“Get him!”
The bandits charged at Raon, following the underboss’s command.
Raon easily dodged the bandit’s attack by tilting his head slightly, then he thrust his sword in his direction in a straight line.
“Ugh!”
Before he could even think about dodging, the bandit’s heart was pierced and he collapsed.
Stab!
Looking for an opening, the bandit at his right thrust his spear. Raon parried it using the side of his sword, then sliced the bandit’s throat and the spear handle in a single strike.
The bandit died with his eyes wide open. He looked like he didn’t even realize he was dying.
How are you so resolute at your age?
‘Because these kinds of people are better off dead.’
Raon coldly glanced through the bandits.
They were fiends that burned up an entire village and took children hostage. He didn’t feel guilty about killing them.
“What are you doing? Attack him at once! He’s just a kid!”
“Diiie!”
“Arrrgh!”
Twenty bandits holding swords, spears, and sabers lunged at him at once.
Whap!
When Raon brandished his sword, silver frost came out from the ground and engulfed the bandits. It was Runaan. She’d spread the frost to slow down the bandits.
Thud!
Raon thanked her by nodding to her slightly, then moved to the bandits’ left side.
“Y-you bastard!”
Facing the bandits swinging their swords at the same time, Raon kept dashing ahead instead of dodging.
Grazing the bandits’ swords, he swung his sword upward.
The blade dyed in red sliced through two bandits at once.
“D-die!”
The bandit behind them tried to skewer him with his spear. The deadly spearhead was thrust at Raon’s heart.
He lowered his body. The spearhead cut Raon’s hair and scattered it in the air.
“Haa!”
Two bandits, one holding an ax and the other a sword, lunged at him right after.
Slide!
Raon moved back smoothly and sliced the bandit’s neck when he was caught off guard.
“Catch up with him!”
“S-slippery bastard!”
“You don’t need to come at me.”
Raon used the River Footwork to turn his ankle. Bending his body forward, he leapt like lightning.
“Since I’m coming to you.”
Breathing through beneath the bandits that were chasing after him, Raon swiped with the ‘Star-Combining Sword’.
Slash!
The lightning-fast consecutive strikes sent the heads of four bandits flying.
“Haa.”
When Raon stopped his sword to catch his breath, a powerful murderous intent appeared behind him.
‘It’s him.’
It was the underboss that had been staying back, looking for an opportunity. Without turning, Raon bent his back.
The underboss’s greatsword went over him, cutting his bangs. The golden hair fluttered in the air.
“H-how did you dodge that?”
“By doing well.”
Raon swung his sword up at the confused underboss.
Whack!
Since he was in an awkward position, the strike didn’t carry much strength. However, the underboss still bounced back, unable to withstand it.
“Attack! Rip him into pieces!”
“Aaaaah!”
The underboss and bandits holding all kinds of weapons flooded at him like a wave. Rusty swords and spears were aimed at his heart, and thick axes walloped at his head.
Thud!
Raon took a deep breath and stepped on the ground. He sliced his sword, which contained the energy from the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’, diagonally from left to right.
Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Wind of Flame.
The blade of heat, carried by the wind, sliced through the underboss and the bandits at the same time.
“Kugh…”
“Huh, huh?”
Unable to believe their death, the bandits were split in half and collapsed.
“Arrgh!”
“M-monster!”
“How can a child like that…?”
The last few remaining bandits backed away with trembling hands.
“Where is your bo…”
“Wow, this is ridiculous.”
A man wearing an unbuttoned top came out of the bushes. Despite his young face, at about thirty years old, his pressure was extremely violent. Raon understood from his strong malice that he was the ringleader.
“Boss!”
“Leader!”
——————
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A light of hope shone upon the bandits that had been trembling in fear. As expected, that man was the Snow Tiger’s leader.
“How can you get annihilated by a small kid? I’d just get humiliated even if I joined the South-North Union like this.”
The man giggled, bringing the liquor bottle he had around his waist to his mouth. There was no sign of anger, despite many bandits having died. Instead, he seemed to find the situation interesting.
“Those are some very elegant faces and clothes. You gotta be from a rich family, huh?”
The bandit boss giggled and pointed at Raon, then Runaan.
“Well, that’s better. I was worried my presents weren’t enough, but I’m gonna take you hostage. It seems I, Bookan, haven’t been abandoned by heaven.”
Introducing himself as Bookan, the bandit boss drew his saber. He started spinning a saber as thick as a log as if it was a leaf.
‘If his name is Bookan, he’s indeed the boss.’
That was the name of the Snow Tiger’s leader, the one that Rimmer had mentioned before. The fact that his might was above average among the aura users also matched the description.
He was the strongest opponent so far.
However, there was no tension, as he was an opponent Raon could easily win against.
“Come at me. Since you are a young master, I’ll let you have a head start.”
Bookan giggled, and put his fingers together, wagging them.
“Fine.”
Raon signaled Runaan to stay back, then stepped up.
“Let’s see how strong this kid i…”
While Bookan was carelessly blabbering, Raon thrust his sword at his neck.
Whoosh!
