Klaus moved quickly through the crowded streets, heading in a certain direction dressed in dark clothes. After interrogating the assassin, he managed to extract the location of two Dark Order safehouses—one in Hiroshi City and the other in Ross City.
At first, he thought about going back to Ross City before doing anything. However, after digesting the information he got from the Assassin, he changed his mind.
The safehouse in Hiroshi City had something far more valuable. From what he gathered, there is a system inside the Safehouse in Hiroshi City that holds the identities of assassins in the Eastern Region linked to the Dark Order. That wasn't all—there was also a list of targets the Dark Order had been contracted to kill.
Beyond that, the system could give him access to both major and minor hideouts in the region. Klaus knew he had to act fast and get that information before the Dark Order realized Assassin Number 91 had failed to complete the hit.
Time was running out, and Klaus didn't intend to waste a second. He slipped through the darker, less crowded parts of the city until he arrived at a five-story, hotel-like structure. On the outside, it seemed like just another place for travelers, but Klaus knew better.
This wasn't an ordinary hotel. Sure, it functioned like one, but only for a select type of guest—those who possessed a specific ring. If you have the ring, you can enter. No questions asked. That means everyone inside this particular hotel is either an assassin or working for the Dark Order.
"Welcome, guest. How can the Everdark Hotel serve you today?" Immediately Klaus entered, a woman at the front desk greeted him, her voice sweet and professional, just as Klaus expected.
To any bystander, it looked like a normal check-in, but Klaus knew the truth. From the assassin he interrogated, he learned that the safe house didn't know whether they were assassins until they showed the ring.
Klaus thought about asking what would happen if someone didn't have the ring, but he already knew the answer. Instead, he flashed the ring on his middle finger, his face unreadable. Without a word, the woman's smile faded, and she gestured for him to follow her to an elevator.
Once inside, Klaus pressed the button for the top floor. As the elevator ascended, he swept the hotel with his senses. What he found surprised him. There were dozens of assassins in the building.
Klaus sensed the presence of three Sages and thirty-four Saints scattered throughout the hotel, but he didn't dwell on it. His priority was to extract the data from their system before anyone suspected a thing.
"These people are meticulous," Klaus muttered, eyeing the sophisticated setup in the room he arrived in. The system was the type that left little to no digital footprint. It was designed to be as invisible as possible.
He sat behind the console and recalled the instructions the assassin had given him. All he needed to do was insert the ring into a specific slot. As soon as he did, the system came to life, prompting him with a security question.
Without hesitation, Klaus entered the answer. The assassin had been too bewitched to lie, fully convinced Klaus would let him live. One side effect of the bewitching spell was the ability to manipulate someone's emotions, making them more cooperative.
The moment he keyed in the security answer, the system granted him full access. Klaus wasted no time and dove straight into the most crucial details—safehouses, their locations, and the methods for accessing them.
Next, he searched for the registered assassins in the system. As he scrolled through the database, something caught his eye.
"Huh... what's 'Tier locked'?" Klaus murmured, noticing that the assassin profiles were categorized into four tiers: Tier 1 to Tier 4. However, only Tier 1 was available to him.
"Seems like the bastard I killed wasn't important enough to grant me higher clearance," Klaus scoffed, realizing that the assassin's low rank limited the information he could access.
"Not bad, though. At least I can get Tier 1 assassins." Klaus quickly accessed the list and was shocked to find detailed profiles of twenty individuals.
"Number 100 to Number 80," he noted aloud. It was clear now—the Dark Order used these numbers to refer to their assassins. Klaus scanned the list, not bothering to open their profiles for more intimate details, there will be time for that later.
As he kept scrolling, his eyes caught something suddenly.
"Number 92 is indisposed," he read, noticing a red tag next to the name. A grim smile tugged at his lips. That must've been the assassin who failed to kill him at the Arcadian city. He scoffed but didn't dwell on it. He wanted to kill the bastard himself, but this also worked.
Indisposed, 'indeed.'
Klaus pressed "print," and a stack of documents began piling up. He wanted everything, and the system was delivering. After printing the list of Tier 1 Assassins, he noted that Numbers 91 and 92 were already dead, leaving 18 more active.
He didn't linger on that detail. His next search was for the people on the Dark Order's hit list. Three names popped up, and one stood out—Cynthia Ross.
Anna and Lucy's mother. Klaus had always known there was something mysterious about her. She kept more secrets than even her daughters realized. He had asked Lucy about her once, but all she said was that Cynthia was always busy. Now, seeing her on the hit list, Klaus knew his Mother-in-law was one interesting woman.
"Looks like some competition wants her out of the way. I guess it's time for a little outing with my mother-in-law," Klaus smirked. He had no problem using her as bait to lure out the assassin.
"What are mother-in-law's for, am I right?" he muttered to himself, chuckling at the thought.
Afterward, he skimmed through more of the system's secrets, including how they processed their kills. He uncovered details about their dark web servers and ways to access them. By the time he was done, stacks of printed documents were scattered across the room.
After printing everything, Klaus decided to leave them with some parting gift, but for now, he needed to survey the building and everyone inside before doing anything.
He walked to a bed not far from him and fell on it as he activated his senses ready to observe everything. A few minutes later, a voice entered his head making him smile.
"Hello, my love," Klaus greeted warmly, a smile spreading across his face as he imagined Lucy smiling back, wherever she was.
"You sound happy," Lucy's voice responded curiously.
"Why wouldn't I be? It's rare to find yourself surrounded by friends whose undying sacrifice will help you level up," Klaus replied, his smile turning wicked.
"I guess it's good to have friends," Lucy said, misunderstanding his dark humor. If only she knew the love of her life was about to commit genocide, she would have said something different.
"How was your day?" Lucy asked, her voice soft but curious.
"The usual," Klaus replied with a grin. "Wooing ladies and the like."
"Pervert," she said, though he could hear the playful tone in her voice.
"Lucy dear, why don't we talk later? I've got some friends waiting for my help in crossing over to the next realm. I'll be sure to chat back and tell you all about how your sister's lips tasted."Klaus said before severing the connection between them.
He stood up, a wicked smile on his face, already imagining the look that must have appeared on Lucy's face upon hearing his cheeky comment.
He walked toward a door, bypassing the elevator altogether. As he moved forward, a dagger appeared in his hand—the very same dagger Number 91 had intended to use on him.
"Ah, there's nothing better than a cold night of slaughter," he muttered under his breath, a grin spreading across his face.
Without hesitation, he knocked on a particular door. "Room service," he called out, his voice calm and collected, but on his face, he held a wicked smile, one that he intended to send away with the person who would be opening the door.
[A/N: Two more chapters tomorrow morning]