A person in American horror, wearing two versions of The Witcher

Chapter 17 [Should we anchor our existing bonds?]

As they walked further along the river, the howling of wolves in the dense bushes grew fainter.

Roy paused briefly, leaned his rifle against the tree trunk, and broke open the scarred apple.

His left arm was still slightly sore from the abrasions, and the muscles in his legs, which had just been stretched to their limit, were also tense and stiff.

Boxing requires a three-minute break, and rugby requires changing formations and players after each match; these are rules designed to account for the physiological fatigue experienced by the human body after reaching its peak.

In high-intensity activities like fighting and collisions, muscles often deplete the oxygen inhaled by the heart and lungs within the first 30 seconds.

Next, the muscles begin to accumulate lactic acid under anaerobic conditions.

So, it's sour!

Roy took a bite of the slightly sour apple, letting his tense nerves relax a little and his stiff muscles slowly loosen up.

Then, he squatted down and cored the other half of the apple, feeding it to Coffin.

"Well done, Cocker!" he boasted.

Kofi didn't respond, just silently munched on his apple.

Roy didn't pay any attention, and while feeding the baby, he finally had time to look at the panel message that had popped up earlier.

[The bandit with the hoarse voice has been defeated, gaining +3 to the Ordinary Bandit Bond.]

[Should we anchor existing bonds?]

This was his booming voice after he was shot in the head, but Roy hid it immediately so as not to affect the battle.

"Yes!" Roy nodded immediately after reading it.

[Currently, 3 points of synergy are anchored to a 0.3% bonus to all attributes! (Normal Bandit)]

【3……2……1……^

Boom!

A muffled, booming sound erupted from Roy's chest.

His previously calm heart rate suddenly spiked from 90 to 180, the warmth, unusual for his body temperature, originating from the pulsation between his heart valves and the rapid pumping out with high-frequency myocardial contractions.

Then, it spreads through the autonomic arteries to the lungs and the whole body.

Ah!

Roy couldn't help but shudder.

This feeling of increase

This feeling of becoming stronger and more energetic...

so good!

Compared to his original athlete physique, this only represents 0.3% of the attributes of an ordinary bandit, almost as if he had taken performance-enhancing drugs before the competition.

Panel, Bonds, Enhancements...

This broad road to extraordinary achievements has already been proven in his life and has been fully opened for him.

"But if you really want to have a lot of fun, if you really want another significant boost..."

Roy licked the apple juice from his lips, clutched the Winchester rifle to his chest, and called to Coffin:

"I still need to kill a few more bandits to maximize my sense of accomplishment!"

"Actually, it's about eradicating evil completely."

"Right, Cocker Spade?"

"Woof!"

……

Having made up his mind, Roy calculated the escape route of the man who had shut up.

If we say that his and the silencing man's routes both started from the Four Wolves point and led to two intersecting straight lines.

So, with just one diagonal movement, he can form the last side of the triangle, maintaining a safe distance from the four wolves while maximizing his chances of finding the guy's escape route.

He wasn't really a murderer after all.

Or take out the sullen robber from before, and in self-defense, kill the other sullen robbers' companions...

Yes, that would make him feel more at ease.

He said it was absolutely legitimate self-defense!

"Cocky, did you smell anything?"

"Woof?"

"Then let's continue."

……

"And this time?"

"Woof?"

"That……"

"Woof!"

"Good job, Cocky, good dog, Cocky, lead the way, slow down."

……

Following the scent of the man who had shut up, or perhaps the scent of his hoarse voice, Cofi cautiously advanced, with Roy following behind. Soon, at the edge of the dense forest, they heard the familiar voice of the man who had shut up.

"Boss, that big guy really does have a bag of silver coins on him, and it's a style I've never seen before, like the kind of crowns that important people use."

"His waist knife was inlaid with jewels, and he had a backpack of a style I'd never seen before. He might have come from the Blue Mountains as a merchant."

"And over in the Blue Mountains, there are still elves."

"Elves, surely there are fine things there."

"And boss, our brothers are dead! Two brothers are dead! Are we just going to ignore it?"

Roy crawled into the bushes at the edge of the forest and, through the gaps in the leaves, saw that the man who had been talking was standing by a makeshift roadside shed.

In the makeshift shed, the only bench was occupied by a man with a pointed head and a scarred face, who was probably the "head" the man who had shut up was talking about.

Beside them, on a stack of hay, two lightly dressed bandits lay reclining, foxtail grass swaying around their mouths.

Nearby, two variegated horses sneezed. A skinny man with a curved knife at his waist stroked the horses' heads and fed them the chopped hay in his hand. As he did so, a pretty pink purse was revealed next to his knife.

