Chapter 10

[User, it has been 15 minutes.]

Magnus was enjoying watching the clouds roll by, but alas, it was time to get up. He couldn't deny that he was still shaky, but there was no time to waste. He wanted to get this over with and be back at Rillseat with his mission completed by tonight.

'250 golden dragons...' Magnus thought about how he would spend the money and how it would help forward his goals. It distracted him from his earlier deeds and motivated him to move forwards. So, he stood up, checked the map, and began walking toward where the bandit camp was speculated to be. 'Jarvis, how far can you scan currently?'

[I can scan a radius of 500 meters from the user, this will be upgraded with time.]

'As you did earlier, notify me when your scan picks up anything.'

[Understood.]

Magnus was only 1 kilometer away from where the bandit camp was said to be. He expected Jarvis to pick up some activity relatively soon, but in the meanwhile, he moved north, towards his destination. However, It didn't take long for Jarvis to notify him of something.

[User, I detect 10 individuals 500 meters north of your current location.]

'10, I thought it was only seven. Hostages perhaps? Or maybe I was lied to?' Magnus speculated, 'Jarvis, scan for any individuals who are easier targets, a lookout position or something similar.'

[Understood. I found four individuals who are currently separated from the main group. If user is stealthy enough, he should be able to take out all four of them before moving to the rest.]

'I plan to do so Jarvis, pin them on the map.' 10 red dots appeared on Magnus' map, however, some of them were flashing. As Jarvis had said, these dots were slightly separated from the main grouping of six. The closest one was 433 meters away. Magnus approached, slowly, like a predator.

Soon enough he was close enough to see his first victim, there he stood, seated on a tree stump, sharpening a small dagger. Magnus realized a problem, around the man there was no cover. For two to three meters it was nothing but grass.

'How should I approach him? Should I make noise to attract him to my position? It could work. I doubt he would suspect much, this forest is teeming with wildlife after all.' Magnus just as he had done earlier, began to break some sticks and rustle some leaves whilst crouched amidst the trees. However, the man simply looked up for a moment, before shrugging and continuing to sharpen his knife.

Magnus continued making noise however, he was sure that eventually the man would get annoyed with the sounds and approach, and he was right. After a minute or two, the man sighed and got up, walking towards Magnus.

"Blasted animals, can't seem to shut up," He muttered as he approached the treeline. As he approached he must've expected to find a few squirrels or maybe a deer running away, but instead, he met his demise.

A sword went through the man's throat, stopping him from making any noise as he choked on his own blood. It was lightning fast, and the man's life quickly left his body. As the man fell, Magnus caught him and hid him in the tree line. 'One down, three to go,' he thought. Before leaving, however, Magnus took the dagger which the man was sharpening, it was much easier to use for assassination purposes after all.

'A good weapon, balanced and light. This'll work wonders,' he thought. He used this dagger to behead the man where he fell. He still found it hard to stomach doing this, but he was able to do it without as much struggle as the first few times. 'This is necessary,' he told himself, 'It's them or me.'

After storing the man's head inside his inventory, he got up and checked his map, looking for his next victim. Magnus' next target was around 30 meters east. Quietly, he began to move to said target's location. Upon reaching a few meters from his target, sounds of snoring reached his ears, and peaking through the treeline Magnus smiled as he noticed the sleeping man. 'This'll be much easier than the last one.'

And it was, a simple blade to the throat and he was dead. The man didn't even have time to wake up and process the fact that he was dying. Just a quiet gurgle and the life left him. 'It's them or me.' Magnus once again told himself as he removed the now-dead man's head. Stowing it away in his inventory, he began to move toward his third target.

[Warning, an individual is approaching users current location, he will arrive within the next 30 seconds.]

'Shit!' Magnus swiftly dashed to the treeline before looking at his map and noticing the approaching dot.

"Oy Wyllam, it's time to rotate. Wyllam, don't tell me your lazy ass fell asleep again, you know boss is gonna kill you when he... finds out." Noticing the blood staining his friend's headless body, "Wyllam! What the hell?" As he ran towards the body, he had no time to grieve his friend or notify the others about his death. Soon enough he found himself unable to speak or breathe. Without knowing when or how, he fell to the ground, dead.

