Treasure chest
The bandit leader erupted with a bloody aura.
'What the hell is going on?"! Ikky felt chills going through his spine.
(-230 poison), (-230 poison), (-230 poison), ...
The poison continued to deal the damage, but all visible wounds already disappeared.
"You are dead!" yelled the bandit leader as he stood up and charged at the enemy.
Ikky was dumbfounded for a second which led him to miss an important moment to react. The enemy appeared directly in front of him with the axe right above his head.
'Two-step fly!' Ikky thought in panic.
[Two-step fly is on cooldown: 7 seconds.]
"Shi..-" Ikky couldn't finish his sentence as a two-handed axe collided with his body.
(-88 Hp received)
Ikky was sent flying from the impact and almost half of his HP disappeared.
He rolled on the ground for a few more meters before finally stopping. When he stood up, the enemy rushed at him once again.
"Two-step fly!" yelled Ikky, but the whole exchange didn't last more than a few seconds.
[Two-step fly is on cooldown: 2 seconds.]
'Fuck, Novice dagger equip!'
[
Ikky used the dagger to stop the incoming two-hand axe, it was an absolutely crazy idea as the difference in weapon size was not a laughable matter.
However, the miracle happened when a special window appeared.
(Parry -40 received)
Ikky somehow parried a portion of the damage, but the impact sent him flying once again.
The bandit's attack power increased with the bloody aura, Ikky already exchanged a few blows before, he even saw the bandit hitting his friend Josh, and there was no way he had this much strength before, otherwise, Josh would definitely die after that hit.
As Ikky continued to roll on the ground from the new impact, he had already expected this, using the momentum to jump back to his feet as he switched weapons again.
'Mana arrow, Guided arrow, Multishot!' Ikky aimed straight up above his head.
~Shoot~ Five arrows left the bow flying to every side.
The bandit leader stopped in his steps for a moment as he saw five arrows coming toward him from all sides. He immediately began to spin his two-hand axe deflecting two arrows, but three managed to hit him.
The bandit gritted his teeth and stared at the enemy with eyes filled with hatred and anger. But the enemy archer did not stop, he had already shot another arrow, and was preparing a new one in his bow.
Ignoring everything, the bandit decided to charge at the enemy, his regeneration should be enough to keep him up until he kills his enemy.
As he approached the enemy he swung his axe, but two more arrows hit him before he reached the archer.
"Too slow," Ikky said and used his two-step fly.
When Ikky reached the position behind his enemy, he saw a big green dot on the enemy's back.
A wide smile appeared on Ikkys face 'Mana arrow, Poison arrow!"
~Shoot~
(-245 critical hit dealt)
Ignoring the urge to scream in pain, the bandit turned around and prepared to smash the enemy's head when a bloody aura flickered.
Fuck.. not yet!' he shouted in his mind, but it was too late. The constant regeneration was using up too much of his stamina and he struggled to fight the poison.
Out of nowhere, the two-hand axe left the bandit's hands, all strength and vitality had left him. He dropped to his knees.
The poison damage kept appearing above his head until a small number appeared.
(-15 poison)
That was the last portion of his remaining HP, the bandit leader fell flat on his face and turned into a floating orb.
Ikky breathed a sigh of relief.
"I should have brought Lyra…" was his last thought before he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
***
"Hey, dude!! Wake up, dude!"
Ikky slowly opened his eyes, and an unsightly worried but slightly happy face appeared in front of him.
"Finally up sleeping beauty?" Josh asked in a laughable voice.
"What happened?" Ikky asked confusedly.
"Don't know, seems like you passed out," he answered.
Ikky slowly got up trying to clear his mind.
"Passed out? In the game? Is it even possible?" Ikky was confused even more.
"I don't know man, I thought you triggered the safety feature, but then it would be weird to leave your character's body open like that. But I've never triggered it in the middle of a fight, so I don't know how it works." Josh said.
Ikky shrugged his shoulders and looked at the floating orb, it was time to get his reward. He extended his hand and the orb floated to him.
[Experience gained 10450]
[You have leveled up 10 -> 11]
[Gained 6 stat points]
[Gained 18 silvers]
[Gained 1x Bandit headband]
[Gained 1x Skillbook - Leadership]
[Gained 1x Key]
[Gained 1x Skillbook - Berserker rage]
[Gained 1x Leather gloves]
________________________________________________
"Congratulation for leveling up," said Josh.
