Finding the entrance to the basement level was surprisingly easy. There wasn’t a blinking neon sign with an arrow on it which said, “nefarious activities this way,” or anything like that, but there was a magic elevator.

I stepped inside it and the elevator must have registered the platinum card in my inventory because when I had Panda use his mana to activate the control panel, it worked immediately.

Lacking any mana of my own, I considered myself lucky to have my magical daemon familiar along for the ride as we descended into the bowls of the hotel.

The doors opened with that familiar department store ping and I stepped out into a small room with two guards.

“Let me guess,” I said, strolling towards them in my nobleman’s party suit, “one of you always lies and the other always tells the truth?”

“I don’t recognise you,” the large one grunted.

He was a dark-skinned human dressed in an embroidered black suit and sunglasses. Considering we were indoors I had to assume that the sunglasses were part of the uniform… at least I hoped that was why he was wearing them.

His attire reminded me of the magic feds who had interrogated me before.

Maybe there just aren’t that many fashion trends in Havar, I thought to myself as the man looked at me and scowled.

I turned away from him and spoke to his friend instead.

“I’m looking for a girl,” I began, gesticulating like I was some confident nobleman who frequented sketchy underworld hotels. “Teal hair, round face, likes fireballs, goes by the name of Bell…” The guard stared at me blankly, “I take it that’s not ringing any then?”

“Who are you?” The large man said whilst his companion simply stared at me like a gormless cretin.

“A platinum member,” I replied, channelling my inner spoilt rich kid – or at least what I imagined one to be. “And a well-respected member of a great noble house. I need you to tell me where the girl is… I have business with her captor.”

I really hope this works, I thought. I was starting to get tired of all the red tape. I could feel the pressure rising in my chest. If I didn’t get to Bell soon I was going to have to start using violence: a plan that was more likely to get me killed than get her out of chains.

“Which noble house?” The large man asked slowly.

“Millicent,” I replied confidently. They were the first noble house that popped into my head. Jake Millicent was the only noble I actually knew by name, which was kinda funny considering the circumstances in which we met.

“You’re not permitted into the butchery… Mr Millicent, that area is for syndicate personnel only,” he replied through a smug expression.

Shit, did he just say butchery? I thought, an air of panic twinging inside my head.

“Kid,” Panda said, tugging on the sleeve of my suit jacket, “he just said she’s in the butchery, these guys must be cannibals, we need to get her out of there!”

I didn’t think that was what the term implied considering that Bell was an outworlder and it was much more likely that they were after her map piece, but he was still right. No more playing around, it was time to take this rescue operation to the next level.

I took a step forward and the large man moved in front of me, folding his arms and blocking my way through. His slender, silent friend moved to my side and placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

“Take another step and we’ll have to eject you forcefully,” the large man said with a cruel grin as he cracked his knuckles.

I summoned my daggers into my hands and slashed the throat of the slender guard at my side. It was a quick, fluid motion as I calmly lifted my hand, stuck the blade into his gullet and flicked the edge through the sinew and skin.

Blood sprayed from the wound like a faucet, covering my nice new suit and the side of my face as the surprised guard gargled.

“Amateur,” the unphased large man sneered, “he’s a phase three, a severed windpipe won’t kill him. It’ll be healed in a second.”

“I didn’t realise acid was so easily healed,” I replied cooly, noticing the bubbling, pulsating skin flapping where the man’s gullet should have been.

His desperate eyes glanced between the large guard and me as he clawed at his gushing neck.

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I grinned and dashed towards the large guard. I was upon him in a second. My enhanced strength had allowed my legs to push off from the floor at an inhuman speed.

The large man lifted his arms to block me, but it was too late. I hammered my first dagger through his eyeball and he threw his hands over it, clawing at my fist and the dagger clutched tightly in it.

At the same time he opened his mouth to scream but before any sound could leave it, I thrust my second dagger through his throat. His screaming died in a pathetic fit of gurgling and flailing.

The large man died quickly. Horribly, but quickly.

By the time my acid had finished doing its work his face was barely recognisable as something even remotely human.

There was a time not so long ago where I would have recoiled at the actions I’d just taken, but this was a world that relished violence and personal power and I had a friend to save.

The slender guard died shortly afterwards and I received two notifications in quick succession.

