God From The Abyss

Chapter 31: Chapter 031: The ’Squirrel’ With Claws

After a long while had passed, the bandits came around, reeking of alcohol and most of them, drunk. The same guy from earlier shouted orders, something about getting the caravan moving once the captain gave his orders.

Mikael opened his eyes and frowned, the feeling of boredom mixed in with disgust still pervading his emotions. Most of the captives were asleep, while those who were awake still looked at him with curiosity and visible fear.

He sat in silence, studying. He could have shattered the iron cages, even without absorbing mana, and killed every single human. But he sat still.

’Then again, their cores are too low a level. I wouldn’t even notice anything when I take them all, if I did desire to absorb them,’ he sighed. Some of the bandits didn’t even have cores; they too were unawakened.

A girl with dirt-smeared cheeks came closer to him, shivering despite the weather not being cold. Mikael glanced up at her.

"What is it you want, child?" He growled.

"You’re strong, right? I can tell." Mikael smiled ever so warmly, but the smile never reached his eyes that put his murderous intent out in the open.

"Can you now?" he whispered, one of his eyes turning dark red. The Gaze was still there though he swallowed the liquid back down before it came up into the open. There was no need to display a weakness to these ’things’.

The ensuing fear was visible as the girl’s eyes widened in shock, but she apparently steeled her resolve and stood her ground.

"Can you grant me a wish, sir noble?"

Mikael’s warm smile vanished instantly. His lips now curled into a slow, deliberate smile, balanced somewhere between charm, amusement and threat. The smile of a predator.

"Let’s hear it, then, child?"

+

She was fiddling with her hair when she noticed the imposing aura, albeit weakened, entering the cage-wagon.

White hair that almost seemed to shine. Fierce golden eyes, with geometric patterns, that seemed to condemn anyone who dared look into them.

His composure and his posture, noble, regal and almost amused. Not even the least worried, as if he was a father watching his kids play war and joining them as a captive.

’Maybe he’s undercover. But these bandits must be real idiots if they don’t realise that he might be a freaking time bomb,’she rubbed her temples in pity. ’Best to approach him, see what’s his deal.’

"Can you grant me a wish, noble sir?" His smile at that moment told her instincts loud and clear, that she might’ve just asked a devil for a favor!

"And what shall I take as my compensation?" he leaned close, whispering into her ear.

+ +

Mikael had seen her the very instant he stepped into the wagon, she looked almost out of place among the chained captives. Her tiny frame, one he was sure didn’t reach his chest, was draped in a ragged cloth that was too big for her, little bare feet and wrists bound with rope exactly as his. Her hair was a mess, pale blue strands clinging to her cheeks and her lips had been trembling as though she might cry at any second. She was like what humans would call a doll, thrown into the mud, so visibly fragile that the mere idea of her ever being here in the first place hung around absurdity.

’ A bit fragile,’ Mikael muttered. ’To those folks, anyways.’

He knew.

The long while, prior to the bandits’ return, he had observed her one more time. The way she hugged her knees wasn’t for comfort- it was well calculated, hiding the way she shifted her weight silently on the balls of her feet. The way her wide, innocent blue eyes darted to the bandits outside every few seconds and then softened back into helplessness was an art worthy to be studied! She was performing. Not to mention, she was at the Master Rank! Unless the leader of these dimwits was of a high rank or she lacked experience; were the only possible reasons she was still here.

So when she came asking for a favor, he couldn’t help but smile warmly.

"Hear my wish first, then choose a price that is worth it."

"Then what’s it that you wish for? Freedom from your captors? Their death?"

"A cuddle."

Mirael blinked once. Twice. His voice came out flat. " What do you mean, cuddle? A hug?"

Deep down he cursed Adrian’s experience or lack thereof.

" Of all the things you could ask for, money, freedom, power? Why choose a hug? An intriguing choice."

’Humans never cease to amaze me with their most random of ideas.’

Her lips curled into a tiny smile. " May be small, but that is what I do desire." She looked him straight into the eyes. "So what’s your compensation?"

Mikael sighed in near exasperation and disappointment.

" Nothing. I’m not so evil as to deny someone comfort in their trying times. Come, I’ll humor you."

She crept forward, tucking herself onto his laps and on his pale, bare chest while her little hands clung to the back of his neck. Since he deemed her not a threat, yet, Mikael allowed it.

But for someone so pleasantly adorable, her next words came in a sharp tone!

