The bandit’s companions stared at him with a look of shock on their faces as he was pierced by a Long Sword from the back that protruded from his chest.

“Garuaah, guruooon! Woaou guoorua gaooan!!” (Look at that stupid face! This is why I can’t get enough of surprise attacks!!)

Originally, as was Blazer’s principle, he would never stop and disengage stealthily after a hit-and-run attack, but the guy currently roared in laughter.

“Wh-what!?”

“That’s…is that a Kobold!? That’s strange!” 

In front of the bandits who were still stunned by the sudden attack, stood a tall and lean Kobold who had just killed one of their comrades by stabbing. This Kobold was a head taller than the average Kobold, and it had a toned body that did not have any unnecessary fat on it.

He was a light combatant that completely focused on speed.

The bandits’ initial response was delayed because their image of a Kobold, being a heavy creature slightly smaller than an adult male, was far too removed from the one in front of them. 

“Tsk, it’s a stray Kobold! Hurry up and kill it!”

The judgment of their yelling leader was correct. Ordinarily, if a lone Kobold suddenly appears at the entrance of a village, it was believed that it was a “stray” that was driven away from its pack.

However, that was not exactly the case here.

… Blazer’s roar attracted all the bandits’ attention, and while their attention was on him, nobody noticed the silver Kobold and the others who had snuck up behind the group quickly.

“Awooooooooooooooo”

I let loose a magically-charged roar as loud as I could.

【Activated: Battle Cry】

【Effect: The Hellhound’s roar raises the Kobold’s morale, enhancing their base abilities.】

By the way, the Hellhound’s roar not only strengthened my companions but also improved my own physical abilities and magic as well.

After I raised my base capabilities, I placed my hands on the ground and unleashed ranged earth magic which had an area attack effect, and fired it towards the bandit leader and his subordinates. 

“Vorugauah, garuuaaah!” (Devour them completely, Binding Fang!)

“Guaaah!!”

“Uoooooh!?”

“I-it hurts!”

The bandits in the range of my attack all had their legs pierced by the sharpened clods released by my magic, inflicting injuries and keeping them rooted in place.

“Binding Fang” is a ranged non-human magic derivative of the spell “Fangs of the Earth”, which brought down the rock monitor lizard. While each fang is smaller and less powerful than the ones released by “Fangs of the Earth”, the number and area of coverage of the fangs increase drastically.

Excluding the guy that Blazer killed earlier, the move immobilized about half of the bandits, including their leader.

In addition to my attack, the bandits who were out of the range of “Binding Fang” or avoided it, were attacked by both Buster and Ax.

“Vorugau guruaaah!!” (I am going to cut you bastards in a flash!)

Buster twisted his body to the side at the same time as he advanced and assumed a stance with his Great Sword positioned from his flank. From that stance, he used his strength and flexibility to swing the Great Sword horizontally.

“Mmmmphrh!? Ugh, gaah… ah…”

“Guhaa!”

The horizontal blow sent a bandit’s sword flying when he tried to block the attack and cut through the torsos of two other bandits, causing them to fall to their knees while trying to keep their guts from falling out with their hands…

Meanwhile, Ax boldly swung his Battle Axe and fired off a successful attack.

“Woaaan, gauu, kuaoh!” (Uooooh, hiyaa, eat this!)

“Ugh!”

However, for better or for worse, while the spinning Battle Axe’s blade did not make contact with one of the bandits, the handle caught him on the side of his head, sending him flying and rendering him unconscious.

“Damn youuu!!”

“Kuaofuh” (You’re just wasting your energy.)

Another bandit fired a counter-attack at Ax with a slash of his short sword, but the big blue Kobold effectively blocked it with the shield on his left hand and knocked his opponent’s weapon away with brute force.

“Ah…”

The force from the shield attack, or Shield Bash, as it is commonly called, caused the bandit to let go of the weapon he held with both hands. This left the man’s abdomen wide open, and a sideways swing of the Battle Axe chopped him in half.

Drawing cover from the series of timed attacks by Buster and Ax, Lancer had come up to the flank and jumped at an opponent, piercing him through the chest.

Right after I invoked the attack spell “Binding Fang”, Blazer, who immediately took advantage of the mayhem and erased his presence, also killed another bandit with a blow from the enemy’s blind spot.

I could say that after the first attack, the match had already been decided. My friends had already taken out 7 men, while there were 9 bandits immobilized as they were pierced by the Earth Fangs that sprung from the ground.

Even though they were currently immobile, I still considered the archers within the band of rogues as threats, so I took precautions and kept them in check so that I could readily shoot them to death first if the need arose.

Currently, only three men who were were pale and trembling stood on the bandits’ side.

In contrast, although one of the five vigilantes from Viel village incurred injuries in the abdomen due to being hit by the spikes in the metal ball of the bandits’ flail, the remaining four were safe and unharmed.

It would be probably hard for the bandits to turn the tables in this kind of situation. I guess we should wrap this up soon. With my bow at the ready, I pointed my arrow at the Warhammer-wielding bandit leader. 

After staying like that for a while, I slowly pointed to the ground.

I repeated the action several times.

“…tsk, you want us to throw down our weapons?”

“Wau, gaouh” (Yes, that’s right.)

This guy is quite good! I nodded in response to his question.

After a while of debating with himself, the bandit leader muttered, “Tsk, looks like there’s no way we can win, huh…” as he threw away his weapon. There is a high chance of bandits being sentenced to death if caught, but he chose to take his chances with that rather than be killed here and now.

As long as they were alive, it was possible to look for a chance and escape or survive as a criminal slave.

Because he decided to give up, it also saved us the trouble of having to kill them.

Besides, I don’t like killing my enemies after I win or they concede defeat. 

 There’s a saying that despair gives courage to a coward, after all.