18 Defeating Mankirk the Bandit Leader!

Mankirk who saw Sam take his stance let out a hearty laugh before turning around and picking up his weapon.

'What in the…'

Sam looked astonished as Mankirk picked up a large battle axe the size of Sam.

"Like my weapon? I got it specially made just for smashing puny pricks like you!"

Sam notices that bandits began to pop out of nowhere, surrounding Sam and blocking any chance of escape for him.

Sam held his shield up, expecting the bandits to come rushing at him. They did, and soon Sam was facing 5 bandits at once while Mankirk in the background watches with a large grin on his face.

Sam releases a massive thunderclap stunning all the bandits in one fell swoop, and soon he finished them off with <Shield Slam>.

"HAR HAR HAR! You are good, human! No wonder you reached me with such ease!"

Mankirk looked impressed, but Sam knew he was being ridiculed by the Orc who looked down on him.

"Well! Looks like it is just me and you! Any last words?"

"Any last words for you?"

"You sure are cocky! Don't compare me to those punks you killed, I am much, much stronger."

Sam who saw Mankirk readying up stayed silent and waited for Mankirk to make the first move.

He needed to fight defensively since Mankirk had both a power and size advantage against him. His plan was to run and keep running until he could find an opening.

"RAAHH!"

Mankirk with a large jump started with an overhead slash with the axe, making Sam roll to the left and stab the open leg of Mankirk before pulling out and making the distance between him and the Orc.

"That tickled kid. Just stay where you are and DIE!"

Believing he caught Sam by surprise, he swung his weapon while kneeling on the ground. Sam was slightly caught by surprise due to the speed of the Orc's reflexes but he dodged out of the way just in time and continued to stare at the Orc who looked frustrated at Sam's continuous dodging.

"You aren't making this easier you know!"

Sam who saw Mankirk was about to stand up decided it was time for him to punish and rushed in while using <Thunder Clap> while running.

"What the?!"

The Orc who wasn't stunned at all by the <Thunder Clap> did feel pain on his foot which is where Sam targeted the attack.

Sam continued to <Shield Slam> the foot, making sure the Orc took as much damage as Sam could deliver before the Orc was ready to make his next attack.

"STOP THAT! RAAAAAAAAH!"

Mankirk with sheer will rushed up to his feet causing Sam to retreat as far as he could.

Seeing Sam retreat once more, Mankirk raised his axe up in the air and soon golden engravings showed on the axe, blinding Sam slightly.

'Engravings? The weapon was enchanted?!'

Enchanted weapons were extremely expensive and hard to come by, with only major kingdom soldiers having the honor to wield one, and the highest grade only going to the elite of the elite.

The fact that Mankirk has possession of the weapon is probably one of the major reasons why the militia from the neighboring kingdom-affiliated villages didn't wish to deal with him, as it would require them to get permission from the kingdom to send down one of their knights.

"DIE!"

Mankirk with a swirl of his weapon began evoking fire, which spew across the field making Sam dash across the field dodging the fireball attacks.

'Fire enchanted, difficult!'

Sam continued to run around the field, slowly entering Mankirk's melee range, and dealt another <Thunder Clap> combo following up with a <Shield Slam>.

"GAR! STOP RUNNING!"

Sam saw that it was wearing down Mankirk, and continued to run from the fireball attacks and swings while abusing Mankirk when the opportunity is available.

Soon, Mankirk knelt to the ground, in pain and tired from the cat-and-mouse game against Sam. He slammed the axe handle to the ground, causing lava to spew out of the axe hitting Sam and causing his arm to burn.

"AHHHHHHH!"

The burn was extremely painful, but Sam tried his best to keep his composure and dropped the shield that was held to that arm.

With his sword he looked the tired orc dead in the eye before plunging the weapon into his forehead, instantly killing him.

[[You have leveled up!]]

Sam who saw that he was leveling up then dropped to the ground. The pain in his arm was insane, and it left a bunch of burnt markings all over the forearm.

[[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: You have completed "Exterminate the Red Eye Crew"! You have gained: Horses to spawn near Hope Village! You have gained experience!]]

[[You have leveled up!]]

'I can't… read the text… too painful!'

[[DING! You are hurt, host.]]

"Can… you help?" Sam asked weakly to the system.

[[DING! To help the host, you must sacrifice something.]]

"What sort… of sacrifice must I make?"

[[DING! Nothing important. This system shall heal the wound but the scars shall remain.]]

"Oh… then sure. I don't care about stuff like that"

[[DING! Healing… complete!]]

Soon, a golden flash of light covered Sam's arm and the pain then went away.

The arm that was once just a tender piece of meat was now covered in burnt marks and scarring, it was a battle scar, which Sam had many during his heyday.

'Didn't expect to gain one this early in my life.'

