Hero of Darkness

Chapter 15: Praise thy Savior

There was a grotesque battle happening in front of a cliff. Kahn hid among the small trees and bushes and observed the scene in front of him.

2 groups in a battle to the death, one appeared to be normal merchants & their bodyguards while the other being a group of bandits. And the merchant side at the losing side in this case. Only 2 merchants and 5 bodyguards versus more than 12 Bandits surrounding them. Many of the merchants and bodyguards lying on the ground, their bodies lifeless.

Kahn who was watching from 30 meters distance from within the plants & bushes could clearly see what was exactly happening. These poor Merchants were ambushed in a well-thought trap. Because on bandit group side, there were only 3 casualties and 2 injured. While the Merchant side having lost more than a dozen men despite having around the same number of people.

Kahn rejoiced in his head. He finally found a way to get out of the damn forest and also play the hero part so that the losing side will be indebted to him.

Compared to how Rudra and Omega killed their enemies, the scene in front of him was like children playing house. And he too was accustomed to a lot of killing in the week he had spent in the forest. Plus he had absorbed the abilities of many predators in the forest. And acquired and merged many of their abilities.

One being Hunterʼs Intent he created after absorbing the abilities of a Hawk-like bird and a Scaly Lion-like monster. And this new ability helped him gauge the strength of his enemies like how Survival Instinct blessing from Kravel let him feel the killing intent directed at him.

And he found that none of the bandits that were attacking the merchants & the bodyguards were nearly half as strong as him. But he decided to wait up a bit more.

He had to make his entry in the most crucial moment. Otherwise, his help would go under-appreciated.

Kahn wasnʼt hasty to help because he knew that he too will be looked at suspiciously after he saved the poor merchants. Because a half-naked man, wearing wolf hide coming out of a deep forest to help out poor travelers worked only in fictional stories.

As soon as the trouble was gone, everyone would think like ʼRed looks SUSʼ. And would point their swords at him next.

Among the bodyguards, there were 2 women & 3 men. One of the women having a metal wand in her hand who was conjuring spells and creating barriers to help her allies. The other woman being an Archer who looked very skilled and fast at shooting her arrows every time an enemy tried to make a move.

Out of three men, two were the Tank & the Swordsman while one looked like the Healer who was in the center of the battle formation. All these five had very a deep understanding of each other and their coordination was a sight to behold. This was a team that worked with each other for years.

”Ah, classic RPG stuff.” Kahn thought.

But no matter what, even a strong formation would fall in front of sheer numbers. The merchants were of no help in this case and the bodyguards were simply getting too tired to fight as the time passed.

Finally, the bandits broke through their formation and attacked the mage and healer of the group. These two had no fighting capabilities at a short distance. Even the archer was forced to use her daggers as she lost the advantage of distance.

The middle-aged man who was the tank and young swordsman were barely holding two to three enemies at bay by themselves. At this rate, they were all going to die.

One of the Bandits shouted, ”Donʼt hurt the women, both are quite exquisite. We can enjoy their bodies for a long time.”

The voice came from a burly and tall man who was wielding a giant cleaver. His wide and strong arms easily managing to hold the weight and swing it without any problem.

The tank who was already bearing the brunt of 3 bandits fell back after this newcomer attacked him with a vertical swing of his cleaver.

”Follow the Bossʼs orders. And donʼt let them commit suicide! We can sell them later for a high price in the slaves market as well. They are quality goods.” said one of the bandits who was standing in the middle of their group and nocked an arrow, aiming towards the Healer of the group.

Lecherous gazes were focused on both the women in the groups, while the men were already dead in their eyes.

From the bushes across the road, a figure silently walked behind these bandits without making any sound. The figure stood behind one of the archers in the group who was the farthest from the battle.

Before he could even notice anything, a strong hand covered his mouth while the other one grabbed his neck from behind. Before the archer could even make a sound, an unbearable amount of force was exerted from the hand and his neck was snapped right that very moment.

The figure slowly put down the dead archer on the ground and looked towards another archer just 3 meters ahead. The figure walked behind this second archer and snapped his neck just like the earlier one.

”Two down. Ten to go.” the figure spoke softly.

It was none other than Kahn. He decided that it was about time he interfered and saved the merchants and their bodyguards who were close to cross that threshold of life to death. But he chose to do it the silent way because waltzing in would jeopardize the lives of these people if the bandits were alerted and went all-in with their attacks.

