VRMMORPG: Dragomancer Reborn

"GODDAMNED, MUTTS!" The Bandit cursed as he got slashed on his arm.

Arthur watched as the Bandit fought the two Jackals. 

Despite being injured, the man seemed to be fighting without a care. He actually seemed to be getting angrier the more he fought. His injuries were also piling, but his skills were above that of the two Jackals.

The man was narrowly dodging some of their attacks and countering them at the right time. Bit by bit, the two Jackals were beaten back.

'The weaker they are the better…' Arthur thought to himself.

The fight didn't last that long though as the HP of the two jackals fell to single digits. Arthur quickly used Inspect to verify their state.

>Inspect Successful<

——

Target: Bandit 

Rank: Common

Level: 8

HP: 12%

MP: 100%

——

>Inspect Successful<

——

Target: Striped Jackal

Rank: Uncommon

Level: 7

HP: 6%

MP: 35%

——

>Inspect Successful<

——

Target: Striped Jackal

Rank: Uncommon

Level: 8

HP: 4%

MP: 21%

——

'Just about time!' Arthur rapidly threw two claws towards the Striped Jackals.

[-6% HP]

[Fatal Hit!]

>Player Arzhur has killed a Striped Jackal!<

>Player Arzhur has obtained 1% Experience<

[-4% HP]

[Fatal Hit!]

>Player Arzhur has killed a Striped Jackal!<

>Player Arzhur has obtained 3% Experience<

"What?!" The Bandit was surprised by the sudden demise of the beasts.

He looked around frantically for anyone but only saw a claw flying towards him as well.

~CLANG~

"COME OUT!" The Bandit actually managed to block the claw that Arthur had thrown towards him with his Axe and called out.

~rustle~

He quickly looked to the bushes on the sides hearing them move. But it was the wrong decision.

~slick~

"Argh!" The Bandit cried in pain, as a sword was suddenly stabbed into his side. "You…" he weakly looked at Arthur who had sneaked from the side, before breathing his last breath.

[-12% HP]

[Critical Hit]

[Fatal Hit]

>Player Arzhur has killed a Bandit!<

>Player Arzhur has obtained 5% Experience<

~thud~

The Bandit's corpse fell to the ground, allowing Arthur to pull out the Black Tear Short Sword.

"Almost 10% experience from that." Arthur was pleased.

The bandit had given him more experience than the Striped Jackal despite being on the same level too. This was due to the fact that it was a human and had a higher intelligence.

The difficulty in fighting an intelligent enemy and a mindless beast was worlds apart. This was also the reason why the Bandit had taken down two Striped Jackals on his own, even if he had gotten injured.

"Hunting Human mobs gives good experience, but the efficiency is not as good." Arthur muttered to himself as he rummaged through the pockets of the bandit.

"He's got nothing… I guess I can take the Axe though." Arthur picked up the rusted weapon and used Inspect on it.

>Inspect Successful<

——

Name: Rusty Bandit Axe

[Attack: 4-6] [Durability: 3/100]

[Equipping Requirement: Level 4, No class restrictions]

——

"And, it's trash." Arthur felt the urge to toss it right away but reckoned he may as well use it once.

The Durability of the weapon was already close to empty and he didn't even know if it would last more than a couple hits.

He could see the cracks in the Axe handle too along with the blade getting dull.

'Maybe it'll last one throw.' Arthur reckoned and put it away for now before going to hide.

He waited five minutes to see if anyone would come and only became relaxed after no one appeared. He went back to the area and picked up the Giant Dire Rat claws that he had thrown. They were still useful after all.

'Hmm… Other bandits should have appeared by now if they were nearby.' Arthur thought.

He went to where the Bandit's body was lying and checked the ground for any tracks. 

'Since he had no supplies with him, he might have been patrolling around the area and was not actually traveling' Arthur analyzed the possible behavior of the Bandit. 

And sure enough, a couple minutes later Arthur saw a pair of footsteps coming from the eastern side of the forest.

"There we go, he seems to have stumbled upon the Striped Jackals here but he actually came from another side." Arthur retraced the footsteps hoping to find the other bandits.

