Transmigrated as a Ghost

"It is probably about time. Franco, lead some of your guys to scout things out and report back. If everyone is dead and the trolls have moved on, we can begin collecting our loot."

"Got it boss. It's just too bad none of the runners made it back. One of my best was among the group to make sure that the trolls reached their destination. I honestly figured he would make it through." Franco said, looking mildly disappointed.

"Truly, it is a pity, but we will make sure to sing his and the other runners' praise during our celebration tonight. I heard that this caravan has plenty of good booze and food they were transporting for the officers of the army gathering in Armadura. We're going to party like never before tonight." Axel said, letting out a loud bellowing laugh.

The other brigands around let out a series of cheers when they heard this and began urging Franco to hurry back so that they could quickly get onto the revelry.

Yet while he was gathering up some of the guys that were in his scouting squad, a young woman walked out of the woods behind them.

Naturally every single one of the brigands turned their attention towards her. For a few seconds there was bafflement on every one of their faces. It was certainly not common for an unaccompanied person to randomly appear in these woods. Especially a beautiful young woman.

Nevertheless, the confusion did not last long. Soon all of the brigands were grinning and leering at the woman.

"Looks like fortune has really smiled upon us today. We figured that the trolls would kill everyone so that we wouldn't get to have any playmates for the night, but a lucky survivor has come and presented herself to us." One of the brigands said, licking his licks as he looked the woman up and down.

She had incredibly striking features, with a flawlessly beautiful face, lustrous hair that was half black and half white, and mismatched eyes, with one being black and the other being white. There was an exotic alure to her that none of the brigands had ever seen before.

"Hehe. Why don't you come here little lady. We promise we'll treat you nicely all nightlong." Another of the brigands said while slowly walking towards Roxene.

However, before he took more than two steps, Axel, who had felt a sense of unease sense the woman had appeared called out to his men.

"Nobody get any closer to her! She's dangerous!"

All of the brigands stopped at their leader's command, but many of them looked befuddled. How could a lone unarmed young woman be any sort of threat to them. Their group was over two hundred strong and each of them had higher than average combat abilities thanks to their profession.

"All of you get into formation now! That ain't a normal little girl. If she was a survivor from the caravan she wouldn't have approached us from that direction."

Understanding fell over the faces of the brigands. Their visitor was not just some lost girl but had come here purposefully to ambush them.

"It seems that one of you actually has a decent sense for danger. Unfortunately, it really doesn't matter if you are on your guard or not." Roxene said, a vicious smile on her face.

The brigands attempted to fire arrows, throw knives, and cast spells at her, but a powerful mana barrier appeared in front of Roxene and blocked them.

In the next moment her lithe figure began to warp and expand as she retook her normal form.

A single second seemed to go on for eternity as the brigands watched her transformation and a sense of dread overcame all of them.

Standing before them now was no longer a young woman, but a giant wolf that was twelve meters long and five meters tall.

Roxene no longer restrained her aura and allowed the brigands to witness the full majesty of a powerful mythic grade beast.

"We're doomed." Axel said in despair.

Even if he nor any of his men could fathom the true power Roxene possessed, they could feel that she was overwhelmingly stronger than them. Before them now stood a type of creature that would normally only be spoken of in stories or fables. Unfortunately, what was happening to them was not a story but reality. A mythic grade beast had appeared before them.

A few of them muttered something about the forest's "Reaper," but Roxene just ignored them since their muddled words of fear did not interest her.

For a few moments she stood there menacingly waiting for them to flee, but all of the brigands simply continued to stare at her in utter terror.

'Um, did I hit them with too much intimidation? They were supposed to run away, and I would lead them back towards the caravan. At least that is what Marcus asked me to do.' Roxene thought, dumbfounded by what was happening.

Instead of fleeing in a panic, the brigands looked like they had given up on life and were simply waiting for their inevitable slaughter.

Though, while it would be easy enough for Roxene to kill them all here, that did not align with the plan she had agreed to. The others wanted to look good in front of the caravan so that they would have an easier time getting information from them.

Roxene herself did not really care about the minutiae of what Marcus was trying to accomplish, but she knew she would likely get scolded if she completely failed here.

'He never specified that I needed to keep all of them alive. Maybe if I retract my intimidation and bat some of them around the others will start running.'

By diminishing her aura Roxene made herself appear a bit less terrifying.

There was a noticeable difference in the brigands now that they were not being suffocated by her power. Their wits appeared to have returned to them and at least a few were looking around for ways to survive.

Seeing this Roxene was satisfied and leapt into the crowd of brigands and swiped her paw at the two that had been making uncouth comments towards her.

Both of them died before they could even feel the impact of the attack and their limp bodies crashed against one of the towering trees in the forest and left large red smears where they hit.

Fear and panic spread through the band of brigands and most of them began running away in several different directions as their flight response kicked in.

However, a few dozen remained rooted in place, unable to fathom escaping such a powerful beast.

'Oh well. It should be enough.' Roxene thought as she leisurely swatted the frozen men and killed them with easy.

Once she had eliminated the ones that no longer had the will to run away, she turned her attention to the ones that had fled.

They had spread out all over the place like a bunch of baby spiders, but none of them were close too fast enough to escape Roxene.

Despite her large size she moved swiftly and quietly through the forest without so much as rustling a single leave.

When she spotted a group of fleeing brigands, she would appear in front of them and kill one of them.

Using this method, she herded them towards the caravan, and not a single of the remining men realized exactly what she was doing.