“No wonder he passed the test so easily. He was a vampire all along. Even Stewart complained in front of me that this kid’s body was weird and that no matter how hard he hit him, he should’ve at least showed some pain. He was implying that he was a creature of the dark and I ignored him. Now, I invited one inside my branch….”Jeffrey thought.

Cale was the only one who was feeling tired: “Why must he drop bombs on me all the time? Now we are going to fight a Shadow Envoy because this moron never cared about telling me crucial information about his stupid powers.”

Black Rose was the only one who was analyzing the situation: “Well, this is weird. Does he not know that only vampires can do such a thing? No human ability is that good before the divine level. Even I can be mistaken sometimes. I can only feel my target not see them. It’s peculiar though, his eyes look human. Not like the glowing eyes of a vampire like in the legends. And he feels human. I’ve tracked a creature of the dark before, they have another feeling to them. Even my stupid mentor cannot tell. Sigh… if this guy keeps saying that he can see like a vampire even when he looks human, no one will believe him. I can even see king Alek’s grandson, King Elizar, coming after this guy himself.”

“Hey, hey, hey…Let’s all calm down and talk.” Cale said as he pulled the mask off Nilus’s face. It was the last thing he thought to let everybody see that Nilus was not related to vampires.

No one in the hall had seen an actual vampire. When they saw the young and surprised face of Nilus, they all inwardly sighed. If the Assassin guild was related to a creature of the Dark it would impact their businesses and reputation. Nonetheless, they all stayed on their guard.

Jeffrey still had Stewart’s fight playing in his mind. Nilus had his eyes closed and was fighting better than when they were open.

“What kind of stupid ability is this? Can it be that he’s just human and his abilities had come out too early.” Jeffrey asked himself. Having a body that felt no pain was common ability that body enhancers got in many ways, but seeing the auras meant that his tracking ability was leagues above any known tracker.

Nilus was wondering what the situation would’ve evolved to if he said that he could only see souls and that the aura he saw came from the aura wielders igniting their soul energy.

The common belief that it was the aura that was being strengthened was false and only Nilus knew about it.

The aura wielders strengthened their souls which in turn granted them a stronger aura.

He understood it as he ate souls of aura enhancers of higher stages that he could get his hands on.

He had answered with a lie hoping to escape their suspicions. Now, he hoped that Cale’s intervention was enough to dispel their fear.

Black Rose asked: “What is your range?”

“ A two hundred meter radius.” Nilus said. If they had to fight their way out of an encirclement again, it was another batch of fresh souls for him. Would they believe he was human even if he exaggerated a bit?

“Stop lying now. That’s impossible. Even I cannot do such a thing with my tracking ability.” Jeffrey said.

“Since when do you have that ability.” Black Rose asked.

“Ever since I was born.” Nilus said. He was thinking about the night he found out about his powers.

“That would explain why it is so exaggerated.” Black Rose showed a thoughtful look.

It was not impossible for such a powerful ability to be inborn and grow in power, especially if he was meant to acquire it at the 7th stage anyway. It was the first case of an inborn ability.

Black Rose managed to convince Jeffrey that it may have been an inborn skill and to let her keep an eye on Nilus during missions. She also added that having such a powerful skill could improve the success rate of every assignment.

Davis and Elena arrived as Jeffrey was briefing the team on their new job and what kind of missions they were to undertake:

“Your squad’s job is to go after the shadow envoys that betrayed the guild. We already have teams taking care of the S ranked Shadow Masters and below. Why I assembled a team of S rank Shadow Masters to do the job is because you are the best in many areas and because they will never see you coming. Now, with the addition of Nilus’s tracking ability and Black Rose’s, your chances of survival are assured. You have to engage them when they are alone. Only when they are alone. Four of your targets are about to reach the Asura level. The 17 remaining are just normal Shadow envoys. Those are all your targets.” A stack of intelligence reports was in front of each of them.

Davis asked: “What happened to the other teams? Why are we given so many targets to take care of?”

“They were all wiped out.” Jeffrey sternly said before he continued: ”No one knows why but they were all ambushed and killed. The guild put a huge amount of gold on all 21 targets as they are the main suspects in this entire affair. I am urging you to be cautious and not be seen by anybody during your work. The four on top of the pile take priority. Kill them as soon as possible. The contract on the first four is for 2,500,000 gold coins per head. As for the rest, it is 1,500,000 gold coins per head. You will all receive an equal share of 7,100,000 gold coins and a bonus of five thousand stage 6 aura crystals once all 21 targets are dead. As for their belongings, you all know the rules but since you are a team, distribute them evenly among yourselves.” He stopped for a moment and eyed them all and said:

”It is still time if you want to back out.”

