Chapter 13 Bandits

Alex woke up the following morning with his body aching. He somehow missed the comfy bed that he was used to the previous three years of his training in Kravon town. Truly, somethings can be addictive for sure. After stretching his body for a few seconds, he climbed down the tree and decided to proceed with his journey. Although it's a journey, Alex didn't have a single coin in his pocket. According to his plan, he would get to Kravon, dive into the dungeon, get some cores and come back and sell them to the guild to earn some bucks. After that, he's going to move to another place so that he can continue his adventure. Putting his backpack on his back, he proceeds with the journey since it's still early in the morning. He intends to walk till the sun rises then he'll look for breakfast before going on with the trip. Slowly, he keeps on moving forward with no fear or hesitation as he was still near settlements thus the dangers are low. Five hours later, Alex sat down to have a roasted deer that he'd hunted. The size was large thus he had taken quite awhile to finish preparing it. As he sat down, he had his senses sharp, taking in any changes occuring around him. One bite into his breakfast, he had rustling of leaves behind him with several footsteps heading his way. He immediately got to his feet and got into a defensive stance ready for a confrontation. He was already a great distance from the settlements thus he knew that the dangers here were high but what could he do? Apart from what he ate on the way back home, he hadn't taken anything else and he's travelling. He had no choice but to prepare himself a meal. "What do we have here?" said a middle aged man leading a team of seven men. He had a worn out leather armor, black pants and worn out brown boots. He had a sword attached to his waist. He had unattended beard and a cap on his head. Brown eyes, black hear, long nose, a long horizontal scar on his left cheek and thick and dry lips. He was obviously the leader of this group of bandits. "It seems we have a good luck this morning, a lone kid," said a middle aged man standing behind the leader of the group. Just like the leader, he had a leather armor, brown trousers and black boots. Long blonde hair and a clean shaven chin. "Hey kid, leave everything you have and scram," ordered the leader with an authoritative voice. According to him, what he wants, he gets and now that he wants Alex's property, he'll get them even if he'll have to use force. "Why should I leave behind what I own? Further more, aren't you the ones that got me here? Why should I be the one leaving when I was here first?" asked Alex, his eyes fixed on the group. Although he was nervous, he couldn't show it. This was one of the things Simon taught him back then till recently. Never show your opponent what you feel. "Haha, this kid surely knows how to speak don't you think guys?" one of the bandits said. "Yeah, this kid surely doesn't know his situation," chipped in another. "Quite all of you!" shouted the leader to the noisy group. "Sam, go get that kid to learn how to listen to his elders when they instruct him. Make sure you give him a good beating," he continued as he headed straight towards the roasted deer, chopped a piece of the meat with his knife and began eating. "Yes boss," replied a man with a thin frame. He looked like he was in his late twenties, probably he had just began this carrier recently. He moved towards Alex with steady steps, a smile plastered on his face. "Kid, let me teach you a lesson or two. I am sure that after I am done, you'll follow it diligently," he added as he took out a metal rod from his back. Alex didn't have a change in emotion as he stayed focused on his opponent. Although seeing someone eating something that you had painstakingly prepared hurts, what choice did he have? He just decided that he was going to make sure that he hits this guy so badly that when the others decide to join, this guy would not be able to get back into the battle. Seeing no sign of fear in his opponent's eyes, Sam got irritated that he rushed forward not giving any more unnecessary words. He was set to beat the kid in front of him black and blue until he starts begging for mercy. Alex watched as his opponent drew close to him. When he was about half a meter away, he swung his short metal rod towards Alex's head. Alex leaned his body backwards and the metal rod passed his head with a whoosh sound due to the speed it was swung at. When the rod got past him, he shifted his body forward and struck his opponent in his ribs with a punch. Sam who had swung the rod with all his might had his body moving forward with momentum and had no way to dodge, especially after he had exposed his right hand side rib. After the punch struck, Sam staggered backwards. Before he had his bearing back, Alex had already began raining heavy punches on him. The only thing he could do was to bring his arms back and try protecting he face as he tried to retreat. Alex kept raining his punches and then kicked his opponent on the thigh that he had his thigh ligaments turned inside out. Sam cried in pain as he fell down, his left leg not being able to maintain his weight. All this occured in less than thirty seconds in which the gang was busy heading to where their boss was eating. None of them had expected Alex to be a warrior. "Huh?" they all turned towards where they heard the scream coming from. Although they expected that Alex would scream, they didn't expect that voice. Of course, they knew Sam's voice. What they saw made them drop their jaws. Sam was on the ground screaming while holding his left leg. "Sam what happened? Why are you on the ground?" the second in command questioned as he began making his way towards Alex, followed by the other five. 'What do you expect me to tell you? Isn't it obvious that I have been beaten? What else am I doing on the ground. Curse you for real,' Sam internally cursed at his leader for asking a question when he could already see him on the ground in pain. He didn't even have a chance to retaliate when he was being beaten. He was quite sure someone was going to get hurt next and he was just going to enjoy the show where this guys that had been bullying him get a beating. He wouldn't warn them. "I got a pull muscle as I was about to strike," Sam replied, scoffing inside. Alex on the other hand was surprised to hear that but he didn't try to correct it. He knew the advantages of being underestimated by your opponent. "Tsk, such a useless garbage," said the vice leader. Smith, beat that kid and let us get going," he said as he pointed at a tall guy in the group. "Yes," replied the man as he stepped forward. His opponent being a fifteen year old boy, he didn't take out any weapon. He moved towards Alex and decided to give him a good slap on the head. As his right hand neared Alex's face, Alex raised his arm, grabbed onto the man, pulled him in and then struck his chest with a kick. His hand being held in place, Smith received the full brunt of the kick. He felt as if all his insides were shaken. Just as the pain began subsiding, Alex struck him again on the left side of his neck with another kick, making him lose consciousness and slump onto the ground. The others couldn't believe what they had seen. Was this even real? Two kicks and one of them is down? Seeing that the opponent they were facing was not to be underestimated, they decided to attack together. But even before they could move, Alex was already on them, striking them and taking them out before they could react. All of them sprawled on the ground growling in pain. The leader whose name is Kevin, only heard, 'Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!' When he turned to look where Alex was, he was shocked to see him in front of him. He almost chocked on the meat he was eating. "Eer...." even before he could speak, a punch landed squire on his face breaking his nose. He fell on his butt with a bleeding nose. "Can you lend me some cash? I am kind of broke you know. And you also ate my meat so you should pay for it," Alex said as he stretched his hand towards Kevin. His backpack on his back, since he left home, he left home, he never left it on the ground.