The cavern air felt as thick as freezing mud. Donald stood perfectly still, his heart hammering a frantic, deafening rhythm against his ribs. He didn’t dare blink. He pushed every single drop of his 41 Mana into his [Valuation Eye], forcing the EX-Rank skill to tear through the suffocating veil of stealth magic surrounding the cloaked figure.
It was like trying to stare directly into a blinding sun. The golden text of his System interface flickered violently, glitching and fragmenting as it fought against a high-tier concealment artifact.
Crack the shell, Donald commanded his System, gritting his teeth as a sharp, throbbing headache spiked behind his eyes. Show me what he is!
With a final, desperate surge of his Investor mana, the stealth barrier shattered in his vision. The golden text stabilized, burning brightly against the dim, orange-lit backdrop of the dungeon room.
What he saw made the blood freeze solid in his veins.
[Target: Unnamed (B-Rank, Level 38)]
[Class: Assassin / Hidden Sub-Class: Lesser Vampire]
[Affiliation: Wildfire Syndicate]
[Combat Value: Extreme. Lethal speed, blood-arts mastery, and cellular regeneration.]
[System Warning: Target possesses anti-heal capabilities. Do not let it draw blood.]
Donald’s breath hitched in his throat. The puzzle pieces violently slammed together in his mind, forming a terrifying picture.
Silas wasn’t the mastermind. Silas was a nobody. The massive C-Rank gang boss who ruled Sector 4 through intimidation and extortion was nothing more than a cheap, low-level pawn. The Wildfire assassination guild—the elite, untraceable underworld faction that had massacred Evelyn’s A-Rank raid team and framed her for it—hadn’t lost her trail. They had simply used the Iron Dogs as hunting hounds to sniff out the Slums.
And now, the master of the hounds had arrived to collect the prize.
"Evelyn," Donald whispered. His voice was incredibly strained, tight with a fear he fought desperately to control. He didn’t take his eyes off the cloaked figure. "It’s Wildfire. He’s an assassin."
Evelyn’s body went completely rigid. For a fraction of a second, the confident, predatory B-Rank veteran disappeared, replaced by the traumatized survivor who had spent five months dying in an alleyway.
Donald leaned an inch closer to her, lowering his voice so only she could hear over the hum of the glowing ore veins. "It’s worse. He’s not human, Evelyn. He’s a Lesser Vampire. That’s how they wiped your team so fast."
The words acted like a physical spark hitting a barrel of gunpowder.
Evelyn didn’t panic. She didn’t retreat. Instead, a terrifying, suffocating wave of cold blue mana erupted from her body. The air pressure in the cavern dropped instantly. The trauma in her eyes vanished, instantly swallowed by a deep, bottomless ocean of pure, murderous fury.
She remembered the screams of her team. She remembered the impossible speed of the shadows that had bled them dry in the dark.
"Wildfire," Evelyn hissed, the word slipping through her teeth like venom. She raised the Bloodhound’s Fang, pointing the dark crimson blade directly at the cloaked figure. The cursed sword resonated with her absolute hatred, glowing so brightly it cast harsh red shadows against the cave walls. "I have waited a very long time to see one of you again."
Under the deep gray hood, the Lesser Vampire let out a soft, echoing chuckle. It was a dry, hollow sound devoid of any real amusement.
"An A-Rank Vanguard reduced to wandering the sewers in rags," the Vampire murmured, his voice smooth and deadly. "The Guild Master assumed you would die on your own from the core fracture. Imagine our surprise when Silas’s thugs reported a woman with B-Rank speed slaughtering them in an alley. You found a healer, it seems. A temporary delay of the inevitable."
The Vampire casually raised his pale, thin hand. From the tips of his black, razor-sharp fingernails, drops of liquid blood began to seep outward, defying gravity. The blood hardened instantly, forming two long, jagged crimson stilettos in his grip.
"Silas," the Vampire commanded, not looking away from Evelyn. "Kill the boy. Bring me the kinetic weapon he is wearing. I will drain the Vanguard."
"With pleasure," Silas rumbled, slamming his massive, metal-clad fists together. A shockwave of yellow kinetic energy blasted outward, rattling the loose stones around his boots.
Donald barely had time to brace himself.
The cloaked Vampire moved. It wasn’t a run or a dash; it was a localized teleportation of pure speed. One second he was standing next to Silas, and the next, he was directly in front of Evelyn, thrusting both blood-stilettos toward her eyes.
But Evelyn was ready. Her B-Rank reflexes, unhindered by a fractured core, exploded into action.
CLANG!
The Bloodhound’s Fang intercepted the blood-daggers. The sheer kinetic force of their weapons colliding generated a shockwave that blew the dust and gravel away from their feet in a perfect circle. Red sparks and blue mana violently clashed.
"You’re fast for a corpse!" Evelyn roared, pressing the attack, forcing the Vampire into a blinding exchange of strikes that Donald’s eyes could barely follow.
