Blood and Betrayal

I know Jude Russell won't run away from this place. 

What remains is whether Leo can see through Jude's plan and subdue him. 

That was the only problem. 

And Leo believed in his own talents and in the power that he possessed. 

Walk forward slowly. 

Rather, it is a defenceless act that leaves an opening. 

But instead of rushing straight ahead, Jude picked up the pace a little more, dazzling Leo's senses and observing the situation. 

An extremely cautious attitude, contrary to his arrogant speech. 

The gap brought a faint smile to Leo's lips. 

Wheeeeeek!!! 

Something Leo could not have guessed, but it was never later than expected. 

That fleeting moment that precisely penetrates the gap between the senses and the thoughts. 

Jude appeared from Leo's left side and thrust his blade into him. 

A movement so light and natural that you would never even notice it unless you were conscious of it. 

Just one move that makes you realize how skilled a killer the prosecutor Jude Russell is. 

But Leo reacted. 

Kwaaaaang!!! 

As Jude appeared beside him, he struck him with a shock spell, knocking his head into the ground. 

Jude's upper body fell over as if someone had grabbed his hair. 

In an instant, a purple whip tightly binds his limbs. 

With that, the battle ended in an instant. 

Jude looked up at Leo with eyes of disbelief as his all-out attack was in vain. 

"Oh, how…!!" 

Leo responded calmly. 

"From the beginning." 

His gaze falls on the piece of ice still stuck to the hem of Jude's coat. 

A piece of his magic left behind by Leo using [Ice Round]. 

Even though it is difficult to detect the speed with the naked eye, Leo's ability to sense magic is different. 

Moreover, tracking the movement of the magic that Leo himself had spread was simpler than keeping your eyes wide open and chasing something that cannot be seen. 

From the moment Jude Russell turned the tide, Leo had already seized the opportunity to win. 

Jude, who had only just realized the situation, struggled to get up with a pale face, but the magic Leo had prepared was implemented first. 

Kkieeee...!! 

The shadow that rose from under Jude's feet became a huge mouth and swallowed his lower body. 

The shadow-type surprise magic that shows its true value in the dark has worked properly this time too. 

What happened next was a desperate scream. 

"Ugh, haaaaaah!!!" 

Jude, who lost both his legs in a single attack, let out a groan of pain and dropped his sword. 

He began to run away, dragging his torso and slowly pushing his arms back as if trying to somehow get away from Leo, groaning slowly. 

But instead of chasing him, Leo just chuckled. 

The last gamble he made seemed so obvious. 

"You licked the blood so deliciously in front of my eyes and now you expect me to fool you?" 

"… … … " 

When Jude Russell heard those words, he stood still. 

Spread it!! 

Without saying a word, it turns into a red fog and begins to escape across the night sky. 

Vampire. 

Strong physical abilities. Cunning combat intelligence. Bloodlust. Ability to conjure blood mist. 

They are similar to werewolves, but they form forces in a different way and pursue pure blood. 

Are we finally meeting two races that are so similar yet so different, like mirrors? 

But no further curiosity arose. 

A vampire's blood transmutation is a very useful ability, but it actually makes them much more vulnerable to attacks. 

Taking that stance while running away was really just a last-ditch effort. 

Lightning struck from the dry sky. 

In the blinding flash of light, the faint silhouette turned to ash and disappeared, and Leo, who confirmed that even the fishy smell had completely disappeared, slowly turned his back. 

Only after the battle did my mouth become dry and my head suddenly started to feel dizzy. 

Leo, realizing that the cigarette was almost gone, quickly lit a new one. 

"Phew… ." 

He sits on a piece of container neatly sliced by Jude Russell's knife, and smoke pours out. 

I feel my sweaty shirt cooling down quickly in the night breeze. 

It's been a long time since I've worked so hard, so my lungs are already aching and my legs are aching. 

The stomach that was hit by the shotgun also hurts mercilessly. 

I lifted my shirt to check my stomach and saw that there was already a large, blue bruise spreading across my lower stomach. 

If it was this painful even while sucking Cashburn, it seemed like the pain would be no less severe after the effects wore off. 

negotiation 

'It wasn't easy.' 

I recall this battle while absentmindedly letting out smoke. 

When I received the request from Dyke, I was prepared for it, but as expected, this task was not easy. 

Considering the requests Leo had experienced up until this point, the level of the opponent was also relatively high. 

Neither the bandit-like man nor Jude Russell would have been able to walk around this world with their heads down. 

It's just that Leo had powers and talents they couldn't have guessed, and he was able to unleash them at precisely the most critical moments. 

In the end, that's all there is to the story. 

In a battle with no end in sight, Leo must constantly prove himself. 

Penalty relief, more money, a comfortable life… all are meaningless if they cannot pass this basic premise. 

And that is why Leo was able to put aside all thoughts for that moment and focus entirely on the battle. 

Rather, I began to feel comfortable during this time of fighting for my life. 

'… … This is dangerous.' 

Leo thought as he watched the burning end of the cigarette. 

Ultimately, it's the same as drug addiction. 

Once you get a taste for stimulation, it's not easy to break away from it. 

Rather than dipping your feet into the swamp and trying to get out, you need to manage yourself thoroughly so that you can avoid the swamp from the beginning. 

This is ridiculous. 

