Chapter 123 - Bloodblade Bandit Group (3) (Patreon)

Darius swung his huge waraxe as he cleaved one unlucky badnit directly in two halves.

The physical strength of Darius was no joke, even when compared to the other Sequence 6 Beyonders in terms of physical capabilities. He was not only a Sequence 6 Berserker, but he was also born with a special constitution that gave him a physique comparable to that of a Sequence 7 Berserker right after birth.

After he trained and underwent strict and rigorous training, his physical capabilities were comparable to those of the top Sequence 7 Beyonders in terms of physical prowess alone, and when he became a Beyonder, this was only multiplied.

Thus, even though he was Sequence 6 Beyonder, he could kill even those at Sequence 5 in close combat if they were not careful enough.

And Darius knew that he could, because most of them would have no idea about his physical capabilities, and thus they wouldn't really care about maintaining a safe distance between them in a fight.

It was rather a common behavioral pattern of the more powerful Beyonders when they were facing a Beyonder of the lower Sequence that they would underestimate them. Which wasn't really the wisest thing to do, because in many cases the Sequences were not absolute.

This was especially true for the Low Sequences and Mid Sequences. There were a lot of uncertainties, differences, and chances... there were many cases where Sequence 6 Beyonder killed Sequence 5 Beyonder.

The High Sequences were entirely different topics, because it was nearly impossible for them to be killed by anyone weaker than they were. When one reached the High Sequences, it was a fundamental change in power and being.

The gap between the Sequence 3 and the Sequence 2 was incomparably vast.

"Advance! Leave none alive!"

As soon as Darius gave the command, the troops of the Trifarian Mercenary Company started advancing as one in a perfectly synchronized formation that would make the Valyrian Legions and Lockstep Legions of Ghis proud.

Amid the formation, Vessid was the one who was killing most of the badnits, because the Sequence 7 Pugilist had Giant Bloodline in his veins, and his physique was even more outrageous than Darius's own.

Every time that he is someone with his enormous metal bracelets, the bandit would be shot, flying through the air like a cannonball and crashing into the ground.

Instantaneous death.

Troops of the Trifarian Mercenary Company continued at a steady pace as they kept killing bandits. In contrast, some of the Bloodblade bandits already did what most bandits would do in such a precarious situation.

Escape.

Several of them, when they realized that they were here for certain death, just started running away from the battle as far as their legs could carry them. It wasn't really that surprising, and Darius didn't care about the escapees and let them be.

Right now, his priorities lay in the attack on the wooden gate, but much to his surprise, it seemed that the situation in the fortress was even worse for the brigands than he had initially anticipated.

It seemed that Lord Valkorion, Kled, and Aruk were doing a rather splendid job in the place and killed the majority of the Beyonders and commanders in the fort. Without them, the rest of the Bloodblade bandits descended into the chaos.

Bandits were not really an organized bunch in the first place, and the sole thing that kept them in order was the Beyonders. But once the Beyonders were killed, the chaos rose, and nobody listened to anyone and...

Everything fell apart like a house of cards.

"Vessid, Kato! Destroy the gate! The rest of the troops provide cover and enact defensive formation number 4!"

As soon as Darius shouted, the troops of the Trifarian Mercenary Company got into the defensive formation around Vessid and Kato, who were holding enormous battering rams and re-grouped around the wooden gates of the bandit fort.

The archers and crossbowmen of the Trifarian Mercenary Company started targeting the remaining bandit archers on the watchtowers, walls, and natural rock that was part of the fort, but there weren't really a lot of them.

Within a few moments, the bandits near the gates started panicking and running like headless chickens, because it took only one swing of the battering ram to break through the wooden gates of the bandit fort.

"Assume the turtle formation!"

As soon as the gate was destroyed, Darius shouted a new set of orders to the Trifarian Mercenary Company, and the troopers assumed the turtle defensive formation with their shields and started advancing toward the inner area of the fort, where the bandits were already rushing toward them.

Unfortunately for the Bloodblade bandits, they were at first greeted by Darius, Vessid, and Kato, who were all Beyonders. And when the three of them attacked as one, they immediately broke through the counteroffensive of the bandits.

With the three Beyonders, from one of being Sequence 6 Beyonder leading the charge, the bandits of the Bloodblade Group were not really a match for them.

With them as the tip of the spear, the troops of the Trifarian Mercenary Company flooded into the fort and started the slaughter of the badnits that were either attempting to fight or to flee.

Darius led Vessid and Kato to the center of the bandit fort because, according to the information received from the Clan Ferros, this fortification had several areas, and most of them were of no consequence.

The most important one was the core fort that was dug into the mountain, or rather, it was an empty space in the mountain that was inhabited by the bandits, and then the bandits remade the small cave into the heart of their fortress.

Within the said core were some crucial documents, information, and vaults with all of the loot that the Bloodblade bandits and brigands obtained from robbing. Even though, the Trifarian Mercenary Company was obliged to recover the things belonging to the Ferros Chamber of Commerce and return them, the rest of the things were a fair game.

One could just imagine how much wealth the Bloodblade bandits obtained from their activities, especially in collusion with the Arvinos Mercantile Clan. The officers of the Trifarian Mercenary Company were informed that the Arvinoses actually let the bandits keep most of the things.

Aside from some objects like Sealed Artifacts, Magic Tomes, Grimoires, and other things, the rest of the things were left for the bandits. It meant that all of that gold, gems, precious materials, and other things of value were right now resting in the depths of the fort.

And that was the target of Darius and other officers.

Aside from gathering more incriminating evidence on the Arvinos Mercantile Clan, their collusion with the Bloodblade Bandits, and perhaps even connections with the Sons of the Harpy, though even Valkorion doubted that they would find evidence of that here.

He doubted that there would be anything connecting them with the Sons of the Harpy; the only chance at that would be if they had some Sealed Artifacts that were exclusive to the Sons of the Harpy.

During their peak, Sons of the Harpy created tons of Sealed Artifacts, especially during the Valyrian-Ghiscari Wars.

Even though many of these Sealed Artifacts were destroyed by the Valyrians and the Church of the Dragon Gods, or they were disintegrated into materials, some survived in the hands of the Ghiscari.