As it was, Ryzen was sure that he didn’t stand a chance against Venis. No matter how strong his class was, it just wouldn’t be enough to overcome the difference between someone a whole tier above you.

Luckily, he happened to specialize in stealth and assassination. He figured his best bet would be to grab Enancia and get out of the city.

Based on this idea, a plan started formulating in Ryzen’s head. He wanted to move as quickly as possible to spare Enancia as much suffering as possible. The fact that he had to even do this made him grind his teeth. Yet, he couldn’t allow himself to become distracted with needless thoughts. He needed to focus.

Before he could initiate any plan, Ryzen had something else higher on his priority list. He zoomed out of the loading bay area and started flying around the sector. His goal was to find where the elite guards lived. It would be here that he would take out as many as possible until he hit level 20.

The reason for this was that he was expecting another skill then. So far, each skill he had received gave him a tremendous boost of power. He didn’t know if this trend would continue but it seemed plausible.

He found an elite guard walking around by himself and instantly grabbed him, taking the both of them into his shadow. He reappeared in an isolated tunnel nearby and threw him out. He punctured through his arms and legs then put a dagger to his throat.

“Tell me how your whole guard system works and don’t fuck with me. I’m not in a great mood.” Ryzen hissed under his breath.

The vampire quickly nodded and said, “I get it! There are always guards full-time in this sector! It’s important to Venis that we keep security tight to avoid any… problems. That being said the elite guards rotate shifts and will usually spend their time, uh, having some fun and recuperating during their off time!”

“The fuck you mean by having some fun and recuperating?” Ryzen asked. The vampire was clearly trying hard to think of a specific way to say it. He was hiding something.

“Well, vampire get their energy from food, right? Well, haven’t you ever played with your food? It’s kind of like…” the vampire continued on until Ryzen had learned enough. The vampire eventually took a dagger to the heart and died.

You have killed level 45 vampire!

Ryzen had heard enough. They were clearly fucking with the poor humans. He decided he would be crashing their dining session. Unlike his own little feeding hour, it seems the elites got special treatment. Apparently, they could choose to either get their own room with a few humans or dine with others. Both were extremely grotesque and not many humans made it through just a few of these sessions.

The shit he went to was apparently also for upper-class vampires because they were the only ones that lived outside of the business or residential districts. That’s why each vampire there got a human to themselves as long as they kept us alive. Every other vampire was stuck with whatever the fuck they could scrounge up in the business districts.

Anyways, Ryzen decided he would be crashing one of these elite dining halls. He quickly found the one the vampire had politely told him the location of and cracked the door open enough to zoom inside. Luckily, none of the vampires seemed to notice as they were much too occupied torturing the humans they were supposed to be feeding on.

There were approximately ten elite guards and each one of them was doing obscene things to various people. Some of the people were already broken and mindlessly staring off into the distance as they got scratched, bit, or torn apart. Others were intensely screaming, begging for the vampires to stop.

There were chunks of flesh littering the floor and walls. Each of the vampires had blood stains covering nearly their entire bodies. Ryzen was completely grossed out with the entire scene. He would enjoy ripping these monsters to shreds.

Ryzen first targeted the vampires who had the most people surrounding them. He figured these people had more respect and therefore, more power. His shadow daggers pierced their hearts before they could activate any skills to fight back. While doing so, he had already pierced another vampire in the heart.

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“Fuck! We’re under attack! In formation, now!” one of the vampires screamed.

The other vampires dropped their humans and brought out their weapons. Instantly, they were in a battle formation showing off their elite status. Unfortunately for them, Ryzen was prepared.

He disappeared and reappeared in the middle of their formation, throwing them off guard. He took down another vampire and his shadow daggers took down two more. Rinse and repeat.

The vampires sent multiple projectiles his way, by Ryzen dodged them all by going into his shadow. His insane agility allowed him to easily avoid the magic attacks.

“Fuck, how does he keep doing that?” one of them screamed.

“He’s a fucking C tier, isn’t he! We’re fucking dead!” another responded.

Ryzen ignored it and continued to butcher them until they were all on the floor, dead. They never managed to get a single hit on him.

You have leveled up!

New skill gained: Shadow Bomb

Ryzen quickly pulled up the skill description and smirked.

Shadow Bomb (Unranked): Although some people regarded them as such, shadow warriors were not gods. There were times when they made mistakes and required a more… forceful solution. Summon a shadow bomb that deals heavy damage on impact and emits shadow smoke. Standing in shadow smoke will heal you but poison and blind all others. Strength scales with intelligence. Costs 100 Mp per use.

Ryzen let out a chuckle at the skill description. With this new skill, he had a good idea of how he would tackle getting Enancia out of there.

He moved to leave but a hand gripped the back of his shirt.

“Please! Take me with you!” one of the humans said desperately.

Ryzen simply shook his head and left. He was no hero. Trying to take those people with him would only lead to everyone's death. At least there they had a chance at living.

He went back to the loading bay and prepared himself for what he was about to do. He waited until all the workers were near the surface and then summoned a small black orb.

“What the fuck is that?” one of the elite guards asked as they pointed at it.

“Uh, I don’t know… someone go investigate it.”

One of the guards slowly crept towards the orb and once he got close enough to touch it, everything went to hell.

A large boom rocked the cave causing multiple chunks of rock to slam into the ground. Any vampires who had been near the bomb were instantly erased from existence while others a little farther away had chunks of their bodies torn off.

The dust that had filled the air slowly started to turn black as the vampires who had survived the blast started to scream.

“Shit, my fucking eyes! I can’t see anything!” one of them moaned. It didn’t take much longer for that same vampire to slump over, dead from the poison.

Dozens of guards started to run over from all directions, prompting Ryzen to make his move. Having brought this area plenty of attention, he figured now was the time to find Enancia. He was confident she would be with Venis at all times. However, he was also confident Venis would feel obligated to investigate this explosion in his precious state sector. He was nearly certain that he was heading here at this moment.

This means Ryzen would have a brief moment where Venis wouldn’t be with Enancia. He would be taking advantage of this. According to his vampire friend from earlier, Venis’s office was down the same tunnel as the dining hall. The state sector wasn’t nearly as big as the others. This was likely to keep it small and hidden.

Ryzen flew down the tunnel, deep into the sector. It was in the deepest part that he would find where Venis resided and hopefully, Enancia. As soon as he reached the end of the tunnel, he found a door that was wide open.

He came out of his shadow and sprinted inside. Unfortunately, there was no one to be found. It was just a tiny office filled with stupid trinkets and decorations. Ryzen punched one of the bookshelves in anger and his fist went straight through it and into thin air.

“What the fuck is it with these vampires and this hidden shit!” he yelled out in annoyance. He kicked the bookshelf down and ran down the stairs. He entered a wide-open area full of various supplies and treasures. It was clear this was where the city stored its most valuable items.

Ryzen looked down towards the other end of the area and sighed a breath of relief. She was there. Alive.

He started running towards her as fast as he could. Wondering what the noise was, Enancia looked up and gasped as she saw Ryzen.

Unfortunately, he never saw it as his focus was quickly turned elsewhere. A vampire in a white cloak slowly walked out in front of Enancia. She had long purple hair and held a wand in her right hand.

Multiple shields radiated around her body as she growled at Ryzen, “It’s you who has been causing Venis so much trouble huh? All for what? To save some ugly demon bitch who can’t even harm a fly? I’m going to enjoy incinerating you alive.”

She bared her fangs and tens of red orbs appeared around her.