'Damnit! There goes my cover,' Looking at the map he could see some of the dots rotating, and one of them was going towards the location where he killed the first man. Disregarding stealth, he ran toward that location, intending to beat the man. However, even with his increased agility, he was too late.

"We have an intruder!" Magnus heard a man scream at the top of his lungs. Cursing his luck he decided to at least kill the source of the scream before dealing with the others who would be left.

Magnus had no time for stealth, so he simply relied on the element of surprise. As he sprinted out of the tree line toward his target, the man was not prepared for such an attack. Lazily bringing up his sword to try and defend himself, Magnus instead brought his strike lower.

"...you...bastard." The man weakly muttered. A dagger was now stabbed through his heart, and soon enough, he fell down, dead. Magnus could hear panic and alarm coming from the actual bandit camp, and soon enough he was approached by three men. There was no stealth now, he had to fight head-on. All three of the men had noticed Magnus.

"You goat fucker! You're the one who's been killing my men huh?! I'm going to torture you until you beg for death, then I'm gonna torture you some more! Let's kill the fucker lads!" His words were met with the battle cries of the two men who accompanied him. They all charged at Magnus, together.

Magnus reaches across his body with his right hand, grips the handle of his sword just below the guard, draws it out, and snaps it forward so it's facing his three attackers. Leaning into a lower stance, he had no room for mistakes or hesitation now.

The first arrival was a shorter but quicker man, carrying a spear. His long spear jabbed, but Magnus' enhanced reflexes allowed him to see the attack coming and dodge. He had no time to counterattack, however, as the second man arrived and bulled towards him, his sword flashing.

Magnus spun away untouched and quickly shot his own sword toward his attacker. Magnus' speed allowed his sword to find its target, impaling itself in his torso. The man fell to the ground, crying in agony. Once again, Magnus was attacked, this time he did not dodge, however, and instead brought his bloody sword up to block his attacker's overhead swing.

Metal screamed on metal as Magnus used all his strength to stop the deadly blow. "I'm gonna enjoy hearing you suffer for what you did," He was told. Magnus snarled and spun away, dodging a spear strike from the other remaining attacker in the meantime.

"All bark no bite, you have yet to even scratch me yet you speak as if you have already won." He said calmly, his words angered the two men, and the larger of the two, who Magnus made out to be the boss, shot his great sword forward while screaming,

"I'm gonna kill you!" His slash met nothing but air, as Magnus saw the unskilled attack coming from miles away. Instead of counterattacking at the large man, however, Magnus instead charged at the spear wielder. Although surprised, he was prepared and brought his spear to block Magnus' attack.

Skillfully changing his weapons arc at the last minute, his sword had instead slashed at the wooden handle of his opponent's spear, splitting the weapon in two. Afterward, with no weapon, the man had nothing to defend himself so Magnus quickly stabbed his sword through his chest. 'One to go.'

Turning around Magnus dodged another slash from the large man, "You're not getting out of this alive! You bastard!" The man roared, once again going on the offensive. Dodging a looping cut from the greatsword, Magnus replied, "You're already dead." The man's anger-filled and brash attack left him completely open. Magnus had quickly circled behind the man and his sword went through the back of the man's knee, through the layers of leather the man had to protect him.

The man reeled, swayed, and upon trying to walk, fell to the ground. His greatsword had flown from his hand, and he slowly rolled onto his back, coughing in pain and agony the whole while. He had no time to speak, however, as Magnus' blade came crashing down, straight through the man's throat, leaving him dead.

The once battle-filled forest becomes completely silent. Rolling off of the dead man's body, Magnus lay on the blood-stained grass with his eyes closed, taking a moment to catch his breath.

[User, there are still three individuals left in the camp, they are most likely hostages.]

'They can wait a minute or two Jarvis, I just need to catch my breath really quick.' Magnus replied, 'I'm just so exhausted.'