More Improvement, More Bloodshed
As 8 hours have already passed since he started levelling in the outer section of the mountains, the system gave him a warning notification.
*PING*...player has already been online for more than 12 hours. We advise you to take leave the game in a safe zone and recuperate energy by sleeping and ingesting food and water for your health.
Tongqiu ignored it, he can manage.
Along the way, Tongqiu found out that the inner section was repleted of LV7 to LV 8 bandit mobs. A lot of 1 Star Elites between them, surprisingly. He avoided the 1 Star Elite while focusing on killing more the normal ones, which he could end with just 4 to 8 attacks. Unlike those outer section, those of the inner section where either training, eating, sleeping alone in some houses and some in the wild; while others were in group, either training, eating, sleeping and even committing heinous acts together.
Unfortunately, he saw how a group of bandits were dragging a couple of women, one blonde and the other brunette; while saying things such as "we're lucky none of those Journeyers ever cared to bother 'bout us" and others like "the last one gave a really immense satisfaction of dirtying, kehehehehehhh" and such.
For Tongqiu, it was easy to understand; the lack of players coming into the mountainous area of Misty region to slaughter these bunch of filth gave them the liberty to not only enjoy of their own acts, but also to keep it going on until there was nothing left. They'll probably even commence a raid towards the Novice Village in a couple of weeks. And the fact that the princess-like attitude of the players made it happen, nothing else. The only factor to see such ugly and obscene scenes was thanks to the inactivity of them all.
'Not acting is siding with the bad side eh?'
He didn't need to think for these trashes, he remembered the quest of that old fellow NPC crying in utter hopelessness. If that one girl mentioned was still alive, he could get something better than extra rewards, right? So he launched himself like crazy at them.
-26, -30, -25, -26, -30, -27.
Numbers upon numbers appeared as Tongqiu swung his halberd many times in cone shaped directions. He struck low to maim their legs the best he could and also to let them have a better taste of his hatred towards this motherfuckers, not for the girls being dragged but his past experience with one of their officials. As he began fighting, these bandits were between 8 at LV7 and 3 at LV8 without any Elite mob around.
Confident of at least not dying, he indulged himself in a kitting manner with the halberd to the best of his abilities, successfully killing 5 of them in a row while the others didn't understand how to fight someone with a weapon that wasn't a lame axe or a crusty sword. One of them tried throwing their own sword at him, only to not only not have enough strength to throw it at the distance of 5 m but also because the now always ready and alert Tongqiu was waiting for him to stop putting such a clownish act, and once it happened he launched himself at him, not to kill but because in a group fight one would need a shield, a meat shield to survive.
With the bandit hanging despairingly at the grasp of Tongqiu, all the bandits started dying one by one, if one was closing in on him he would slash their bodies with his halberd, if one of them or two made a charge when he attacked others, he'd use Mr Bandit to 'tank' their attacks.
-29, -30, -31, -26.
-58! -60! -49! -Mr Bandit taking damage-.
When only two LV8 bandits were left, one with less than 40% of their HP and the other only slightly injured, he threw Mr Bandit towards the slightly injured successfully taking the retard's attention away while Mr Bandit got mauled from his right shoulder to below his heart as he painfully but deservedly died. Meanwhile, Tongqiu aimed the Halberd of the Fallen towards the remaining bandit's head with his right hand as his left hand went to catch his sword without a trace of hesitation, let alone fear of pain.
-63!
-44.
As he left an attack with piercing effect -because of his weakened state and fatal point being hit- in the bandit's head, his hand started flushing out bright red blood while the half of each of his fingers from his left hand were already penetrated by the sword's edge.
-76!
Tongqiu, however, had to react and dashed away fast enough that the attack was merely able to graze his left arm barely affecting him. The last few minutes were of that of an untouchable Tongqiu humiliating an unwilling and despaired bastardly bandit. Getting his neck cleaned off his body from the roots when he finally delivered the final blow with all his strength at once.
