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

Chapter 13: Rescue

The Thunder Snakes laugh, pleased with their haul and successful raid, much to the displeasure of the women and children tied to several trees. Some of the children are crying in fear, some whimpering, few trying to be brave by glaring at the bandits. Some of the bandits look at some of the women as if they were prey, excited what may come for them if their boss would let them. Speaking of the boss, he is sitting comfortably in a tent with three guests with him. Evelyn and Ruby are tied together in a corner of the tent far from the exit while Sam had his wrists tied to the arms of a chair, sitting across from Thorburn with a table in between them. Thorburn rests his chin on his hands, staring intensely at the glaring man sporting a few bruises across his arms, neck, and face. The bandit leader smiles and leans back in his seat, "Sooo...how are you so close that beast-man? You two seemed awfully close...close enough that he'd risk his life for you. He your pet or something?" Sam narrows his eyes and says nothing. "As if I would tell him anything about Yuuya..." Thorburn chuckles darkly at his stubbornness. "C'mon. He's a beast-man. A beast-man that your village got rid of. He has the power to overwhelm your village easily, but no instead!...He walks away. He leaves willingly. Now either you got some magic item to control him or...you and him are...close." Sam still says nothing, his lips stretching into a straight line. Thorburn sighs, growing more annoyed. "Are you really gonna stick up for him?" He side glances at Evelyn and Ruby in the corner with a grin full of malice, "Even at the cost of your family?" Sam jerks, trying to break free of his restraints, and yells, "Don't you dare touch them!" Thorburn gets up slowly and goes over to Sam's side, leaning close to his ear, "Choose. Tell me everything about your beast-man friend and your family is spared or...save the freak and your family will suffer the consequences instead." Sam clenches the chair, his knuckles turning white, and leans his head back and smashes against Thorburn's face, right into his nose, stunning him for a couple of seconds. "Screw you. I'm not ratting out my friend and you sure as hell aren't laying one finger on my family." Thorburn holds his nose and chuckles darkly, then he slaps Sam across the face causing Ruby to shriek in fright. The bandit leader grabs his chin roughly, bringing his face close. "If I were you...I'd make a choice soon. Otherwise, your baby sister is gonna watch her big brother die right before her eyes and-" Thorburn leans closer to Sam's face, looking right into his eyes, "Maybe I'll have a little fun with the mom while she is tolling away in some disease ridden mine." Sam struggles to escape his tight grip, shaking his arms to get the restraints off. "Is he really worth that much to you?" Sam clenches his teeth shut, anger burning in his eyes. Thorburn sighs and harshly lets go of his face. "Fine...Be that way." Thorburn struts his way over to the women in the corner. Evelyn tries to push Ruby behind her, shielding her, as Sam struggles harder against the restraints. "Don't you touch them!" Thorburn reaches over towards Evelyn's dress collar, making her flinch back further into the corner with her daughter behind her. Sam is jumping in the chair, growing more desperate, "Stop!" Thorburn laughs in a sadistic manner, his hand a couple inches away. Just before he reaches his goal, a loud explosion and several men screaming is heard outside, confusing the occupants inside the tent. Thorburn groans angrily and gets up, "What the fuck is going on now?"
