The Hero and the Mad Youth

Buzz…

The clear sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air.

The long spear seemed to be telling its master that it was ready and could fight at any moment.

“Hah!!”

With a sharp cry, Arlen leapt out of the small bushes and thrust toward the nearest bandit.

“Who are you?!”

The short bandit asked, his mind failing to process the situation.

Asking questions while blocking was a terrible disadvantage.

“You don’t need to know.”

A cold glint flashed in Arlen’s eyes as she stared viciously at the bandit.

“Looking for death!”

The bandit snarled.

The other bandits nearby noticed this and picked up their weapons, watching the scene with expressions as if they were enjoying a show.

Looking at the sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl before him, he was first shocked by her appearance, then his face twisted into a vicious grin.

She was probably some noble’s daughter who had nothing better to do and came looking for excitement, the bandit lazily thought.

Holding his sword in one hand, he easily blocked Arlen’s thrust.

At this moment, Arlen did not panic at all.

Instead, she revealed a satisfied smile.

“I say, little girl, you should just—ah!”

Just as he smugly began to speak, he was struck down by the shaft of Arlen’s spear.

Without madness to protect him, and with barely any armor, his body was instantly damaged internally by the blow.

He lay on the ground, unable to move.

After all, I am still a hero.

Even though every aspect of my body is far inferior to before, the memories of being a higher being remain.

So I am still confident I can handle a group of these foolish thieves, Arlen thought.

Seizing the opportunity, Arlen swung the spear and delivered a fatal blow to the bandit on the ground.

To be honest, Arlen had never killed anyone before, and she had always been afraid of such things.

But after seeing these bandits, who had lost all reason, massacre villages, she felt relieved.

For madmen, madness must be answered with madness—using her spear to save their frenzied souls.

“May you rest in peace in heaven…”

She softly prayed for the bandit, following the church’s tradition.

Arlen struggled to pull the spear from the bandit’s body, spun it once, and flung it hard.

The thick blood on the spearhead splashed onto the ground with a sharp sound.

Several bandits who had been watching now grew tense, gripping their various weapons tightly, all wearing grim expressions.

“The short one is dead… that’s impossible… right?!”

A bandit with a weak mentality shouted it out loud.

That shout further crushed their morale.

However, they were not completely panicked.

No matter how skilled she was, she was still an ordinary person without madness, just like them.

Aside from the bandit leader and the youth who possessed fighting energy, none of the others did.

And they had eight people.

Surrounding and attacking a single girl still gave them the advantage, so there was no need to be afraid.

The eight bandits slowly approached Arlen, who stood still, intending to surround her and attack together.

As the encirclement gradually tightened, Arlen naturally could not wait to die.

She slightly adjusted her breathing, searching for their weaknesses like a hawk hunting prey.

Suddenly, she spotted a short bandit wearing chainmail.

Without hesitation, she assumed a lancer’s charging stance.

“Huh… ah!!!!”

Synchronizing with her breathing, she lowered her body and charged forward with all her strength.

She shouted loudly to boost her morale, though her bell-like voice sounded pleasant no matter how she raised it.

The short bandit realized he was the target.

He raised his sword to guard his front, watching Arlen’s every move.

Closer.

Closer.

She was about to thrust.

As long as I dodge and stab her once, this girl is dead for sure, the short bandit thought.

But what happened next was completely unexpected.

Just as the spear was about to reach him, Arlen stabbed it into the ground and used it like a pole vault.

She flipped over the short bandit’s head.

The bandit stared in disbelief at the dark-blue figure floating overhead, his whole body trembling.

She didn’t follow the rules at all.

“Ugh!”

With a strange cry, the girl tightly clamped the short bandit’s neck with her thighs.

Using the spear for leverage and the power of her legs, she twisted violently.

Crack.

The bandit’s spine snapped just like that.

The short bandit twitched uncontrollably on the ground before quickly stopping his breathing, his face frozen in terror.

The other bandits had intended to support him, but Arlen’s movements flowed seamlessly without any openings.

By the time they arrived, they were met with Arlen, who had just pulled her spear from the ground, and a corpse that still retained body heat.

The corpse bore a twisted, agonized expression.

Seeing this, the remaining bandits grew fearful, their hands trembling as they held their weapons.

“Do you still want to continue…?”

Arlen asked coldly.

Under the night sky, Arlen’s pale red eyes emitted a crimson glow.

The spear in her hand swung like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

“You’ll die, you know.

I advise you to surrender quickly…”

She spoke coldly, as if threatening them, while drawing a beautiful arc with her spear and pointing the tip at the remaining bandits.

The timid ones trembled violently.

Some even dropped their weapons and knelt to beg for mercy.

The bolder ones clenched their teeth and raised their weapons, as if preparing to duel Arlen.

