Wait! I'm not a Demigod, I'm a Gamer!

Chapter 10: Bandits

The hunting group trek deeper into the forest with Yuuya keeping his guard up, tracking for any monsters nearby. Thankfully, no monsters are anywhere near them, making their hunting trip easier. They follow a set of deer tracks all the way to a stream. There they see seven deers: two stags, three does, and two fawns. The group focuses on the stags, lining up their arrows. One man takes his shot, hitting one of the stag's hind leg, causing a panic amongst the herd. The does and fawns run in one direction while the stags go in a different direction, separating as they go deeper in the woods. Half the group chase the stag with the arrow in it, while Yuuya and the rest of the group chase the other stag. The stag moves fast, easily hopping around the obstacles, while the group struggles to avoid tripping on the roots. The only one keeping up happens to be the one human that isn't human. Yuuya jumps from tree to tree, sticking to high ground to avoid any trip hazards down on the ground. Yuuya uses a wind spell that makes him lighter, allowing him to move faster, not wanting to reveal any other magic types in his arsenal. As soon as he's close enough, Yuuya makes a dash and slice the stag's throat with his hunting knife, killing it instantly. The stag drops ungraciously to the ground right before Yuuya's feet. A stab of guilt hits Yuuya's heart, not liking the idea of taking a life even if it's a wild animal. The rest of the group catch up to him and marvel over his skills. "Damn kid! How'd you move so fast?" One of the men grabs the stag's antlers, inspecting the cut on its throat. "With such a clean cut too! Jeez kid, you're gonna make the rest of us look bad in front of our families." The men laugh as Yuuya chuckles with a blush, still not used to all the compliments.
The men tie the stag with ropes and pull it towards the village, meeting up with the rest of the group, also successful in their hunt. As they make their way back, Yuuya's ears pick up a strange sound, causing him to freeze on the spot. Seeing how he was in the middle of the group, the men stop moving when he did. "Yuuya? What's wrong?" Yuuya doesn't say a word, too focused on listening. He stands still, waiting on the sound again. A few seconds go by before he hears it again, a scream. A scream coming from the village. Yuuya dashes quickly without saying a word, confusing the group, with only a single thought, "Please God no!"
During Yuuya's hunt, Sam and Ruby are enjoying themselves next to the fireplace. Sam reads to the excited little girl about the times the kitsunes were around. Rick comes into the room, seeing his children together having fun. "Hey you two! Where's Yuuya? I wanted to show him my new bow, I know this time I will beat him with this." Sam snorts quietly, remembering the times Yuuya has bested everyone, including his father, at archery. Hitting every bullseye and even breaking through arrows in the bullseye. "First off dad, you are not gonna beat him, even with that new bow. Second, he went out hunting with the other guys. He won't be back for a while." Rick clicks his tongue in annoyance. "Damn! I really wanted to show off a bit. It's bad enough the kid can use many magic types, now he can even beat the best of us. I need to regain my reputation as the master archer!" Ruby laughs loudly at her father's declaration. "Daddy! Yuuya is the best! You can't beat him!" Rick hangs his head low, faking sadness. "You don't have to be so blunt..." His kids only laugh harder at his appearance. "Sorry dad, but it's true. Yuuya is the best." Rick sighs dejectedly when suddenly people start screaming outside. Rick straightens up and walks towards the window, sneakily moves the curtain to the side. There he sees a group of bandits going around the village, breaking through several buildings and dragging people out. Some use weapons to threaten the villagers while others use magic to trap them. A couple of the bandits head towards his home. He moves away from the window and barricades the door with a nearby chair. "Ruby. Samuel. Get to the cellar now! Don't come out until I say so." Sam picks up Ruby and rushes to the cellar door in the kitchen before looking back. "Dad! Come with us!" Rick shakes his head, pulling out an arrow when the door starts being banged on, the chair barely holding its place. "Samuel go! I'll handle them. You protect your sister and mother. Do not leave that cellar until I come get you." Sam looking between his father and his sister, making a difficult choice. "Arrgh! Fine, but you better come back to us!" With that, Sam rips the cellar door open and jumps down, closing it along the way. Evelyn looks over, hearing the cellar door open and close. Sam puts Ruby down, allowing her to run to her mother, and quickly puts a board up to lock the door. "Samuel? What's going on?" Evelyn questions as she holds Ruby who's crying in fear. Sam doesn't say anything and summons water in the palm of his hand, using the water to freeze the board solid. "Bandits," is all Sam says to make Evelyn understand. The three of them get away from the door, hiding in the corner. They jump when they hear a loud crash and angry voices. "Come on out old man! "Do what we say and no one gets hurt."
