A day after slaying the bandits.
A man could be seen walking on a stone that led towards a nearby village,it was Michael.
He was wearing armour from the bandits he looted; his armour consisted of a breastplate, a backplate and tassets, which were responsible for protecting the thighs. On his back was a hunting bow,and in his hand was his trusty mortuary broadsword.
After half an hour, Michael had reached the entrance of the village,but something was strange he could hear.
"The village is being attacked!"muttered Michael with his eyes narrowed,he walked inside the village with vigilance and looked at the source of the sound.
There are 4 figures fighting a group of 8 bandits with bravery and boundless determination,but they were losing one by one there were killed,Michael was already sprinting towards them with his sword raised.
Slash!
BAAM!
Michael decapitated the first bandit and kicked the second in the back, causing the bandit to fall with his face to the ground.
One of the bandits turned around, but his face was met with Michael's fist.
BAAM!
Michael ducked just in time to dodge a bandit's horizontal slash,and thrust his sword through the bandit's chest killing him he pulled out his sword,picked up the dead bandit's body with one hand by the neck and threw it behind him where the two bandits he had knocked out tried sneaking,attempting to catch him off guard,the were knocked down like dominoes.
The four bandits were distracted by me just enough for the 2 remaining brave figures to kill two of them. I walked calmly towards the two alive bandits that were knocked down by the dead body I threw and finished them.
I looked back and saw the two brave figures finish the last two of them,and asked.
"Are there any more of them?"
One of the brave answered while breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"Yes, around 16 more of them,they infiltrated from different areas to force us into groups that they could handle"
Michael nodded and said "We must make haste then,the more we delay, the more people die."
Michael added.
"Lead the way"
The other bandits did not stand a chance. Michael along with the two brave warriors, sneaked up on them when they were busy fighting the other brave warriors. Michael, now with a total of 5 of those warriors, went to finish the last 8 of the bandits, wiping them out completely.
Michael looked at the dead bodies of the bandits,and then turned and said.
"Now that this is taken care of, I will take my leave."Michael walked back towards his cave without listening to the calls of the brave warriors,they wanted to thank him to rewards him,but Michael wasn't a mercenary nor did he desire rewards,he just did what he thought was right and left,his original purpose for coming to this village was to sightsee,and maybe buy some supplies.
Michael, physically exhausted,entered his cave and lay down on his makeshift bed and slept.
For months, Michael's life was the same: wake up, kill bandits, aid the village, hunt eat and repeat until 10 years passed.
1656
Michael was now 56 years old,yet he only looked twenty; his physical capabilities had reached low superhuman levels,but they had stagnated completely. He had reached the natural limit of what he could achieve in this body,yet Michael was completely unaware of how abnormal his strength was; the only thing he was aware of was his inability to age.
Near Michael's cave was a man who looked to be in his twenties; he was fighting 8 bandits, though calling it a fight isn't exactly accurate.
Michael's movements were fast,too fast for a human; he was dodging arrows effortlessly while also dodging the attacks of 6 bandits with swords. His leg moved with superhuman speed, kicking one bandit in the chin, instantly breaking his neck along with his jaw,he side-stepped a downwards slash and thrust his sword into the bandit's chest. He then kicked a charging bandit in the chest, shattering it and killing him.
Clang! Clang! Slash!
He easily blocked the two bandit's slashes, spun and slashed the third bandit's neck,he sidestepped just in time to dodge two arrows,and walked towards the remaining two bandits with swords.
Clang! Slash! Slash!
He deflected the downwards slash of the first bandit and slashed the second one in the neck and immediately after, decapitated the first one too, which happened in just a moment, leaving no time to react. Michael turned to look at the running archers and started sprinting towards them with terrifying speed,his speed reached 101 km/h catching up with the two archers in mere moments.
He grabbed them both by the neck and squeezed.
Crack! Crack!
Michael looked at their bodies and sighed while shaking his head.
"They just never learn, do they? Their insatiable greed and thirst for blood continues to blind them." said Michael with a disappointed and mentally exhausted expression.
Michael didn't even loot the bodies and just threw them off the mountain with minimal effort and went back into his cave; he just couldn't even rest with those people constantly coming here to disturb him,but then he heard a sound and turned around with visible annoyance.
It was another group of bandits, around 6 of them, they were holding a poster with Michael's face along with information about his rumored location.
"Oh, I understand now, I have become quite famous, haven't I?"asked Michael to the bandits and then continued.
"But I advise you to turn around and leave its too late for you"Michael didn't wanna kill that group of bandits,he could tell with that strange sense of his that they were simply desperate.
It's also probably their first time as bandits; it is pretty obvious from their body language, anxiety, restlessness, constantly looking around as if everything is out to get them,guilt, highly accelerated heartbeat and most importantly, they hesitated in attacking me; they could have shot me with arrows or form a plan,yet they did nothing of those.
The archer shakily raised her bow and after a second of hesitation, she closed her eyes and shot an arrow.
Michael simply moved his head slightly to the left, effortlessly dodging the arrow and said.
"You have two more chances to leave. If you fail to do so, I will torture you alive"lied Michael while looking directly in their eyes with a lifeless stare.
"8 bandits came before you,do you know what happened to them? They were skinned alive,hanged upside down to bleed out slowly and die,yet before they did, I fed them to the wolves"lied Michael as he slowly approached them and pointed at the bloodstains on the ground.
The bandits were shaking the female archer even started to sob.
Michael approached the male bandit who seemed to be the leader and slightly leaned in his face.
"Do you wanna be responsible for the agonising death of your group,do you wanna die while knowing that you were at fault,that you could have all walked away and lived?"Michael said with a voice too calm and too cold.
The male bandit leader, who was also shaking, lowered his head and said.
"We will leave."
Michael nodded and handed him a small sack filled with coins.
"Leave now,and I advise you to stop being bandits,you are not caught out for it"Said Michael while walking towards his cave.
The group of bandits looked at the small sack filled with coins with wide eyes and walked away with joy.
Michael looked at them leaving and smiled.
I apologise for scaring you, but sometimes to make the right choice,you need to feel both threatened and scared,though it only works on reasonable people