"2 Killings, 1 investigation and 2 protection quest, huh?" I mumbled as I looked through the quests before pondering which I should go with first.
While I do need to protect the witch sisters, I don't think I really need to worry about them for now. The arrays themselves are powerful enough to keep anyone away.
'Let's go with the A-Grade quest for now,' I thought as I decided it would be best to check this one out. It had high rewards and since the bandits were scum as well, it won't hurt to go all out.
[One Way Out!]
[Frenzy!]
And then I jumped from the rooftop towards the east of the city, where the Forest of Nahida was. Jumping from one point to another, I began moving at a rather fast pace.
And since it was nighttime.
[Greater Blessing of the Night Goddess!]
[During night, the following effect will be applied:
-The user's mana cost is reduced to half!
-The user is highly resistant to dark magic!
-The user will not feel any status ailment against any night magic!
-The user's dark magic output increased by 25%!]
'I was surprised to see that this worked even on the equipment as well,' I was still amazed at this effect. This meant that all my mana related equipment would cost half mana to function.
-Whoosh! Like a swift gale, I ran across the town, reaching the city walls, before jumping across them and reaching the forest.
The forest wasn't your typical forest, but a dense forest made up of strange trees. While there were normal trees outside the forest, there were many strange ones within.
Because of the high density of mana inside the forest, this forest was also a mana forest.
While it meant good for the mages to have abundant mana around, this also meant that they would need quite a control on their mana to prevent it from going berserk.
-Whoosh!!
Not really something that I ever needed to be concerned about, to be honest.
I ran through the forest without wasting any moment, reaching across from one side to another, finally reaching somewhat east of the forest.
"Let's see. It says that the bandits are in the east, but… isn't the east a little too big?" I thought as I looked around before trying what I could for now.
[Mana Zone(Rare)!]
[Effects: Allows the user to perceive mana around him in a limited radius of 625 metres!
Cost: 50MP/seconds!]
Looking around the area, I tried to see as far as I could. Because of the dense mana, I could literally feel everything that was happening around in the forest. From the leaves rustling to the insects crawling, everything was perceived by my senses.
'I should increase my [Charm] a bit more, this is still overwhelming in places like these,' I turned off the [Mana Sense] before moving to the highest point around me.
"Okay. This is better," I reached the top of the tree as I looked around the entire area, and not too far from here I could see light escaping to the atmosphere.
By my estimate, it was about a couple of kilometres away from here. And hearing it carefully, there was a sound coming from that part as if a party was being held there.
Getting off the tree, I then began moving towards the area where I saw the light coming from. It took a few minutes by walking, but I made it to the camp where the bandits were supposed to be.
'Sigh.'
A deep sigh escaped my mouth as I looked at the scene in front of me.
At the centre there was a fire lit, big enough that one would confuse it for a festival if looked from afar. But if you were to analyse it carefully under the fire, were lying a bunch of dead bodies that were hard to describe.
The mad part was that there were women dancing around the fire, lost in the ecstasy of the surroundings, as if they were controlled by something. Their eyes were purplish green while they threw bodies in circles around the fire.
The men were pleading to the fire from afar on their knees as they kneeled at one moment before raising their hands up in the air. They too seemed to be brainwashed, as their eyes were purplish brown as well.
"Fancy meeting you here," a feminine voice came from behind as I just stood there without much surprise.
"You were the one responsible for this?" I asked without turning around as I walked inside the camp, ignoring the bandits, both male and female alike.
"Yeah. They kind of crossed the line when they started cutting and burning the trees," spoke the feminine voice as the person came in front of me, playing with some keys in her fingers.
It was a girl who looked no older than 7 yrs, but she was far more than a few centuries old. She had vines in the place of hairs, and leaves instead of eyebrows. A few of the leaves covered her private parts, but otherwise, she was pretty much naked.
With a lavender, green skin, and blue gem like eyes, she looked at me with a familiar look. She had red juicy lips, with a bewitching smile, while her twigs like fingers curled around the keys, while she walked towards the fire.
'The Dryad Guardian of the East, Nvida,' I looked at her from behind as I walked towards the fire.
"Came here to kill them?" She asked with a sweet voice, while her innocent expression betrayed the words she just spoke.
"A plea of a man. Save some, kill some," I looked around to find the surviving women and children… that is if there were any.
"They are fine. Well, I have learnt my lessons from you the last time," she spoke as she clicked her fingers before giant pea pods began growing from the surrounding ground.
There were about a dozen of pods around us in circles, before they threw out 2-3 bodies outside. The bodies were of children and women, mainly with 2-3 men in total.
"What are you going to do with the bandits?" I asked, as I pretty much understood that they were going to be killed by her.
"Is there anything about them?" She asked, and I nodded," I need the leader's head."
"Oh!" Her eyes lit up as she nodded before clicking her fingers again.
Once again, a pod appeared in front of me before throwing out a man in front of us. Though unlike the others, which were unconscious, the man seemed to have his consciousness intact.
"You filthy monster!!" he shouted as he barely got on his feet, before taking a clear look at the both of us.
"Pretty ironic coming from a man who captured women and children," I spoke as I moved closer to him. His eyes seemed to be shaken as he looked at me.
"You!!" He pointed his finger at me as he shouted," I have heard of you! The Dark Mage Morpheus!"
"You do? That's a surprise," I spoke in a monotonous, bored tone as I moved closer to him one step at a time.
"Wait!! Aren't you a mercenary? I will give you as much money as you want! Just protect me!!" he shouted as he looked at me with a ray of hope before he added,
"I have about 2000 gold coins hidden within the forest. I will give you half of them. Just help me get out of here."
I looked at him with no change in my expression, while the Dryad observed me with an analysing gaze.
"Ironic again. Trying to buy the Mercenary who came for your head," I spoke with a rather curious gaze, making him look at me with a shocked gaze.
His eyes were wide open before he shouted,"Die! you bast- huh?!! Chains?"
[Dark Chains (Advanced)!]
[Effect: Allows the user to create chains of darkness and manipulate them according to his will. Damage against beings of Light x2.
Chain Length: 25 metres!!
Darkness Damage: 15x Wisdom per second!!
Mana Cost: 250MP/second!]
Dark chains of Mana bound him to the ground as they kept hurting him slowly.
"You!!" he wanted to speak or perhaps curse me again, so I blocked his mouth as well, before moving closer to him.
Perhaps because the strength was equally proportional to my [Strength], I could feel him trying his best to break free.
Though it was futile.
Taking out a dagger, I placed it on his neck. I could see him muffling really loud, but I couldn't care to listen to it so I held his head by his hairs and…
-Slash!
I cut his head from the neck and below.
Removing the chains, I let his body fall to the ground. The body immediately got absorbed into the ground, before I turned to see the Dryad looking at me with an excited yet ecstatic look.
"Well. I guess you want to do that again, huh? I could see you in your lust filled eyes, Nvida," I spoke as I saw her slowly approaching me.