Uneasy Night

Meanwhile, Carymount City.

It's been days since Blake's departure from the city, and nothing substantial happened.

Aside from the sudden beam of light that happened during the First Act, the city is quite peaceful lately with only the problem with the occasional thugs in the slums. But there's more than meets the eye.

When night came, Old Brian left his armory and headed home.

Since there are the clerks he hired that would close down the armory when it's a bit later at night, he doesn't need to be worried about that. Taking a deep breath of fresh night air, he began coursing through the street.

Having lived in the third section, his life is very peaceful, more than he deserved.

On top of that, even if he did live in the fourth section, he has quite a fearsome reputation inside the city. Guilds from big to small rely solely on him for making, repairing, or even inscribing equipment.

None of the regular folks dares to mess with him who has the backing of the guilds.

Life for him in this city is blissful.

Old Brian has been indulging in the hobby that he picks up when he was young inside this city without disruption. Blacksmithing is his life purpose, and he could feel his soul raging every time he works inside the forgery.

But for some reason, the refreshing night air feels different this day.

Even the tranquility of the night that has only occasional bystanders feels more choking than usual, and this puts a frown on Old Brian's face, "Err... Am I working too hard lately? Why do I feel uneasy? This is my street for damn's sake"

Shaking his head, he picks up his pace wanting to reach his home quicker.

Living with an apprentice that he has taken who has magical hands in preparing food despite being a young man, he couldn't help but feel eager. It's the only thing that could make him excited ever since his wife passed away.

It was a natural cause, so he accepted the death quite well and moved on with his life.

"What would that brat make this time? It seems I made the right decision in taking him as an apprentice, he's diligent and has a burning passion for blacksmithing. He even feel the need to cook for me every time despite already reminding him countless times that I would be the one taking care of him"

"But this doesn't feel bad..." He mused with a pleasant smile.

Old Brian then reaches the residence part of the third section and reaches his house, it was a humble house made of wood and polished stones. "Hmmm...? The brat didn't light up the torches? Is he already asleep?"

"Haish... I thought I'm eating good today" he added with a dejected sigh.

Ascending the stairs, he opens the door and decided that he would hit the bed instantly. But it was then, his eyes bulged seeing three figures standing in the darkness with one bruised and battered person tied on a rope attached to the ceiling.

In an instant, he recognized the tied-up person. It was his apprentice.

"OLIVER!!" Shouted Old Brian, seeing his only apprentice, Oliver on the brink of death.

Realizing that it was an attack, Old Brian takes a hammer beside the door intending to strike. But his body froze when one of the figures in black hood pointed his dagger at Oliver's neck, gesturing that he would not hesitate to kill Oliver if Old Brian tries anything.

"Just tell me what you want, don't bring him into this" Old Brian surrendered.

Upon hearing this, the figure tilted his head, "Come with us without retaliating. One of us will stay here, and if you try to fight back or even so much as to glare at us, this poor kid right here will die without knowing why he died"

Gritting his teeth, Old Brian nodded his head before he was escorted out.

'Where are the city guards...? It's strangely devoid of them this night, or are they under orders to not intervenes with these people?' Old Brian thought. He was then pushed from the back and caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the figure's wrist.

It was shaped like a cracked skull engulfed in black burning flames.

Old Brian instantly realizes the tattoo, 'Infernal Veiled Assassins... so it's about them'

Not having the option to retaliate, Old Biran could only succumb as one of the assassins covers his eyes before conjuring a thick black veil that blocked his vision. It was only then he was brought away.

Due to the black veil, his senses were dulled and he feels like floating.

A moment later that feels like nothing more than mere seconds, the veil was lifted from him and he was now standing in an unfamiliar place. He's outside, seemingly inside the forest but should be rather far from the city.

Glancing to the side, Old Brian finds three other people beside him.

One of them is an old man who looks like an ordinary man, he's already sobbing in tears as he finds the situation unbearable. In addition, the other two were someone that Old Brian recognizes, they were the ones that made a conflict inside his armory, Axel and Issaiah.

Clearly from this line-up, he already knew who these stoic assassins wants.

"P- Please... I don't want any trouble, I only wants to live in peace in my rundown pub"

Not even starting yet, the old man already tries to please his way out of this.

But the six assassins that were surrounding them, standing firmly and unmoving beside stick torches that lit up the area didn't seem to give any remorse or even subtly react to the poor old man's plead.

Each of their eyes only fixed on the four with a cautious gaze.

Just as the four waited patiently for progression, each of them was forced to their knees.

