26 Chapter 26 (2/2)

Halam still struggled from his wound but made his way towards the pair of them, sword in one hand and the other putting pressure on his wound.

”Enough!”

The bandit leader screamed, using all his strength to throw Alcot away. Alcot landed roughly, tumbling on the hard rock floor and very painfully got back up again.

Sensing an opportunity since the bandit leader stood all alone and away from everyone, Wilfred took out a small round object from his bag and pulled a metal pin, throwing it at Blackjack's feet while yelling to his teammates.

”Everyone, get down and away from him!”

Even though the warning also served to help Blackjack brace for it, the explosion did catch him solidly and propelled him into the northern wall with a loud thud. His adventurer companions also headed his warning, especially those that had been blinded by the flashbang the other day. Alcot almost comically launched himself to the ground, his hands over his head while Halam and Fig simply distanced themselves as fast as they could.

Remembering that there's no such thing as overkill, Wilfred reached into his bag for his MP5 and changed the ammo clip for another, AP rounds this time just in case he would need it. Army training also ingrained soldiers to make sure that enemy combatants are actually down and cannot cause further harm and Wilfred was no exception to that.

Looking at the crumpled figure of Blackjack, it seemed that the fragmentation grenade had done some damage to his armor but evidently not enough as he soon got up once more. The armor was likely a magic item, which is what made it much more st.u.r.dy and lightweight than it seemed at first glance. While Blackjack struggled a bit to rise, he was still a very dangerous opponent even while injured.

With the adventurers in the state they were, Wilfred doubted they could finish him off without any casualties on their side. In a perfect scenario, Wilfred would have liked for his items to remain a closely guarded secret but at the same time it was bound to be known at some point and he did not want their deaths on his conscience.

Seeing Blackjack rise, Halam and Alcot advanced on him slowly and warily with their weapons ready. Fig seemed in rough shape but the potion he took seemed to be helping as he was no longer bleeding out.

A large crack was visible on the bandit's leader helmet and he took it off, revealing his face. His hair was brown and short, likely cut by himself as it looked like a botched up job. His left cheek was bleeding slightly and there was also some blood at the edge of his mouth. Spitting the blood, he bent down and picked up his sword once more.

”A f.u.c.king mage...if it weren't for you this would have been over a long time ago. Can't believe I underestimated him, looks like just a kid.”

Halam and Alcot got within range of him and struck simultaneously , each on one side of Blackjack. However, he was ready for them and ducked under Alcot's swing which was slower before parrying Halam's weaker strike with his claymore. Smirking, he activated his ability.

”[Whirlwind Spin]!”

Moving with almost unnatural speed and strength, Blackjack spun around with his claymore at astonis.h.i.+ng speeds, striking both Alcot and Halam with such force that they were sent flying away a solid 20 feet. His opponents no longer in his way, Blackjack used what remaining power he had left to sprint towards Wilfred with his claymore extended, intended to impale him.

Wilfred knelt on one knee and aimed his MP5 straight ahead, firing in short bursts in order to remain on target. The firing rate of the gun could be very fast but Wilfred wanted to make sure that every single bullet counted since he would not get the chance to reload before this maniac made it to him.

The first five AP bullets struck the chest armor and did not penetrate, forcing Wilfred to adjust his aiming towards Blackjack's head. It was a harder target to accurately hit but at least the damage would be devastating. The next volley missed as Blackjack rolled and dodged to the right with superhuman reflexes. Although the armor blocked the bullets he likely felt the impact and knew it would be fatal if he were to get hit.

Wilfred took a deep breath and fired once more another volley but this time, adjusted his shooting so that he was aiming where Blackjack was going. One of the bullets managed to clip his ear, causing enough pain to make him wince and stop for a brief moment which Wilfred utilized to shoot the remaining 10 bullets in full burst at his head. Although not ideal ammunition for this, the AP rounds that hit their target devastated Blackjack's face until it was no longer recognizable. Wilfred never enjoyed killing people but he did not find it distasteful neither. There were some that could simply not be negotiated with and brute force was the only answer, Blackjack was one of these.

A mere 10 feet from him, Blackjack's body collapsed to the ground and bled out. Not wanting any nasty surprises, Wilfred reached the claymore, picked it up and took it far away from the body. Not sure how brutal Blackjack's last attack had been, Wilfred called out to his companions.

”Are you guys okay?”

Fig was the only one that replied.

”I've been better, I'll go check on the others, I have a bit of medicine.”

After going through his bag and giving potions or applying bandages, Fig let Wilfred know that they would be alright but would need some rest before being able to leave. Relieved Wilfred sat down against one of the cavern walls and sighed, relaxing for the first time since they had entered this cave.

After taking a small break, he remembered the bandit archers that had fled and got up after reloading his gun with normal bullets this time around instead of AP or Mana rounds. He opened his bag, fetching another thing that he had prepared before leaving and added the flashlight attachment to the MP5 before heading down the tunnel that Blackjack had come in from.

It was only a short walk but Wilfred was on edge the whole time, unsure if he would be getting ambushed and used a [Barrier] just in case. He found Blackjack's room and opened the door from the side carefully before throwing a flashbang inside. Once he entered and made sure no one was present, he looked around the room for a secret escape path.

There has to be somewhere these guys went, Wilfred thought.

And indeed, there was somewhere they had went. They had gone to Blackjack after fleeing from battle and he had not taken kindly to it. Their bodies were sprawled on the floor with ma.s.sive cuts from the claymore likely.

Inside the room, much of the loot that the bandits had stolen from merchants was laying around in crates and chests. Wilfred peaked around a bit, his curiosity getting the best of him and found a small chest that was glowing with the feel of magic.

”Huh. This is interesting, I wonder what's in it?”

Try as he might, he simply could not get it open. It must have been magically sealed he thought. But recalling the pedestal where he had infused Mana in the object to make it work, he decided to also give it a try here.

The small chest, more akin to a jewelry box than a chest at this size, hummed and glowed even more brightly as Wilfred poured Mana into it until it reached the apex and a soft audible click was heard.

The lid easily opened as Wilfred tried it again and inside was a scroll like the one he had bought and that Primus had made for him but this one seemed much more regal and foreign, as if it was made an alien species. Unrolling the scroll, Wilfred looked at it to see if he could learn a skill from it. It took some time, much longer than with the other scrolls but he saw the pattern and soon came knowledge.

Wilfred willed his status screen open to look at what he had learned.

Wilfred Lamarche [Lvl 10]

Health: 150/150

Mana: 3052/6112

Str: 14

Con: 13(26)

Agi: 11

Dex: 10

Int: 55

Wil: 47

Wis: 56

Lck:???

Skills & Spells: [a.n.a.lyze], [Wind Aura], [Construct Artifact], [Barrier], [Wind Blade], [Deconstruction], [Lesser Enhance Const.i.tution], [Information]

Intrigued by how it worked, Wilfred tried it immediately.

”[Information]!”

At first he did not notice any change, everything seemed normal until he looked at the magic chest.

[Ancient Magical Chest]

Effect: Can only be opened with magic, impervious to damage. Item stored inside does not decay or change state.

”Whhhat!? Wow, it's kind of like [Inspect]? But how is it different I wonder..”

Still, Wilfred was quite happy with his find and put the chest in his bag before going back to the group to see how they were doing and what should they do with all the stuff that's here. Just from a rough estimate, the bandits had ama.s.sed a fortune likely in the 100 to 200 gold coin range.

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