But Donald didn’t have the luxury of watching her fight.
"Eyes on me, little rat!" Silas roared.
Donald spun around just as Silas closed the distance. The C-Rank Brawler was massive, but he moved with terrifying momentum. Silas threw a wide, looping right hook aimed directly at Donald’s ribs. His metal gauntlet glowed with compressed kinetic force.
Donald’s [Valuation Eye] painted a bright yellow trajectory line in the air, showing exactly where the punch would land.
Donald didn’t try to block it with his F-Rank [Aura of the Vanguard]. A direct hit from a Level 24 C-Rank Brawler would shatter his magical shield and turn his ribcage into powder.
He ducked hard, bending his knees and dropping his center of gravity.
Silas’s massive fist sailed over Donald’s head, missing him by mere inches. But Silas wasn’t just a physical brawler; he was a Kinetic Striker. As the punch missed, the yellow energy surrounding his gauntlet detonated.
BOOM!
A secondary shockwave of kinetic magic blasted through the empty air. Even though the fist missed, the concussive force slammed into Donald’s shoulder.
Donald grunted in pain as he was thrown sideways, sliding several feet across the rough stone floor. His new trench coat tore, and a fierce, burning ache radiated down his left arm.
[Warning: Concussive Damage Taken. Health decreased slightly.]
Donald quickly scrambled back to his feet, gritting his teeth. His Level 6 stats—specifically his 39 Strength and 38 Stamina—were the only things keeping him from having his shoulder dislocated by the near-miss.
"You dodged!" Silas laughed, genuinely surprised as he cracked his neck. "You actually dodged! Garek was right, you aren’t a normal F-Rank anymore. But dodging won’t save you, boy. I have enough stamina to punch holes in these cave walls all night."
Donald raised his heavy Type-3 Pile Bunker, aiming the flat steel barrel at the towering gang boss. His heart was racing, but his mind was crystal clear. The System’s golden text floated calmly in his peripheral vision.
He’s Level 24, Donald analyzed rapidly. His raw strength and defense are higher than mine. If we trade blows, I lose. If I get trapped in a corner, I lose. I have to fight smart.
Silas charged again, this time closing the distance with a rapid flurry of heavy jabs. Each punch was accompanied by a yellow kinetic detonation, turning the air itself into a weapon.
Donald retreated, using his 39 Speed to perfectly weave backward. The yellow trajectory lines drawn by his [Valuation Eye] guided his footwork perfectly. He stepped left, tilted right, and ducked, dancing through a minefield of explosive punches.
"Stand still and die!" Silas roared in frustration, raising both gauntlets over his head for a devastating downward smash.
Now, Donald thought.
Instead of backing away from the massive overhead strike, Donald stepped directly forward, inside Silas’s guard.
"[Bull Rush]!" Donald shouted.
His boots cracked the stone floor. He didn’t aim for Silas’s heavily armored chest. He angled his body low, driving his Vanguard-shielded left shoulder directly into Silas’s right knee joint just as the giant man was bringing his weight down.
The C-Rank Brawler was incredibly heavy, but Donald’s 39 Strength, amplified by the C-Rank momentum of [Bull Rush], was like a cannonball.
Silas’s knee buckled backward with a sickening pop. The giant man lost his balance completely, his overhead smash missing Donald entirely and slamming into the cavern floor, cracking the solid stone.
While Silas was stumbling forward, off-balance and vulnerable, Donald pivoted smoothly. He brought the massive thirty-pound Pile Bunker up, aiming the barrel squarely at the exposed gap under Silas’s armpit.
Donald pulled the trigger.
Click.
The weapon let out a mechanical whine, but the explosive spike didn’t fire. The heavy impact from Donald’s earlier stunt against the cavern ceiling had temporarily jammed the kinetic chamber.
Silas, realizing how close he just came to death, backhanded Donald with his left gauntlet.
The blow caught Donald in the chest. The F-Rank Vanguard shield shattered instantly upon impact like cheap glass. Donald was launched backward through the air, crashing hard into a jagged stalagmite.
He coughed, tasting blood, his chest burning with agonizing pain. The heavy Pile Bunker felt like an anchor dragging his arm down.
"You almost had me, you little piece of shit," Silas breathed heavily, limping slightly as he straightened up and glared at Donald. The yellow light around his gauntlets flared brighter, fueled by his rage. "But almost isn’t good enough in the Slums."
Donald wiped the blood from his mouth and slowly forced himself to stand up. He pumped his mana into the Pile Bunker, using his raw magic to force the jammed kinetic chamber back into alignment.
With a loud clack, the silver spike locked back into place.
Donald locked eyes with the towering gang boss, his [Valuation Eye] analyzing every micro-movement of Silas’s injured leg. He was bleeding, he was out-leveled, and he was hurting, but Donald felt a fierce, undeniable smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
He was surviving against a C-Rank killer. And he wasn’t done fighting yet.