Hero or Villain, Both
Chapter 100: What are these? (2)

Chapter 100: What are these? (2)

"What’s going on?"

"Where did these things come from?"

"No, before that...What are these things?"

The people of the group started to panic as they swung their weapons down at the skeletal hands that were grabbing at them.

Once they were in danger as well, they completely forgot about their companion that had been caught by the skeletal hands. That one companion could only watch with bitter eyes as he was dragged into the ground by the skeletal hands.

These people were bandits in the first place, so it wasn’t as if they were that close to each other.

When they had been bandits, the only reason that they had followed Iron Fist was because of how powerful he was. Just because they followed him didn’t mean that they actually felt anything for each other.

As such, they didn’t have the same bond that normal comrades would have had.

At the same time, this was the wilderness where survival of the fittest reigned. It wasn’t as if they were about to risk their own lives just to save someone just because they worked together.

After a while, the leader of the scouts said, "Retreat!"

Though as soon as he gave this order, he had already turned around to run away.

It didn’t seem like he cared if anyone else in his group survived even though he was supposed to be the leader of this group.

That was just how it was with these bandits.

Seeing him run off like this, the rest of the group didn’t hesitate to run as well.

None of them ran off in the same direction, all of them started running in different directions.

The look on their faces made it clear that they were all trying to use the other members of their group as bait for the enemy. It was clear that the only thing that they actually cared about was whether they would be able to escape or not.

Only they didn’t get more than a few steps before suddenly stopping.

They noticed that their leader had stopped first and wondered why he had stopped.

However, it didn’t take long for them to figure out why he stopped.

In fact, they could clearly see the reason why he stopped appear in front of them.

There were these skeletal hands that came out of the ground all around them. With the line that the skeletal hands formed in the ground, it seemed that they had been completely surrounded by these skeletal hands.

It didn’t matter which direction they went in, they would be instantly swarmed by these skeletal hands.

"Just where did all of these things come from?"

That was the thought that was on their collective minds when they saw this, but they didn’t have time to think too much about this. That was because they could see that the skeletal hands were getting closer and closer to them.

As the skeletal hands came closer and closer, there was more and more pressure that was being put on them.

So they turned back to look at each other before grouping up again.

It wasn’t that they had suddenly discovered the camaraderie between them. It was that they knew that they had a better chance of breaking through the line of skeletal hands that were around them if they worked together.

Once they came together, they all looked to the leader as if they were asking, "Which direction should we go?"

But the leader didn’t actually give them any orders.

Instead, he had been looking at the circle of skeletal hands that was approaching them.

All of a sudden, the leader of their group said, "Who are you? Why are you doing this to us?"

There was no answer that followed.

The leader of the group continued by saying, "Just what exactly are you?"

Once again, there was no answer that followed.

However, the leader of the group wasn’t discouraged by this and continued shouting out questions into the air. It didn’t seem like he was actually asking anyone these questions which made the others look at him with strange looks.

They looked at him as if they were wondering if he had gone crazy.

But that soon changed when they noticed something.

"You think that you can get away with this? Do you know who we..."

As he was speaking, the leader of the group suddenly burst forward with the rest of his men following him.

He was heading in one specific direction, or it was better to say that he was aiming at one specific spot in the circle of skeletal hands in particular.

This one spot was one that he had discovered when he shouted out at the mastermind behind these skeletal hands. When he shouted out, he found that these skeletal hands seemed to move slower than the others.

It was almost as if whoever was controlling them was losing control of them for a split second.

That gave the opening that the leader needed to exploit.

Only...

"No, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go!"

There were more skeletal hands that appeared when they approached, far more than what had happened last time.

There was nothing that they could do as they were instantly surrounded by them.

It was as if these skeletal hands had been waiting the entire time, waiting for them to fall into this trap.

They kept swinging their weapons at the skeletal hands around them as they tried to break free, but they found that they were slowly being surrounded. It really was as if the skeletal hands were forming some kind of cage around them that was trapping them in.

"Push! Push for freedom!" The leader of the group shouted, but it didn’t seem like anyone listened to him.

"Pu!"

Then all of a sudden, he stopped shouting as he looked down to see a sword stabbing his chest.

When he turned around, he found that it was one of his subordinates that had stabbed him.

But it wasn’t any of the ones that had been fighting the skeletal hands, it was the one that they had abandoned before.

"How are you still alive?" That was the last thing that the leader of the group could ask.