79 Bandit Genocide (1/2)

Gray failed to contain the excitement that he felt upon witnessing his success of taking control over the powerful Bandit Boss who is wreaking havoc among the enemy ranks.

'It's official, \u003cMana Slave\u003e is now my favorite spell.' Gray thought with an ecstatic grin as he continued to observe the chaos ongoing right in front of him.

The Bandit Boss with his fearsome presence, paused as he stared ominously with his glowing violet eyes at his next unlucky victim currently bleeding out from the attack earlier.

”B-boss!?” The bandit uttered with he looked at the armored man with unadulterated fear. ”What's happening!? Why are you doing this!? N-no!!!”

The bandit's pleas of cry and terror were fallen into deaf ears as the Bandit Boss delivered a mighty downward slash with his bardiche, resulting with a horrific scene of the bandit screaming in utter agony when the blade of the axe sank right into his flesh, effectively cutting his body horizontally in half before disappearing into pixels as per death's intention of this world.

All of the hapless bandits who get to witness such a spine-chilling scene had their spirits and morale drastically lowered as their entire body shook in utter dismay at how brutal their adversary is.

One of the bandits out of the six remaining seemed to have realized something as he shouted for all his fellow comrades to listen. ”The boss must be controlled by some sort of magic!! He wouldn't attack us mindlessly just like that!! Quickly, let's find that Mage scum controlling him!!”

'I don't think so.'

Of course, Gray was not wasting his precious time by simply just looking at the dreadful proceedings. Instead, he utilized such a convenient moment as he prepared two charges of a full-powered \u003cArcane Bolt\u003e, one from each hand, and instantly hurled the magic projectiles into their direction, causing a massive explosion that could be felt around the entire encampment.

And with the bandits being cluttered closely in one spot, the area of effect spell effectively accomplished its fatal purposes.

Since the bandit's health was already low as caused by the powerful circular slash of the Bandit Boss earlier, they stood no chance of survival against Gray's potent magic and perished from the attack.

The elf though is still equipped with the set of chainmail armor when he performed the spell, meaning he does not currently have the Intelligence bonus that he normally has from his robes. Even so, the spell is still more than enough in annihilating the bandits from existence.

As the smoke cleared off, the elf could now see five crystals littered around the battlefield as he approached the area while the Bandit Boss, with his great resilience, managed to survive with him being down on his knees while holding his bardiche that was standing to support himself.

'Hmm, only five?' Gray rubbed his chin with a frown. 'I could have sworn that there are six of them.'

Indeed, the elf's statement was spot on as he saw one severely injured bandit crawling for his life away.

As the bandit was about to drink a health potion that he conjured from his Inventory, Gray immediately stopped the bandit's intentions as he blinked right in front of him and quickly kicked the potion, sending what little hope that was left away.

Gray then picked up the dying bandit by his neck as he eyed face to face with him with a contemplating expression.

'Hmm, now that I think about it, I haven't had a proper snack for three months, only resorting to the Arcane inhalant that was provided by Master.' Gray thought with an eldritch look as his eyes started to glow.

The bandit was too weak to fight back as Gray took this opportunity to feed on him. \u003cArcanaphilia\u003e certainly made its baleful mark as the elf opened his mouth and begun absorbing the bandit off his succulent Mana Essence, turning his flesh drier with each passing moment as a result before eventually turning to pixels.

+20 Permanent Bonus to Mana!!

'Huh, so an average human does give me only twenty.' Gray nodded to himself at this information. While in his self-contemplation, he heard multiple footsteps coming to his direction. 'It appears that more of them are coming here.'

Gray mentally ordered the Bandit Boss to stand up and prepare for the next part of the skirmish.

'I wonder how Isamu and Selena are doing?'

***

”What the!?”

One of the bandits at the center of the clearing said as he and his fellow bandits all heard the explosion coming nearby.

The most senior of the bandit group quickly ordered four of his subordinates to check out what exactly had transpired in the area of destruction.

With the four bandits departing from the clearing, all of them are now on high-alert as their eyes wander around the area for anything that is out of the ordinary while gripping their respective weapons firmly.

”Argh!!!”