In truth, Arlen was already extremely tired.

Her body could not withstand such intense exertion.

That was why she tried to persuade them to surrender.

To demonstrate the overwhelming gap in strength, she had devised the method she used against the short bandit earlier.

She had chosen him specifically because she feared she might not be able to jump that high.

“Still coming?”

Trying her best to remain calm, Arlen felt overwhelmed facing three bandits.

She assumed her stance and charged straight at them.

As she ran, she wildly swung her spear, rushing past the three of them.

Forced to block her attacks, the bandits scrambled to defend themselves.

After several charges, their formation was completely disrupted, and they suffered numerous wounds.

However, Arlen was also injured, gaining five or six cuts on her body.

“Ah!”

She let out a sharp cry.

She charged again.

This time, she did not aim for their bodies.

Her target was their legs.

With rapid thrusts, before the bandits could react, they dropped to their knees from the intense pain.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

Arlen was completely exhausted now, panting heavily, her vision darkening.

She had not eaten properly since leaving the Demon Castle, and it seemed like hypoglycemia was setting in.

“One… huff… none of you are getting away!”

Panting, she dragged her spear and slowly walked toward the three.

The three trembled and dropped their weapons, begging Arlen for mercy.

However, Arlen could not hear them at all.

These were the ones who had gone on the wildest killing spree earlier.

“Huff… the wheel of fate always turns, and the goddess spares no one.

Go to hell!”

Arlen said through heavy breaths.

Suddenly, she smelled something strange.

Looking at the three bandits, she saw that one of them had a large wet stain on his pants.

He had been so frightened that he had lost control.

Still, Arlen showed no mercy.

One spear thrust each, and she sent all three to hell.

As for the remaining four, Arlen did not intend to spare them either.

She tied them up and left them to be dealt with by the villagers.

Swish.

She shook the blood off her spear again.

Looking at the blood on the ground, Arlen suddenly felt the urge to taste it.

But she quickly came to her senses.

She absolutely could not do that.

She was a hero.

After a brief rest, she looked toward the brown-haired youth’s side.

Several bandit corpses lay around him.

A battle between someone with madness and someone without it was absolute domination.

Perhaps because the youth had only recently awakened his madness, he had not completely crushed his opponents, holding only a slight advantage.

At that moment, he was locked in fierce combat with the bandit leader.

A green aura of madness emanated from the leader’s body.

It was clearly a clash between two warriors.

Since the youth had just become a warrior, he was no match for the leader.

He struggled to block with his sword, his counterattacks wild and unskilled, showing no talent for swordsmanship at all.

In contrast, the bandit leader calmly parried each strike and occasionally carved new wounds into the youth’s body.

Arlen hurried over to help him.

She stabbed at the bandit leader without any technique.

Protected by madness, her attacks could not deal any serious damage and served only to draw his attention.

Whenever he tried to strike the youth, Arlen intercepted him.

“Damn it, you annoying fly!”

The bandit leader snapped and thrust his sword toward Arlen.

Caught off guard, she tried desperately to dodge but was still stabbed in the left side of her lower abdomen.

The leader tried to pull his sword out, but Arlen clung to it tightly, refusing to let go.

Unable to pull it free, he stabbed deeper, intending to force her to release it.

While he was delayed by attacking Arlen, the youth seized the chance and slashed his sword across the leader’s neck.

The leader had never expected that he would overlook the youth.

He slowly collapsed to the ground.

Enduring the pain, Arlen pulled the sword out.

Despite the excruciating agony, she managed to extract it, blood soaking her clothes.

She quickly tore bandages from her clothing and performed emergency first aid on herself.

“Thank you.”

The youth said awkwardly, not daring to look Arlen in the eyes.

“You’re welcome.

Deal with the remaining people yourselves.

I’ll sit here for a bit and then leave.”

Arlen said coldly.

She needed to leave this forest quickly and see the real world outside.

Before long, Arlen headed toward the forest exit as dawn began to break.

The youth looked at her lonely back and felt a hint of reluctance.

He glanced at the villagers, then at his mother.

His mother seemed to understand and simply nodded.

The youth laughed brightly and followed the trail Arlen had left in the snow.

At this moment, no one noticed that there were two figures in a large tree at the village entrance.

“Master, I don’t understand.

If we knew there was poison, why did we still eat it?”

The red-haired girl asked the black-haired girl.

“Are you an idiot?

You’re the only one who actually swallowed it.

I didn’t.”

The black-haired girl mocked her.

“But… the little maid has grown stronger…”

Lilith said.

“Is someone there?!”

A sharp-eared hunter seemed to notice something.

But in the blink of an eye, the tree was empty.

“Maybe I imagined it…”

The hunter scratched his head.