Chapter 22. Good Friends

“Is it there?”
“That’s right”
Crack!
Ivan broke the neck of the bandit that guided him this far and tilted his head.
‘Is that really their wild plants?”
Coming here, he took a look at the surrounding mountains and geography. There seems to be a better place, but is this really their hideout? Isn’t it too open to be called a hiding place for bandits?
Ivan hid his presence as much as he could and approached the place little by little.
There’s a guy on guard, but it wasn’t hard to hide as he did not seem to be motivated at all.
“Ugh!”
Ivan frowned as he went inside after breaking the neck of an unlucky guy he met in the middle.
The size of the brazier, the amount of ashes left by the firewood, and other small traces of the surrounding area.
There were many shortcomings to say that it was a place where about 50 people lived. Won’t it be enough if only there are at most ten people staying?
‘Isn’t there more than one hiding place? Is there any other place where you usually live?’
Ivan, who was so worried, suddenly hardened his expression.
All of a sudden, I could feel the somethings surrounding me.
It was clearly a movement that realized his intrusion.
‘Have I been caught already? This fast?’
Ivan quickly raised his mana and spread it everywhere. Then he felt something like a thin thread.
When Ivan’s magical power touched it, it disappeared with the sensation of glass breaking.
“Wizard! He was watching me with magic!”
Ivan sprinted out of his place and smashed the guy he could see in the head.
A hard ax cuts through the fragile human head and scatters blood and brain fluid. With that, Ivan started running rampant.
Cutting arms, legs and neck. As soon as the seven of them fell, they froze and began to look at one place. Possibly their leader, or a chief. That kind of guy.
“What are you doing here, making a fuss?”
“That’s why you should have eyes to pick people if you want to rob someone.”
“What? Damn it! Those guys messed it up. Even after I said to move while looking at your opponent…”
“It looks like that bandits also have etiquette education. Unfortunately, it seems that their learning attitude was not good.”
Ivan nodded and glanced around.
He had to find a wizard, a wizard.
“As long as you’ve come this far, I can’t let you live…”
Whiri!
He threw the ax into the mouth of the guy who was talking. The one who attack first is the winner. The quicker you move, the more priority you get.
The man next to him shouted with a very angry look when his head burst out.
“Kill him!!”
As soon as he shouted, everyone started to move, so he must have been the bandit boss.
“It’s a pity, I thought I had killed the boss from the start.”
Sparkle
Ivan, who cut the throat of the bandit who was holding a spear, suddenly felt a shady spell sticking to him. A curse that dulls and weakens his body.
Of course, the curse burned away as soon as it stuck to Ivan’s body. The current curse was insignificant compared to the cursed priest and rotting grasps they faced in the dungeons and abandoned monastery they attacked a while ago.
‘it’s here!’
Bandits officers blocked his way, the moment Ivan found the direction of wizard by following the mana path leading to the curse.
Kang!
Ivan, who was wielding a sword with a rather troublesome expression, suddenly saw that they had blocked his sword and raised his eyebrows.
Clearly, they were not this good before, but suddenly their strength and speed increased. Like a completely different person.
Bang!
The eyes of the guys blocking the front turn red and their bodies grow bigger. His muscles swelled and his body temperature rose.
He smashed Ivan’s body with muscle strength and reaction speed that were several times stronger than that of a normal person.
bang!
Ivan, who had been attacked by them, shook his head. It was quite heavy blow. His technique was poor, but only his physical performance seemed to have improved dramatically. It can’t threaten Ivan like that, though.
Chijik!
Chiki!
When the lightning bolts from Ivan’s body brush past them, their large muscles and size fall to the ground so easily that it’s useless. Compared to the increased strength and speed, they have excessively weak magic resistance. (dlazarturead.wordpress.com)
Whoops!
At that time, a fireball was shot aiming at Ivan. The magic that was blown away regardless of how other people around him could get hurt. Ivan took his spear out of the inventory
He grabbed it and cried out in a whisper.
“Odiin.”
The spear bearing that name is shot through the fireball. Breaking the opponent’s magic, it flew away and lodged next to the wizard’s head.
Whiing-
Ivan walked slowly. There was no one who could stop him. There were some guys who tried to run away, but they couldn’t do it after losing their heads.
Ivan leisurely retrieved the spear and looked down at the wizard sitting on the ground. Even in this situation, the proud wizard screamed as if he felt anger rather than fear.
“Who are you? You suddenly appear here and interrupt our work…”
“Ahh!”
Ivan poked the spear into the wizard’s thigh and said sarcastically.
“It’s not that my spear didn’t blow your head off just because I missed.”
Watching the wizard writhing in pain, Ivan snorted.
“Patience is as good as pride.”
Anyway, he was terribly weak in pain. It’s hard to make a fuss. It’s not like the leg was cut off.
Squeak!
When he opened the door to the cabin where the wizard was, he could smell the scent of medicinal herbs in his nostrils. No, it was poison herb. It is also a very addictive drug ingredient.
‘When I said that the condition looked good for a simple bandit, was the drug dealer the main occupation?’
