(Ellion's POV)
Tywin Lannister thinks I am a fool.
He sent me to die.
Clearly, he doesn't care much about a single bastard, especially one he finds insulting to him and his house. He accepted my price for dealing with this quite easily because he doesn't plan on seeing me again.
He truly thinks I will die in the attempt to capture the bounty.
Another thing that makes me convinced this is the case is the fact that when I went to the soldier camp, I was informed that the location for the bandits was much closer than they'd hope for.
My guess is that they send me first, cut down as many men as they think I can cut down, and then they hit a full on assault to wipe them out and taking the credit. It is a good strategy; getting rid of a mouthy bastard while annihilating the nuisance of the bandits.
The Knight that was in charge of the camp had told me that twenty miles to the east, there were several attacks by bandits and witnesses claimed that they were holed up in an abandoned tavern. They had fortified the position and they were attacking anyone that got close.
According to they information, the leader was also there with his direct subordinates. My guess is that Tywin had already planned to get rid of them, considering that he was mobilizing a small force of knights. But they were not going to be needed.
Because I was going to handle this.
I had ridden out towards the general direction where the bandit group supposedly was. After a few hours, I had come across a path that cut through a grassy field. In the distance, I saw a run-down building surrounded by makeshit wooden barricades. Scattered about, there were several men who were armed to the teeth. They had swords, spears, bows, and who knows what else.
I had hid the borrowed horse, tying its reins to a tree next to a small stream. Then, I had made my way up the path and walked directly at the outlaws.
Using my observation haki, I had sensed around 15 or more men that were walking about. With the enhancement of the haki, I heard some of them talking about attacking a nearby town and raping their women.
"Hm…." I said as I walked towards them
The moment one of them saw me, he drew his sword, "Oi!"
This alerted the four others that were nearby. He immediately rushed at me, letting out a barbaric cry as he reached me.
"Ahhh!!" He shouted
I drew Gloriosa and parried his sword, stepping to the side and immediately cutting him the waist. As he let out a scream, I spun around and swung my sword at his shoulder, cleaving through.
"Arrrhh!!!" He dropped down to the ground as blood sprayed out
"I don't know what your problem is." I said with a scowl, "Rushing at me that way."
"Get him!" The others shouted
They had drawn their weapons, lunging at me and swinging their swords.
"Shwing! Clank! Shwing!!"
It wasn't that hard to parry their blades, pivoting to the side and cutting them down one by one.
"Auurgghh!!" One cried out in pain
I then felt a certain heat emanating from Gloriosa, coming from the handle and the blade.
"Hm…." I said as I heard the shouts from the incoming men, "Come on, keep the momentum up."
As they approached me, around three men, I rushed at them with blinding speed. I swung my sword at the first one and cleaved through the middle of his head, as if my sword was a hot knife and his skull was butter. Without wasting time, I swung my sword at the other two, my blade cleaving through them as well.
Blood sprayed everywhere as their corpses collapsed to the ground. I had noticed that more were coming, some were drawing their bows. Using the boost from Blade of Aggression, I ran towards them with tremendous speed, covering the distance in mere moments.
They all hesitated, a bit shocked at the unreal display of speed and when I reached them, they staggered back in fear.
"Hm." I said ad I swung my sword down at the head of the first archer, cleaving right through
Blood splattered all over my face as he collapsed to his knees. I immediately pulled the blade off his skull and casually parried a nearby sword as I dodged a flying arrow.
"W-What?!" The bandit exclaimed as I easily cut his arm off, having swung my blade in an instant, "Arrrhhh!!!"
I then cleaved through his waist, causing him to collapse as blood and guts spilled out. The archer was looking at me with a terrorized expression, shakily drawing another arrow and nocking it as he aimed at me.
"C-Call Qhorvos!!" He shouted as I had lunged at him
"Yes." I said as I clutched his throat with my free arm, "Call him."
I lifted him up and crushed his throat, having done a simple squeeze.
Blade of Agression's current physical boost was more then enough to allow me to lift a man off his feet. And with said boost, I could easily crush his throat.
As he dropped to the ground, his eyes widened in shock as the light left his eyes. I then heard more shouting as other men ran towards me.
The nearest one swung his axe at me and I parried it, having noticed that he was ahead of the others by a couple meters. I could feel Gloriosa emitting a but more heat, accumulating the effects of Blade of Aggression.
He swung his axe at me again and I parried it once more, causing him to stagger.
I smirked and the moment the others reached us, I simply swung my sword at him.
"Die." I said
The blade cut through his body, his filthy blood spraying on my face and body.
The others reached me and I spun around, cleaving through the arm of one of them.
"Ahhh!!" He shouted
I then cut two more down before kicking another to the ground.
I pointed my blade at him, "Where's your leader?" I asked,
"I require his head."