved made it seem like he was floating, but because of his long outfit, I couldn't see his feet. The waterballs collided with the trees behind him one after another creating a loud sound and destroying or making holes in them. I was really surprised that none of them hit my target however my true goal was to distract him so that Ryul would close the distance.

Ryul took the opportunity and using [Deadly Rush] he tried to hit him the same way he did with the other bandit, but the magician once again incredibly dodged him. The Ryul from before, after failing, would not have been able to stop and would crash into the trees behind. Nonetheless, Ryul has trained that skill a lot and his training has paid off, since he stopped and in a quick movement he tries to punch him with his right hand. For a split second, I thought we got him and in response, the mage did something that shocked me.

The opening of his face began to glow blue and he dodged Ryul's attack. Or rather than dodging it seems that he flashed and reappeared two steps back.

His brightness increased and electricity began to come out of the openings in his clothes, "You used magic without a staff. I must admit, it caught me off guard," He spoke with his same passive voice, "You must have a ring similar to mine. It is impressive that a low-ranking adventurer has a relic as rare as mine."

Now that I think about it, he is using electricity magic without using a staff which means that it is true that he also has a ring like the one Syvis gave me.

The electricity began to create a sphere around him. A magic barrier?

"There are few rings like ours in the world," The mage continued, "I would like to add one more to my collection."

"The only thing you're going to take is a beating," Ryul said attacking once more, "You have bad luck. Magical barriers cannot stop me."

It's true. While Ryul is in [Heaven Stance], he has access to a skill called [Snake Strike] which is a skill that can break through magical barriers. For some reason, the mage didn't move as Ryul approached him.

"You're wrong. It's not a magic barrier."

"What?"

The sphere that surrounds him began to grow slowly destroying everything around it with the electricity that was dissipating. At that moment my gaze focused on the ground. The whole floor is filled with water from the waterballs I use. This is bad.

"Ryul!!"

I wanted to warn Ryul but it was too late. The sphere of electricity expanded rapidly destroying everything. The sphere of electricity also reached me. I felt the great charge of electricity run through my entire body. The pain was so intense that I lost consciousness for a few seconds. My head was spinning and I had difficulties getting up. I was feeling a lot of pain and my body felt so numb that I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to continue fighting.

Looking around, it looked like the trees were destroyed in a big area. Between the destruction and the dust, I managed to see the silhouette of the magician walking slowly towards me.

"Ry...ul..."

Trying to find Ryul I saw that the hostages were fine. It seems that the area didn't reach where they were, nevertheless, I can hear their screams of terror.

"I'm surprised you're alive. You have good resistance."

F-Fuck, I can't move. I need to find Ryul. He received the discharge from closer and he also was standing on water.

"What do you say? In exchange for your ring, I will spare your life. If you hurry maybe you can even save your partner's life."

"Kk... Go... To hell..."

"Or I can kill you and take the ring from your corpse."

Once again he began to glow and he attacked me with electricity coming from his hands.

"GHAHAHAA!!!"

I could only scream in pain as he used his electricity on me over and over again. My body was numb, unable to move. I felt like I was starting to lose consciousness again. But I can't... If I faint what will happen to Ryul and the hostages. I also need to go help Shalia... I can't...

Feelings of helplessness once again. Once again I lose an important fight. I'm sick of being humiliated by Kase or by guys like him.

Out of nowhere, I stopped feeling pain in my body but a terrible headache started. I remember this feeling. The same thing happened to me when I fought with Kase. Yes... I want power... I want to be strong... I want to kill him...

"AAHHHH!!!"

"Mmm? You finally give up?"

I feel as if there is a haze in my head that doesn't let me think with clarity but even though a few minutes ago I was about to be defeated, now I can stand up and the pain I felt except for the headache disappeared.

"H-How can you be okay?" The magician told me while he saw me stand up.

It is the first time I have heard a disturbance in his passive voice. The same thing happened to me in the fight with Kase. Out of nowhere, I found myself better and with a strong feeling of wanting ****.

