The Runesmith

Two men dressed in shabby clothes were walking through the night. The visibility was bad but the two just couldn’t hold it in anymore, nature was calling. After drinking deluded alcohol for most of the day, the two needed to empty themselves.

Their buddies were still being loud while having fun. They had hit it off big this time around, they had managed to take over a caravan filled with riches. They had suffered a small setback but after taking out a certain mage, the defenses of their prey crumbled.

They were staying in this village for the time being. Soon they would need to move but before that, they needed to go through all the loot.

This was a group of bandits that roamed the lands. They preyed on wandering merchants or adventurers. They would find certain ambush locations and stay there, waiting for the right time to strike.

Information traveled slowly in this world, before anyone sent a subjugation force after them they would be long gone. If they found a good hiding place they could even lay low for a few weeks until the coast was clear.

They had been doing this for years, sometimes they lost some people but they could always pick up new recruits. They just needed to dangle rewards in front of poor commoners like farmers and old adventurers. Some of them would take the bait and join their bandit group. After someone became a member there was no escape, murder and pillaging was now part of their lives.

These two were part of that group. Both of them were just farmers that were shoved towards this path because of a bad harvest. After years there was no more humanity left in them, it was kill or be killed.

“Why does the boss always keep the girls for himself, he could toss us a bone once in a while!”

One of the bandits said while pulling down his pants behind a tree.

“You should be quiet, remember what happened to old George? The boss chopped it right off!”

The other man was by another tree also taking care of his business. Normally one of them would be looking around if no enemies were around. But this was an uncultured and untrained bunch of ruffians, they didn’t really care about proper procedures. Even less when they were drunk.

“Yeah, yeah I remember. The Boss really likes to play with them though, wish he didn’t break them so easily. Remember that redhead? Don’t think she even lasted through the night and she had the greatest pair of...”

The man stopped with his monologue and looked down.

“Huh!?”

He was flabbergasted by the thing he was seeing. A sharp metallic blade was sticking out from his chest. Before he could scream out a hand covered his mouth and the blade was shoved in further. His vision blurred, his hands and legs felt heavy and he couldn’t help but close his eyes.

The other man whistled to himself as he wasn’t finished with his deed either.

“The redhead?”

He asked but didn’t hear the other man reply, only the howling of wind and trees rustling.

“Hey, are you there? Stop bullshiting around!”

The man finished up and pulled his pants up. The two didn’t go far away from the village and didn’t bring a torch. The bandit moved his hands to the side where he had a dagger but before he could pull it out something connected with the back of his head.

There was a muffled explosion, the bandit’s head exploded like an overripe tomato. Behind him stood a silver-haired elf, in his hand a heavy rapier. This was Roland’s old weapon that didn’t see much use.

The explosion was controlled, silent but quite messy. Logon was smart enough to quickly duck behind one of the trees to not get the man’s brain all over his clothes.

“That takes care of two of them… should we wait for more to arrive?”

Logon stepped out from the shadows while looking down at the two bodies. Golgrim and Aredhel were here as well but the one that had stabbed the first person was Roland.

He was wearing goggles, these were enchanted with a simple night vision spell. The two moon elves were beings of the night so they had something similar as a racial trait. The same was with their half-orc friend.

“Don’t think we can take that gamble, it could be hours before any of them decide to come here. Everyone might be sober by that time…”

Roland commented while the group gathered. Golgrim used those large arms of his to grab the bodies of the two bandits and toss them further into the forest.

Their group had arrived here half a day ago. They hid in the nearby forest, luckily the bandits were preoccupied with their pillaging to notice them camping out and watching them from afar.

The village was a small one, there were only about ten houses and there wasn’t even a wall surrounding it. The people living here were mostly farming families along with some hunters. Only weak monsters came around this place so this was probably enough for protection.

There was also nothing here that would incite robbers or bandits to attack. The farmers had almost no money and mostly ate what they cultivated themselves.

They were quite unfortunate that day. The remnants of the caravan that made it past the forced landslide had escaped here. The bandits pursued and ended up in this place. From what Logon and Roland counted there were between fifteen to twenty enemies here. They had quickly dispatched two of them which brought down the number.

