Before I could catch my breath, I heard the sounds of battle. The remaining six bandits had begun to surround me. I only had enough mana to cast five level-one spells, and I couldn't afford to waste any of it. Earth Ball and Ice Ball were the spells that could deal the most damage, but they took much longer to cast than the others. That was why they weren't very useful when the bandits attacked me at close range.
My most effective close-range spells were jelmio indigo (Wind Blast) and jelmāz renigon (Lightning Touch). I couldn't let them surround me; I had to act fast. The Fog spell was still working, but the fog wasn't as dense as before. With every passing second, the bandits drew closer.
If I attacked with magic now, I could kill two of them, but the other four would rush me, and I didn't have enough stamina to fight four adults in melee.
I picked up a sword from the floor and threw it toward the right side of the room with all my strength. Then, as I pulled my dagger out of the bandit's head, I began moving left as quietly as possible. When the sound of the sword hitting the wall and falling to the floor came from the right, all the bandits turned their attention that way and began walking toward it. I silently approached the leftmost bandit.
I put my sword and dagger at my waist, approached until I was only three meters from the bandit, then cast jelmāz renigon (Lightning Touch) with both hands. Both of them were struck by arcs of lightning and scorched, collapsing to the floor with smoke rising from their bodies.
Four remained, and my heartbeat hadn't slowed for a moment. One mistake, and I would experience that unbelievable pain again. Hearing the sounds their two friends made as they died, the bandits began coming this way, but the closest was still eight meters away. They hadn't surrounded me, since they were all rushing over.
When I saw two of them running toward me in a line, I remembered my first kill and wanted to try killing two birds with one stone again. I began casting the Earth Shard spell and fired it.
Just then, both of them changed direction and began to surround me, causing me to miss. Damn it, a spell wasted. What was done was done; I had no time for regret.
I couldn't stay in one place, or they might trap me, so I began running fast. Our speeds were similar. The fastest ones had a speed of 7.2, while mine was 7 with the buff. I tried to get behind them as I ran along the room's walls, but they noticed and changed direction. The two faster ones were closer to me, with the other two five or six seconds behind them.
The closest raised his sword to attack, but I used jelmio indigo (Wind Blast) to send him flying backward. I could hear his breastbone shattering. The one behind him had to change direction to avoid crashing into his friend. Taking advantage of that opening, I closed the distance, cut off his sword arm, and severed his neck with an upward diagonal slash.
I only had enough mana left for one spell, and I had to use it to kill the one holding the spear. If he died, I could rely on my bark armor to kill the other without mana. Spear thrusts were generally faster than sword strikes, and blocking them with bark armor was more dangerous and difficult. Besides, its reach was much greater than my sword's.
I only had one chance, and I couldn't miss. As I severed the other bandit's neck, the remaining two closed the distance between us. Without hesitation, I cast jelmāz renigon (Lightning Touch), aiming at the spearman. At this distance, he shouldn't have had any way to dodge the lightning spell. As the magic activated, the spearman grabbed the other bandit by the neck and shoved him toward me. Because of that, the spell hit the other man.
Damn it, this bastard used his friend as a meat shield. He lunged at me without waiting. This was no time for surprise. I stepped aside at the last moment, but I wasn't fast enough.
His spear sliced from the middle of my chest to my right shoulder, but the wound wasn't very deep. My chest felt as if it were on fire, but there was little bleeding. After his thrust, the bandit turned the motion into a sweep, aiming the spear's tip at my head instead of pulling it back.
I met the spear's tip with my right arm, and a metallic sound rang out as it struck my bark armor. The blow was stronger than I had expected. I had intended to block it, then step forward and stab him, but the impact shook me so badly that I toppled to the left.
My strength was 7, but his was 8; I had never imagined he was this strong. He spun his spear, trying to strike my chin with the shaft. I managed to put my arm between my chin and the shaft, but the blow still hit my head.
I completely lost my balance and fell. As I fell, time seemed to slow. Was I going to die again? I didn't want to feel that pain again. How could they have entered my training space?
Just then, I realized I was inside my training space. No one except my familiars and me could enter this space. None of them were real; none of this was real.
I lay on the floor as the bandit prepared his final blow. I could clearly see the spear thrusting toward my head. I focused entirely on the spear. Then I shouted:
"Stop!"
My heart pounded as if it would burst out of my chest; I could almost hear my heartbeat. The bandit's spear was only a few centimeters from my face, and he stood motionless as though frozen.