Now they were just laughing at the defending side and passing on slanders on the women about how theyʼll play with their naked bodies.

These remarks disgusted Kahn, yet he chose to use their diverted attention to his advantage.

Kahn quickly left the scene and focused on the next batch of targets, the Healers amongst the bandit group.

Kahn crouched from the bushes and silently appearing both these three healers. He had to be decisive because after this, the bandits would be alerted.

He grabbed the neck of one of the healers and snapped it the next second! Before the other healer standing close even noticed anything, Kahn focused all his strength in his right fist and sent a devastating punch to other healerʼs heads.

BANG!

The healerʼs head exploded right on the spot, he didnʼt even get to react and wail in pain before his head turned into broken eggshells and red blood and the brain splattered on the ground.

”What?!” The remaining healer shouted in surprise, this made other bandits look behind their backs. What they saw was 4 dead bodies on the ground, while one had his brains splattered like a watermelon.

Kahn did not stop and dashed towards the last healer in a single leap, his right knee focused towards the sternum of the healer.

The force and momentum were so strong that as soon as Kahnʼs knee touched the rib cage, the sound of bones breaking could be heard.

”Ahhhhh!!”, the healer shouted as his body was flung backward by that forceful attack, dropping on the ground the next second. The man spat a big chunk of blood from his mouth and started choking on it.

Kahn didnʼt waste any time looking at it and he ran towards the closest swordsman who was barely processing what just happened.

The swordsman grabbed his sword tightly and ran to attack Kahn.

”You fucker! Die!” he shouted and swung his sword horizontally. To this, instead of running away or trying to dodge the attack, Kahn increased his pace, and before the sword could even touch him, he was already in close proximity of this bandit. He quickly grabbed the wrist of this bandit, stopping the sword midway and twisted it forcefully. Kahn headbutted the swordsman and kicked him in his sacred temple with all the force in the leg.

Crack!

Two walnuts were broken that day.

The bandit who just lost his ability to reproduce wailed in agony and grabbed his crotch.

Kahn quickly picked up the fallen sword and held it like a long pole in his right hand, then closed his left eye as if trying to aim.

The next second, he threw the sword with all his might at one of the bandits holding a scepter in his hand.. The mage!

Before the mage could even react, the sword pierced through his neck, even breaking the bones and exiting out from the other side.

Up to now, everything happened within just 20 seconds as soon as Kahn was noticed by the bandits. Naturally, they werenʼt going to stand there and wait for Kahn to kill them.

”Kill that motherfucker!” one of the bandits shouted and several of the bandits charged at Kahn, with eyes full of anger and hatred. They wanted to cut him into hundreds of pieces.

The closest bandits attacked with his mace and aimed at Kahnʼs head.

Kahn who already had his Hunter Intent & Survival Instinct blessing active as soon as he entered in this fight, was already moving like a jaguar. Too agile and quick to react in just a second.

He sidestepped before the swinging mace could even touch him and kneed the bandit in his rib cage.

Bones cracked and the bandit caved in, the broken bones piercing his heart.

”Who the fuck are you?!” the boss of the bandits finally shouted. His eyes were full of rage and killing intent.

”Your death.” Kahn replied in a stern tone and picked up the mace. He walked towards the swordsman who was lying on the ground with his hands holding his crotch after that sudden attack.

”No! Donʼt come near me!” the bandit shouted, color dropping away from his face as he saw the murderous eyes of the half-naked man in front of him.

KACHA!

The sound of something hard broken could be heard in the area and just like that, another bandit fell. Kahn took out the mace from the mushed head which was lying on the ground like a broken watermelon.

”Whoʼs next?” Kahn asked as he gazed towards the remaining bandits.

Out of the twelve bandits, only five remained as Kahn systematically took out seven of the bandits in a matter of seconds.

This eased the tension on the bodyguards who were suppressed till now and finally could fight on even terms with the bandits.

The tank and the swordsman of their group already noticed Kahn when he took down the archers as they were fighting in the front. But they kept silent as they were more focused on fending off the bandits they were dealing with.

”Youʼre going to pay for this. Iʼm going to torture you to death!” The big and brawly bandit boss shouted. The boss looked like a giant bear, had a long brown beard and his entire physique was that of a seasoned warrior.

”Looks like you donʼt get it. Itʼs not me whoʼs gonna pay. Itʼs you who will pay for your sins.” Kahn said as he readies himself for a brute clash.

