Snap! Snap! Snap!
The sound of whipping blended with screams. The bandits found it satisfying to listen to, while the people imprisoned in the caves felt their hearts race. Every whip that struck the victim felt like it struck their own hearts.
Two girls were huddled together among the captives.
"Tulle, I thought my luck was finally turning around, but it turns out this is the last meal before death," the pink-haired girl cried, hugging her friend Aina.
Misha Flott, also a student at the academy. Unlike the straight-A student Aina, Misha's grades were mediocre, and her rating in the Guild's mock exam was very low, yet, to everyone's surprise, she was also hired by the Guild.
She had expected to live a high-paying, happy life.
Instead, she was kidnapped by these vicious bandits on the way to Orario.
The crucial point was that these bandits weren't after money; they were after lives. Yesterday at dusk, they watched in horror as a dozen people were burned alive, calling it a sacrifice to the God. They were a bunch of fanatical cultists.
They knew they would be next.
"Don't worry. We will survive," Aina soothed, patting her friend's back. Her pretty face was pale, but even she didn't quite believe her own words.
She had chosen the high-paying Guild job to support her frail, sickly mother.
She didn't expect to meet her demise before she even began.
More than her own life, she worried about her family's financial situation after her death.
Having gone two days without a proper meal, Aina's rosy lips were now pale and cracked, and her face showed clear signs of weakness and exhaustion.
At that moment, Aina felt something odd.
Although she didn't have the keen senses of an adventurer, as a Half-Elf, she had inherited meticulous habits and was particularly sensitive to being watched. "Was that?"
Aina looked toward the source of the odd sensation. It was a young man looking at her. She remembered he had just entered, along with the scattered bandits. The young man looked at her, then turned to the sharp-faced man next to him, asking him something.
The sharp-faced man was considered a minor leader among these bandits. He was rumored to be a remnant of the Dark Faction, and he was partly responsible for their capture.
To her surprise, the minor leader subtly showed a hint of reverence toward the young man.
At that moment, their eyes met.
The handsome young man grinned at her, then turned his head and continued conversing with the other bandits.
The young man mingled among the bandits, laughing and talking, yet Aina noticed a difference. Deep within his eyes, a clear calmness persisted, completely unlike the brutal and repulsive bandits.
Roy listened to the sound of the whipping and frowned. "That's enough. Tell him to stop."
The "Mole Man" dared not refuse and hurried forward. However, he didn't use forceful measures. Instead, he put a friendly arm around the bandit's shoulder. "The sacrifice is starting soon. Since he's going to die anyway, let's go drink."
Facing a Level 1 remnant of the Rudra Familia, the ordinary bandits naturally had to show respect.
"Brother, let's go drinking!"
The group happily departed. Constantly robbing caravans meant the camp was never short of alcohol.
About an hour later, the sun was setting. The dusk air seemed to tinge the bandits' vicious eyes with blood-red, and accompanying it was the despair of the captured people.
Three ordinary-looking men walked out of the cave. The aura they emitted was distinctly different from the other bandits; they were clearly Level 2 adventurers. No one knew their real names; they were known only by their nicknames: "Black Hawk," "Night Ghost," and "Water River Demon." They were all former Level 2 members of the Rudra Familia, notorious for their wickedness, with Guild bounties ranging from 350,000 to 500,000 Valis.
Roy recognized the three and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
"For the great God Rudra!"
"Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!"
The three Level 2 men stood on a raised platform, shouting loudly. The evil bandits and thieves who worshipped the evil god were in a frenzy of reverence, letting out fervent cheers.
Someone immediately rushed toward the barred cave, dragging out a dozen people, including Aina and her friend Misha Flott.
"A Half-Elf. Too bad. What a beautiful woman. I heard she's still untouched."
"We really should let the brothers enjoy her before burning her for God Rudra."
"Are you crazy? The Goddess will be angry!"
Watching the beautiful Aina, the bandits whispered to each other. In this world, in terms of overall beauty, the gods ranked first, followed by the Elves. The gods were unthinkable, so they could only entertain evil fantasies about Elves.
The dozen people who were dragged out were pale, their eyes seemingly devoid of color, showing a hint of despair as they walked toward the large pit where hundreds had been burned alive.
Everyone's attention was fixed on the sacrifice, completely failing to notice that Roy was already sprinting toward the high platform.
With the appearance of the three Level 2 remnants of the Rudra Familia, the "Mole Man" had no more use. Roy whispered, "Alright, you can go now."
"Thank you!"
The "Mole Man" was tearfully grateful. He quietly crept toward the back mountain, knowing a slaughter was about to take place!
Although they were both from the Rudra Familia, he didn't care about the lives of these people. To use an idiom from the East, may your fellow believers die, so long as I, the humble one, may live.
Roy glanced at the man's retreating back, a cold smile curling his lips. Did he really think he would live?
During the half-hour the man guided him through the forest as a pathfinder, Roy had continuously used his magic, sending subtle electrical currents into the man's body. The man's electrolytes and electrical signal conduction system had long been thoroughly messed up.
He would suffer cardiac arrest within three hours.
He was already a dead man, not worth worrying about. Roy's attention shifted to the high platform; those three Level 2 villains were the real catch.
Roy stepped back, slipping away from the crowd.
He hid in a corner where the dim sunlight could not reach, perfectly merging with the shadows, suppressing his aura, and silently moving toward the high platform.
When Roy reached the stairs leading up to the platform, he was still thirty meters away from the remnant trio, but one more step and he would be exposed to the sunlight.
At that moment, "Black Hawk," one of the trio, seemed to sense something. His brow furrowed, and his gaze searched the surroundings with slight confusion and vigilance.
Wind Stride!
In that same instant, Roy activated the special effect of the Wind-Chasing Boots. Strong winds wrapped around his legs, increasing his Agility attribute by 80%, instantly leaping from B-rank to SS-rank.
The flow of the subtle breeze changed, immediately alerting the three Level 2 remnants.
However, they were too late to notice.
At a distance of thirty meters, against an enemy whose status values were inferior to his, if Roy couldn't achieve an instant kill, he might as well take a block of tofu and smash his head against it.
Roy's figure shot out like a gale, appearing before the trio. His half-broken Murasame plunged into the heart of the man nicknamed "Night Ghost."