"Listen carefully. I know you might be a high-ranking mage or knight, but this is my mission. Don’t mess it up for me." She glanced around. The dead body hadn’t been discovered as their captors were still gathered at a small fire and had not checked the cages yet.

" There are twenty two bandits in total. Sixteen are over there," she gestured to the cluster with a side glance. " Armed to the teeth. The remaining five are scouts of sorts, charting which route we’d follow. Their leader, however, I know not of his location.

Mikael’s surprise was short lived and it failed as well to register on his face. It’s not often you see a lower ranked mortal take such notice of the situation. What was he even thinking? It has been barely a month since he arrived here. ’What do I know?’

She had said she was on a mission so it was probable that she received said information from someone else. But still...

"So the squirrel has ferocious claws. Interesting," he joked.

A flush of red flashed across her face as she struck his chest with a weak fist.

"Who are you calling a squirrel?! I might be older than you are!"

"So," Mikael killed that discussion line with ease. "You also don’t know where this leader currently is?"

"Yes. He’s formidable, from what I’ve heard from these people. Rumors among them even claim he stays in one of the wagons, amongst his captives. So far I couldn’t discover his presence, which means he has methods of concealing his presence completely, you might just miss him. At least to lower ranks. The rest are quite sloppy drunks." The girl stopped smiling, glaring at Mikael.

" Do not interfere. Am I understood?"

Ego rose and fell inside, wanting to burst out. But Mikael remained silent, not even bothering to reply to her question.

The same moment, the ’caravan’ got moving. The thugs never finally bothered to check out the wagons before continuing, courtesy of the alcohol.

They rode around the wagons; the sides and from behind.

Meanwhile, inside Mikael’s cage, one of his fellow inmates had covered the corpse with a sack. He guessed it was to not get unwanted attention.

They were truly hopeless about their future and the bleakness of their eyes displayed that well!

The girl had also gotten off of him and instead sat at his side. And for hours on end, they all rode in complete silence.

There were instances of some of the bandits, falling asleep and falling off their horses which made their colleagues laugh at them while taunting them for minutes. Asides that, the silence was deafening.

And Mikael was slowly getting bored. There was no thrill, no action to whatever these people were doing.

So he was grateful to hear the girl’s voice at the time when the sun began showing signs of its journey back to the sky.

"It’s dawn. We’ll be stopping soon."

From the way she now crouched, her lips muttering something inaudible and mana slowly gathering, Mikael noted instantly that it was finally time to move, having been nearly bored out of his wits.

’Don’t interfere,’ she’d said. ’Sorry, child. I already planned to kill them myself.’

" Hasta Glaciei!" A pale blue magic circle shimmered into existence before her, its runes spinning before locking on. The floor of the wagon whitened under her feet as she stood. A spear of pure ice burst forth and it shot straight into the bandit driving the wagon, blood gushing from the hole at the back of his skull!

Mikael nodded slowly. The child had good accuracy, considering her Rank. However, she executed her plans poorly.

The others noticed what was going on and were now rushing toward the wagon causing the trouble.

The wagon was the prison cell and kept them in one place: before their opponents while they, the opponents, had an open field to dodge and attack from. ’Children need to be guided properly,’ Mikael sighed, taking a deep breath.

And with a very minute amount of celestial essence infused in his hand, he waved. Twice.

The roof and the bars at the side shattered and fell off instantly.

"Thank you!"

A new magic circle appeared. This one had three concentric circles that spun slowly as they locked on. Three shorter spears shot out at the two nearest bandits. The captives, mostly the young men, saw the escape opportunity and took it fast, running out and fleeing into the forest! The other weaker inmates couldn’t bring themselves to move. So they stayed and prayed that their saviors prevail!

" The captives are escaping?! Get ya asses o’er here boys!"

" Don’t let em escape!"

The girl turned to the cowering prisoners. " Stay here if you value your life! Mika-"

He was gone!?

"Frangere!" A larger spear shot out, bursting into shards that pierced whoever was unlucky to be in their paths.

"Hasta Glaciei- Barrage!" The circle appeared above as spears of ice rained down on where the bandits were most gathered. Albeit the firing rate was slow and her mana was mostly depleted.

Atop a tree branch, Mikael observed.

The girl was good, not as good as the Duke’s children Isabella especially. But good.

"Hey you," one of the thugs called out, a woman in his arms and his dagger at her throat. "You won’t want em to die, do you? Now slowly walk away an-" .

And that was the end of him as his head fell off beside Mikael who held another head whose eyes and mouth were still widened in shock.

One that completely weakened the bandits who were still alive and brought them to their knees.

Their leader!