But if that’s true, they wouldn’t have hidden the existence of a wizard till death.
Ivan glanced at the corpses of the officers whose bodies had changed dramatically. Then he grabbed his leg again and looked down at the sobbing wizard.
It was very weak, but there was a shady and sticky energy. It was kind of familiar.
‘…it’s not just a wizard.’
A few words flashed through Ivan’s mind.
Drugs, warlocks, demon worshipers.
If so, it is understandable that those bandits kept their mouths shut until the end. Being a bandit and serving a warlock who worships demons are two different things.
“These days, the world is a mess, but those guys are running rampant.”
No, this damn world was originally a mess. There was nothing new to be surprised about.
Tuk!
Ivan slapped the warlock’s side with his foot and asked.
“Who is the one you serve?”
At those words, the warlock shouted with poisoned eyes.
“The Deathbringer watches over you! He will bring you to ruin!”
Through the warlock’s eyes, something hazy began to shine dimly. Perhaps it is because the demon he is serving, the Deathbringer, is looking at Ivan.
“You serve a poor man. If you’re going to be a slave to the demon, it should be the Demon Lord of Destruction, you are only a slave of his servant.”
“What? what? Deathbringer won’t let it go…”
Seseuk!
Degrur.
Ivan did not listen to him any longer and cut his neck.
All wizards are old-fashioned, stubborn, and psychotic, but the warlocks who worshiped the devil were crazy people who went further than that.
They are capable of carrying clever tactics and evil curses in a single word, so it was comfortable to kill them quickly and move on. If you are curious about something just hold it in.
In the first place, the souls and spirits of the warlocks were mortgageed by the demons they worshiped, so he could not easily extract information through torturing them.
It was impossible for Ivan, but not for the brilliant lie-detector guys called heretic incquisitor of Sanctus Populi, who were said to be as vicious as demon worshiper.
Ivan spat on the warlock’s body.
“It’s not even funny to be cursed by such a demon.”
The name he usually shouted was more evil. Conspiracy and trickery, betrayal and violence are the basic qualities that the gods of Asgard should have.
Aiming only the back of the head of a warrior who worships them, they eventually kills him, takes his soul, and makes him fight forever. This is a complete necroemancer that’s worse than the demon.
Perhaps Ivan’s dislike of demon worshipers was another form of self-hatred.
Chiky!
Whhing!
A stinging electricity and unpleasant wind blew as if protesting, but Ivan did not care at all and gathered the remaining bandits.
“Spit out all you know. It would be better to talk to me than to talk to a heresy inquisitor.”
At those words, all the bandits trembled in fear.
This is because the rumors about the Sanctus Populi Inquisitor were so famous regardless of the god or sect they worship.
Sacred nail plucking, righteous water torture, faithful ironing.
A heretic inquisitor who plucks nails, toenails, teeth, tongues, and then, if there is nothing to pluck out, heals them with full divine power and pulls them out again.
He heard that they recited a verse of scripture for every torture they performed, but rumor said that they never read the shortest scripture. Because once you went there, everyone ‘repented’.
The frightened bandits spit out the information they knew, and Ivan, who remembered it well, sent them to their comrades side by side.
Ivan, who cut down the bandits, was looking with a gaze of whether he would save one until the end, and began to search the cabin.
He recently made a lot of money catching Valkrun, but he also spent a lot of money. Because he used two of the battle magic scrolls that he bought for a lot of money in the Blue Tower.
‘As expected, should I have only thrown a fireball back then? No, I wouldn’t have made time to launch a fireball at close range. I had to use a shield, too’
Ivan grabbed his bitter stomach for no reason and looked around. They were quite wealthy because they were a drug dealer.
They were really good guys to see them hand it over generously. It’s a pity that one side can only be friends when they die.
“My wallet got thicker.”
Having dealt with a group of bandits who had unintentionally colluded with the warlock, Ivan went out of the way and moved into the forest where there were no people at all.
He had several opportunities to visit the village along the way, but he decided to ignore it. Because he couldn’t believe the village at all.
The processed wild plants Ivan had were small compared to the size of the bandits. That means there is a separate space where the bandits actually live. There was a high probability that the entire surrounding village took part in the crime.
If it’s that big, it’s possible that someone in power who’s like a lord is protecting them from behind. In many ways, it was said that the security around this area was a mess.
He wasn’t a hero who worked for the world’s peace, and there was no reason for Ivan to wander around to solve it. If it’s dangerous and suspicious, you should avoid it.
As he moved deep into the forest, Ivan realized that someone was tracking him.
An animal instinct, a warrior’s sense.
Ivan, who noticed the way someone looked at him, boosted his mana.
‘What is it this time? Orc? Warlock? Collegues of the dead guys?’
Ivan, who was getting ready to throw an ax at any moment, frowned slightly. It was because the emotions in the gaze were a little strange.
It was obviously not favorable. But it was subtle to be called hostility, and calm to be called murderous.
Whiiing~
Then the wind that brushed your cheeks, the gentle scent.
A mysterious sensation that is felt with the mind rather than with the nose.
“Forest elf, why did the elves come to see?”
They appeared as if responding to those words.