Dark Side of the World

Managing to escape the Ghoul, the two came out of the alley and reach the main street.

Blake puts Maura down and continues walking hurriedly with a hunched posture along the street, he didn't say anything, he only puts up the hood of his jacket and keeps on walking silently.

Looking from behind, Maura can tell that he's in a state of shock as well as a lot of pain.

It was then he enters a shopping market on the side of the street, the doorbell rings alerting the clerk. Blake glanced back at Maura and quickly put his hand on the back of her waist and pushes her to walk faster.

Passing the clerk who is looking at the two of them, the two made their way to the toilet.

Since it was already late at night, there was nobody but them inside the shopping market. Avoiding attention is going to be impossible for them, so Blake decided to ignore the clerk and made his way quickly to the toilet.

Opening the toilet door, Blake shove Maura inside before he went over to the sink.

Maura doesn't know what is inside his mind right now, but it would've been a lie if she said that she was not scared of him. Deciding to try to be calm, she then started treating her wrist which got bitten by Blake.

Along the way earlier, she grabbed a bandage on the stall to treat her wounds.

Blake didn't drink too much of her blood earlier, but she still feel weak. If he wanted to drink more then Maura would be in trouble, she would indeed run out of blood faster and pass out once again.

Due to that, she was already trying to think of a way to refuse Blake if he asked for blood.

In silence, Blake grunted a couple of times due to the pain while splashing his face with water. His breaths were heavy, and his mind seems to be anywhere but here. Everything that had happened in the last hour is too much for him.

Nothing seems to make sense, his entire view of the world was utterly destroyed.

But when he raises his gaze to see the mirror, he finds himself having no reflection once again. Not knowing why, he feels angry at the sight of him having no reflection, the sight of this irritates him to no end.

Blake gritted his teeth in response, trying to suppress his anger desperately.

"H- Hey... Does my blood heal your wounds yet? I think it's not enough, you're still breathing heavily. But I couldn't give you more blood, I hope you understand. Instead, let me see the wounds first and I'll wrap it up for you" Maura said delicately, trying to be careful about what she was saying seeing that Blake seems to be unstable.

Out of nowhere, Blake grabbed Maura by the neck and slammed her against the wall.

"Kahhk- Blake...?"

"Did you know that those kinds of monsters exist?!"

"N- No, I swear! You're the first one that I've seen, I don't know anything about that"

"LIAR!!"

"Blake, I- I'm also as confused as you are. I'm on your side h- here, please let me go..."

Upon hearing this, Blake clicked his tongue and pulls his hand away.

Maura slides back down to the ground before she coughs a couple of times, she was surprised when he suddenly grabbed her neck like that, "I- I was about *cough* to ask you if you know what that thing *cough* was..."

Thanks to the stress and anger, Blake started to pace back and forth.

'I only wanted to take a break from working, but why am I thrust into this situation?! Just what the heck am I dealing with here, how are there Ghouls in the real world?!' Blake shouted inside his head, he was nearing his breaking point.

Brak!

Unable to contain his anger, Blake suddenly punched the wall strongly and cracked it.

At the sight of the cracked wall, Maura gasped in disbelief as Blake's raw strength is shocking. Not even the strongest mercenaries that she knew had that kind of brute strength, it's completely in a different realm.

But then again, the Ghoul is able to beat Blake, so there are more monsters out there.

It was then the door got knocked from the outside.

"What's going on in there? Is there something wrong?" the clerk asked in worry.

Realizing that Blake turned his body towards the door with murderous intent in his eyes, Maura quickly gets up and puts her hand on his chest before she gestured that she would take care of this.

Turning her face away, Maura then peeks through the door and saw the clerk.

"I'm sorry, but is there something wrong?"

"I heard something from the inside, can you please step aside first so I can check?"

"Are you suggesting to come inside when a lady is using the toilet?"

"T- That's not what I meant. You can step out first, I'll only check"

Knowing that there was a big crack in the toilet because of Blake punching the wall earlier, Maura paused for a bit before she gestured to the clerk to come closer with her index finger, provocatively.

Upon seeing this, the clerk blushes a little as he got closer to Maura.

