Chapter 58: Tragic
As they got closer, Mitch finally saw their faces. The person in the middle, presumably their leader, had a bulky figure with fissures running through his shell in several places.
His face was free of scars, except for two long gashes that went from his forehead to his chin, through his left eye.
In his hands were a spear and two daggers, allowing him to fight in both medium- and melee-range.
Behind him were four others. Their bodies were visibly better off than their leader’s, but their weapons also seemed to be of a poorer quality.
Shockingly, none of them had any exterior mutations.
Komutan had long since noticed them approaching and went forward to intercept them. Mitch, Madeline, and Isaac all followed suit, but let the chief speak with the outsiders.
Before he could even say anything, the opposing leader started shouting commands, which made everyone’s faces fall.
Madeline quickly translated what he said.
"Give us all your women and food, and we will let the rest of you leave. Don’t, and we will kill you all!"
Mitch got quite irate from hearing that, but he didn’t lose his cool. Instead, looking around at everyone’s expressions, he found this to be quite the opportunity.
"Those scum! Mitch, you have to teach them a lesson!"
’Easy, girly. I have an idea of how to turn this into a good encounter.’
Through Katherine’s shouts and huffs, Mitch walked out of the crowd and towards the bandit leader. Behind him, Madeline and Isaac followed, one as a translator and the other as a guard.
When the leader saw Mitch approaching, he shouted at him. Madeline told him that it was a warning to step back.
Mitch ignored that and stomped the ground, accelerating past the chief in an instant.
The bandit leader tried backing off, surprised by his speed. But it was too late.
Mitch reached forward and caught him by the neck, pinning him to the ground.
The other bandits quickly pointed their weapons towards Mitch, snarling warnings. Mitch ignored them too.
He had already scanned all of them. They were at the peak of the Sparked realm; in other words, they were too weak to do anything against him.
However, they had some useful mutations.
He turned his head towards the tribe and addressed them.
"Isaac and Komutan, you two shall fight one of these brutes each. Thereafter, it will be your turn to defeat their leader, child."
Madeline translated each word to the villagers, only to abruptly stop when she got to the last part.
"What do you mean, Michael? Why do I need to fight them?"
She had never fought anything before and therefore didn’t know the power she held. Madeline was already an Infused being, yet the leader was merely Sparked.
This was also why Mitch decided to make her fight. Eventually, she would need to learn.
It was better that her first time was in a controlled environment rather than in the wild against an equally matched opponent.
"Do not fear, Madeline. I will not allow any of them to hurt you. Now, tell them to follow my instructions if they want their leader to live."
She reluctantly complied, informing the underlings of what they were supposed to do.
With the life of their leader on the line, they had no option other than putting down their weapons.
Mitch nodded, once more scanning them to determine who would fight whom.
"Isaac, you will fight him. Komutan, he will be your opponent," he expressed, finding two good whetstones for his followers.
The bandits also seemed to have understood Mitch somewhat, as the two people he pointed at made some distance from the rest of the group.
Isaac walked opposite his opponent, a slender man with rib daggers and stone stakes in each of his hands.
Meanwhile, Komutan was already in position, waiting for his meatball-looking opponent to arrive. He held two thick branches, both ending in big rocks.
Mitch had chosen their opponents with one goal in mind—to expose his followers’ weaknesses.
There was no need for words. All four of them were experienced fighters, so they started combat the instant they found their opponent distracted.
As per Mitch’s intentions, the fights were unfavorable from the start.
Isaac had turned the lion teeth into a spear and a dagger, taking a more balanced approach to fighting.
Unfortunately for him, his opponent’s battle style excelled against those with a balanced one.
He kept zipping back and forth, not letting Isaac get a hit in. The way he ran was rather unimpressive, similar to his mutation. Yet, versus a strongman like Isaac, it was the most efficient method.
His mutation came from zebras and made his legs stronger.
"It’s not that bad of a mutation overall, is it?" Katherine commented while watching the fight.
’The sad part is that most of its power is being wasted. What makes it so effective for zebras is that it also helps them fend off predators behind them.’
But the person fighting against Isaac was only using it for mobility. He hadn’t tried kicking him even once.
That was not to say it wasn’t working.
The weapons he was using had no edges, which would usually make them counterproductive. However, against an opponent with a strong exterior, the blunt force from the rounded tip had an easier time breaking through.
Isaac kept swinging his weapons and limbs wildly, hoping to get a hit in. All it did was expose more openings, letting his opponent shatter his exoskeleton in several places.
Of course, he made sure to guard his vital organs, but his back was constantly wide open.
The bandit used to have a fearful look on his face after seeing how fast Mitch was. He had thought that all of them were that fast, which would invalidate his speed.
As the fight continued, however, he slowly started smiling more and more, assured of his victory.
After taking a few more hits, Isaac suddenly stopped moving. He still angled his body in a way that protected his head and chest but made no other attempt to reciprocate.
Mitch started to stand up, getting ready to intervene at a moment’s notice.
’Has Isaac given up? How tragic, I really had high hopes for him.’
He crouched down and was just about to launch forward when something unexpected happened.
