A Bug In Fate

"Don’t tell me you’re expecting me to fight them alone."

Alden looked at Vish. What happened next depended entirely on her answer.

"..."

Surprisingly—or perhaps not—Vish remained silent.

Before Alden could say anything else, Marco was already in front of him.

His axe came straight for Alden’s face. The strike carried Marco’s full strength, as if he wanted to kill Alden in a single blow.

Alden ducked beneath the attack and slashed with his saber.

Slash!

Blood spilled from Marco’s abdomen.

Marco ignored the wound completely. Instead, he swung his axe down at Alden with even more force.

But Alden had already moved.

Boom!

The axe crashed into the mountain road, leaving cracks across the stone.

Alden landed on one of the roadside stones and turned towards Vish, who was watching everything with her usual flat expression.

"Hey, don’t you think this situation is already crazy enough? Not to mention, we’re fighting because of you in the first place."

Alden couldn’t help complaining. It wasn’t entirely wrong.

He steadied himself and activated Mana Sense.

"You bastard! Stay still if you don’t want to die a painful death!"

Marco shouted in frustration.

"Only an idiot would—"

Before Alden could finish, another attack came from behind.

With Mana Sense activated, however, he could already sense everyone within a thirty-meter radius.

He took a step to the side.

The sword barely missed him.

The bandit’s eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, he wondered if Alden had eyes on the back of his head.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to think about it.

Before he could regain his balance after the missed strike, he felt a powerful kick land squarely on his back.

Bang!

His body slammed into the ground.

Alden stood above him with a calm expression, his saber resting at his side.

Henry and the other bandits stood frozen, as if their souls had left their bodies. They had expected an easy slaughter, but what they were witnessing was completely beyond their expectations. It was obvious they weren’t prepared for something like this.

But who could blame them?

Back in the middle of the battle, Alden completely ignored the shocked bandits and turned towards Vish once again.

"Um, are you going to help me or not?"

As he spoke, he casually pressed his foot down. The bandit beneath him, who had been struggling to get back on his feet, was slammed into the ground once again.

"Yes or no."

Vish answered in her usual flat tone, making Alden nearly facepalm if he wasn’t in the middle of a fight.

"..."

Alden waited for an explanation, but he didn’t have that luxury. Mana Sense picked up movement beneath his feet.

It was the bandit. A short knife appeared in his hand, probably hidden in a pocket near his leg or somewhere under his clothes.

Alden didn’t even blink. His saber flashed, and blood splashed across the ground as the bandit’s hand was cleanly severed. Before the knife could even hit the ground, Alden caught it, but at that very moment, Marco’s axe came crashing at him from the side with even greater force than before.

Alden quickly stepped aside. As he moved away, a thought crossed his mind. If Marco had attacked the same way as before, the bandit beneath him would’ve been crushed along with the road.

"I will not interfere in the fight."

Alden heard Vish’s calm voice and instinctively glanced in her direction before turning back to Marco.

"How can you even do that? We were trav—"

"But neither will the others."

Vish calmly finished her sentence before Alden could complete his complaint.

He wanted to ask what she meant, but two swords were already upon him, one aiming for his thigh while the other targeted his right arm. Alden knocked the first blade aside with his saber before quickly stepping away, causing the second strike to cut through nothing but empty air.

"Marco, stop playing around. Just kill that bastard already. If you can’t, then come back here. I’ll take care of him myself."

At that moment, a voice rang out. It was the dwarf. Ever since Alden had mocked him earlier, he had been waiting for Marco to finish the fight.

"Shut up! If you keep talking, you’ll be dead right after this bastard!"

Marco shouted back as he charged at Alden once again, swinging his axe without slowing down.

Alden, who had climbed onto a nearby tree at one point, barely had time to catch his breath before Marco’s heavy axe crashed into the trunk, causing the entire tree to collapse.

Still in mid-air, Alden suddenly sensed something rushing toward him at high speed.

His instincts kicked in.Without a moment’s hesitation, he swung his saber, cleanly cutting the incoming arrow in half.

The moment he landed, he didn’t even have time to steady himself before three attacks swept toward him.

The first came from behind, aiming straight for his neck.

Alden ducked and rolled to the side before getting back on his feet. The second bandit thrust his sword toward Alden’s heart, but Alden stepped slightly to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade before slashing his saber across the man’s thigh.

Blood sprayed into the air as Alden pulled his saber back.

None of the bandits noticed that he was adapting in the middle of the fight. Only Vish did. Standing quietly beneath her cloak, she watched everything unfold with a faint smile on her face.

Marco suddenly jumped from a nearby boulder and brought his axe down with all his strength.

Alden calmly watched the attack before pulling out the knife he had picked up earlier. He threw it at Marco’s abdomen. He had aimed for the center of his body, but fortunately—or unfortunately—he wasn’t much of a thrower.

"T-This bastard... you’re dead!"

Marco shouted through gritted teeth. Despite the pain, he still found time to threaten Alden.

Alden ignored him completely and shifted his attention toward the archer who had been shooting at him from the trees.

"So, in other words, you want me to fight these five alone?"

He asked Vish without looking back. At this point, he had already decided that the archer would be his next target. The man was becoming as annoying as a mosquito buzzing around your head.

"Yes or no."

"..."

For a brief moment, silence fell over the mountain road. Even Henry’s eye twitched slightly after hearing Vish’s answer.

"I swear, you’ll regret this when I get stronger."

Alden said with a serious expression as he tilted his head to the side, narrowly avoiding another arrow.

"I don’t want you to fight them."

Vish replied in her usual flat tone.

For a brief moment, Alden was surprised by her answer.

Then confusion took over.

"Then what?"

Little did he know, he was about to hear words he would remember for a long time.

"I just want you to kill them."

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