Journey to Mifis (7)

Seeing the immediate threat disappear, Leon took a look at his only other present ally and gasped. The ex-soldier was missing one of his hands and looked like he was holding on by a knife's edge, even his weapon was in bad shape as it was battered and the body of the spear had cracks and nicks everywhere.

Leon still vigilantly looked at the two armed men in front of him but slowly positioned himself in front of the injured man.

"Are you okay?"

The ex-soldier was breathing heavily as he stood on one knee.

"I'm...I'm not sure how long I can last for…"

The man with the goatee laughed.

"Don't worry about holdin on. We'll put ya out of your misery. In fact, all of y'all will be crossing to the other side very soon."

Without any warning, both the man with the goatee and the man with the bandanna launched themselves at Leon. Caught off guard, all Leon could do was raise Ensis and parry the two swords, but when the collision impacted a loud clanging noise echoed. Using all his strength, Leon pushed the two of them back a couple of feet, but after that first attack, his hands were shaking slightly from the impact.

Seeing Leon's hands shake, the man with the goatee laughed.

"While it is true both of us individually may be weaker than you boy, this isn't a fantasy world where we'll come at you one on one. You'll have to fight both of us while protecting that bleeding chap back there and if you want to save the others back there you'll have to defeat us first and fast."

Realization dawned on Leon as he processed what the man said, however, the wounded ex-soldier looked at Leon.

"Look here... forget about me… I'm done for, but the others can still be saved!"

Leon wanted to save the bleeding man too, but he knew in his mind that realistically it would be impossible to defeat the two bandits in front of him in time to save the other villagers while protecting the man. All Leon could do was steel his resolve, but he looked away from the bleeding man as he was too ashamed of himself for being so weak that he couldn't save the ex-soldier.

"I won't let your sacrifice be in vain…"

The two bandits' expressions turned nasty as Leon implied that he could defeat the two.

"Being confident is good in all, but you ought to differentiate confidence from delusion!"

Both men instantly attacked again, but this time Leon was more prepared. Leon summoned a wind weapon and held Ensis with one hand, although his attacks would become slower. However Leon was betting everything on finishing one of them off early, so when the two got within a few meters, Leon charged forward and swung Ensis from above.

The attack caught the two bandits off guard as they didn't think Leon would take the offensive and the two of them hastily put up their swords to deflect the attack. However, Leon's attack was heavier than what they anticipated and the slash pushed them backward, but Leon wasn't done. The moment they had been caught off guard by the heavy blow, a gust of wind appeared on the wind weapon in Leon's left hand and he flung it towards both bandits.

The wind slash was almost impossible to see from a normal person's perspective and the two men weren't any different, however, Leon's hope of getting an easy early elimination was too naive. A quick wind slash might have worked against a naive and weak wolf, but these men had been in numerous life and death situations.

Even though they weren't strong at all, they had the experience to compensate for it. Sensing something, both men stretched their bodies to the side in hope of dodging whatever was giving them a sense of danger. However, even though they both dodged, the man with the bandanna had been too slow and the wind slash cut into his deltoid, which rendered his left arm hard to move.

A steady stream of blood flowed from the wound and once again the air was stained with the smell of rust.

Although Leon didn't get the easy elimination he was looking for, the injury made things a lot easier for Leon.

The two bandits on the other hand didn't look too happy, especially the man with the goatee who looked like he had seen a ghost and was pale.

"A-Attack m-magic?"

The man was frightened upon seeing Leon's magic. Even though magic was common in the world, these bandits were merely ordinary folks who had taken up a life of thievery most likely after being discharged from the army.

Magic on the other hand usually meant they were an adventurer, well-trained soldier or knight, or noble. Normal people like the villagers would rarely ever delve into magic and if they did it would be basic magic like creating a bucket of water to use rather than going down to the river, but magic that was powerful and meant for attacking like the one Leon used wouldn't typically be found in a regular person.

The man with the goatee looked warily at Leon.

"Noble?...No your clothes are too shabby and you wouldn't be traveling like this... Knight? That still doesn't feel right…that leaves… adventurer!"

Leon didn't say anything but lick his lips as he smiled.

"Well now that you know you attacked someone you shouldn't have, it's time for this junior to take your life!"

With a dash, Leon instantly closed the distance and flung a series of wind slashes, which forced the two of them to block the blows with their swords. By the time the wind slashes had stopped arriving, Leon had arrived in front of the man with the goatee and gave a kick towards the man's gut.

Although the man blocking with his sword, the force launched him backward and he collided with the man with the bandanna behind him. Even after the kick Leon kept aggressing and arced Ensis above his head towards the two men. Only the man with the goatee could block since the other man was blocked by his boss's body.

Seeing the sword crashing from above, the man with the goatee put both hands onto his sword and parried the attack, but the momentary relief of blocking the attack would quickly disappear and Leon used the hand with his hard-to-see wind weapon to skewer both of them with one strike.

The sword made of magic and air left a gaping hole in the bodies of the two bandits and the one in the back had already fainted from the blood loss of his old and new wound, while the man with the goatee threw up blood and lost strength in his arms.

"I...I hope they kille-"

Before he could continue speaking, Leon dispersed the wind sword and the bodies fell to the ground face first. But before Leon could rest, he still had to go back to camp. As he started to turn towards the bushes he came from, all that Leon had in his mind was the scene of the old village chief caring for his sick granddaughter.

'I only pray that they are okay.'