A group of 5 people,

They all wore red "robber" labels on their heads.

"Pah! Are you doing the instructor's job?" The simply dressed bandit spat out some foxtail grass and cursed from the haystack.

The bandits beside him also chimed in with sarcastic remarks:

"We didn't go into the woods, so how do we know it wasn't you who coveted Barnes' bow and ambushed him, just like the sword you got?"

"You!...Damn it!"

"Stop fucking it, save your energy for sleeping with girls. I think the lord's daughter is pretty good. Aren't you the best at eating pork?"

"Or maybe a merchant with a woman will come along later, and I'll let you have the first taste of the soup."

The scarred man on the bench spoke up, saying:

"But you also need to understand that if we go into the dense forest to look for someone and fail to find them, and also miss the trade route, where will we go for a drink tonight?"

"The people in that dense forest don't even have a horse, let alone crowns? Blue Mountains?"

"You'd be more believable if you called him a druid. Saying he's a treant would excite me more."

"Hey, brothers, you haven't been with a tree spirit yet!" the horse feeder chimed in.

"I heard that tree spirits are all female, and all of them are slim and beautiful?" the haystack bandit chimed in.

"Damn it, I don't care if it's a man or a woman, I'll just hold it down and give it a good fucking."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The bandits burst into laughter, filling the shed with a joyful atmosphere.

Roy, who was listening from the bushes, also laughed. This time, he really wouldn't have any psychological burden if he fired the gun again.

What a bunch of robbers!

He immediately cocked his gun, aimed at the silent man standing under the shed, and pulled the trigger.

boom!

[The silencing bandit has been defeated, gaining +3 to the Ordinary Bandit Bond.]

[Should we anchor existing bonds?]

Click!

"yes!"

[The 3-point synergy is currently being anchored to...]

boom!

Boom!

"Awesome!"

[The lightly armed bandit has been defeated, gaining +3 to the Ordinary Bandit Bond].

[Is it anchored...?]

Click!

"yes!"

[Currently...]

boom!

"Hey, this gun didn't kill anyone, what a loss!"

Roy jumped up from the bushes as his high-frequency heartbeat amplified his excited body.

Click!

chambered again,

boom!

He fired another shot at the lightly dressed robber who was lying on the ground groaning.

In the blink of an eye, the panel popped up again, and he had already killed three people.

"It's witchcraft, sorcery! This giant knows sorcery! Mount up! Mount up!" the scarred bandit leader shouted.

Roy fired four shots without even aiming at him.

He scrambled and crawled from the bench to the variegated horse. Grabbing his rusty longsword, he leaped onto the horse and spurred it on.

He was experienced in combat and immediately came up with a solution—as long as he could use his horse's head to block the sorcery, as long as he could use his horse's body to charge to the sorcerer's side, as long as his skinny cavalrymen charged forward with him...

"Charge! An eye for an eye!"

His variegated horse galloped straight toward Roy.

His upper body was pressed tightly against the horse's body, his longsword raised, ready to strike the man, ready to bring the sword down, ready to...

boom!

A shot rang out.

The horse Scarface was riding overturned, and Scarface was thrown out and slammed to the ground. Then, a stick of firewood appeared in front of his face.

boom!

Scarface is dead!

call……

Roy let out a sigh of relief.

When Scarface charged at him with his dappled horse,

He wasn't confident he could hit Scarface, so he aimed his gun at the variegated horse!

He actually loves horses quite a bit, but he loves his own life even more!

He pulled the trigger, aiming at the head of the variegated horse...

"Neigh, neigh..."

The mournful cry of the variegated horse still echoed in Roy's ears.

Roy softened, turned around, loaded the gun, and pulled the trigger.

boom!

The mixed-colored horse has been defeated, but no bonds have been established.

"I'm sorry, but take care!"

Roy apologized to the horse and kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

There, the skinny bandit galloped forward on his horse. He hadn't followed Scarface's charge from the start, so he used Scarface to shield himself from the gun and successfully mounted his horse to escape.

"What a disaster! What a disaster!"

"Why aren't they like other novels or movies where everyone is fearless and undaunted?"

"Why are you running away?!"

Roy muttered a complaint.

But suddenly it appears,

The skinny bandit on horseback seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall, and was suddenly thrown off his horse.

Then, a long sword pierced through him.

After the victim breathed his last, the swordsman rose from his half-crouching position, shook the blood off his sword, and sheathed it on his back.

And it made Roy see his true colors completely...

He had white hair and carried two swords on his back.

[The Witcher has been detected...]

[Confirmed as...]