No one reacted.

“Good, you have a few hours to prepare. Look for Black Rose for more information. She will be the one leading your team.” Jeffrey said as he left the room.

Elena was the first to break the silence: “ Black Rose is it the same rule of not relying on horses to move around again?”

“Absolutely. We will have to slow down a bit to let Nilus and Holy Demon catch up. Our targets this time are dangerous and kill any Assassin they see. Look what happened to the previous teams. We will never know when I will catch a scent of an aura belonging to a target. We can only engage them on foot where we can maximize our stealth. Horses will just attract more attention as any of these targets is too fast for them to be useful adding the fact that the horse will easily give our location out.” Black rose said.

Cale who was frustrated about revealing his identity said:

“ What kind of cover will we adopt then? All these targets will just kill anyone they believe to be an assassin sent after them. Even Nilus will soon be known throughout the country as the Silent Owl. There is no way he goes around without a mask.”

Black Rose said: “All four of us will keep our normal assassin attire. Nilus will just have to dress normally. Jeffrey insisted that we help him play hero on our hunt. As long as we become known as heroes, our targets will never look at us twice if we cross paths on a street. ”

“How convenient.” Both Nilus and Cale thought.

They both wondered what kind of shady plan Jeffrey and the Assassin Guild were concocting on Nilus’s head.

The nearby Davis laughed:“ I see. They want to use your popularity as a way to win the hearts of the people. The Assassin guild wants to get a renewed reputation through Nilus. I can’t wait to play hero as a side job.”

“I’ve memorized every criminal organization in the country as well as the minor gangs and bandit groups operating in the biggest cities.” Black Rose announced.

Nilus finally smiled: “ We better start then. I still have a girlfriend back in Violetmill city. I promised that I had to go back in a year. I trust that we will have finished what we were tasked to do by then.”

“It will just take a few months if everything goes smoothly.” Black Rose said confidently.

Squad’s stats

Black rose

Aura: stage 7

Body: stage 4

Weapon(Bow(1)/arrows(15)) : Stage 9 / Stage 4 each

Davis

Aura: stage 6

Body: stage 6

Weapon (Heavy sword): stage 7

Elena

Aura: stage 6

Body: stage 7

Weapon ( Twin swords): Stage 7 each

Cale (Holy demon)

Aura: stage 4

Body: stage 4

Weapon(Bone dagger) : stage 6

Nilus

Aura: stage 5

Body : stage 5

Weapon (Gauntlets (2)): stage 0

Nilus and Cale were astounded at how the Assassin guild did not spare anything to sell off every criminal inside the city. Even the nobles did not escape the Assassin’s guild greed for a better reputation.

The nobles and the King hated the Assassin’s guild rise to power all over the continent, but neither could act on each other as the resulting war would be even more catastrophic than the great war against the dark creatures. The country was sure to be bathed in blood.

An indirect approach that used a well-known hero, a hero loved by the country’s people, a hero who cared for the weak, a hero who put his life in danger to fight the dark side of society and more importantly a hero who belonged to Assassin guild.

Hedgebourne city alone brought Nilus’s right gauntlet to the 2nd stage. He had chosen to focus on his weapons rather than leveling up his body and aura. He planned to use the powerful souls of the 21 targets as fuel for just the right gauntlet to level up faster rather than eating weak souls. Eating 21 Shadow envoy’s souls would bring his gauntlet to the 4th or 5th stage.

Southwall City, Wood province.

#3 Bran Cobb

Aura: stage 9

Body: stage 9 (or 10)

Weapon(Short sword): stage 9

“Bran Cobb. His body will soon reach the Asura level if he is not already. His last trace was found in this Southwall city a few weeks ago. The tracker who found him was later hunted down and killed. Probably by Cobb. Fortunately the tracker had already reported to a nearby guild branch. That is all the intel we have on him and since we must kill the first four as fast as possible, he is our first solid lead. Let’s not waste it.” Black rose said.

Alwyn who still had doubts asked: “ I am interested in the way the Assassin guild tracks all its employees so easily. Do you secretly record our auras behind our backs?”

“That’s a secret. Sorry.” Black rose said.

They did the usual. They killed and dismantled every criminal organization all over the city. It took days but they did their best. The bounty on Nilus’s head had finally reached 1,500,000 gold coins. His new four helpers, the Silent Owls, were also graced with a contract on their heads. 200,000 gold coins each.

