Chapter 65: Chapter 65 : : Night Assault
Late at night…
On the peak of the Autumn Berry Mountain, there was a tent as big as a second story building, the tent was made using a type of beast skin and hence was strong, it was further strengthened using wooden poles supporting it from the sides.
The tent was at the safest place on the mountain, all the bandits living quarters and caves were present around it on the way down the mountain, the tent was the residence of the bandit boss that founded this new bandit group.
Inside the tent, a whole lot of furniture was present all around, although it wasn't that luxurious but compared to the caves and tents of other bandits, it can be called a luxury. The tent was further divided into multiple sections, in the centermost part of the tent, a big robust man was sitting on a big chair.
The man was huge, he wore a cape made of bearskin on his back, he was sitting bare-chested, a long scar starting from his chin to his waist was visible on his body, his left hand was wrapped around a beautiful woman sitting on his side while his right hand was resting on a one-handed axe.
The bandit raised his axe and cut down the grilled rabbit flesh served on the table in front of him, in one move.
The tender flesh was sliced into two half, while the plate and table remained unharmed.
"Such a splendid control over strength, only master can do that," The woman said bashfully as she flirtingly pressed her lovable body on his chest.
"Haha… Any professional martial artist can do that," The robust bandit laughed as he spoke, he was very pleased with her words, he then slipped his hand down her waist to caress her curves as he added "I will show you my real control over strength later,"
"Ah master let this little servant recover some strength first," The woman said in an enchanting yet pleading tone as she purposely wiggled her base.
The bandit boss was enticed by her actions and pinched with his fingers, the woman softly moaned but then her eyes landed on the other man standing near the table expressionlessly, and she showed a displeased look.
The bandit boss noticed it and turned to him "Didn't you already delivered the dinner? What else? Do you want to watch us for the whole night? Get out and do some work, I am going to squeeze every single penny I used to buy you, " He scolded in a bad tone to show his authority.
It was a tall man, with a thin waist and broad shoulders, his black hair was almost as hard as needles, several places of his body like elbows, neck, the knee had stone platings growing over them, he was a stoneman.
The man was wearing very simple clothing consist of a ragged shirt and pants backed up by long leather boots, the only thing that made him look like a practitioner were the two short but broad blades hanging on his back, the other eye-catching thing on him was the metal collar on his neck, which showed his status as a slave.
The stoneman slightly bowed without any change in his expression and left.
The bandit eased his brows when he saw that he left quietly and switched his attention back to the woman on his side.
The stoneman left the tent and looked around, the normal bandits weren't allowed to come near the boss's tent so the area around was rather quiet, he breathed the only one who would go and deliver food or convey orders between bandits and the boss because as a slave he could never defy any orders or betray him.
He thought of something and touched his belly, the stoneman felt hungry, he walked down to the area where the food is prepared. On the way, he saw many bandits dead asleep, although they looked lazier compared to normal days, he could do nothing even if he wanted to complain or felt something wrong, at least until he go back and ask the boss, but in the current situation, if he went back, he would be kicked out before telling anything.
When he arrived at the place, he saw the fat man sleeping on the ground with a meat lollipop still stuck in his mouth, it was like he was so sleepy that he fell asleep while eating.
The stoneman frowned, no matter how he looked at it, he felt something very wrong.
Suddenly he sensed something and reacted, slate grey Qi gushed out from his Origin Chasm then all the skin on his body instantly turned into stone.
Clank... Thud…
Three projectiles struck him from the left out of nowhere, the stoneman felt piercing pain coming from his arm and saw that three knives had broken through his defences, barely piercing his skin.
He was surprised, in fact, he was not the only one, Kale, who was hiding in the shadows was also surprised, the stoneman didn't look like the boss but from the attack earlier, and the colour of Qi, one thing was clear, the stoneman was one of the strongest if not the strongest in the whole bandit group.
'He needs to be dealt with, and quickly,' Kale concluded, in the next second, he moved.
'Camoflague'
A thin membrane-covered his body and turned pitch black, completely merging with the shadows around.
But the stoneman was already alert he forcefully pulled out the knives off his arm, then grabbed the handles of his blades as he checked his surrounding with vigilance.
'Wooden Thorn'
Kale attacked, but he didn't target the stoneman, instead the fire torches lighting the way.
'Rubber Touch + Mud Trap'
'Illusory Phantom Walk'
Kale used his movement technique coupled with ‹Rubber Touch› to boost his speed to advance and retreat quickly when needed, at the same time he made use of ‹Mud Trap› to obstruct the stoneman.
The stoneman felt the ground below his feet loosening, he didn't try to jump out instead he squatted down.
'Quite experienced but why isn't he trying to shout?' Kale thought as he took out his knife and attacked.
The stoneman saw the vague silhouette approaching him due to moonlight, he raised his blades crossing each other, channelled his Qi thorough the blades and slashed.
But just as he slashed, the silhouette was cut into two and disappeared like an afterimage.
'Falling Meteor Blade Art: Third Fall'
Three illusory shadows of blade appeared then merged into a, sharpening its momentum by three times, the stoneman changed his trajectory and tried to block the attack with one sword, Kale's level was obviously lowered then him so there was a high chance for him to block.
The blade clashed with the sword, the stoneman's expression stiffened, he as caught off guard by the force behind the attack, his one knee touched the ground.
He looked at Kale in disbelief, his earlier evaluation wasn't wrong but he missed a variable, ‹Snake King Body Toning Art› wasn't something he would know about.
He was still thinking but Kale wasn't going to allow him to correct his mistakes, he willed and the Ghost Lady came out of the pearl, she forcefully drilled in the stoneman's body.
The stoneman suddenly experienced something wrong, he felt inwardly cold and his body stiffened for a second.
