Since I knew where everyone was, it was easy to avoid their Scouts, and then knock out the groups. Although there were numerous gatherings, some larger than others, I only attacked the ones that had been indicated by the mage. Fortunately, the others were just isolated bandit camps, set up for them to protect their own stuff from the other bandits around them. Groups couldn’t truly trust each other, so the few who had earned trust, or at least ruled the others by fear, gathered in small groups, which I supposed they called bands.
Each band consisted of a group of bandits. The more that got together, the more they had to share, and the more discord they ended up experiencing. Thus, it was most common for bandits to only be in groups of ten or twenty. That’s why I really wanted to know how Salicia had gotten a group of nearly five hundred bandits to risk their lives attacking Penbrook. Fear alone wasn’t a satisfying answer to me. There was something she either wasn’t or couldn’t tell me.
Each band was taken out in much the same manner as the first. The girls knocked them out, Miki infected them with just a seed of fear, and then I changed their jobs and sent them on their way to resurrection. It only took three hours and two more groups before we encountered an ambush at the next spot. Three hours from when we killed the first and they had already figured out what was happening. Admittedly, I had already killed close to fifty bandits. If our numbers were even remotely close to accurate, then that was a significant portion of their troops.
One of their numbers was someone I had marked. It was the same magician from earlier. He not only was back, but it looked like he was looking for revenge. No wonder they said it felt like a never-ending horde. This was definitely a tough situation.
“Come on… let’s go.” I whispered to the rest and turned away.
“You’re not going to thwart their ambush?” Ruby asked in surprise.
“If we show ourselves to be too good at taking them out, then they’ll definitely know we have a means of sensing their ambushes.”
“Well, even if you’re good at avoiding them, they’ll figure it out.”
“Hopefully, it will take a bit longer this way. Looks like I won’t be making D rank tonight.”
“That was your goal!” Ruby coughed. “You… I admit it’s difficult to keep up with your brand of recklessness.”
“Someone else sees it! I’m not the only one!” Raissa cried, giving Ruby a star-filled look.
Just at that moment, there was a sudden boom. A giant pillar of fire shot out from the forest. Those that were waiting in ambush broke rank and began running toward the commotion. They weren’t a tight group like soldiers or Dungeon Divers. Even though they had a mission of ambushing me, the magician guy couldn’t keep his team together. They were naturally very curious. I snorted in disgust at their lack of discipline.
“Huh? Where is everyone?” I turned back to see only Ruby standing by me.
She shrugged helplessly, pointing at the girls, who were also racing toward the explosion to see what happened. Miki stopped about twenty feet out and turned back.
“Come on, Master! I think there is a battle going on!”