Apart from the big boss of the place, none of the bandits had anything to offer in a fight. They could all be given maces and hammers, and I would still be able to just stand still without risking anything. Their arms were just that weak, and their stamina that limited.

  It was so low-effort for me to deal with them that I decided to do it with style instead of practicality, and indeed, decapitating people with a spin in the just the right way would make their heads spin through the air, creating a nice pattern of blood in the air for a few moments.

  Halfway through my slaughter, the bandits came to their senses and realised that they truly didn’t stand a chance for even a second… They failed to run away, though. One of my advantages was that I shared several traits with the undead, and as such, I could not grow tired, and my body would never fail to respond to my commands immediately.

  In short, even if I wasn’t made of steel, I would have a massive advantage over these low-lives who got winded at the slightest bit of effort… Sure, I wasn’t expecting some unwashed bandits to actually know the intricacies of wielding a weapon or fighting, but this seemed a bit excessive. Were they all just peasants who had been brought into banditry yesterday? They didn’t even seem used to attacking someone else. One even stopped himself as he was about to hit me.

  Nara, would you enlighten me?

  Their physical conditions are poor. Most of them are unhealthily thin, and those who aren’t seem to still suffer from a plethora of other problems… Their bones are frail, their lungs seem to have been damaged, and it appears that any fast movements cause them to grow dizzy

  Judging by their finer facial features, mannerisms, and heavy accents… It is likely that these are not humans native to Rootriska and are instead slaves from Beelmart

  I suppose the bandit leader bought them for dirt cheap to artificially make it seem like he was commanding a slew of bandits

  Huh… So he’s a freaking poser?

  I slammed a bandit’s skull into the ground, splattering gore everywhere, before turning to look at what the bandit leader and the adventurers were up to.

  The leader didn’t carry any weapon with him, probably for the simple reason that he was a weapon. His hands and forearms had morphed into scaly claws, with which he was blocking arrows and mana-infused strikes without even blinking.

  Damn, I barely looked away for a second, and the big guy is already missing an arm…

  The axeman was bleeding heavily. His right arm had been severed near the shoulder. There was no way for him to fight anymore, and he needed the attention of the elf girl just to stay alive.

  The archer’s aim was solid, but even when his arrows were not actively blocked, the bandit’s leader would grow scales upon the targeted area. Arrows were pretty much useless, and one adventurer was thus of no importance within the fight.

  The mage and spellblade were in better positions than the rest. Although the leader of the band wasn’t able to inflict damage, he was speedy enough not to get caught, and seemingly also dangerous enough that the bandit boss was unwilling to turn his back to him for even a second.

  This dynamic allowed Miss Mage to actually focus and cast her spells. Compared to whatever the spellblade was doing, these were actually what made the bald bandit sweat as he scrambled to evade them, whilst also having to make sure not to show weakness to the swordsman.

  Mmh… I wonder if this guy’s dragon communion is something that counts for my ‘Evolving Warrior’ ability… Growing scales and whatnot doesn’t seem like something this form could do at all. It doesn’t even have any flesh growth like my base form did. I was just one sexy piece of living armour and heavy steel.

  Well… I suppose that, considering what ‘flesh’ actually means to be specifically, I guess the hair that flows out of the back of my helm actually does count as flesh. Though even then, that would be all that there is in terms of that.

  In any case, although I had no clue if his skills and powers were something that I could potentially replicate, ‘Evolving Warrior’ and ‘Knightess’ were still pulling their weight. I was able to discern this guy’s combat style, patterns, and flaws at a steady rate.

  Not being the one who had to dodge and fight him helped, but it really was mostly because, although there was a bit of skill in there, he was still mostly a brute. This guy was clearly just using the greater strength, speed, and reflexes acquired through dragon communion to react to attacks, but in essence, his movements and decision-making weren’t much better than if you gave the same capabilities to a knight trainee.

  He just had a little bit more experience in real fights, but it was clear that he was more used to having fist fights with drunks and tormenting helpless victims rather than having to fight for real.

  Oh wow. ‘Evolving Warrior’ is actually good as well. I really am reading this guy like an open book! I even feel like I can tell that he only picked up dragon communion relatively recently… So it would imply that whatever dragon he communed with was willing, since transforming limbs and all that business was probably a fairly difficult thing to do otherwise.

  Eventually, the bandit leader made a mistake. Namely, his ankle twisted at a weird angle because of a small pebble that was slightly protruding from the ground. This caused him to be hit head-on by a fast-moving sphere of water.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He was thrown back and bounced against the ground before ending his course in one of the makeshift tents of his rickety bandit camp.

  “Motherfuckers! How dare you?! I am a damned dragon!”

