Chương 77: Ambush (6)

"Please don't kill me! I've answered all your questions!" Archer cried as he looked up at Rowan.

"Just let me go!" Letting out a sigh, Rowan thought. He'd asked a few more questions, and while the boy hadn't been able to answer most of them, he had learned a few new things. First, there was a settlement not too far away called Arvin. Second, the leader of the bandits was a woman who went by 'Shadowmask.' Rowan found it incredibly cringy, but perhaps there was a reason behind it. The woman had a class, too, so if he encountered her, he would have to be careful.

Thirdly, he'd learned that there was a nearby stream that was safe to drink from, which was good to know. Of course, there was a chance the boy was lying to him to have him drink from poisoned water, but he doubted that was the case. The idea of poisoned water did bring him back to the lake he'd leaped into back when he'd first appeared in the Tutorial. Perhaps he would return to the area sometime, assuming he could find it. Alas, the kid hadn't known much.

If it'd been another of his attackers whom Rowan had questioned, he thought he would've gotten more information, but at least he'd gotten something. The last thing he'd asked the Archer was if there were any creatures like the bloodspawn in the area, since he wanted to know if the bloodspawn were the only powerful humanoids out there, or if he would have to watch out for more. While he hadn't received a concrete answer, the boy had said that there were rumors of something similar in one of the more dangerous areas.

When Archer had told him where it was, Rowan couldn't help but feel a hint of anticipation; it was in the same direction as the town he was heading to. It would be much farther that way, he was sure, but he was still heading toward whatever they were. Now, though, he actually had to do what he'd been putting off the entire time: figure out what to do with the boy. He wasn't going to kill a child; he'd already established that.

"Do you want to go back to the camp?" Rowan had no plans to send Archer back there, but he still wanted to know what the boy thought. Or maybe he was just delaying again. Archer shook his head.

"No."

"Then why were you there in the first place?"

"For protection," The boy muttered. That made sense, Rowan supposed. The surface—at least in this area—wasn't as dangerous as the caves, but it wasn't safe, either.

"If I let you go, where will you go? Back to the camp anyway?"

"I…I don't know." Archer looked as if he were trying to find the right answer to appease Rowan, but simply couldn't figure out what it was. Rowan thought for a few seconds before asking, "What about that town? What was it called? Arvin? Could you go there?"

"Probably," Archer responded.

"I don't think I have the supplies to get there, though."

"If I gave you some rations, would you actually go to Arvin? And not go back to the camp?" The boy nodded.

"Are there any water sources that way that you could drink from? You'll pass by that stream you told me about, right?" The boy nodded again. Sighing, Rowan grabbed the bag of rations on his waist. Then, he grabbed the jacket off Robert's dead body. Surprisingly, it was mostly clean, though he did still make a blade of mana and cut off the blood-soaked parts and the sleeves. Then, he poured some of the rations from his bag into the jacket before bunching it up.

Finally, after cutting a long strip from one of the jacket's sleeves, he used it as a string to tie up the top of the makeshift bag. He tossed it over to the boy before saying one last thing just to discourage the kid from going back to the bandit camp.

"Good. I'm gonna go take out the rest of your camp, and if you're there, I'm not going to spare you again."

"Thank you!" Archer squeaked. A moment later, he scampered away, sprinting into the woods. Rowan just let out a breath and looked at all of the death surrounding him. All of the death that he had caused. After a few seconds, he limped over to a nearby tree before slowly lowering himself to sit against it. His body screamed in pain, but he just gritted his teeth against it as he took a mental note of his injuries. He had a lot of puncture wounds across his body, from his back to his legs.

Most of them seemed alright, though, thanks to his durable body. The worst of the injuries was the crossbow bolt buried in his thigh. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. It wasn't too deep, but it had still sunk more than a full inch into his flesh. He'd heard that if you were hit by an arrow, you weren't supposed to yank it out. But he didn't think it applied to a crossbow bolt. Plus, with his body's durability and vitality, he would probably be fine no matter what.

Of course, his open wounds weren't the only injuries he had; his body was bruised, and he thought one of his ribs might have been cracked from leaping out of the tree earlier. There was nothing he could do about it now, though. As he stood up and limped over to a nearby body to rip some of the fabric off their body, he just wished he had a healing skill. He wasn't sure if they even existed, and if they did, how he could learn one.