He was very careful this time and kept a low profile. He followed the footsteps back for almost a kilometer before he finally saw signs of more people.

"They certainly camped deep. No wonder they weren't found by guards before." Arthur muttered to himself. 

He hid behind some trees and peeked at the hideout of the Bandits.

They had set up a few tents which were then covered with tree leaves and branches. This kept it hidden from plain sight. But that was still useless when they were burning a small fire.

The smoke that was coming from the fire was less but still enough to catch anyone's attention that came near.

'Four of them…' Arthur saw the bandits sitting around the fire. 

They seemed to be cooking some meat.

"When will Baza come back?" One of the bandits spoke.

"He should have come back half an hour ago, he wasn't supposed to go that far anyways."

"Bah! Maybe he slipped and fell into a ditch or something."

"Who knows, it was his turn for the patrol anyways."

"Why do we need to patrol anyways? The chief didn't even tell us why he sent us here to camp." 

Arthur was rather intrigued by their conversation. He could at least tell that this was just a small camp of bandits and wasn't a true group. 

'If they are talking about a Bandit Chief it means they should have at least fifty bandits or more… this is just a handful.' Arthur took note.

He knew very well how big bandit groups usually were. And since they were still in the newbie area, the group shouldn't be that big. Thus 50 bandits or more would be the limit with a maximum of 100 bandits in the group.

Arthur used Inspect on them and saw that all of them were at level 8. It was certainly manageable for him, but he didn't want to take on all 4 of them at once.

'Let's see how I can take care of them…' Arthur thought of a plan.

He watched them talk for a bit before they started to eat. 

'Come on… Move around.' Arthur knew fighting them straight up was not a good option. 'If I can take out one or two, I might have a better chance.' He reckoned.

"~BURP~Looks like Baza will just have to hunt more food for himself." A bandit said before throwing a bone away.

"Yeah, his fault for being late." The other's seemed nonchalant about it.

"Time to pick the next patrol." The older bandit among them spoke. "Even if Baza hasn't come back, we still need to follow the chief's orders." He added.

"Yeah, yeah…" the others said.

Arthur watched as the older Bandit took out a bunch of twigs and hid the bottoms in his palm.

"Shortest has to patrol." He stated.

"We know!" The two seemed irritated.

They picked one twig each from the man's hand and quickly saw the result.

"Haha! Looks like you gotta go this time, Dole." The two bandits suddenly laughed seeing the larger twigs in their hands.

"Well… Shit." The older bandit saw that he had lost.

"Bring Baza back along with more meat. We still need dinner later." The two said before they laid down to rest.

"Humph!" the older bandit simply grunted and went out to patrol.

Arthur knew his opportunity had arrived and left along with the bandit.

Since he roughly knew the path the bandit was going to take, Arthur had a tactic ready.

He sped up and found a secluded spot before taking out the rusty Axe. He then embedded the Axe into a tree trunk before hiding nearby. 

"Let's see if this works." Arthur picked up a rock and threw it at the tree's branches.

~RUSTLE~

"Huh?" The older bandit heard the noise from nearby and came to check it out. "Baza is that you?" he called out.

Upon getting closer though he saw the Rusty Axe that was embedded in the tree. He furrowed his brows and approached it, feeling confused.

"This is certainly Baza's…" The older bandit was now getting suspicious. "Blood?" and when he looked closer he saw the blood stains on the Axe too.

~SLICK~

"Ugh—" But that moment of distraction was all Arthur needed.

[-100% HP]

[Critical Hit!]

[Fatal Hit!]

The Bandit found a sword sticking out of his chest, while copious amounts of blood flowed out. He didn't even get to look at his attacker and fell face-first onto the ground.

~thud~

>Player Arzhur has killed a Bandit!<

>Player Arzhur has obtained 5% Experience<

"There we go… One more down." With the accurate stab, Arthur had pierced the Bandit's heart. "The Axe came in handy at least." 

Pulling out the short sword, Arthur rummaged through the corpse.