Chapter 32
Blake moved quietly through the hidden underground passage.
The air was cold and smelled of dirt and blood.
The only light came from a faint, glowing stone in his hand.
All around him on the rough stone floor, he saw beaten bodies.
Some were men who could not move, lying still and groaning softly.
Others were completely unconscious, not making a sound at all.
The man Blake had brought with him followed close behind, his eyes wide with fear.
He kept looking at the wounded people, his body shaking.
He knew his only chance to stay alive was to follow Blake, so he stayed close.
Finally, they reached a pair of heavy metal doors.
Blake pushed the doors open. Inside, he saw Lucas sitting in a large chair meant for the manager of the Black Market.
The room was a mess. Many men and women lay on the floor, knocked out.
Lucas looked at the new person Blake brought in and spoke.
"It seems talking to those idiots does not work. Beating them and torturing them for information works much better." He shrugged, because he had really tried talking to them first, but it did not help.
Blake let out a low chuckle. "You sound like you gave them a very hard time."
"Yeah, a little," Lucas replied. Both he and Blake wore masks to hide their faces.
"What did you find out?" Blake asked.
Lucas sighed with annoyance. "Well, it seems our friend behind you was once in the group we are looking for. But after they finished their mission, they never came back to this Black Market. With the Black Market's rule of not allowing anyone to show a client to other people, he is mostly useless. But from what I found, he was part of that group. After delivering the girl, they took him to another group. That group is connected to the Mayor of the city we just came from."
"So we have to go back?" Blake questioned, but then he shook his head.
"What should we do with this guy here?"
Lucas stood up and walked slowly toward the frightened man.
His voice became sharp and dangerous. "Did you touch Natalie? Do not pretend you do not remember who I am talking about, or you will die right now."
The man coughed, his face pale. "No! We did not touch her! We just delivered her to the Black Market. That is all!"
Blake watched the man's face closely. "He seems to be telling the truth."
"Huh. So he is useless. You are very lucky. She only asked us to kill everyone who was involved," Lucas said, his voice as cold as ice.
His sword was already at the man's throat.
A soft wave of mana danced around the blade, making the air shake.
But Blake's dagger quickly moved to block Lucas's katana. "Lucas, let's not kill him."
"Why? He was involved, wasn't he?" Lucas questioned, wondering what Blake was doing.
"I know," Blake said calmly.
"But for the same reason we are letting everyone in this Black Market stay alive. We let these fools live and cause trouble. That trouble will give us more missions later in the Hidden City. We remove a little bit of the problem, but we make sure it is never fully fixed."
Blake did not want the man to die.
Even though what the man did was wrong, Blake did not want to take him away from his family.
Lucas stared at Blake for a long time, thinking.
Finally, he sighed and took his katana back. "I trust your judgment. Do what you think is right."
"Thank you, Lucas," Blake said.
He signaled for the man to leave quickly.
After the man ran away, Blake looked at Lucas. "What do we do now? Going back and turning around again is too troublesome. Instead, let's send a message to the Mayor. We will tell him, on behalf of the Black Market, that we have released information saying a powerful cultivator from the Hidden City is after him. Then, we will give him a location close by and tell him a way to reach it in the next day or few hours. We can bring him to us, get the information we want, and then move on to find the rest of that organization's operations." Lucas nodded in agreement.
"It is a great plan. But it is funny—you just want to make this plan because you are too lazy to go all the way back," Lucas chuckled.
"Lucas, I am tired. Keeping up with you is already troublesome. Going back again might actually kill me," Blake complained, and Lucas laughed.
"Okay. Let's play the waiting game," Lucas said.
Then Lucas and Blake used the Black Market in the town to connect with the Mayor, who had communicated with them before.
After sending the message, the two of them moved to a remote area in the mountains.
There, they rested and waited for the Mayor to reach the place they had chosen.
They also communicated with Natalie to tell them if the Mayor left the city.
She confirmed he had left, so now all they could do was wait.
Even if the Mayor tried to escape, Lucas had already placed a mana spell on the letter. It would allow him to track the person who opened it.
Even if it was not the Mayor himself, Lucas would know where he went.
Blake was still awake later that night, while Lucas sat quietly cultivating.
Soon, Blake noticed some small lights moving in the distance. "It seems like they are here."
Lucas opened his eyes. His mana sense had already felt them arriving.
"This should be simple for you. Do not kill the Mayor, and do not kill a few people who might be important for our mission."
Blake nodded and then disappeared into the shadows.
The Mayor was traveling with horses and soldiers.
He sat inside a fine carriage.
His soldiers carried swords and magic guns, along with other weapons.
The magic guns were used by the soldiers who were not cultivators.
The rest were cultivators, with the strongest among them at the Iron Stage.
But even though Blake had not yet reached the Iron Stage in his mana core, he was still more powerful than them.
In physical strength, in fighting skills, and in spell power, Blake could be compared to a 5-Star Elite.
He needed to finish this B-rank mission and break through to the Iron Stage to truly become a 5-Star Elite, but for now, he was still a 4-Star.
The Mayor's small army was only as strong as a group of 3-Star and 4-Star Elites.
That is why Lucas said it would be easy for Blake.
Lucas was also keeping an eye on him from afar, ready to step in if needed.
Lucas himself was a 5-Star Elite, but his true power could be compared to a 6 or even a 7-Star.
In simple terms, this small army was going to lose badly.