Raon crawled towards the direction the voice came from and raised his head.
Two bandits were standing guard over the bushes that were blocking his vision like a wall. They seemed to be joking around and giggling.
‘Their skills are pretty bad.’
They were rather developed physically, but he couldn’t feel any aura from them. They were low-class warriors that couldn’t use mana.
He looked over them to see what was behind.
A big bandit was sitting on the other side of the two chattering bandits, and a child was tied to a tree.
Only wearing a thin clothing, the child’s face and hands had turned red.
“Hie.”
The child groaned, unable to withstand the cold, and the bandit next to him tapped his cheek. The touch was enough to make the child tremble and shrink away.
Tsk.
Raon frowned and clicked his tongue. Just as he’d expected on the way, the bandit was holding the child hostage.
They must’ve been planning to threaten their enemies by putting their sword to the child’s neck.
‘There should be a few more.’
They wouldn’t have left the hostage where they stood guard if he was the only hostage. There were certainly going to be more hostages inside, where more bandits had gathered.
‘What shall I do?’
If he tried to inform everyone and move together, the bandits would certainly realize something was going on.
It could be a better idea to save the hostages and assassinate the bandits now, since they hadn’t been discovered yet.
‘And I can’t leave him like that.’
The child’s lips were completely blue. He could end up dying from the cold if left alone.
“……”
Raon turned his head. Runaan’s eyes were shivering, not knowing what to do after seeing the hostage.
“It will be alright.”
Raon whispered, creating an energy barrier to avoid sound from going out.
“I have a way to solve this.”
“A way?”
“But you have to help me.”
“Mhm.”
Runaan nodded, like she would do anything.
“On my signal, stand up to show yourself, then block sound using mana. Can you do it?”
“Mhm.”
Without asking the reason or the method, Runaan simply nodded.
“I’ll take care of the rest. The two of us can save that child.”
“I got it.”
Hearing that they could save the child, Runaan nodded more vigorously than ever.
“Then.”
Leaving Runaan where she was, Raon used his shadow footwork to move near the tree where the child was tied up.
“How long do we have to stay here?”
“They said the crazy bastards at Zieghart have already dispatched swordsmen. The roads are all blocked, apparently.”
“Shit, are we all going to die?”
“Since the boss said he called people from the South-North Union, our guide will arrive soon if we wait.”
Without realizing someone was listening to them, the bandits blabbered about their circumstances.
“Shut up.”
The bandit sitting next to a tree reproached them, and the bandits standing watch closed their mouths.
‘That guy is a bit different.’
He could feel an aura from the bandit’s energy center as he sat next to the tree. He was only around the beginner level with the sword, though.
In a single step, Raon arrived next to the big bandit.
Runaan had already finished her preparations and was breathing silently.
‘Haa…’
Controlling his breath, Raon bent his knees. In a posture that would allow him to start moving at any time, he raised his finger to create a small fire.
Rustle!
Runaan, at his signal, stood up from the bush.
“Wh-what is it?!”
“Who’s there?!”
When the bandit tried to grab the child, just in case, Raon was already standing behind him.
Pshk!
He cut the bandit’s throat as he drew his sword.
“Kugh…”
Unable to grab the child or draw his sword, the bandit’s head was split away from his body.
Before the blood gushed from the bandit’s headless body, Raon kicked off from the ground.
“What…?”
Of the two bandits, the one on the right turned around first. Raon turned his ankle to change directions. He dashed to the right and swung his sword.
Wham!
Right after stabbing the bandit in the heart, he spun his sword to aim at the last bandit’s throat.
“Wh-what…?”
The last bandit swallowed, looking at the sword touching his neck.
“I’ll kill you if you move or make a sound.”
“Kugh…”
The bandit swallowed and shut his mouth. It seemed he wasn’t completely stupid.
“Runaan, release the child.”
“Mhm!”
Runaan nodded energetically and went to the child.
“Answer my questions. I’ll pull out your bones one by one each time you refuse.”
Raon bent the bandit’s arm and slammed him down on the ground.
“I-I understand.”
The bandit kept nodding without any hesitation, terrified by Raon, who’d killed his allies.
“You are the Snow Tiger bandits, correct?”
“Th-that’s right.”
“How many are you?”
“W-we are thirty-nine.”
“Where are the rest?”
“They are in the forest over there.”
The bandit pointed towards the deeper part of the forest with his chin.
‘Certainly.’
He could feel multiple presences moving deep inside the forest. Since they were at such a location, they weren’t trying to hide their presence.
“When is your guard shift over?”
“I-in about three hours.”
“And the hostages?”
“There’s one more in there.”
“I see.”
Raon nodded. As he’d expected, they had a hostage where they kept guard because they had another one.
‘If there are thirty-six of them together, I can’t use the same strategy.’
Assassinating them was an easy task, but rescuing the hostages when thirty-six people were watching was rather difficult.
“Raon?”
Runaan came to him after dressing the child in a robe. The child’s face was clean, it looked like she’d cleaned his face with a handkerchief.
“M-mister swordsman, my little sister is in there.”
The child knelt in front of Raon and rammed his head against the ground. Despite his lips still bleeding from the cold, he didn’t stop pleading.
“Please save my little sister!”
“Don’t worry.”
Runaan gently patted the child’s head.
“Raon will resolve everything for you.”
“Runaan, you shouldn’t say something like that rashly.”
“But you are going to do it.”
“Hmph.”
Raon cleared his throat. Runaan’s eyes were clear, showing complete trust in him. Facing such a heavy trust, Raon’s throat felt dry.
