Since Zero brought Noah here, and his eyes seemed to be pretty confidant right now, Noah decided to simply stay put and watch Zero from a distance.
The two those who walked closer each had a weapon in their hand. One had an axe, while another one held a dagger. And unlike average citizens, from their movements they seemed to be skilled in what they did.
One of the men at the back, sitting there, was fiddling with a dagger in his hand. His face has a mocking look on it, but his eyes seem to be focused on Zero, prepared for a surprise attack in case things go south.
"Come here you brat! Let me show you what it means to poke the hornet's nest," the man with the axe spoke as he then took a dash towards Zero, his weapon coming from above with a downward slash, aimed at Zero's head.
Zero took a simple stance, preparing to take his sword out as he faced that axe. And then at the exact moment when his face was about a few centimeters away from the axe… he pushed his body to the right side, barely avoiding that attack.
And then using the same momentum, he unsheathed his sword, aiming at that man's body.
That man with the axe noticed the sudden shift in attack, and tried dodging it but alas Zero's sword already reached his body, creating a giant slash on his body, while also severing his right hand in the process.
"AAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
The man shouted as felt pain all over his body… and within the next second, his body fell down lifeless while he looked at the man with the dagger, observing him fearfully.
"Hey… Wait-"
-Slash!
Another slash, and the man with the dagger fell down unable to decided whether to attack or to try to talk to Zero.
And in the next brief moment…
-Swish!
A dagger was thrown at Zero.
-Clank!
And then it was parried.
"Each of you dark mage fuckers…."(Zero)
Zero spoke with disgust on his face before he then moved towards the rest of the men, standing up with a serious expression. One of them was a mage while the others were probably adventurers.
But still…
Zero dashed towards them at a rapid speed, killing them one by one before they could do anything.
Unlike Noah, who tried to end things at a fast and precise rate, Zero avoided confronting all of them at once, aiming at one of them closer, and then repositioning himself. His eyes continuously looked for openings, creating them whenever possible, even at the cost of injuring himself.
What could have been done within 10 seconds, took about 5 minutes before Zero finally killed the last one of those dark mages.
But still, he didn't let a single one of them reach Noah, and even though he was injured, he succeeded in killing them all. Though what was even more surprising was his lack of fear of death. He charged as if he had a few extra lives to spare, making Noah wonder if he was brave or a total idiot.
[Purification!]
Healing his body, Noah looked at the unconscious people present there. There were traces of dark mana present on them, probably a type of sleep curse but… it shouldn't be anything that can't be cured by Noah for now.
"Aren't you fazed by all this?"(Zero)
Zero was surprised by Noah's calmness while he shook his head before saying,"not really. This world has light as much as there is darkness. You will be shocked to know that I had participated in raids similar to these. Though this generally falls in the hands of the Templar Knights and such mostly."
"Oh!"(Zero)
Then moving towards those unconscious people Noah began curing them one by one, waking them all.
"Huh?"
"Where… am I?"
"Hmmm?"
"Mommy…"
[You have received +10 Karma!]
[You have received +15 Karma!]
[You have received +5 Karma!]
…
A bunch of messages appeared in front of Noah but he simply ignored them while curing the others that haven't woken up yet. Zero on the other hand searched the area for any valuables here and there.
For the next few minutes both Noah and Zero were busy until Zero finished his search and reached Noah. Curing the final person, Noah was also done with his tasks before he turned to Zero.
"Now what?"(Noah)
"Thanks for the help. I will be taking them to the adventurer guild and from there they will take care of it. As for your share-"(Zero)
"It's fine. I would rather not get involved into something annoying."(Noah)
In essence it wasn't a bad trade given he can earn some money, but he was already earning more than enough by night hunting everyday that what he could get from this won't even matter.
"It's 10 silver coins, you know? We can share half-half."(Zero)
"Nope. If you care so much then don't say anything about me in the report."(Noah)
Though Noah simply said that as he waved his hand and began to walk away from there. Money never motivated Noah since it was a means to get the bare minimum. Plus he was already satisfied with what he had.
[I have a feeling that we will meet again.](Elios)
Elios spoke after thinking for a long while. Given how Noah hunted every night, and how Zero was on the same task, it was obvious that they would surely meet again.
It was honestly a drag for Noah, to which he could only sigh.
Walking away from there as he left Zero there, Noah reached back to the temple pretty early. And then submitting the reports, he decided to not to speak anything about the 'extra' work he did today.
"You really finished 30 of them in a single day, huh?"(Yuna)
"I am gonna aim for 50 tomorrow. Though, how many requests are there in total?"(Noah)
"A whole lot. At least 10,000."(Yuna)
"Is that so?"(Noah)
Noah simply smiled at that since it seems like his daily Karma hunt isn't going to be finished anytime soon. But still, he would like to have few ways of getting more Karma than this.
[Hey, Noah. Since we have some free time, can we visit the library? There are a few books that I need you to go through](Elios)
Noah nodded as he began walking towards the library, meanwhile also checking his system on the way
[System!]