Chapter 46 | Arcane Omni-Sense

Theo opened his eyes and got up. The morale was at an all-time low. Some of the scouts were telling of the fact that the Lieutenant had been killed.

After that, all the remaining knights of the company had regrouped. From the initial several hundred, fifty people were left. Fifty-four if Theo and his friends were included.

“I… I want to go home.”

Theo, Satou, and Aiden all turned to look at Kai. What was this guy talking about out of nowhere?

“Then go,” Theo said with a shrug.

“But the forest is full of bandits! They will kill me if I’m alone,” Kai answered, his eyes starting to tear up. Theo and Satou looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

The one to answer with a scoff was Aiden.

“I knew you were a pest, but I didn’t know you were this much of a weakling. I don’t know what Emma had in mind hanging out with a loser like you.”

Now that, that hit a chord in Kai. His face scrunched up. He raised his fist, which immediately started radiating an incredibly dangerous aura. Aiden stepped back in fear as Theo and Satou had to get up and hold back Kai.

Whatever was fueling this bastard, it made his aura reserves incredibly potent. Theo wasn’t even sure if he had more aura than Satou at this point.

It was just that he had no idea how to control that aura or fight at all. Hell, he might have been the single worst combatant Theo had seen so far. The guy was as much a danger to himself as he was to everyone around him.

As they were busy bickering, one of the remaining five Knight Captains approached them.

“We are very sorry for dragging you all into this. We were considering what to do and have finally come to a decision,” he said. “The Lieutenant is dead, most of our forces are gone, and the bandits are numerous. Not to mention, they have already taken over the outpost and won’t let any of our remaining scouts approach.”

All that practically meant the situation was dire. The most logical choice would be to gather their stuff and get the hell out of there.

“But still, we can’t let the deaths of our comrades be wasted. We will fight to the bitter end and attack the outpost. We cannot ask you in good conscience to follow us to death. Thank you for your aid so far,” The Captain said before bowing his head. He was about to turn around and reunite with the other knights, but Satou grabbed him by the arm.

“We are coming along.”

Theo raised a brow. This was the second time Satou had taken the initiative to help the knights. Although he understood that The Assassin wanted to protect the village, he felt there was something more to his insistence on helping out.

“But this will be really dange–”

“We know the dangers involved,” Satou said.

“…I see. Then please, keep supporting us,” The Knight Captain said. Theo could see that the man had gotten emotional over Satou’s insistence on helping.

As the group once again set out for the outpost, Theo couldn’t help but ask.

“Why are we helping them?”

“This is our best chance at stopping these bandits from approaching the town,” Satou answered shortly. Then, he threw Theo a small glance. “And you need this.“

“I need this? Why?” He raised a brow. Satou shook his head.

“It’s hard to explain. Just… Keep doing what you have done so far. You’re doing really well.”

Although he didn’t quite understand what Satou was talking about, he still felt elevated by the praise.

Before long, they came across the first bandit scout. The man was a wiry, thin bandit clad in black clothes. If not for Satou’s senses, he would have slipped right by and reported their location. Fortunately, The Assassin dashed forward and decapitated the scout in one single motion.

This kept happening, several times at that. Fortunately, none of the scouts was above third-rate. Although there were many patrolling the forests surrounding the outpost, none of them were that high-leveled. It seemed the bandits had diverted their forces somewhere else.

“What are they doing?” Theo asked one of the Knight Captains. The man frowned and didn’t answer for some awkward few seconds.

“I don’t know. They might be thinking that we have already run away and started celebrating their victory,” he said. This was obviously hard to admit for a proud knight, but facts were facts.

“That would be better,” Satou said. “We can catch them unprepared. It’s better than them being careful.”

With a few nods and affirming words, the group increased its speed. A minute or so later, they were at the edge of the clearing that the outpost was in. They crouched by the bushes and inspected the situation.

“How is it?” Theo asked.

“I don’t know,” Satou shook his head. “I can’t extend my aura sense, or the enemy first-rate might notice. In fact, I think it might be better if you use your senses to check it out. Can you?”

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Theo tapped his chin and thought for a moment, then nodded. He closed his eyes as he couldn’t see anything from that distance and focused on his hearing.

His perception stat didn’t only affect his vision, but his other senses too. He wasn’t that aware of it because the system adapted him to the sudden increase in senses, but his daily experience was truly beyond that of a human. With that much information constantly being fed into his brain, those senses were merging into one conglomeration of super-sense that was helping him understand his surroundings in more detail, as if he had a 3d map in his head.

With his eyes closed, Theo listened. His ears, the wind on his skin, it all told him something. There were… Many people in the outpost. But he couldn’t sense how strong those people were, or where they exactly stood. He heard them speak, but there was too much background noise in his senses. The hushes of the forest, the faint breathing of the knights, even his own blood flow greatly diminished his ability to distinguish one noise from another.

Eventually, he felt a headache creep up his spine as Theo stopped focusing. He took a deep breath and brought up his character sheet.

[Level: 12]

[Species: Human]

[Tier: F-Rank]

[Type: Transmigrator]

[Class: Supreme Main Character]

[Strength: 1.026]

[Vitality: 4.008]

[Endurance: 4.508]