After Yuuya heals the village, he follows the tracks left behind by the bandits. He uses his speed skill to catch up to the culprits, knowing they had quite the head start. The dark aura is still covering the usual calm, quiet, and kind beast-man, his anger steadily growing the longer it takes him to track. After an hour, Yuuya picks up familiar scents he's accustomed to for a couple of months now. Knowing he's close, Yuuya slows down and climbs a tree, sticking to high ground the rest of the way. His ears twitching as he picks up on the sounds of laughing men. Yuuya narrows his eyes and silently moves between trees until he sees the clearing full of bandits. Thunder Snakes bandits. He scans the area carefully, noticing all the women and children tied to several trees while the men drank in glee. Sadly, three people were unaccounted for amongst the hostages. He continues to search until he notes a large tent, bigger than the rest, in the back. "They must be in there..." He thinks as he counts how many trees are holding the captives. Thirteen. Once he recorded the number and positions of the trees internally, Yuuya jumps down from his post quietly. A couple of drunk bandits sway over to his direction, unaware of the danger ahead. They drop trouser and relieve themselves in the bushes with a sigh. "Fuuuuck...that booze is goood. Glad the boss didn't give up on that town. Would've missed some great stuff." His companion grunts in agreement. "Yeaaaah those villagers were stupid in tossing that freaky beast-man out. Glad they did....wouldn't want to face that thing again." They both shiver at the memory. "I hear that...hey! Why'd the boss want those three? There are plenty of women he could play with...He just pulled one hottie and two kids..." His companion laughs, "Who cares? Maybe he likes them young...Either way! More for us." The bandits laugh while the aura around Yuuya grows stronger as he decides to make a move. "Hey! Think the boss will let us play with the women now? I saw this redhead I've had my eye on for a while..." No response. The bandit scrunches his eyes in annoyance. "C'mon man...don't tell me that the booze took you out alread-" The bandit turns towards his companion, shutting up the moment he sees glowing violet eyes and a fist. Yuuya drags their unconscious bodies in the bushes, taking one of their clothes. He uses his Enigmas Amulet to change his form to look human. Once fully disguised, Yuuya walks out into the open through the camp, none of the bandits noticing as he looks down, hiding his face more. He walks up to one of the trees full of hostages, scaring them as he gets closer. "P-p-pl-please! Don't hu-hurt us-us!" Yuuya stares straight into the woman's eyes, allowing her to see his glowing violets. The women gasp silently while the children smile. "Y-Yuu-" Yuuya quickly covers her mouth motioning her to stay silent. The woman nods in understanding as he slowly lets go. He makes a shushing motion to the children before he pulls out his trusty hunting knife. He cuts at the ropes while keeping his ears out for any alerts. Once fully cut, he points behind them to head deeper in the woods. The women nod and grab the children as Yuuya heads to the next tree. By the fifth tree, his ears pick up on a couple of drunk bandits coming his way. Yuuya hides his knife in his sleeve right before they reach him, disappointing the captured villagers. "Hey man! Whatcha doin'?" He loops his arm around his shoulders, making him scowl in disgust at the smell of booze on their breaths. "You uhh *Sniff* you lookin to have some fun with them. Mind if we join?" The other bandit reaches over to touch one of the women, cracking Yuuya's patience. He grabs the arm around his shoulder and twists it in an awkward position. Before the man could scream, Yuuya covers his mouth and chops his neck, sending him to lalala land instantly. Yuuya drops the unconscious man to the ground, catching the other bandit's attention. "Hey! What the hell-" Yuuya punches him right in the face to render him in the same state his companion is in and grabs both of them by their shirt collars before throwing them in the bushes. He continues to cut the ropes of each tree, occasionally taking out lone bandits near the hostages. By the last tree, Yuuya quickly asks them, "Do you know where Sam, Ruby, and Evelyn are?" The women shake their heads when one child, Mika, raises his arm. "Ye-yeah...there." He points to the big tent from before, confirming his suspicions. Yuuya gives him a small smile and winks, "Thanks Mika." He moves to turn when little arms stop him. He looks over and sees Mika hugging him while hiding his face. "You came back..." Mumbled the young child. Yuuya smiles warmly and spins around to face Mika, giving him a proper hug. "I never left..." Mika looks up in surprise. Yuuya continues to smile at him as he gently lets him go. Yuuya points to where the rest of the hostages are hiding, "The others are hiding over there. Go! I'll take care of the rest." As soon as they hid from view, Yuuya scans around him and sees a pile of crates full of dynamites, a lightbulb flashes on above his head.