  Someone’s got a bit of an ego…

  The spellblade rushed in to capitalise on the moments of weakness. Judging by the acceleration, it was clear that he had used mana to accelerate. This was a logical guess, but thanks to my ability in this form, I was actually certain that it was the case despite being unable to actually sense the mana being used.

  Some idiot tried to stab me in the back and broke his rusty old knife in the process.

  Seriously? Even if I were just a gal in armour, I would have shrugged that off… How am I supposed to sharpen my skills when the enemies couldn’t even do anything when I deliberately turned my back on them? And why didn’t this one just run away anyway? He wasn’t there before!

  If they are truly slaves, like I believe, they are probably branded and compelled not to truly flee, even if possible

  Ah, yes. I guess that makes sense… Anyway, I am going to brutally murder this guy for daring to touch me…

  In the meantime, the bandit leader decided to show off. A red glow peered through his clothes as his chest seemed to expand in size. The spellblade visibly panicked, realising what was happening and attempted to halt his charge… But he had accumulated too much momentum and was pretty much stuck going in a single direction.

  I stood by and watched as the bandit unleashed a powerful stream of flames directly at the spellblade, turning the man into a ball of flames… The mage immediately used a spell to extinguish him, but it was too late. All she did was turn a charred corpse into a wet charred corpse.

  And in doing so, left herself wide open for the bandit leader who rushed in and pierced her right through the chest with one of his clawed arms, killing her nearly instantly.

  Several arrows were shot, but they were still useless, and the archer was deprived of his head moments later.

  This left only the cleric and the severely wounded big guy. Neither could do a thing at this point.

  “Aah… I can’t believe insects like these caused me trouble-”

  He coughed pretty extensively, smoke coming out of his mouth alongside blood.

  Still, he grinned in triumph and turned to the cleric in particular.

  “I think you can help me feel better…”

  A scream interrupted the bald man, one of pure agony and terror, and he turned to me.

  From his perspective, he was seeing a knightess standing on the back of one of his grunts, whilst I was holding both of the man’s disembodied arms. I had just finished ripping them off as punishment.

  “Ah… I had forgotten that there was another one”

  I dropped the limbs and just stared directly at him. I didn’t have any eyes in this form, but it might just make my staredown more off-putting. In any case, I raised one foot and brought it down right onto my unarmed victim’s neck, sending his head rolling away from the sheer force right at the feet of the bandit leader.

  This made him frown a bit. He had just exerted himself a great deal by spewing a draconic breath. It had clearly damaged his lungs and throat, so having to fight me, who most definitely seemed quite strong, was far from ideal for him.

  If I could speak, I would throw a provocation his way–Hold on, I can do that without words.

  I bent my right arm in an L-shape with my fist pointing upward, whilst my other hand came slapping down on where a biceps would be if I were made of flesh.

  Having spent twenty or so years in some musty backroom, I am uncertain if the gesture carries the same connotation, but considering the bulging veins on the bandit’s forehead, it would seem that it definitely does.

  He immediately prepared himself to spew another fiery breath.

  What a big baby. A grown man being so offended by a single gesture? I can’t even imagine how he would have reacted if I had spoken and begun making insinuations about his mother… Quite soft for someone who plays it tough as a bandit leader.

  I think he shouted ‘DIE’, and then unleashed his inferno straight at me.

  “Ahahah… Do you feel like mocking me still, you stupid bi-”

  I was unscathed. My resistance upgrades were part of the upgrades that carried over from form to form, and as such, even my dress had barely been singed. After all, they came alongside the transformation and thus counted as a part of me, like anything else about me.

  Getting right up to him, I realised that he was a whole head shorter than me, or was it that his knees were growing weak due to fear?

  Due to the exertion, even his draconic claws were gone, leaving only one ugly bastard that was probably close to soiling his pantaloons.

  He swallowed his saliva.

  “I would like to apolo-”

  I split his skull in half with my sword, pushing his corpse aside as I walked up to the only two survivors left.

  “Maya! Thank you so much, you saved us!”

  The elven cleric hugged me.

  It would almost be cute if I couldn’t sense her fear and resentment. She wasn’t stupid. She had noticed that I had stood around and done nothing until the bandit leader had specifically targeted me, but she also knew that there was nothing that could be done against me right now, so Miss Long Ears was attempting to play it cool.

  Just as I thought, she is not little sister material at all.

  I dropped my sword and casually grabbed her face like I was going to squish her cheeks playfully, but instead, I twisted her neck one hundred eighty degrees.

  What a frail neck, if I had found you earlier, you could have probably been the right sort to receive my affection…

  As for the big guy, finishing him off was easier than stealing candy from a newborn.

  Now… Let’s see if the so-called local authorities were indeed around or not. Will this massacre turn into a slaughter?