Bandits

"if you guys just died, it would have made everything so much easier tck" The figure wielding the sword said as he stop around 3 meters away from Adam, Hana, Irshad and Jeremy.

"You must be perps who have been attacking the caravans I presume" Adam said as he glared back.

"Who wants to know. You would be dead in a few minutes anyways so why waste my breath." The figure sneered back.

"And yet here we are, wasting breathes" Adam said with a smile as he drew out his sword.

Bzzz

In a flash of a moment, in a wink of an eye, the figure in front who was wielding the sword blurred and vanish into thin air.

Instinctively, Adam ducked

Swish.

The crisp sound of a blade slicing the air could be heard slashing across horizontally where Adams head was just a few moments ago.

As soon as the assailant made his location known, Adam counter with an upward diagonal slash from his ducked position toward the assailant.

Ping!

The assailant as if knowing this would happen once his initial strike failed, pulled his sword back in and parried the incomming strike with his dagger. The force of the strike pushed him a few steps back.

"Not bad" The assailant said.

"Am I good enough to be blessed with your name at least?" Adam said as he smiled cockily.

"Hmph. Take my name to the grave boy. You are now facing Angunimala, the finger demon." The assailant said as he once again vanish from sight.

Klang! Klang!

Not too far from this duel, the remaining two assailants were clashing the hatchet againts the large cold steel shield of Irshad. Their attacks were quick and restless, comming wave after wave without respite but Irshad was even faster with his shield.

"This is annoying..." Irshad said. While it is true that the hatchets have came no where close to his skin, he in turn had also no way of returning the attack. He had a mace on his belt but the relentless attack againts his heavy tower shield have forced him into focusing all his strength into just parrying the incomming attacks.

The 2 assailants knew this as well. Seeing that they are in a deadlock, one of the gestured something to the other before they both sped forwards once more.

Irshad notice the trajectory of the assailants, one making a curve from the left and the other from the right, as if trying to flank him. In response, he lunged towards the one comming from the left, leaving Hana and Jeremy exposed to the Incomming assailant.

This however was calculated. As soon as he lunged forwards, a bright gleam of light caught the assailant by surprise.

"Firebolt!" Hana yelled as she pointed her staff forwards at the assailant.

Swoosh.

The firebolt sped forwards. The assailant noticed the spell too late and was struck square in his chest as momentum locked him into his position.

The other assailant who was on Irshads left field of vision staggered a bit as he notice what just happened to his partner. In his moment of petrification...

SMACK!

a towering shield sped and smack into him from his right, causing him to crash to the ground not too far off. Irshad used the opportunity from the shock to launch a shield bash attack at his petrified opponent.

Throughout the whole process, Jeremy was just staring blankly at what was happening. So any weird things was happening so fast that he couldn't comprehend what was happenning.

They are actually fighting?

They arent just cosplaying?

Firebolt?

At the same time, a voice in his head boomed, "Swift Strike skill mastered, Shield Bash skill mastered, Firebolt formula mastered"

'Skills learned? Im in some weird isekai aren't I... ' Jeremy said to himself as he heard the echoing voice in his head said.

"Jeremy! You don't have a weapon right? Catch!" Before he could ponder on this abit longer, Irshad has thrown the hatchet belonging to the assailant that he just bashed unconscious over.

Because he was buzy pondering over this 'skills' he just obtained, he was caught off guard and the flying hatchet's wooden hilt landed right at his face.

"Oi! What where you throw that thing! I could have died!!" Jeremy said as he glared at Irshad as he rubbed his sore forehead.

"Hahaha, my bad" Irshad laughed as he responded.

"Phew, luckily my spell charged up in time." Hana sighed.

"We have done this many times over. I trust your abilities Hana." Irshad said.

"Thanks, we should head over to Adam" Hana said as she look towards two man abit into the distance clashing blades.

....

Ping! Ping! Ping! Klang!

Dagers and blade traded blows and parry in blinding speeds.

Angulimala expertly maneurve one dagger at hand to parry the incomming attacks from Adam and another to immediately counter aiming straight at his neck. At the same time, Adam, as his getting more and more used to the flow of battle, will instinctively avoid the incomming strike by doing a backstep or duck and the followed up with a strike of his own.

The nimble but precarious dance of striking and parrying daggers and sword lasted as each slowly wear down the other in a battle of attrition.

However, Angulimala had the upper hand. While his strikes are causing any real damage, his dual daggers are still nibbling away at Adam one slash at a time, leaving countless cuts across his body. While Adams reflexes are getting more on point, the initial injury that he has already face is slowly eating away at his focus and strength.

Realising the he would lose if this went on, Adam slashed blankly forward with all his might in order to push Angulimala away and to create distance between them.

Through the sheer might of this attack, Angulimala was force afew steps back. In response however, he quickly hurled a needle from his satchel towards Adam.

Ping.

Adam parries the needle with his blade. His breathing was heavy as he glared warily at Angulimala. He has used almost all of his energy in the previous bout but looking at his foe across the field, clearly he wasn't even fazed.

"Adam!" Irshad voice echoed from the back as the lumbering body of his friend rusher forwards with his shields out.

"Are you alright?" Irshad said with a worried look.

"His a much tougher opponent that I though..." Adam said as he choked his pride.

Adam was the one of the best fencer in the town of Lanceport among the newbie adventurers. He had unparallel confidence regarding his skill with a blade and claims that the only reason he wasn't the best was because the best has yet to face him in a duel. And yet here here he is now, being on a losing end to this random bandit.

"We are a party after all, we got your back!" Hana said as she rushed to the side of Adam and charged another firebolt towards Angulimala.

"1,2,3 or 4, it really doesn't matter how many of you are here. The results will still be the same. Angulimala smiled menacingly as his body once again vanish from sight in a blink of an eye."

His sudden disapearence cause Hana to fret as her firebolt cant hit what she can't see.

"Watch out!" Adam yelled as he lunged at hana.

Swish!

A crisp sound of a dagger horizontally slashing the air at where the neck of Hana should have been moments ago could be heard.

"How did he..." Irshad said as he realised what just happened.

"Your attacks are getting predictable!" Adam said as he look around for his foe who once again has vanished into thin air as soon as his strike failed.

"Is that so..." A bodiless voice echoed in the wind.

As soon as the voice said that, a fleeting shadow flickered towards Jeremy who was abit behind the party or three.

The sound of a crisp dagger cutting through the air could be heard.

"Duck!" Adam yelled as he realised what was happening even though he knew in his heart that it might already be too late for Jeremy.