The named enemies of this bandit ambush event, the twin brothers Okam, appeared, delivering lines that should have been directed at the hero.

The older brother was an Axe Expert, and the younger a Sword Expert. With their arrival, both Ethan and I tensed up, gripping our weapons and taking a defensive stance.

‘I knew a named enemy would show up in today’s event, but why are these guys appearing here…?’

If they were going to show up, it should have been on Yongjaekis’s side, since he’s the main focus of this bandit ambush event.

The fact that these twins had targeted us instead of the hero, who should have drawn much more aggro, was completely illogical.

Feeling that something was wrong, I glanced over at the hero’s party, and what I saw only confirmed that things were going sideways—a towering man stood there, someone I recognized immediately.

“From here to there, this field belongs to the great Bandit King, Huma. Setting up camp on my land… does that mean you’re ready to become my slaves?”

The man, a giant spearman standing close to three meters tall, was the Bandit King Huma.

Seeing the named enemy for the hero’s event appear on their side, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of unease.

‘Damn it, not this again…’

It was just like when I went to the Witch’s Forest to complete Lara’s secret event—both the Moonlight Wolf and the Roaring Crescent Bear had appeared at the same time. Now the same kind of anomaly was happening again.

In this world, unlike the game, named enemies that should only appear one at a time were showing up in multiples.

‘With the hero trapped by that guy over there, it’s clear we won’t be getting any help…’

That meant Ethan and I would have to deal with these twins on our own. To be honest, that was a daunting task for just the two of us.

‘Ethan is a Sword Expert, so if I leave the younger brother to him, he might manage somehow…’

The problem was that I would then have to face the older brother, an Axe Expert.

Going up against an Expert, especially with nothing but daggers, and trying to block that massive axe was practically suicidal. There was no way I could engage him head-on.

At least the older brother was a bit slower due to wielding the axe, so if I kept my distance and used long-range attacks, I might stand a chance…

“Okam, which one’s your type?”

“The man. You can take the woman, Okam.”

“Alright. I’m not into men anyway.”

The problem, of course, was that it wasn’t up to Ethan or me to decide who we’d face—the twins were choosing for us.

If they had chosen to split us up like this, it was better to go along with it rather than trying to switch targets. Facing them together would be even more dangerous than 1-on-1.

So, following their decision, Ethan was left to handle the younger Sword Expert, and I would have to face the older Axe Expert. It wasn’t an easy matchup, so both Ethan and I kept our guard up, prepared for the worst.

“Young Master, show me your sword.”

“Alright.”

“Sharpen it with mana. Let your blade be keen.”

“…Thank you, Lilith.”

“Good luck, Young Master Ethan.”

With that, as if we had coordinated beforehand, Ethan and I dashed in opposite directions, creating distance between ourselves and the twins.

The moment our one-on-one fights began, the twins each lunged their massive bodies toward us.

Though it wasn’t the best situation, we had no choice but to face them now. Ethan and I had to do our best to handle the task we’d been given.

‘For now, we just need to buy time. Hopefully, the hero’s party will finish off their named enemy and come help us.’

We couldn’t let the hero’s party draw too much attention, as that would endanger them as well. Until they were finished, Ethan and I had to hold our ground.

The twins, one wielding an axe and the other a sword, charged at us, and knowing it wouldn’t be good to let them close the distance, I leapt backward with the aid of wind magic and fired a barrage of Arcane Arrows at the Sword Expert.

“Whirl! Arrows of Mana, fly!”

-Whoosh!

Three Arcane Arrows flew toward the younger Okam, thanks to my Triple Casting.

I didn’t hold out much hope that they’d hit, but it was still a bit disappointing when, as expected, Arcane Arrows—a low-level spell—proved no threat to a Sword Expert.

-Clang!

“Oh, so you can use magic too? Or was your swordplay always secondary?”

“……”

Even after seeing me use magic, Okam seemed unbothered, calmly swinging his sword as he closed in.

For now, he likely believed I was only capable of low-level magic. That might give me an opening.

Before he realized I was a real threat, I had to throw everything I had at him and take him down.

‘Sally, Fire Explosion. Sei, back me up.’

‘Got it!’

‘…Alright.’

At my request, Sally conjured a massive fireball, and Sei added wind magic to it for extra power.

At the core of it all was the Shockwave I had prepped earlier, and the enormous fireball flew straight toward Okam.

-BOOM!

The fireball exploded the moment it touched the younger Okam, sending flames and debris flying.

‘That should’ve done it… no, of course it didn’t.’

Knowing the health pool of the twin Okams from the original game, I had never expected it to end with just that.

-Step, step, step.

“……”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Okam emerged from the flames, cutting through the fire with his sword.

His blade was able to negate most magic attacks, so this only confirmed that I’d have to defeat him with my own sword.

But how could I, who had only just entered the realm of Sword Experts, defeat someone who had been there far longer?

“To think you could use elemental magic too. You’re quite skilled for a mage, aren’t you?”

“……”

“Good. I’ve always wondered how mages cry when they’re defeated. Until now, the women I’ve captured were either weaklings with no power or cocky little girls who thought they were special just because they could swing a sword.”

-Slurrrp.

…Dammit.

What a shitty eroge world this is. Why did I have to get stuck in a place like this?

The perverted pig who clearly intended to do something disgusting was approaching me leisurely, making my skin crawl. But even so, running away wasn’t an option.

If I fled, the younger Okam would go to help his older brother fight Ethan, and as Ethan’s personal maid, I couldn’t let my master face danger because of me.

My minimum goal was to hold out and not become a burden to Ethan. My maximum goal was to kill this guy and then go help Ethan.

-Clang!

“What’s this? Did you give up running away? You suddenly came charging in.”

“I wasn’t running, you pig. I was avoiding you because your face disgusts me. Like your mother’s.”

“You’ve got a cute face, but quite the filthy mouth!”

-Clang!

“Guh…!!”

“I’m curious to see just how long you can keep that attitude! So don’t die on me, alright?”

The younger Okam swung his sharp longsword with one hand, launching wild strikes at me.

His swordsmanship was simple and unrefined—garbage, really—but that only made his attacks harder to predict, as his movements were erratic and unpredictable.

And the sheer gorilla-like strength that came from his massive, muscular frame was more than enough to pressure me, even without technique.

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Hahaha! Yeah, keep blocking like that! Don’t go down too quickly, or it won’t be any fun!!”

For several minutes, I blocked, dodged, and parried his strikes using my two daggers, focusing solely on dragging out the fight.

I could feel the fatigue rapidly building up in my arms, but I had to hold on as long as I could. However, the thing that disrupted my concentration wasn’t Okam.

-Thud!

“Aaaaargh!!”

“…What?”

In the middle of my struggle with the younger Okam, I suddenly heard a scream from farther away. A scream that belonged to Ethan.

A chill ran through me as I turned my gaze toward him. There stood Ethan, barely managing to stand while clutching his right shoulder, blood pouring from it.

‘…What?’

“Hggk… haah… haah…”

The sight of Ethan’s injury was enough to completely shatter my already fragile focus.