Aldán walked for several minutes without bothering to plan a strategy.
Just saving them was enough; he didn't necessarily need to try to keep them from getting hurt…
'I wonder what she would think…'
He found himself reflecting again on the matter of the three girls he had to save. He had once had a younger sister, and he would have given his life to prevent her death. There was probably someone out there who would do the same for these girls.
"..."
After a few minutes, Aldán was watching from behind some bushes, looking at the cabin in the distance.
A house in terrible condition, with its windows covered by wooden boards that had clearly been placed there recently.
"They know I'm here…" Aldán muttered when he realized he hadn't seen anyone, which only confirmed the obvious.
He simply stood up and walked until he was just a few meters away from the cabin, in an open area with nothing to cover him.
He looked around but saw no one. Even so, he could feel that barely concealed bloodlust directed at him from different directions.
"Are you going to attack? Or are you going to stay hidden all day?"
Receiving no answer, Aldán merely shrugged and began walking toward the cabin.
Only for him, at the last second, to tilt his head to the side, letting a sword pass by that could have easily cut his neck.
'That was… fast.'
He thought, surprised by his own reflexes, but without wasting time, he pivoted on one foot and drove a powerful kick into the attacker's nape, slamming his face into the ground, breaking his bones and killing him instantly.
The grotesque sound of flesh splitting and blood spilling filled the area completely, leaving Aldán staring at the dead man on the ground without much interest.
Then he looked at his hand, clenching it several times. That x3 increase in his strength was noticeable.
Then he turned his gaze behind him, where there were three more completely hooded figures, swords in hand and their bloodlust fully unleashed.
Anyone else would have been terrified, of course, anyone who hadn't gone through what Aldán had.
He had felt that bloodlust his entire life. It was nothing new to him.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before all four lunged at the same time.
[¡Bing!]
'What now?' he thought with some annoyance, glancing at the screen to the side.
[Total traffickers: 10]
[Dead: 1/10]
'Ten?'
He had sensed the presence of several individuals, yes, but only nine of them. The tenth was still hidden and, apparently, had to be their leader.
"Hmm…"
The first armed man attacked Aldán with a vertical thrust that he easily dodged, moving to the left and letting the sword pass.
Before he could counterattack, he grabbed the wrist of the second attacker, stopping his sword.
Then he kicked forward, making the first man who had attacked him lose his balance and fall to the ground.
Then he twisted, forcing the second attacker's wrist into a painful angle, making him release a grunt of pain along with his sword.
Which Aldán stopped with his foot, then with a quick motion spun it in the air before striking the back end of it, driving it into the man.
"Ugh…" the man spat, blood coming out of his mouth as he fell lifeless to the ground.
Aldán looked at him without emotion before jumping to the side, dodging a horizontal thrust from the third man.
The attack left a small cut on his right arm, which he didn't pay much attention to.
'If I had had this strength before…'
He thought with some resentment toward himself, before dodging another attack from the third man.
'Would things have been different?'
"DIE, YOU BASTARD!" shouted the first man, joining the attack.
Aldán barely paid them any attention, simply dodging the attacks of both men by pure instinct.
'Tsk.'
In a swift movement, he stepped on one of the men's swords, then used it to launch himself upward and spun in the air, driving a powerful kick into both men's faces.
Slamming one into the ground while embedding the other into the branches of a tree.
Without wasting time, he grabbed the sword on the ground and stabbed the man on the ground in the back, killing him instantly, then pulled it out and threw it upward without looking.
[Dead: 4/10]
"Good…" he muttered to himself, starting to walk toward the cabin again.
Meanwhile, the man embedded in the tree fell to the ground dead, with the sword lodged in his neck.
- - - -
Moments before Aldán killed the first trafficker, inside the cabin were three young women, each around seventeen or eighteen years old.
All three wore only a single long white garment that covered their injured and dirty bodies.
These three had peculiar traits…
They had horns on their heads, along with patches of different colors ranging from red to blue, which moved on their own across their chest and part of their right arm.
"W-What was that?" asked the redhead fearfully, looking at the other two girls, who also had frightened expressions.
"I-I don't know… could it be Mom?" asked a green-haired girl, the most sensitive of the three.
"Shh! Be quiet. If it were Mom, we'd already be safe."
She was the eldest of the three by a few minutes, with blue hair and eyes of the same color.
Despite what she said, all three still held onto the hope that it really was their mother making those sounds of battle outside the cabin.
The redhead, named Lyara, slowly approached the window, which, despite being covered with wooden boards on the outside, had small gaps that allowed at least some visibility.
"Hey, Lyara! What do you think you're doing? If that man comes back and sees you…"
"L-Lyara, she's right, you'd better—"
But the latter didn't even pay attention to her sisters, as her focus was on the man outside.
'And that… who the hell is he?'