The blade, filled with the energy of the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’, lunged at Bookan’s neck.
“Huh!”
Bookan gasped and swung his saber. Spinning like a windmill, the blade managed to deflect the sword’s trajectory.
Smack!
The powerful impact pushed both Raon and Bookan back at once.
“Wow, that’s pretty strong!”
Bookan’s eyes glowed like a hungry beast.
“Very interesting!”
Bursting out in laughter, he pounced. Rotating his saber, he slammed it down.
Raon didn’t face the attack head on. Instead, he dodged it by turning his body.
Crash!
The saber split the ground upon reaching it. It was a monstrous strength.
“Kuhahaha!”
Bookan laughed like crazy and continuously slammed down his saber. As a gigantic saber dominated the space, his movement grew more and more restricted.
“You are going to be sliced to death if you keep trying to dodge.”
“That’s none of your business.”
Raon calmly kept using the footwork and blocked the strikes.
“Tsk, I guess we don’t need to continue this any further if that’s all you’ve got.”
Bookan pouted and kept swinging his saber. The huge saber that was riding the wind shone blue and exploded with a powerful energy.
“Just die!”
The moment his saber rose into the air and his motions grew large, red lightning struck Raon’s eyes.
‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’, First Flame.
Flame Spirit.
Flame appeared at the tip of the silver blade and blossomed, riding the wind.
Slash!
The fierce energy of the small flame cut through Bookan’s saber and cut him at his waist.
“Gaaaah!”
Bookan screamed, grabbing the sword stabbing into his ribs.
“Y-you bastard!”
Holding the blade, he pushed back with tremendous strength. It looked like he wasn’t the boss for nothing.
“Die!”
Holding the sword stabbing his ribs with his left hand, he swung his saber at Raon’s neck with his right hand.
“Pointless.”
Raon dodged the cut by tilting his neck slightly, then used Bookan’s strength to thrust his sword in even more to the right.
“Kugh!”
A brutal amount of blood gushed from Bookan’s side. Releasing the sword he was holding, Bookan backed off.
“Wh-what’s everyone doing?! Kill him! Do you wanna die here?”
“Eek!”
“L-let’s go!”
“Save the boss!”
The bandits dashed towards Raon at once, hearing Bookan’s shout.
“Huu.”
Raon caught his breath and swung his sword. Using Zieghart’s basic technique, he decapitated the bandits running at him and sliced their legs.
“Kugh!”
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The wall of bandits screamed and collapsed.
‘Where is he?’
Raon looked for Bookan’s location while swinging his sword. He wasn’t there anymore. He couldn’t find his location with his perception either.
‘He escaped!’
The boss had used his underlings as a shield in order to run away. It was an act befitting of a bandit.
* * *
* * *
Raon grit his teeth and emanated his pressure.
‘I don’t have much time.’
Unlike him, Bookan should’ve been familiar with the surrounding area. It was going to be difficult to catch him again if he escaped.
Whir.
He swung his sword, using the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’ at its full power.
The moment the blade dyed in red sliced like lightning, the bandits in front of Raon had their heads separated from their bodies.
“Kuh…”
“Uh!”
The bandits foolishly collapsed before they even realized they were killed.
“Arrrgh!”
“N-no! We can’t win against that! He’s a monster!”
“B-boss! Boss! Huh?”
“Did that son of a bitch run away?”
“S-surrender! I surrender!”
The last few remaining bandits screamed. Upon realizing the leader had run away, they all dropped their weapons and knelt down.
“Runaan!”
After checking the bandits that surrendered, he looked at Runaan.
“I’ll follow the leader. Kill them without hesitation if they try anything funny.”
“Mhm.”
Runaan casually answered while hugging the children tightly. The bandits’ faces went pale.
“Later.”
Using the ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’, Raon took off.
Entering the area that the bandits came from initially, he widened his perception and rolled his eyes.
‘Where is he?’
Since the traces of bandits were everywhere, it was difficult to track him down.
However, he couldn’t hide his sound.
‘Southwest.’
His hearing, enhanced by the ‘Perception of the Snow Flower’, caught a rustling sound from a bush in the southwest.
Thud!
He ran like the wind towards the source of the sound. It didn’t take long before he found Bookan’s presence, his back visible.
‘What’s that?’
Bookan wasn’t alone. He was running through the forest like a mad man, holding a woman in his arms.
“That’s as far as you go.”
Raon cut him off, running at full speed using the River Footwork.
“Shit! How did you chase after me?”
Bookan stepped back with trembling lips.
“Don’t come! I’ll kill her if you come any closer!”
Putting his saber on the woman’s neck, he threatened.
“I’m at the end of my rope. I’ll kill her if anything goes wrong!”
“Then you will also die.”
Raon didn’t succumb to his threat. Using the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’ and ‘Ring of Fire’, he slowly approached him.
‘Showing weakness because of the hostage is the worst thing to do.’
He needed to show him that the hostage didn’t have any effect on him in order to catch him off guard.
And the hostage was actually meaningless to him.
“Damn it!”
The leader screamed and threw away the woman he was holding.
