Merkin's mouth was hanging open when he saw Zaos finishing up the first group of thieves. It happened so fast that he couldn't believe that a thirteen years old boy did that all by himself. Not to mention the things he did, firing five spells at the same time, using wing magic at his legs to suddenly increase his speed, and then cutting the enemies in half without a single sign of hesitation… Merkin couldn't see the boy in front of him like a person anymore… he was a monster.
The first group of thieves reacted in the same way. They were completely paralyzed by the attacks. They thought a carriage being guarded by a single soldier would be something easy to attack, and now they were imagining themselves being cut down by a monster.
When Zaos turned around, the thieves finally recovered and began to run away in all directions. Zaos clicked his tongue because they might be able to escape and spread information about him. Zaos began to run toward them and hit the back of the fastest ones with Wind Sword, so only five thieves were left in the blink of an eye.
Zaos increased his legs' speed again with magic and then cut down two others with a single slash of his sword. But the other three would be hard to catch, they already were back to the grove, and the sword was slowing him down a little bit. Zaos dropped his sword and his helmet and then began to chase the enemies with all his might. Although they were just thieves, they were pretty experienced and fast. They sure knew how to run in that grove filled with obstacles.
However, they could see only the trees to protect themselves for so long. Zaos eventually got close enough and knocked two others down by beheading them with the Wind Swords. As for the last, he broke his right leg by firing an Earth Sword.
"ARGH!" The thief screamed in pain while rolling on the ground.
Before he could stop rolling, Zaos grabbed him by the neck and then punched his stomach. His fist has been strengthened by earth magic, and thanks to it, the thief passed away. While Zaos was planning not to leave any eyewitnesses, he needed to keep one alive, at least for the time being. In a hurry, he brought the thief back to where he left Merkin.
"Are you all right?" Zaos asked.
"… Yes… what about him?" Merkin asked.
"I am going to question him," Zaos said. "For a thief, he sure looks well-fed and clean."
"What about the others?" Merkin asked.
"Dead, can you drive the carriage for a while?" Zaos asked. "I want to check what these guys were wearing. Come to think of it, what should we do with their bodies? I am sure the guys who rent carriages don't want their vehicle back while smelling of corpses."
"I can cremate them…" Merkin said, and then he took a deep breath because he noticed that Zaos was completely calm.
It isn't weird to see someone losing reason after fighting for his life and fighting in a battle for a while. But Zaos was the same as always, that was why Merkin managed to relax, but then he couldn't help but wonder… wasn't that anormal on itself?
As if Zaos was a thief himself, he stripped the thieves of their gear and then threw them on a pile. After that, he found firewood to help the fire keep going for a while. Once the corpses began to cremate, Zaos decided to wake up the remaining thief with some slaps. He woke up feeling a hell of a pain in his limbs since Zaos made sure to break all of them while he was unconscious.
"Hello, shithead," Zaos said. "Do you see your friends there? They became firewood. Do you want to join them?"
"No, no… please no!" The thief replied while trembling like a leaf.
"That is good then," Zaos smiled. "Tell me, where is your hideout?"
"It is in… an underground in a forest one hour away from him, in that direction," The thief replied.
"Are there some sort of traps there?" Zaos asked.
"No, no," The thief replied.
"Good, let's hope that you are right because I will use you to confirm that," Zaos said and threw the thief inside the carriage. "Can you keep an eye on him?"
"Sure… but why are we going to his hideout?" Merkin frowned.
"They were too clean to be novice thieves," Zaos said. "They probably have been doing that for a while, maintaining this kind of work in secret while they target travelers like this now and then. They must have some interesting things stored in their hideout since they haven't been caught yet."
Merkin nodded since it made sense. He recognized the weapon that four of them used. It was a weapon that the people in the kingdom didn't know how to craft yet, so it was evident that they had been targeting people from many lands. Perhaps they even came from another country before they assumed new identities.
"Do you know what this is?" Zaos asked. "It looks like a crossbow, but there is this weird box above it."
"It is a rapid-fire crossbow," Merkin said. "The box is used to store the bolts. With the mechanisms inside it, you can fire many bolts without having to reload them yourself."
"Mmm… it looks interesting," Zaos nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Zaos had tried crossbows before because they were interesting, and even people with no experience with bows could be deadly with them. They had a lot of power at close and middle range, but they became more disappointing the farther away the enemies were. Their reloading time is also a problem. That was why Zaos gave up on them, but now with a rapid-fire crossbow… Zaos could use them and cause much more damage than he could with an ordinary bow… Who could have guessed that the trip would be fruitful in that way?
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