With a slight exertion of force, Mo Di snapped the crossbow bolt and tossed it aside. He drew the greatsword from his back and brought it down in a sweeping cleave.
Mitchell, the bandit leader who had been so arrogant just moments ago, was now split in two from top to bottom, his internal organs and blood splattered across the ground.
The bandit next to him, covered in blood, was already scared out of his wits. Even when Mo Di pointed his sword at him, he showed no reaction.
This was the result of a curse combined with the evil magic of the Wendigo, which Mo Di called the Aura of Fear. All creatures within a 3.5-meter radius of him would be afflicted with fear.
If one's will was not strong, it was equivalent to taking a full-force Fear spell, amplifying the fear in their heart.
The bandit in front of him was exactly like this, still immersed in fear even as he was cut in half at the waist.
Having dealt with the two people present, Mo Di didn't even ask about their status there. He hoisted his bloodstained greatsword onto his shoulder and once again vanished into the ice fog.
The hunt continued.
Cries, screams, pleas for mercy... these sounds lingered within the bandit stronghold, echoing endlessly.
"You demon, we've never even seen you before this. Why won't you spare us?!"
"Why?" Mo Di chewed on the word, splitting the speaking bandit in two with a single sword stroke.
"You and I are not without grievances."
He still vividly remembered that pot of contaminated fish-mushroom soup.
Even if it wasn't done by the bandits present, even if the real culprit had already been executed, based on the Mohist philosophy of universal love, Mo Di could not possibly let them go.
Universal love meant he had to treat the bandits before him the same way he treated Lucas and his companions.
"Hmph, it doesn't matter. As long as you're a bandit, I'll 'love' you all the same."
The greatsword slammed down, its broad blade directly smashing a bandit's head into his chest, making the surrounding bandits tremble with fear.
"It's a Wendigo, a man-eating demon. It won't let us go. We must attack together if we want to survive."
Someone shouted, and the bandits were roused to a frenzy, breaking free from the influence of the Aura of Fear, and swarmed forward.
Then they were all killed by Mo Di's single sweeping strike, except for the person who had just shouted.
This person took advantage of the bandits' charge to sprint in the opposite direction, using them as bait for his escape.
"Where do you think you're running to?" Mo Di raised his hand and made a grasping motion, creating a blood-red ice spear using the principle of the Ice Arrow, and hurled it with force.
The blood-red ice spear tore through the air, plunging deep into the ice fog.
A moment later, a dull sound came back, and he knew his blood spear had hit its target.
He walked unhurriedly towards where the blood spear had landed, parting the ice fog. A short figure was reflected in his eyes.
"Southern Brew?"
Without a doubt, the person in front of him was male. Even if his face was more handsome than most women's, even if he had shoulder-length hair, it didn't change the fact that he was a man.
What interested Mo Di was that this young man had a place in his memory, leaving a deep impression.
Though they were all negative impressions.
He clearly remembered that this young man was named Brendan, and like Farga, he was a mage who had graduated from the Frost Tower Mage Academy.
Perhaps because the Frost Tower Mage Academy was known for producing eccentrics, this Brendan, though not a sycophant like his senior Farga, was definitely an eccentric.
His favorite pastime was role-playing, and he had a strong professional ethic, loving whatever he did.
When he was a bandit, he committed arson, murder, and robbery, doing absolutely nothing that was remotely human.
As an assassin, he was fond of stealth, once going so far as to slaughter the target's neighbors and their neighbors' neighbors because his assassination attempt was witnessed.
He also worked as a con artist, swindling a noble out of sixteen thousand eight hundred gold coins, causing that noble to have a mental breakdown and drink heavily every day.
Furthermore, he had done many more things, both legal and illegal.
Despite being an eccentric, his good looks kept his popularity consistently high in the "Old Eight's Secret Family Bucket" series.
Because he also had a sister who was just as beautiful as him, many players liked to call him "Brother-in-law" and grind his favorability to romance this female character.
But Mo Di would not do that.
He wouldn't have before, and he certainly wouldn't now.
He only wanted to kill him as quickly as possible.
"Do we have some grudge between us?" The young man, whose abdomen was pierced by the blood spear, struggled to get up.
"If you're just referring to you and me, then no," Mo Di slowly approached, dragging his greatsword, "but if you die, more people can live."
He, Mo Di, was now a partner of justice.
The greatsword swung down mercilessly.
Seeing the greatsword cleave towards him, Brendan's eyes narrowed, and he unhesitatingly used his life-saving technique.
The greatsword fell, and a head flew up.
Brendan's beautiful eyes lost their luster, rolling a few times on the ground before landing face up, staring blankly at the sky.
Normally, at this point, one could basically be declared dead.
But Mo Di knew that Brendan was no ordinary person.
Naturally, common sense could not be directly applied to him.
