"A real kleptomaniac, huh," Leon remarked. "I guess he must be some sort of master rogue sneaking into all of those places."
"He doesn't sneak," Elena corrected him. "Elias has taken everything with complete force. There's no subtlety to it; he's incredibly powerful–but nothing is known about his abilities."
Leon picked himself up from the seat with a sigh, taking in the information with little upside gained from it, "Well, I guess I know what I'm dealing with then. A completely crazy set of bandits with superhuman power–sounds great."
"You won't be handling this alone," Elena assured him, standing from her seat.
Jon placed his hand over his heart with readiness, "Lord Schoeller, I will assist in any way I can."
"Well, in that case–" Leon began to say.
Before he could let the words roll off his tongue, every instinct in his body flared up, feeling a hum of vibrations beneath his feet. The quick reflexes of the adventurer seemed to pick up on it a moment later, with the veteran guard drawing his sword last.
He turned his gaze towards the wall behind him, raising his hand just as–
"Raaaaa-ha-haaaa!"
–A boisterous voice roared with violent laughter as the wooden wall was completely blasted through. It seemed like the work of an explosion, though it was apparent that it was merely the barbaric strength behind the shoulder of the intruder: a towering man with a bare torso, lacking armor entirely.
In his left hand, a battle axe; his left, a hammer made fit for flattening human skulls.
The laughing stranger smiled with a ginger mustache that hung low like a great beard, stomping in with a fearsome presence.
"That's him–!" Jon called out. "He's one of the bandits!"
"The name is Björn!" The dual-wielding half-giant claimed, his voice loud enough to stir the winds. "Remember it before I send you to meet the angels!"
["Björn"] [CLASS: Bandit] [Designated Lv: 20]
In such close proximity with the mighty figure, Leon acted quickly, seeing as those behind him were likely liable to be cleaved in half by the massive man. A ball of wind was gathered in his hand as he pushed it forward, intercepting the barbaric laughter of the half-giant–
"Ha-ha…Gruuah?!" Björn let out.
The spiral of wind drilled forward, blowing the bandit out of the hole made by his unwelcomed entrance. Nothing was held back in the shot of air, sending the figure crashing through countless trees, disappearing into the dim woods.
"You blasted him–?" Elena remarked in surprise with her sword drawn.
Phoenix nervously laughed, "Good thinking, Boss! That guy is mincemeat after that!"
While his companion raved about his quick action, Leon looked ahead through the hole in the cabin, analyzing the unsettling sensation he felt through the magical wind.
"No," Leon quietly remarked, not moving his gaze from the woods. "That didn't do anything to him."
"Huh? Seriously?!" Phoenix contested.
Bits and pieces from the ruined side of the cabin collapsed, leaving the fortification hardly left standing.
Jon grunted, tightening his fingers around the handle of his weapon, "That monster won't go down from that…He's not human—I can assure you that!"
In the distance, the haunting laughter echoed through the woods. A sharp wind arose, accompanying the joy of the bandit.
Through the slumbering trees, the inhuman strength manifested as the tall oak was cut through. Like a lumberjack from hell, Björn's laughter came with the bisecting of tree trunks.
'Well, that's unsettling…Is this guy's body as tough as One-Eye? No, he might be even more of a problem,' he thought.
Phoenix stood behind him with his blade raised, "Boss! I'm with you!—"
"No, I need you to stick with these two," Leon looked back.
"What—? But, Boss—" Phoenix protested fervently, shaking his head.
"Listen! We don't know where the other members of the Brotherhood are! It's likely the others are closeby—I'll handle this guy!" Leon reasoned without mincing his words:
There was no room for debate as Phoenix nodded his head, giving assurance to the young man. Leon set his sights on the jarring laughter emitting from the butchered forest.
As he stepped out of the hole in the wall, he molded a mist around his body:
"Phantom's Fog."
The obscuring, black haze hid him amidst the gloomy forest, allowing him to approach cautiously. Even hiding in the unseen didn't save him, feeling the wind shift as he ducked down—
Right as he lowered himself, he witnessed a slash of wind cut above his head. Behind him, the tree was cleanly cut through the trunk.
'Is he using wind magic—? No, that's just raw strength—what the hell is this guy made of?' He questioned.
"Haaaah-ha-ha-ha! Let our souls dance!" The barbaric man's voice roared with joy. "Hiding is pointless! I can smell you!"
It felt like he was facing a wild dog more than a man, moving between the trees before finding the boisterous figure. Standing there amidst fallen trees, the half-giant roared with joyous laughter.
"Show me what you've got!" Björn challenged the unseen, holding his weapons out.
To his surprise, the bearded man simply stood there with his arms spread as if inviting him to strike first. He slept himself quietly tucked by a felled tree, remaining in the unseen as he watched the figure from the right.
'He's welcoming me to make the first move…Well, if he's going to be so kind,' he accepted.
Concentrating into a small, compact point, he funneled unstable lightning into that spot. He aimed it as though his index finger was the barrel of a gun, setting his sights on the eccentric warrior before—THWOOM.
"Beast Bolt."
The release of violet lightning took the shape of an apex predator, parting its jaws as it tore through the forest. In the split-second it took to cross the distance, the battle-crazed bandit only looked over with an ear-to-ear smile, having no time to move out of its path.
It crashed right into Björn, boring through the forest with a howling ferocity. The trail made by the bestial lightning left a mark of erased grass and charred soil, with once more helpless oak being decimated in the blasting path.
Leon breathed out, emerging from the unseen mist as he swiped the sparks from his hand.
'A direct hit from Beast Bolt—not even this freak should be getting up so easily from that,' he thought.
While he had hoped that to be the case, the echoing laughter returned only a moment after the lightning faded.
"You're kidding me," he muttered under his breath.
A shock wave rippled through the nature-dense landscape, bringing him to look up as he saw a figure soar above the trees before coming crashing down.
'Shit,' he thought.
Beneath the thundering downfall, he slid himself back on a tide of wind, manifesting an astral force.
"Moonlit Knight's Blockade!"
Resembling a pearlescent kite shield, the barrier conjures just as the figure crashed down into the forest. A storm of dirt filled his vision, obscuring any chance of seeing the brute.
As it began to settle, he squinted, seeing the burly silhouette, finding it rapidly approaching. He attempted to strengthen the barrier, only for it to be smashed away by a single swing of the hammer.
The force of it ranged through his outstretched arm, ringing through the marrow of his bones.
'What the hell is this guy made of—?!' Leon questioned as his arm recoiled from the residual impact.
With booming laughter, the cloud of sediment was cleared away as Björn stood there like an oversized child, "That caught me by surprise, boy! It's been a long time since I've been hit like that!"
"Seriously, man, are you even human?" Leon questioned, keeping a reasonable distance between himself and the monstrous man.
Björn laughed with his storm-like voice at the question, "I have giant's blood, aye! But I'm a man, nonetheless!"
"Giant's blood? If your mother was the human side, I feel bad for her," Leon remarked in an effort to grant himself time to think.
While he tried to stall, it seemed his comment only served to wipe the cheerful smile from the warrior's lips.
The complexion of the half-giant man reddened as he shouted, "It was my father that conquered my giant mother! A romance that could not be stifled by mere height!"
Each of the loud words boomed from Björn's mouth like thunder, pushing aside the dormant branches. It simply felt as if the towering warrior was pulled straight from the depths of a children's book, ignoring all logic.
'This is going to be a handful,' Leon thought.