You have defeated Morningstar Collective Guard (lvl 49)

Bonus experience awarded due to level disparity.

You have defeated Morningstar Collective Guard (lvl 53)

Bonus experience awarded due to level disparity.

I found it mildly amusing that the larger, more intimidating guard was the weaker of the two. I guess his bark really was worse than his bite.

Both of them were higher levels than I was, yet they went down with relative ease. Perhaps it was because I was an adventurer? Killing monsters was a lot harder than killing humans if these two clowns were anything to go off.

Considering how easy the fight was, I was pleasantly surprised when the level notifications came.

Congratulations! You have advanced to lvl 43

Congratulations! You have advanced to lvl 44

Congratulations! Skill: Dagger has advanced to lvl 12

…

Congratulations! Skill: Dagger has advanced to lvl 16

I couldn’t believe my luck, not only had I gained two whole levels, but my dagger skill had increased by quite a lot as well. It was still trailing behind my Newly Qualified Bowman skill, but at this rate it would evolve sooner than I’d planned.

Whilst we’d travelled towards the dragon’s lair for the exam I had tried to use my daggers more often, but in a team environment my bow was better suited.

I couldn’t wait to see what my dagger skill would be like after it evolved though.

Quickly, I assigned my ten free points from levelling up to the intelligence stat. I was beginning to consider min-maxing my strength stat and just pushing that as far as it would go since the added power was obviously useful.

However, intelligence directly affected the amount of time I could leverage my full set armour bonus to stay invisible for and that too, would be extremely useful in a fight.

I quickly looted the two guards and gained some gold, a soiled suit, and a pair of tacky sunglasses. It was a disappointing haul, but I’d prefer to level up anyway.

“Jeez kid,” Panda said as he tiptoed over the blood-soaked floor, “that was ruthless.”

“Sorry buddy,” I replied quietly, “but I’m done wasting time. We’ve been wading through bullshit since she was taken and now… we’re just so close…”

I trailed off, unable to say what was on my mind, and stepped into the corridor the guards had tried to prevent us from entering.

The carpet below my feet was sticky as I entered my HUD and changed into my armour. Considering the nefarious locale, that was pretty suspicious.

We passed by a few locked doors, one of which had a window. I peered through to see a freezer of some sorts with strange meat stacked in neat rows. Maybe these guys really were cannibals, wouldn’t that be something?

The corridor itself was actually quite short with a door at the very end. It was placed in such an obvious position that I almost didn’t believe that we’d finally made it.

I tried the handle and it opened easily.

Who leaves a prison door unlocked? I thought, but when I walked inside that thought drifted away.

Held on a huge X made of wood was a naked, bleeding, Bell. I quickly checked my surroundings just in case her kidnapper was still there, but the room was empty.

Everything about the room reminded me of the time I was kidnapped by cultists… the time I’d killed Brad. The X was the same, there was even a vat of acid close by. It was as if the various groups attempting to flay the outworlders all shopped at the same freaky version of Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Without a word I began using my daggers to cut the bindings which were holding Bell’s arms and legs. It was a thick, tight rope which must have been painful in and of itself.

As I began trying to free one of her legs I noticed that Bell’s map piece was on her stomach rather than her back. I had assumed that everyone’s tattoos were in the same place as mine but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

It was my first time properly looking at one since I couldn’t see my own. It was made of thick black lining and looked more like some sort of runic writing than an actual map. The skin around the map piece was red and cracked as if the torturer had focused on doing something specifically to that area… preparations for extraction maybe?

As I moved onto her final arm, Bell began to stir.

“Kaleb?” She asked in a feeble and uncharacteristic voice. It set my heart on fire to hear her sound like that when she was usually so full of life.

“Yup it’s me,” I replied with forced cheer, “here to save your useless ass.”

I finished cutting through the final restraint and her body flopped forwards, she didn’t seem to have the strength to stop herself.

Deftly, I caught her and pulled my bloodied suit from my inventory. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something. I wrapped the jacket around her and scooped her up into a princess carry.

My eyes burned, but this time it wasn’t with the threat of tears, it was with a furious hatred. It was time to end this Morningstar Collective for good.

“B…” Bell began feebly, I looked down at her swollen eyes with concern, “being tortured is not as kinky as anime had led me to believe.”

I chuckled and smiled to myself as we prepared to leave the room. Inside though, I was a furnace.