Roland had deliberated if he should help the villagers or just ignore it. The only reason for helping these people would be his conscience and maybe the loot that could be taken after the victory. They took their time in inspecting the village from afar, the enemies didn't look that powerful and there weren't any tier 3 class holders around. He would have had to give up on the plan if even one person like that was here. After some deliberation, his conscience got the better of him and the decision to intervene was made.  

“Everyone remember the plan?”

The three nodded but the question was mostly targeted at Golgrim who looked ready to massacre some bandits.

“Remember, only charge in after you see the signal.”

Logon looked to Golgrim who in turn lowered his head in disappointment.

“Take care you two.”

Aredhel would also be staying here as she wasn’t much of a fighter herself. She gave both Logon and Roland a little boost with some basic buffing spells that raised their agility and endurance.

“Don’t worry Lady Aredhel, we will return victorious!”

Logon declared while Roland watched from the side but his gaze was mostly on the village. There were still a couple of bandits wandering around but most of them were dozing off.

“Glad that these idiots have zero awareness…”

Logon nodded at Roland’s words while the two sneaked away.

“Remember we only have ten minutes before the spell effect wears off, I’ll take care of the east side.”

Logon nodded at Roland’s words as their bodies blended into the shadows. Roland had activated the same spell scroll that he used against the thieves he encountered back in Edelgard.

With quiet steps and a cloak of shadow the two approached the occupied village. This place was further away from civilization, things like street lamps didn’t exist. The only light was the one inside of the buildings, which allowed these two to easily sneak up on their unsuspecting targets.

…………………….

“Hey! Why are those two idiots not back yet? Did they fall asleep outside?”

A rough-looking bandit with a bushy unkempt beard asked.

“Heh, maybe they are having some fun with each other?”

Another one answered while making an obscene gesture with two of his fingers. A large frown appeared on the man’s face that asked the question. Two other men that were with him in the room started laughing out loud while drinking more cheap booze.

“Be quiet you idiots, someone needs to check up on those retards.”

The man with the unkempt beard continued with his train of thought. He was a bit less drunk than the other bandits and knew that there could be danger lurking outside. What if the two run into some monsters and are now dead?

“Yes and that someone is you!”

He got a quick reply from one of the drunkards that continued to drink and laugh around. While his bandit companions ignored him the man with the bushy beard decided to stand up.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get through to these idiots, he would need to check up on the two men himself. If something happened to them and the boss found out that they were slacking, they could get punished.

He grabbed a crude lantern from the side that ran on oil. This was a cheap alternative to a magical lamp. Oil wasn’t a widely used resource as most people invested more in magical technology.

This man had no night vision-related skills and even with this item, it would be hard to see anything outside. He grabbed his coat and was about to go outside but the moment he grabbed the door handle an explosion occurred.

‘BAM’

The door exploded into many wood chunks the moment he tried opening it. He was unprepared, his hand was mangled as it received the brunt of the force. The bandit’s body got tossed back into the home the group was occupying.

The man hit a nearby table where the rest of his comrades were. He was bleeding from various orifices and his whole face was filled with wooden splinters. The man screamed out in pain while convulsing violently. His health was going down at a dramatic pace as he was bleeding out.

“What the?”

The other men screamed out in shock as they heard the explosion. Even more, after they realized that one of their bandit buddies was almost dead.

“Enemy attack? Monsters!?”

The rough-looking men shot up to their feet, even though they were still drunk the adrenaline in their system made them sober up fast. They all quickly went for their weapons while also hearing similar sounding explosions and shouts outside the house. They were clearly getting attacked by someone or something.

“Is it a mage? Do they have firebombs?”

Some of them recalled the man that they fought with during the initial ambush. He had some strange explosive bombs with him and was also using magic. The last time they saw him was after they pushed large boulders down the slope.

He was supposed to have been long dead but maybe he had somehow miraculously crawled out of there.

“We can’t stay here if they have bombs! Quickly go outside!”

One of the men shouted while remembering the grenades. If one of them was tossed inside this building, they would look even worse than this injured bandit here.

The bandit that shouted grabbed a large wooden shield from the side. He then positioned it in front and charged forward. His logic being that if any arrows came flying he would be well protected. He managed to go outside but no arrows came, instead he saw some orange light shining from below.

The two men that were behind him heard another loud bang that was followed by a magical discharge. Their companion was engulfed in a ball of fire and quickly succumbed to his fate while screaming.

