16: Blackmail.

It wasn't long before he was outside the building and was strolling through the street. The necklace was still in his pocket which was clear proof of the fact that the set barrier was no longer there.

Managing to get to a lonely, dark alley, he proceeded to slowly put on the necklace. That was when a screen suddenly popped up in front of him and it left him completely stunned.

<System rebooting>

<All system functions restarted>

<Soul link canceled>

<All soul bounds and abilities have been lost>

His eyes continued to twitch as he stared at the screen and his heartbeat began to increase rapidly. He fell to his knees and dropped his face to the floor.

His years of hard work had been lost in one instant. He lay there for a while before standing up, only to walk towards the wall and lean against it with his gaze on the ground.

[You're really doing this again. You shouldn't beat yourself up yet, after all, the likelihood of all your abilities having been lost is not guaranteed yet.]

" That's right, the bracelet. But I can't simply ignore the fact that the system never mentioned anything related to the artifact in any way."

[Well, I guess it's up to you to try then]

After staring at the ground once again for a while, he walked away from the alley. It wasn't long before he arrived at the aforementioned tavern which was crawling with many people, mostly drunk men.

He walked in and looked around the place to see a man dressed in a plain black hood waving at him. He slowly walked towards the man, knowing that it was a lady that he had met back at the hospital.

" Here, why don't have a drink while we chat." The hooded man said as soon as he arrived at the table, offering him a seat, " I suppose the lady must have issued you here."

He simply nodded his head and took a sit next to the man. A drink was brought to him and he sat there in silence, staring at the drink before him.

" This all seems a bit too shady."

[Your level of paranoia is quite... But it does save you the trouble in almost every instance. I'll advise you to go with your instincts on this one and be sure to not take that drink.]

" So then, why am I here?" He asked, turning towards the man.

" You're not quite the best are you, a little sip of alcohol won't kill you." The man said with a slight chuckle, returning the cold stare, "Your reason for being here has something to do with that necklace of yours."

He slowly looked down at the necklace and back at the man before saying, "And what exactly is it that you want me to do?"

" How about you lean in so I can be sure no one overhears us." The man said quietly, leaning closer towards him.

Noticing the man's sudden actions, he decided to follow suit with the instructions, that was when he was suddenly jerked closer by the neck and a dagger was stabbed into his abdomen.

Blood gushed out of his mouth and his gaze turned blurry before he slumped his face on the table and went out cold.

When he woke up, he found himself lying on a bed with nothing but shorts on. His gaze was still slightly blurry and his wound had been healed.

He slowly got up from the bed which seemed harder than usual due to the fact that he was still incredibly tired. He sat up on the bed with his palm against his face and slightly twisted his back to see that there had been somebody else lying next to him.

" Don't tell me..." He thought, his gaze trailing across the body that lay on the bed, " this was all a setup."

It was a young woman lying on the bed with him with nothing on her but the blanket which barely covered her body. He quickly turned his face away and stood up from the bed.

" Seems like you finally woke up." A voice came from the side, the same one he heard back at the medical facility.

He quickly turned towards the direction where the voice had come from but there was no one there. That was when he felt someone place their hands on his shoulders and whisper into his ear.

"A vampire and elf hybrid capable of human transformation. Kyle Hold, a twenty-year-old man who goes around trying to save unfortunate other-worlders but doesn't seem to be an other-worlder himself. Three cases of murder and two were against the Royal Knights of Alucrad. You have a particularly awful record and I reckon it's best you obey me."

He didn't say a word after hearing all that and simply gritted his teeth while he clenched his fist hard. Everything she just said was true and he didn't know how she had gotten the information.

She proceeded to slowly crawl down from the bed and face him, revealing the owl mask that covered every inch of her face as she said, " That girl was personally handed to a member of the Darnell clan, of course, you already know how brutal they can be."

He slowly got up from the bed, trying to hold back the fear in his heart right after he heard the name she just mentioned.

The Darnell clan was one of the four most known clans in the kingdom because of their incredible strength and prowess in battle. Mainly operating in search missions, they are also feared because of how easily they can catch and kill their targets.

" I see that you're not very willing to talk." She said with a slight mischievous chuckle, "The girl was injected with a sleep potion which means she won't be awake until tomorrow. You've been blackmailed and I promise no one will know of what happened here if you decide to follow my every order."

" Very well then, what are your orders?" He asked, staring sternly at her.

She didn't say anything after that and simply walked closer to him. Her shadow spread out on the floor and they both sank into it.

It was only a few seconds before he found himself standing in the middle of a crowded room wearing a new outfit of a hooded cape a pair of plain black trousers and a shirt.

" This is the shadow guild, I surmise that it's best you lay low for now." She said, quickly walking forward while he followed behind.

A long line stood before them but she was able to easily cut through the mob, leaving him behind. No one complained the moment they saw who it was and it only made him fear her more.

" We have an S-rank quest on our hands, has already been taken up by three other squads. A bounty of two million on the beast's head, my, the miners must be quite desperate."

Her shadow extended once again and they both arrived in front of a cave that had miners all stationed a distance away from the entrance.

" They work directly for the kingdom right?" He asked, turning towards the group of workers, " shouldn't all their problems be taken care of by the royal knights."

" That's none of our business, now come with me." She ordered, quickly walking into the cave.

He followed behind her and it wasn't long before the cave began to get dark, prompting her to stretch out her hand and produce a ball of flame to light up their way.

Although natural, the cave had some man-made designs to it, proof that there had been miners working there. After moving through the dark path, the cave lit up once again and he looked up to see the valley above them.

A few meters away from them was a deep, dark hole that led deeper into the mines. By the side was a wooden lifter which she proceeded towards, prompting him to follow behind her.

They both got on the lifter and it was a long while of a thirty-minute silence between the both of them before they finally arrived at the landing.

It was a brilliant dim blue glow that caught his eyes as soon as he landed. The ores shone bright with exhilarating brilliance.

It was a wooden deck with stairs that led to the floor of the mine. Whatever happened here must have happened after the miners had already settled.

Her eyes kept on darting around the place as they moved forward and the overwhelming presence he felt made him feel uneasy as well.

" Get down!" She yelled, quickly diving backward while she grabbed onto him.

Black threads emerged from the tip of her fingers and wrapped around the purple protrusion that emerged from the ground. It was swung far away from them and exploded into tiny glowing bits.

She lay slideways above him, allowing him to see everything that had transpired. The parts of the wall where the strange material had touched were slowly melted down.