"Do you think you can fool me?" Mo Di sneered, stepping over the headless corpse and grabbing the head on the ground with one hand, "Stay with me for a lifetime."
With that, a cursed fire ignited in his hand, burning the beautiful head.
The moment the cursed fire enveloped him, Brendan's eyes regained their luster. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but due to his incomplete vocal cords, he could only emit a hoarse wail.
The wailing lasted for three minutes before gradually fading, finally falling silent as the light in his eyes dissipated.
"Is he really dead?" Mo Di dared not be careless and used the bloodstained book for a final confirmation.
The head and the headless corpse turned into a blood mist, indicating that Brendan was indeed dead.
【Transcendent - Impersonator - Brendan Upton】
【Fooling Hearts, Master of Impersonation, Split Personality】
"He's really dead, and he dropped something."
Mo Di knew that doing good deeds had good rewards.
Sure enough, he had just killed an eccentric and immediately got two high-quality entries.
【Fooling Hearts】 - this entry was probably related to Brendan's final life-saving technique.
If Mo Di had turned and left at that moment, he might have allowed Brendan to successfully fool him, thereby turning him from dead to alive.
But he didn't expect that Mo Di had read the script and knew about his ability.
'I didn't expect this kid to be a mage academy graduate on the surface, but actually a follower of the demon god Nightmare Face.'
After browsing through the knowledge recorded on Brendan's page, he quickly figured out the kid's hidden identity.
This was information that wasn't in the guides he'd read before he transmigrated.
Like Corvus, Nightmare Face was a demon god located outside the continent of Eternity.
Since the War of the Setting Sun, he, like other demon gods, no longer appeared on the continent and rarely interfered with the development of the Eternity continent.
But now it seemed he still had the power to interfere with the Eternity continent, and Brendan was one of his pawns.
'Just the 【Fooling Hearts】 entry alone takes up two entry slots. Combined with Brendan's art of deception, I can replicate his recent actions... and even do more.'
Temporarily transferring the 【Split Personality】 entry to another unused page, Mo Di unloaded the permanent Ed's page and loaded Brendan's page.
With a hint of a pleasant smile on his face, he stepped deeper into the ice fog.
A bandit carrying a package and trying to sneak away entered his field of vision. The smile on his face grew wider, then was replaced by panic.
He walked up and patted the bandit's shoulder, startling the bandit who quickly turned around.
Finding it was a tall dark figure, he became wary.
"We can't stay here. The monsters in the ice fog are hunting us non-stop. We need to get out of here quickly."
Mo Di said in a flustered tone, his words seemingly imbued with magic, leaving the bandit confused.
Wariness was replaced by confusion, and confusion was quickly replaced by anxiety.
The bandit refused, "No, it's easier for them to notice two people escaping together. We must split up... Wait, where's my package?"
"What package? Haven't you been empty-handed all this time?" Mo Di feigned confusion, still holding the stolen package in his hand.
【Master of Theft】 combined with 【Fooling Hearts】 seemed to produce unexpected effects.
"I've been empty-handed all this time?" The bandit was stunned. Looking at his firm, seemingly genuine gaze, his resolve gradually wavered.
"That's right, I'm here to escape. Why would I deliberately bring a burden?"
The bandit muttered to himself, memories of the package replaced by another layer of false memories.
"I can't talk to you anymore. I need to get out of this cursed place quickly."
With that, the bandit, ignoring Mo Di, plunged into the ice fog.
Not long after, a scream came from the ice fog.
Mo Di stayed put, removed Brendan's page, and the pleasant smile on his face also faded.
"Even with the 【Split Personality】 entry stripped away, using this page too much can still lead to split personality. It truly is something left behind by that eccentric Brendan."
Opening the bandit's package, he glanced inside, his eyes lighting up.
There was nothing else in the package but a jade dragon sculpture, about twenty centimeters tall.
It was a lifelike jade dragon, standing upright with wings spread. Looking at it, one could faintly sense an ancient dragon's might, indicating it was no ordinary item.
"Isn't this my long-lost jade dragon sculpture? I didn't expect it to have been stolen by a bandit."
Although Mo Di didn't know how the bandit obtained this priceless treasure, it didn't stop him from taking it for himself.
In his words, it should be returned to its rightful owner.
"Within the jade dragon sculpture, there seems to be a wisp of dragon's might. I can try to study it."
Putting away the jade dragon sculpture, he found a random chair and sat down, waiting for the Frostblood Abomination to complete its mission and return.
After a while longer, no more screams echoed from the ice fog.
Three tall figures walked in front of him, kneeling on one knee.
The ice fog slowly dispersed, and the bright moonlight once again shone upon the bandit stronghold.
After the deep-night cleanup, the place was a river of blood, with limbs and severed arms everywhere, permeated by a strong smell of blood.
Mo Di waved his hand, and the corpses and blood on the ground all turned into a blood mist, surging towards him.
Thus, even the cleanup work was done.