The delay was all Kale needed.
'Arachne Thread Controlling Art'
Several strands of threads came out of his sleeves, moving like waves in the air then swirled around the stoneman's body immediately.
The stoneman was violent, he used his Qi to regain control and forced his body to move, the Ghost Lady was thrown outside, she had already used her full strength to delay the actions of someone of higher life form level. It was her limit.
Kale didn't get distracted, he raised his leg and kicked the stoneman at full strength.
The stoneman was thrown back and rolled on the ground for a few meters, the threads were still restraining him but just as he stabilized his body, he raised his head towards Kale and spurt out several sharp stones from his mouth.
The stones were only slightly slower than the ‹Wooden Thorn›, the stone was small but they were many, the attack range was big and it was hard to dodge.
Kale squatted down, he covered his head and chest with his hands.
The stone hit his arms, shoulder, thighs, they left wounds that started bleeding the next moment.
Kale retreated into the shadow soon after the attack landed, he was a master of shadows when it came to hiding, he used his movement technique to leave afterimages and distract the stoneman who was preparing for the next attack.
The stoneman saw him retreating, he got anxious, he tried to use brute force to break free from the threads, he exerted his full strength in his arms and even used his Qi to boost his physical capabilities. Due to his actions, the thread binding his body tightened to the limit and ripped the upper stone layer of his skin, the stone man ignored the pain and continued to exert strength, his efforts were showing results and he had almost managed to break one but then he frowned.
The stoneman felt his body getting numb all of a sudden, he stared at the thread digging into his flesh and a frightening thought appeared in his head
Poison!
In the spur of the moment, he forgot about the initial methods of his enemy. the stoneman changed his plans, he turned around and was about to escape when several knives were simultaneously shot at his back obstructing him from retreating.
He had realized that he had fallen into the enemy's trap.
But he could do nothing, the poison used in the threads was way more concentrated compared to the diluted version mixed in the food through the rabbits.
With every second, he lost more control over his body, after six steps he unwillingly fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
'He is dumb,' Kale concluded, he had seen how his opponent never tried to shout for help, even the most foolish person would shout for help when his life was in danger, but he didn't, which only means he couldn't do it.
He sighed, after making sure no one else was around, he took out a low-grade health potion from his bag and drank it in one go, normally he doesn't keep health potions but this time the risk was high, so he bought a few in the end. He then focused on the unconscious stoneman.
Kale stared at the collar on his neck as he pondered over it, in the end, he decided not to kill him and proceeded on his way.
Once he arrived near the tent on the top, he could already hear the pleasure-filled moans from the inside, Kale didn't barge in and remained hidden.
The poison in the food was a diluted slow-acting poison, that works after hours after ingesting, depending on the concertation the time of effect may change, but the more worked up the target it, the stronger and faster would be the effect.
It was exactly why he didn't barge in and waited, letting his enemy lose as much stamina as they could.
After half an hour, the sound became faint and the surroundings turned quiet.
'Eh, it's over? Seriously? Is he not a martial artist? I thought I would have to wait till the morning,' Kale had a strange expression on his face, he thought about it and decided to wait for a few more minutes, he also increased the power input of «Mulan's Earring» just in case.
Just at this time, a loud shout came from inside.
"Fynn! Where the hell are you? Come here fast,"
'He sensed something wrong,' Kale guessed, he chose to remain hidden and waited patiently.
"Rascal doesn't fool around and hurry back here,"
"If you anger me more, then I will sell you back to the slave market,"
"Do you want to starve for days again?"
"Are you still showing arrogance? You failed mercenary slave,"
The bandit boss inside shouted a few more times but after not getting any response, he quieted down.
Soon after Kale saw a woman barely wearing any clothes coming out of the tent and hurriedly running down, she was stumbling on her footsteps as she walked, her clothes were mostly untied revealing her enchanting figure, coupled with her beauty, she looked like a young flesh lamb asking for the crime.
'Using bait to lure me out? Hehe...' Kale sneered inwardly. He didn't chase her himself, he ordered the Ghost Lady to chase her and seize her body when her guard is down.
He had already noticed that the woman had no cultivation base, she was a normal mortal, simply put, she should have almost no means to resist the Ghost Lady's control as she was way weaker than the bandit on patrol earlier.
The Ghost Lady had received some damage when the stoneman pushed her out earlier but she was mostly fine as he had done that with brute force and the advantage of his lifeform level.
Kale patiently waited and as expected, after a while, the robust bandit quietly sneaked out from the other side of the tent with the axe in his hand.
Kale still didn't attack and slowly followed behind him.
The bandit boss increased his pace once he was quite some distance away from the tent, he eventually saw a few bandit subordinates sleeping near a bone fire, he rushed to them and hit their heads to wake them up but they didn't react in any way, he tried again and again, even going as far as to make a wound on their shoulder with his axe, they screamed in pain bit his legs but didn't open their eyes.
"These useless fukkers," The bandit boss was felt uneasy, thinking that their screams might alert the attacker, he cut the head of the bandit screaming the most and hurried down the mountain.
He kept running for around an hour, Kale followed him from behind.
Kale had already figured out that the bandit boss was a martial artist and an Enlightened Mortal, although he was more experienced than the children in the Academy but he lacked good battle techniques. Kale believed that he might be even weaker than the stoneman earlier.
The bandit boss had higher stamina when it came to running, but Kale had practised ‹Snake King Body Toning Art› and ‹Mana-Resilience Cycle›.
The bandit got tired after running for so long, he stopped and placed his hand on a tree to support himself. He was feeling extremely sleepy, he decided to take a breather.
But the second he was relaxed, Kale acted.
'Wind Chasing Knives'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone