“The Bone Skulls are attacking!”

The shout woke everyone up.

With overwhelming numbers on their side, our only option was to run, but…

“A group as large as the Bone Skulls won’t be satisfied with just the expensive carriage…If we turn to run now they will most likely pick us off one by one.”

This was Catherin’s assessment of the current situation and I have to agree. 

Why settle for one thing when you have the manpower to take it all.

“What do we do?”

The person who asked that was the young adventure from the six keepers who boldly spoke before. He was currently shaking in his boots. He like the rest of us knew that the odds were against us.

“Someone needs to hold them here while the others escape,” Catherin suggested

“Hmm…Your right. I will stay…” the leader quest seekers uttered before the leader of six keepers interjected…

I will spare you the back and forth banter as it was of little importance because,

“Even if both your parties were to stay and fight…You will not be able to hold them off long enough for the carriages to escape.” Catherin said.

She was right and everyone knew it.

“Then what are we going to do?” asked the leader of six keepers.

“I will stay and hold them off.” Catherin boldly uttered

“We can’t allow that…We were the ones hired for this escort.” The leader of the quest seekers uttered before the leader of the six keepers agreed.

“We don’t have a choice in the matter. This is the best decision to be made.”

“Do you have an escape plan?” I asked her

“Escape?”

Oi…Don’t tell me this was one of those suicide missions, she was planning.

I sighed when her expression told me that it was.

“I will hold them off.” I declared

“Sojuro…” she uttered

“Unlike you, I have a plan that will allow me to escape with my life.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… Leave this to me.”

She looked troubled. She probably thought that I wouldn’t have done this if she hadn’t volunteered herself and she was right.

Having her owe me this favor will come in handy in the future.

“Alright… I will trust you with this… Don’t go dying on me.”

As I watched the carriages speed off, my attention was now turned to the oncoming bandits.

Some were on horseback while others ran behind them. This was probably the reason the ones on horseback were moving slightly slower from the normal speed a horse can achieve on this terrain.

I took a glance at my current stats

***

Name: Sojuro

Level: 110/160

Title: Hero

Class: Sage

Attributes: Earth, Air, Water

HP: 26000/26000

MP: 40000/40000

Skills: Inventory, Universal Language, Appraisal, Earth Wall, WaterFall, Air Blade, Water Whip, Fire Ball, Earthquake, Fog, Dash, Rush, Speeder

Earth Spike, Stealth, Auto hit, Danger sense

Cheat Skill: None

Devine Protection: Athena

***

For this plan, I would be depending on my < Dash >,  < Rush >, and < Speeder > to make me move fast. By overlapping the three skills I should be able to outrun the bandits.

I will use < Fireball > and < Earth Spike > while overlapping them with the < Auto Hit > to strike from afar and once they are close enough I will blind them with fog and finish the plan with an earthquake.

The radius of the Earthquake isn’t large, so I will have to let them get close to me.

Danger Sense should help avoid any unforeseen attacks from the enemy.

Right… Let's begin the defense.

< Auto Hit > < Fire Ball >

< Auto Hit > < Earth Spike >

My fireballs and earth spikes flew through the night sky… Some of the more skilled bandits were able to dodge or block the attack, luckily most of them were unskilled.

At that point, I felt a chill down my spine. As if someone among the bandits was eyeing me as a pray.

I shook it off and continued my attack.

The bandits drew closer and closer until

< Fog >

I poured a lot of MP into that skill. I needed the fog to cover a large area.

Some skills effect depend on the amount of MP you supply while others depend on your level like Earthquake.

I could still hear the sounds of charging horses. I waited a couple of seconds before finishing my plan.

< Earthquake > 

The shock-wave threw riders off their horses. The bandits' charge was stopped dead in its tracks. 

When the fog cleared I had visual confirmation of that.

Time to make like a banana and split, I thought before my < Danger Sense > skill acitivated.

I rolled to my right as an attack came from above me.

“You’re pretty good to avoid my attack adventure.”

A bold man with a snake tattoo on his face spoke to me.

In his hands were two daggers. From the clothes, he was wearing he was probably a thief or an assassin.

