Sebastian rushed outside, and the rest of the unit did the same. Marion was already there when Sebastian and the others entered the courtyard.

  Smoke billowed beyond the courtyard wall in several places, accompanied by the bright glow of roaring fires. Panicked screams and shouts could be heard, along with the frantic ringing of alarm bells.

  “What’s going on!?” Sebastian asked.

  Marion looked over her shoulder with a grim expression. “It seems the town is under attack.”

  “By who?”

  “Unclear, likely some gang. It’s unfortunately quite common in the Red Sea. Do we act?”

  “Uncle, we have to help these people!” Safi said lividly.

  Before Sebastian could answer, Ferran commented, “Not to be that guy but… do we?” Everyone looked at him, shocked and appalled. “What?” he asked, as if it his comment was the most natural thing in the world. “These aren’t our people and it’s not like we’re getting paid for it. Isn’t it better to mind our own business?”

  “How can you say that—“

  Sebastian interrupted Safi’s complaints. “We’re helping. We’ve been here for months now, and the people of Mujin can’t protect themselves. It’s the least we can do.”

  His own sword was lost in the war, and the one he stole from the Shattered Earth Sect was left behind, but he had replaced it within the first week of arriving in town. He grabbed his sword from the house and walked over to the courtyard gate.

  They all stepped out onto the street and tried to assess the situation. They were a few streets away from the attack but quickly ran over to the main street.

  Several dozen men were plundering houses, setting fires, and attacking the people of Mujin. The attackers all wore the same outfit—not quite a uniform, as there was some level of variation between them, but they all wore brown robes with yellow belts.

  Sebastian activated his [Mind’s Eye] and extended the range to get a sense of what they’re dealing with. Most of them were outside his range but the attack hadn’t pushed too far into the town.

  The gang members ranged in levels between 10 and 20, none of them would be an issue for anyone in his unit, which made their actions that much worse. But the men and women of Mujin were powerless against them.

  One of the men dragged a woman out of her house by her hair. Her young son, no older than eight, crawled after them while screaming at the man to release his mother. He had been beaten and his leg broken, so he couldn’t catch up to them, not that there was anything he could do if he did.

  “Shut up, kid! You should be happy that your bitch of a mother can serve the Blood Cleaver Gang.”

  Sebastian’s [Mind’s Eye] made him sense everything in clear detail, more detail than he could ever need. He clenched his fists and a rage washed over him like a tidal wave. “These men don’t deserve mercy, kill them all.”

  The five fighters of the group dashed in different directions, each heading toward their own targets.

  Víctor and Sebastian were the only two who stayed where they were. Víctor’s specialty as a mage wasn’t buffs or offensive magic, it was more generally supportive magic. He cast spell after spell to put out fires, heal the injured, and protect those about to be attacked.

  Sebastian mostly stayed to make sure that Víctor was safe and to keep an eye out for any unexpected and dangerous situations.

  The sudden resistance took the criminals by surprise, but living in the Red Sea meant that it took more than unexpected enemies to throw them off balance. Their focus quickly shifted from ransacking the town and kidnapping its residents to fighting for their lives.

  That struggle didn’t amount to much. The sheer difference in levels, training, and quality Skills meant that they were utterly outclassed.

  Each member of the unit took on a handful of gang members. Marion alone handled a dozen. Various insults, cusses, and ridicules of her age quickly died down as they fell, one by one. There was a savagery to her that Sebastian had only seen hints of every once in a while since he first met her. It only came out at times like these, when she fought criminals and bandits. He still hadn’t pried about where that came from, and until she was ready to bring it up, he never would.

  Safi’s fight left Sebastian flabbergasted. She was almost feral as she fought. There was a brutality in her moves that Sebastian had never seen before. The hardships the group had endured, both during and after the war, had left a clear mark on her, deeper than the scar across her face. He didn’t judge. Years ago he had tried to teach her not to hesitate when she fought, and life had made sure that she learned that lesson.

  Across the street from her, Gawen was fighting with his usual reckless disregard. Although, the more he watched, the more Sebastian sensed a newfound caution in his former student’s actions. Unlike in his past, Gawen didn’t fight purely on feeling. There was thought behind his moves. Having seen the consequences of impulsiveness first hand since he became a mercenary seemed to have instilled the point Sebastian had wanted to teach him.

  There was still room for improvement, for both of his former students, but they made Sebastian proud.

  They were all doing well but the difference in numbers meant that it took some time to deal with them all. The gang members were surprisingly tenacious. They had an almost delusional confidence in themselves, even when they were outclassed.

  Moments later, it became apparent why.

  A man came running like a cannon ball toward Marion. He was easily two heads taller than Sebastian, who was already quite tall. Like the others, he wore a brown robe and a thick yellow belt, however, unlike them he didn’t have a shirt or top beneath the robe. He was built like a bodybuilder, almost wider than he was tall, which was saying something. There were scars strewn across his entire body, a record of a long and bloody life.

  Using some Movement Skill, the man moved quickly and would reach Marion before she would have a chance to react. Clearly he had Skills that were beyond anything that could be expected in a place called the Barren Wastelands.

