"Of all people, damn it...why'd I have to end up stuck with you on this Quest, pretty boy?" Sighed Rex, giving me a side glance. "Hey, that's my line, Tomato Head," I responded dryly, as we drove out of the city, making our way onto the path leading to Horizon Village. Rex was driving the carriage, while I was inside. There's a sliding panel at the front of the carriage, I'm guessing for passengers to speak to the driver or the other way around. Unfortunately, it's broken, and can't be slid shut. Apparently, because of that, Ifeus was able to get a discount on the rental fee. If I'd known, I'd have chipped in to get a carriage with a working panel, I'd rather not have to see this guy's face if I don't have to. "Well, whatever...it's too late now, so there's no point in complaining. Let's just focus up and get this Quest over with as soon as possible," He replied with a grimace. "Oh, wow, you actually said something smart. Ugh, I hate having to agree with anything you say," I mutt
As I opened the door to the carriage and stepped out... "A girl?""A really flat-chested girl. Not that I'm complaining.""Uh, I think that's a guy...""Huh? Oh, yeah, looks like it is...well, that's disappointing."...yeah, imma kill all of them. I then shot forward with a burst of Ether channeled into my feet, channeling more into my right fist as I closed in on one of the bandits in an instant, his eyes widening in alarm as I drove my fist forward and slammed it square onto the middle of his face, sending him flying back as I broke his teeth and several teeth. Streaks of blood and teeth fragments flew out of his mouth as he let out a sharp cry of pain, his back hitting the ground and skidding back a few meters. He let out a dazed groan before losing consciousness and passing out. "T-take him down, quickly!" Exclaimed one of the other bandits in alarm, as they began to take aim at me with their guns. I swiftly raised my right foot, already channeling Ether into it, before rapid
"These shackles are pretty sturdy, and they're lined with lead, so they block the flow of Ether in a person's body. They're not gonna break free while these shackles are latched onto them," Remarked Rex, as we finished restraining the unconscious bandits and loaded them into the carriage. "Yeah, I know what they do...now, then, which one should we interrogate? We should probably separate whoever we pick from the group, to keep the others from influencing him. We could end up on a wild goose chase if they give us false information or something," I pointed out. "Mhm, that'd be less than ideal. But I know just the one we should pick to interrogate...hey, which of them was the one who tried to run away?" He asked me. "Pretty sure it's this one, I didn't get a good look at his face thanks to the dust cloud, but see the bump on the back of his head? I slammed him onto the ground, and the back of his head struck the ground first. He's the only one who I knocked out like that, none of the
"I know we've restrained them with Ether-blocking shackles, but I'm still a bit uneasy about leaving them in here unsupervised," Frowned Rex, as we made our way off the path with the carriage. We'd finished interrogating that guy a few minutes ago, before knocking him out again. I then conked the other captured bandits on the head to make sure they wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, and now we're on our way to the bandit's hideout. There's a small cove of trees a couple of kilometers to the left of the path, the bandits had set up camp there just under a week ago. They snuck into Sapio from the border between this nation and the other human nation of Anthro, where they'd been pulling similar heists.They'd camp out near a road with low traffic and target any travellers who looked like they might be carrying valuable goods. They pose as a traveling circus as a cover, and there's a total of twenty-five people in their group. The ones we took our are almost all Basic Mages, with two
"I don't get it, how do they know where we are? They're heading straight for us, and from multiple directions," Remarked Rex with a grimace. "We should go...I'm pretty sure that there's an Apex Mage among them," I responded warily. "Come on, there's just no way...what reason would an Apex Mage have to lead a group of bandits made up of low level Mages?" He pointed out, before forming a couple of swirling fireballs in his hands and adding, "Let's take out the underlings quickly and then deal with the leader. They may know where we are...but I can sense them too. Just a little closer and they'll be well within my range..."Damn it, there's no way to convince him without revealing my Class. We're running out of time fast here, I can clearly hear them coming now, the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs as several footsteps came into earshot. They're fifty meters away and closing in fast...our best bet is to slow them down with flames and then escape, but I need to convince this
I felt a sharp rise in the temperature around me as the vines restraining me burst ablaze with flames, turning to ash and freeing me, a few small burns on my skin as I backed away in a hurry, getting some distance away from the woman. "You know, it's only been a few months since I became an Apex Mage, but even so...this is the first time I've ever bled since then. Well, not counting the monthly, you know...period of time! Hahaha, see what I did there?" She laughed in amusement, as she wiped away the blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. "Save it for after you're behind bars!" Snapped Rex, racing forward and unleashing a massive burst of flames at her. "Nice, you can both use chantless casting, what a promising, talented pair," She remarked, as the branches of the trees around her extended out in front of her, blocking the flames. She then sent the flaming branches zipping out towards us rapidly, before I unleashed an Ether-enhanced punch at the branches shooting towards me
Point-of-View: Rex Arbell———————————————————————————"...-any day now. Come on, you insufferable shithead, wake up already. Hey, you still alive in there, Tomato Head?" Came an annoying voice, as I felt something splash onto my face before a hand repeatedly smacked my cheek over and over. "Wha...?" I muttered, slowly opening my eyes with a weary groan, sitting up and rubbing my head. Where am I? What happened? My cheek is stinging with pain... "Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?"Huh? There's a hand in front of me...flipping me off. "Ugh, I feel so-...," I began groggily, before my eyes widened and I sat up abruptly as it all came flooding back to me, blurting out, "What happened!? Where is she!?""Sheesh, relax. It's all taken care of, all the bandits, the leader included, are locked up in the carriage. Good thing we brought so many handcuffs, there were just about enough to shackle all of them. I also found a roll of tape in the back of the carriage, so I put rocks in their
"What? An Apex Mage? You encountered an Apex Mage!?" Blurted out Ifeus in disbelief. "Yeah, you can check with the Knight Mages if you don't believe us, we just turned all the bandits in before coming back to the Guild," I informed him. Knight Mages are Mages who work under the command of the nation's Royal family, the majority of the Knight Mages are located in the capital, but there are small outposts in every city as well. They mainly serve as guards and also as a police force, and they're the ones in charge of the various prisons in the nation. They basically cover the bases that Guild Mages don't. "It's not that I don't believe you, I know you wouldn't lie about this, but...it's just that it's hard to believe, I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that you encountered an Apex Mage and made it out alive," He responded in bemusement. "Truth be told, we almost didn't make it out of that battle alive, that Apex Mage was seriously powerful," Chimed in Rex with a grimace. "Hm