Axel who was angry from the fact that he was kidnapped by these unknown assassins that don't seem to care about his standing barked angrily, "Do you fuckers knows who I am? Or where I came from?! I suggest you let me go now if you don't want my guild to slaughter you all for endangering one of its star members!"

Upon hearing this, Old Brian pities Axel who doesn't know his position.

Even the grandmasters of his guild wouldn't be that confident in front of the Infernal Veiled Assassins, they were a guild that operates in a higher dimension. One of their universally known feats was assassinating a King!

It's a feat that could make anyone tremble in their boots, and piss their pants.

Making an enemy of the Infernal Veiled Assassin Guild is not a wise thing to do. What Axel is doing right now is something unwise, and it didn't take long before he quickly regretted to bad-mouthing these assassins.

Splash!

"We have a noisy one here... It's always a pleasure to silence this kind of people"

Out of nowhere, Axel felt a sharp sting on his throat as a dagger pierces through him. He coughed a mouthful of blood as his eyes dilated, but it didn't take long before his eyes dimmed and he dropped to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the old man gasped in shock before more tears flowed out.

Issaiah and Old Brian also have the same shock on their faces, the two fixed their eyes on another assassin with dark blue eyes coming from the back, walking in steady steps with an aloof air around him.

Each thudding sound his step makes was akin to a death knell, full of malice and terror.

Turning around to face the remaining people, this assassin that's oozing out a massive amount of killing intent scans his eyes across the three before his eyes squinted, indicating that he was smiling behind his black intricate mask.

A freckle of red aura could be seen coming out of his dagger, it was fully upgraded.

Old Brian who catches a glimpse of this dangerous man frowns realizing that this man is way stronger than he is, the aura coming from him that he flaunts recklessly showed that he's at least above level 100.

'Surely, this assassin must be a Deathstalker. One rank below the Phantom Lord...'

Knowing that he has no chance of defeating a Deathstalker from the Infernal Veiled Assassin Guild, Old Brian gulps harshly, his old senses were rejuvenated to life again. The situation is worse than he initially thought.

"Right, anyone else wants to say hello to mingle with my dagger...?" the man asked.

Not one of them answered the question out of fear.

Even the old man was biting his lip, trying to not make any sound despite his whimpers alongside his body shaking violently. He has never been a fighter, and he would never adapt to situations such as this.

Finding no answer, the man then threw the dagger to the ground nonchalantly.

Leaning on a rock in a nonchalant manner, he pauses for a choking amount of seconds before he eventually added, "I'm sure the three of you know why you are gathered here, so I'm not going to beat around the bush"

In an instant after saying that, dark energy burst forth from the man.

A suppressing force presses the three down, the man's presence was multiplied a couple of times, and his dark blue glowing eyes were glinting with immeasurable killing intent possessed only by a professional killer.

Just from his aura alone, it's scary to think about how many people he has killed.

"Tell me, truthfully, for the sake of yourself to not make this night any worse. Where is Lady Linthia and who is the person helping her...?"

~

[Bonus Race Quest - Ghost of Battle has been completed!]

[Player MoonDespoiler has obtained 15 Racial Skill Points]

Blake was weeping on all four knowing that his curiosity wouldn't be quenched, the Privileged Quest wouldn't be completed now that the Beast Horde has been successfully defeated by the people of the city.

It's stated that he needs to kill the players during the confrontation with the Beast Horde.

Now that it has ended, his chances of completing it are gone.

Even if the Privileged Quest is still active, he would need to find a moment where he would need to kill the player silently without being caught. Hard for him to do that if the city will be bustling after this successful defense.

[First Step of the Beastman Chain Racial Quest, Trial of Combat has been completed!]

[Obtained 25,000 Exp, 20 Gold Coins, and Serrated Ironclaw]

'Oh...? I finished another chain racial quest. Unlocking all racial quests has its own perk' Blake nodded with a smile, he could treat this as a bonus reward. 'Fine, it's alright. At least in this world, I can relax a bit. No trouble is coming for me here...'

While he was lying on the ground, his eyes abruptly widened.

'Hold on a minute. If the quests have ended, then why didn't I get any prompt? Even the Emergency Quest still hasn't been stated to be over. Did I miss something...?' Blake thought with a frown, this absence of prompts should indicate that the quests are still active.

But he doesn't really get the reason for that.

Pondering for a few minutes, his eyes then widened in realization as he glanced back.

"Oh... seems like the Beast Horde is not done yet with the Terramaw alive. Great! This is my chance!"