Chapter 84 - 83 Back To River Landing

With his business in Loursend now completed Marcus turned his sights east back towards River Landing.

He did not know exactly where the capital was but knew that it was south of River landing and that it was the usual route to head through River Landing fist.

'It will probably take me about a week to arrive back in River Landing if I head there at full speed. Since I am much stronger now, I do not need to worry about bandits this time so I can get there by myself.'

Marcus planning to waste no time switched back over to his ghost form and floated out of the city.

As he floated over the streets of Loursend he could see long lines of people in carts and on foot trying to leave the city.

A bit regretful since he was the cause of the mass panic in the city, Marcus decided that if he came across anyone on the way to River Landing that was in trouble, he would lend a helping hand if he could.

After around three hours of floating Marcus finally came to the city walls and passed through them officially leaving Loursend.

He then located an enclosed area in the woods where no one could see him and resolidified.

Walking back onto the path Marcus cast his lightning strider spell and began running forward at full speed.

As he past by numerous people on there way out of Loursend they all turned their heads as they watched him run by looking like a blur.

Marcus ran fast and with a single purpose, to get back to River Landing as fast as possible.

However, as Marcus kept running, he soon got ahead of the crowds that had left the city and saw a caravan with twelve carts and around thirty guards that was begin assaulted by over fifty bandits.

Seeing that the group was in trouble Marcus infused his body with mana and used speed bursts to shot forward and join the fight.

Marcus took out the magic great sword he had obtained from the ogre king during the monster festival, using it instead of his scythe in order to preserve its durability.

The guards around the caravan and the bandits all looked in shock as they noticed Marcus appear seemingly out of nowhere and start slaughtering bandits slashing them to pieces with his sword.

He managed to kill three bandits before any of them were able to react, and the bandits tried to group up and encircle Marcus.

Unfortunately, Marcus simply jumped forward and swung his massive sword with a powerful slash, and while his swordsmanship was atrocious the immense power behind it still cleaved through a dozen bandits in one swing.

That was when Marcus felt a sense of danger from behind him when a man in high quality armor lunged from behind him with a spear.

Marcus quickly brought his great sword around and blocked the spear thrust that the man had sent at him.

The man had a confused look on his face wondering how this random girl that he had completely blindsided blocked his attack.

He tried to jump back out of Marcus's range and use the longer reach of his spear to his advantage only to find that his soul felt a crushing weight on it as he slammed into the ground immobile.

Marcus quickly checked his level finding that he was level twenty-one as he was trying to experiment with his phantom pressure ability and find out the how much people could take depending on their level.

He quickly verified that the level twenty-one man was not dying from his phantom pressure and then stabbed his sword into the mans chest killing him instantly.

At that point the moral of the remaining bandits vanished as they watched their leader fall without being able to mount any resistance.

Each of the bandits tried to run but many found they had been immobilized and some even died on the spot.

Soon there were no bandits left only the guards and members of the caravan looking at Marcus with shock and horror.

'Hm, looks like my phantom pressure can kill people of around level twelve or thirteen depending on their spirt stat. I also found that the more people I try to effect with it at once the weaker it gets so if there are too many targets it becomes ineffective.'

While he was analyzing the results of his experiment the strongest guard of the caravan who was a level twenty steel adventure came up to Marcus and said, "Thank you for saving us miss, we would have had a hard time getting out unscathed from such a large force of bandits. My name is Randolph, and I am the one leading the guards on this caravan's journey to River Landing. This caravan is delivering salt for the Silver Raven trading company, and I am sure that they would be willing to reward you for defending us and pay even more if you accompanied us the rest of the way."

Marcus who was still thinking about the results of his test with his phantom pressure ability barley noticed the guy talking to him, until Randolph grabbed his shoulder.

"Huh what, did you need something from me."

"Yes, I just wanted to thank you for coming to our rescue and wondered if you would like to travel with us the rest of the way to River Landing, I can guarantee you will be paid well for your services."

After thinking it over for a second Marcus said, "No thanks I am in a hurry and just made a quick stop to help out."

Marcus did not even wait for the man's response before taking off again down the road intent on making it to his destination as fast as he could.

Along the way he helped other groups that were being assailed by bandits, monster, or magical beasts often scaring the people more than whoever or whatever was attacking them.

After just three day of travel in which Marcus had taken no breaks the familiar town of Trostenwald came into view. It would have taken a normal group around seven to nine days to make this journey, but Marcus ran without rest through night and day.

Slowing down his pace Marcus approached the wooden fence that encircled the town and used his ghostly powers to slip through in order to not pay the entry tax and to leave no records of his travel.

Finding the same inn he had stayed at during his previous stop in Trostenwald, Marcus rented a room for one night before heading out to the tavern he had visited before.

He soon arrived in front of the Tuknite Tavern and entered into the familiar establishment.

Once he was inside unlike last time when his group had visited during off hours and the tavern was empty, this time now that it was well into the evening the tavern was full of people.

Many of the people in the tavern turned their heads and looked at Marcus as he walked in, many of them continuing to stare at him as he walked to the bar.

Sitting down Marcus ordered a mug of ale and some fried fish and started enjoying his food and drink. It had been quite some time since he had any alcohol and while he could not get a buzz since he had no blood, he could still enjoy the taste.

Unfortunately appearing to be a lone beautiful woman in a tavern full of drunk men, it was only a matter of time before one of them tried to hit on him.

A large man well over six feet tall came up to the bar next to Marcus and said, "Good day to you miss, I have not seen you around here before, I am the cousin of the owner of one of the mines here in Trostenwald, and I was wondering if you would share a drink with me."

Not even looking at the man since he had no interest in drinking with the him Marcus said, "No thanks I am just passing through and wanted to enjoy a quick drink and bite to eat alone."

The man being persistent put his left hand on Marcus' right shoulder and said, "Don't be like that, just have one drink with me, everyone in here wants to get to know the beautiful mysterious stranger that came in all alone."

Not wanting anymore to do with this man Marcus pushed the man's hand off his shoulder and went back to drinking.

The man getting a bit angry tried to grab Marcus by the arm and pull him off his seat, but found that Marcus would not budge even when he used his full strength.

However, Marcus was now thoroughly annoyed by this man who he had politely asked to leave, so Marcus grabbed his hand lifted him over his head and tossed him behind towards the tavern's entrance.

The man then flew through the air and slammed into the tavern door and continued outside smashing into the ground unconscious.

Marcus looked back a little surprised since he had not meant to toss the man with such force but being a relatively high level, his strength was far above normal people.

Everyone else in the tavern looked at Marcus in shock as they watched someone who appeared to be an average sized woman toss a mountain of a man through the air effortlessly.

Normally if a stranger had done this to one of the town folks in the tavern it would be the start of a fight but no one in the tavern was stupid enough to antagonize Marcus after that display.

While most people were around the same level of strength even some at level fifteen being considered quite strong, everyone knew that there were some monsters well above the average level that you never wanted to upset.

Sensing the sour atmosphere in the tavern Marcus quickly downed the rest of his ale and left, going back to his inn.

Once inside his room Marcus laid down onto the bed ready to sleep for the first time in three days and recover his stamina.

Waking up the next day Marcus exited the inn and got back onto the road expecting to reach River Landing by the end of the day.

When he was just around and hour away from river Landing Marcus saw the first group of carts he had seen in a while and notice that they were under attack by something.

As he got closer, he was able to see that they were being attack by what looked like two dozen blue ants that were around the size of corgis.