Edited by:tommyjl7

The group of bandits was watching the road which leads toward Watcheye Castle. They were nervous, the whole action they were supposed to perform was just shooting an arrow once or twice and then simply run away. They were all wearing leather armors or even simple pieces of cloth, it was supposed to give them mobility to escape the chase of knights as they would flee to the forest. They didn’t even have any other weapon but crossbows and arrows!... well, and a knife or dagger in their boots, but that’s hardly a weapon!

God! Those stupid birds are so annoying!

One of the bandits aimed his bow at colorful bird singing loudly on the tree close to them. Seeing that, his companion hissed angrily.

- “The fuck are you doing!? You want to give away our position?!”

- “To who!? We are alone here! They are a squad of dozens heavily armored soldiers! We will hear them from mile away!”

- “Scout reported that someone was traveling with them, they may have a mobile front guard walking ahead of them! So stay low!”

He was supposed to answer with a juicy curse, yet his lips froze. He heard something.

It definitely wasn’t the sound of armored boots hitting hard ground, no.

- “Do you hear it? Sounds like some beast running across the forest…”

- “Yeah, heavy, fast steps, damn, I am sure that this is one massive creature…”

Then, the “beast” jumped from the bushes right into the middle of an ambush squad.

- “WHO ARE YOU CALLING MASSIVE, YOU ASSHOLES!?”

“Massive” Giselle yelled bringing her sword down. A vein was pulsing rapidly on her forehead. Little fools, up until now dragoness merely wanted to beat them up and leave them tied up for soldiers to secure them. They could have a legal trial.. As their base was about to get destroyed few of them had chances to avoid death sentence. But now…

- “You are dead meat folks!” She yelled again as bandits started running in all directions. This way they increased their survival chances. Or so they thought.

Forest moved, vines and other plants started rising up in wonderful dance, creating impenetrable thick walls between trees cutting ways out. One of the bandits stopped right before smashing his face into one of such walls, he turned around trying to find another way out, yet the last thing he saw was a fist of dragoness armored in gauntlet approaching at high speed. One strike was enough to break his jaw, nose, send him flying, knock him down and cause minor concussion.

- “Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!” another man of forest cursed loudly as he was trying to get as far as possible from this madness.

Then, for a split of a second he thought he saw something between trees, so he stopped. There was another woman there, an elf. Goddess! She was beautiful. She was smiling to him with sorrow. That was his chance. He got a dagger up and started approaching her slowly.

- “Listen, lady, we are going to play a game now, ok? It’s called: . You are playing a hostage, I am putting a knife by your throat and you do as I say, then as we would be far away we would go different ways, fine with you, m’lady?”

- “With sorrow feasting on my heart, I have to decline your generous offer, though I have another one to compensate your loss, you get on the ground, tie your hands and wait for soldiers to secure you.”

- “Ain’t happening lady… In that case… Move aside.”

- “Once again, I am sorry, but I can’t comply.”

- “Please! I don’t want to hurt you!” he really meant it “… Look, I had to join them! I had no other choice! I… I never hurt anyone and I don’t want to change that… B…but I will! I am not going to die nor spend rest of my life in jail!”

- “You are not lying to me, are you?” priestess blinked her eyes few times.

Sweet goddess, these long lashes around her crystal blue eyes… So breathtaking.

- “… I am overjoyed hearing that, in that case, I will restrain myself from acts of violence against you…” man didn’t notice a huge plant growing beside him, it was already as tall as him.

A single green bud growing atop of it started slowly changing colors and growing as it bloomed. Finally, it opened its petals releasing sweet-scented pollen.

Lanele was talking with the man, occupying his attention with her beauty and words. Without man noticing it, pollen already started working. In next minute or two, he collapsed on the humid, soft soil beneath him in warm dreamless slumber.

In the meantime, another group of six men was running in yet another way. But the forest was acting strange, it kept changing all the time, what was even more strange was the fact, that birds from before kept “chasing after them”. They didn’t do much more, yet it almost looked as if… but it can’t be, right?

Another wall of moss raised up.

- “Whatever it is, it’s playing with us… we are like lambs chased to the farmhouse pen by shepherd dog!”

- “What’s at the end of it?”

- “Usually? Either a cage or slaughterhouse.”

Another raven fell from the sky. Twice as big as its two colorful cousins that chased them up until now. It landed on the ground and squawked in anger.

- “Fucking flying rat! I will pull every single feather out of you!” man taken over by his wrath started approaching the animal. Yet, he was forced to stop in the middle, for the body of started to change. Flesh started crawling under its feather, the sound of bones cracking could be heard as a body was “rearranging” itself.