Sam chuckled, before sitting up and staring at the sky.

"System, what are you? You never were like this before."

[[DING! Before?]]

Sam who saw the system question Sam stayed silent for a while and then sighed. The system he has isn't an actual system, but a sort of being communicating with him. But Sam doesn't know who or what it is that is doing this.

Could it be the Gods that gave Sam the chance to be reborn? Could it be another being who latched onto Sam after seeing some sort of uniqueness in him?

Nevertheless, he felt that this system either doesn't know about Sam's rebirth or doesn't want to talk about it. Either way, Sam has more issues to deal with than a system that benefits him as much as this one does.

"Thank you, if you didn't save my arm it probably would have been amputated."

Silence from the system, but Sam shrugged it off anyways and stood up.

"This axe…"

Sam looked at the axe in the ground and pondered if he could pick it up.

[[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: You have found "Crimson Fire Great Axe", do you wish to store this in your inventory?]]

"Inventory?"

Sam was confused, but then remembered that all Lords were given a space storage the size of two cubic meters.

"Yes!"

Soon, the Axe that was once on the ground disappeared and a flash of light rushed into Sam's chest.

He soon then headed back to the village where the bandits were raiding earlier and where his soldiers were stationed.

United Earth.

"Has anyone found Sam yet?" Sam's mother asked the few people in her office who had their heads down.

"We went around the city, every bar and casino. Nothing popped up. We were suspicious of a certain casino that Sam frequented, but they haven't seen him in a long time and Sam hasn't paid off his debts there."

Sam's mother, Lia, had her face covered by her hands. Her only son was missing, and not even a body could be found in the entire city meaning either Sam flew out of the country or was dead.

"One area we couldn't search was the Ghetto due to not having any personnel there. It would be a risk, but it could be that Sam is staying there since he was thrown there by his dad."

"I just hope he isn't there because that area is a harsh place for my little Sammy… Awooo~" Lia begins to cry and asks the people in her office to leave her office.

"Evelyn… what happened to her?" She wiped her tears and called one of her most trusted advisers into the office.

"Track Evelyn, check if she knows anything. Anything suspicious and you call me straight away. I will not spare her family if she has anything to do with this!"

"Yes Miss, I'll get right on it!"

Soon, her office was quiet again leaving Lia alone with her thoughts.

"I am so sorry… I should have taken you away from that beast of a man…."

Meanwhile, the Yong Family residence.

"You checked the slums? Sam isn't there? SHIT!" Andrew, Sam's father threw the paperwork from his desk in frustration as he couldn't find Sam anywhere.

"If I don't find that bastard, Landon Family will destroy this family and they wouldn't even get in trouble with the government for it! They have influence in the goddamn military!"

"There is nothing, it is almost as if he disappeared from the world."

Andrew sighs, and suddenly his office door is opened his son Joseph walks in with a smile on his face and a black suit fitting his charming appearance.

"Son, why are you here?"

"I heard you are looking for that waste because of the threat by the Landon family. Father, don't worry about them. They wouldn't dare attack Yong Industries as we have many influences in different industries, meaning if we die out then those companies would take a hit and the whole United Earth would be in a recession."

"… they have military backing Joseph, we can't risk it."

"Dad, they have the military but we have the economy. Just don't worry about it, if things ever do get heated then we immobilize our financial allies and we pressure Landon Family and the government to give up the attack against us."

Andrew began to ponder for a moment, before sighing and smiling at his son. "You are an extremely bright kid, just like your mother. I shall follow your advice son!"

Joseph smiled, before walking out of the office.

Sam's father then took out a cigarette from his cupboard and smoked it while alone in his thoughts.

"What? Lia Landon is looking for Sam? She is threatening the Yong family? Oh my god, what am I going to do?!" Evelyn began to panic in her room as she receives news about the Landon family's search for Sam.

If news got out that Evelyn and Joseph had falsified the claims against Sam, her family would disappear in a heartbeat. Her father doesn't know what she had done, and probably wouldn't forgive her for the act knowing it would harm the family's interest.

She begins to call Joseph while trembling in shock.

"Hello?" Joseph's cold voice rang into Evelyn's ears.

"It's… me. She's looking for her son, what should I do?"

"… Don't worry about it. Come over to mine later, I missed you"

"… okay love, when are we getting married? Aren't we supposed to combine both our families?"

"Yes, I promised you that, and I shall deliver. Right now I must first slowly take the reigns from my dad and have control of the company before we could do such a merger. Have patience, my love."

"Okay, I miss you. I shall come over now!" Evelyn hung up and began running to her wardrobe, looking for sexy clothing to wear.

'Stupid Bitch…' Joseph smiled as he saw her hang up the phone and walked away toward his home where both would meet and have a night of fun.

Little did both know, Landon's family spies already were tailing them and soon they would be exposed.

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