Chapter 32: Dementia

Rohan moved forward to encounter the enemies charging at him. He hadn't fought for only a few weeks, but he was much more dexterous in the way he handled his sword than before.

He parried one of the blows in a loud clash of metal. With his superior strength, he didn't have any difficulties to repel the weapon, alongside the man wielding it.

As one of their comrades was sent away by Rohan, the three others came near to fight the three warriors in front of them. But the outcome was evident. Four normal humans against three warriors with superhuman strength, it was already impressive to hold a fight.

Rohan slashed at one of them, cutting off a wrist after he had bypassed his guard, while one of his companions charged with a battle cry, before piercing the throat of an opponent. The second one fought against a bandit, before knocking him out without difficulties.

Only the one sent away by Rohan remained with a look of fear on his face. The cries of the one still conscious, without his hand, accentuated the terrible sentiment he felt. All of these assailants were terrifying warriors! Without waiting anymore, he threw his weapon away and fell on his knees.

"Ha...have mercy! I surrender! I beg you, don't kill me!"

Before Rohan could do anything, one of the warriors approached him at a leisurely pace. Then, all of a sudden, he stabbed his sword inside the throat of the man kneeling with an icy look. This man, tears rolling down on his cheeks, died like this.

Rohan widened his eyes as he watched the whole scene. He was so shocked that he stood there, rooted on the floor. He stared at the bandits still kneeling, his head looking down. Blood flowed out on his body before painting the floor of a sticky red.

He looked up, only to see his ally cleaning his blade before walking toward another door. It was made in such a calm manner that Rohan wondered for a second if it was only him who was baffled by what he had just seen. Maybe killing someone who surrendered was just a normal occurrence?

But the time wasn't to think about it, and the clamors of fight could still be heard in the other rooms. The battle was still ongoing.

He moved toward the door at the rear of the room, and met more enemies. The fights were all small one, starting in a second and finishing after a couple ones. The reason for these easy combats was because there wasn't any warrior enemy, and this lack of defense for such a group of bandits was making Rohan frowned.

Before long, and because the house was still a small building at the end, the battle came at its end. The team reassembled themselves in the middle of the infrastructure. No one was injured. Not even a scratch could be seen, showing how easy this battle was.

All the bandits who surrendered or were still alive were gathered in the same room and tied up, with a warrior who stayed and kept an eye on them.

"Something is not right here, captain, are we sure it's the good place?" A middle-aged man took the lead to ask the question everyone had in their minds.

The captain was stroking his thin beard, wondering what to do. He turned his face toward the one who had talked.

"Mark, you and two others, you will interrogate our prisoners. They're not at our disposal for nothing." He turned his face toward another warrior, the one who had killed the bandits in front of Rohan. "Jean, you take the lead. I want all of you to search this building. Break the walls if you have to, I don't care."

""Yes captain."" All the warriors answered before they began the search. All but Rohan, as he suddenly felt out of place. He also asked himself why this Jean was taking the lead. Was the captain so lazy that he didn't want to search the place with the others?

Rohan strolled around, accompanied by the muffled scream of those who were tortured. This building had two floors, with only a few rooms in each of these. Some wooden furnitures were inside these rooms, tables, chairs, shelves, but nothing else, not even beds. A faint smell of beer, sweat and blood permitted the place, making Rohan a bit dizzy.

As he was looking at a shelf before him, a shout came from the room next to the one Rohan was in. He rushed to the door and entered the next one, only to see a warrior standing in front of what seemed to be a cave.

The other warriors entered as well and before long, the room was filled with these powerful men, all staring in the same direction. On the ground, a large opening, from which a staircase was seen going down.

"Well, I think we found them." A man from the side said as he took out his sword.

Rohan resisted the urge to roll his eyes and unsheathed his weapon, along with all the others. What they would find downstairs would be the true lair of these bandits, and the battle will be a tougher one.

At this moment, the leader appeared in the room and with him the one named Mark.

"Listen to me. The guys guarding this place never went down, not even once. So we don't know what we will find. Mind your steps, and hold tight your weapons." He advanced toward the stairs, and drawing his sword, he continued.

"Everyone, destroy these bandits!"

With a serious expression, each warrior followed one after the other, their weapons at their hands. Rohan was among them. He knew he was strong. After all, he had fought against four warriors without much difficulty. Even if it was by being a bit cunning, the result was still there. But the young warrior couldn't help but feel a bit tense.

The dark and infinite staircase was going down, digging into the earth straight toward the center. Rohan, used to going down such stairs without light everyday, was feeling like a fish in water. Not the other warriors, as they were advancing as fast as snails, irritating a bit Rohan.

As they continued to go down, a light appeared below, showing them the end of the path. The first one to reach the light was the stronger one, and the instant he put his foot in the last stair, a yell exited his mouth.

"Enemies!" Without waiting more, he charged inside the room, still invisible to Rohan. The clamor of a fight, alongside shouts and insults bursted from the enemies caught by surprise, echoed in the staircase.

The warriors, hearing the fight, rushed to help their leader. Once inside the light, what welcomed Rohan was tens of bandits fighting against his tonight's allies. The room was a spacious one with doors all around, like a large hall, and he had no difficulty dashing to the side to go around the enemies.

He wielded his sword and struck toward an opponent, but at the moment he felt mana being used by this one, he understood. All of these thugs here were warriors.

He quickly moved to the side to dodge the blow strengthened by mana of the enemy. In his precipitation, he bumped into another one, and without the choice, he slashed at this one.

Shouts and yells came from all around. This fight wasn't like the one in the house, and enemies kept coming from a side door.

Rohan gave a kick to one of his two opponents and hit with all his strength the second one. This one parried the blade but the strength behind Rohan's blade wasn't to be underestimated. His own weapon was repelled and injured him, as Rohan chained with a powerful blow with his shoulder. The opponent, receiving the hit in full force, flew away before he crashed onto a wall.

"Hrg…" The impact let him release his scuffed voice. Rohan didn't let him any time and was already on him, and before the man could react, a pommel smashed his face. His head hit the wall behind him, and he fell on the floor, unconscious.

Rohan turned, just in time to counter the sword coming his way. He struck with his sword, spinned his blade around the enemy's, made a step forward, and stabbed his shoulder. The tip pierced through the bone while the enemy howled in pain, letting go of his weapon.

Rohan didn't try to take back his weapon and picked up the sword his opponent had let go. With this new sword, he rushed back toward his enemy and cut off the left arm with a large blow coming from the sky, before sending him on the ground with a kick. After this fight, he turned around.

The enemies had stopped coming and the fight was advancing toward its end. Scream and shout filled the room while the smell of blood pervaded the air. Rohan, dumbstruck before this scene, was watching as two warriors gave each other powerful blows in a terrible fracas.

A warrior with an ax employed Strengthened Blow and decapitated an enemy, while the sword used to parry it broke in a few pieces under the collision.

An enemy warrior appeared in a second in front of a man with Charge to stab his knife into his throat, ripping it off in a gruesome way and using the inertia to send the head flying in the air.

The one named Jean dodged a blade before he shoved his sword into the mouth of his enemy, a faint smile on his face.

Matthew, still his killer expression on the face, took a hit in the tight. But all he did was to take advantage of this opportunity and used his inhuman force to sink all his sword in the enemy's chest.

Blood was flying all around, dripping on the walls and on everyone, accentuating the madness in their eyes.

Rohan shuddered from this sight. A fight between warriors and soldiers was horrendous. He had lived it himself when he had participated in the war for the Duchy of Barnes. But a fight between warriors, was something more terrifying, more bestial. Like a palpable dementia.