Chapter 127: Massacre (1/2)

“In order to help us exterminate these bandits, Lady Mo Ke made an arduous trip around the other villages asking for aid. After killing those tamed wolves, she originally could’ve just distanced herself from this matter, yet she chose to stay behind in this village in the end. Why? Because she’s a kind person.”

“It might be ironic to call a devil a kind person but you, you and you, just take a look at what you’re holding in your hands right now. What is in your bags right now? Magical tools, potions all of which are top-grade goods that can fetch a combined sum of over ten thousand gold!”

“And where did all these items come from? Did they come from you all? No, it was all Lady Mo Ke’s. She was worried that you all would get injured, she was worried that you all would get defeated, that’s why she chose to selflessly loan out these treasures. Yet what did she get in return?”

“You all are nothing but an ungrateful bunch of trash that fell for the bandits’ simple lies. To think that you would actually point your arrows at someone who sincerely wished to help you. Do you mean to say that even after all she has done for you all, she still isn’t as trustworthy as a bunch of low life bandits? You guys aren’t blind, you’ve closed off your hearts!”

That rant of a yell ended up suppressing the old man’s prayers completely, who even now was still in the midst of praying even though no one gave him a single look anymore.

While it was an effective outburst, it was also an unexpected one. Ever since we met, the impression Moranthal gave me was that he was soft. So soft that he even chose not to take revenge after his fiance left him for another man….. though he did say that his fiancee did so willingly and wasn’t forced…alright, I guess I shouldn’t stick my nose into another person’s love affairs. However, it’s precisely this matter that cemented his soft image in my mind.

Yet nothing in this world was absolute. A short while after I pinned the image of a wuss onto him, he suddenly stood up and showed me a entirely new side to him.

He actually stood up for me, a devil, in front of all these people…that took a lot of courage. Perhaps he used up his entire life’s worth of courage to do that but the fact remained that he did. Without any regard for himself, he took on the risk of being labelled as a devil’s accomplice and defended me.

After that performance, my impression of him couldn’t be any better. This fellow was definitely someone you could entrust your entire life to. However, I’m a guy so this rating was kind of pointless to begin with…

Not only did his stirring performance win me over, it successfully turned the tables on the bandits. The hunters were completely invigorated by his speech leaving only that babbling old man who was still busy praying to his Goddess to send down her heavenly wrath and smite me.

The fact that matters would take such a turn was completely unexpected even by Dohby. He had actually turned everyone against me but was foiled right at the crucial moment, and now he was nothing but a tool to prove my innocence.

Naturally, he wasn’t one to take this loss lying down. Tossing aside the hostage in his hands, he dragged his greatsword towards me: “I see his mouth has been pretty well trained. Seems like he has fallen under your skirt. Not a bad showing, he’s rather protective of his master.”

“Cut the slander!” Moranthal immediately stepped in to deny those allegations. “I don’t have any relation to Lady Mo Ke. It’s true, I admit that I have feelings for her and want to pursue a romance with her, but what I just said came from the bottom of my heart. Lady Mo Ke has never hurt an innocent person unlike you, a human being, I bet you don’t even remember how many people you’ve killed so far!”

“Hmph, such a pointless argument.”

Having lost the war of words, Dohby gave up on his initial plan and simply attacked the man. With sudden sweep of his greatsword, he forced Moranthal back a few steps.

Compared to Dohby’s greatsword, Moranthal’s short blade was clearly lacking not only in quality but in weight as well, so he had no choice but to retreat while simultaneously looking for a chance to approach the bandit.

At another corner of the battlefield, George was currently in the midst of a tenuous ceasefire with Dawson. “You believe in that devil?” Asked Dawson as he threw the hunter a look.

“I don’t know if she is trustworthy or not but…at the very least she hasn’t hurt anyone yet and is even contributing as hard as she can to help us fight you.” He gave a shake of his head as he said that. With a mix of doubt and determination in his eyes, he continued: “However…until I see her hurt someone, I choose to believe her.”

“Compared to a devil, you find me more repulsive?”

“Isn’t that just a fact?”

“Haha, such an interesting rating.” After raising his sword, Dawson charged in. “Come then, let the battle commence once more!”

“Hmph.” George began his attack as well with a cold snort.

Back on our side, Moranthal had been forced on the defensive since the beginning. His combat strength was roughly the same as Dohby’s, but thanks to the bandit’s larger weapon and the fact that it also had a low-grade strength enchantment placed on it, Moranthal didn’t dare to take his attacks head on despite that enchantment being run of the mill. All he could was constantly retreat backwards.

Seeing that his defeat was only a matter of time, I promptly began channelling a fireball to aid him. With the enchanted blade in my hand, my fire magic actually gained a boost in casting speed; a fireball which usually required 10 seconds now only required 5 seconds.

Seizing that window of opportunity created when Dohby forced Moranthal back with his attack, I threw a glance at the retreating hunter before swiftly tossing out my fireball. As the crackling ball of flames burned through the air, the astute hunter had already taken a couple of extra steps backwards having received my warning beforehand. At a safe distance of 5 meters, there was basically no chance of him getting hit.

By now, the fireball had gotten to the point where even Dohby could feel its scorching embrace. However being a strength type fighter, he didn’t have the speed to dodge it at such a close distance; thus he had no choice but to ignite his Fighter’s Aura in a last ditch attempt to block the attack with his greatsword.

*Boom…*