'One, two, three. Ahmmm, so there's five of them and one of me, huh? This is just great. This is just great.'
Although Ginn complained internally, no fear could be seen in his eyes. Besides all of this being a dream in his mind, he had also experienced quite a fair share of bloody fights in his life. All those late nights in the bar didn't always end up pretty. The large scar that almost took out his right eye could be a testament to that.
Seeing the bandits approach, he didn't just stand around and give them the initiative. Running toward the bandit in front, he attacked first, throwing the sword in his hand. The bandit didn't expect the enemy to disarm himself voluntarily and got caught momentarily off guard.
'Inexperienced noob.'
Ginn smirked. Seizing the opportunity, he landed a solid punch on the bandit's face.
'Bar Fight 101: Everything is a weapon.'
Grabbing a stone from the ground, he cracked the bandit's skull open before he could recover, killing him.
'Four more.'
Not wasting any more time dilly-dallying, Ginn picked up the dead bandit's sword and rushed toward another bandit.
'Bar Fight 101: Never stop moving.'
Using his enemy's shock to his advantage, Ginn managed to plunge the sword into yet another bandit, killing him.
"Fourth Brother!" one of the bandits roared, attacking Ginn with his axe. "I'll kill you!"
"Kill my ass!"
Dodging the bandit's attack with ease, Ginn landed a punch on his face, sending him to the ground. Before he could finish the job, however, he felt something hot in his abdomen. Touching it, he noticed an arrow had pierced his stomach.
"This-"
With all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he hardly felt a thing. Grabbing the bandit by the head, he used the man's body as a shield as he rushed full speed toward the bandit with the crossbow.
Pulling the arrow from his stomach, he tossed the bandit's body toward the crossbowman, momentarily blinding his vision. Using the opportunity, he stabbed the arrow into the bandit's eye, killing him.
"Ha, ha, ha… One more."
Breathing heavily, Ginn looked at the last remaining bandit. At just a glance, he could tell this bandit was a lot different from the rest. Although he dressed the same as your typical bandit, Ginn could feel a different air around him.
"Impressive. Although you're not a cultivator, you managed to kill four men with a much larger build than you. I couldn't express how much of a pity it is that you'll have to die here. You could have been a great figure someday," the remaining bandit said, shaking his head.
"If you're feeling like that, you could always let me go. Just take the girl and I'll be on my way."
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I want to do that, but you see, you killed four of my brothers. I must take revenge," the bandit said with a smile.
'Bullshit! If you want to kill me, just do it. Stop this bad guy nonsense.'
Ginn grumbled to himself.
"Can you just shut up?! If you're not going to let me go, let's just get this over with. We both know that you could have saved your brother from me if you wanted to."
"So feisty. I'm going to enjoy this," the bandit said, licking the dagger in his hand.
"Disgusting piece of sh*t!"
Removing his shirt, Ginn wrapped it around his hands.
The two rushed toward each other with the intent to kill, but just as they were about to clash, the bandit stopped and backed away. Unsheathing his knife, he burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! You should have seen your face. Disgusting piece of sh*t! Hahaha."
Ginn looked at the bandit, dumbfounded.
Seeing this, the bandit smiled.
"Don't be so surprised. I'm a cultivator. Do you really think I would bully a junior? I'm low, but I'm not that low."
"The heck are you saying? You were just about to kidnap the young girl over there, and you have the nerve to say you don't bully a junior? Let's stop the nonsense and get this over with," Ginn said, readying his stance.
"I'm just out experiencing the mortal realm. Don't misunderstand me, boy. Do you really think if I wanted to kidnap the girl, you could stop me?"
The bandit's expression suddenly turned serious, releasing his aura.
"Whhhaaat-"
Ginn immediately felt suffocated. He fell to his knees, gasping for air.
"You see, boy, you're just an ant to me."
The bandit pulled Ginn by the hair and lifted him.
"Ant my ass… Phe!"
Giving it everything he had, Ginn managed to squeeze out a drop of saliva and spit it onto the bandit's face.
"Ha… ha… haha…"
Looking at Ginn laughing stupidly while standing at death's door, the bandit didn't know what to think.
'Is he brave or just stupid?'
