This is more like it. Someone gives me an order and I follow it. I don’t argue. I don’t question the person who gave me the order. I just do what I’m told. That’s how I was trained and that’s how it should be.

  Still, I don’t like taking point at times like this. Being the point man means being in the most exposed position and being the first to take hostile fire. I need to maintain an extreme level of alertness in order to succeed here. It gives me a headache.

  I wish Lily was the point man. That way I could at least stare at her massive ass. Then again, I would be distracted and might get someone killed, so it was better for me to be in front.

  Lily’s a sweet girl and I don’t want to see her get hurt. The same goes for Pip-Pip, Aurelia, Jack and Francoise. It doesn’t matter if I’m the leader or not, even the most boot-fucked soldier knows that protecting your own team is always a priority.

  I hope these adventurers understand that too. I have a pre-conceived notion that fantasy adventurers that you see in video games are more concerned with achieving personal glory and emulating the heroes that they read about in story books. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’d trust these people with my wallet but I don’t trust them with my life. They’re good people but I want to trade them for someone else.

  As we were walking, an explosion blew a hole in the wall right next to me, causing everyone to fall back. I peeked out of the hole to see what was going on.

  Bandits and adventurers were clashing in the courtyard below. Fireballs and arrows were being launched all over the place creating small clouds of smoke that made visibility difficult. The sounds of clashing steel was grating to my ears even from this distance.

  It was a scene of pure chaos. What made it worse is that I haven’t been in this world long enough to tell friend from foe, so I could not confidently provide covering fire from my position without the risk of friendly fire.

  My inability to help my allies frustrated me, so I looked around for anything I could do to help. I spotted more arrows and magical projectiles coming from the top of the wall. We were on the same level as them but we couldn’t see them due to the angle of our line of sight. I called Jack over and pointed to where I was looking.

  “Jack, are those friendlies?” I asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “It looks like they’re causing trouble for our friends.”

  “We can’t hit ‘em from this angle. If we keep moving this way, we’ll be able to flank ‘em. It’s your call.”

  “Sounds good. Lead the way.”

  I stood up and did as I was told. That was how it should be. I made a suggestion and the actual team leader decided to go through with it. I’m given an order and I follow it.

  Things are starting to feel somewhat normal again. My heart rate felt more manageable and the ache in my head was subsiding. Getting back into the routine of taking orders and shooting bad guys was comforting. It was the life I had lived for eight years and to be so abruptly taken away from such a life was jarring, to say the least.

  Now I was finally getting back into the swing of things. The best part was that the people I was killing were worth less than shit, so I was actually having fun. I couldn’t keep a smile from forming across my face. I was getting genuinely excited to kill these people.

  We turned the next corner and were faced with a wooden door. I could hear people shouting orders from outside. I took up a position right beside the door, raised my knee to my chest and slammed my foot into the door. The door flew off the rusted hinges and the brittle wood shattered.

  I turned around and saw a dozen or so bandits standing out in the open. There was no cover and only a few of them noticed me. It was a sight that I thought I would only experience in my dreams.

  I smiled as I raised my rifle and pulled the trigger. The bandits screamed and fell over each other as I mercilessly unloaded an entire magazine into them. The stone of the castle was plastered with blood and chunks of flesh and bone. The whole mass of corpses created possibly the largest pool of blood I had ever seen.

  A few of the bandits were crawling around groaning in agony. I contemplated putting them out of their misery but it was way more fun to let them die slow deaths.

  “I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this,” I said joyfully.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  I looked behind me to see who asked that question. It was Aurelia and she did not look happy. Her grip was so tight around her staff that her knuckles turned white.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked.

  “You’re smiling like you’re enjoying this. It’s like you enjoy killing people.”

  “Well, yeah. Of course I would enjoy killing these people. It’s a good thing.”

  I definitely struck a nerve in Aurelia when I said that. Her eyes went wide and she gritted her teeth so hard I thought they were gonna crack under all that pressure.

  “How can you say that killing people is a good thing?! There is nothing good about it! To think that a soldier would say something like that! No… You’re not a soldier. You’re nothing but a psychopath!”

  Without thinking, I walked right up to Aurelia, grabbed her shirt and pulled her close to my face.

  “Listen here, you little shit. You don’t know anything about me! So don’t go acting all high and mighty just because-”

  “Suzi! Put Aurelia down,” Jack ordered.

  I didn’t realize I was holding Aurelia up so far from the ground. I loosed my grip and gently set her down. When I released my hold on her shirt, I couldn’t bear to look her in the eye.