Thorburn pokes his head out his tent and is shocked to see the camp in flames and his men are running around either to escape the fire or to put them out. The bandit leader is looking around trying to find the source when a pair of glowing violet eyes catch his attention. He zeroes in, not believing his own eyes until the figure of those violet eyes stood forward, his disguise disappearing to reveal a very pissed off beast-man. Thorburn shakes, whether in fear or in anger is a mystery, and grabs a vase. He holds it up and a glowing blue magic circle appears at the vase's opening. Suddenly, a flood of water rushes out of the magic circle, putting out the fires and sweeping the bandits away. Yuuya jumps up and floats in the air as the water rushed through the camp, his gaze unimpressed. Once the fire was out, Thorburn throws the vase to the side and yells, "Well! This is certainly a surprise!" In a flash, Yuuya has Thorburn by his throat. The bandit leader chokes as Yuuya brings his face closer, uncontainable anger in his eyes, and growls out, "Where are they?" Thorburn continues to choke until Yuuya lessens his grip, allowing the man to speak clearly. "I-I-*Cough*Inside." Yuuya narrows his eyes to detect any lies. Seeing only fear and annoyance, Yuuya throws him into a group of bandits coming at him. He opens the tent flaps and immediately sees his dearest friend tied to a chair. "Sam!" The beast-man runs straight at him and quickly cuts through the ropes. Once he was freed, Sam pulls Yuuya into a bone crushing hug, whimpering in his hair, "Yuuya...I've missed you...so much." Yuuya hugs back with just as much emotion. "I'd always come back for you...all of you." They hug for a few more seconds before someone in the room clears their throat. Both men pull away from each other, still holding onto each others' arms, as they look at the culprit. Evelyn is smiling warmly, happy over the reunion, before she says, "It's good to see you Yuuya. I'm so glad you're safe, but uhhh...could you help us?" Both of their faces turn bright red as they let go of each other, a little unwillingly, and rush over to the ladies. Yuuya easily cuts through the ropes and helps pull Ruby up while Sam helped his mother. Ruby hugs Yuuya's neck tightly, thrilled to see her friend and knowing she's safe now. "C'mon! Let's go." Yuuya leads the group outside, but stops suddenly. Most of the bandits managed to put out the fires while some were left incapacitated on the ground. Thorburn pushes through the crowd, breathing heavily. "You little shit! You think you can walk all over my gang, huh!? That you're high and mighty. You are such a fuckin freak!" Yuuya simply glares as the bandit leader continues to cuss at him, silently passing Ruby to Sam. "I've had enough of you. Men! Get them!" The bandits yell as they charge at the small group.
Yuuya uses his light magic to generate a barrier around Sam and his family before charging at the bandits. He uses dark magic to hold the front row of bandits in place by summoning a gloom swamp, its hands grabbing onto the bandits as they shriek in fright. Once the front lines were immobilized, he summons Tyrhung to destroy any weapons that try to hit him while pushing the bandits back. While Yuuya was busy, Thorburn sneakily stands back as he searches through his coat. He smiles wickedly as he pulls the large, glowing, multi-color stone out. He waits patiently as he watches wave after wave of his men being pummeled by one guy. Yuuya punches the last of the bandits until it was only Thorburn left. The bandit leader didn't look the least bit worried, confusing the beast-man. "Why isn't he nervous? I just took out his men...that should make him scared." Yuuya narrows his eyes and he slowly walks towards Thorburn, again the bandit leader doesn't look the least bit worried as he hides his hands behind his back. "Wooow. You took them out rather fast and a little more..." He nudges one of the bandits close to him, hearing a pained groan in response, then looks back up at Yuuya, "rough." He goes to the side, keeping his distance from Yuuya. "That's okay. These guys were useless anyway. I think it's time to go a little extreme." He pulls out the same stone from before, allowing everyone conscious to see the large, glowing, multi-color stone with a strange mark. Yuuya furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "What is that?" "What's that?" Yuuya asks aloud. He hears a few gasps around him and Sam yells out, "How did you get that!? That shouldn't be here!" Some of the bandits move away from the duo, fearing what their boss had in mind. The women hiding in the woods push the children further into the forest, knowing full well what the stone was. Yuuya turns around and looks at Sam, "What is that?" Sam doesn't get the chance to answer as a loud laugh interrupts him. "What kind of beast-man doesn't recognize a summoning stone?" Yuuya stares at Thorburn, more questions popping up in his head. "Summoning stone?" Sensing his confusion, Sam yells out, "A summoning stone can be used to conjure up a monster! They're just like monster cores except they hold living monsters rather than their power, and they come in different colors in the same order as cores. Do you remember multi-color cores represent?" Yuuya thinks back to the conversation he had with Sam about monster cores and goes down the list, "Let's see...gray was the weakest, then green...blue...purple...gold and..." Yuuya's eyes widen slightly as he stares at the multi-color stone. "Multi-color is suppose to be the strongest..." Thorburn laughs in twisted delight, relieved to finally have the upper hand for once. "That's right! This thing was so hard to get. We had to raid a rich elf's estate to get this beauty. Lost a lot of men for this and you! *Laughs* You get to be the first to experience this thing." He raises his hand up, stone in hand, as the bandits plead their boss. "What are you doing boss!?" "Are you crazy!? That thing will kill us all!" "No way you can handle it!" Thorburn ignores them all and grins sadistically at Yuuya. "Let's have some fun!" He states before throwing the stone to the ground, breaking it.