Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 94: Changed Man

The fox hunt began. In a one-on-one fight, Rowan couldn't help but feel confident. The orc brothers had a clear power difference, but they didn't know that, so unlike the heavy losses they'd inflicted on the Skull Mercenary Group, he hadn't suffered the same way.

He had good reason to feel confident in his combat abilities. Of course, he wasn't arrogant about it. But he wasn't about to be scared of some two-bit robbers.

The entrance looked too narrow to use a longsword, but actually it was so tight you couldn't even swing a shortsword. Naturally, it was a chokepoint where you had to fight with thrusts, and the longsword was actually better for that. Even if some guy knew a thing or two about engagement distance, if he got close, Rowan could just shove him back with his shield or smack him.

Smoke poured thick into the cave. The robbers who'd set up shop on the road leading south to the Southern Golden Plains were mostly using caves and hollow tree chimneys. They'd also blocked off the chimney—made by burning out just the inside of a tree and baking it with mud to keep its shape. The acrid smoke would just keep building up.

After five minutes, a commotion started inside. Well, of course. They'd been sleeping with the furnace lit at night, and now the chimney above was blocked and smoke was being pumped into the passageway too.

The guy who came stumbling out toward Rowan, hunched over hard, kept coughing. He was squinting and waving his hands around as he emerged.

'Didn't even grab a weapon.'

You could tell at a glance he thought this was just the chimney getting blocked. It wasn't that he couldn't tell shit from shinola—these guys had never been ambushed before, so they didn't have any reference point to judge by. They had no experience, so of course they couldn't tell the difference.

"Ugh!"

Rowan stuck his longsword lightly in the ground and grabbed the greasy-looking robber by the hair, then slammed his knee into the guy's Adam's apple. The robber lost all strength in his body at once. Even when Rowan kicked him in the gut, the guy didn't move an inch.

The next one out at least had a dagger in his hand.

"Who's there!"

Hearing the sound of impact, he couldn't easily come all the way out. Rowan spoke to him—his outline clearly visible because of the smoke.

"What's all the fuss? We agreed to trade today. Heard you've got a lot of arrows."

It was bullshit, but the robber with the dagger flinched. If he'd thought it through, it was obviously crap and didn't match the situation, but you could tell he was thinking about betrayal.

"What? What do you mean..."

Rowan stabbed the guy's wrist with his longsword as he came out of the smoke. Hit his outside hand, and the robber dropped his dagger and screamed. He went straight to his knees in pain, and Rowan smashed him in the head with his round shield.

While tying up the first robber's arms and legs with rope by his hair, and grabbing the second guy's hair, a third robber came charging out of the smoke yelling.

"Graaaaah!!"

He seemed to think this was his last chance, but he was an idiot. Rowan's attention was always on the cave entrance, and he was watching out of the corner of his eye. His tilted upper body already had his weight shifted. He stomped his left foot once more to pick up a little speed.

Thwack!

The robber slammed his shoulder right into the round shield and went tumbling backward. Rowan wasn't that tall yet, but he was in the process of bulking up his frame. The remnants of Gulliver Alastor's stuff were acting like growth plates, making his height and skeleton grow, and above all, giving him weird additional strength.

He could put out more force than a normal physique should allow. The robber had charged in recklessly because Rowan's crouched body looked small, and he'd paid for it big time.

Rowan kicked him without holding back. These were leather boots wrapped in thin iron plates up to the ankle to protect against snake bites. It wasn't just painful.

"Gah!"

While the guy was flailing around, the kick landed right in his mouth. Blood sprayed, and several teeth bent inward and came out.

"Ughhhk."

It hurt so much tears came pouring out. Rowan grabbed his leg and dragged the trembling robber over to tie him up. He'd caught three in a row, but another one popped out. This guy had heard the commotion outside and grabbed his gear. One longsword and two throwing daggers in his left hand.

"Die!"

Making a fierce sound, he threw the daggers while charging. Tears were streaming from his eyes—because of the acrid smoke.

Thunk. Thunk.

The round shield skillfully blocked the thrown daggers. The longsword came down hard on the shield. Rowan's shield didn't budge. Rowan's longsword barely grazed the top edge of the shield and went straight for the robber's throat.

"Huk."

The robber pulled his upper body back, and Rowan smoothly kicked the guy's leg sideways with his right foot. The legs split apart and his balance collapsed. When Rowan aimed the longsword at his throat, the eyebrows on the face clearly visible in the moonlight trembled.

The robber who'd tossed his longsword aside with a little force laughed.

"Heh, heheh..."

"Turn over and get on your stomach. If you don't want to die."

"Y-yes."

After tying up the last one, Rowan bound them all together up to their forearms. All the rope he'd made the day before—twisting vines together until his hands burned—was completely used up. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Then he headed to where Espin and Doren were. Things were already wrapped up there too. Unlike with Rowan, all the robbers were unconscious. Since it was the back exit, more robbers had definitely headed that way.

Six robbers were sprawled out with their faces black. When the robbers rushed all at once, Espin had just blocked the entrance with his square shield and held them off. The robbers exposed to the smoke passed out one by one, and only then did he drag them out.

'Damn.'

