Unexpected encounter [Forest Survival arc]

I was tired from all the running, extremely thirsty and hungry from not eating or drinking enough and above all, I was scared.

But something inside my mind made me compelled to run.

I did not know if it was survival instincts or me just wanting to live, but the only thing I had on my mind while running was, TO STAY ALIVE!

I ran and ran, and used all the small openings and turns that my little body could fit in, however it was not enough to shake off the hungry pack of wolves.

It seems that they are able to smell my blood because of the injury and track me more accurately because of it.

As I continued to run aimlessly, my feet got stuck on the roots of a tree and I fell on the ground.

'Damn, at this rate I'm gonna get eaten alive'

Two wolves took this opportunity to charge straight at me.

I was not an expert at fighting, so all I could do was to point the two knives I had on them.

The wolves instantly changed their trajectory seeing the knife and approached me from behind.

As I turned my head, it was already too late.

I could see its sharp teeth raring to tear me apart alive in front of my face.

I closed my eyes quickly out of fear.

At that moment, I remembered what the lady I met told me, "Get out of this forest"

Why did I remember it above all else even though I don't know her personally?

I didn't know the answer to that, but all I could think of telling her once I meet her in the afterlife once I die was a sincere apology.

'I'm sorry for taking your child's body. I'm sorry for giving you false hope that your son was safe.'

'I'm sorry…. I'm sorry… sorry'

*Slice*

Suddenly I heard the voice of a blade swinging and after opening my eyes to know what it was I was shocked at the scene before me.

Three men were fighting against the five wolves effortlessly…

No, to call it a fight was being generous to the wolves…

It was a ONE SIDED SLAUGHTER!

One of the guys was using a bow and it was amazing seeing how skillful he was using it.

The other one was a swordsman and he tore apart two wolves simultaneously without breaking a sweat.

But the one that was the most notable was the guy with two blades on his hands.

He was the tallest and had the most muscles compared to the others, to the point where one could easily mistake him for a bodybuilder.

He had a long beard and hair, deep scars that covered most of his body symbolizing the amount of experience and fights he had and a part of his left ear was missing, 'probably got cut in a fight' I thought to myself.

The three men worked together perfectly and defeated all five of the wolves in a split second.

Their teamwork was proof that they had fought alongside each other for a long time.

After the three men were done with the wolves they turned their attention to me.

"Who are you kid?" asked the tallest one in the group.

I remembered the name of the kid whose body I took when the lady was shouting it and had already memorized it, "Christoph" I said.

"Say it louder kid" said the swordsmen in an annoyed tone.

"CHRISTOPH!"

After hearing the name the three of them looked at each and for a moment there was an unsettling silence between them.

But after some moment a smile appeared on the faces of the men and it soon turned into laughter, especially the one who was the tallest.

He laughed so hard that it almost felt like a roar!

As everyone was laughing, it felt weird not to laugh along with them and soon we were all laughing.

However all the laughter soon came to an end when the tallest guy turned serious and approached me.

He was letting out such a threatening aura that it felt like someone was choking me.

"ARE YOU SURE THAT YOUR NAME IS CHRISTOPH?", he asked while coming closer to me.

I wanted to talk but my voice kept getting cut off due to the excessive amount of aura he was producing, but I somehow managed to make out a few words, "Yes".

A wicked smile grew on his face as he heard my positive response and said, "Ha!, and here we trusted the rumors that you were a smart child".

"We were getting a little scared that you would hunt us down for revenge once you grow up, but to think that you showed up directly in front of us! fate seems to be on our side" said the archer to me.

At first I was really confused as to why they were hostile towards me, but soon after looking at them closely I realized that they were wearing a similar outfit to those bandits I saw earlier.

'So these are probably the bandits who survived the battle earlier, WAIT… does this mean that they are my ENEMIES?'

My brain was a little too late at figuring everything out, but right now I definitely got the full picture.

It seemed that the bandits at first, did not realize who I was because most of my body was covered with dirt that I rubbed on myself earlier.

But I exposed myself by confirming my identity to these bandits.

I was already having trouble escaping the wolves, but now I have to escape from the people who took down those wolves easily as if they were ants!

As I was busy coming up with different strategies to escape from them, the tallest one in the group turned to the archer.

"DID YOU JUST SAY THAT WE WERE AFRAID OF A LITTLE BOY?", the tallest said in a threatening voice facing the archer.

"N-No B-Boss", said the archer while his voice was shaking.

'So the tallest one is the leader of the group' I noted in my mind.

*Splursh*

In a matter of seconds the archer guy was cut into two different pieces.

I couldn't believe it as I was not even able to see him pull out his blades, 'How powerful does one have to be in order to do that?'.

"Those who are afraid of a mere child should not consider themselves as a warrior", the boss of the bandits muttered to himself.

After cleaning himself from the blood of his companion using a small cloth, he turned his face towards me.

Placing a blade on my neck he said, "Now what shall we do with you?".