Chapter 64 Close Victory

"Surge!!!!"

The large battle axe slammed into the ground.

**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground around him cracked, and a mighty shockwave surged like a fountain.

"Vortex."

Evan did not hesitate to pour his remaining energy into the skill as it created a whirling spiral mass of magic power around his sword, which he thrust forward in the direction of the shockwave that was surging towards him.

***BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

The shockwave collided with the mass of magic power as the two exploded instantly, releasing a small mushroom cloud into the air.

Evan reached for his space expansion bag on his waist and pulled out three random potions.

He downed the contents of the bottles, wishing that at least one of them would be an energy recovery potion.

Luckily, his wish was fulfilled as he felt his body getting reinvigorated, along with his muscles becoming firmer to withstand the sudden implosion of strength he felt next.

**WHOOSHHH!!!

Evan did not have the time to revel in this feeling as a giant battle axe tore through the cloud of dust in front of him, its wielder coming through a second later as the bandit leader tossed the second axe he had strapped to his back in Evan's direction.

"Tsk..."

The young hero clicked his tongue, backstepping to create more distance as she squeezed his barely recovered energy and casted a spell.

"Lightning Spear."

His heart thumped wildly as his magic power roused itself to generate golden lighting that travelled down his arm and shaped itself into a short spear that could be held with one hand.

Evan swung his sword to block the thrown axe, his other hand throwing the lighting spear immediately after.

He heard the sounds of explosions in the distance but he did not have the liberty to find out the cause as he had to take down the bandit leader in front of him quickly.

"Aura Slash."

Evan's head ached as he pulled back his arm and swung his sword with all his might, releasing a red slash of aura that followed right behind the spear of lighting.

As the bandit leader rolled to the side to dodge the two attacks, Evan screamed out a command to the spear of lighting he formed with his low magic power.

"Explode!"

**PANNGGG!!!!

And that it did.

The spear of lightning exploded with a flash of bright light, catching the bandit leader off guard as he was not far enough to escape the blast radius.

"ARGHHH!!!"

The bulky man was scorched by the lightning that seemed to use his metal armour as a conduit to wreak more havoc on his body.

"Hup!"

Evan jumped in the air and swung his sword down, intending on at least dealing a fatal wound, however, the bandit leader quickly rolled out of the way.

"Just die already, you pest!!"

The young hero snapped as he pulled his leg back and unconsciously activated a partial form of his paladin skill, only his right leg being encased in light as he sent a kick to the face of the bandit leader on the floor.

He then puled his sword out from the ground and stabbed it into the arm of the bandit, nailing it into the ground and preventing him from lifting his axe again.

"FIREBALL!!"

◇　◇　◇

While Evan was having a hard time against the second leader of the Mountain Bandit gang, Kayla and Kuro seemed to be toying with the third, alongside the dozen other bandits that came to support him.

The reason was simple, he could not see his opponents at all!

Only if a spirit wanted to manifest themself, would someone who did not have the ability to see them, be able to do so.

The bandit leader obviously was not able to see spirits in the first place, and Kayla was not foolish enough to show herself to him!

All he could do was barely dodge the bolts of lighting that came from various angles while trying to escape the dark shadowy arms that threatened to grab his feet and hold him in place.

"Tremor!"

He activated his unique skill as he swung his sword horizontally, slicing through dozens of threes like a piece of cake.

'Did one of them hit...?'

He hoped one of the falling trees would somehow collide with his invisible attackers. Unfortunately, that was not the case as a rose of lighting suddenly bloomed above his head, sending chills down his spine.

He hurriedly rolled out of the way, just in time before a golden bolt of lighting suddenly dropped to the ground, scorching the spot he was just standing in.

"GUH!"

He suddenly found himself unable to move as his shadow had somehow come out from the ground and was holding him in place.

[Good boy, Kuro!]

Kayla called out to Kuro as she diverted her attention from the dozen bandits spasming on the ground to the immobilized leader who was trying to use his energy to break out.

[Fall]

Kayla snapped her fair fingers as a giant hammer made of lighting manifested above the bandit leader's head and slammed downwards.

**BOOOOMMMM!!!

The moment she heard that sound, Kayla frowned as she had not expected her attack to miss. Her noble gold eyes darted around, searching for the figure of the third bandit leader.

[You damn pest!]

Sticking around Evan for the past few weeks had caused Kayla to imitate Evan's habit of calling enemies that refused to die easily, 'Pests'.

Seeing her in this state, Kuro silently withdrew as he instinctively sensed that Kayla's anger had reached its peak.

**RUMBLEEE!!!

Storm clouds gathered in the sky as she commanded the power of nature to do her bidding.

Her usual black dress turned bright gold as the young great spirit utilized a bit of the 'authority' she had as the great spirit of lightning.

Ambient energies coalesced together to form a giant pearl of lightning that floated mid air. From this orb, spears of lightning rained down across the entire forest.

Trees were struck by the mighty lightning, catching fire instantly as the spears of lightning that rained down, mixed with this fire, resulting in an elemental reaction that triggered multiple explosions across the forest.

**BOOOM!! BOOOMM!! BOOOOOMMM!!!

"GARRHHHH!!!"

Even if he was lucky to escape the lightning hammer, the multiple explosions spread way too fast for the fleeing bandit leader to come out unscathed.

Kayla's golden eyes locked on the figure of the limping man who had long abandoned his great sword, blitzing towards him with a distorted smile on her face.

She closed the distance instantly and created a human sized arm of lightning which she used to grab the bandit leader's face and pull it closer to hers.

She then manifested her physical body, causing the man's eyes to widen as he saw the floating little girl.

"S-s-sspirit?!"

[Yes, Master's Spirit]

Those were the last words he heard as Kayla summoned spears of lightning that pierced through his head, killing him instantly.

She then disabled the giant pearl of lightning and smiled to herself as her dress reverted to normal.

[I feel ...sleee...p...y]

The young great spirit dropped down to the ground and would have collided with the scorched earth, if not for the timely intervention of a certain lazy shadow spirit.

He looked at the destroyed forest as unknown thoughts went through his mind.

◇　◇　◇

"FIREBALL!!"

Evan activated the basic fire magic that barely took any magic power in his free hand before slamming the fireball down on the exposed neck of the bandit leader.

"grouahhhhhhgggf-!"

The man let out a garbled scream but Evan did not care less, only grabbing his head and forcing the man to look into his eyes.

|Inventory Acquired|

|Rare Skills require one skill slot. |

|Two Skill Slots left. |

"FINALLY!!"

Evan screamed out loud as he pulled out his sword from the bandit leader's hand and stabbed it into his forehead, ending his life instantly.

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

Immediately after, he collapsed on the floor, exhausted as he barely managed to summon the strength to rummage through the items in the space expansion bag to find health and energy potions.

Evan groggily stood up and grabbed his chipped blade, heaving a sigh as he stared at the large battle axe that was responsible for the sword's miserable state.

He rose his free hand and called out the name of the skill that he took great pains to acquire.

"Inventory."

A small black hole, no more than 50 cm in diameter, appeared in front of him as Evan placed his hand through it with excitement visible on his face.

"it seems large enough..."

He lifted the space expansion bag that he had always carried on his waist and tossed its contents into the inventory space before turning his gaze to the direction of the forest he heard explosions from.

◇　◇　◇

Pride smiled lightly as she sensed the deaths of the two bandit leaders, her expression turning stern the moment after as she gazed at the monstrosity that was in front of her.

"I guess I'd better finish up too, huh?"