The Bandits

As they out numbered us and probably even had more strength than us, we decided to launch a sneak attack on them instead of going to sleep.

Being wary of stray sticks and crunchy leaves we quietly inched closer to their campsite. Getting close enough to see the equipment and supplies they had, we hid behind some trees. Then we waited until they went to sleep. As we waited I could hear laughter and shouts coming over from them.

Peering over some bushes I could see them gathered around their campfire and drinking some kind of liquid from gourds celebrating their success or something. It was probably alcohol within the gourds considering how tipsy they seemed to be after half an hour or so.

Well, that's extremely good considering the chances of us encountering them in such a state. We should probably think up a strategy or something considering we've never had to do anything like this before. Their tents are set up with two misshapen columns on either side of the campfire and a large tent in between them.

The two side tents were ones of open design where an entire side of cloth seemed to be missing. The interior only consisted of a long straw bed for group sleeping. The middle tent meanwhile looked like a normal tent which seemed just a little taller then normal. 'Honestly quite a stupid design, like who would like less of a tent than normal!'

"𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳." I whispered over a quick plan to Yao Ya who huddled next to me.

"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳?" she asked with a small tilt of her head.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮."

…

We waited another 10 minutes after they extinguished their fire and for the last one of them to disappear into a tent. Just incase some were still awake and for that last guy to at least become a little more drowsy we waited a little longer. There was no need to worry about speed since as long as we had patience their fighting power would diminish considerably.

As we went into our respective tents I noticed there were 6 of them in the one I had picked. Moving close enough to assassinate the first one I covered his mouth with my left hand while slashing open his throat with the sword in my right. His eyes sluggishly opened when my hand covered him, then when my blade opened up his neck he instantly seemed to wake him, struggling to live a moment longer while flailing around sending a slight kick his friend next to him.

Noticing that someone else was about to wake up I rushed over to him and tried to recreate what happened to the first dude. Reaching over I just managed to cover his mouth and stab him in time. This time the man didn't even struggle, instead his widened eyes as he stared straight at me. His final look was of shock before the light in his eyes faded.

'Damn that was close, almost woke up the others from that first guy!'

"AAHHHH, THERES AN INTRUDER!!" A sudden scream echoes throughout our general vicinity.

Looking over to my left I could see a body fall to the ground with Yao Ya standing over it, I could see a slightly scared expression on her face as she looks over at me. The body's head was severed and blood was spurting out of his neck.

'Was that the person who just yelled? How did she kill him so fast? No this isn't the time to think about that.'

Looking back over to the other four men who were sleeping; they were now getting up and staring at me as they groggily started drawing their weapons. They each glanced at the bodies near my feet before their faces began to contort into ones of anger.

Adding my left hand on the lower grip of the sword I ready myself against them.

"WHO'S OUT THERE?" A? voice bellows from the main tent.

As the tent flaps are very forcibly pushed aside by two burly men who exit, their faces turning into a shocked expression as they stare at the lifeless body near Yao Ya's feet.

Staring directly at Yao Ya the main man says, "... YOU... BASTARD... YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!! I'M GONNA BREAK YOU DOWN! A LIFE FOR A LIFE!!"

Concerned about her I tried to get to her side only to be rammed by one of the four I haven't killed yet.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch? After killing our friends you think you can just leave!?" A man roared while slashing down his sword at me.

Blocking the overhead swing I kick him back a couple steps and charge towards him in a stabbing motion towards his gut. I managed to get 3 inches into his stomach before another comes at me with a slash from my left.

"Ahhh!"

"Damn you!"

Pulling the blood tipped sword out towards his direction a few drops of blood from the blood flew and splattered into his face momentarily blinding him. Letting go of one hand that gripped my sword I gave him a few swipes and pokes to his face and torso. The first man had recovered a bit and gathered the other two to charge at me all together.

"Ahh, my eyes!"

"Brothers with me, we'll take him together!"

"Alright!" 2x

As the situation changed I ran out of the tent destroying one of the four poles supporting the tent. The tent fabric fell atop the men creating 4 mounds of fabric squirming around.

