Chapter 21 Bandit Camp (Part 1)
"What do you mean? How will you get there without a horse?" Jason couldn't understand what Leo meant when he said he didn't need a horse. 'It's not possible to get there by tonight without a horse.'
"Get on the horse and follow me. You'll see why I don't need a horse." Leo said while walking in the direction of their destination.
Jason climbed onto the horse and started following behind Leo, after a couple of seconds Leo started running, not using his energy, and Jason had the horse follow suit.
Just as the horse was about to go past Leo, he put his energy into his legs and he picked up speed immensely, running faster than the horse.
Jason was shocked. He didn't think something like this was possible. Everyone had heard of the ability users that had appeared over the past few of years, but actually seeing one of them and what they are capable of was incredible.
'The horse is struggling to keep up with him... It's not that he didn't need a horse, the horse is just too slow for him. It looks like he's holding back too... so that I can keep up.' Jason's respect for Leo was increasing by the second. 'He is incredibly powerful, yet chose to help us instead of exploit us. He's a hero in my eyes.'
It only took a few hours to reach the area where the bandit camp is. Leo had slowed down and Jason had gotten off his horse when they got closer. If they approached too fast then they would be seen.
Leo looked at Jason and spoke, " We should rest until the sun has gone down. If I attack them at night then they shouldn't be able to react as quickly and I can gain an advantage."
Jason understood that it was better to attack at night, but was slightly confused about another part of what Leo said, "Sorry but, did you say 'you' were attacking them? Not 'we' ?"
Leo is sitting on the ground leaning against a rock, he has the metal balls in his hand restoring his energy. "Yes, I will attack alone. I have a plan to take them all out but there's nothing you can do to help. As long as you just stay back and watch then there should be no problems."
Jason was disappointed, he had hoped he could be helpful to Leo, but instead it seemed he was just dead weight. Leo didn't really care about that, since he never wanted any company in the first place. He had accepted Jason's request because he didn't feel like arguing about it.
The next fex hours went by, the sun had set and the camp was mostly quiet.
The bandit camp is in a cave that goes about 120 meters in. The mouth of the cave is around 12 meters high and 8 meters wide.The cave is leading into the side of a small rocky hill.
Two guards were standing at the mouth of the cave, one with a short sword, the other a spear. They are on opposite sides of the cave facing each other. Making it almost impossible to sneak up on them.
"Jason. You stay here, If my plan works out then I'll be back in a few minutes, if not... Well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." With that Leo started approaching the hill from the left side, trying to get close without being spotted.
Leo then climbed up the hill until he reached the top of the cave. Standing close to the mouth of the cave, Leo started channeling power into his right arm.
'30% should be enough right? No, let's use 40%." Leo's arm glows for a moment and then gets even brighter as he uses more power.
Leo then pulls his arm back and with a grunt, he punches the ground beneath him. A loud bang, followed by a deep rumbling sound was heard.
Jason could see Leo punching the ground while standing above the cave. He was confused about what Leo's plan was at first, until the roof of the cave started to collapse. Rocks began to fall on the bandit camp, crushing tents and those within.
Shouting was heard from the bandits inside. The two guards at the entrance moved away from the cave to avoid the falling rocks. One of them looked up at the hill, thats when he spotted a figure, standing just above the cave.
"Hey! Look up there, there's a..." Leo had bent down and picked up a rock the size of his fist, that's when the one guard had seen him. When the man called out that he had seen something, Leo pulled his arm back and using the energy within his body to increase his strength, he threw the rock at the guard, smashing it into his head.
The guards head exploded when it was stuck by the rock, his body falling to the floor. The guard who was with him was stunned and took a step away. He then looked up at where the rock had come from, only to see another one headed for him.
His body froze from fear and the rock hit him in the chest, creating a hole three times the rocks size through his torso. His body was flung backwards and sent rolling on the ground.
The cave continued to crumble away and Leo was forced to move away from the hill as the ground beneath him was starting to fall into the cave.
Leo jumped down and reached the bottom, he was standing to the left side of the cave. A few of the bandits came running out the cave. There was initially around 15 of them trying to escape, but the falling debris had killed over half of them, leaving only 4 remaining that managed to escape before the cave completely collapsed.
'That's not bad at all, only 6 managed to avoid being crushed, 2 of which I've already killed. I still have just under 60% of my energy left, so these few bandits that are left should be easy to deal with.
Leo picked up another 2 rocks, similar in size to those he used earlier. 'If I can get rid of some of them from here before they can see me, then I won't have so many to deal with when they start charging at me for close combat.
Leo was around 20 meters from the 4 bandits. He pulls his arm back and throws another rock. Aimed at a bandit that has a longsword in his hands. The rock collided with his left ribs, the impact was so strong that his body was torn in two.
The 3 remaining men turned towards Leo. He pulled back his arm and another rock went flying, this time heading for a man wielding a halberd. The other two men were behind Leo's target after they turned to face him, one on each side of the bandit.
The man saw the rock coming for him and he swing his weapon, slicing the rock in half. The rocks two pieces split, each one going to an opposite side. They both slammed into the men behind Leo's target.
On man was hit in the shoulder, causing his arm to get ripped off. The other was hit in the knee, he too lost a limb.
The man screamed in rage at Leo "Do you have any idea how long it took me to build up this group! You just show up here and decide to kill us all for no reason?!! I'm going to make you suffer! I'm going to FUCKING KILL YOU!!"