The two mercenaries stood in a state of absolute shock, their bodies frozen as they watched Verc thin down the bandits' numbers entirely on his own.
When Verc first provoked a fight against the entire group of bandits—even after seeing the clear difference in numbers— they genuinely thought he was insane. Then, when he rushed at them alone without waiting for backup, they simply lost all hope for him, assuming he was a dead man walking.
The two had already made a silent pact to buy just enough time for Miguel to escape the immediate area, planning to run away themselves the moment Verc eventually kicked the bucket.
But much to their surprise, he hadn't died yet. In fact, he hadn't even received a single wound despite being surrounded by enemies.
Verc was dashing around the battlefield and killing the bandits one by one with a terrifying level of efficiency.
"Holy shit... I guess he really can back up those big words with his skills."
One of the mercenaries said, his eyes wide. He was the one who had told Verc earlier that he better not be all talk, or else they would all end up dead in the dirt.
"No kidding. I honestly thought we would all be corpses by now."
The other mercenary added, the one who had been responsible for making Miguel take cover in the carriage.
Right now, the two of them— SLASH! SWOOSH!
Realizing they couldn't just stand there and watch forever, they finally drew their own weapons as well. They started cutting down the few straggling bandits that tried to run away from Verc's path and targeted the carriages instead.
Currently, they already took out three bandits each. Not that they could really brag about their contribution— SLASH! Verc just went ahead and killed three more bandits in the time it took them to finish their conversation.
As of this moment, he had already cut down more than half of the original bandit group.
"Catch me if you can, fat-ass!"
Verc's voice rang out mockingly. He looked over his shoulder with a smirk as he saw the pig bandit leader struggling to run after him, gasping for breath.
"Damn, he's actually pretty cruel."
"Yeah, I'm just glad he's not our enemy."
*****
(Verc's POV)
"AAARGH...! SAVE M—"
SHHHK!
I just decapitated another bandit before he could finish his plea for help. There were a total of eighteen of them at the start, and after I killed eight of them, the others actually started running away from me in a panic.
Six of them even tried to head straight for the carriages to take hostages, but the two mercenaries dealt with them with ease.
'I guess they're working as professional mercenaries for a reason, after all.'
Anyway, sixteen of the bandits were already dead on the ground, and right now— I'm standing in front of one of the two left. The fat bastard of a leader was still several meters away behind me, trying his best to catch up but failing miserably.
"S-Spare me... please..."
The bandit standing in front of me stuttered, his weapon trembling in his hands.
"Nah."
SLASH!
I responded simply and cut through his neck at the same time I spoke.
Then after that, I immediately turned around to face the last enemy. And there, standing just a few meters away from me— the pig bastard finally came to a halt.
He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he stared at me with wide, bloodshot eyes.
"You...!"
He shouted, his voice thick with rage. If looks could actually kill, I would probably be dead ten times over right now.
"Now that all the others have been dealt with, we can finally fight in peace without any interruptions."
I said, swinging my sword casually to the side to fling off the excess blood clinging to its blade.
"Oh, by the way— did you have fun following me around?"
Then, I asked that with a wide, mocking grin on my face.
"..."
The pig bastard looked around in a heavy silence. He saw the lifeless bodies of his subordinates scattered everywhere in the grass. His face darkened into a deep shade of purple, and he clenched his machete until his knuckles turned white. Then, with a look of pure, unbridled fury—
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"
He charged at me, completely blinded by rage. It wasn't because I killed his people, I realized; it was because I had humiliated him in front of them.
"Haaa..."
I let out a weary sigh, then adjusting my grip on my sword— TANG!
I swung upward and parried his heavy weapon once again, the vibration traveling through my arm.
"You never learn, do you?"
BAM!
I planted my left foot firmly on the ground to stabilize myself and countered with my right leg, kicking straight and hard into his massive stomach.
"GURGH?!"
The pig bastard slid backward across the dirt from the force of my kick. And as his balance was thrown off— SWOOSH! I slashed vertically down at him.
TIIIING—!
"KEUK...!"