But in the next second, Maura grabbed the clerk's collar and headbutted him right on the nose. Not stopping at that, she quickly grabbed the clerk's nape and slammed his face on the door, sending him straight to dreamland.

Looking at the unconscious clerk, Maura then said, "Maybe we should get back first"

"Fine" Blake replied coldly before he got out and left the shopping market.

A moment later, Blake and Maura reach back to the apartment room.

It's been about ten minutes since the two of them came back, and now the two of them are sitting on the sofa in the living room, facing the TV that is turned on with low volume. Blake is topless right now while Maura is sitting beside him tending to the wounds that are still bleeding.

Since she's a mercenary, stitching and treating wounds are a regular thing.

Maura was forced to do this since if Blake drinks more of her blood, she would pass out.

"Not only you don't know about their existence at all, but the Ghoul knows about Privileged Player. Regular players wouldn't know about it, so he must either have connections with powerful people of your world or he knows another Privileged Player"

While he was being treated, Salana is talking to him from the side.

But Blake didn't answer her and only keeps processing the new information he got.

Salana stayed behind longer earlier, and she told him that she heard the Ghoul muttering something about him being a Privileged Player. Knowing that fact, Blake also already expected what she was saying.

In a span of a few hours, he learned so many shocking things.

Due to those shocking things, Blake could feel his head throbbing as he massaged his forehead in stress. "Lean back on the sofa, let me see your stomach that got clawed by that thing" Maura suddenly said.

Not minding her, Blake did as he was told and leaned back on the sofa, groaning in pain.

Although he already drinks Maura's blood, the grotesque wounds on the left side of his body are still quite bloody and open. It might've torn again due to him exerting himself from running away from the Ghoul earlier.

'I thought he's quite lean, but his body is rock-hard. I'm impressed' Maura thought silently.

While she was tending Blake, he was pondering while looking at the ceiling.

"How could that possibly be? That's a monster, he shouldn't be close to anyone influential. Is someone keeping them as pets?" Blake mutters to himself, still thinking about what Salana said earlier that is definitely weird.

Salana shrugs her shoulders, "They could steal a Limited VR Helmet, remember?"

Upon hearing this, Blake's body tensed and his eyes widened for a second. He then unconsciously looks at Maura, remembering that she said that there are many forces that wanted to steal the Limited VR Helmets.

It was only out of pure luck that she managed to reach the delivery truck first.

Blake is still doubtful whether that monster could know about Privileged Player from another Privileged Player, but he now starting to realize that it might be possible considering he doesn't know anything about this dark side of the world.

At this moment, he only knows that Ghouls and Vampires exist.

Maybe there are much more of them outside crawling in the shadows and blending with the mass. In addition, Maura also said that she doesn't know who her employer was, and nobody could be certain that it's not one of those monsters.

Despite Blake's weirdly talking to himself, Maura didn't bother him.

It must've been his way of thinking, so there's no need for her to pay any mind. But then she realized that Blake is staring at her while she was focusing on stitching the wounds, and she instantly becomes nervous.

"What is it? W- Why are you looking at me like that" She asked.

Squinting his eyes for a brief moment while looking at her intently, Blake then asked.

"Didn't you say that you don't know the employer that tasked you to be here?"

"Yes, I don't. I only do what the employer requested"

"If that's the case then do you know why these Limited VR Helmets are valuable?"

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, I only know that the Limited VR Helmets can make someone stronger. I thought nothing of it as a rumor. But seeing you dodging my bullet, now I believed that it must be true"

Listening to this, Blake becomes more suspicious about this employer.

Not only now he realized that there's a world that he doesn't even know exists, but he also realized that some of the Privileged Players might be monsters in real life. If they were allowed to grind in the Lunaris game, then they would become even stronger.

The Ghouls from earlier don't play the Lunaris game, but he was already that strong.

Although that is the case, Blake is still confused about one thing that bothers him the most, 'But then again, I think even if some of the Privileged Players are monsters, they should be trying to become stronger to face the upcoming Inevitable Apocalypse, right...?'

'I want to believe that, but why am I feeling uneasy right now?' Blake thought again.

Salana who was watching him from the side leaned back on the sofa and sighs, she now realized that this world also has a problem of its own, "Seems like things are starting to become complicated..."