Torchlight flickered, casting long shadows that danced wildly on the damp stone walls of the crypt. Gareth's footsteps echoed, heavy and full of arrogance, disturbing the silence of the Blackwood family tomb.
The man was large, clad in a thick leather vest and steel shoulder guards. Hanging at his waist was a short sword—a standard guard's weapon that had already spilled enough commoner blood.
"Bastard. Damn you, Elara," Gareth grumbled roughly, spitting on the floor. "Sending me down to this rat hole just because you forgot to take off that kid's father's signet ring? 'It's an heirloom', she says. Tsk! Just admit you want to sell it to buy a new dress."
He walked past rows of ancestral sarcophagi, showing absolutely no respect for the dead. To him, Vaelen was just another piece of trash that needed cleaning up. Routine work.
As Gareth turned around the last pillar, his steps halted.
His eyes widened. The torch in his hand trembled.
In the corner of the room, the wooden coffin that should have been sealed tight was smashed to pieces. The lid was busted open, wood splinters scattered on the dirt floor.
And most importantly: It was empty.
"What..." Gareth froze, his brain trying to process the impossible sight. He had seen for himself—he had ensured Vaelen stopped breathing. He had felt the coldness of the boy's skin.
"Dammit! was the dosage too low?" Gareth growled, his hand reflexively moving toward the sword hilt at his waist. His warrior instincts flared up. "Come out, you little rat! I know you're here!"
Silence. Only the sound of water dripping from the cave ceiling.
Gareth stepped forward cautiously, raising the torch high to illuminate every dark corner. "Don't make this difficult, Kid. You're supposed to be dead. Get back in your box and die quietly, or I'll chop you up until your ancestors can't recognize you!"
He turned, checking the gap between Lord Cedric Blackwood's stone sarcophagus.
Empty.
He turned again toward the stairs.
Empty.
Just as Gareth rotated his body back, turning his back on the main pillar to check the coffin once more, the shadow behind him moved.
Not magic, not super speed, but pure timing. Vaelen had been standing in the blind spot, holding his breath until his lungs felt like bursting, waiting for the moment when Gareth's focus was entirely fixed on the broken coffin.
[Skill Activated: Stealth (Beginner) - Status: Ineffective due to Low Agility]
[Suggestion: KILL.]
The system didn't need to tell him twice.
Vaelen lunged. He didn't aim for the neck—his body was too short and weak to reach the hulking Gareth from behind effectively. He aimed for the one place unprotected by muscle or armor.
The back of the knee. Popliteal fossa.
CRASH!
The piece of rusty iron slammed into the crook of Gareth's right knee. The blunt and jagged iron didn't slice cleanly like a scalpel; instead, it tore through flesh and smashed into tendons with blunt brutality.
"ARGHHH!" Gareth screamed, his leg instantly losing strength. He collapsed onto his right knee, the torch in his left hand slipping and rolling onto the ground, throwing the lighting into chaos.
Vaelen didn't stop. He knew the power disparity all too well.
[Enemy Status: Gareth (Swordsman Lvl. 3)]
[Danger: HIGH]
If Gareth managed to stand, Vaelen was dead.
Adrian, now in full control, let his street instincts take over. He jumped onto the kneeling Gareth's back, wrapping his thin left arm around the man's neck, attempting a chokehold.
But Gareth was strong. Very strong.
"GET OFF, YOU LITTLE DEMON!" Gareth roared. He jerked his head back, smashing into Vaelen's nose hard.
KRAK.
Fresh blood spurted from Vaelen's nose. His vision swam, his grip loosening. Gareth seized the moment, grabbing Vaelen's collar, and slammed the frail body onto the stone floor in front of him.
Thud!
"Cough!" Vaelen hacked, the air forced out of his lungs. His ribs—already aching from the poison—felt like they had cracked.
Gareth stood unsteadily, blood flowing heavily from the back of his knee, but rage made him ignore the pain. He drew his short sword. The glint of metal under the light of the torch lying on the floor looked terrifying.
"You..." Gareth grinned, his teeth red because he had accidentally bitten his own lip when he fell. His face, underlit by the torchlight, looked like a monster's. "I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to skin you alive before throwing you back into that box!"
Vaelen lay on the ground, blood flowing from his nose into his mouth. He licked it. Salty. Metallic.