  I was seriously about to beat up a kid just because she insulted me. I’m supposed to be older. I’m supposed to be a role model for those younger than me so they can grow into proper adults. I’ve been through so many terrible things yet a child insulting me gets on my nerves? Shameful is the only way to describe it.

  What would my old comrades think if they saw me? Actually, I knew what they would say because they had already said it. Their words are echoing in my head as clear as the day I first heard them. How much shame have I brought on them?

  I was too ashamed to even say anything. I can only imagine how pathetic I must look. This is why I’m not fit to be a leader.

  “Suzi! Look out!”

  I was so preoccupied with the jumbled mess that were my thoughts that I almost didn’t look up in time to see a bandit charging at me with a knife. I raised my rifle and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. I had forgotten to reload.

  With how quickly the bandit was moving, I had no time to reload so instead I threw my rifle at him. With the man now briefly stunned, I had time to grab my pistol but it went off without my finger even near the trigger. To put it simply, I just shot myself in the leg. The pain caused me to fall backwards but I was still able to kill the bandit with five shots to his torso.

  At that moment, a large group of bandits emerged and pinned us down with magic projectiles and arrows. Jack gave us some concealment with a smokescreen and tried to drag me to safety. I still ended up getting hit by an arrow in my lower abdomen.

  Jack erected an ice wall for cover and Aurelia came over to treat my wounds. Immediately, she tried to pull the arrow out but my screams of protest forced her to stop.

  “Suzi, stop squirming! I have to pull the arrow out in order to heal you. If I don’t you’ll end up with a permanent hole in your body when I heal you.”

  “F-Fine. Just do it quickly.”

  Aurelia grabbed the arrow and pulled at it with as much force as she could muster. I gritted my teeth as the pain was terrible. Jack and Francoise were providing defense with their ranged attacks on the bandits while we all remained behind cover.

  To temporarily keep my mind off the pain, I started blind firing my pistol over the ice wall, hoping that I was lucky enough to hit something. Judging by the few shouts I heard, I definitely hit a few bandits.

  Soon enough, the arrow was removed from my abdomen and tossed aside. Aurelia then moved down to my calf. I had to painfully lay on my side so that she could see the wound better.

  “The bullet is still in your calf, Suzi. I’ll have to take it out,” Aurelia said as she grabbed a medical tool to help her with this task.

  “No, no, no, no, no. Aurelia please don’t do that. Please don’t…”

  Aurelia cut me off when she drove the medical tool into the wound in my calf. I screamed and started to thrash around. Pip-Pip and Lily had to hold me still.

  “Pip-Pip! Lily! Keep her still!”

  “We’re trying! She’s really strong!”

  “Oh my god!! Aurelia, stop!! Please! Oh god, it hurts!!”

  It felt like a beast was gnawing at my flesh from the inside. I felt my muscle fibers being pulled in unnatural directions and small bits of muscle being ripped out.

  “Hold on… I got it! Alright, get ready, Suzi! I’m going to pull the bullet out really hard!”

  “Oh no…”

  I could feel the bullet being pulled out of my calf and the pain was so terrible I thought I was gonna black out. Blood spurted out of the wound and stained Aurelia’s clothes. Once the bullet was finally out, Aurelia used her magic to heal me and relief washed over my entire body.

  As I was being healed, I peaked out from behind the ice wall and saw one of the bandits holding my SCAR-H. She looked at it with confusion and tossed it over the wall.

  “Come on, Aurelia! Hurry up!”

  “You can’t rush something like this! Be patient.”

  Francoise and Jack were getting tired from casting spells nonstop. I was starting to get anxious. I needed to be healed as quickly as possible to take off some of the pressure or else we would be quickly overrun.

  “There! Your wounds are healed, Suzi,” Aurelia said.

  “Jack, cover me!” I shouted.

  I vaulted over the ice wall and shot three approaching bandits in the head. There was another that tried to slash me with her knife but I blocked the attack and shot her twice in the gut.

  Another bandit tried to stab me with a spear but I simply moved to the side. I then moved closer to him, pressed the muzzle of my pistol to his chest and shot him twice at point-blank range.

  Arrows kept raining down around me so I picked up a corpse to use as a shield. I saw the arrows coming from the tower on the far side of the wall walk. The bandits were using those arrow slits to keep themselves protected. I considered myself to be a decent shot but I was not good enough to shoot through such a narrow spot, especially when under fire.

