บท 6: Chapter 6: Shadowless Assassin

While Jin was still pondering, a cold and metallic weapon suddenly pressed against the back of his head.

His eyes instantly narrowed, and he furrowed his brow, trying to glance behind him from the corner of his eye.

"Don't move~," a voice, sweet and alluring, commanded him to halt.

And as if that weren't enough, his sensitive nose caught the thick aroma, honey-like and intoxicating.

…

The once vibrant and colorful curtains on the second floor now hung in tattered shreds, allowing the warm orange light from the sun to pierce through and illuminate the carnage.

Eventually, the light managed to slip and shine over him and the attacker behind him, but to his surprise, there was no shadow of this person, or at least it appeared that way.

"Either they moved to avoid the light or they have unnaturally long arms," Jin concluded inwardly, shifting his gaze to his right hand, which tightly clutched the shotgun barrel.

"Throw that shotgun, and don't even think about resisting," a soft chuckle accompanied a menacing voice, halting his action as if this ambusher could read his mind.

And to add more pressure, the gun pressed more firmly against his back.

Reluctantly, Jin discarded his weapon to the side.

Based on the situation, it seemed that the person behind him did not intend to kill him, or else they would have done so already.

"Also, why does this voice sound so familiar?" Jin pondered silently, trying to remember where he had heard this voice and the scent of honey before, but that train of thought was interrupted.

Under his slit pupils, he saw a delicate hand roaming around his abdomen, deftly removing the ammo pouch from his belt.

"Your physique is quite impressive, isn't it?" Another chuckle followed the attacker's words, but Jin's expression soured as he felt violated.

He intended to grab the attacker's hand and retaliate, his muscles tensed and ready to spring into action, but he was forced to halt once again.

"Why don't you give up your resistance? I can see the schemes in your eyes," the attacker whispered seductively into his ear.

By now, Jin was certain.

By the scene, the soft voice, and the slender hand, the attacker was none other than a woman.

"It's her," Jin muttered inwardly.

And speaking of women, there was only one woman he was familiar with, or rather, had just met a while ago.

Thus, he intentionally loosened his tense muscles and dropped his shoulders.

Just as he predicted, once he showed a sign of surrender, the gun pressed against the back of his head was slightly lowered.

SWOOSH-!

Once there was an opening, Jin immediately lowered his body, rotating his hips and instantly facing the attacker, only to smirk upon seeing her appearance, confirming his guess.

But he didn't falter as an immediate following action came with how the gun was fired and a loud gunshot ringing in both of their ears.

BANG-!

The gunshot missed, followed by the sound of one of the glass lights shattering, the shards tinkling to the floor.

But Jin's hand, like an eagle's claw, already gripped her slender wrist that was holding the gun, and he immediately used his elbow to deliver a strike upward to her elbow.

"Kya!" A low scream escaped her, but he noticed how she looked surprisingly calm despite it all.

Yet, by now, the gun had already been tossed away, and she was lying down on the floor with her head pressed by his hand against the floor, while Jin stood and used his knee to press against the center part of her body.

She was pinned down, her gun tossed away, but there was still a smile and no hint of panic in her expression.

...

"Hello, handsome~ Big Brother," she greeted with that same alluring smile, her sweet fragrance enveloping them both.

Suddenly, just as she spoke those words, seizing the perfect moment, she swiftly released her head from his grip, wrapping her legs around his waist and securing a closed guard position.

It happened so fast that Jin was caught off guard.

But just as he was about to react, she transitioned quickly, tightening her grip on his pant leg and sliding her leg through the opening she created.

Her shin was now firmly across the back of his thigh, and she locked her foot under his armpit, trapping his arm.

Sensing her opportunity, she unleashed the full force of the kneebar.

She extended her hips, pulling back on his pant leg, and pushed forward with her shin, causing an excruciating surge of pain through Jin's knee joint.

But things didn't go as smoothly as she thought.

Jin, refusing to succumb, summoned his strength and fought back.

With a burst of power, he managed to twist his body, countering her hold and preventing the kneebar from fully locking in.

As the pain subsided, both of them instantly jumped backwards, their eyes locked, and silence fell between them.

"She's good," Jin thought, surprised that this woman knew some martial arts techniques. His narrowed pupils scanned her body with vigilance, trying to anticipate her next move.

"What a fierce move, big brother~" she chuckled.

But Jin anticipated that her words were just a mere distraction, as both of them suddenly sprang into action.

SWOOSH-!

A gust of wind rustled Jin's clothes as he swiftly rolled to the side, snatching the shotgun from the ground and assuming a defensive stance, aiming it at the young lady who, to his surprise, was doing the same.

"Oh my~, you're quite fast, I suspected you had a way with women," Li Mei's lips curled into a seductive smile, her breasts jiggling and causing Jin to be shamelessly distracted.

"Don't you wonder what just happened here?" Li Mei asked as she gracefully moved her long legs, making her way towards a nearby chair and casually seating herself, crossing one leg over the other.

Her relaxed and carefree demeanor left Jin momentarily speechless, but her question ignited a flicker of interest within him.

"I don't care," Jin replied in a cold and indifferent tone, cautiously moving to the side, his eyes glancing down to watch his footstep.