In the midst of that desperate situation, Vaelen actually smiled. A smile that made Gareth pause for a second. It wasn't the fearful smile of a spoiled noble brat. It was the smile of a predator.
Adrian stared at the blue screen flickering beside Gareth's head. The Entropy System had finished analyzing.
[Analysis Complete]
[Target Weakness Detected: Left Groin (Unguarded), Throat (Exposed when enraged)]
[Weapon Durability: Critical]
Vaelen's hand secretly groped the stone floor behind his back. His fingers touched something hot. The fallen torch.
"Go ahead and try," Vaelen hissed. "Let's see who dies tonight."
Gareth roared, raising his sword for a vertical slash that would split Vaelen's skull. "DIE!"
As the sword began to descend, Vaelen didn't roll away. He threw the torch he was gripping right into Gareth's face.
"AAAAGH!" Fire and hot oil smoke slammed into Gareth's eyes. Instinct made him squeeze his eyes shut and jerk his head back; his sword slash went wide, only grazing Vaelen's shoulder, slicing his thin skin.
It stung. But it was a cheap price to pay.
Vaelen lunged forward. Not with strength, but with body weight. He tackled Gareth's waist, knocking the momentarily blinded giant to the floor.
Gareth fell onto his back with the loud clatter of armor hitting stone. Before he could open his stinging eyes, Vaelen was already on top of his chest.
The rusty iron in Vaelen's right hand was raised high.
"This is for the wine," Vaelen whispered coldly.
SHKUCK!
The iron embedded itself in Gareth's neck. Right beside the Adam's apple.
Hot blood sprayed, soaking Vaelen's face. Gareth thrashed beneath him, eyes wide with shock, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. A horrific gargling sound escaped his torn throat.
Gareth's hands tried to strangle Vaelen, but his strength faded rapidly as blood poured out.
Vaelen didn't stop. He pulled the iron out and stabbed it down again.
"This is for the coffin."
SHKUCK!
The second stab tore the carotid artery.
"And this," Vaelen's breath hitched, his eyes staring into Gareth's eyes which were beginning to lose the light of life, "is for your stupidity in serving her."
SHKUCK! SHKUCK! SHKUCK!
Vaelen stabbed again and again. Brutal. Without technique. Purely the violence of a cornered animal. The rusty iron destroyed the soft tissue of Gareth's neck until it became a red pulp.
Gareth stopped moving. His hands fell limply to his sides. His empty gaze stared at the cave ceiling.
Vaelen collapsed on top of the corpse, his chest heaving roughly. The adrenaline began to recede, replaced by pain all over his body. His shoulder, grazed by the sword, throbbed with pain, his nose was broken, and his hands shook violently.
Not out of fear. But because of a strange ecstasy spreading from his chest.
The system on his retina glowed bright, brighter than before.
[ENEMY ELIMINATED]
[Calculating Entropy...]
Thin black smoke began to rise from Gareth's corpse—not physical smoke, but residual soul energy filled with fear and suffering at the moment of death. The smoke was sucked into Vaelen's body, absorbing into his pores like water into dry earth.
It felt cold, yet intoxicating. The pain in his shoulder and nose subsided slightly, as if given a local anesthetic.
[Reward Received:]
[EXP: 50 (Rank 9 Threat)]
[Madness Residue: 0.5% absorbed]
[Vitality Restored: +5%]
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Rank 9 (Common Stage)]
[Attribute Points: +3 awarded]
Vaelen laughed softly, a laugh that echoed hollowly in the blood-filled room. He wiped Gareth's blood from his eyes, then reached into the corpse's vest pocket with blood-stained hands.
His fingers found a small iron key and a coin pouch. He also took the short sword from Gareth's stiff hand. He threw his own rusty iron shard, now bent, onto the floor.
He stared at the gleaming steel sword in his hand. Heavier. Sharper.
"One pig slaughtered," Vaelen whispered, staring toward the dark stairs leading to the upper floors of the mansion.
"Just one more left. And the sow is usually harder to kill."
The Entropy System provided a new notification, as if agreeing with his thoughts.
[New Objective: The Rotting Root]
[Eliminate Lady Elara within 1 Hour.]
[Bonus Condition: Expose the 'Parasite'.]
Vaelen stood, stepping over Gareth's corpse without looking back. His shadow on the wall looked larger, more terrifying than before. The dinner for his system had just begun, and he was still hungry.