  I reloaded my pistol, being sure to save the empty magazine for later, as I kept being peppered by arrows. Jack was also being targeted and was now pinned down behind an ice wall he made. We needed someone to get us out of this situation.

  “Francoise! Can you shoot a fireball big enough to destroy that tower?”

  “Yes I can!”

  Francoise moved in front of me. The arrows passed right through her. In her hands formed a ball of fire so hot I thought I was going to be set alight just being near it. Francoise threw the fireball into the tower, causing an explosion with the strength of an artillery shell. The tower crumbled to dust. The bandits on the top fell down to our level, effectively taking themselves out of commission.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Francoise smiled brightly and ran back to Masahiro, who was still unconscious.

  “Masahiro, did you see that? I just destroyed that tower all on my own! Surely that makes me the best possible candidate to be your wife!”

  Pip-Pip stared at Francoise like she was gazing upon the dumbest person alive.

  “Francoise… Masahiro is unconscious,” Pip-Pip replied.

  “What?! Does that mean he didn’t see me? Then that means I did all that hard work for nothing…”

  Was saving the lives of her team not as important for Francoise as being noticed by the man she loves? I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as she does her job.

  I led the party down the stairs of the ruined tower. A bandit was also walking up the stairs but I eliminated her with a head shot.

  When we got to the ground floor, a few enemies were already ready to attack us. They must have heard the commotion we made.

  The first person to attack us was a man who wielded a simple hammer and tried to hit me over the head with it. I blocked the strike and shot him twice in the abdomen. A woman with a sword ran towards me but I stopped her with a bullet to the knee and finished her off with a head shot.

  A frail man jumped out at me and tried to grab at my pistol. With how skinny the man was, I was able to easily overpower him. I slammed the man into a nearby wall and when he was on the ground, I pressed the muzzle of my pistol into his neck and shot him twice. Given how close I was, quite a bit of blood splattered back into my face.

  I wiped my glasses and told Pip-Pip and Aurelia to get Masahiro to safety. Just then, another bandit jumped out at me. The man managed to make me drop my pistol and put me in a headlock.

  “Suzi!” Jack called out.

  “Don’t move!” yelled the man who held me hostage. “If you take another step closer, I’ll- H-Hey! Stop moving!”

  I was thrashing about in an effort to get free but the man was much stronger than me. He punched me in the face, turned me around and began to crush me with his arms. I managed to pull out my knife and stab him right in the collar bone but that did little to stop the man. He slammed me to the ground, pulled the knife out and tossed it aside. I tried to crawl away but he put me in another headlock.

  I wanted to scream but my throat was being crushed so severely that I could feel the insides touching. I looked around for anyone to help but everyone was preoccupied with their own battles.

  Jack and Francoise had been trying to get Pip-Pip, Aurelia and Masahiro to a safe location. Lily was trying to summon a creature to fight for her but a bandit kept interrupting her incantation.

  I was on my own. I had to think of something quick or else I’ll die! I can’t die yet! I need to know if Dani is in this world. But more importantly at the moment, my team was in danger.

  The bandit that was attacking Lily now had her fully pinned to the ground. He had his hands firmly grasped around her neck and had started squeezing the life out of her.

  I had to do something. I was not going to let Lily or anyone else die!

  I began to try to push the man’s arm over my head in an effort to get free but I didn’t get very far. My vision started to grow darker and darker with each passing second but I had an opportunity. I opened my mouth as wide as I could and chomped on the man’s arm.

  The man screamed as he tried to get me under control but I kept on biting. The taste of blood filled my mouth, dripped down my neck and soaked the collar of my shirt. I could feel my teeth sink deeper and deeper into his flesh. Small strings of his muscle fibers got stuck in between my teeth.

  The man punched me in the head repeatedly. His strikes were almost strong enough to knock me out but I managed to stay conscious. He kept on hitting me until blood ran down the side of my head and I started seeing double of everything.

  This went on for what felt like an eternity before the man finally had enough and pushed me away from him. I had a massive chunk of his bicep in my mouth. I spat it out and ran right up to the man.

  I grabbed the bandit’s face and pressed my thumbs into his eyeballs as hard as I could. He screamed for his comrades in such a pathetic way that I couldn’t recognize him as a human being anymore. This man had just turned into nothing more than a parasite.

  I pulled my thumbs out from the man’s bloody eye sockets and just left him as he was. He kept screaming for someone to help him but no one would come. He would bleed out soon.