No one was crazy enough to take the contract after news of the fate of those who tried to kill the Silent Owl in Violetmill city. Only SS ranked assassins of the level of Shadow Envoy were thinking of going against the Silent Owl and his posse.

“Found a trace.” Black Rose said. “Follow me. Try to make as less sound as possible and retract your auras to the maximum of your possibilities.”

They all prepared themselves and followed behind her. She was sniffing in the air and turning right and left in the alleys. Coincidently, it was night. The streets were almost desert.

“We are getting closer and closer. Be prepared to engage.” Black rose said as she nocked an arrow on her giant bow.

Brann Cobb was the eighth target after a month of tracking and was the last of the first four. They were hoping to kill him as easy as it had been for the past seven.

The bow was partially hers. It was a family heirloom. It was also the reason she had been chosen for the mission. It was a stage 9 bow. Her own arrows, fifteen of them, were each at the 4th stage. It was weapon capable of killing even Asuras if the target was properly hit.

She turned at Nilus and made a gesture towards him. It was from a code they had devised before departing for the mission. It meant: How many people in the immediate area?

They were in a commercial area. There were shops and stalls on every street. There was nobody in the immediate area, but the scent she had caught was still lingering around.

Nilus then closed his eyes and concentrated.

One, two, three, four, five and six.

Six people in the area around them. All walking steadily and minding their own business.

He showed six fingers.

“Fuck!” she thought. She continued: ”We were lucky enough to get a clear scent, but we cannot go too close. He will notice us. How can we single him out of six individuals…” she thought before she saw Nilus making a gesture that he had found the target.

“How is it possible for him to know exactly? Is there anything he left out in the explanation of his tracking ability?” She thought before she decided not to care for now. It was the first time a target was not singled out by her.

Nilus’s tracking ability was more reliable in this case.

They followed the man they believed to be Bran Cobb.

Black Rose closely followed behind Nilus and made sure that the scent was still there. It was.

The target stopped for a moment. Looked right and left before he entered a deserted alley.

It was all in Nilus’s mind map. He could not see the buildings but saw a strong soul slowly walking. The target made a gesture as if opening a door. The target advanced and kept going downwards.

Nilus decided to talk as he assumed that the target could not hear them: “He just entered an underground chamber and he keeps descending stairs. There is no one else where he is going. What do we do? If we follow him down there he will not hear us but we will be trapped inside with him if it goes wrong.”

Black Rose thought for a moment then said: “We follow.”

They entered in the same underground corridor.

It took close to an hour for their slow advance to come to an end fifty meters away from the target.

“He seems to be alone and eating something. It is weird…what he eats looks like…aura…Can’t he just absorb it like a normal human being?...” thought Nilus.

They arrived in a brightly lit underground chamber. They could see the target gnawing on aura crystals. The entire team had the same weird look on their faces as they saw that scene.

Black Rose ordered both Davis and Elena to attack from a different direction. The underground chamber had a diameter of thirty meters. It gave the team enough space to maneuver.

The plan was that by the time the target got wind of the two attackers and thought of a way to deal with them, he would be too distracted to see an arrow piercing through his head.

Cale would use stealth to deal another critical blow at the same time as Davis and Elena whether the arrow did its job or not to give some time to Black rose to shoot another.

Nilus was left behind as he was the weakest, but he had done most of the job. Nevertheless, it did not sit well with him. He followed Cale who followed the arrow.

Bran Cobb was eating an aura crystal when he felt something weird. He turned his head left and right to see a man wielding a heavy sword and a woman on the left also attack wit two twin swords.

He then got a bad premonition. What if there was someone else behind me where the entrance is.

He immediately activated his aura to block whatever blow would come from behind.

He had guessed right. If he was one millisecond too late, the arrow would have pierced the back of his head.

They all thought it was over when they saw the red aura appear out of nowhere and protect Bran Cobb.

If he continued and armored his whole body with aura, there was nothing they could do against him.

The arrow was destroyed on the spot because the bow that shot it was a stage 9 aura weapon.

But, there was a disparity between aura and aura weapons. For aura to stop an aura weapon, it had to be of a higher stage.

In this case, the aura Bran Cobb was using was of the 10th stage to be able to stop the arrow.

Bran had made the breakthrough they were trying to avoid.

They were trying to assassinate an Asura. A weak one.

It did not matter. They were screwed.