The assassin hurried away in panic, running for his life. He knew that if he stayed any longer, he would end up as nothing more than another corpse.
Klaus gave him a cold glance as the assassin sprinted away.
The room fell silent.
Daniel remained concealed within Klaus’s shadow, silently watching his every move.
Klaus reached into his robe and pulled out a small skull. He then lit the tiny candle attached to the top of it and murmured something in a low voice — so faint that even Daniel could barely hear it.
The skull suddenly began to glow with an eerie red light.
"Hehehe... hehehe..."
A sharp, demonic laugh echoed through the room.
"Have you collected the forty fresh bodies I demanded?"
The skull’s jaw moved as it spoke.
"Yes," Klaus replied in a flat tone.
Klaus then raised the skull high into the air. Slowly, the atmosphere around him began to heat up.
The skull’s jaw suddenly opened wide.
One after another, wisps of white smoke began to rise from the dead bodies, each one being drawn toward the skull as it devoured their souls.
Daniel watched in stunned silence as the pale streams of energy were sucked from the bodies and vanished into the skull.
...
"That makes forty. Hehehe... Wait. I sense someone."
Klaus’s eyes narrowed. "You sensed something?"
"I sense another living soul nearby. Somewhere close."
Hearing that, Klaus began kicking the bodies aside one by one, searching for the source. His eyes eventually landed on Zane, who lay motionless on the cold stone floor before a statue.
A thought flashed through Klaus’s mind. The skull wasn’t talking about one of the corpses.
It was talking about Zane.
At least, that’s what he thought.
"Brother, don’t worry. You won’t die as long as I’m alive," Zane murmured with a faint smile. "Even though I had to use you as my bait, I hope you can forgive me... if I erase your memories. But then, we can live together again, happy like the old days. Isn’t that wonderful, brother?"
Meanwhile, Zane remained motionless, eyes closed.
"But that won’t be enough. There will always be someone who could make you remember. Unless I kill them all. For you, brother, I’ll kill that man named Zero and that kid, Daniel. That kid killed two of my summons. He doesn’t even know how much it costs me to summon them. He’ll pay for that."
"Kckckckc... then feed me a hundred more souls," the skull cackled.
Klaus turned toward it and picked up the skull. "You greedy bastard. Didn’t we agree on forty?"
"Indeed. Listen to me. I’ll give you your four summons, as per our agreement. But next, I need to devour a hundred fresh souls. In return, I’ll give you eleven summons as your reward. In total, you’ll have fifteen. Deal?"
"Eleven is too little for a hundred souls. At least make it negotiable. How about twenty-five summons?" Klaus countered.
The skull remained stubborn.
"Eleven," it replied flatly.
The bargaining continued for several minutes until they finally settled on fifteen summons in exchange for a hundred fresh souls.
With the deal settled, Klaus slung his unconscious twin brother over his back and left the room.
The door shut behind him.
Daniel waited for a brief moment before emerging from Klaus’s shadow.
He quickly detached himself from the shadow, moved toward the edge of the tunnel, where there were no torches or other sources of light — and crawled through the darkness, keeping himself hidden.
The smell of fresh blood lingered in the air as it drifted through the gap beneath the door. Footsteps echoed, not just one pair — many.
One by one, the footsteps faded into the distance.
"So he really thinks I’m in Cinder Town," Daniel murmured.
There were several exits from the underground passage. One was near the walls of Arcana Town, another led toward the hills near the horse stables, while another was much farther away.
After a quick calculation, Daniel realized which exit Klaus would most likely take.
He was heading for the nearest exit — the one leading toward the town walls.
Then Daniel remembered the assassins’ earlier conversation. They had planned to search the place and gather any valuable items after the massacre.
Since nearly everyone in the hideout was dead, Daniel was now free to search their rooms himself.
Maybe he would find something valuable.
At the very least, he could make sure their deaths wouldn’t be in vain.
*Creak...*
He stepped into a dimly lit room. A simple bed stood against one wall, while a wooden chest and several boxes were scattered around the room. A small table with multiple drawers stood in the corner.
Daniel searched through everything.
He found stacks of papers, a few useless trinkets such as marbles, and several coins. Then, inside one of the drawers, he found a gold necklace.
"Not bad."
He slipped the necklace into his pouch along with the silver, copper, and gold coins he had collected.
After making sure he hadn’t missed anything valuable, Daniel left the room.
One after another, he searched the rooms like a burglar, leaving no corner unchecked. After searching the tenth room, he finally found something that caught his attention.
"Far," he whispered under his breath.
——————
Name: Eye of Cyclops
Type: Wearable
Rarity: Epic
Durability: 60%
Description: A magical necklace that increases the user’s mana regeneration by 1 mana per minute. It also increases the user’s luck when opening dungeon chests, increasing the chance of finding rare items by 20%.
Each rare item found reduces the necklace’s durability by 5%. Once its durability falls below 50%, its luck-boosting effect gradually begins to decrease.
——————
’Great... There should be more items like this,’ he thought.
Without wasting any more time, Daniel moved on to the eleventh room and began searching in a hurry.
There were still plenty of rooms left to check, many of them containing chests and boxes that might hold valuable items.
...
"Wait... a weapon?"
He paused, pulling a strange-looking dagger from inside a chest.
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