The semi-automatic shotgun he held was designed for close-range combat, its bullets intended to hit a wide target.

However, the current distance between them, five meters, would slightly reduce the shotgun's effectiveness if fired.

"Such coldness~… But I must warn you to stop right there," Li Mei's playful and elegant smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression as she spoke with firmness and authority.

It became evident to Jin that this Li Mei was not as naive as she appeared. How else could she have survived amidst the chaos they had just experienced?

"Or perhaps she's simply lucky? Manipulating men to fight for her, only for them to meet their demise while she reaps the rewards?" Jin pondered silently.

He had a suspicion before, wondering if the bats that were killed were dropping magic crystals, then what about humans?

Strangely, as he scanned the whole floor, not a single glimmer of a magic crystal was found on the bodies of the humans on the first floor.

There was only one conclusion: she had taken them all.

"That's why she was able to effortlessly block my attack," Jin thought inwardly.

It was quite surprising that the frail and soft-looking lady was actually this cunning and strong.

It seemed he wasn't the only one who discovered they could become stronger by crushing magic crystals.

...

Meanwhile, as Jin's steps came to a halt, Li Mei's playful and mischievous smile returned to her face.

"Why are you so insistent on attacking me? I mean you no harm," she said, her voice laced with a seductive tone.

To prove her words, she pleaded, adopting a vulnerable posture, her ample curves jiggling enticingly, revealing the smooth curve of her armpit.

"Have mercy, please, Big Brother," she implored, her voice weak and trembling.

She had even lowered her weapon.

However, despite all of this, there was no way Jin could trust her words, especially after she had schemed against him.

But amidst these thoughts, an irresistible hunger suddenly overcame him, and his vision became slightly blurry with a red tinge slowly creeping in.

A drop of blood fell from his biting his lower lip, landing on the floor.

His senses returned, but he still felt a little dizzy as he stabilized his vision, seeing Li Mei still standing there, targeting him.

However, under his vision, a terrifying red glow suddenly surfaced from the shadow behind her back.

Unconsciously thinking this was one of her tricks, Jin instantly raised his shotgun and pulled the trigger.

BAM-!

"GRRR!" Following the faint smoke coming from his shotgun barrel was a loud agonized groan mixed with the sound of crumbling objects and shouts.

"What the hell is that?" Jin's pupils narrowed as he tried to see through the veil of darkness.

But at that moment, he suddenly remembered that Li Mei was also in the line of his attack.

However, when he saw that the spot where she had been sitting was now empty, his eyes scanned the surroundings, only to find a shadow slowly rising from the floor.

It tensed and tightened his muscles, and Jin was about to aim and kill this abnormality when he was halted by a shot.

"Ahh, Big Brother, what are you doing!" The shadow gradually took the form of a human-like shape, eventually transforming into Li Mei.

It seemed she had a skill to hide and blend her body into a shadow.

On the other hand, Li Mei's mind was still recovering from Jin's sudden attack.

She shot a hateful glance at him, but his attention was focused elsewhere.

Following his gaze, she saw a creature crawling out of the shadows, its red eyes gleaming.

When the light hit it, they could see that it resembled a human with tattered clothes.

Its complexion was pale and translucent, with dark circles under its eyes, and it growled like an animal.

But at the same time, a burning white fire suddenly enveloped the creature, causing Jin to promptly look at Li Mei.

Before she could clarify, the creature let out a feral scream and charged at Jin with full speed, its body still engulfed in burning fire.

The burning creature moved on all fours, crawling like an animal.

It looked like a ghoul from myth, with a sickly pale appearance as if it had been in a coma for years.

Just as Jin was about to reload his shotgun, he realized that his ammo pouch was missing from his belt.

Instantly, using the shotgun, he placed it in front of him, intending to block the creature's mouth as it was already mid-air, just a few meters from his face.

However, before reaching him, the burning white fire that enveloped the creature grew hotter the moment it came into the range of sunlight that slipped through a gap in the curtain.

It suddenly dropped from mid-air and growled in pain before quickly crawling back into the darkness.

BAM-!

Following that, a gunshot rang out.

Jin looked towards the corner of his vision and saw Li Mei's indifferent and calm expression.

It was strange to see how calm she was, especially her gaze, as if she knew this creature very well and the timing of her attack was a little off.

"Thanks," Jin spoke, shifting his attention.

The creature, resembling a human in appearance, now lay dead in the shadows.

The burning figure had vanished, leaving only the corpse and the faint light emitted from the magic crystal.

"It's called Blood Slaves," Li Mei, who had been silent before, suddenly spoke up.

"Pardon?" Jin, who was distracted, turned to the side and saw five ammo pouches thrown at him.

"The screen states that this creature's name is Tier 0 - Lvl 0 Blood Slaves," Li Mei continued.

However, her currently complicated expression and the way she gazed at this called Blood Slave seemed to hold more secrets.

"It's like she knew this creature beforehand," Jin muttered inwardly and concluded.

However, her next words caused Jin, who was lost in thought while reloading his weapons and examining the combat experience from before, to fall silent.

"And it looks like all of the corpses in this club are the same creature."

Her cold and exasperated tone echoed through Jin's ears as he also looked around their surroundings.

The corpses were starting to twitch.