Chapter 9: Silent Killer (1)
"Is it here?" A man's voice came from the entrance of the store. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. That was the information that the servant told me."
"Good. Hurry up. We need to be fast. It would be bad if someone sees us and learns that we are here."
Vlad narrowed his eyes inside the hidden room. Quickly, he jumped out and hid in the darkness.
His movements were completely silent, like a cat. Not even the slightest noise was let out.
'So it's another talent of vampires, huh.' Vlad thought to himself while focusing his earing on the people that came in.
'Four people, none of them is wearing armor. However, I'm not sure how strong they are.'
The footsteps of the intruders approached the room where Vlad was hidden. Fortunately, they did not seem wary of traps or other people, so none of them noticed anything wrong.
But Vlad knew that they would realize that something was wrong as soon as they entered the room and saw the hole in the floor.
'I must act before that and make use of the factor of surprise.'
"The treasure is in the last room, right?" One of the men asked.
"Yeah. It should be in a secret room under the floor. But there is a trap on the floor. The servant did not know how to deactivate it, though."
"It doesn't matter. We just need to destroy the floor."
With a smirk, the first man entered the room carrying a torch in his hand.
At that moment, a series of words appeared in Vlad's mind.
[??? – Human – Level 11]
And Vlad moved.
With a swift but silent movement, he appeared beside the man and used the dagger to slit his throat.
The man's pupils constricted, however, he could not speak. He hurriedly brought his hand to the throat, but it could not stop the blood.
"Crow, what happened?" The man behind him asked confused. But when he looked towards his companion, two will-o'-wisp-like red eyes appeared in front of him.
[??? – Human – Level 9]
Then, a dagger pierced his heart, and a hand covered his mouth.
Unable to scream, he could only struggle futilely as his body lost strength.
A second later, the two men fell to the ground, dead.
Right then, Vlad looked at the last two men. They were looking at Vlad with blank expressions.
Their minds were still processing what just happened. They only saw a blur, and two of his companions were dead.
But Vlad was not going to give them time to react.
[??? – Human – Level 8]
[??? – Human – Level 13]
Vlad used half a second to check their levels before determining his next target.
Kicking the ground, he accelerated toward the weaker target while swinging his dagger toward the man's neck.
Instinctively, the man took a step back, but unfortunately for him, that was not enough to evade the attack.
*Swish!*
His eyes opened wide, and his hand moved towards his neck, feeling the warm blood gushing out of the cut.
Just like that, the third man was dead.
Only then did the last man react.
"Bastard!" He shouted in rage and dropped the torch in his hand while unsheathing his sword.
Vlad rushed towards him without hesitating. He leaned his body close to the ground and used the shadows to confuse the opponent, trying to stab the dagger in his heart.
But this man was much stronger than the others. He was someone in the Bloodline Awakening Realm, and he had progressed a bit in this realm.
Moreover, he had been lucky to Awaken a rare bloodline, [Swift Body]. This bloodline made his movements faster than normal people, giving him an advantage against his opponents.
Before the dagger could hit him, he had already blocked it using his sword.
"Die!" The man snarled and put strength into his sword. The mana inside his body strengthened his actions, pushing Vlad's dagger away and cutting toward Vlad's neck.
Vlad's eyes narrowed. His body twisted aside, avoiding the attack, but the man was already following up with a second attack.
'He is faster than me!' Vlad thought in his mind while avoiding this attack. 'If I'm not careful, he can kill me.'
However, speed was just one of the factors that determined the outcome of a battle.
Vlad's blood-red eyes gleamed with a cold light. Seeing the sword coming towards him, he jumped back, avoiding the attack.
Then, he threw the dagger toward the man.
The man curved his body aside to evade the attack, but he was not Vlad's target.
After the dagger passed him, it hit the torch and extinguished it.
Immediately, the place was engulfed in darkness.
'It's bad!' The man's expression changed. He did not hesitate and rushed outside the store.
But Vlad had been waiting for this opportunity.
[Vampire Instinct]!
His senses sharpened, and the blood in his body boiled. In the darkness, he could see the movements of the last man clearly.
His body rushed through the darkness, reaching the man's back in an instant.
Feeling the wind behind him, the man stopped abruptly and turned around while slashing with his sword.
However, Vlad had already crouched down, using his fingers to gouge out a part of the man's leg.
"Arrg!" The man screamed in pain and kneeled on the ground. He swung his sword in Vlad's direction, but Vlad was no longer there.
Instead, there was only darkness.
The man became pale in fear.
At that moment, he heard the sound of iron stirring against the wall. The sound was slowly approaching him, eroding his sanity.
The man knew that when the sound reached him, it would be his death.
"Fuck!" He cursed as he limped outside in the last attempt to escape, but then, something cut his other leg and he fell to the ground.
"M-Monster!" He shouted and tried to swing his sword again, but next, something cut through his wrist.
"D-Don't… D-Don't kill me… P-Please…" The man stammered with tears and snot on his face.
Vlad's lips curved up playfully.
"I can consider it. However, how about you answer a few questions first?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone