Chapter 50: Massacre

[Port city of Neima. slums. 11:35 P.M.]

"Tch, I can't believe after all the work we did we have to leave town." said Jeremiah in a complaining tone as he threw the cards on the table and took a swig of wine from his glass.

"And what do you suggest we do? The first troops of the Eastern Lords could arrive at any moment and personally, I don't want to get involved with them." Said the man sitting to his left as he tossed a couple of silver coins in the center of the table to raise the bet.

"From what I hear, the Eastern Lords plan to send five divisions, each led by a wizard from the 5th realm. With 50,000 men and five wizards of that level, I wouldn't be surprised if they clear enough land to build another two cities." Said another as he withdrew from the game.

"Tch, that damn priest. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him the moment I saw that puppet of his." Jeremiah complained. The mere memory of that incident a month ago where he saw a man melt to death still sent chills down his spine and made him nauseous ." If only he had kept his part of the bargain..."

"Stop complaining Jeremiah. The only reason you're upset is that the boss didn't pick you to take the potion." Said the burly man sitting across from Jeremiah.

"You... Shut your mouth." Although he wanted to reply, Jeremiah couldn't deny that what his companion had said was true. So he just kept drinking the wine from his glass.

After closing the deal with the priest of disease, the Black Lions had acquired a dozen Chimera potions. Shortly after, the leader had chosen the twelve most skilled warriors of the gang to take the potion.

However, of the twelve who consumed the potion five died and four were crippled. But the three who did manage to withstand the effects of the potion successfully became human chimeras and their combat power grew enormously, and with each passing day, they only grew stronger.

Although Jeremiah was aware of the risks, he still desired to be chosen to become a chimera soldier. For someone who did not have the capabilities to become a wizard or an aura user, this was a unique opportunity to gain power even if he had to risk his life to get it.

Unfortunately, Jeremiah had not been among the chosen twelve and now that Aylinor was dead he had lost the chance to become a chimera soldier.

"Well, but be that as it may, we still have two other cities under our control and when the Eastern Lords troops have finished clearing the place we can go back, start over and we can even make more money than before!" Said the man sitting to Jeremiah's right.

"Gustav is right, the boss has never failed us. As long as we follow his orders we will have a future full of riches. And speaking of riches... "At that moment, the burly man laid the five cards he held in his hand on the table. "...Look and cry bitches!"

When the remaining nine men saw their partner's cards they couldn't help but groan. It was the highest hand in the game. The burly man didn't wait for another second and took all the coins from the bet.

"I can't believe it. How the f**k do you always have such good luck Claudius?" asked Jeremiah as he collected and shuffled the cards on the table to start the next round.

"Hmph. What can I say? The goddess of fortune must love-"

*Crash, Xiu...*

Before Claudius could finish speaking, Jeremiah heard the sound of glass shattering and a hiss coming from behind him. A glow of light flashed past his cheek at high speed, cutting it slightly and causing it to bleed.

The glow of light continued its trajectory, hit Claudius right in the forehead, and exited out the back of his head spreading blood and chunks of gray matter everywhere. Finally, the glow of light hit the wall of the room and disappeared leaving only a small hole in the brick.

*Plam!*

Before Jeremiah or any of his companions could react, Claudius' lifeless body collapsed on the table causing his blood and cerebrospinal fluid to spill from his wound.

"Take cover!" Jeremiah didn't know which of his companions said that, but before he knew it he had already unsheathed his knife and was under the table.

*Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu…*

"Aaaah!"

"Aaaagh!"

"Keough!"

However, three of his companions who did not have the same reaction speed were pierced by the energy bullets and died before they could even get up from their seats.

*Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu*.

The hail of bullets did not stop. Every second that passed, energy bullets entered the room and a man was knocked down.

Two of them tried to escape the room, but they could only make it a couple of steps from the door before their bodies were filled with holes to the point where they looked like Swiss cheese.

Blood began to spill out of the holes and wounds on the bodies, causing many of the wooden floorboards to stain crimson red.

*Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...*

Finally, after almost ten seconds, the hail of bullets stopped.

The state of the room was terrible. Almost all the windows were broken, there were multiple holes in the brick walls, the floors were covered in blood and now in the room, there was only shattered furniture and the corpses of nine men left.

Jeremiah was still under the table scared and confused while holding his knife with all his might as if his life depended on it.

