RISE OF EROS

Although the leader of the attackers had decided to come out of hiding with his henchmen, not all of them came out. Some of them remained hidden, as they were armed with bows and arrows, to attack from a distance and by surprise.

About 7 bandits came out of the forest, surrounding Andrew and the others. Oliver seeing the men that appeared, scanned the perimeter and in a low voice that only his companions could hear said, "There are still 4 others hiding. Beware of surprise and ranged attacks."

The other three attended in an understanding of Oliver's words and stood on guard. The bandit leader approached and said, "We don't need to fight over trifles, if you give us your valuable belongings and the women we won't do anything to you." Read further adventures at m vl_em|p_yr

As the bandit leader's words ended, almost at once Oliver's massive aura and Andrew's overflowing divinity exploded, making the bandits tremble with fear.

If there were one taboo to Andrew's ears it would be talking about his wives, that was something he would not tolerate. Oliver, although initially reluctant about his relationship with Marie, they were currently very much in love, so he would not allow disrespect either.

At that moment, the bandits realized they had stumbled upon experts. While it was true that Andrew was far from an expert, he was certainly more powerful than the bandits attacking them and the oppression his divinity generated was not something anyone could resist.

The bandit leader was a clever man, so, sensing Oliver and Andrew's strength, he immediately shouted, "Retreat! Archers cover us!". These men were very experienced and had fought many battles together, so hearing their leader shout, they immediately obeyed.

From four different directions, arrows shot out and the bandits turned to flee, but it was Oliver they faced. At great speed, Oliver moved and seemed to have disappeared.

Seconds later Oliver reappeared. In his right hand, he held four arrows and on the ground 11 unconscious men could be counted. Some still had an expression of disbelief on their faces even while unconscious.

"Well done. It was good that you didn't kill them, I don't want to have to move the camp because of the blood. Take them somewhere else and wipe out their existence," Andrew said with a cold tone.

Oliver assisted slightly and began to carry the unconscious bandits. While there were many of them, Oliver was able to carry them with ease, without even touching them. He disappeared into the surrounding trees and a minute later appeared saying, "It's done."

Andrew nodded and said, "Good. I'll go rest now," then returned to his tent in the company of Aki. Oliver decided to relieve Marie as guard and so the night passed without further mishap.

The next morning, Andrew and the others packed up their gear as the sun was just rising and resumed their journey. Since they would be arriving in the vicinity of the elf territory today, Oliver advised Andrew to suspend his practice, to conserve his strength.

Although he was sure that nothing would happen if they refrained from entering the elf's territory, it never hurt to be cautious. Andrew accepted the suggestion and did not practice his divinity control.

Their journey was uneventful and when they reached the forest they began to pick up the pace, to spend the least amount of time in this forest, but fate wanted otherwise because as they ran, Oliver suddenly furrowed his eyebrows.

After a few seconds, he stopped and the others seeing this, also stopped. "Is something wrong?" asked Andrew, but Oliver didn't answer right away. He seemed to be checking something, so everyone else kept silent.

After a few minutes, Oliver spoke up, "Something strange is going on in the woods. I can detect different groups of people." Oliver's words made everyone's eyebrows furrow and Andrew asked, "What do you think it could be?".

"I don't know," Oliver replied and added, "I don't think it's good for us, though." Oliver's words and expression hinted that the situation was not good.

"I can sense 4 different groups of people and in each group, there is something that generates a great magical force," Oliver continued. "What do you think it could be?" asked Andrew again.

"If I'm not mistaken, they must be artifacts of destruction," Oliver replied. Andrew had no idea what so-called artifacts of destruction were, but this time it was Marie who cleared his doubt.

"Young master, the artifacts of destruction are bombs." Andrew immediately understood how serious the situation was, as they were close to the elf's territory.

If one of these devices exploded, the elves would mobilize and they would be caught in the middle of the battle. It was almost certain that the elves would not listen to their explanations and would simply associate them with the attackers.

"How powerful do you think these artifacts are?", Andrew asked and Oliver replied, "Powerful enough, for the elves to mobilize as if they were at war."

Andrew couldn't help but curse his bad luck, but at that moment Fluffy spoke in Andrew's mind, "Master, I can sense that there are a couple of elven demigods, extend your divinity and warn them."

Although Andrew wasn't sure if this idea of Fluffy's was the best course of action, the word demigod caught his attention. However, there was no time to think, so he followed the plan suggested by Fluffy.

Oliver, Marie, and Aki were surprised to see Andrew release his divinity because if he did that the men carrying the artifacts of destruction would notice them.

Despite that, they all thought Andrew had a plan, so they said nothing. Suddenly, unnoticed by any of them, two elves with visible wrinkles on their faces appeared floating in the air.

By the time Oliver noticed them, it was too late because if they were able to approach without him noticing them, it meant that they were considerably stronger than he was. The two elder elves, looked seriously at Andrew because they could tell he was not a powerful expert, but his divinity was considerably more concentrated than theirs.

"May I ask, who are you?", one of the elders asked, in a respectful tone. While they felt that Andrew was weaker than them, they could not ignore the fact that he had divinity and so they were polite.

"Respectable elders, we are travelers, we were passing by when we noticed suspicious movements in the forest," Andrew said showing respect, as the elders treated him well, so there was no reason not to return the courtesy.

Besides, it was obvious that these elders could kill them instantly, so it was better to avoid trouble. The elders were surprised by Andrew's words and immediately extended their aura.

Seconds later their eyes widened like saucers because they had discovered what Oliver sensed. They were more powerful than Oliver, so they could extend their aura to a greater distance and discern the situation better than Oliver, so they found the 10 groups with destruction devices.

The two elders looked at each other as if communicating mentally and after a slight nod looked at Andrew and said, "We thank the young man for this. Please wait a few moments, we will be right back."

The two elderly elves gave a slight bow and disappeared. It all happened so fast that none of them had recovered from the shock. Only Oliver, who was an experienced warrior, regained his composure in a short time and extended his aura to see what was happening.

To his surprise, the moment he checked the places where he had felt the presence of the 4 groups before, he could only feel the energy released by the destructive artifacts.

That meant that in the few seconds it took him to regain his composure, the two elder elves had already eliminated more than 20 men, which showed their strength.

Defeating 20 men in an instant was not difficult because Oliver could do it too, but he had already identified, at least two Castor-level experts among them, so Oliver could not do this feat.

After a few minutes, One of the elder elves reappeared in front of Andrew and the others. "Again, we thank the young man, this elder is called Vilmon, may I know the name of the esteemed young man?".

Andrew did not understand the reason why the mighty elder addressed him with such respect, but at that moment Fluffy spoke to him, "Master, this elder is a demigod, quite strong. Since he possesses divinity, he can notice divinity in you, so he treats you with respect for this reason."

Understanding this, Andrew replied to the elder, "No such courtesy is necessary respected elder. My name is Andrew, a pleasure to meet you." The old man nodded at Andrew's respectful introduction and spoke again, "We would like to thank you for your help, I don't know if it would be too much trouble to be our guest?".

Andrew weighed the proposal, but after a few seconds, discarded all thought, as he had no choice but to accept, so bowing slightly he replied, "We would be honored."