"I will be watching your performance from the dark, remember what I told you."

After saying that a dark engraving appeared on Hong's forehead as darkness enveloped him, merging him with his surroundings.

Dante recalled the plan while making his way towards the manor's main entrance. The gate was only guarded by two peak Soldier levels but they were capable enough as they immediately shouted a warning, killing intent could be heard from their voices. They wanted to intimidate Dante.

"Stop!"

Dante didn't bother with them, he already knew what to do. He had concealed his Commander level aura on purpose because he didn't want to alert the target.

Seeing that Dante wasn't heeding their warning the two guards released the power of their cultivation bases while drawing their swords. However just as they were about to give another warning, they suddenly passed out with foam coming out of their mouths.

"Overwhelm!"

While it would be an exaggeration to call it a skill, it certainly did its job.

It was something which Dante came up with to deal with Dio, but it didn't work against that monster.

'Overwhelm' was a skill which made use of Dante's huge amount of mental energy to attack the enemy's mental dimension and crush it.

However, due to Dante's lack of skill, his mental energy attack couldn't crumble the enemy's mental dimension and only made his foes pass out, which became useful in situations like this one.

"If I can't kill them I can at least use them to improve my skill."

Dante couldn't kill the guards because they had a mental connection with Carack, the merchant Dante had to kill.

"I should take the stairs... What!?"

Dante felt something summoning him from upstairs, his Purple-Gold core thumped madly in his dantian as if there was something calling it.

Hong had given him a map of the manor and some papers with the required information while eating donuts in the bar.

"It's coming from the merchant's office... Could it be a trap?"

The manor had three floors with the merchant's studio being on the first floor, Dante already planned to kill his target immediately without wasting any time, but now he felt that things would get even more dangerous.

As he made his way towards the merchant's office, several guards tried to stop him but they all fell unconscious under Dante's mental attack regardless of their cultivation bases.

"With its low expenditure of mental energy, it's really useful for those under the Commander level but it's obviously not enough against more powerful foes."

The attack's flaw was that it was too simple and unrefined, Commander levels could defend against it with some effort thanks to their control of mental energy. Soldier and Lieutenant levels pass out immediately because of the great disparity between them and Dante.

"It's really troublesome..."

Dante took out his Frost Dagger while approaching the merchant's office, the dagger released a freezing aura, ready to slaughter.

Kicking the door open, Dante released his mid-stage Commander level cultivation base while attacking with a full power 'Overwhelm'. Dante's strategy was effective, the two were briefly stunned by Dante's attacks and could only watch coldly with killing intent.

Even if they didn't pass out, he could at least delay their reactions slightly.

Yes, 'them', the reason Dante had to be so stealthy was due to the Commander level slave always guarding Carack.

That slave was the reason behind the merchant's infamy.

Dante's strategy bought him a few breaths of time, plenty enough for him to carry out the assassination.

However just as he was about to attack, Carack's smug face crumbled as he began whimpering and pleading for mercy while kowtowing. Dante was stunned by the sudden development, he would have never expected to see an orc kowtowing to him in his entire life. In their whole life, orcs would kowtow only to their parents and their Warlord. Even under the threat of death, they wouldn't kneel, not to mention kowtowing.

"Fuck, I lost my chance!"

Dante knew that now he would have to deal with the merchant's slave now. If the fight dragged out he would end up in a troublesome situation.

According to the report, in his berserk state that slave could hold his own against early-stage General levels.

The slave's eyes turned amber, and a pair of vertical pupils radiated a bone-chilling aura, his white skin was now covered with brown scales. The slave's killing intent was focused entirely on Dante.

"Warlock!"

This was the scenario that Dante had wanted to avoid the most, but it seemed like he would really have to fight now. However, just as he was about to make the first move the orc gave an order to his slave.

"Stop!"

The slave was confused but after a moment of hesitation, he still obeyed.

On the other hand, Dante didn't stop. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to attack anyway.

Carack knew that his words weren't enough to stop his assassin, therefore, without hesitating he said.

"Lord! If you are willing I can make this slave of mine become your subordinate, please I am willing to serve Lord for the rest of my life!"

The moment he said that Carack's eyes gleamed with madness as he pushed his finger down onto his forehead, blood-colored light flickered as a single drop of blood appeared, radiating an ethereal aura. Victor's face turned ashen, that blood-drop contained a third of his soul!

With that drop of soul-blood, his life would be in Dante's hands from now on!

Carack's actions finally moved Dante, but he still harboured some suspicion. What happened that made him change his mind so fast?

The mission stated that he had to kill the merchant, but what if he took him under his wing and disguised him?

This was a gift from the heavens! He had been thinking of a way to money-launder his gang's revenues and who would do better than a Merchant for this role? The only problem was that he had to explain everything to Hong now.

Seeing that Dante was still hesitating, the orc hurriedly said.

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"Lord, what you see now is but a disguise. I was an orc priest before being exiled from the Aderlate Continent due to my father's death in a war of factions... I'm not asking Lord to take revenge for me, I only ask for shelter, until I'm powerful enough. With Lord's potential and identity, I'm certain that the day of my revenge won't be far-off!"

Carack's eyes turned bloodshot and his expression was filled with hatred as he recalled his powerful enemies, but that didn't affect Dante too much.

If Dante were to leave him only because of his troublesome background then he could just build a house in the wilderness and live as a monk!

He already knew that his path would be full of risks, Dante needed endless tempering if he really wanted to find an answer to his questions.

