Chapter 633: Bandit Ambush I
CH633 Bandit Ambush I
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While Mogal and Kavakan broke off to hold back the pursuing beasts, the orc brothers—Hargul and Harum—took command of the raiding party, leading the group towards the hilltop Kavakan had designated.
However, just as they were about to reach the elevated ground—
An unknown force revealed itself.
Figures emerged from concealment around the hill, their positions already prepared in advance.
They had been waiting for the raiding party’s arrival.
Swoosh—!
"Ah—!"
Before the raiding party could properly react, a volley of arrows rained down upon them.
Caught off guard, the group scrambled to defend themselves, but the sudden ambush left them disorganised.
Several fell in the very first exchange.
"Kill them all!" the enemy commander roared.
At once, the hidden force charged forward.
Under the cover of continuous arrow fire, they pressed the attack, seeking to overwhelm the raiding party before they could regroup.
But Fortuna’s fighters did not remain passive for long.
Those who survived the initial volley reacted swiftly.
The barbarians armed with bows returned fire, launching arrows of their own to suppress the enemy archers.
At the same time, the orc brothers led the remaining melee fighters forward, meeting the advancing enemies head-on.
Clang—! Bang! Boom!
Steel clashed against steel.
Flesh collided with flesh.
Rather than retreat, the raiding party chose to seize the initiative—confronting their attackers directly with fierce resistance.
The orcs leveraged their superior strength to carve a path through the encirclement, while the barbarians relied on speed and agility to break free from the tightening formation.
Hargul and Harum exchanged a brief glance as they assessed the enemy.
’They’re weak...’
The thought surfaced in both their minds almost simultaneously.
’Could they be—?’
"AH—!"
A sudden scream cut through the battlefield.
One of the orcs had been cleaved cleanly in two across the torso.
The brothers’ expressions darkened instantly.
That level of force was not something the bulk of their attackers could produce.
Something was wrong.
Their eyes scanned the battlefield more carefully.
"There—! Over there, brother!" Hargul shouted.
Harum followed his brother’s gaze and quickly spotted the anomaly.
One of the attackers—though dressed just as shabbily as the rest—moved with a level of skill that was leagues above them.
The difference was night and day.
And he was not alone.
Several others of similar calibre wove through the enemy ranks, using the weaker fighters as living cover as they systematically cut down members of the raiding party.
A surge of rage filled Harum.
Breaking formation, he charged straight at one of the elite attackers—just as the man cleaved another orc warrior clean in two.
"Leave your life behind!" Harum roared, swinging his glaive in a brutal arc towards the retreating killer.
Clang—!
Their weapons collided.
Harum’s eyes widened.
The attacker had received his strike with unsettling ease.
With a swift counter, the man forced Harum backwards.
Then, a golden aura flared around his body—revealing his Gold Rank status—as he followed up with a sharp slash from his shortsword.
Harum blocked the attack, but the force behind it drove him back even further.
Still, his objective had been achieved.
His intervention had bought the raiding party enough time to break free from the encirclement.
Without hesitation, Harum disengaged and retreated as well.
The attackers attempted to pursue— but froze when they saw two hulking figures charging back towards the battlefield.
Kavakan and Mogal had returned.
The majority of the attackers halted in place, unwilling to advance any further.
Only the stronger fighters hidden among them stepped forward—yet with their cover gone, even they hesitated.
Well... most of them did.
Three distinct Gold Rank assailants continued the chase, pressing forward despite the looming threat.
Swoosh—!
Just as one of them raised his weapon to strike down a fleeing raiding party member—
Kavakan’s axe came hurtling through the air.
It split the man’s skull cleanly before embedding itself into the ground beyond.
Leap!
A heartbeat later, Kavakan followed.
He vaulted over the retreating raiding party, landing heavily behind them—directly in front of the remaining two assailants.
Whirlwind!
Retrieving his axe in one fluid motion, he spun violently—both weapons extended.
A razor-sharp vortex formed around him, slicing through the air—and cutting the two attackers down where they stood.
Kavakan’s arrival—and the sheer force of his presence—formed an invisible line between the raiding party and their attackers.
It was a boundary the enemy did not dare cross.
That brief, uneasy pause allowed both sides to regroup.
At a glance, the disparity became obvious.
The attackers held the advantage—both in numbers and in raw strength.
The raiding party had begun with roughly thirty members—now fewer, after sustaining losses.
Their enemies, on the other hand, numbered closer to a hundred, with more than a dozen Gold Rank fighters concealed among their ranks.
Kavakan’s eyes narrowed.
"Why are you attacking us?" he called out.
Swoosh—!!
The response came not in words— but in a volley of arrows.
Mogal stepped in instantly, arriving at Kavakan’s side and throwing a punch into the air.
The sheer force of the strike distorted the air itself—deflecting the incoming arrows and knocking them off course before they could reach their target.
The remaining arrows fell harmlessly to the ground.
"Sir!"
Harum and Hargul rushed over to join them.
"They’re bandits," Harum reported grimly. "From the group we wiped out before."
Understanding dawned in both Kavakan and Mogal’s eyes.
They recalled the bandit group they had encountered on their way to investigate the appearance of Berserk Humans in the valley—which had ultimately led them to the Heaven–Earth Concordance talismanic field.
They had exterminated that group.
Afterwards, they had flown the bandits’ own flag as a warning—intending to deter other bandit factions from targeting them.
"I’m sorry, Captain," Harum said, lowering his head. "It was my idea. I led us into this."
"Don’t concern yourself with that," Mogal replied. "Your idea wasn’t wrong. Up until today, it saved us a great deal of trouble."
Kavakan gave a firm nod.
"The boss warned us this might happen eventually," he added. "It’s not as though I was unaware of the risk when I allowed us to keep flying that flag."
He glanced towards the encircling enemies, his grip tightening around his axes.
"Blame can wait," he said coldly. "Right now, our focus is getting out of here alive."
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