The pig managed to block the strike by raising his machete horizontally above his head. However, because his balance was already shit, he was forced down onto one knee to absorb the impact of my sword.
"GRAAAAHHH!!!"
TANG!
The pig bastard mustered every bit of his remaining strength, and with a roar— he pushed upward with his weapon, freeing himself from the lock. He quickly rolled away from me to create distance, though he looked quite stupid and clumsy doing it.
He scrambled to his feet and tried to recover his fighting stance, but he looked incredibly exhausted.
FWOOSH!
I didn't give him a single second to rest. I thrust my sword forward with my right hand, aiming a lethal point directly at his head.
SLASH—
But I only managed to graze his left cheek as he jerked his head to the side at the very last second.
SWOOSH—!
Then, in that exact moment, the pig bastard tried to counter with a huge horizontal swing, the blade coming at the left side of my torso. I saw his face light up for a split second the moment he thought he actually had me.
Though— TUNK!
His smile disappeared in an instant when I caught his moving blade with my bare left hand.
I had activated my [Black Scales] just in time. I immediately twisted my right wrist, and after angling my sword diagonally— S L A S H!!!
I brought the blade down with everything I had; cutting the pig bastard from his neck, all the way down across his torso to his underarm.
THUD—
His body fell lifelessly onto the ground, literally split into two pieces. I looked down at the remains of the pig bastard for a moment, and after deactivating [Black Scales] on my left hand—
"Huh. That was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be."
I mumbled that to myself.
*****
These bandits weren't actually that strong. They were nothing better than the goblins I faced before; even their numbers were inferior to them. The pig bastard was certainly stronger than the average goblin, but he was nothing compared to the goblin chief.
Though, I had to remind myself that I fought the goblins during the night, when I was at my full strength.
That's why I assumed that I would have a harder time dealing with these bandits, considering the sun was still up and I wasn't using an ambush tactic like I did back then.
"Looks like I've gotten much stronger than I thought."
I said to myself, looking at the sword in my hand.
Then, bringing my attention back to the pig bastard lying in front of me, I thought of something else that felt a bit strange.
'I didn't feel anything while I was killing them. No remorse, no guilt, nothing.'
This was my first time killing other humans, but for some reason— I felt no weight on my conscience.
'Is this also just another side effect of being a demonic vampire?'
I asked the question in my head, but there was no one to answer.
Anyway, I shook my head to brush off those heavy thoughts and headed back to where the others were waiting by the carriages.
The two mercenaries were the first to greet me.
"You're really something else. You're incredibly strong."
The one who had made Miguel hide said that to me, his voice full of genuine respect.
"No kidding. We seriously thought you were sick in the head at first. Now I finally get why you were so confident about rushing them. What's your secret?"
Then the other one added, looking at me as if I were some kind of monster.
I just casually waved my hand as if it were no big deal, then sheathed my sword back into its scabbard.
"It's nothing special. I just trained non-stop during the past week."
And I meant that literally.
The two were about to ask me something else, but before they could—
"Sir Verc!"
Miguel came scrambling out of his carriage and ran toward us with a look of pure relief.
"You've really dealt with all of them! Thank you so much!"
He said. Then, turning to the two mercenaries, he bowed his head and thanked them genuinely for protecting the cargo and his life.
Anyway, once the adrenaline settled, we started looting the fallen bandits for anything valuable we could find. We couldn't just leave all that stuff here on the road, after all.
I just took a small, sharp dagger and a new sword that looked to be in better condition than my current one.
Then I let Miguel and the others distribute the coins and various pieces of jewelry among themselves. They tried to offer me a large portion of the gold, but I declined.
I don't really have much use for coins right now. But they insisted so much that, in the end— I took a pair of red earrings that had a design resembling tiny chains. I put them on my ears immediately, using my strength to make a fresh hole for the piercings.
I also picked out a few gold rings that were set with shiny red and black gems.
I took them because [Scavenger's Instinct] was screaming at me to get them.
Then, after we finished gathering everything, we prepared the carriages once again...
And we continued on our journey toward the city.