  I then focused my attention on the bandit that was strangling Lily. I grabbed my knife off the ground and charged at him. I plunged the blade deep into his neck and dragged him off her. Once I was sure the bandit was dead, I ran over to make sure she was uninjured.

  I held her face up so that she was looking at me. My blood-soaked hands unintentionally dirtied her beautiful, flawless skin.

  “Lily! Lily, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. But Suzi, you… you’re bleeding from your mouth!”

  “Don’t worry, honey. It’s not my blood anyway.”

  Blood was still dripping from my mouth. I must have looked like a wild animal because Lily moved away from me slightly. I wiped my mouth and helped her to stand.

  Behind us were a bunch of bandits ready to attack. I stood directly in front of Lily, urging her to move back so that she wouldn’t get hurt. I knew I wouldn’t survive fighting so many enemies at once but I was prepared for that.

  “Lily, get away from here. I’ll hold these guys off so you can escape.”

  “No! Suzi, you can’t fight off that many people at once!”

  “I can try.”

  “Don’t be stupid! I can help! Just watch me.”

  Lily clapped her hands together and began speaking an incantation for a spell. A large, glowing magic circle appeared on the ground. Magical energy began to swirl around in the air to take the shape of something large. A bright flash of light briefly blinded me.

  When I opened my eyes, an imposing creature with the legs and head of a bull and the body of a man stood in front of me. It had a nose ring and its horns were decorated with elaborate engravings.

  “Lily… What is that?” I asked.

  “He’s one of the spirits I can summon. His name is Abrams the Minotaur.”

  Abrams looked back at me and gave me a nod. At Lily’s orders, he charged forward into a crowd of bandits. He snapped their swords like twigs and threw them around like toys. Every punch he threw at the bandits sent them flying back and every step he took shook the ground.

  “Goddamn…” I said in astonishment.

  “Hey, Suzi, I have your weapon.”

  Jack walked up to me while holding my rifle. He was covered in scrapes and bruises but otherwise, he was fine. Lily had my pistol in her hand. She must have found it while Abrams was fighting.

  I thanked both of them and took my weapons. I checked to see that my rifle was still in good shape. It had a few scratches that were not there before but there was no severe damage.

  I loaded a fresh magazine into my rifle and just as I did a large explosion occurred behind me. The shockwave pushed me to the ground.

  I looked over to see the remaining bandits looking up at Maximus floating above everyone else giving a message in a voice that made me feel small and insignificant.

  “Listen up, you worthless bandits! Most of your allies have been rendered unable to fight! Those of you that remain are now hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed! You have no chance of winning this battle! Surrender now or be annihilated! There will be no second chances!”

  The remaining bandits stood as they were for a moment, pondering their chances of winning. A few looked ready to charge into battle once again but froze when they looked around. I secretly hoped they were dumb enough to keep fighting. Just as I said earlier, the world is better off without them.

  Unfortunately, the bandits were smarter than they appeared. They all dropped their weapons and surrendered. The adventurers rounded them up and shackled all of them in iron cuffs. Others began grabbing the bandits that were unconscious.

  Just as I was starting to relax, Lily came right up to me and slapped me across the face. It was a surprisingly strong strike. I think if she hit me any harder I would be on the floor.

  “What are you slapping me for?!”

  “Because you were stupid! You were going to fight a group of bandits all on your own for no reason! You would have gotten killed if I didn’t step in.”

  Lily had tears dancing on the corners of her eyes. I raised my hand to her face to wipe them away.

  “Lily, please don’t cry. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  She was such a sweet girl. I wish more people like Lily existed. She was also right about me being stupid.

  People who try to act like action movie heroes always end up being the absolute worst. They’re always trying to motivate people with corny speeches they had rehearsed an embarrassing number of times beforehand and treat every combat engagement like a historical moment on the same level as the Battle of Cannae. They act like they speak for everyone when in reality, they’re more likely to get their team killed with their theatrics than the actual enemy.

  I had always followed my training to the letter, so why did I almost try to fight off a clearly overwhelming force on my own? I had never done that before. I knew better than to do something so reckless and stupid. It’s like I don’t know myself anymore. Maybe it was just a simple lapse of judgement and nothing more.

  I took the time to walk over to the fountain to see what exactly that familiar smell was. I looked inside the fountain and saw exactly what I expected.

  The fountain was turned into a burn pit for dead bodies. Piles of charred bones filled the entire fountain. A thick layer of ashes were beneath the bones which led me to believe that more people than what I could see were killed and burned. Some bones were significantly smaller than others.