“Haa!”
Raon ran up and caught the falling woman with his left hand.
“Th-thank you.”
The moment the clean woman nodded at him, a blue snake popped out from her sleeve.
“We did it!”
Bookan cheered.
“What did you do?”
Raon laughed coldly and stabbed the sword in his right hand.
Whack!
Piercing through the snake’s head, the blade also crushed her heart.
“Kugh! How?!”
“Earlier, he said there were thirty-nine bandits in total. You must be the last one.”
“What kind of crazy bastard counts that…”
The woman couldn’t close her eyes as she died because of how ridiculous that was.
“And she was too clean for a hostage.”
Actually, that wasn’t everything. The ring with red lines that she had on her finger was the mark of a snake user.
The number of bandits was one thing, but he noticed she wasn’t a hostage from the ring and her clean appearance.
“Wh-who are you?!”
Bookan, the Snow Tiger leader screamed. He just kept trembling, plopping down on the ground. It seemed he’d realized he couldn’t run away.
“It must’ve been fun when you were the one doing the killing.”
Pulling the sword from the woman’s heart, he approached Bookan.
“G-get away!”
Bookan screamed, frantically swinging his saber. His gaze, which used to be fierce, was now trembling in fear.
“You attacked and plundered the village, even took children hostage. You are worse than a fiend.”
I’m sorry, but there are many fiends that can do worse. I mean, there are countless.
“……”
Ignoring Wrath, Raon approached Bookan.
“Shut up!”
Bookan leapt up like a grasshopper and swung his saber. The saber’s sharp blade, full of aura, glowed menacingly.
However, the ‘Ring of Fire’ had already finished analyzing his techniques. Raon swung his sword after easily dodging it.
Slash!
Bookan’s right arm fell to the ground.
“Kuaaaah!”
“You don’t even have the right to scream.”
“W-wait, I’ll give you an elixir! The elixir I got in that village… Kugh!”
Raon severed his head without hesitation. The head of the disgraceful bandit fell to the ground and rolled away.
“Haa…”
Catching his breath, he unsheathed his sword.
‘He mentioned an elixir.’
He said he’d attacked the village for the elixir. He must’ve kept it somewhere in his body.
When he examined Bookan’s clothes, he found a small pouch.
“This is it.”
He opened the pouch. There was a flower bud that hadn’t burst yet. It was a strange bud with leaves that were half blue and half red.
“For such a petty reason.”
Raon frowned while touching the flower bud.
It was an elixir called Teuton Flower, which had the energy of both fire and water attributes.
It was rare, but it wasn’t something so extraordinary that it would warrant annihilating an entire village.
“Tsk.”
He regretted killing Bookan so quickly.
Human greed is like that. It seems the King of Essence is getting to witness more greed here in the human world than back in the devildom. What an interesting world.
Raon didn’t respond to Wrath. He wasn’t ignoring him, but he couldn’t rebuke it because Wrath was correct.
“Hmm?”
It was as Raon was about to head back, licking his lips. that his head suddenly started hurting. He remembered something from the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’.
Teuton Flower.
That wasn’t the true form of the flower that didn’t blossom.
‘If I had that, it would become a much more potent elixir… huh?’
The moment he realized Teuton Flower’s true form, thanks to the knowledge from the ‘Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’, he felt the presence of someone moving in the southern bushes.
Rustle.
A man appeared through the bush. He was wearing a tiger skin leather jacket and a yellow bandana on his head. He could either be a hunter or a bandit.
“Huh? Is everything over already?”
He licked his lips, looking at the Snow Tiger leader’s corpse at his feet.
“All the efforts of coming to help him through Zieghart’s encirclement was in vain.”
The man in a tiger leather jacket raised his head and met Raon’s eyes.
“Did you do this? That’s pretty amazing.”
“South-North Union, huh?”
A yellow bandana was the mark of South-North Union, which was one of the Five Demons.
The fact that he’d appeared in that place, and the way he seemed to feel sorry about the Snow Tiger leader’s death, all proved that he was from the South-North Union.
“My name is Raptor.”
He introduced himself. It seemed he didn’t need to hide it.
‘Raptor.’
Raon frowned upon hearing the name. It was a name he’d heard in his previous life.
The genius swordsman who had become the boss of a large group of bandits in South-North Union ten years after joining them with nothing but a single sword.
Unlike the Snow Tiger leader, Raptor was a real warrior at a different level.
“Did you take the elixir he had?”
“What if I did?”
Raon nodded. Since he’d arrived when he was looking at the Teuton Flower, it was impossible to hide it anyway.
“You look confident. Well, I guess your judgment is also pretty good, despite your age.”
He looked at the snake user.
“And you are pretty strong. I guess that’s why you can be so confident.”
After checking the headless Bookan’s corpse, Raptor’s gaze was directed at Raon once again.
“Descendant of a great family, you must be a member of the direct line of Zieghart, one of the six Kings. Considering you don’t have the flame sword emblem, you must still be a trainee. Hmm, what shall I do?”
He licked his lips while fondling the sword around his waist.
“Shall I kill you?”
