Chapter 37: Bandit Suppression in Progress

The strength of these bandits typically ranged from Tier 1 to Tier 3, with the leader likely being Tier 4 or even Tier 5.

Taking care of the foot soldiers shouldn’t be an issue for the children; as for the leader, that would be left to Luna or Hicari.

“Everyone, rest and keep watch here. Hicari, you stay here as well.”

“Yes! My Lord!”

Dressed in armor and wielding a lance, Hicari looked like a Valkyrie. While mass media often depicts elves in revealing combat gear, Fate Paradise was different; the elves of Avalon were formidable characters with immense combat capabilities.

With such a serious and responsible subordinate, Qin Yu felt completely at ease. Hong was still too young, making Hicari perfectly suited to be his second-in-command.

Qin Yu took Luna with him to scout the stronghold’s layout, contemplating how to launch their attack.

Combat in Fate Paradise was no different from reality; to win, one had to consider myriad factors.

“Luna, have you gotten a clear look at the personnel distribution in the stronghold?”

“Of course. Such a small matter is no challenge for me,” Luna replied confidently.

There were fewer than twenty on patrol near the stronghold, and about thirty visible inside, most of whom were cleaning or moving supplies.

“58 Tier 1s, 47 Tier 2s, 18 Tier 3s, 3 Tier 4s, and 1 Tier 5. Human, what are you planning to do?”

Warfare wasn’t Luna’s specialty—fighting was. The bandits held the advantage in both numbers and strength.

Qin Yu’s force consisted entirely of children. Although their tiers didn’t look like much on paper, there were discrepancies in individual strength within the same tier, or else concepts like “shame of a grade” wouldn’t exist.

“What else can we do? We eat away at them slowly. Let the children adapt to their power.”

Qin Yu wasn’t in a hurry to clear the stronghold. His primary goal was to train the troops and let the children acclimate to combat.

After obtaining the intel, Qin Yu and Luna returned to the resting troop. He explained the battle plan, confirmed they understood, and then began the execution.

****

Inside a building within the stronghold, the bandit leader was drinking and making merry with his men.

“Boss~ cheers!”

“Good!”

After finishing their drinks, they began to wolf down the fish and meat on the table.

“Boss, our harvest has been getting worse lately. Many surrounding villages were destroyed by those Greenskins, and some of our brother camps are planning to migrate.”

“Yeah, yeah. Boss, should we migrate too?”

The subordinates were discussing a move with the leader. The leader slammed his empty bowl onto the table with a thud and let out a long sigh. “Hmph, you believe them? Spreading those rumors is just a tactic to make us leave first…”

“A mountain cannot contain two tigers, let alone three. If two camps leave, the remaining one will have no worries about food or drink…”

After finishing his sentence, the leader filled his bowl again and downed it in one go.

“The Boss makes sense.”

“Yeah, but the Greenskins have been abnormal lately. They’re nothing like us—they don’t know the meaning of restraint; they just destroy entire villages…”

“Exactly. Many pretty girls have been ruined; those Greenskins are truly more vicious than us…”

“We’re just bad people; they aren’t even people—they’re beasts.”

“I’m really worried they might come to attack us one day…”

The men spoke with intense hatred for the Greenskins’ destruction. Everything should be about sustainable development, yet the Greenskins didn’t understand that—they just destroyed everything, shattering the balance.

“What are you afraid of? No matter how powerful, they’re just mindless monsters. They can bully defenseless villagers, but if they run into us, their heads are only fit to be our chamber pots!”

The leader’s words boosted the men’s morale significantly.

“The Boss is right! What are those Greenskins anyway!”

“Exactly! If they dare destroy villages and leave us with nothing to eat, we’ll just rob them instead!”

The men grew more excited as they talked, eventually starting a drinking contest to see who could drink the most.

Outside the stronghold, the patrolling scouts walked aimlessly, bored out of their minds. The task was incredibly monotonous, but it had to be done.

“Stop! Stop! Rest for a while!”

The patrol leader signaled for his men to halt.

“But Boss, we just rested.”

“So what if we rested? Can’t we rest again!”

The low-ranking leader raised his voice, and his men nodded frantically: “Yes, yes!”

And so, the ten-man team stopped to rest again.

“You’re not happy even when I let you rest? Come! Drink!”

The leader took out a bottle of wine, poured a bit for his men, and downed the rest himself.

“Feels great! It’s just a shame there are no women to play with.”

There was a tone of regret in the leader’s voice.

“Yeah. The guys played too rough a few days ago and killed those women; now there’s no one left. I hadn’t even touched one yet.”

“Many surrounding villages have been destroyed; the villagers have all fled. There are basically no women left.”

The chatting scouts failed to notice people closing in on them.

Qin Yu and Hicari split into two teams, infiltrating from both sides. If they encountered danger, they would use teleportation scrolls to return to the territory.

“Luna, restrain these ten.”

“No problem.”

“Everyone else, once Luna restrains them, launch basic Blood Missiles.”

“Yes!”

After a simple briefing, Luna activated her magic: [Moonlight Binding].

The drinking, chatting scouts suddenly felt their bodies grow heavy and immobile.

“What’s happening?”

“What is that on your body?”

“Magic binding?!”

“Oh no!”

Before the scouts could react, dozens of blood-colored missiles flew toward them.

Doom! Doom! Doom!

Unlike normal elemental missiles, Blood Missiles primarily drained the target’s blood energy, so they didn’t produce loud explosions, making them perfect for stealthy operations.

The ten scouts were quickly drained of their blood energy, collapsing to the ground as withered husks.

Ordinarily, children would feel uncomfortable or afraid at this sight, but these children had seen far more horrific things in the Blood Soul Realm. Their hearts remained untroubled—if anything, they felt excited, realizing they finally possessed the power to protect themselves.

“Good job. Now, move forward.”

The first battle was a success. Qin Yu led the children forward, while on the other side, Hicari and Hong had also successfully taken out the other patrol group, following Qin Yu’s battle plan to the letter.

****

Inside the Holy City.

Xiao Ya returned to the game, full of anticipation, and began her day’s work as a nun. Compared to reality, this game world felt more real than her actual life…