Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Betrayal
Even after seeing Reif hitting several trees in a row, the 3rd circle level bandit's anger was still not quenched. Well, more than half of his group was killed. Those people are not only his underlings, they are also his brothers!
The bandit's body turned into an arrow as he shot his body towards Reif. Above him, a red magic circle appeared and from it, a long pole completely made from fire came out
The bandit holds the fire pole with his bare hands and he heavily smashed it towards Reif
The power of a 3rd circle magician is not something that the current Reif can take lightly especially after getting this injured. As a result, Reif desperately moves to the side
The bandit's pole only hits the tree and empty ground but it still resulted in a fiery explosion
The impact from the explosion threw Reif's body again and scorched marks appeared on his body
Fortunately, Reif's special body was already starting to heal. Spring Clan's descendants have strong healing power, much less someone like Reif that has a [Nature Vessel] constitution
Reif ignored all the pain in his body as he stretched out his arm towards one of the trees in his vicinity. A vine suddenly moved like a snake and it coiled around Reif's waist
The vine then pulled his body away as the bandit already moves to attack him again
The bandit jump towards Reif and his jump has enough strength to reach the kid in the air. Reif hurriedly controlled more vines to maneuver himself in the air. As a result, the bandit only hit an empty air
With Reif's constitution and the surrounding terrain, he has a huge advantage. He found it much easier to use nature magic than other types of magic
However, the bandit won't just let himself get played. Since Reif is using the trees to his advantage then the bandit will destroy those trees to remove the hateful brat's advantages
The bandit swung his long pole and a wave of fire traveled in the air. A huge number of trees were immediately caught in a fire and they burned down at a speed visible to the eyes
The bandit didn't stop at just one swing as he burned all the trees that can help Reif around and the latter loses all of the vines that can move his body
Reif landed on the ground while wiping the blood on the side of his lips. His physique might have strong healing capabilities but his body is still immature and in a weakened state. All of his body's advantages are still not in the best possible state. The wind magic and the fire explosion earlier made his injuries not light at all
"[Fiery Legs!]" The bandit's leg was suddenly covered with crimson fire and his speed exploded
With a pole in his hand, the bandit charged at the kid that killed a lot of his brothers
Reif knew that he can't tackle this problem head-on. The blood that he wiped earlier was controlled by him and they turned into another bloody fog
As expected, the bandit stops for a moment and swung his pole causing another wave of fire to appear that evaporated Reif's poisonous blood
That moment is already enough for the kid. He ignored all the pain from his injuries and he sneaks attack on one of the bandits that were fighting one of the remaining guards
Reif succeeded as the chains in his wrist wrapped on the bandit's throat. The bandit was still resisting the strangling power of the chains but the guard took the chance
The guard created a magic circle in front of him and from it, a long ice lance came out that skewered the poor bandit
At that time, the 3rd circle bandit is already close to Reif, and the latter cast magic in himself
"[Strenght!]" Reif can feel power flowing in his arms and he pulled his chains that drag the poor bandit's body
Reif's action was pretty vicious as he uses the bandit as a meat shield but he got his desired result as the 3rd circle magician hesitated for a moment
Reif didn't waste any time as he puts his palm in the bandit's back. While the stronger bandit was still hesitating, thorny vines suddenly came out from the weaker bandit's chest
This angered the 3rd circle magician as he angrily swung his pole against the thorny vines
"Despicable!" The bandit said with his face flush red in anger
Reif didn't have any reaction to that. Aren't these bandits killing people for money? If yes, then they should be prepared to get killed themselves, right?
A stream of fire that has a wide range exploded. Even Reif was caught in the aftermath
A large part of the beast fur clothes that Reif made himself burned while his body flew in the air thanks to the impact
Burn marks appeared all over his body and this time, he is now heavily injured. Even his body's healing ability can't heal him in a short time
Before Reif can even recover even just by a bit, he saw the bandit's figure is already above him. Winds mixed with the fire in the bandit's pole resulting in an even greater power
"Die!!" The bandit shouted just for Reif to suddenly spit out the blood from his mouth
Some blood managed to enter the bandit's mouth but he just ignored it. He thought that Reif's poison was made through magic with his blood as the catalyst
He didn't know that it was Reif's blood itself that is poisonous. After all, if a person's blood is heavily poisoned, how can they even survive?
