Chapter 15: Call the Millelith… but for not me.

…

A group of 3 bandits were surrounding a singular person

"Drop your riches kid, and we'll consider letting you go" the bigger one said, hands on his shovel if the victim tried anything funny.

His other companions agreed with him, as one of them loaded their crossbow. And the other pulled out a bottle from his belt, containing a weird liquid

The so-called victim… isn't a victim by any means, it was the main protagonist of this story. Aka, Ryuma

This is his first encounter with treasure hoarders, so he must act accordingly…

And he's got the perfect plan

…

Let's rewind a few minutes ago and unravel on why this scene was happening in the first place

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Fu Yuan, the archer of the group, was counting the mora they got from the past week. With a crazed smile on his face

He giggled as he turned his eyes toward the Mora. "Hehehhehehe. Thousands of Mora in my hands.. and it was easy to get them from foolish, foolish merchants!" He satisfiedly said, refusing to release the considerable amount of Mora from his grip.

The big one, Fang Long, sat besides him as he also smiled at sheer bulk of the quantity, studying it from afar

"Being a treasure hoarder has its perks! No one dares to disobey us, giving us all of their hard-earned savings!" He relaxed as he popped open a can of beer and slowly chugged its contents. The bitter, yet sweet taste was a welcome relief.

The third, however, stood silent as he crafted a potion in the tent, combining a variety of ingredients into a single bottle. The other two left him alone, as they had no need to disturb him.

All of them had a great and warm time…

The Archer noticed a far-off silhouette in the distance, which appeared to be approaching their current location.

As expected, he went to tell his comrades about it

"Hey, fang! Yan! Someone heading our way!" He slightly raised his voice, gaining the attention of both

Fang long smiled "Another one? It seems luck is on our side again!" He grabbed his shovel, beginning to walk beside Fu Yuan.

They had specifically chosen this location because it was the path that merchants commonly traveled along. It would be easy bait for merchants who were unaware of their presence

Yan also did the same, spouting out the most iconic line of: "really? Hah, another test subject."

His mates looked at him for a bit, choosing to ignore his remark

They went into hiding, their excitement growing as the approaching person got closer. With anticipation, they eagerly anticipated extra mora, their hands itching for it.

And sure enough, it was a man with tanned skin wearing a fancy jacket with the left side consisting golden tree-like branches that stretch from the torso to the arm and an ordinary black pants with the suit

When they saw his attire, they quickly deduced that he was a rich person from a clan, or a successful businessman who could afford such clothing

…

To them, this person was the epitome of success and wealth. They assumed he must be absolutely drowning in mora!

And to top it off, this individual seems to be completely oblivious to any potential threats or dangers. He doesn't appear to have any bodyguards with him either.

This person's ignorance only increased the probability of being robbed.

His gaze towards his team members and the larger individual signaled to attack in the count of three.

One..

As the person continued to approach their desired location, completely unaware of any potential threat.

Two…

He got even closer, they prepared their weapons…

Three!

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And that what got ryuma in this unfortunate moment, he questioned if they were experienced in this type of matter as theres no way he's threatened by a close-ranged archer, and the potion thrower (whatever you call him) has a chance to accidentally hit his teammates in this range

He glared at them for a bit, choosing his next words carefully

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but i dont have anything to give as of right now" he emptied his pockets "as you can see, i am empty-handed…" he said as he closed his eyes as tried to convince them, although… he knew they weren't gonna believe a single word of what he said.

Greedy treasure-hoarders always find mora or anything valuable to take, at least its what he had experienced in-game

The big one got slightly agitated by his explanation, gripping the shovel tightly

"Oh…? Could you explain your RICH and EXPENSIVE clothing you are currently wearing at the moment?" The archer mused as he glanced over to Ryuma

"Oh this?" He tugged his shirt gently "My grandma made it. She told me that it made me handsome!" He told them with a big smile plastered on his face

He knew exactly what he was doing, purposely saying something to antagonize them in order to take the upper hand on what he was predicting would happen next.

How? By acting the usual cocky anime main character of course.

"You little…" the big one got frustrated at his overconfident demeanor, yet held himself back for obvious reasons

If they attacked him right now, it would serve no purpose taking his clothes. They had to make sure he wasn't hiding anything rich anywhere

"Show us where your hiding that precious mora little boy, you don't know how dangerous this situation is for you…" he informed with an aggressive voice, almost crushing his shovel with increased force on it.

Ryuma looked at what he presumes to be the leader of this group, he concluded that he had a low temper… so he decided to push the buttons further

"Nuh-uh"

…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NUH-UH!?" Yelled the big one

He had enough of this kid, he began charging at him like a bull, with the shovel on his hands. Preparing to smack the cockiness out from this delusional person

Ryuma, anticipating this, dodged by dashing onto the side.

What he didn't anticipate however, was an arrow aimed for his head.

But as if luck was on his side, he had barely had enough reaction time to avoid it. He ducked under the arrow's way, as he felt the noise of it landing somewhere.

However… this reminded him of yesterday, when he rolled for new accessories…

•-••-•-•-•-

* -[ NAME: unseen swift •rare ]

-[ damage 2.4% ]

✔️[ 2 piece: increase sprinting, combat speed, dodging and reaction speed by 20% ]*

•-••-•-•-•-

He couldn't explain it… but gambling indirectly saved his life

This just proved to him that he should try getting the 4 piece someday, but he's got a lot on his hands right now

He looked at the archer's direction, he could tell that he had a face of slight surprise when he dodged the arrow, but he continued to load another one in his crossbow

He had a great idea on what to do next… if it wasn't for the interruption of a bottle heading his way

He knew treasure hoarders good… that bottle could contain the pyro or cryo element, so he HAD to dodge

He quickly lunged forward, avoiding the possible threat of an attack

He didn't think much of it… until

*shatter*

He heard the shatter of a glass bottle breaking, followed by the sound of… burning?

He looked at the spot he was at, seeing the whole area up in flames…

If he hadn't dodged that, he might've aswell been a pile of ash right now.

Seeing his expression, the potion guy smirked in confidence "afraid little boy? This is what you'll get if you mess with us!" He said with absolute confidence

Ryuma just stared at him, he's not giving up yet.

The latter narrowed his eyes at him, "The only thing ill mess with… is your mother." He spoke out to the former, smirking by the come-back he made

Now this, this is unacceptable.

Yan crushed one of the bottles in his hand with pure rage "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" He prepared to throw another bottle, with pure frenzied eyes glued on ryuma

'Another one bites the dust' ryuma though, before the big guy came and and tried to hit him again with the shovel he's wielding

Of course, ryuma sidestepped the attack and countered it by sending an all-out punch to his abdomen.

"Pruagh!" He made an inaudible sound as he took the blow, taking a few steps back to fully process it

Ryuma jumped back to make distance between them again, focusing on the archer who is currently trying to load an arrow onto his crossbow

The archer noticed his gaze, and tried to load the arrow faster, albeit messing up a few times

Ryuma wasted no time as he lunged forward on the archer, summoning his newly-acquired weapon

[ dual sound blades are now 'equipped ] the voice of the system spoke out as he summoned his blades in his two arms

Instead of killing him, he had a different plan…

The archer was in a panic now, he LITERALLY SUMMONED weapons! And his goddamn crossbow is not loading properly!

Ryuma took advantage of this, and instead of attacking him directly, he went behind him.

He didn't stop there, he sliced the crossbow while at it. And after being right behind him, his blade was under the head of the archer, a centimeter separating his neck and the blade

The sight of this… shocked the treasure hoarders, everyone knows what is being done now…

Their friend, fu yuan, is being held hostage.

The atmosphere is unbearable, as many of them stayed silent in this moment

Yet, the silence was broken by ryuma

"Make a move… and your friend here will go bye-bye." He threatened the remaining treasure hoarders, his eyes darting between the big one and the potion-wielder

…

( A/N: hello again, sorry for posting late… i was farming for wanderer after winning my 50/50 for kokomi. But i do in fact, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Have a nice day! )

Btw… pyro, or hydro? )