He drunk a few Light Red Potions, fortunately not needing to use any Minor Curative Potion. Once he recuperated, he walked toward the two women tied by ropes and a rough blindfold on their heads. He didn't really know what to do with them, if he let them free and they run away towards the Novice Village, wouldn't they just die on their way? If he took them with him, wouldn't they be so damn annoying to protect? He could deal with helping that one girl and then go back to the Novice Village to see if he could manage to push out for a bigger reward but it was nothing like he wanted to help people in whatever they wanted as if he was justice personified.
So, what could he do? He definitely wouldn't kill them since he isn't the type of person to look at the reasonable nor easiest method to solve his troubles. He simply unfolded their ropes and blindfolds with a little of an ugly face as he started to feel thorns around himself thinking of the responsibilities to come.
As for the girls, after they obviously heard the battle, clashes of steel against steel, tearing sounds followed by the bandit's curses and a fierce sound tearing the wind afterwards... as the sounds grew less and less frequent, started to believe that a rescue has finally come! That the Journeyers hadn't abandon them in their pursuit of power! They had a chance, a chance to live!
But then all noises stopped, and even the last sound they heard was that of a sighing man from minutes ago and there was still no other sounds. They panicked and cried, as a despairing hollowness invaded their hearts.
But one of them suddenly felt a touch, and yelped, alarming the other girl. Eventually both of them were completely freed of their ropes and blindfolds as the sun attacked their eyes. When they got used to it after a few seconds, they finally got a look to their rescuer. Only to receive a certain amount of coldness, detachment and indifference, coming from him.
"Eh, ladies, what are you going to do now?"
'What are we going to do? Where do we even are?! Aren't you supposed to help us?!'
Perhaps capable of reading their thoughts, Tongqiu adverted his gaze, trying to hint that they are pretty much not his problem.
Looking at him, both downcast, a strange glint passed through their eyes...
"W-we could give ourselves to you as an encouragement and award for saving our li-lives, how do you think about that?"
Tongqiu: "..."
He originally had no comment about it. But when 5 seconds passed, he received a notification.
*PING*... a NPC is completely wholeheartedly and willing to 'go intimate' with you. As the NPC is Female and the player is Male, as well as her body being virgin, pregnancy is likely to occur. If you wish to proceed, you must take responsibility, and were the child to be injured physically or mentally in any imaginable way by their parents (players- since other players cannot hurt child type NPC in any imaginable way unless is a mob understood to be an enemy), then they will be taken by the law in the real world being immediately ejected from the game.
Tongqiu: ಠ_ಠ
"E-eh, no thanks. That won't be necessary, haha." Said Tongqiu slightly flustered, taken aback.
"A-are you sure?" Said the blonde one.
"It's... not that I don't want to, I just can't delay the time to find somebody that may very well still be alive." Lied sincerely Tongqiu, as he put on a smile that gave others a sense of ease.
"Then, then, if it's like so, we'll go with you! If we go back we can only be raped then die, we nor you want that, do we? We may not be very helpful; even less without weapons but we can at the very last try it. I rather die than be disgraced!" When she, the blonde woman, started talking she was doing so afraid of the possible only outcome, death. But by the time she thought how the other end would be, she resolutely changed her fear into determination. Even going as far as stop talking about 'we' and going with 'I' instead. That, along with her petite body, made her even more abstract from the deadpan brunette to her side, immensely charming.
Meanwhile, Tongqiu was in a slight trance. 'To protect somebody? Have I ever done something like that... I have!'
He was slightly hesitating, he was hesitating on whether he could do something that never got into his head before but when he though of the distant past... his eyes sparkled with ample confidence as he looked at them and promised them "I'll do it. I'll do it then. While I protect you, we'll keep looking for that girl's whereabouts. So, follow me. Do not separate more than a second and you should try to mimic some of my antics to keep hidden. Always stand right behind me in a fight, even if I move, as long as it's not too far you shouldn't move either. Understood?"