*Crash*

At that moment, one of the windows shattered and a black shadow entered the room. The shadow rolled across the floor and quickly got to its feet.

From under the table, Jeremiah was able to see the person who had entered the room. From his build, it appeared that it was male and he must have been at least 1.80 meters (5.9 ft) tall. The man was wearing a black mask, light armor with a hood and a sword strapped around his waist.

"Ni-Nigh- Night Fox?!" The moment he saw the man, Jeremiah couldn't help but think and stutter in whispers the name of the most mysterious and feared assassin in the entire city. However, as soon as he said those two words, a voice echoed inside his mind.

"Night Fox? No, unfortunately, she's off duty at the moment."

Jeremiah immediately realized his mistake. He quickly jumped out from under the table and without a second thought charged towards the man with his knife pointed at his neck.

But before the knife could even touch him, Marcus grabbed his attacker's arm and bent his wrist causing the weapon to fall from his hands.

*Snap!

"Aaargh!" Jeremiah screamed in pain as his wrist was dislocated and he fell to his knees while Marcus still held his arm. "W-who are you?!" He asked with a stutter.

"...Seriously? Why the f**k do you think I would tell you who I am? I mean, asking someone wearing a mask who they are is kind of stupid. Don't you think, Jeremiah?" replied Marcus calmly and normally.

"How do you know my name?!"

"Let's just say I'm very good at analyzing people. But let's stop with the useless questions and get down to the important stuff. I want you to take me to the tunnels."

"How do you even know about that?!" When he heard Marcus' voice in his head Jeremiah couldn't help but be surprised and panicked. " Forget it, I won't take you there. If I do it would be like digging my own grave!"

"I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not asking you for a favor and I didn't ask for your opinion either. I'm giving you an order." Without hesitation, Marcus grabbed Jeremiah's forearm applying all his strength, until...

*CRACK!*

"AAAAARGH!" Tears of pain welled up in Jeremiah's eyes the moment he saw his forearm bend in half and his bone exposed, as blood flowed from his wound. The pain he felt as his bone was shattered and his flesh torn was such that he almost fainted.

"Oh don't exaggerate. I only broke your arm. I've broken my bones so many times that I could even get a Guinness World Record for it. Now, are you going to take me to the tunnels or do I have to break your other arm?"

Unable to speak because of the pain, Jeremiah could only nod his head in response.

Then he and Marcus left the room, walked down to the first floor, passed through some of the building's corridors, and entered a small office furnished with a couple of bookshelves and a desk.

*Ka-Cha*

Then Jeremiah moved a lever that was hidden behind the bookshelves and one of the walls of the room opened revealing a hidden door.

Marcus walked over to the door in the wall and opened it. Behind it was stone stairs leading several meters underground.

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As Marcus inspected the stairs, Jeremiah turned around and began walking toward the exit.

"Wait."

Before he could leave the room, Jeremiah stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Marcus. He was so scared that he couldn't hear anything but his heartbeat and the blood flowing from his broken arm.

"Give me the map of the tunnels."

"Su-Sure." As he trembled, Jeremiah reached with his healthy arm for the map he had in his left pants pocket and handed it to Marcus. He didn't even wonder how Marcus knew he had a map of the tunnels, he just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

*Crack... Thud*

The instant Jeremiah dropped the map, his head did a 180-degree turn and his body fell to the ground. He didn't know what had happened until his head hit the floor of the room.

....

{You gained 1,152 xp}

....

Without paying any attention to Jeremiah's corpse, Marcus unsheathed his sword and descended the stone stairs leading down into the subway tunnels of the city.

****

[Port city of Neima. Subway tunnel network (25 m (82 ft) underground). 12:20 P.M]

....

{You gained 852 xp}

....

'Damn, where the f**k is the f**king base?' Marcus thought as he wiped the blood and grease off his sword. When he finished, he averted his gaze to the corpses of the seven Black Lions members lying on the ground.

At that moment, a black mist began to emanate from Marcus' body and entered inside the corpses. A few seconds later, as black veins appeared on the skin of the corpses and the mist stopped coming from his body, Marcus continued on his way through the dark tunnel.

More than half an hour had already passed since he entered the city's subway tunnels and in that time he had killed more than 30 members of the Black Lions. But still, there was no sign of their main base.

'Well, as there are more and more of them it means I must be close by.' As he thought this Marcus picked up the map of the tunnels and looked it over one more time.