  Lily was moving towards me to see what was in the fountain but I stopped her before she could.

  “Turn around. You don’t need to see this,” I said.

  Lily did as I asked and went the other way. Aurelia on the other hand, was staring right into the fountain that was repurposed into a burn-pit for corpses.

  “You should go, Aurelia. Look away.”

  “Why would anyone do something like this?”

  I didn’t have an answer. I think this is just what happens when one person is given just an ounce of power over another or something like that. Personally, I think some people are just born sadistic. To them, killing and burning innocent people just makes sense and it’s impossible for others to understand how their mind works.

  Maximus was looking into the fountain also. I could tell he was angry just from the way he was balling his fist. I think he wanted to throw the remaining bandits into a pit and burn them just like what those bastards had done to those innocent people but maybe I was just projecting my own desires onto him.

  I saw something glistening underneath the ash. I pulled it out and wiped it clean. It was a silver ring that had the Iron Hawk guild insignia engraved into it.

  Maximus saw me holding the ring and his face became distraught. That was when I remembered his grandson was one of the missing guild members and the ring was likely his. I don’t even need to explain what must have happened.

  I silently gave Maximus the ring. He held the ring to his chest and cried. I couldn’t stand to see him like this, so I went over towards the bandits that were now our prisoners.

  “Who did this?” I asked.

  They seemed confused at my question so I asked again.

  “Who killed these people and burned them?”

  “Wilhelm ordered us to do it. I’m just the one who carried out the order.”

  I looked over to the man who had just confessed. He was tall and burly. He had a little stubble on his upper lip and a long scar running across his face.

  “You carried out the order to kill these people and burn their bodies?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you. Wilhelm ordered me to do it.”

  “Who’s Wilhelm? Is he your leader?”

  “Yes, but a few months ago Wilhelm took in this strange woman and has been doing everything she says ever since. That woman said she only needed that adventurer alive so she ordered Wilhelm to kill the rest.”

  “How many people did you originally have in your custody when this strange woman first arrived?”

  “I-I don’t know the exact number but we had around fifteen people per cell.”

  I thought back to when I was in the dungeon. The amount of cells was likely more than I could see so the true number of innocent people who were mercilessly slaughtered was more than I could anticipate. Looking into the eyes of the man who willingly carried out such a horrific request made my blood boil.

  “You know, I never expected a bandit to admit to something like that. Usually people like you would pass the blame onto someone else just to save your own ass.”

  “I know my fate. There is no point in hiding what I did.”

  “You’re right. I will at least respect you for being honest. For that, I’ll make this quick.”

  I took out my pistol and shot the man in the face. Just like stepping on a bug, I went about my day.

  I went over to Aurelia and tried to comfort her. She was still tearing up over those people in the burn pit. I gently placed my hand on her head and she let me rub it.

  “Well now… Isn’t that an odd sight.”

  Everyone turned to where the voice was coming from. It was a man with orange hair and wearing dark armor standing atop the castle wall. Hanging from his hip was a simple shortsword. He was also wearing a strange bandolier that was decorated with small silver plates.

  “You just killed one of my finest subordinates and without even giving him the chance to stand trial for his crimes. You truly are a heartless person.”

  His tone was mocking and it didn’t seem like he took the situation seriously. It was like he was sure he was going to win a fight he hadn’t even started yet and it seriously pissed me off.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wilhelm and I am-”

  I cut Wilhelm off by unloading an entire magazine from my rifle into his body. Twenty bullets pierced his flesh and shattered his bones. He fell forward but unfortunately, he didn’t die.

  Wilhelm was gasping and wriggling around like a worm as I approached with my knife drawn.

  “You… bitch!”

  “Shut up. You know, your scalp will make a nice decoration for my room.”

  Just before I approached, Wilhelm ripped off his bandolier and he began violently twitching around. He began to make snarling noises like you would hear from a rabid dog. His armor fell off as the straps snapped. The clothes he wore underneath stretched and tore as his body grew.

  Wilhelm’s legs twisted into a digitigrade form. His fingernails darkened and extended to create claws that were sharp enough to cut through stone. His eyes burned a bright orange and his face stretched and twisted until it resembled that of a wolf.

  When he finally rose from the ground, he stood at a towering 300 centimeters in height. Steam bellowed from his mouth and he let out an ear-piercing howl.

  All I could do was stand and watch in utter astonishment at something I have no idea how to deal with.