"Shit!"

"What the hell!"

"I can't get it off me!"

"Just cut it open! We have swords!"

That gave me a small window of time to change grips and lop off one of the men's heads. Cutting off the head of one of them caused a hole big enough in the tent for the remaining 3 men to escape out of.

"Noo!"

"I'll make you pay dearly for that!"

"Guy! We need to be a little more defensive! Only go for good trades or guaranteed hits!"

'What the fuck! They're strategizing mid fight! Stop thinking about actual good ways to kill me!'

As they were climbing out I took the chance to take another shot at them only for one of them to block my swing into a stalemate as the other two began to circle around me.

Seeing the two start different strikes from another I kicked the man who blocked my hit and tried to dodge one man's attack while trying blocking the other one. I managed to block the strike in time but got slashed on my right side waist as a result.

'No! No! No! I have to keep whittling down their numbers, before they kill me!'

Seeing the man who I stabbed in the gut was barely hanging on I started to focus him. He was the one farthest away from me though, so I had to find a way to engage him while maneuvering around the other two. Looking around for anything to help me I spotted some pebbles nearby. Dashing over to the mound I could see the two closest to me run my way while the last guy limped over clutching his wound.

"There's no where to go!"

"You can't run forever!"

"Guys hold on a second! Wait for me! What if he has a plan over there or a trap set up?"

'Damn you guy in the back! Stop thinking too much!'

Making it over to the mound I quickly grab a couple hand-fulls and flung it behind me. Turning back, the two guys already started rubbing their eyes. Immediately I took this chance to run over to the wounded man in the back and end him. I made sure to also give one of them a slash or two to his leg while going by.

"Noo! This is exactly what I was talking about! You idiots! You left me all alone!"

The wounded man readied his sword to block my slash, but this time I punch him in his wound making him lose a little more of the strength he barely has. As he freezes for a second I stab forward into his chest finally ending him. The place I stabbed should be around the man's heart so even if he doesn't die now he'll definitely die soon.

"Ahh!! ..... ha..... a...."

Turning back I could see the two recovered from their daze now replaced by shock as their original number of 4 men have now decreased by half. Once again trying the flanking maneuver it doesn't work as well this time as one of them now has a pretty damaged leg. The more able one came first a little confused why the other wasn't with him.

"Noo! We messed up!"

"We should have listened!"

As he slashed towards me I parried it and instead stabbed into his chest and kicked him down on the ground. As the other one came towards me I spun around and kicked the leg I slashed earlier making him fall to one knee while slightly clutching the wound. Stabbing my sword straight into his eye he was instantly dead as it should've pierced his brain and his body slowly let loose his sword and fell to the side.

"F-fuck!"

The final man at this point is still fairly brave considering what happened to his friends and still charged at me. Once again I parried his swing and stabbed deeper into where I stabbed originally. This time deeper and with a twist of my blade while it was within the damage now became too much for him.

"Ugh! Arrg..."

As he fell onto his back I turned away, immediately going over to Yao Ya to help if she needed it that is. Seeing that they were still fighting I charged into the fray to try and alleviate some pressure off her.

As I got closer it seemed one of they saw me coming over as he shouted, "WHAT! HE'S STILL ALIVE? BROTHER WANG GO TAKE HIM, I'LL HOLD HER OFF UNTIL YOU FINISH HIM OFF. THEN WE CAN FINALLY KILL THIS BITCH!"

One of the burly men came over towards me, his weapon of choice was a two-handed axe with a metal head and wooden handle. The shape of the axe head wasn't even one which was designed for war. It was only a simple wood cutter's axe which was broad near the handle and tapered outwards. The cutting edge of the axe was slightly curved up and down back towards the handle.

He chopped downward with such strength I knew I couldn't block it so I tried dodging. Dodging backwards I still got hit on my chest although it wasn't a direct hit. There was now a shallow wound across my chest.

Standing back a bit and gripping my sword with two hands we stared a bit before starting to charge at one another.