The entrance became even more damaged after the second explosion, now even the building was starting to catch fire. The two men with weapons and shields in hand looked to the sides. There were side windows in this house, which they now planned to use for their escape.

The two weren’t quite sure what happened but there was someone outside flinging magic. Maybe if they climbed through a side window they would be safe. The windows didn’t have any glass in them, they just had some wooden panels sealing them up with a latch.

They two were quite drunk and panicking, escaping through this new way seemed like a plausible thing to do. They could also hear explosions occurring outside, maybe the person that was casting spells was busy. If that someone decided to throw a fireball into this house they would be done for anyway.

Each one took a window for themselves hopping over it in hopes of finding out what was happening. The moment they did though a strange piece of paper was discovered. It was attached to the side of the wall right next to the windows. The moment they crossed the threshold outside it began to shine in a blue light that quickly turned red.

Two new fireballs filled the area that was already cracking with detonation sounds. Everywhere screams of pain and agony could be heard. Soon a monstrous roar resounded through the surroundings and the surviving bandits saw some kind of large humanoid beasts with sickles for hands charging from the forest.

The bandits were injured and in disarray. The charging monster was coming for them and in this dark night, it was hard to make out this creature's true form.

More screams and shouts, more explosions, and even more chaos spread throughout the whole small village. Finally, the doors to the largest home opened out to reveal a two-meter tall man with an eyepatch.

He wasn’t fully dressed and even his pants were put on haphazardly. He was holding a large two-handed ax in one of his hands while looking out into the distance. What he saw was total chaos.

The buildings were on fire and the loud moans of his men could be heard everywhere. He could see them crawling around with burn marks, some of them had their feet and legs removed. It was as if something tore them off right off.

In the middle of the small village, he could see some kind of humanoid monster. It was slaughtering his men that were uncoordinated and drunk. After he got a better look he identified the assailant to be either an orc or something close to it.

“What the hell is this?”

He was about to head into the fray to help his men. For now they were confused but if their commander joined the battle they could still turn this around.

“Everyone back away, leave that monster to m…”

While taking he noticed something and quickly put up his guard. A pointy blade approached his face from the side as an assailant emerged from the shadows.

“Tch…”

It was a dark-skinned moon elf with silver hair. He didn’t just back away but continued with his attack. Many quick thrusts were deployed against this large bandit but he was skilled enough to block them with his large ax. The man wasn’t the leader for nothing and wouldn’t be brought down with just this.

“Fucking knife ears!”

The Axe that he was holding started glowing in a green color after the flurry of sword strikes didn’t go anywhere. He swung it in a wide arc while wind elemental energies pushed the elven assassin away.

“Die you little shit!”

The man roared out loud while his weapon glowed once more. The muscles on his body expanded in thickness while he swung it down. He combined two skills to produce a torrent of wind that could bisect anything in its way.

The elven assailant was nimble though and managed to dodge the deathly magical blow to the side. The mass of green energy traveled further and crashed into one of the village buildings. The home was mostly made from wood with some rocks piled up as walls. When the magic strike collided with it, the whole structure crumbled along with the wall.

The bandit knew that his opponent was close to his level but he had the advantage of having a magical weapon. He needed to end this fight fast and help his comrades in arms. He gathered even more energies into his weapon, this time the area of effect would be large enough to hit his opponent.

He went for it, a massive surge in mana could be felt as he almost went all out for this one attack. But just before swinging down his danger sense went off, instead of going through with the attack he put up the large ax and used it as a shield. He was quick enough to intercept a magical spell with it, that looked like an arrow made from stone.

“Fuc…”

“Pay attention!”

The bandit boss then felt the presence of the elven fighter. This time around there would be no escape. The elf had used some kind of special move to close the distance instantly and the blade was upon him. Before he could react the sword tip was already going through his neck.

The man’s head explodes almost instantly after the activation of the runic rapier. He fell down to his knees, his large chest then slammed to the rough ground below. The bandit boss was slain and now only his uncoordinated gang of robbers remained.

After some time the night of slaughter came to an end with a clear victor. The remaining men didn’t stand a chance after their commander was done in. Some of them fled while most met their demise by the half-orc’s hand. Their bloodied bodies were quickly washed away by the rainfall that ensued at the end. It was as if the sky was trying to wash away the blood that was spilled today.