After less than 10 seconds it was done, what stood in front of them, was a humanoid bird, with a long, curved beak. It was the bit similar to a more feral version of the harpy.

- “You will do what to me, human?” monster squawked in unnatural tone.

It started walking toward the bandits, its talons ploughed the ground on which he walked, the “brave one” – man which promised de-feathering of garuda collapsed on the ground.

- “W-w-what are you? You monster!”

- “Monster? No, I am a mere servant of my master. Yet, the desire of knowing the name of the being that will end your life is understandable. Master gave me a name, it’s Sebastian…” devil stopped “… but then again, he told me to bring you to him. I am bound with my contract and can’t go against his will…” bandits looked reassured “…on second thought, he never precisely stated how many of you I was supposed to bring.”

Two little birds that were watching this performance flew away

Devils, dear kids, are indeed a nasty bunch. If you would ever encounter some friendly devil wishing to form a pact with you, watch your tongues and read “the fine print”. They will always use a hole in agreement. They would also try lifting your spirits, give you a sparkle of hope, for they love nothing more, but to see that last sparkle dying in eyes of their prey.

- “Now, you said something about my feathers?..” creature pinned man to the ground with one of his legs.

- “Fuck! Die you piece of shit!” a man cried bringing his dagger and stabbing creatures leg.

This form was weak, far from perfect. It made Sebastian feel pain, lots of it. Yet instead of being annoyed, he looked to be more than pleased. He started to tighten the grip of his leg making his talons dig in the flesh of man. Ribs cracked and broke under the titanic strength of the familiar.

- “Now, now! Carefully! We don’t want your ribs to pierce lungs, do we? Such swift death would be… inappropriate.”

Colorful birds returned. The brighter one opened its beak and sang a song, that after a moment sounded like words spoken by a man.

- “Sebastian, I don’t want to rush you, quite the opposite, take your time, but mind finishing your job first? I am still waiting.”

The Dawn Stalker, bird that was known of its abilities to cast lesser illusions and mimic other people voices was used like a recorder to deliver Magician’s order.

Devil groaned in annoyance, looked at the man under him considered some options, then he rolled him on his belly and impaled one of his talons into man’s spine.

- “Wait here…” Garuda taunted his prey. Just a moment ago he broke his neural connections making him paralyzed, probably permanently. “… and you…” he looked at the rest of the group that watched him in terror “… run?”

He suggested in questioning tone. It sounded as if he was surprised by the fact that they hadn’t yet done so. Bandits didn’t need to be encouraged any further. They started running deeper into a forest, to the place where magician waited.

Your party member [Giselle Redwing] killed [Mountain Bandit - lvl 8] You obtained [26 exp]

Skip notification.

Your party member [Giselle Redwing] knocked unconscious [Mountain Bandit - lvl 9] You obtained [28 exp]

Skip notification.

Your party member [Lanelee Silverleaf] knocked unconscious [Mountain Bandit - lvl 6] You obtained [19 exp]

Skip this stupid notification.

Your party member ...

Skip notification god damn it! Apply to all for next 30 minutes!

Warning!

This option requires an administrator's permission.[Use administrator's access][Cancel]

… Yes?

The annoying blue massages stopped popping out. Asking the “administrator” for permission from an administrator. It is confirmed guyz, gods are using Windows-system to maintain the world.

I stretched my body, past half an hour I spent sitting in lotus pose meditating, I used empowered version of [Echo of the Earth] to scan the forest all around me searching for bandits, then I would cast nature manipulation to block their paths allowing my party members to hunt them down without much effort.

They were weak. Weak and HUMANS. They never really trained nor fought with creatures more dangerous than few wild wolves or boars. All their physical strength came from working a little in the field. Their level range was starting at 6 and ended around 13-14. These with “higher” level must have been some kind of hunters before starting their lives as outlaws.

They were not dangerous, not in the forest. Still, attacking a castle, even a ruined one, was completely different matter. They knew the environment, they had the advantage of number and... higher ground…

~… Zari don’t

~… Zari, stay focused.

~… Zari, just don’t you fucking dare to use Star Wars reference!

… BUT THEY UNDERESTIMATE MY POWER!

~FOR FUCK SAKE! You are a grown up man! Your familiars and friends are killing people right now! Can’t you just pretend to be mentally stable, and focus on battle ?!

Mentally stable? I am an artificial witch, that became an avatar and king of beasts, carrying a book that is talking to me and I am hearing voices in my head!

The silence was my answer

That’s what I thought!

Now, the last group of bandits was heading my way. I sat bit further from my team on purpose. I needed to ask those gentlemen few questions. In the end, you can win the battle with the blade, but with the information, you win the war.