  Sebastian quickly activated his [Quickstep]. His fastest Skill. His [Fleeting Cloud Step] was fast but not nearly fast enough to compete with the pure [Quickstep] Skill. In just two steps he crossed the road and landed in front of Marion.

  THUD

  Sebastian blocked the giant’s vertical slash. There was little in terms of technique in his attack but some powerful Skill infused it with pure strength. Combined with the immense weight of his greatsword, the hit was much stronger than it had any business being.

  Damn, that’s heavy! He should only be in the low level 40s, and from the wastelands, so how the hell is he so strong?

  Sebastian struggled not to show a reaction. He held strong as the apparent gang leader stared him down.

  “You dare make an enemy of the Blood Cleaver Gang!? You court death!” The gang leader shouted with a gravely voice, spit sprayed and his eyes were open so wide that they almost popped out of their sockets.

  Sebastian wasn’t listening to the generic monologue and grandstanding. His essence circulated and focused on his left fist. He let loose a [Shattering strike] aimed at the gang leader's center mass. Through sheer animalistic instinct, the giant managed to move his greatsword down to block in time.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  BOOM

  It was like a half a ton of TNT exploded. The wall of the nearby building was blasted apart and the gang leader was sent flying through the corner of another building and rolled back onto the road.

  Somehow, he got back up. He braced himself on his greatsword, which now had a large crack where Sebastian’s fist made impact, but he stood up straight. He was scratched, bruised, bleeding, and his clothes torn, but he still exuded confidence.

  Sebastian had never seen someone so truly furious before, except maybe once with Kevin. The man had a look of pure murder in his eyes.

  “You think a sucker punch and a fluke block makes you strong!? WITNESS MY TRUE STRENGTH! DIIIEEEE!”

  He swung his greatsword straight down and shot out a crescent of yellow essence.

  Sebastian quickly launched a [Crescent Cloud Slash] to meet it. Upon impact, Sebastian’s attack cut through the gang leader’s Skill and continued on.

  The giant man jumped and rolled out of its path, barely avoiding death. Sebastian was already on him when he got back on his feet. The gang leader once again displayed his truly impressive instincts and reaction times, honed from a lifetime of fighting for his life, and threw up his sword to block Sebastian's vertical slash.

  CLANG-TING

  He blocked Sebastian’s attack, but his greatsword broke in half. Without his sword, he had nothing to block the [Cloud Shadow Slash] that followed. It was all he could do to just barely move his head out of the way, but the shadow slash cut clean through his arm at the shoulder. The gang leader let out a guttural scream for only a moment before he clammed him jaw shut and stared at Sebastian.

  “You can’t kill me! The Burning Blood Gang would never let you get away with it. You’d be hunted for the rest of your miserable life and tortured until you beg—“

  Squelch

  Sebastian’s sword severed his head, which rolled off his shoulders and fell to the ground. His body followed moments later.

  With the invaders dealt with, the group gathered on the road.

  “Any injuries?” Sebastian asked the group.

  “Who do you think we are, Teacherman? They were small fries.”

  “I wouldn’t go so far as to call them small fries as some were quite talented, but yes, they weren’t much of a threat,” Marion said.

  They were interrupted by an older man, about sixty-five, with greying hair wearing a simple dark robe tied around his waist who hurried toward them. He moved quickly, almost as if running, except he didn’t run like anything Sebastian had ever seen. It was more like a shuffle. What could have been one step was instead a dozen tiny little tiptoe steps. His gaze was pointed down to the ground the entire time, and his hands clasped in front of him.

  When he got closer to the group, he dropped to the ground. He continued his strange little shuffle but on his hands and knees until he was a meter or two away. Even though he refused to look at any of them directly, he correctly identified Sebastian as the leader and addressed only him.

  “Praise be, Lord Practitioner! This lowly one is Kwan, unworthy of the title of Magistrate of Mujin. A thousand gratitudes for deigning to save our worthless lives. I fear we have nothing of worth as recompense so we offer our lives and our homes.”

  Behind him, hundreds—if not thousands—of mortal citizens of Mujin followed his lead. They got down on their knees and lowered their foreheads into the ground with their arms stretched out in front of them, palms up toward the heavens.

  “PRAISE BE!”

  “PRAISE BE!”

  They all chanted in unison a number of times before turning silent, awaiting Sebastian’s response.

  This wasn’t the first time Sebastian had seen the reverential attitude the people of the eastern continent had toward those with higher levels, especially those who were part of sects and the like, but this was a bit extreme.

  It was likely because of how rare it was for anyone to reach any decent level in the Red Sea. Anyone that did was most likely, for lack of a better word, evil. Much like the gang Sebastian and the others just saved them from. So treating them with the utmost respect was ingrained in them from birth.

  To meet a group of high-leveled people who actively stepped in to save them was probably akin to divine intervention. Still, Sebastian couldn’t help but feel like the Magistrate’s offer to serve and to house them was a desperate measure to keep them here, to rope in a powerful group to protect them. He didn’t mind it. It actually served his interests quite well.