”You took everything from me!” said Kahn loudly. Enough to reach the bodyguards and the who were fighting against the remaining bandits.

”I donʼt even know who you are.” replied the bandit boss as he charged at Kahn.

The giant cleaver swung around a couple of times, Kahn dodging them by sliding and sidestepping. Both times it looked like he barely missed the attack and survived by hairʼs breadth.

In response, Kahn also swung the mace but was tackled and defended against. The bandit boss was a skilled fighter and had tons of experience.

Till now, Kahn only fought with his bare hands and didnʼt even use a single one of the abilities & skills he gained by absorbing monsters. This would raise suspicion and heʼd appear like a monster from the forest.

Unlike the other bandits, the leader was well geared up and had a lot of his vital body parts covered in either iron or a leader armor. Kahn could easily rip that apart with his Alpha Wolfʼs claws but he had to play the part so he wasnʼt going to do anything that would arouse unnecessary questions.

Another powerful horizontal swing came, Kahn squatted down and used a leg sweep to break the body balance of the bandit leader who was already in motion.

Clang!

The bandit leader fell on the ground as his entire body was in full momentum.

Kahn quickly attacked the right hand that was holding the giant cleaver and broke the fingers on the hand with a single attack.

Kahnʼs mace landed on the chest of the fallen bandit boss and he kept swinging it over and over again till it broke through the chest armor.

”Ah!.. Stop!.. No!” The bandit boss yelled while getting hit with the mace on his torso again and again. His chest was bleeding, his face was already bruised and blood was flowing from his nose.

Somehow, Kahnʼs hits were getting stronger and stronger and his body could barely retaliate.

[Was this guy holding back till now?] the bandit leader asked himself.

Kahn noticed that the remaining bandits were killed by the bodyguards with their impeccable coordination and timing. He turned his eyes back to the bandit leader and said,

”Look, none of them are left. Shouldnʼt their leader also join them?” Kahn said while acting as he was delivering a death sentence.

”Let me go please. Iʼll do whatever you want.” The bandit boss begged.

”Did you let my friends go?! Did you let all those women & children go?!” Kahn shouted in an enraged voice, hearable to anyone within half a kilometer. His voice contained wrath and despair at the same time.

”What did we ever do to you?” the bandit leader asked in a deathly ghast voice.

”The farmers. The mercenaries.” Kahn said as he ripped apart the chest armor and clenched his fists. He sat on the upper body of the bandit leader and started punching the banditʼs face with only enough force to let the sound reach everyoneʼs ears.

”Who the fuck are you even talking about?” the bandit boss said as he was barely able to stand these punches.

”You donʼt even remember them? You bastard! Were they just nobodies you killed for fun? Your mistake was letting me escape that time.”

Surprised, the bandit leader asked ”Are you... One of those guys?”

Kahn had no idea what this guy was talking about but played along.

Splat!

The head was cut in two and the blood and brains were out in the open.

The bad guy had played his part. There was no more need of him.

Kahn didnʼt stop here, he looked towards the sky as if trying to remember something..

”Yahhhhhhhhh!!!!” Kahn roared with all his might, his head held towards the open sky as he started sobbing on the place, his voice trembling with pain & sadness.

”Elena, Stephen, Pavel, Uncle Vasemir.. Iʼve avenged you.. Iʼve finally avenged you!” Kahn said as tears trickled down from his eyes.

Kahn got off from the dead bandit leaderʼs body and fell on his knees as if a dam of hidden grief had finally broken down. He kept crying and wiping off tears from his face, the angle was good enough to get noticed by everyone from the merchants and the bodyguardʼs side.

This was a very touching scene for anyone who lost a family member or someone they loved.

Finally after staying silent for a while, an elderly man who was one of the merchants and the middle-aged man from the bodyguards walked in close to Kahn.

The elderly man spoke in a soft and gentle tone.

”Thank you, young man. You saved all of our lives today. If not for you, none of us would be alive at this moment.”

”Yes. We would be dead men and the women in our group would be left to a fate controlled by these bastards. And we would never be able to avenge our fallen comrades either” said the middle-aged man who had a giant shield on his back. His built was no different than the bandit leader but he looked more of a father figure type of person. He had grey hair strands in the middle of his head and a completely white beard.

The elderly man was scrawny but had an appearance of a well-off businessman just by looking at his clothes.

Kahn replied with a solemn voice, maintaining his previous demeanor.

”I didnʼt do it for you.”