I had almost died again, so I took deep breaths, trying to calm down. It was just as I had thought; once I calmed down and began to think, everything started becoming clear.
It was normal that I had taken so long to realize this, because someone whose stomach had been pierced by a spear and who had died in excruciating pain couldn't possibly think rationally. The fear I had been in was over, and now I could think. When describing the skill, the Order God must have meant them by "enemies."
I had never killed anything I considered an enemy before, which was why the room had been empty. But now these bandits had become training dummies.
So every time I killed someone I considered an enemy, would a copy of them appear here? I stood up, walked over to one of the corpses, and began examining them. Were these one-use things, or could they be revived?
When the Order God said I couldn't be killed in the training space, I had thought I was immortal. How was I supposed to know I would die and come back to life? I raised my head and began shouting.
"Do you enjoy watching this, you twisted lunatic? Are you sure you're a God of Order? I think you're closer to a god of chaos! You could at least reduce the pain receptors a little."
I could still feel the sensation of the spear piercing me. I looked up again and said loudly.
"It would be nice if you could at least give me a manual. Do we have to discover and learn everything from scratch?"
Just then, something occurred to me. I placed my hand on the room's wall, and just as I had with that redwood in the Godswood, I began spreading my mana through the walls. After a few minutes, my mana filled the entire room, and all the information about it began flowing into my mind.
"Verify Infinite Training."
Infinite Training: A room prepared for gaining combat experience. No one except the master and his familiars can enter. Copies of enemies killed by the Druid will appear in the room, but currently, no more than 20 enemies can be activated at once. Enemies possess the same magical and combat abilities they had while alive. The Druid and his familiars will revive after death. The room will grow in size according to the number of stored enemies. Since this room is intended for training, the Druid can control the enemies' behavior, and the room's settings can be changed through verbal commands. Other information is locked. Room settings: Spawn upon entry, aggressive, group attacks, emotional and thinking capabilities locked.
"Disappear."
The spearman and all the corpses vanished from the room in an instant. The sword in my hand and the blood on the floor disappeared too.
"Spawn all enemies."
After I finished speaking, eleven men appeared on the other side of the room and began running toward me. One took a bow from his back and was about to shoot an arrow at me.
"Stop."
They all froze like statues; one had been taking such a long stride that both his feet were off the ground. Even the arrow he had fired hung in midair. It was amazing.
"Disappear."
Once again, they all vanished.
"Change room settings; spawn on command, attack on command."
I placed my hand back on the wall to check whether the settings had changed. Everything had changed as I wanted.
"Spawn one enemy." As I said this, I thought about which one I wanted, and the room spawned the spearman just as I wished. The dummy simply stood there without moving.
"Attack."
When I said that, he began running toward me.
"Stop."
When I said, "Return to where you started," he teleported to the spot where he had first appeared.
"Attack using only half your strength and speed."
He began attacking me again, but now he was very slow, and his speed really was only 3.5.
"Disappear."
Once I completely relaxed, I began feeling utterly exhausted, so I left the training space and collapsed onto the bed.
I woke drenched in cold sweat. I had had another nightmare, but this time, I wasn't killing people; I was being killed. I unconsciously clutched the spot where the spear had pierced me. I really had died last night. Now I couldn't breathe; it was as though the room were pressing down on me. My familiars also felt the panic I was feeling, and they began moving restlessly around the room. When they couldn't find what had made me like this, Bo approached and landed in front of me.
-Dad, why are you so scared? There's no one else in the room, just us.-
Thanks to our bond, they could feel my panic, and I could feel their concern for me. I began directing my mana to my brain to calm down, and it worked. The panic attack I was experiencing began to subside.
"Don't worry; I'm fine now. I had a terrible nightmare, so that's why I was like that. It's over now." Although I spoke through our bond, I still felt their concern for me. After meditating for half an hour, I stood up and said:
"Come on, let's get breakfast. What do you want to eat, guys?"
Bo's and Erebus's shouts suddenly rang out in my mind. "Eggs!"
"Master, a rat..."
When I left the building, I went into the shed beside it and took a rat from the iron cage I had hidden behind a pile of straw on the floor. I held it up to Im, who was coiled around my neck. The rat struggled, but Im bit it like lightning and coiled around it. A few seconds later, the rat stopped moving, so Im immediately swallowed it.