However, he still wanted to know something from Carack before accepting him as his subordinate.

Dante absorbed the drop of soul blood, he felt like he could extinguish Carack's life with a thought.

It took him a few moments to calm himself, before saying.

"My name is Dante and I can take you under my wing, but you have to tell me the reason behind your change of heart."

Carack's expression turned complicated, but after a moment of thought, he turned resolute as he sent a mental message.

The information he was about to give him, wasn't something he could say casually.

"Lord Dante, a normal orc wouldn't notice it and even a former priest like me would only feel that there was only something strange, but in truth Lord's aura carries a trace of the Warlord's will!

I was only able to perceive it because my father took me to our ancestral shrine when I had my coming of age ceremony.

That day under the incredulous eyes of my father, I received the blessings of the Warlord, shocking the elders of my race. This matter was kept secret even from the Hell Dungeon to ensure my safety... Who would have known that I would meet disaster at the hands of my own people..."

Carack smiled bitterly as he remembered how foolish he was to blindly trust them.

"In the end my cultivation was crippled, my whole clan was wiped out... They didn't even spare the branches in the other continents. I only survived thanks to the weapon bestowed upon me by the Warlord..."

Carack removed a hand axe pendant from his neck while swiping his wrist with its edge, the hand axe greedily devoured his blood while a primaeval aura surged in the room, covering them with blood-colored light. When he saw it Dante's expression changed abruptly, he felt his head rumble as a feeling of familiarity welled up inside him.

He could see the Purple-Gold core in his Dantian, turning a shade darker as the dark energy in Dante's body began flowing madly.

Carack waited for a moment so that Dante could regain his composure before sending another mental message.

"When Lord appeared, the hand axe materialised from my dantian on its own, I could feel that it had submitted completely to you... The moment I noticed the change, I immediately recognized you as The One.

It's a reaction which only The One mentioned by my father, can trigger.

Lord Dante, let me be your sword on your journey! I can assure you, that I won't let you down."

Carack kowtowed again as he waited for Dante's response.

At this point, Dante didn't know what to say anymore.

"Things are getting out of hand..."

He had come here to kill and somehow he ended up becoming some hero of sorts!

It took him a long time to recover, before choosing his response.

He was tempted to just refuse and forget about today's happenings, but he felt that this could be a lead to understand the true nature of that black substance in his body. Now that he finally found a lead, he couldn't simply forget about it!

After a long while, Dante finally sent another mental message.

"In the east district of Winterlake city, there is a casinò named 'Passione', there you will find a friend of mine. His name is Basil, just tell him that you are joining the gang on my recommendation.

In the future, you will be tasked with handling the finances of the gang, until that moment you will participate in our expansion. A month from now, I will visit the headquarters. Our goal is to obtain control of at least a third of the district in that time, I hope that you will help us achieve our goal.

You can go now, from now on your home will be the casino until you find a new lodging. This place isn't suitable anymore for you."

Carack kowtowed again with a joyful expression, he knew that from now on his revenge wouldn't be a pipe dream anymore.

However, when he heard that he only had a month at his disposal, Carack couldn't help but frown.

Even if he had the help of Ronald, his slave, it will be extremely difficult to accomplish that.

From Dante's words, he could deduce that the so-called gang, was only a small group without much power at hand.

Still, he didn't show anything on his face as he got up and hastily left the place.

Seeing that Carack had left, Dante looked around himself for a minute.

Worry could be seen in his eyes as he said.

"Hong, you can come out now."

A ripple appeared near one of the chairs, as a middle-aged man appeared beside it.

He had dark hair, streaked with grey near his temples. Hong's brown eyes revealed his puzzlement and for once he wasn't alone since Dante was still coming to terms with the changes.

Hong couldn't hear much of their conversation, so he was still confused about the matter.

However, he quickly hid it away as he countered Dante's doubts.

"No, the Assassin's Guild won't punish you. In fact, we could even reward you if you told the leader how you did it! Dante, you actually managed to enslave an orc without crumbling his mental energy dimension! If the upper-echelons of the orc race got wind of this, they will surely do all they can to kill you... Ahaha, don't worry I won't say anything. Now that you have passed the examination we can be considered brothers!

Our Assassin's Guild pursues a relationship of complete trust between members. Thanks to this policy the death rate of the missions is incredibly low compared to other guilds!

However, losses are bound to happen in the end..."

The light in Hong's eyes dimmed as he reminisced about the past.

Dante heaved a sigh of relief and waited respectfully until Hong calmed his mental state.

After a while Hong said.

"For the next month or so, we will cooperate to accomplish several missions. The goal will be training our teamwork and your skills as an assassin.

I see that you have developed a mental skill of your own 'Overwhelm' isn't it? Not bad, not bad at all. However, it's obvious that you still have to work on it, truly powerful skills can work on opponents at your same level or even at a higher level!

You have a powerful fleshly body but the dagger you're using should be only a peak Mortal weapon, it would be better if you had a Spiritual weapon so that you can bring out your full power in battle.

Even if I don't view myself as one of those incredible sages, I can at least say this much after living for a few hundred years.

It will depend on your own abilities and encounters to see this path to its end."

Hong's words carried the wisdom and observation skills he had developed for all his life, hearing them Dante found that they were all on point.

He nodded to Hong before saying.

"Thank you, I feel that we will be able to accomplish great things together!"

Hong grinned before laughing boisterously, he liked the ambition of his new partner.