However, even though Reif managed to poison his opponent, the bandit's pole is still descending at his position
Reif can't possibly block this with his current power. Because of that, adrenaline flowed in Reif's body and his blood gave him an illusion as if they were boiling
With a speed almost impossible for Reif's current state, he managed to roll his body just enough so that he won't be directly struck by the pole
Despite that, the fiery explosion still caught Reif and he once again flew in the air with an arrow of blood coming out from his mouth
Reif was almost on the brink of death but the 3rd circle bandit is now really dead. He met the same fate that the other bandits have when they got poisoned by Reif
In fact, since the bandit directly intake Reif's blood and not just a diluted misty form, the effects of the poison were more lethal to him
Reif almost has no power now. Fortunately, with the majority of the bandits dead along with one of the strongest of them, the situation is much better
The merchant has several magical pieces of equipment and he had the remaining guards use them and they finally finished all of the bandits
Seeing that, Reif dragged his body to one of the bandits on the brink of death and touched his body before walking limply towards the fat merchant
The merchant smiled enthusiastically at Reif. Although Reif is only a kid, he undoubtedly becomes the biggest contributor in the fight. Even the 3rd circle magician guard of the merchant paled in comparison to him
"Kid, you have such great skills! Do you want to work for me as my guard?" The merchant offered but Reif shook his head almost instantly. He doesn't plan on being a guard
"If you accept my offer, I'll make sure that you will receive a high salary!" The merchant continued but Reif still refuses
That offended the 3rd circle mage guard that felt like he loses face against a 1 circle magician kid
"Hmph! Our boss here is kind and offered you work yet you didn't even give him any face!"
Instead of answering to words filled with jealousy, Reif just went straight to the point
"Can I have my reward? I'll just take one item"
Reif's disregard for the guard's words further angered the latter and he almost attacks the kid if the fat merchant didn't stop him
"It's fine, this is our savior" the merchant said with a strange smile on his face and the other guards understood what he meant
"Feel free to get any item that you want!" The merchant said in a friendly manner and opened his wagon for Reif to select an item
The wagon was filled with all sorts of items that were arranged neatly. There were weapons like swords and daggers but there were also pieces of jewelry like necklace and rings
Reif's eyes landed on an unassuming piece of white gem that looks ordinary compared to the other sparkling pieces of jewelry
Reif picked up the white gem and showed it to the merchant before he tried to leave them as he already got what he wants
However, the merchant stops him from leaving first
"Wait kid, our inventory was actually arranged nicely. Every item that was bought, sold, or gifted is recorded properly. Please sign this paper first or if you don't know how to write, you can sign with a blood thumbprint"
The merchant waved his hand and a piece of scroll appeared in mid-air. As a merchant with money, he naturally has a spatial ring that stored the most expensive items he has
Reif stared at the piece of scroll and his indifferent eyes flashed with a cold light. He ignored the look that the guards were giving him and he limply walked towards the merchant while biting his finger so that blood will come out from it
The merchant has a big smile on his face after seeing how injured Reif is. However, before he can even react, the blood that Reif was supposed to use to sign the scroll was suddenly shot straight to his mouth
Both the merchant and the guards were not able to react in time to stop Reif. First, all of them are already exhausted and injured after fighting the bandits
Second, Reif is in a state that he looks like he will die any moment from now. How can they suspect that he will do something like this?
Before the merchant can even speak, he suddenly felt severe pain all throughout his body causing him to fall to his knees
"Y-you! What did you do?!" The 3rd circle guard asked angrily and he along with the other guards readied their magic to kill Reif
"If you don't want your boss to die from poison, stop moving" Reif said in an emotionless tone
"P-poison?" The guards muttered and they looked at their boss. The fat merchant didn't die as Reif has full control over his poisoned blood
The fat merchant hurriedly tried to use a potion that can cure potent poisons but to his nightmare, the poison wasn't defeated at all
"That's useless" Reif said. The years of accumulated poison in his blood is not something that common potions in the market can heal
"Do you think I am an idiot? I saved you yet you tried to enslave me using that slave contract"
The scroll was precisely a scroll that can force someone to turn into a slave. If Reif really signed it, he would need to obey whatever this fatty wants him to do
They thought that Reif cannot read since he apparently looks poor and is someone that lives his whole life in a forest away from the society
The people that he saves tried to backstab him. Whether it be the former Rhash or Reif, none of them felt disappointed at how cruel people can be
With Reif's experience, he already sees and experienced a lot of betrayals. This is nothing new to him
Even the former Rhash was also betrayed. He had some people that he thought is helping him but turns out they actually just want to experiment with his body just like what that mage did to him
The betrayal from this merchant isn't even surprising. He saw how powerful Reif is despite being a 1st circle mage. If Reif advanced in the future, wouldn't he become a powerful guard for the merchant?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone