82 Horrors of an Experimentation (2/2)

”S-seven.”

That was all Isamu needed to hear as he gave the strongest punch that he could muster directly at the bandit, knocking him out cold to the ground.

”Isamu,” Gray called out loudly for the cat-folk's attention. ”Where's Selena?”

Isamu merely said nothing as he pointed his right hand at where the Sentinel girl is.

Gray looked at where Isamu pointed as he indeed saw his soul-sister at the corner of the room tending to an unconscious battered black-haired young man who is half-naked with ragged pants, exposing his multiple scars all over his entire upper body.

Unconscious Man

Level 16

Health: 1,835 / 2,101

Stamina: 415 / 902

Mana: 300 / 300

Approaching the both of them, Gray made his presence known to Selena as the girl nodded in acknowledgment at her brother.

'Who is he?' The elf telepathically initiated the conversation with the girl.

'Isamu seemed to have recognized him as a fellow Guild Warrior who goes by the name of Hans.' Selena responded in the same manner with a worrying tone. 'Luckily, we were able to administer health potions for him just in time, ridding him of the multiple wounds that he garnered when we first saw him.'

'I see.' Gray answered with a smile. 'Excellent work, sis.'

Selena again nodded in return as her attention went back to the unconscious man.

After a few minutes, Hans woke up thankfully as he clutches his head in his feeling of nausea. With the man's vision being cleared, his expression turned pale as he immediately panicked out of the horror that he has been forced for days.

”Shh, it's alright,” Gray assured the man in an attempt to comfort him. ”We're all friends here. Those bandits won't be giving you any trouble anymore.”

”Are… are you sure?” Hans in his still alarmed state asked him with wary.

”Yes.” Gray nodded with a serious look. ”We're here to save you. Isamu, a fellow guild member of yours, is here with us too.”

”Oh, he's awake.” Isamu made his approach after being satisfied at beating up the bandit and looked at the man. ”Never thought I'd see you here of all places, Hans. How in Agveyr's blade did you end up in this shitty mess?”

”Paul and I… We were just coming back from our contract of escorting a caravan back from Flocaster days ago,” Hans explained his distressing situation while hugging himself in an effort to calm himself down from the trauma. ”Then all of a sudden, some bandits ambushed us and we were outnumbered heavily. They took us as their prisoners and brought us here into the cave. As we were chained up here in this very room, a hooded man came in and perform various alchemical experiments while playing that lute of his, starting with Paul. Poor Paul, he was overdosed with a lot of potions by that vile bastard and he never survived the ordeal. Lucky for me, the bastard seemed to have run out of ingredients and told the Bandit Boss to remain guard here as he will be collecting it in his home back at Flocaster.”

”Flocaster, huh.” Gray rubbed his chin as he nodded approvingly at the important information that was provided to them. ”Well, at least we know where our culprit lives.”

”That sick scum!!” Isamu clenched his fist in unadulterated anger. ”He'll pay for the atrocity that he has done!!!”

”Can you stand?” Gray offered his assistance to Hans, reaching out his hand.

”With me being all healed up, Yes I can.” Hans nodded in appreciation as he stood up from his spot. ”I believe you all have my thanks for treating my injuries. Those bandit rascals also took pleasure in torturing me whenever they feel like it.”

”Right,” Gray answered as his attention shifted to the unconscious Bandit Boss laying on the ground. ”And speaking of bandit rascal, one still remains.”

Gray then picked up the bandit's body as he began his skill of \u003cArcanaphilia\u003e, draining the Mana Essence out from the bandit's mouth and killing him in the process.

Isamu and Selena remained stoic throughout the duration as they perfectly knew of Gray's Arcane abilities while Hans could not help but stare at bafflement at witnessing such unnatural phenomenon of the bandit's flesh slowly being dried out.

Of course, Hans knew better than to be a judgmental, ungrateful fool as he's perfectly aware of Gray's kind behavior to him despite meeting for the first time. Besides, the elf is here with Isamu, so he's definitely a good person.

”Ah, now that hits the spot.” Gray succumbed to the delicious Arcane Energy that he obtained from the now-dead Bandit Boss. He also marveled at the new message that was presented to him by the System.

+200 Permanent Bonus to Mana!!

'Wow, a simple ten times increase from your average human.' Gray blinked in delightful surprise at the notification. 'But wait, since the man that I absorbed was a boss, shouldn't I be receiving a special skill out of this?'

\u003cDevourer of Supremacy\u003e Activated!!

\u003cGuile of Banditry\u003e (Passive) - The Arcanist is capable of assuming the demeanor of a bandit, granting him a permanent 30% bonus to Intimidation as long as he is far away from any towns or villages. While looting corpses, you are capable as well of finding even more gold than usual, granting 20% additional bonus to gold.

'Oh, there it is.' Gray thought with excitement as he read the description of his new skill. 'Well, well, this is an interesting skill. Although I'm not a bandit, I'm sure it's definitely going to be useful in certain situations that I may find myself in the future.'

After feeding on the Bandit Boss, Gray faced his companions and Hans. ”Well, now that we know the motives and the town of residence of the man behind all this, let's head on back to Chadena and convey the information that we found out to the guild.”

The three nodded in response as all of them made their exit from the hidden room, finding themselves back to the center of the clearing that made up of the main bandit encampment.

While the four of them are walking, they suddenly felt a tremor from the earth itself as the ground begun to shake in an intense magnitude, threatening the surrounding vicinity of the cave to fall apart.

”What in the blazes?!” Gray gritted his teeth as he and his companions struggled to maintain their balance amidst the earthquake.

As Gray stare down to the ground, his eyes widen with absolute shock at witnessing a huge Magic Circle being formed as it grew bigger at the spot where they currently stand.