"Hey, boys," EeDechi waved a hand in front of her nose, the stench of blood drifting through the forest mixed with the faint aroma of roasting meat making her scrunch up her face.
"I could hear the sounds of fighting and killing from a mile away. Tsk tsk, what a bloody, violent scene. Why isn't the blood green?"
The bandits exchanged confused looks, unsure what to make of this weirdo who'd suddenly galloped in on horseback and started spouting nonsense.
EeDechi flicked her gray cloak aside, revealing a silvery-white metal badge that glinted in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.
"Holy crap, it's a mithril-level adventurer! No wonder she's dumb enough to come here alone and get herself killed." The bandits glanced at each other and burst into roaring laughter.
They'd taken down so many clueless adventurers they couldn't even count them on one hand. And they always went for the high-level ones—higher rank meant better gear, and the loot they stripped from those corpses was way juicier.
Of course, they wouldn't mess with Orichalcum or Adamantite-level adventurers. A team of those freaks was basically a walking army. But a lone mithril-level adventurer running into them? That was just a free delivery straight to her grave!
"Run! Adventurer! These aren't your average bandits! Get to the city and fetch the knight brigade!" Aaron yelled frantically at the laid-back EeDechi, desperate to warn her to hightail it out of there and sound the alarm.
Knights were all about order and glory, and they usually couldn't stand the free-spirited vibe of adventurers. But seeing this lone mithril-level adventurer show up solo to save the day? It filled Aaron with gratitude—and a heap of extra worry.
EeDechi, though, didn't seem to have the slightest intention of bolting. She even took a few steps closer to the bandits.
Aaron's heart sank with a bitter twist. Being an adventurer was supposed to be a crazy risky gig, but looking at this girl's brainpower—or lack of it—he couldn't figure out how she'd survived this long, let alone climbed to mithril-level.
One of the bandits, a one-eyed archer sporting a copper eyepatch, drew his longbow. He nocked a steel arrow and took aim at EeDechi.
Grinning at his buddies, he said, "I'm gonna shoot her right eye out. Wanna bet I can hit it?"
Aaron knew this guy—called "One-Eye Sir" by some. His archery skills were downright terrifying. He used to be the captain of the longbow battalion in Baharuth, until Emperor Jircniv went on a noble-purging spree and wiped out his entire family.
On that bloody night of power grabs, he lost his captain gig and an eye to boot. In the end, he had no choice but to lean on his killer aim and join up with the Black Scorpionbandit crew.
His favorite hobby was picking off Baharuth's knights, nobles, and officials. In the fight just now, two of Aaron's buddies got taken out by him—one arrow each, straight through the visor slits of their helmets, right into their eye sockets.
This girl was toast. Aaron couldn't bear to watch EeDechi's gruesome fate unfold.
"One-Eye Sir" let out a nasty grin as he released the taut bowstring. With a sharp "whoosh," the steel arrow rocketed forward, slicing through the air, aimed dead-on for EeDechi's eye.
But then, that lightning-fast steel arrow hit EeDechi's eyeball—and for no damn reason, it just bounced off. Like a straw smacking into a marble statue, it pinged away and flopped to the ground.
EeDechi blinked, bent down, and picked up the arrow, inspecting it closely. The once-sleek, razor-sharp steel arrowhead was bent to one side, like someone had taken a hammer and smashed it crooked.
Gripping the mangled arrow, EeDechi looked at the gobsmacked "One-Eye Sir" and said in a tone way too wise for her years, "Kid, you're slipping. How do you mix up left and right? My right side, facing you, is your left. If you're aiming for my right eye, you should've shot to your left—not my left eye."
This was unreal! The bandits around her, and even Aaron, stood there with their jaws dropped, eyes bugging out, barely able to believe what they'd just seen.
The bandits figured EeDechi would end up with an arrow in her eye socket, dropping dead on the spot. Aaron thought maybe she'd dodge or whip out her sword to block it. But EeDechi? She didn't do a damn thing—just stood there chill as hell in the forest clearing while the arrow bounced off her eyeball like it was nothing.
The bandits erupted into chaos, and the enemies who'd been surrounding Aaron couldn't help but scatter, their eyes locking onto EeDechi.
A rough, weathered voice cut through the bandit ranks: "Chill out, it's just Low-tier Physical Immunity. This little chick's got some skills—no wonder she hit mithril-level adventurer at her age."
The speaker was none other than Pilar Yaput, the big-shot Magic Caster of the Black Scorpionbandit crew—a genius who could sling 4th Tier magic like it was nothing. If he could just master some higher-tier spells, he'd step into the rare "hero" league among humans.
Back in the day, he'd been a teacher at Baharuth's magic academy, until he got kicked out by the empire's top wizard, Fluder Paradyne, for messing with dark magic.
After that, Pilar's life took a turn. He started using his magic to rake in bigger profits and get off on the thrill of killing and wrecking shit. Teaming up with a bunch of desperados, he founded the Black Scorpionbandit gang.
Pilar was pretty much the heart of the Black Scorpioncrew. With a heavy-hitter Magic Caster like him calling the shots, the gang didn't just slip through the Baharuth knight brigade's crackdowns—they kept getting stronger.
When the panicked bandits heard Pilar was stepping up, they all calmed down real quick.
In their battle-hardened memories, no matter how tough an enemy was, once they faced their big Magic Caster—Pilar Yaput—it was game over, dead meat, end of the line!