historical

I wasn’t sure how to go about fighting bandits. After all, they weren’t like ghosts or undead. These were living people. They had brains and could strategize. I suppose I should start by creating a fireball and striking in the middle of them. They’re probably prepared for that. At best, it might cause them to flinch.

Celeste could throw out a wind attack, possibly blinding them for a moment. I’d have Miki attack their spirit. When it came to combat outside of a ghost, a spiritualist’s main weapon was weakening the enemies will power. She could induce fear, create hesitation, and weaken strikes. Basically, she’d be the equivalent of a shaman or something casting negative status alignments. While we attack their physical body, she can attack their spirit.

Hopefully, with a well-timed attempt to spread confusion, that will be enough time for each of us to strike one of the bandits. I reckoned if we were really lucky, each of us could knock out our opponent in a single hit. Then, the next move would be four on six. It still left us in dire straits, but if we pulled together and used all of our strength, we might just make it.

“Master, we’re done.”

“Huh?” I looked around me to find all ten bandits were already knocked out.

The girls were casually stretching as ten men, even the scary-looking guy with the ax, were on the floor, foam leaking from their mouths. A few of them looked pretty badly beat up too, and at least three had been struck by Lydia’s blade and were bleeding out. In fact, it looked like two of them had been knocked out by me. I had been moving on instinct, but the fight was over in an instant. This left me really confused.

“Wasn’t that a little easy?” I asked.

“Master..” Miki said, scratching her cheek. “I’ve been wondering this, but does master know how difficult it is to reach the bottom of a dungeon? Even a small one?”

“Eh? Well, I mean, beating dungeons require a lot of work, even I acknowledge that but..”

“How do I say this, Master.. um.. the knights of this world are a second-tier job. They start out as swordsman and reach knighthood through various factors. This happens around level 50. The upper-tier knights are around level 30, and a knight could easily dispatch a group of regular bandits.”

Ah.. so it was like that. Celeste alone was at a 4th tier, although she didn’t have 80 levels combined. That wasn’t to look down at Lydia or Miki either, who were unique variants and powerful in their own right. Apparently, when it came to simple bandits, they sat at around level 20. They were only slightly stronger than your standard villager. What they lacked in strength, they usually made up for in ruthlessness.

Meanwhile, my girls weren’t simply unique variants with powerful, synergistic jobs, but they were equipped with magical items. An entire bandit group might see a single magical item a year, and our group was equipped with over a half dozen of them casually. It was no wonder we drew attention.

However, these bandits apparently met their match. Unlike actual people, ghosts and the undead didn’t care about their own self-preservation. Monsters fought far more savagely and less restrained. The four of us had trained to fight in dungeons, not in a practice field. Even soldiers in this world didn’t have to fear permanent death if they had proper insurance. Yet, in the dungeon, every battle was a life and death battle, thus none of us really knew how to hold back either.

“Um.. how about we tie them up?” I suggested.

The girls tied the bandits up. A few of them seriously looked like they were dying! I sighed and started healing them. Well, we had hurt them in the first place, so it was simply the right thing to do.