  “I accept,” Sebastian said with authority, to the surprise of the rest of his group.

  They were about to make a fuss, but Sebastian gave them a pointed look and signaled them with his hand to hold it. The Magistrate and the rest of the crowd of townsfolk—which had grown steadily in the short period of time—all cheered with frenzy.

  “PRAISE BE!”

  “PRAISE BE!”

  In the crowd, Sebastian could see dozens upon dozens of people euphoric to the point of fainting and loosing all composure. As if they had spent a lifetime under the thumb of monsters only to be saved by an angel, which wasn’t all too far off.

  The rest of his group wasn’t prepared for the fervor of the people. Neither was Sebastian, but he was better at not showing it.

  They were all quite uncomfortable with the whole thing. It wasn’t until Sebastian called out to the crowd to tend to the wounded and to begin cleaning up the town that their tension loosed somewhat. He told the Magistrate to come see him at the house the next day, and the group returned.

  None of them could go back to sleep. They stayed up in the courtyard, sat around the fire to discuss what just happened.

  The sound of thousands of people rushing around town in the middle of the night to clean up the destruction was almost unsettling, but it didn’t last very long. Within half an hour everything died down and the calm of night returned.

  Thousands of dedicated workers could achieve a great deal in a short amount of time.

  “Sir, may I ask why you accepted their offer?”

  Sebastian looked at the old woman who had served as his second-in-command for quite some time now. His eyes moved around the courtyard and looked at the confusion and curiosity in the eyes of all six of them. He then settled his gaze at the fire in between them.

  “I’ve been thinking, a lot, for the past few months. Since before the war, if I’m being honest. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve the loyalty and patience you’ve all shown me, but I appreciate it, more than you know. That’s why I feel you should know, I’m not here for the same reasons as I suspect you are.” He paused as he thought about how to phrase his thoughts. It didn’t really matter how many times he played it out in his mind, reality never quite matched up the exact same. “I’m not here for money,” he continued, “or fame, or anything else that the Wandering Wolves Corps fought for. I’m here because I am an enemy of Lumeria. I have a pretty dark history with that kingdom, and its leaders. A personal vendetta, if you will. It’s only a matter of time before I go to war with them again, and not for money but because I intend to destroy them.”

  The silence was deafening, none of them said a word but the looks on their faces spoke volumes of the gravity of what Sebastian was saying. They were mercenaries who had to take the long way ‘round on their way home after a failed contract, not true soldiers in a war against the most powerful nation in the world. Each of them considered the implications of Sebastian’s words as he continued.

  “At first I thought I could deal with it myself, get strong enough that I could resolve my issues with them through personal power alone. Since the war, however, I’ve come to realize how naive I've been. A friend told me—a long time ago—that I would have to create a force of my own to stand against them. I wasn’t convinced then, but I am now. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to found a sect. This town seems as good a place as any to start— No, this place is actually perfect. The lack of other sects, the great number of mortals, it’s exactly what I need." He took a breath. "I have a method to not only gain a powerful Title but a means of growing stronger even without hunting monsters. It only works when you start young and weak, but that shouldn’t be an issue here.”

  Sebastian looked at each of them and tried to decipher how they felt. Marion thought about it seriously, giving it the weight it deserved. Safi didn’t seem to think as much about the future but rather sympathized with Sebastian’s past, with whatever must have happened to him to drive him to this. Gawen stared into the fire as a small smile formed on his face. The others’ reactions ranged from simply weighing pros and cons to looking appalled.

  “So I ask you all, with complete understanding for your own circumstances—are you still willing to stay?”

  After a brief pause, Gawen was the first to speak.

  “Of course, this is beyond my wildest dreams, Teacherman! I left Celder to become a mercenary because I wanted adventure and excitement. Building a sect from the ground up, claiming territory in a wasteland controlled by gangs, waging war against the Lumerian Kingdom… I’m all in!”

  “Me too. I told you, Uncle, I’m here to follow you. I wanted to see where you would end up and how far you’d go. This might not be exactly what I expected, but at the same time, it makes complete sense in a strange kind of way.”

  His two former students were the ones he felt most confident about but hearing them say it out loud still made him smile. He looked up at Marion and she met his gaze with a firm look in her eyes.

  “Being a mercenary was all I had in life... this is just the next step. I’m in.”

  “I’m sorry, but you’re all crazy,” Ferran said. “I’m in this business for the money. I’ve stayed around out of loyalty to the unit, and because I didn’t like my odds of getting home alone what with Lumeria pushing in on the borders, but this is too much. You guys might not have anything waiting for you back home, but I do. I have a family I need to get back to.”

  Sebastian looked at him and gave a nod. “That’s alright, thank you for everything thus far.” He turned his eyes to the remaining two members of the group.

  Víctor and Eduard looked at each other and sighed.

  “I am kind of curious to see where this’ll go, so I guess I’m in,” Eduard said.

  “Same,” Víctor said.

  Sebastian closed his eyes to take a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, they held a powerful resolve.

  “Well then, tomorrow we talk to the Magistrate and take over this town.”

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