Mike pulled out the knife and with that the body of the prominent merchant fell to the ground, then he looked around other than the other three bodyguards that had been present that now had departed for the here after, the room was empty
"...[Drink]"
With that word the bodies inside the room turned into dried corpses, this had been routine for Mike, after all it had been four months since he had joined Ø and was now a feared member of the organization, he had also build a bit of reputation outside of the organization under the name 'Vampire blade' but Mike didn't really care about that, in fact the only thing he cared about was raising his level, something he was closer than ever to right now
'I should be very close now… but first comes the exfil'
Mike walked up to the window and looked through it out into the dark night, his eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and he spotted a landing spot across the street on the opposite roof
'The street is about 15 meters wide… and the height difference is about 2 meters lower on the other end… should be a breeze'
Mike opened the window and kicked the hardwood desk out of the way, the 150 kilogram desk slid over the floor like there were wheels under it and stopped right before it hit the opposite wall, Mike gave a nod and walked back into the room and then faced the window before he jumped a little on the spot before he lowered his posture and kicked off the ground, within half a second a shadow was seen flying from the open window and landed silently on the other side of the street on the roof
'Easy as pie'
Mike dusted his clothes off as he stood up then he walked across the roof and found a drainage pipe which he used to slide down to street level, then he followed the streets to near the outer walls were a old inn laid, after jumping back into the window he had left open Mike gave a sigh and quickly took his leather armor off and packed it down in his backpack, then he wore his usual clothes and laid down on the bed and closed his eyes before he regulated his breathing and soon he fell asleep…
The next morning Mike awoke and sat up in the bed before he opened his hand and summoned the knife that flew over and landed in his open hand
"Good morning partner…'
Mike then changed out of the clothes he had slept in and wore another set of clothing before he went downstairs to get some food, after he finished eating he went back upstairs and picked up his stuff before he cheeked out and walked out into the streets
'Let's go to the local temple…'
Mike walked down the streets and after asking around he eventually arrived at the local temple, when he was about to go inside he felt some eyes on him but didn't think too much about it until he glanced around and noticed several people was secretly keeping an eye on him
'Shit…'
Mike kept walking and eventually it was his turn at the desk where he was given a prayer room, then he turned and walked down the hallway and reached a prayer room and walked inside, meanwhile outside the temple the people that had kept an eye on him began moving as the local guard arrived and began clearing people away from the temple, one of the people that turned out to be a bounty hunter spoke to the guard captain
"Are you sure we can't just kill him within one of the prayer rooms?"
The guard captain gave a shrug
"He's only level 2, we brought out all the level 2 guards and along with you bounty hunters we should be able to get him… What are you afraid he'll level up?"
The bounty hunter gave a shrug before he shook his head and spoke
"The intel about this… 'Vampire blade' shows he was level 2 when he started becoming active about 4 months ago… No way he would be able to level up to level 3 with only having killed 70 some targets"
"See? Nothing to worry about… We also have the local [Paladin] on standby"
"I see… Well then I hope he's ready to die because he won't get out of this one…"
Inside the prayer room sat Mike on the floor with his eyes closed, with his perception he could feel that the people was getting cleared out in front of the temple
"Shit… This is like Morkove all over again…"
Mike gave a sigh and walked over to the crystal ball and put his hand on it as he prayed 'please be enough for level 3…', then the crystal ball displayed his status:
Name: Mike
Age: 26
Level: 2
Skills: [Knife control] [Drink] [Blood body enhancement] [Blood for blood]
Experience: 100.000/ 100.000
Level up Y/N?
"Hell yeah!"
Mike fist pumped and pressed the Y expecting that it would be like when he level up previously, how wrong he was, as soon as his finger hit the Y button his entire being shuddered as he felt something otherworldly descend into him, his entire body suddenly screamed out with pain as this… Demon that descended into him was rapidly changing his body into one that fitted it better, Mike struggled as best as he could but eventually he passed out…
"Wake up…"
Mike opened his eyes and found himself in bed
"Good morning Mike"
Mike looked over and saw a person he didn't expect, Julie. Julie was a little different from what he remembered as she looked more mature and her hair was longer, she smiled at him and spoke
"Time to get up sleepyhead"
"Yeah… Sure I'll get up"
Mike was still confused but he still sat up on the bed and scratched his head for a bit and spoke to Julie that was standing in front of a mirror
"I had this weird dream…"
"What was it about?"
"I… Hmm… I suddenly don't remember…"
Mike felt that something was wrong but still didn't know what it was so he simply shook his head and gave a sigh before he asked Julie
"Do we have something we need to do today?"
Julie gave a smile and walked over and stood in front of him before she asked
"Did you have something in mind?"
Mike gave a smile and grabbed her waist and pulled her down into the bed before he spoke
"I want to sleep in a little bit… you don't mind do you?"
Julie that was blushing with a happy smile on her face as she weakly complained
"But I have a ceremony today…"
"Can't the new [Paladin] take over?"
"...fine, but then you gotta take me shopping today"
"Please don't make me bleed too much"
Julie gave a giggle and kissed him deeply
'This is wrong… somehow'
As he sheared a kiss with Julie Mike vaguely felt something was wrong, soon he realized what it was
'This isn't real… It's an illusion'
Mike opened his had and summoned the knife but nothing came then he looked at Julie and spoke while he caressed her face
"Why do you look so much like her…"
"What do you mean Mike?"
"Never mind…"
Mike pushed Julie away and looked around the room before he yelled
"Where is the knife!"
Then he opened his hand and once more tired to summon it he tired harder than he had ever before and soon the knife came flying in through the window and landed in his hand, then he quickly wielded it in a regular grip and as Julie screamed he cut his own neck…
"De…"
Mike felt something… Or rather he heard it, at the edge of his perception
"Dem…"
He struggled, much like he was under water, he was running out of breath and and was rapidly approaching the surface of the water
"Demon!!!"
Then as he heard it and that very word seemed to snap him awake as he opened his eyes and looked around, the current location seemed to be just outside the which he had just entered, he had a massive headache and felt dizzy as he breathed in for the what felt like the first time a sweet smell filled his lungs, the smell of blood
"Hmm..?"
Mike looked around again and saw countless massacred bodies laying about, all of them had been torn to shreds and was missing one or more limbs. The entire plaza seemed to have turned into a hellscape with him standing in the middle
'What the fuck happened with me while I was in that place? Well whatever it was it's very wasteful… all that blood just laying around, such a shame"
Mike opened his hand and the knife came flying for who knows where and landed in his hand, then he muttered
"[Drink]"