Ever since the attack led by Maura, the danger is imprinted inside Blake's mind.
He already realized that he was already forced to be involved with a big problem between the powerful people of the world, and staying still would put him in a riskier position like a sitting duck.
If he wanted to survive, then he have to know about his enemies.
On top of that, he also needs to learn about the bigger picture and know his position.
Similar to a corporate ladder where the structure is complex and is already set from the moment he enters it for the first time, Blake needs to know who are the players that are involved in the field.
Becoming a Team Leader at his age is not something he gained out of luck.
In order to fulfill his promise to his father, he already planned who is his competitors, who are the people that could help him, and who are the people he needed to be close with in order to reach his ideal position.
Only when he knows the players in the field can he create a plan to sustain his own life.
Now, Blake and Maura are currently sitting on a bus that is heading to a neighboring city. Both of them are heading to the last meeting point for Maura and her team. Aside from her team, there are other teams from the same organization that are employed that night.
While looking out of the window, Blake's eyes are fixed on red energy shooting into the sky.
"At the very least, you're not that dumb to let that chance go. Now you know the last target that you needed to approach to know the full scope of your situation" Salana thought while also looking at the red energy.
During his encounter with the Pumpkin Man, he didn't forget to cast his Privileged Skill.
It was true that he was too surprised when he encountered another Privileged Player, but he was not going to let that chance go to pin the Pumpkin Man's location. The skill works in-game or even outside of the game.
Blake was surprised to find that the Pumpkin Man is in the same city as his, Julston City.
On top of that, Pumpkin Man lives at the top of the Grand Emerald Tower at the center of the city. It's the most high-end apartment complex in the entire country, the smallest room would probably cost millions in that tower.
'Sounds about right, they are supposed to be very wealthy after all' Blake thought.
Although the Pumpkin Man would definitely be able to provide the information Blake needed, he needs to take it slow and make his way up. Going there to confront the Pumpkin Man would be reckless of him.
Despite being a Spectral Vampire, the Pumpkin Man is also a Privileged Player.
Salana already warned him that he shouldn't underestimate other Privileged Players, there's no saying if their bodies have already started integrating with the game world or not. It's best to play it carefully.
"Okay, tell me again what is the place we are going?"
"If we managed to finish our job smoothly, our employer's people will wait for us in this place to retrieve the items. We only need to give it to them and count our work done. Maybe some of them are still there, so we can take them down and extract information"
Upon hearing this, Blake nodded his head.
Just before he could aim for Pumpkin Man, he should know the employer's identity first.
It didn't take long before the two arrived at their destination.
Blake and Maura get off the bus and found themselves in a four-way junction. It's the suburban part of the city, the place is completely isolated with numerous abandoned buildings, a couple of small stores that are still open, and creative gravities tainting the wall.
Scanning around the place, Maura then takes the lead.
"It's this way"
Coursing through the street, the two take a small alley that is dark and empty.
Under normal circumstances, Blake would've been wary of where Maura is taking him if not for knowing his compelling ability. Due to that, there's no way that Maura would lead him into a trap to kill him.
Albeit feeling quite confident, Blake still keeps his caution on high alert.
Reaching the end of the alley was a bigger alley with somekind of an abandoned warehouse on the right. It's a massive space that seems to have been abandoned for quite some time, the fences were already rusting and rags litter the edges.
Blake activates his Nocturnal Blood Sight skill for a brief moment.
"Eurgh..."
A groan escapes his mouth as he felt a sting in his eyes from activating the skill.
Looking around with bulging eyes, searching for any kind of life, Blake didn't find anything coming from the abandoned warehouse, the coast should be clear, "I'll be following you from the shadows, you go on ahead"
"Are you using me as bait...?" Maura asked in horror.
Instead of answering, Blake only gave her a smile before he stepped back into the shadow.
Gulping harshly out of nervousness, Maura pushes open the fence before she strides inside. Currently, she was wearing a black tank top layered with a T-shirt and a hat. She curses Blake in her head for giving her this kind of clothes for the night but she couldn't complain.
Striding through the empty space, Maura steal a glance to her back before she frowns.
'How can he disappear like that...? I can't see him anywhere'
Although Blake said that she would be following her from the shadows, the massive space doesn't provide any cover, so he should have nowhere to hide. However, Maura couldn't find him anywhere.
