The very sound of Caleb's voice made their hearts skip a beat as they flinched away from the shadows he stepped out of.
*Gulp*
The boss swallowed nervously staring at Caleb, wondering how someone stabbed through the heart could look healthier than before
'How is this possible? I'm sure I stabbed him and confirmed his heart stop.'
"How are you still alive?" The boss swallowed his fears and asked, hoping Caleb was just putting on a brave front.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He replied with a smirk as his [Appraisal] took the details of the men.
"I'll give you fellas a chance. I know you didn't kill me out of your own accord.
"What I want is information. Give me that and I'll let you go."
"Hmph! As if you have the strength to do that.
"You may have taken us by surprise with you coming back, but remember, we're seven and you're only you.
"And if we killed you once, we can do it again."
His words brought the others out of their fears as they realized the boss was right.
Then the boss signaled his men and they surrounded Caleb, taking out their weapons and getting in a fighting pose.
Caleb observed their expressions, noticing how they were trying to hide the fear they still felt.
"Things won't be how it was previously, you know?
"In case you haven't noticed, I have no trace of mana in my system, yet I'm standing before you."
Once again, his words made them furrow their brows in thought. Because of their shock from seeing him alive when he should be dead, the group had failed to notice this point.
'He's right. A living being without a trace of magical aura is impossible. That could mean…'
He didn't dare complete that thought; however, the reply that came from Caleb told him otherwise as he was still off the mark, deepening his confusion.
"No, I'm not an undead. I'm something else, something far worse."
Caleb smiled viciously and the moment the boss noticed that look…
"Attack him!"
He commanded his men and they obliged.
Swiftly, three of the men swooped in, each carrying a dagger in hand and targeting a specific spot on Caleb's body.
But one thing was consistent with their attack. They all targeted a critical point, and from their actions, Caleb could tell this wasn't their first rodeo.
In the back, John gulped watching the events unfold. But something felt different about Caleb.
'There is no fear in his eyes despite our numbers. Heck, he walked in here like he owned the place!'
The old Caleb they had killed at the very least, had fear in his eyes as he struggled to fight them off.
But this Caleb looked too relaxed to be normal. He casually stood there with both hands in his coat.
What the boss expected to see despite his racing heart was not what happened. There was no spilling of blood, and Caleb was not even attempting to dodge and retaliate; at least that was what it looked like from where he stood.
*CRACK!*
"What…?"
The boss and the other goons opened their eyes wide, their jaws falling to the floor in absolute shock.
One moment Caleb was still with both hands in his pocket, showing no signs of retaliating, then the next, the men crashed into the wooden walls, breaking through them and ending who knows where.
None of the remaining four saw Caleb move. It was an impossible feat, especially from someone they knew well and even killed.
"!"
The others flicked when Caleb turned his sharp gaze on them.
"As I was saying, give me what I want and I'll spare you~"
Hearing your enemy say they'll spare your life in that tone never meant they would actually do that.
The boss knew because he had employed the same strategy before. However, the way Caleb said it made it more chill-inducing.
His instincts told him it would be something they could never imagine.
His eyes darted around as if to find an escape route. If three couldn't do anything, how much more four, three when you took out John?
But the problem here was that Caleb took those guys out without the boss seeing it happen.
"Don't even think about it," Caleb muttered and abruptly appeared before the boss and grabbed his neck in a vice grip.
The size comparison between Caleb and the leader was like comparing a skinny man to a bodybuilder.
Yet, the leader was lifted off his feet like he weighed nothing.
'What the hell?! How in the world did he get this strong?!'
"Ack."
The leader struggled to regain his breathing but to no avail. The remaining men stared in horror, never seeing their boss in such a state.
They were frozen in fear and didn't dare more. One mishap and they could see their leader drop dead.
What's more, the side eye Caleb sent their way them understand that they shouldn't move. The power was now in his hands, and they could only comply.
"Tell me about Baron Zeke and I'll be out of here."
His sharp gaze bore through the scared, making them flinch back.
Exchanging glances with the boss whose face was reddening, they noticed him give a slight nod and without hesitation, began spilling everything they knew.
In fact, they would have talked regardless. All it needed was a bit more push and they would fold.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Caleb looked back at the boss who was nearly unconscious with a deep red face from the lack of air.
"Now then…"
Caleb looked at the fingers of the man in his grasp and noticed the ring on the left-hand finger.
He smiled devilishly and retrieved the ring, yet the man barely reacted, too busy to even think about the ring.
With his divine sense, Caleb tried to pry inside the ring, but he failed, already expecting the outcome.
'I knew something like this would happen.'
Storage artefacts were designed to only respond to those who imprinted them. And because everyone had a different energy signature, there was no way to bypass it unless you killed the previous owner and imprinted it.
And that was where the issue lay.
'I'm not ready to do that… At least not on my first day in this world.'
But he didn't have to as the system he had had many functions it didn't list before.
[Perform a clean slate?]
[Y/N]
'Well lucky me…'
Just like that, his money issue was solved, for now.
He quickly put the ring into his storage and refocused on the boss now passed out from his neck hold.
'Now what to do with these lot?'
He thought silently looking at the men who had backed away from him with some even close to the hole in the wall, their intentions clear as day.