He thought, dumbfounded. He had no idea that what Ginn possessed was neither courage nor a loose screw. He genuinely believed that everything happening to him right now was just a dream and that he would wake up the moment he died.
The bandit let go of Ginn and retracted his pressure.
"I like your spirit, kid. If not for the promise I made, I would love to make you my disciple. Tell me, is there anything you want?"
By this moment, Ginn's consciousness was halfway out the window, but he still managed to squeeze a word out of his mouth.
"Li… Liquor!"
"Liquor?"
Hearing his answer, the bandit once again became dumbfounded.
"You really are a weird kid."
The bandit took out a jade ring and handed it to Ginn.
"I don't really love liquor, so I don't have much, but I do keep some. I'll just give you everything I have. Although the space in that ring is only five meters, I was told it was great for storing alcohol. You can have that also, and this-"
The bandit was about to fish out some sort of medallion when he noticed that Ginn was already unconscious.
Scratching his chin, the bandit fell into deep thought.
"I would like to recommend this guy to the sect, but it seems that he wouldn't be a fit for those strict old men and might just cause trouble. Oh well, I guess this is where our destiny ends. I really can't believe I, Yan Di, would find something interesting in the mortal realm. Hahaha. Life is truly mysterious."
With that, the bandit, Yan Di, vanished, leaving Ginn and the girl behind.
…..
"Ahh, so soft," Ginn mumbled.
'Soft? I don't remember buying a new pillow.'
Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the girl from before looking at him with passionate eyes.
'No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.'
He immediately sat up and looked at his clothes.
'Robe?'
"Sorry, Savior. I took it upon myself to change your clothes. I hope I didn't offend you," the girl said shyly.
Ginn unconsciously looked at the girl, his eyes still shocked by everything that had transpired.
'This can't be real. I got transported to another world. Is that possible?'
The girl mistook Ginn's look for anger and immediately bowed.
"Sorry, Savior. I really didn't mean to implicate you in my troubles, and I'm very thankful that you saved my life. If there is anything I can give you, I'm more than willing to comply."
She slowly undressed her clothes. Although she was not the kind of girl who would do something like this, the other party had indeed saved her life, and after seeing his well-toned body, she couldn't help but thirst for it.
Ginn noticed what the girl was trying to do and stopped her.
'The heck is wrong with this chick?'
"A liquor would be fine."
The girl breathed a sigh of relief, knowing her savior wasn't that kind of person, but she couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest that she couldn't understand.
She knocked on the carriage, and a man walked in.
"Can you please bring out our best wine for our guest?"
"Right away, my lady," the man said with a bow.
The girl nodded and looked at Ginn with affection.
"Savior, the wine will be here shortly."
"Ah… alright."
Ginn looked at the girl, puzzled.
'Why the heck is she looking at me like that? I know my looks, and I have a fair share of experience trying to eat a swan, and it never ends well.'
Ginn's heart suddenly ached as he remembered his past love life.
'What the heck is wrong with me? This is not the time to be thinking of girls. There is a more pressing matter to take care of.'
With that thought, his stomach suddenly turned upside down. The notion of him killing a human being was starting to sink in. Although he'd been in numerous bloody fights before, they had never resulted in someone being killed.
"Bwaaah!"
"Savior, are you alright?!" the girl asked worriedly.
'Chill! Ginn! Chill! This is a fantasy world. Killing is legal. The heck, that's not the issue here. The thing is, I killed someone with these hands.'
Ginn stared at his shaking hands in horror. The scene from before started replaying in his head over and over, suffocating him.
At that moment, the man from before returned with wine in his hand.
"My lady."
He handed the wine to the girl, but she became unhappy and burst into anger.
"Can't you see this isn't the best time for that?"
She yelled, wanting to dismiss the attendant, but before he could leave, Ginn arrived right in front of him like a bolt of lightning, snatching the wine from his hands.
"You-"
The attendant was about to retort, but seeing the girl glaring at him, he turned tail and ran.
The smell of alcohol washed away the doubt and guilt that Ginn had. For an alcoholic like him, there was really no medicine better than alcohol.
'I guess it doesn't really matter if this is a dream or not. With liquor, I can just drink all my troubles away.'