If she doesn't know better, she probably thought that Blake abandon her.
But she could feel a pair of eyes watching her every movement, and that sensation alone shows that Blake is still somewhere around the place. No matter the method he used to hide, he's definitely still here.
Continuing her strides, she eventually reaches the abandoned warehouse.
Upon reaching the front of the abandoned warehouse, she tries to open the door but finds that it was locked. It made her frown but she decided to find another way to enter the abandoned warehouse.
Going around the place, she finds a couple of cars on the other side of the warehouse.
'Hmmm...? Are they still here?' Maura thought in confusion.
It's been more than a day, the others should've changed the meeting point per day to not be obvious. So seeing that their cars are still here, she was confused and also feels like something is definitely wrong.
For expert mercenaries, this kind of mistake should never happen to them.
Averting her gaze away, Maura also finds a crack in the warehouse that could fit a person.
Since there was no other way to enter the abandoned warehouse, she decided to go through there and managed to reach inside. The air is stuffy inside, and dirt and dust filled the entire place, forcing Maura to cough a couple of times.
No light was able to reach the inside of the warehouse, it was completely dark.
Maura reaches into her bag that she prepared in case something like this happened and grabs a flashlight, she turns it on and started to look around trying to spot even one of the mercenaries that should be in here.
"Come out! It's me, Seraphina!" Maura exclaimed loudly.
Due to the roofing of the place, her voice echoed and reverberated inside the warehouse.
But weirdly enough, even after she shouted, nobody answers her.
If earlier she suspects that something is wrong, now she's certain that something really is wrong. Just then, Maura whipped her head to the side when she heard a loud steely sound that sounded like something falling.
Since she was already here, she might as well investigate the sound.
Taking a turn on a big factory machine at the edge of the abandoned warehouse, she points the flashlight towards it before she gasped in shock. Maura was so surprised that she almost lets go of her flashlight.
"What in the world happened here...?"
Right in front of her is the mercenaries' corpses that were piled against each other.
Despite some of the corpses being in pieces, almost as if their body parts were eaten or bitten by something, Maura recognizes some of them and becomes certain that these are the mercenaries from her organization.
All of them were reduced to nothing but corpses.
The stench from them is also the cause that makes the air stuffy and unpleasant.
It's clear that they were already dead for more than a day, the rotten stench coming from them is sharp. Now that she knows this place is dangerous, she intends to flee before it was too late.
Even though that is her plan, her body abruptly stopped when she saw a figure.
Not far from her, a couple of steps away behind her is a figure. His entire body is completely blocked by the darkness, only his pair of unholy glowing yellow eyes can be seen, glimmering with malice.
At the sight of this alone, Maura feels a sense of dread dawns on her.
Unconsciously, her body moved on its own and takes a couple of steps back slowly.
The figure looks to be humanoid, but the light growling sound and the pair of predatory yellow glowing eyes indicate that it's not a human. Knowing that a being such as Blake existed, she feared that this figure might also be a monster.
"Bad night to wander alone, human..." the figure said jarringly.
Upon hearing this, Maura raised both of her hands, "I-I- I'll leave right away, please..."
Instead of letting her go, the figure chuckled gravelly.
Following that, a couple more figures fell from above and landed around her. Now, she was surrounded from all sides by people. Unlike the one with glowing yellow eyes, the others seem to be human, but they have blood smeared on their mouths.
Something like this is straight out of a horror movie, and Maura is paralyzed on her spot.
"Go and take care of her, she's not tasty..."
Just as the figure with glowing yellow eyes was about to leave after commanding the others to finish Maura off, he suddenly stopped abruptly when he saw a movement in the shadows beside him.
It was then he realized that Maura is not alone.
Crack!
Crack!
Out of nowhere, two of the bloodied people dropped dead when their necks were snapped.
Upon seeing this, the figure with glowing yellow eyes looks back at Maura and finds another person emerging from the shadow beside her. It should be another man, but his purple eyes were glistening with malicious intent.
Blake emerges from the darkness before he puts on a maniacal smile.
Putting his arm around Maura's neck and pulling her close, he then made strong eye contact with the figure with yellow glowing eyes and said dauntingly, "Sorry, this girl here is mine, she's my food. I can't let you people touch her"