I thought he was running with all his heart, wishing for only one thing more than anything else, but instead, it seemed like that was slowly starting to hold Leo back. 

But it is something he started and was determined to do. 

I have no choice but to endure it. 

Leo has not yet fallen. 

And it will continue to be so. 

Along with the promise that could not be kept, the smell of blood that filled the port was being washed away by the sea breeze. 

# 

"I knew this would happen." 

Killian, who was watching everything happening beyond the screen, clicked his tongue and said. 

"That's why I said that if you hire people only based on their careers, you'll end up with a lot of trouble." 

"… ..That was expected." 

Panoa answered with an effortless expression. 

"A traitor appears? 

"… … ." 

She kept her mouth shut. 

"You need a sieve to separate out the raw materials from those whose identities are unclear. What good are they if they only talk? If you put them into direct operation, they're just full of brats." 

Panoa turned her head away in anger at Killian's indifferent remark. 

"If you had said you would do a test, do you think you could have selected team members with the same quality as now? If you wanted to appease those ignorant guys, you should have raised the salary even more than now. Are you saying that when you know our situation so well?" 

Although the development of this operation ended up clearly revealing our incompetence, it is not that Panoa has nothing to say. 

Contrary to what she had confidently told Leo, she too had her fair share of challenges to overcome in the company. 

But it was impossible to make such excuses in front of Leo. 

Killian, who knew that very well, dismissed all of those excuses in one word. 

"So that's how it turned out." 

The problem is that, although it is a consequential statement, it is not wrong in any way. 

If it weren't for Leo, it wouldn't have been strange for Dyke's plan, which he had spent a huge amount of money on, to have gone down the drain. 

From the beginning, Panoa had never expected that one of the freelancers would betray him. 

"… ..I took the 40s area too lightly. I thought it would be okay if I gathered the guys who hadn't caused any trouble until now… . I didn't think they'd turn their backs on me so easily." 

"You're working with criminals with no criminal record. You have to be prepared to take some risks." 

Killian gestured beyond the screen with his chin as he spoke. 

Leo was seen sitting on the wrecked dock, smoking a cigarette. 

"So, what are you going to do? That guy is real. You have to catch him no matter what if you want your plan to succeed." 

Even to Killian, who has no affection for Leo, his skills are like a perfect gem. 

Because he dealt with various attributes, it was not easy to guess what kind of unique magic system he was using, but what caught his eye more than the magic he was using was Leo's fighting sense itself. 

The courage to not be intimidated even in the face of a powerful and cruel enemy. 

The courage to take even a little loss in order to overcome the situation. 

The ability to make appropriate use of terrain features and the ability to use magic with chilling accuracy. 

The way he used his magic sparingly until the last moment to turn the game around and seize the opportunity to win against superhumans with far superior physical abilities was completely different from the magicians Killian knew. 

I feel it at the same time. 

It is a talent that is different from simply being good at using alcohol. 

His appearance, suppressing fear and pain with strong reasoning and striking with sharp judgment, was close to that of a natural-born gambler. 

Killian knew how to deal with people of that talent. 

No matter what happened later, for now I needed to treat him well. 

"Since things have ended like this, I think we should call him and sort things out. That is, if we want to work with him for a long time." 

"… … I guess I'll have to take a decent chunk of the success bonus I promised to the other four and give it to Ban. For now, I can only hope that he'll be satisfied with that… ." 

Panoa replied with a complicated expression, but her mind was busy calculating. 

Although things worked out unexpectedly, it was a great achievement to rescue the wizard Ban in the process. 

A talent that absolutely cannot be missed when considering the current state of the project. 

This mistake should not be simply brushed aside, but used as a stepping stone to continue working with him. 

"If Ban continues to support our plans, we might be able to sort things out faster than we think. We just need to expand the board and build a sales network before other companies get involved." 

"I guess we need to regroup." 

"I should ask Manya to pick out some more viable freelancers. This time, I'll spend a little more money, but I'll test them out like you said. Even though we're short on manpower, I shouldn't have been stingy with money on something like this… I was definitely short-sighted." 

As she said that, she quickly walked to her desk and tapped away at her keyboard. 

The internal network. Among them, she sends a message to the employees she has called together for this project. 

By eliminating drug dealer Paul Ackerman, we have succeeded in cutting off a major source of funding for the arms dealers in the 40th District. 

From here on out, you need to use both threats and bribery to penetrate the sales network of already established arms dealers, while eliminating competitors at the same time. 

"I definitely feel more comfortable when I make plans assuming it's a lawless zone. The aftermath of the plan isn't as big as I thought." 

"That's why there's a guy who hits you in the back of the head like before." 

"We have no choice but to control that part." 

She said that and waved her hand at Killian. 

"You can go out now. Oh, by the way, Manya will pick out the candidates and post them, so print out all the resumes and bring them to my desk by tomorrow morning." 

"Fuck… I'm not here to help you with something like this." 

Killian left the office without complaining, even though he was grumbling like that. 

Panoa also typed on the keyboard for a while and then immediately got up from her seat, gathering her outerwear. 

It's late at night. 

The only reason I stayed in the company and worked until this time was to check on a series of plans being carried out at the 48th District Port. 

Yawning, he picks up the remote control, turns off the drone's camera that was illuminating the harbour, and inputs the return command. 

That's why she didn't see it.