“Killing the bandits is one thing, but I think it’d be better to call more people if we want to rescue the hostage safely. Since there are thirty-six bandits, including their boss, it could be dangerous.”
“Shall I use the whistle, then?”
“Yes.”
Runaan stood while still holding the child’s hand. She stepped back and blew the whistle that she’d got from Rimmer.
Despite blowing it so hard that her face turned red, no sound came out.
‘It definitely can’t be heard.’
The sound was so quiet that he couldn’t hear anything, despite being right next to her. He could understand why that whistle was given to them.
“It’s an inaudible whistle! Wake up everyone! The pursuers are here!”
* * *
* * *
As soon as she finished blowing the whistle, a husky voice could be heard from the forest.
“What is this…?”
Raon swallowed. That reaction was certainly from hearing the whistle.
‘I didn’t expect there to be someone so sensitive…’
He didn’t think they would be able to hear the whistle from so far away when even Raon himself had difficulty hearing it. Realizing that he’d messed up, cold sweat ran down his back.
“Runaan, hide over there with the child.”
Raon pointed at the bush to the west.
“What about Raon?”
“I’ll buy some time here.”
Answering Runaan’s question, he pulled the suppressed bandit’s arm towards the bush.
“It’s alright, so trust me. And if you get an opportunity, save the other hostage.”
“Okay.”
When he said it was alright, Runaan nodded and went to the bush to the right side.
Wham!
Along with a crashing noise, thirty-four bandits wearing all sorts of outfits approached together.
“Wh-what! When did they…”
“Oh, shit!”
“Which bastard did this?!”
The bearded macho man that had the most powerful pressure ground his teeth upon seeing the dead bandits.
‘The hostage is… over there.’
Raon confirmed the hostage’s location while hiding in the bush.
The rightmost bandit was grasping the little girl by her throat. Fortunately, he was right next to the bush where Runaan was hiding.
“Come out!”
The bearded macho stomped on the ground and glared.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll slit that girl’s throat.”
He drew his greatsword and aimed it at the hostage girl.
“Tsk.”
Grabbing the suppressed bandit’s neck, Raon stood up from the bush.
“A kid? Are you saying you did all this?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s crazy! How could they lose to such a young brat…?”
“U-underboss…”
The bandit Raon was holding called him underboss. It seemed the macho man was the second-in-command of the bandits, who’d also heard the whistle.
“Who did you call with the inaudible whistle?”
He was even aware of the name of the whistle that Rimmer gave him. It looked like he used to be an instructor somewhere.
“Why does it matter who I called?”
“You must want to die at a young age.”
The underboss growled like a beast.
“I want to exchange hostages.”
Raon said, while placing his sword between the underboss and the bandit.
“Exchange hostages?”
“I’ll give him back if you hand over that child.”
“Kuhahahaha!”
The underboss laughed so hard that his shoulders shuddered.
“I don’t care whether he dies or not. Unlike that girl, he isn’t worthy of being a hostage.”
“I see. Indeed.”
Raon nodded and put his sword against the bandit’s neck.
“I already told you, we don’t care at all that he dies. If you don’t want to see this girl’s head cut off, drop your sword right now.”
“I wonder.”
Creating a small flame with his left pinky finger, he sent the signal to Runaan.
“His worth is something that I decide, not you.”
Raon cut his carotid artery with his sword. A huge amount of blood gushed out from his throat, blocking the bandits’ vision.
‘Now!’
Raon raised the dagger he had on his waist. Using the ‘Perception of the Snow Flower’ and his senses to the best of his ability, he detected the presence of the bandit holding the girl.
He threw the dagger at the bandit, filling it with energy from the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’.
Whack!
When the blood gushing towards the sky finally calmed, they could see the bandit collapsing with a dagger stuck on his forehead.
“F*ck! Damn it!”
“S-stop him!”
When the underboss and the bandits started moving towards the girl that had been set free, Runaan stood up. Silver frost was imbued in her unsheathed sword.
“Soft Frost.”
As she swung her sword, frost appeared under the bandits running towards her.
“Wh-who is she?”
“Ice?”
“It’s an attributed aura!”
The bandits couldn’t move carelessly, and their legs stopped. A moment’s hesitation was all he needed.
Thud!
Raon kicked off from the ground and sprung towards the girl.
“Stop!”
A bandit in his path struck down his sword.
Thud!
Raon deflected it by hitting the side of the sword with his hand, then cut the bandit’s throat. He looked like he was riding the wind, just like Rimmer.
“You bastard!”
The underboss slammed down his greatsword to block his path.
Raon turned his ankle to stand in front of the girl and thrust his sword.
Whack!
A thin sword and a huge greatsword collided, but the greatsword was the one that was pushed back.
“Keuh!”
The underboss stepped back while gritting his teeth.
“I got her.”
In the meantime, Runaan appeared next to him and held the girl in her arms.
“Serin!”
“B-brother!”
The children hugged each other and started crying.
“It’s okay now.”
Runaan withdrew, holding the children. Her lips were into a small, unusual smile.
‘She’s pretty good.’
Raon glanced at the back and smirked. Runaan acted exactly the way he wanted, as if she could read his mind. She was pretty quick witted, despite how she looked.
“You damn brats! Do you know who I am?!”
The underboss swung his greatsword while gritting his teeth. The bandits behind him also drew their swords, spreading murderous intent.
“I don’t care about the name of someone who’s going to die soon.”
The red flame of the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’ flared up on Raon’s sword.
“Come at me.”
