Bandit Hideout

With ‘Bloody Tornado’ dead, the rest of the bandits were no threat. Unfortunately, the Covert Bandit Leader fled the moment they saw their companion’s downfall. With their stealth capabilities, even with the knights surrounding the ruined village, there was no stopping them.

Knight Captain Anthony didn’t show any panic, though, as he continued to stare at Mateo. That arrow had been too much of a shock for him. It was Null Impact, a Weapon Art he had only heard of before. Not all Weapon Arts were equal, even in their own rankings. Null Impact was an Art that was one of the strongest that the Knight Captains could learn in the field of archery.

The Art did only one thing: it hit only the target that the user designates. Otherwise the arrow passes through everything else. Even the air would be left undisturbed, making the Weapon Art quiet and deadly.

Mateo, unaware of the internal dilemma that the Knight Captain was facing, approached him while ignoring the ruckus around them. He was far too exhausted to join in on the bandit subjugation. Fortunately, the Knights were easily dispatching the fleeing targets. The members of his party, except for Glenn, were also lending their aid. Glenn, like Mateo, was far too drained to participate.

“Thank you for your aid, your arrival was a much needed relief.”

Mateo thanked the man, and his voice seemed to break him out of his stupor.

“No need to thank me, I’m just doing my duty as a Knight of Defy. Instead it should be I who thanks you and your allies for lending your aid in the peril that we currently face.”

Anthony had already been informed about the arrival of the Heroes from another world who would be coming. All of the Intermediate level combatants were knowledgeable of this.

“Also, our arrival was no coincidence.”

“Hmm? Did you know we were going to the villages already?”

“While there were some predictions of what actions you would take, that is not what I meant. My company was previously pursuing the tracks of this group of bandits. Normally they are far too cautious to leave such signs behind, but with them mobilizing such an abundance of bandits, we were able to grasp their movements.”

“So you mean that their current actions are unusual?”

“Very much so. Like I said, treating them kindly would be calling them cautious, but truly they come across more as cowardly. This nature of theirs made them highly difficult to track. Honestly, they had been giving us quite the headache before the demon attacks. The only good thing about dealing with them was that they would greatly limit the damage they would cause. However, ever since the appearance of the demons they had gone completely crazy.”

“Do you think they’re just taking advantage of the chaos? Or is there more to it?”

“I’m not the best person to ask. I know how to hold myself in a fight and lead troops into battle, but strategizing and any type of guesswork is just out of my expertise. The only thing I can tell you is that they’ve become less predictable, but also easier to track. In fact we have raided several of their hideouts that were discovered since their rampant actions began. Speaking of hideouts, our trackers have probably already discovered wherever this bunch came from.”

“You know where their hideout is? Is that why you didn’t try to stop the other Bandit Captain?”

“Precisely. Well, it’s not so much that we know where it is, but we have an area of suspicion. Like I said, with a group this large, hiding their mobilization is highly difficult. Especially since it looked like they were in quite the rush.”

“That’s probably due to us, to get here quick enough to ambush us.”

“Well, the reason doesn’t really matter. We’ve gotten the results we want and their mistake is our opportunity.”

The two were interrupted as a Knight walked over and reported the complete defeat of the bandits. The two looked over to the much larger group of bound bandits than what Mateo’s party had initially started with. The total number of captives seemed to be around 100-150 bandits.

The numbers had really been on the bandits’ side; unfortunately for them, what they made up for in quantity, they sorely lacked in quality. Of the bandits in the ambush, ignoring the two Bandit Captains, there were around 15 at the standard of a normal knight.

Anthony faced the Knight who appeared to be his direct assistant and gave an order.

“I want you and nine other knights to stand watch over these rats, the rest will follow me to the hideout. Hero, I know you must be exhausted, but I hope your party will lend us your aid once again.”

“While dealing with the bandits might not have been our initial goal, it’s clear as day that they are as much of a threat in their current state.”

“Don’t worry, this hideout shouldn’t be their main one. Most of their forces stationed at this base are probably lying here as corpses or tied up over there. The only real threat there will be the Bandit Captain that fled, that is if he even bothers to return, and the leader of this branch of theirs. Their hideout leaders usually never leave and have strength at the captain level.”

“What about traps?”

“Honestly, that would be the biggest hassle to deal with. As I told you, these guys are a cowardly bunch. Their biggest focus is the protection of their bases.”

Mateo frowned at this but felt something was off by the wording of the Knight Captain. Being stared at made Knight Captain Anthony break out into laughter.

“Alright, I’ve had my fun, no need to be scared.”

“I feel like everything you said falls in line with their personality though.”

“Oh, all of it’s true.”

“Then why aren’t you worried?”

“While before all this chaos they had been cowardly, they were also highly predictable. However, even though they were predictable, there wasn’t anything we could do. The reason they were predictable was because they had a formula they followed. They had already planned out the safest ways to meet their desired goals with the least amount of risk all the while being the safest method.”

“It’s the same for their bases and traps isn’t it? They created a fortification they fully trusted and just copied it at their other bases. You said several of their other bases had already been taken care of, so that must mean their defenses had already been cracked.”

“Aw, why did you have to ruin the big reveal?. You're not wrong though. When we first discovered their bases, they were pretty much an iron defense, impossible to break through. The bandits would just hole up in there after being discovered. The greatest minds under the Vlark Family studied these fortifications and traps for over a month before they finally found a solution. Using their attack strategy, we pierced through this iron defense. After the first fell, the second fell now long after, followed by the third, the fourth, and so on, until all the discovered bases had been raided.”

“Then there’s no reason to wait then, my party will follow your orders.”

“Thank you for your trust in me. I’ll gather my men and you go ahead and inform your party of the situation.”

After a couple minutes of Mateo talking with his party they saw that the knight company was all ready to go. They joined in line and marched off. The direction the knights led them was back towards the main road. Not surprising seeing how this is where the knight had come from.

After traveling along the road for about 30 minutes they veered off towards the east. After 45 more minutes of traveling Anthony motioned for everyone to halt.

He looked over towards Mateo and gave a nod, they were close to the hideout. From here on the group followed a convoluted route, avoiding any traps that had been lying in wait. Anthony came to a sudden stop. Mateo looked around but found nothing unusual about the location.

The Knight Captain patted the ground until he found what he was looking for. Grabbing a hold of a handle that looked to be made up of grass, he pulled open a trap door. Peering into the doorway Mateo saw a wooden staircase surrounded by wooden walls.

Anthony led the way as they marched down the stairs. There was no reason to try to cover their footsteps, though, as just the clanking of armor would have alerted the enemy. However, Anthony still motioned for everyone not to talk. The next few minutes consisted of the group passing through numerous hallways.

Some paths had been ignored by Anthony, while at other times the Knight Captain stopped and started to pat down the walls, opening up hidden paths. Sometimes he would even stop to mark spots on the ground and walls. Then he would avoid the points he marked, motioning for everyone to do the same.

Finally they saw a bright light at the end of the hallway they were currently traveling. Anthony motioned for several knights carrying shields to take the forefront. Mateo also had Kyle join them.

Anthony raised his hand and then swiped it down as everyone charged forth. Mateo looked forward and saw a wide opening in front with a bunch of bandits hiding behind makeshift barriers, all of them holding bows and crossbows aimed at the intruding knights.