I held off using appraisal on him because there was no point in doing so. The bandits have stopped their charge and all that is left is for me to do is run out of here.

“Time to bleed adventure…” he uttered like some kind of movie villain

His skills were impressive but I have been taught by over 15 martial arts fighters in my past reincarnations.

That and the fact that his movements were slower than mine suggested his level was not higher than mine. He didn’t seem to have any skills to boost his speed either.

Hmm… Now that i think about it, his fighting skills aren't that good. He must be a thief then… I better end this now...

Remembering the line he uttered before we began this fight. I decided to reply with a line of my own.

“More like... Time for a bit down in your town, and you’re the guest of honor”

After I said that ridiculous line I activated my < Speeder > skill and landed hit after hit on my attacker before knocking him away with a kick to his chest.

I quickly turned to make my escape when a loud voice called out to me.

“Are you just going to run away?”

I turned back and found a huge man standing there. He was very muscular, to say the least. He had a large thunderbolt tattooed on his chest.

“Let me guess. You must be the leader. Thunderbolt…”

“That I am… And you are?”

I thought about whether to give him my name or not and decided to do it. A big bandit group like the Bone Skulls probably has ways of finding these things out.

“Sojuro. B-rank Adventure…”

“Oh… A B-rank adventure took down Cobra… Seems the quality of adventures has improved.”

Eh? Aren’t B-rank adventures skilled? Don’t tell me this is one of those worlds where high-ranked adventures are actually garbage with the exception of a few.

I had the misfortune of being in one of those worlds in one of my past reincarnations.

In that world, highly skilled adventures were scouted by rich nobles which left a gap for the adventure guild to fill. This resorted to them relaxing the requirements for ranking up, as a result, the world was full of under qualified high-ranked adventures.

I can only hope that is not the case here.

“Let us have a duo…” While I was deep in thought thunderbolt spoke. His eyes were focused on me. I could tell that this guy was a battle freak. He was probably the one who sent shivers down my spine earlier on.

“No thanks…”

“Humph… have you no backbone?”

“I do… And I want it to remain there…”

“You coward…” he yelled loudly with his deep voice.

I smirked at his frustration… He clearly lacked the speed to catch me. If anything he looked like the power type…

“Just be contempt with the expensive carriage over there…” I uttered before beginning my escape when the door to the expensive carriage opened and a familiar voice shouted.

“Will you keep it down, I am trying to get some sleep here…”

“…EH!?”

I was so shocked that I didn’t notice the grin on Thunderbolts' face.

What is she doing there? I made sure she was fast asleep in one of the fast carriages… Wait… did she sneak back in when I was asleep? Why didn’t the other adventures stop her? …Shit, I don’t have time for this…

I dashed towards her. I was going to pick up that useless goddess and run away. However, my < Danger Sense > activated

< Thunder Shock Wave >

Thunderbolt swung his massive hammer in the air. I could feel the air compress as a massive shock-wave approached me.

< Earth Wall >

I tried to block it with the earth wall but it was hopeless. It shattered right before my eyes and I was sent flying.

Thunderbolts attack was too powerful. I slowly stood to my feet and glared in his direction.

“I like that look… It looks good on you…” he uttered before laughing. “Secure the girl.” He commanded

“I watched as the bandits grabbed the screaming goddess…”

“This woman is important to you, isn’t she?” he said, “I going to enjoy this…take them both back to the hideout,” he said before walking off.

My mind went into overdrive to think of a way out of this, but before it could, my danger sense activated and I felt an arm drop on my shoulder.

“Yo… Remember me?”

It was the guy with the snake tattoo.

“Guess what time it is?” he asked

I was out of options. There was no way to save the goddess in my current situation. I could only hope that a situation will appear at their hideout…

“Umm… 2:30 perhaps…” I jokingly answered

“Payback time.”

“Ah…Payback…What a wonderful….Uhhhh”

The guy must have used some kind of kidnap skill because I felt a sharp jab on the back of my neck before I began to fall.        

As I lay on the ground, slowly losing consciousness. I realized

THE GODDESS AND I HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY BANDITS. WTF