Three of the robbers who'd been inside were already dead. The other three looked like they'd have pretty bad aftereffects. And that's how the fox hunt ended. Out of ten total, they'd captured seven. One of the three with aftereffects even had an arrow stuck in his shoulder.

To let the smoke clear out, they knocked the mud off the hollow tree chimney and sent it down.

In the meantime, they tended to the three robbers who'd survived. Gave them water to drink and pulled their foreheads back a bit to open up their airways. Rowan didn't know how to give first aid to people who'd inhaled burning smoke.

He'd lived in a country where safety training was just something you slept through or checked the box on. Even when he'd sat through that mandatory first aid course, he'd just joked around with the instructor—never actually learned how to treat people exposed to fire. Even if they'd explained it, he'd been on his phone and didn't remember anyway

'Guess we'll just have to hope they make it.'

While the smoke was clearing, they built a fire. There was only one robber gang in this area. Since the robber gangs recognized each other's territories to some extent, they lit the fire without hesitation.

Espin, sitting by the campfire, handed Doren some liquor. When he'd been dragging an unconscious robber, one who'd managed to stay conscious came charging at him, and Doren had put an arrow right in the guy's shoulder.

Even though nothing was said, Doren's cheekbones stuck out big.

They drank together, warming themselves up and pushing away the cold air of the forest hill.

"Are we heading back now? We've got eleven total, don't we?"

At Large Shield Espin's words, Rowan shook his head.

"We're gonna catch more and go back all at once. Let's take tomorrow off and make rope."

"I'm a little worried something dangerous might happen if we gather too many."

"If we just give them water, they won't die and they'll lose strength. Nothing to worry about."

The robbers were gathered in one place, tied together at the neck with a single layer. The guys Rowan had beaten up got right back up and were just rolling their eyes around, ears perked up, listening to what the Tracking Mercenary Group was saying.

'Fearless mercenary bastards.'

Every single robber was thinking that as they thought about escape routes, but there wasn't much they could do. Their hands and forearms were tied, their feet were temporarily bound, and their necks were connected together with a single layer.

It was ridiculous how much rope they'd made.

When the atmosphere seemed pretty relaxed, one robber shouted out.

"Mercenary sir! The blood's not flowing to my arms. Please help me. Just loosen it a little."

At that, Rowan came over and checked his arms. He grabbed them and moved them around—you could tell at a glance the guy was tensing up to make it look like the blood wasn't flowing.

"Relax."

"I-I'm not tensing up."

Rowan smacked him on the back of the head. Playing cheap tricks like that—it made him realize once again what kind of sucker they thought he was. After getting hit in the head, the robber finally relaxed.

His ghostly white skin turned back to a copper color.

"It's flowing just fine. Don't tense up so much. I can see it all."

"Yes..."

After resting up, they headed back without hesitation even though it was nighttime. Of course, the robbers had to carry the loot they'd gathered on their shoulders.

'Need to gather at least thirty of them.'

That was the only way to change Senior Soldier Bulsheben's mind.

On the way back, Rowan felt bored. Fighting with robbers was pathetically boring. And he was surprised at himself for having such thoughts and feelings.

'The me who used to just chat on the bench during gym class... I've changed so much.'

People say it's hard for a person to change, but there's also a saying that when you do change, you become a different person. Rowan thought about what had made him this way, but there wasn't any particularly intense memory he could pin down.

A slight sense of displacement settled in his mind, but it quickly disappeared.

That night, Rowan had a black dream. There were no black doors, just Gulliver Alastor standing still and the severed right arm in the center.

'What's this?'

It was different from before, when he only had black dreams when there were black doors to choose from.

[What brings you here?]

"I don't know either."

At that, Gulliver laughed.

Rowan looked at the severed right arm lying on the ground. Before, one finger had been sticking out, but now it was up to the wrist.

'What'll happen when that thing comes all the way up.'

Half fear, half anticipation rose in Rowan.

"Lord Gulliver. If it's not rude to ask, could you teach me a secret technique or something?"

Rowan threw it out there half-jokingly.

[No. If there's progress in your work, I'll think about it.]

"Can you see what I'm doing?"

[Shared senses? I gave you my remnants, so isn't it natural? I can't see details, but I can see roughly.]

"Ah..."

Rowan nodded. He closed his eyes and fell into thought. And at some point, he was able to sleep again. From now on, he'd be able to enter the black dream every day.

***

Senior Soldier Bulsheben finished dinner and headed outside the military tent. A soldier started to follow him.

"It's fine. I'm just going to see the war merchant. Used up all my whetstones."

"Ah, yes."

War Merchant Panfanel didn't have much business to do. Unless something special happened, a day at the Kingdom Camp was just one boring thing after another. And as soon as he saw Bulsheben, he jumped to his feet.

"Senior Soldier, isn't it?"

"It's been a while."

They shook hands. Panfanel said with a smile in his eyes.

"It's been exactly a month since that incident."

"I heard from Mercenary Captain Rowan. You're planning something pretty interesting."

Panfanel led him into the military tent.

"Come on, let's go inside and talk over a drink."

Senior Soldier Bulsheben went right in without hesitation. Panfanel looked around and followed him in.