Finally, they ran right into a clearing in which I was sitting. They stopped in awe. Why? Because I took my sweet time to prepare this place a little. I grew a tree under myself which took a shape of something similar to the wooden throne which towered over three meters above them. There were also very thin trees growing on both sides of clearing creating a path between bandits and myself.

I opened my eyes.

- “I will give each of you one chance. Surrender your lives to me and tell me everything about your group. Especially about the castle, the group that protects it and your leader, and who knows maybe I will be merciful?”

- “Fuck off, you…”

Why are they like this? No, I am honestly interested in the way they think. Your friends are dying all around, you meet an enemy clearly out of your league and you just insulted him. This is how the will of survival manifests? By provoking death? Evolution works in mysterious ways.

- “Wrong answer.”

Kaito jumped from the bush next to the group of bandits and bite the leg of “offensive” one, then he started pulling him back, deeper into woods.

Wargs are very specific creatures. They love playing with their food. Sometimes their prey will take hours to die, his screams could be heard from afar. This only helped me to influence the other one.

- “I will repeat myself. How strong are your fortification, what kind of ambushes did you prepare, how many defenders protect the castle and do you have any magicians?”

- “There is no way that we will ever tell y…”

- “The walls are broken in several places!” one of the man cried out “… these places are guarded the most! The gaps were filled with oil, if some army would try to enter by these, other defenders would ignite it! I heard that there was one mage, I have no idea how many people there are, but surely more than a hundred! I have never seen the boss with my eyes! Only heard about him!” he was still young. Level six. Just a kid that was either forced to join them or imagined a life full of adventures.

- “You idiot!” his friend rebuked him “… he is going to kill us anyway!”

The eyes of a man that betrayed his comrades opened so wide, that I was sure they would pop out, he was looking at me with terror.

That’s what I wanted to see. The will to keep living. When you are walking by the forest with a dog and you are attacked by a bear, all you can do is order your dog to attack the bear and run away. No matter how much you love the animal, no matter that you raised it from a pup. That’s how this filthy world works. If you are weak, you need to sacrifice things to continue living.

I waved my hand. The trees started opening a passage

- “You may go.” I said with neutral tone “This path will lead you to the main road, there you will surrender yourself to the soldiers.”

- “They will kill us!”

- “No, no if you would surrender yourself voluntary and repeat same information you just told me. You will be either thrown into jail or forced to work your crimes off. The alternatives lies behind you, in the forest.”

I pointed with my head direction where Kaito was still tormenting their friends.

Bandits started walking toward the passage, yet I waved my hand one more time, everyone except the one that talked were rooted to the ground by vines.

- “This deal is valid only for him…” I looked at young bandit “… the rest of you still owe me information. I hope you know more that this kid. Otherwise…”

Sebastian walked on the clearing, in his talon he was carrying a skinned corpse of the man.

No, it was not a corpse, the man was still living. He looked like an anatomy doll that was used in schools to teach kids about the muscles in human body.

I didn’t have to encourage them more. They became very talkative

Advertisement Support "Forging his own destiny" PayPal Patreon Previous

Chapter Fiction

Index Next

Chapter RSS About the author 2 Fictions 0 Posts 0 Threads Anuel Follow Author Saturday, June 23, 2018 7:03:45 PM

Bio: Some people want me to write with Style, some people want me to write with Passion, some people wish to see me using logic, yet I... I find madness to be much more alluring.

Srsl tho, I am kinda crazy, ya know?

Achievements Comments(22) Set Compact Log in to comment

Log In Load Comments Please enable JavaScript to load the comments! Log in to comment

Log In Settings Theme (Entire Website) Dark Light Dim background 0% 20% 40% 50% 60% 80% 100% Font Size 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 28 32 Reader Width Max 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Font Family Default ————— Open Dyslexic Atkinson Hyperlegible ————— Arial Roboto Open Sans OS Default Comic Sans Lucida Verdana Ubuntu Ubuntu Condensed Franklin Gothic Garamond Caslon Minion Font Color Indent Color Scheme Theme Default OLED Black Royal Road Dark Dark Gray Gray Light Gray Sepia White Paragraph Spacing Close × Give Reputation to User: Points You can specify how many points you want to give (minimum: 0, maximum: 0). Comment (optional) Why are you giving this user reputation? Give Reputation Close About

Royal Road® is the home of web novels and fan fictions! In our amazing community, you can find various talented individuals who write as a hobby or even professionally, artists who create art for them, and many, many readers who provide valuable feedback and encouragement.

Amazon Affiliate Royal Road® is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Theme Select Dark Light

Follow Us On Need some help? Create a support ticket

Contact Contact Us by Email

Advertising Ads for Authors

Programmatic Advertising Royal Road® © 2013-2022 Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Blog | Status Tap again to scroll to the top!