Lucas was observing the surroundings with a bored face. As a lookout, his responsibility was to make sure that nobody approaches the camp without being noticed. Although he didn't look very strong, thanks to his previous training in the army, he was skilled at his job.
"Hey Jack, how long until our shift ends, this is so boring."
"Lucas, you better focus on the job. If something happens and the Captain finds that it was your fault, you will end up like that kid from the mercenary group that we killed," Says a middle-aged man with a muscle figure and a scarred face, sitting about 10 meters away on top of a tree.
Lucas' face immediately shows fear when the fate of the boy was mentioned and starts to look at his surroundings with attention.
"Come on, I am just kidding. Besides, it doesn't matter if someone comes, with the Capitan here, even if the magical creatures come, they can only die."
Jack and Lucas are ex-soldier. Due to their habits of taking every opportunity to steal and rape during battles, they were expelled from the army and ended up as bandits. Due to their previous training, the Captain gave them the job of being the lookouts for the camp. Although they were talking to each other, they were constantly assessing the surroundings.
"Anyway, speaking of the boy, is he still alive?"
"He was alive the last time I saw him. After all, the Captain won't let him go easy after he made him bleed."
"I must say that was impressive, so young and yet so skilled. Although it was just a shallow wound, he still cut him. Well, he is doomed anyway, who told him to hurt the Captain," said Lucas indifferently.
Lucas was going back to lazily looking at his surroundings when he felt something approach him from the back. He was startled by the fact that someone came so close to him and he did not notice, but still, as an ex-soldier and a bandit he was used to life and death situations so he immediately reached for his sword.
But before he could even take it out, a heavy punch landed on the back of his head knocking him out.
....
When Lucas finally woke up, he realized that he was tied to a tree and together with him was Jack, who had just woken up just now. Before he could talk to his partner and try to figure out the situation, someone speaks to them.
"Good, you are both awake. I have some questions. As long as you answer them, this will not need to get ugly".
Lucas saw the person who was speaking, he was a young man with a strong body and a handsome face. Although he was scared at the beginning, the years of living in danger make him calm down and start to think out a way out of this situation.
'This person is strong and I definitely can't defeat him, but he is very young and I should be able to intimidate him'
If Zatiel could hear his thoughts he would find it hilarious, a mortal human trying to frighten a demon, it should be the first time that this happens.
Just as Lucas was about to try and threaten Zatiel, Jack spoke first. "Listen up you little brat. You better release us immediately and cut off a limb as an apology or we will show you how hell looks like. We have more than 100 brothers and they will hunt you down and will take their sweet time with a pretty boy like you if something happens to us."
Lucas never stops looking at Zatiel so he saw the coldness in his eyes as he heard Jack threaten him, he was about to talk and try to calm down the situation when Zatiel looked at him. He became so scared that he didn't dare to speak.
"Which one do you want me to cut off?"
"Wha.. what?"
"I asked which part you want me to cut off!"
Jack could not help but stammer due to the question, after all, he never thought that the opponent would cut a limb just because of a threat, he was hoping that he would get scared and run away leaving them tied.
"The right leg," Although Jack knew something weird was happening he still answered.
Just after speaking he saw how Zatiel's hand got a dark glow, Jack didn't have time to wonder what was happening when he saw how the hand grabbed his leg with so much strength that it almost breaks it, but the worst had yet to begin, he starts to feel his muscle rotting and his bones begin to break.
"Ahhh!... Stop, stop I will tell you everything you want to know, please stop!"
But no matter how much Jack screamed and begged, Zatiel did not let go. Only when the leg was no more than a puddle of blood did he retrieve his hand. Jack passed out from the pain and foam was coming from his mouth.
Lucas was terrified, after all, the psychological pressure of seeing such a gruesome scene and knowing that the same could happen to you in the next moment, is enough to break most men.
"I hope that you can be more useful than your friend," Zatiel's expression was indifferent, as he approached the shaking bandit as if torturing a person was no different than breathing.
...
"107 bandits, most of them are a bunch of thieves and killers with no formal training, 10 lookouts through the periphery of the camp, about 20 ex-soldiers with some degree of proficiency in vital energy and that guy they call the Captain should be a Warrior according to the strength he has shown," Zatiel was thinking of ways to attack the camp as he was going through the information the bandit gave him.
A frontal assault was not an option unless he had a death wish, after all with his current abilities defeating a Warrior will be difficult, much less if another 100 men were attacking from the periphery.
Of course, things would be different if he has better spells or some magical equipment.
"The source of water of the camp should be the well next to the river in the northwest corner of the camp, there are supposed to be 3 bandits protecting it at all times, if I manage to deposit this powder in the water, it will help me tremendously in defeating this group," Zatiel thought as he looks at the powder in a little bag tied to his waist.
As soon as it becomes night, Zatiel stealthily gets close to the well while avoiding the bandits. With the A.I chip scanning his surroundings, it was pretty easy arriving undetected. Although killing the bandits to sabotage the well would be easy unless they were complete idiots, the rest of the camp will realize something was wrong with the well the moment they find the corpses of the men or notice that it was unprotected, so a distraction was necessary.
Picking a rock, Zatiel aimed at an alligator that was by the side of the river, and threw it with all his strength, shattering the eye of the beast.
The alligator screams in pain and filled with anger, it charges towards the direction of the projectile. Throwing more rocks, Zatiel manages to make the beast reach the well, alerting the bandits.
The moment the alligator sees the bandits, he directs all of his anger at them and attacks them furiously.
"Boss, an alligator."
"Goddammit. What is this beast doing here?"
"It is hurt, kill it quickly."
Although the alligator was a strong beast, it was not a magical creature. Plus due to its injuries, the bandits defeated it easily, and as they were celebrating having defeated the giant foe, none of them noticed the powder that was dissolving in the well.