I approached the mage at high speed holding my swords in each hand. The attack that he used despite being incredibly powerful must have spent a lot of his mana. I can't use the owl summon as it could hurt the hostages too and my water magic would only affect me, so I can only rely on my physical skills.

As I attacked him with my swords he kept backing away evading my attacks. I need to find the perfect time to use [Triple Slash]. I want to think that the attack that knocked out Ryul and me is a rare skill and he can't use it again. In the same way, the magician tried to counterattack with his electricity. Unlike him, who manages to dodge me, several of his attacks managed to hit me but at no time did I stop attacking until I found an opportunity.

Now that I have the [Dual Wield] skill I can use [Triple Slash] with both hands at the same time, which makes it a sextuple attack. It's something I tried while training in the Dark space together with Ophelia and it worked.

"[Triple Slash]"

I used my best attack at the right time. I thought there was no way he could dodge it but the magician dodged it with the same flash that he dodged Ryul's attack by appearing two steps behind where he was.

"Impossible" That word escapes my mouth.

The magician realized my hesitation and threw a ball of electricity against me which apart from electrocuting me pushed me backwards. Once again I was in bad shape. My body is full of wounds and even worse the magician put distance between us.

With difficulty, I got up from the ground and noticed blood on the magician's clothes. It seems like he didn't dodge all my attacks.

"I'm impressed. That skill took me by surprise and I paid off with a serious wound on my arm, but that doesn't change things. You are more injured than me and at this distance, I have the advantage."

He's right. Getting close to him now would be almost impossible and I can't use water magic. Unless...

Rays of electricity came out of his hands against me. I managed to dodge several but in the end one hit me. Now I only have one option left. I only trained with Ophelia for two days, so I still haven't mastered this skill well however I have ****. My wind magic.

Wind magic has a quality that allows its element to be applied more easily to weapons unlike other types of elements.

I will try to apply the element on my swords and use [Triple Slash] at a distance which will send wind blades against my enemy.

I tried to do it several times with the help of Ophelia but only once did I succeed. Let's see if I can repeat the miracle.

I concentrated and applied my wind magic on the swords.

"Uh, wind?" The magician said upon realizing.

I didn't let him have time to process what was happening and I used [Triple Slash] with both hands and as I was hoping the wind blades come out of my swords at high speed making a whistling sound against the magician.

The attack really took him by surprise because he could not react however the wind blades lost shape midway. Nonetheless, the wind residues hurt the magician, causing him several small injuries but nothing fatal.

"You really are a bag of surprises."

He responded to my attack with one of his own and began to create a large ball of electricity.

Damn, I won't be able to dodge that attack. I've reached my limit.

"This is the en-"

When he was about to throw his electricity spell suddenly.

"[Deadly Rush]"

Ryul came out of nowhere hitting the magician with great **** sending him flying.

"R-Ryul!"

"That attack really hurt." Ryul spoke with a body covered in wounds, "I'm sorry I let you fight alone mate, but you know me. I like to make a big entrance, hahaha!"

"Well, glad you are back."

"So you're alive too, uh. You two are certainly interesting." We hear the magician speak inside the dust and then appear from it.

"How can you be okay after that?" Ryul said with astonishment.

The truth is, I am also surprised. I've seen Ryul use this attack several times and it is a devastating attack. He even destroyed the other bandit with his attack yet a magician who is supposed to have the worst defenses is still on his feet.

"So we go back to the beginning." The magician said.

"No, I had enough." Ryul reply.

"Excuse me?" The mage said confused.

"Darx, please take care of me after I finish."

"Don't tell me.."

Ryul lower his head and crossed his arms and red steam began to come out from his body. He's going to use [Berserk].

The magician did not know what was happening but he sensed that it would be dangerous, "If we continue the fight it will turn into a fight with no return. I will consider that it was a tie."

"What? Are you escaping?" Ryul asked angrily, "Do you think I'll let you go?

The magician started to back away without turning around and once again moving as if he were floating, "Are you sure you want to follow me? Don't you want to know what is happening in the village? You decide."

And little by little the mage disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

"Son of a bitch!" Ryul yelled.