Rick stands his ground, readying his bow. "Not one more step. Get the hell out of my house!" The two bandits come at him with short swords. Rick easily dodges them and fires an arrow at one bandit in the back of his neck, killing him quickly. The other bandit tries again, but Rick uses a wind spell to push him into the wall, knocking him out. "Thanks Yuuya. That did the trick." As he's about to step out to help the villagers, he's blasted back inside by an electric shock. "Aaaargh!" Rick's body seizes up, refusing to move as he wishes. A man that is slightly younger than Rick with yellow eyes, long grey hair tied in a ponytail, and scars in various places, but one stands out from the rest right over his right eye, walks into the house whistling a tune. "Wow! Now that was impressive. I'm surprised you're still awake, much less alive." The cruel man stalks over to Rick's prone form, kneeling down to his face. "You must be the guy in charge huh? Well then an introduction is an order." He places his hand over his chest and bows mockingly. "My name is Thorburn. Leader of the Thunder Snakes. And we are here to take everything. Resist us and we will kill all of you, is that understood?" Rick doesn't say word nor makes any move to answer. Thorburn sighs and places his hand on Rick's back, shocking him. Rick cries out in pain. After a couple of seconds, Thorburn removes his hand, "Is that understood?" Rick begrudgingly nods his head once. Thorburn smiles wickedly and pats his burned back. "Good." As he stands back up, another bandit bursts through the door breathing heavily. "Boss! We got trouble! There's a guy here taking us down so quick we can't get a clear shot!" Thorburn narrows his eyes and glances at Rick. "Another one huh? Okay, I'll take care of him. You handle him and-" he points towards the cellar door, "whoever is down there." Rick's eyes widen in fear, realizing his family is in danger. "N-n-no..." Thorburn grins evilly and heads to the door. "This day keeps getting better and better."
Moments earlier, Yuuya rushes through the woods, using his speed skill to the limit. Once he reaches the village, he sees the door he and the hunting group used earlier wide open, burn marks decorating the fine wood. "No..." He hears more screams coming from inside the village, filling the man with rage. Yuuya rushes past the burned door and sees some of the buildings on fire, villagers running outside to escape the flame prisons right into strange men shouting out orders. "Bandits." The thought crosses Yuuya's mind before he summons Tyrhung, already pouring mana into the blade. Some of the bandits are dragging some women outside, throwing them to the ground. "Stay there! Don't move!" A man hits one of the bandits in the back with a shovel. "Get away from them!" The bandits look towards the man seeing their comrade down. "You bastard!" One of the bandits wields a staff that produces several fireballs towards the man. Just before the man was cooked, Yuuya stands in front of him, using the demon lord's magic ring to reflect the spell back on the bandits. The bandits scream in agony as the fire burns through their armor and clothes to their skins. Not wanting any deaths over his head, Yuuya douses the burning men with water, then smacks them in the back of their heads to render them unconscious. Yuuya summons the staff of Brigid, made of white wood with a crystal ball on top, and looks at the man from before. He hands him the staff and orders, "Here, use this to protect everyone. Just say 'Imbolc' and it will deploy a shield against anyone with dark intentions okay? Go! Get them out of here! I'll handle them!" The man nods quickly and takes the staff and one of the women's hands, getting them away from the scene. Yuuya turns back around, more bandits slowly start to surround him. "You little shit!" "Think you can take us all down?" The men laugh in sick glee, thinking they have the upper hand. Yuuya takes a deep breath to calm his emotions and cracks his neck. "Yes. Yes I do." He charges towards the center and smacks the first guy with the hilt of his sword. "Get him!" Yuuya back kicks the next guy. Yuuya's ears pick up the sound of chanting and whips his head toward the sound, seeing three of the bandits firing up their spells. One in fire, one in earth, and one in wind. Yuuya glares and raises his hand, activating the ring's power. Just like before, the spells reflect back on the bandit casters, hitting them head on. With his back turned, a bandit sneaks up behind him and brings down his sword, sadly for him, a shield of light blocks his attack that draws Yuuya's attention. He punches the guy in the face, breaking his nose in the process. "Thank you Trinity." He rubs the ring in appreciation and quickly looks at the remaining bandits backing away from him. "Okay. Who's next?"