Among all the information he had been gathering about the Black Lions, there were three things that Marcus couldn't get until he interrogated the old Makroft. Among them was the fact of the chimera potions, how strong the leader of the gang was, and the location of their bases of operations.

Apparently, almost 300 years ago those responsible for building the city designed a series of chambers and subway tunnels along with the city's sewer system. The idea was to use these tunnels as shelters and storage places to store supplies and weapons in case of war.

But when the project to connect the city to the continent's waterways failed, the construction of these subway tunnels was canceled.

By the time construction stopped, the network of subway tunnels already covered 25% of the city, connecting the slums to the commercial district, parts of the technical district, and the residential district.

But for some reason, these tunnels were never used and were eventually abandoned.

However, shortly after they established their base of operations in the city, the Black Lions discovered these tunnels and subway chambers. Then they began using them to move around the city undetected and store their weapons, supplies, and material goods.

Basically, the entire tunnel network was the Black Lions' great subway fortress.

'Well let's see, I turn the corner, then I go straight, then I turn right again...' While looking at the map every so often, Marcus continued to move through the tunnel network until he finally came to a large wooden door. 'I think this is it.'

Marcus immediately approached the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Without a second thought, he kicked the door with all his might, shattering the door frame on the spot.

'Oh sh*t.'

The room on the other side of the door was incredibly large and spacious, with tall stone columns and many wooden crates that were most likely filled with weapons, supplies, and other things of lesser value. However, the room was also filled with dozens of the Black Lions' members.

"An Intruder!"

"Kill him!" The instant all the Black Lions members saw Marcus they stopped what they were doing and drew their weapons.

"Die!" A man, almost 2.4 meters (8 ft) tall, who was closest to Marcus took his huge battle mace and charged towards him.

"Graaah!" Just as the huge battle mace was about to hit him, Marcus slightly moved his body to the side and dodged the weapon by a hair.

Then, with a smooth move, Marcus extended his left arm and with his outstretched hand struck the man in the chest.

*Scrunch*

Marcus' arm passed through flesh and bone without any resistance as if it were butter until his hand came out from behind the man's back.

Normally this would have been impossible. However, unlike humans, Marcus' limbs were made entirely of strong fibers of bone tissue and both his strength and defense had already surpassed the limits of normal humans.

*Thud*

Marcus removed his hand from the man's chest and his huge lifeless body collapsed to the floor with a thud, as his blood poured from the wound in his chest.

This scene had left everyone in the room completely dumbfounded.

They all knew the man and they all knew that he wasn't weak at all. And yet he had died so easily and in such a way that if they hadn't seen it themselves, they wouldn't believe it.

'Well f**k it.' After wiping the blood off his arm, Marcus opened his [Storage], pulled out another short sword, and activated the [Mass Telepathy] spell. "Question, do I have to kill you one by one, or do you plan to come all at the same time?"

****

Somewhere in the subway tunnel network, there was a carpeted room illuminated by chandelier light that was decorated with a variety of valuable paintings and artwork.

In the center of the room was a table where two women (one blonde and the other brunette) and a stocky brown-haired man were dining quietly. They all wore armor made of fine metal threads and monster skin fibers.

However, what stood out most about them were their upright pupils and the fact that parts of their bodies were covered with hair or scales.

At the end of the room was a large wooden desk, where two men were going over some papers and documents. One was standing in front of the desk and another was sitting.

The middle-aged man standing in front of the desk was dressed in simple blue and white robes, was slim, and could not have been more than 1.70 meters (5.5 ft) tall.

Meanwhile, the man sitting on the desk seat wore a simple white cloth shirt, a pair of black pants and was barefoot. But his appearance was very different from that of the robed man.

He possessed a muscular build, though not massive, his muscles were well developed. The backs of his hands, his feet, and his neck were covered with red scales. It also possessed a long reptilian tail and two dragon-like horns. In addition, the pupils of his eyes were vertical.

While Marcus slaughtered the members of the Black Lions, the five people in this room were unaware of the fact that they were under attack. But it didn't take long for this to change.

" Boss, we've got trouble!"At that moment, a young subordinate entered the room hurriedly without bothering with formalities. The man looked anxious and was covered in sweat. "Someone is attacking us! He's already killed many of our men!"

"What! How many are there?" The thin man in blue and white robes asked.

Afraid to answer, the young subordinate swallowed saliva and finally spoke. "... Just.... one!"

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