Chapter 83: Dead or Alive?

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Dead or Alive?

Chapter 83: Dead or Alive?

Mana gathered around his palm.

A small flame appeared.

The woman’s eyes widened.

"What?"

Osborne’s fireball quickly formed.

He then shot it forward.

BOOM!

The two fireballs collided in the middle of the cave.

For a moment, the flames fought against each other.

Then Osborne’s fireball swallowed the woman’s attack.

The remaining flames scattered harmlessly across the ground.

No one uttered a word.

The woman froze.

The two bandits froze.

Even the fire burning against the cave wall suddenly seemed less important.

Osborne slowly lowered his hand.

"Using only first circle magic..." His crimson eyes narrowed.

"...and you dare act so arrogant?"

The woman’s mouth opened slightly.

’What the hell?’ Her mind raced.

’This bastard is a mage?!’

She had assumed he was a knight.

He was wearing armor, plus he carried a sword, so it couldn’t be helped.

Moreover, his physical abilities were clearly far beyond an ordinary person.

But now he had casually cancelled her spell with one of his own.

The woman clenched her teeth.

’How is that possible?’ She had never seen a knight use magic like that.

The two bandits looked at one another.

Their faces became even paler.

They had already thought Osborne was terrifying.

Now they realized that he wasn’t simply a powerful swordsman.

He was a mage as well.

One of the bandits took a step backward.

"Boss..."

"Shut up." The woman didn’t take her eyes off Osborne.

She was trying to understand what she was dealing with.

But Osborne wasn’t interested in giving her time.

He raised his hand again.

A small flame appeared.

The woman prepared herself.

’Another fireball?’ She thought, only for the flame to begin growing larger and larger.

Her expression changed.

"What..."

The fireball continued expanding.

It quickly became larger than Osborne’s head.

Then larger than his torso.

Within moments, it had grown to the size of a barrel.

The heat filling the cave became intense.

The bandits instinctively stepped backward.

"Boss..."

The woman didn’t answer.

Her eyes were fixed on the massive fireball.

’That’s not first circle magic.’

Even if it was based on the same spell, the amount of mana being poured into it was completely different. Not to mention the level of control needed to push a first circle spell to that level—it wasn’t something she was capable of.

Osborne’s crimson eyes glowed beneath his helmet.

A wicked smile appeared on his face.

"What’s that about melting someone like butter?"

The woman’s expression stiffened.

Osborne laughed.

"Let’s see if you still have the nerve to talk after I mess up that pretty face of yours."

He pushed his hand forward.

The massive fireball shot toward her.

BOOOOOOM!

The woman froze.

Her body refused to move.

She wanted to run, jump away.

Anything that could get her away from that.

But her body wouldn’t listen. Fear had completely taken over.

’Move!’ Her mind screamed.

’Move!’ Yet her legs remained frozen.

The fireball filled her vision.

It grew closer with every passing millisecond.

The heat stinging her face as the gap between them rapidly deteriorated.

Her short blonde hair began whipping backward from the force of the approaching flames.

Her blue eyes widened.

For the first time since Osborne had entered the cave, the arrogant expression on her face disappeared completely.

There was only fear.

Though he couldn’t help but notice hints of regret as well.

The fireball was almost upon her.

She could feel the heat burning against her skin.

Her heart pounded violently inside her chest.

’I’m going to die...’ The thought entered her mind.

She couldn’t escape, nor block it.

All she could do was watch as the massive ball of fire rushed toward her.

The two bandits stared in horror.

"Boss!" The cave was filled with the sound of the approaching flames.

And Osborne stood behind them.

Completely calm.

His crimson eyes reflected the blazing fire as it illuminated the darkness of the cave.

For the first time, the bandits realized something.

They had thought they were the hunters.

Thinking to themselves the armored man had foolishly entered their hideout the moment they set their eyes on their boss.

But they had been wrong.

They were never the hunters.

They had simply been waiting inside their own home for something far more dangerous to find them.

The cave fell silent.

Only the faint crackling of the flames remained, accompanied by the unpleasant smell of burnt flesh that had quickly begun to fill the entire place.

Osborne stood in the middle of the cave, his sword still held loosely in one hand.

In front of him were the charred remains of the three bandits.

The once-confident group who had laughed as they robbed the old man were now nothing more than blackened corpses scattered across the cold stone floor.

Even their leader wasn’t exempted.

Osborne stared at them for several seconds.

He wasn’t particularly surprised by what had happened.

After all, he had already killed demons and taken the lives of people who had tried to kill him.

Compared to the things he had experienced, killing a few bandits wasn’t exactly shocking.

Still, there was something different about standing here and looking at their remains.

Perhaps it was because these people had been human.

Osborne lowered his sword before wiping the blade against one of the dead men’s clothes.

His stomach suddenly growled.

"..." Osborne froze, before an annoyed expression emerged on his face.

"Don’t even think about it." He grumbled.

To think even human flesh wasn’t off the menu, just what would this body not consume?

He stared at the corpses with a complicated expression beneath his helmet.

For a moment, his demonic instincts seemed to be urging him toward the smell.

But eating human flesh?

No.

He might have become a demon, but that didn’t mean he planned on throwing away every bit of common sense he had left.

"I still have standards." Osborne turned away from the corpses.

He looked around the cave instead. There was quite a lot of loot scattered around.

Weapons, clothes, coins, food.

Several sacks of grain.

And other items the bandits had taken from travelers over the years.

Osborne’s eyes narrowed.