Yuuya charges once more, blocking any sword attacks with his own sword. Punching and kicking them all away and into the land of unconsciousness. The bandits' number dwindled over a short time, drawing more bandits to him, away from the innocent villagers. Just before he could strike another bandit, the hair on the back his neck stand up, alerting him to dodge. He moves away from his previous position and sees a bolt of lightning strike down and hitting the poor bandit. Yuuya's eyes widen and turns to look at the culprit. There he sees a cocky man dressed in a black trench coat, with leather fingerless gloves and dark gray boots. His eyes shining a disturbing yellow that highlights the scar over one of his eyes as his grey hair blows with the wind. His smile too calm at the fact he missed. "Well well well. You must be the one causing trouble for my men." He stalks closer to Yuuya, showing no fear over the man. Yuuya narrows his eyes into a glare. "And you must be the one in charge of this little group of bandits." Both men circle each other, waiting to see an opening. The man laughs at Yuuya's statement. "You are correct. My name is Thorburn, leader of the Thunder Snakes. May I know your name? It's...only polite." Confused over his strangely respectful behavior, Yuuya responds with a snarl, "Yuuya. And I want you out!" Thorburn merely chuckles and shakes his head. "Afraid I can't do that. You see, I got all these men and we got to eat. We steal to eat. Your village has some good valuables to sell. We're not leaving till we empty this village dry. All in the name of survival. You understand right?" Yuuya scoffs at his absurd speech. "You call this survival? This is murder and stealing! This isn't survival, it's a massacre. And I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone or take anything. Over my dead body!" Thorburn looks up in thought and nods his head. "Okay then. Die." The men have circled around each other throughout the entire conversation until Thorburn raises his hand, summoning another bolt of lightning onto his opponent. Yuuya dodges again and runs away from Thorburn's attack that just keeps coming like rapid fire. "What the hell? He's not chanting, he keeps raising his hand and the lightning just comes down. Sam told me that humans usually need to chant to cast spells. Is he using a magical item of some kind? Hmmm I did see one of the bandits wielding a staff that produced fireballs without chanting. He must be wearing some kind of lightning enchanted item. Gotta find it!" Yuuya thinks as he keeps dodging the lightning strikes, trying to get closer to the leader. Thorburn laughs in twisted delight. "What's wrong boy? Thought you were gonna stop me!" He keeps throwing lightning bolt after lightning bolt, trying to hit the quick man, annoying the bandit leader. "What the fuck!? Why can't I hit you? No way you can keep this up for long!" Yuuya grins and thinks, "Oh yes I can! I maxed out my endurance stat just for this type of occasion. The question is, how long can you keep using that magical item?"
Yuuya dodges yet another lightning strike before seeing Sam in the corner of his eye, surprising him, "Sam!?" Sam moves sneakily behind the bandit leader, intending to freeze him with the water in his hands. Sadly, a couple of the other bandits saw him and tackled him to the ground. "Where do you think you're going?" "Why don't you sit back and watch the show." Sam struggles underneath the bandits, trying in vain to push them off. Seeing his friend in trouble, Yuuya yells, "Sam!" And rushes to help his friend, giving the bandit leader an opening. "Too slow." Yuuya notices too late the lightning bolt above him, the spell hitting its mark. Smoke covers the area where Yuuya once stood, frightening Sam. "Yuuya!" Sam cries out, tears filling his eyes. "No..." Thorburn shrugs his coat, satisfied with his work. "Well that takes care of that. Such a shame. I would have loved to invite him into our gang. Oh well." He walks over to the stunned human on the ground underneath some bandits, kneeling down to his level. "Thank you. If you hadn't have come, I'd never be able to get rid of him. Guess he had a soft spot." Sam glares at the leader, tears running down his face while struggling even harder. "You bastard!" Thorburn laughs and reaches over to grab him, but stops short when he hears a growl. Everyone turns their heads towards the sound, where the pile of smoke laid. Through the smoke, they see a shadowed figure getting up, its eyes glowing a bright violet color. What surprised them the most was the fact that the figure didn't look human. No. It resembled some sort of beast.