Both the girls, still kneeling in the ground, were stunned at his change of heart. Looking at each other, they both nodded and then looked at him with sparkling and somewhat nervous eyes as they obediently said "Uhm! Please lead the way, uh..."
Tongqiu smiled politely as he announced "Tongqiu."
"Uh, mn. I am Tonkia and the brunette is Lisa." Said Tonkia, the blonde woman, looking somewhat 25-27 years old.
"But you'll still have to 'award' me back in the Novice Village if you survive, eh." As Tongqiu said this, he turned around and started walking casually, and slowly.
Tonkia: ◉_◉
'IF we survive even?'
...
As they trekked around the mountains, finding new groups or lonely bandits, the group of three finally formed a somewhat effective strategy.
Basically, 2 on the back while the only combatant, Tongqiu, is to stand before them and with his halberd, take the lives of any approaching enemy. Once there were very few like 4 or less, he would go out and easily kill them one by one, not once did one of them managed to go through him for the girls. To the Tongqiu who could easily avoid hidden dangers that were so much more fast, quick and hidden than one of those idiots moving around with their weenie about to burn from friction, effectively burning their brains and being so absorbed in what they would do to them once they got them in their hands weren't able to do other than that, as their reaper ever so easily cut off clean their necks.
At the beginning, they were trembling even for a while after the battle ended, and they would hurriedly ask him to take a break. Whenever he agreed to, they would latch onto himself to gain the sense of security that they've long lost.
After 10 or 15 minutes were wasted, they would go back to walking in the direction of the core section of the mountainous area of the Misty region. As a couple of hours passed, the women no longer felt that frail and delicate sense of powerlessness. Whenever the bandits dropped a weapon -because their garments were way too filthy, even for Tongqiu the neet-, they would use it to start learning how to attack. Out of consideration, Tongqiu would 'detain' a few bandits to use as a practice for the girls. Slowly but surely, they got stronger and stronger the more time passed, Tongqiu was oblivious to the time he's spent around as he closed in to the core section.
"For now on, I believe we'll have a lot of troubles if we keep going like before, so now we'll try to interrogate a few of them to find out her whereabouts. Any question?"
Shaking their heads in refusal and having already rested enough to continue, Tongqiu walked into the core section.
After walking around sneakily for a while, he found out that only LV8 bandits were around. Thinking to himself that maybe there were even LV9 Elite mobs, he couldn't help but feel a sense of alertness to take care of this damn issue the fastest way possible. So after warning the women, he launched himself towards a lonely LV8 Bandit Scout whose whole body got rocketed around by Tongqiu's punches, after a while he started the interrogation.
"Where do you keep all the people you guys kidnap?" Coldly but calmly uttering these words, Tongqiu grasped the bandit's neck and had a Valuable Throwing Dagger threatening to pierce through his intestines to let them take a look at the outside world.
"W-w-w-wwait!! There is not a place, no place!! A few hours ago, some of my superiors brought a little girl-" he got cut off, by a dagger being inserted close to his pelvis from his left leg area.
"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!! J-j-just let me finish!!! It's like 300 meters from here, to the south, TO THE SOUTH- WHAT AR-" Tongqiu simply used the same dagger inserted in the bandit's leg into the bandit's adan's apple. Just like what that previous Bandit Official did to him when he first entered the inner section.
Incredibly scared, the women looked at their soon-to-be mate in bed in a trance for the unknown future.
He looked back at them coldly, with his clear rebuking gaze "Would you prefer me to let them have you instead?"
Tonkia looked down, feeling ashamed as she thought of him in an evil way. Lisa, however, her face was already screaming 'WHY DID I GET INTO THIS' as she crazily screamed about and ran towards the west, where they came from, probably in the hopes that her screaming didn't alert all of the bandits in the Misty region and safely return home!
Tongqiu hardened his face and immediately grabbed Tonkia who was in a state of stupefaction, when she noticed Tongqiu holding her tight and running fast just to hid them both with his utmost care she finally understood. She's gone, raped for unknown amount of hours until she collapses form her heart not being able to take much more, die and probably even keep on getting raped. She shed a tear, as resolution had been formed, stronger than ever from within deep in her eyes.