Ikky looked at his friend and nodded in thanks.
"Let's go and check the seller's family," Ikky said after a while.
---
Valeria hugged her son tightly. The sounds of fighting had stopped a few minutes ago, but no one had yet entered the cave. Two days ago, she heard similar fighting sounds and was full of hope, but then the two-meter-tall bandit entered the tent and beat her up, then they had to move for several hours.
Her face was bruised and swollen. But she was still alive, hanging on the last string of hope. She had to, 'I have to believe, for my son, for my husband..' she thought as tears began to fall from her eyes.
When Valeria heard the tent opening, she closed her eyes in fear, but since there was nothing happening, no curses, no footsteps, she opened her eyes and saw two unknown young men.
The one with a bow slowly approached her with a worried face.
"Um, you are… the seller's family?" he asked with great confusion.
"W-what?" she was lost for words.
"Eh, I mean…does your husband sell skill books? He sent us to save you." he tried to explain again.
At that moment she finally understood, 'It's finally over, we are free.' at that moment she burst into tears, she could finally go home to her husband.
---
They entered the cave, both of them were cautious just in case bandits would leave some traps behind. But nothing happened as they reached a wide cave with several tents inside.
Ikky draw his bow, "Go, check inside one by one, if there is one bandit jump outside right away." he said to his friend.
"...Bait..." Josh muttered something but still listened.
As they moved from tent to tent, they found nothing but empty beds. They reached the last tent which was the largest one. They both tensed.
Josh opened the side wall of the tent and reveal the insides.
Barrels, chests, and weapons, much other stuff were lying in this tent, including food. But neither of them was looking at those things, instead, both of them looked at the battered woman who was hugging her son while tied to the central pylon. They looked at each other.
Ikky sighed and stepped toward the woman, as he was approaching her he realized something.
'I do not know her husband's name!' he felt panic.
"Um, are you,... the seller's family?"
'What the hell am I saying?' thought Ikky.
"W-What?" she answered with great difficulty as her lips were swollen.
"Is your husband selling skill books? He sent us to save you." Ikky tried to explain in more detail, but before he could ask an additional question the woman burst into loud wails of tears.
---
It took them ten minutes to calm the woman down. Her son was about six or seven years old and did not understand the situation fully, but he understood that his mother was sad, then happy, so he was also sad and happy.
She sat down on a chair in front of the tent and kept thanking them constantly, Ikky let Josh deal with the woman and moved from tent to tent looking for some goods.
He considered taking a few weapons from the largest tent, but then dismissed the idea as his inventory would only be enough for two weapons at most.
There were also several unlocked chests, but the insides weren't worth much either. He found a few mana and health potions, which he welcomed as he hadn't crossed paths with such consumable items before, but everything else was just rubbish.
As he entered the leader of the tent, he finally found what he was looking for.
Behind the bandit's bed sat a large locked chest. Ikky walked over to it and took out the item he had dropped from the enemy.
After opening the chest, he held his breath. When he saw the inside of the chest, there was a single thought going in his mind - 'Jackpot!'
[Obtained 2 golds 23 silvers 57 coppers]
[Obtained 1x Saphire Ring]
[Obtained 1x Plate helmet]
[Obtained 1x One-hand sword]
[Obtained 1x Skillbook - Fireball]
[Obtained 1x Skillbook - !@$%@^ (sealed)]
'Seems like he kept more money locked than in his pockets,' thought Ikky when he saw the money, but got dumbfounded when the last item window appeared.
'What the hell is with that name? Is this a game bug?' he thought for a moment but then forgot about it, he'd better report it when he was in town.
He left the leader's tent and looked at the 3 people in front of him.
"If you have some inventory space you can take some weapons from the big tent," Ikky said to his friend and Josh rushed in right away.
Ikky shook his head and looked at the woman.
"Are you able to walk back to the town? It's a few hours walk," he asked.
She nodded as talking was quite painful for her.
In less than five minutes, Josh reunited with the others, a happy face was clearly seen even in the dark cave.
They left the cave and headed back to the town. It was time to finish the quest, it was time to finally see the family.
***********
A/N: I will either delay tomorrow release till Wednesday, or not release on the Wednesday, because I want to go back and check old chapters and fix some typos.