Thinking back, he remembered the System saying something about a System Shop that could be accessed only from certain parts of the Tutorial. He would have to ask Henry and Eren about that. After tearing a sizable chunk of clothing from one of the bodies, Rowan turned and moved back to the tree, settling down once more. Then, with clenched teeth, he ripped the crossbow bolt from his thigh. A moment later, a thin stream of blood began to trickle out.

After taking a second to recover from the pain, he took the fabric he'd grabbed and wrapped it around his leg, bandaging the wound. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to slow down the bleeding while his body healed. Deciding to rest for a bit longer, Rowan looked over the battlefield. He couldn't decide how he felt about what he'd done. He did feel a bit sick to the stomach knowing that he'd cut all of their lives short, but the feeling wasn't anywhere near as bad as he'd thought it would be.

He supposed it did help that they'd tried to kill him and take his stuff first, so he'd been justified in his actions. He didn't want to have to kill any more people than he already had, but Rowan already knew that it was a lost cause; he was in Apocalypse Difficulty, and if he truly wanted to gain power and climb the layers, there would surely be people trying to get in his way and kill him. And if that happened, he couldn't spare them.

He'd let Archer go because he was a child and Rowan didn't think the boy would try to go after him again. Perhaps the kid really was a psychopath who'd manipulated him into letting him go, but he doubted that. He let out a breath and, remembering something, opened his status screen.

Name: Rowan Crowe Race: Human Class: Chained Lord (Inheritance) Level: 13 Stats: Strength: 20 Dexterity: 12 Toughness: 32 Vitality: 21 Mana: 20 Free Points: 1 Active Skills(2/10): Chain Manipulation lvl 15 Mana Manipulation lvl 21 Passive Skills(0/10): Quests: Defeat the Guardian of the Forest or Defeat the Leviathan (Layer Quest) Defeat 50 Enemies Defeat 10 Enemies Above Your Level Reach Level 20 System Credits: 165 Then, with a grunt of pain, Rowan stood up.

The longer he spent resting, the harder it would be to get moving again, so he got it out of the way as soon as possible. As he moved, though, he got an idea. It would cost some mana, but he still had a decent amount left after the fight, and his regeneration would probably be enough to mitigate his losses. Concentrating, he poured mana into his chains, extending them and letting them wrap around his entire body.

Then, as he took a step, [Chain Manipulation] activated, the steel links around him moving in tandem with his body. One step after another, he moved. It was awkward at first, but the chains took a lot of the strain off of his muscles, particularly the thigh that'd been hit with the crossbow. Rowan sighed. It was time to get going. First, though, he was going to see what he could loot off the bodies of the bandits. — Rowan made his way through the forest, moving at a far slower pace than before, due to his injuries.

On his back were the boxes he was carrying for the party. It was slightly painful how they pressed into the wound on his back, but he'd wadded up some cloth and put it back their to soften the pressure. To his side floated a chunk of boar meat; a glowing blue hook of mana poked through it. And finally, in a holster on his side, was the woman's pistol. The gunwoman had had quite a few magazines on her, which he'd taken as well.

He doubted she'd just had all of them on her when the Tutorial had begun, so odds were that she took them from other people. He didn't know much about guns, but he thought the ammo had to be a pretty popular kind for the woman to have so much of it. Or perhaps she'd been robbing a gun store or something before she'd been brought here. He supposed he would never know. He didn't have a great spot to keep the magazines, so he just put them in the same bag that what remained of his rations were stored in.

There were six in total, so they easily fit into it. The gun would be a useful addition to his arsenal, but it hadn't been the only thing he'd taken from the group of bandits. Two new daggers were strapped to his belt as well. Admittedly, he could make daggers out of mana any time he wanted, but he figured it would be best to have them just in case he ran out of the blue energy. And finally, he'd grabbed a belt off one of the men.

His own had held up surprisingly well throughout his time in the Tutorial, but it was slowly getting damaged. If it ever broke, it would be significantly harder to carry his stuff. He'd considered taking some of the larger weapons or crossbows as well, but decided against it; he already had all the weapons he thought he needed, and more would only serve to further hamper him. One of the bodies, though, he'd avoided. It wasn't because it was particularly gory or anything—there was just something off about it.

Black energy oozed from its wounds They might've been useful for the party, but he'd seen their weapon collection, and they had plenty. So, with a breath. Rowan kept moving toward the settlement.