As for Tongqiu, he was calculating how much time until he can go out while the other bandits are alert and how much time until they're back. He kept on seeing 1 Star Elites LV9 and even had the chance to see 2 Star Elites LV8 and LV9. It was scary, his scalp never felt so numb. He still hadn't tasted death, in this game.
When he thought the time was right, he told Tonkia to either stay there or follow him, but from now on she better act like she's his or she may follow Lisa's steps and he definitely won't be able to protect her. As soon as those words fell on Tonkia's ears, sudden devotion spiraled from within deep in her heart as her eyes turned glassy verdant, she extended her hand towards his right cheek, bit her lower lip and finally she brought herself on to him to give him a charming peck on his lips, lasting for around three seconds entangled without further movement together. She looked at him and said "I'll... follow you wherever you go." Her eyes going teary a bit more.
Tongqiu smiled satisfied, took her hand and moved around in the direction of the West.
'Truly, one can find a life of their very own in this world.'
***
Moving without stopping, Tonkia finally understood her limits as she was somewhat hoarsely breathing in the arms of the ever fast going Tongqiu. At least she felt comfy and at ease.
'He acts without an ounce of superficiality that one doesn't even- I didn't even realized he wears such eccentric mask.' Tonkia smiled sweetly as she kept on the looking for his darling.
They finally spotted a settlement in the middle of some kind of dark, obscure forest. It was mostly deserted, except for a few hounds and 5 guards keeping the entrance on the lookout. Scanning over them; all of them were 'weaklings' of LV8, and he was about reach LV5, nothing could be more perfect.
After 10 minutes of fighting, the hiding Tonkia came out with a bloodied blade in her left hand, her left arm somewhat injured. Tongqiu looked around and saw the two corpses of men that Tonkia aided him with, giving him a signal in the middle of the not-so intense battle to not worry and keep fighting the others. The end result was such. Such brave and devoted little girl-looking woman, for none other but himself.
Eyes unnaturally stiff, he took out a Light Red Potion and Minor Curative Potion.
"A-ah! N-no, don't waste such precious relics on me I don't des-"
"Since yo-, ah, if y- ... just take them, okay?" Tongqiu was never good when it came to feeling for others, unless it was for a couple of figures appearing in his mind; he never took care of anyone else. With this new target practice for his wording, it was quite the improvement.
Tonkia smiled sweetly, another little tear falling from within her left eye; and while she was drinking the Light Red Potion having already drunk the Minor Curative Potion, a savage Tongqiu suddenly appeared closing in on her to take care of that small translucent little tiny tear directly from her eyes with his lips. Causing her to tremble and feel cared for, she kept drinking while producing more 'drinks' for him.
Once done and after a light embrace, they entered the settlements of those evil bastards.
When they got to a place where it seemed most bandits passed their time at, inside a wide wooden hut; there lied a 13-14 looking young, very young girl, blonde and black eyes. Her skin, however, wasn't just pale, a trace of grey overpowered the paleness on her whole body and even eyes as she looked at them.
Stunned at the sight, they stood before the almost breaking bed, in front the completely naked young girl and her 'disgraced' body.
Surprisingly, the girl kindly smiled at them. "This is not on you, Journeyer Tongqiu." Which left him shocked.
...
Author's Note: There's comments about the MC's personality being awful. Yes, I know, I'm glad it was obvious enough. When I started reading in my life, I preferred drawings, and images, colors. It was because when I looked at something I thought precious of, I couldn't keep my eyes away. As time went on, whenever I tried reading, I found out my imagination is stronger than what I see; but I couldn't quite process it. And as a result, I turned completely into reading; it wasn't until I was around 15-16 years old tho, so all the previous times when there was text I just felt lazy. But now I understand my imagination was always this... 'talented', and those insufferable long texts ended up as me liking them in the long run. And now I'm writing, thanks for reading.
