First, the logs, spears, and magic aimed at them were smashed.
Xena and Celia used fists and magic respectively, while Helvi used her magic to protect Theo.
“T-thank you.”
“Leave it to me.”
Theo, who was unsurprisingly unscathed, thanked Helvi.
“That scared me! I didn’t expect an all-out attack like that.”
“Yes. That was a pretty well coordinated attack, for a group of bandits.”
Said Xena and Celia, who were also mostly unscathed. Xena’s fist had become a little red, but it was barely a problem.
After enduring the traps and magic, they thought they could take a breather, but the next attack soon started.
From the front, flanks, and above, about ten bandits brandishing weapons assaulted them.
“Aha, bring it on!”
Xena bumped her fists, and swung her right fist at a bandit that attacked her from the side.
Her punch almost hit the bandit’s face, but he managed to dodge it at the last second.
Xena let out a surprised voice, and the bandit got close enough to swing his dagger. It was coated with poison, meaning a scratch would be enough to immobilize someone for half a day.
But for that to work… He would have to actually scratch her.
“…Ah?”
Said the bandit as he attacked Xena. Despite striking her skin with his blade, it did not leave even a tiny cut.
The dumbfounded bandit then felt the full force of Xena’s attack, before hitting the ground and losing consciousness.
“You’re not going to break my skin with that.”
Since Xena could use steel magic, a decent weapon was needed to even put a scratch on her.
She sent another bandit flying, who tried to attack her from behind.
“Ahh… I’m not good with the ones that run around…”
Three bandits circled Celia.
Most sorcerers had the same weakness, that being how difficult it was to aim with precision.
Almost no sorcerers could aim with pinpoint precision, and even someone as good as Celia had a margin of error of several centimeters.
Aiming at targets that moved quickly only made things more difficult.
The bandits knew this, and moved all around.
They knew they would be in trouble if she fired in all directions, but figured she wouldn’t, since she would hit her friends.
And so, the three attacked at once, from the front, side, and back, to ensure at least one of them would hit.
Since their weapons were coated in poison, a single scratch would mean victory.
Just as their attacks were about to hit Celia, two of the bandits’ lives suddenly ended, leaving only one alive.
He had no idea what just happened, but the arm he had stretched as he approached Celia to attack her had been minced.
Had he stopped a second later, he would be dead as well.
“W-what…!?”
He looked around, and saw the other two bandits cut to pieces.
He could not comprehend what just happened.
“I set up wind blades around me. If you get close, you’ll be cut apart by them. You could’ve had a chance if you attacked from outside of their range. Too bad.”
The other two bandits got too close, and were ripped apart by the wind blades.
The one that survived tried to run away, but fell over.
When he looked at his legs to see what happened, he saw that his right foot was missing.
“I cut it so you wouldn’t run away. Sorry, goodbye.”
The head of the remaining bandit rolled on the ground.
“Uwah… Celia you’re brutal.”
“They’re bandits, so I don’t think it will be an issue if we kill them.”
“I guess.”
Of the ones that attacked Xena, two were unconscious and one suffered a bad hit, which caused him to die from a broken neck.
“I told you I’m not good with the ones that run around. That’s why I can’t hold back and end up killing them.”
“I’m not good with weak opponents because they just die.”
They said as they looked over at Helvi and Theo.
“I see you’re also done.”
“G-good job…”
Five bandits laid motionless around Helvi and Theo.
Although there was not a single scratch on them and not a single drop of blood could be seen, they were certainly dead.
“What did you do?”
“I destroyed their hearts. Humans die from that alone.”
“What do you mean from that alone? That’s a lot.”
Among the monsters that Helvi exterminated in the past, several could go on living even if their hearts were destroyed, although they were still not a match for her.
“Are you alright Theo? I don’t think you’re used to seeing people die.”
“Y-yes… I did see it when I was in your party and we were attacked by bandits.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
In this world, killing someone that was trying to kill you was considered self-defense, and was not seen as an issue.
Theo did not have much experience with this, but it happened many times with Xena and Celia.
They had even accepted quests of this nature.
They would not accept them when Theo was around but once, when they were traveling together, they were attacked by bandits, and Theo saw for the first time people killing each other.
“Theo, you’re very kind-hearted, so I am sure it pains you to see people killing each other.”
“Well… Yes.”
“Even more so when we kill people.”
“…Yes.”
Theo was facing down, but Helvi put her hands on his cheeks, and gently lifted his face.
“I know you understand this, but we need to kill to protect ourselves, those around us, and you.”
“…Yes.”
“…Fufu. Ah, yes. This is the kind of man you are.”
Helvi smiled and hugged Theo.
He was a little surprised, and his face became red.
“W-what?”
“Nothing. But I will wait as long as necessary.”
“…Yes.”
Theo figured he understood what she was thinking, and although he hesitated a bit, he hugged her back.
“…What’s with this nice mood developing all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know, but let’s leave it be.”
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