The sound of shattering metal fills the room, and my gaze turns to watch the figure of a man dressed in all black disappear from my sight and out of the open door behind me.

"Not so fast..."

I activate my All-Seeing Eye along with all of my stat-boosting skills to feel a surge of power greater than anything I've felt before in my base form. It's not that my mana control is stronger, it's my base stats. The recent level-ups as well as the Arch Demon's core have definitely made a noticeable difference in my awareness and capabilities.

I was just careless walking in here... After seeing the note, now I'm on high alert.

The outline of three figures comes into my mind's eye, and I pull out my wind dagger to fight. Using my Flame-imbued sword would be a bit overkill for the levels I sense.

[Lv. 491]

[Lv. 477]

[Lv. 474]

They move quickly and all have a stealth skill activated. The one that threw the needle attack at me and ran outside is the level 477; they're circling the house with one other teammate. The highest level, 491, is upstairs, standing still.

I grit my teeth and activate my own stealth skill before running up to face the intruder.

He's crouching above the top of the staircase, unable to read or see my fast movements.

This team is skilled, an elite-level force in many people's eyes, but unfortunately, they're outclassed by my raw power.

I release a low-powered wind slash against the unsuspecting man's chest, throwing him backward over 5 meters to hit against a wall with a horrible wound across his body before deactivating my veil of invisibility.

"Who are you three? What do you want from me? Speak now if you-"

I stop mid-sentence with my dagger pointed forward, as I watch the man in front of me bite down on something hard in the back of his mouth. Before I can even ask another question, he's foaming at the lips and limp on the floor.

"Not one to talk, I guess..."

Reactivating my stealth skill, I run downstairs to face the two others circling the house. If their partner was defeated, they may set up a trap to take out the entire house with me in it. I don't know who these people are, but I need to take them out and get some answers.

The front door swings open as I zip out and catch one of them mid-stride with the same low-powered wind attack. His stealth skill deactivates and blood splatters in the sandy street as the man dressed head to toe in jet-black gear and armor tumbles across the road.

I air-step over to him in the blink of an eye and begin asking the same questions, but he's dead with the same white foam leaking from his mouth before I can even see his face.

"Fine. If you won't talk, I might as well get something out of all this."

The last concealed assassin is on the other side of the home I just left, but with the level and mana control difference, it looks as if he's standing out in plain sight.

I don't bother revealing myself or asking any questions this time around; I just release a full-powered slash.

The enemy is cut in two before he realizes what hit him.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Stealth

Upgrade Perk: Legendary Grade

[YES] [NO]

I choose yes without hesitating. I didn't think I'd be using my Absorption's Legendary perk so soon, but this is a valuable skill to use it on.

A slight breeze rolls through the streets, and the sun glistens off the towers in the distance of the city as I let out a long sigh and power down my stat-boosting skills. I walk over to each of the fallen bodies and use the black flames of my advanced fire magic to incinerate them on the spot.

This may be a less busy part of town, but leaving as little evidence as possible is never a bad idea.

I walk back inside and read the rest of the note.

____________________

Dear Jay,

We're all safe, and we saved Lydia. If you're reading this, come meet us in Valor City.

There's a lot we didn't know about the Dark Continent.

Our recent meddling has affected the power balance much more than we ever expected, and we have teamed up with The Galeheart Mercenary Guild to set things right.

Once you return, meet us in Sector 1.

It's time to become much stronger, in more ways than one.

~Team Red Hydra.

____________________

I chuckle at the last line, thinking it's a fitting name. The Red Hydra's aura is a power we all share.

However, I am very hesitant to believe this at first sight. Even if it is in Maria's handwriting, why are they working with Lith? How did he even find them?

"How much time has passed...?"

I turn my head to the briefcase underneath a small table in the back corner of the room, then open it up on the table as well. Inside, there's just one crimson stone remaining. With it, is that same silver card with the Valor City Mercenary Guild address on it.

I nod, thinking to myself deeply while closing the briefcase shut again.

None of this makes any sense. The men outside that attacked me were too low level to be sent from the mercenary guild. If this is all a trap set by them after capturing my teammates, they would have sent a much stronger team to subjugate me too.

After placing the note and briefcase into my inventory, I clean up the final assassin's body and head into town.

Trap or not, I need to find out more information about Valor City and this mercenary guild; it's my only lead.

The golden sun falls lower, closer to the horizon as I walk into town. Palm trees and shops start to line the streets and the smell of food and drinks fill the air as the nightlife crowd rolls in.

While making my stroll, my perception skills are constantly on full blast. Another sneak attack won't catch me off guard again.

I could sit down at a nice restaurant for a good meal, but there's a much better place to find out information than this. An old-fashioned dungeon bar.

It takes quite a while to find through all the higher class, more modern places for common city folk and businessmen in Solara, but after walking for a while, I find one that suits my taste just right.

Before walking inside, I change my facial features with the conceal skill. Though, I doubt it'd matter much because I still wear the red hood of my cloak.

Upon entering, the sound of laughter and glasses clinking is all I hear. Levels 10-350 all line the wooden tables and share stories from the dungeons while getting ready for a long night of drinks and celebration.

There are quests pinned to a wall behind the bar, and a middle-aged, muscular, and tall bartender who looks to be a retired hunter himself at far past level 300.

I sift through my item storage beneath my cloak before sitting up at the bar, putting a silver coin on the counter.

"Your special, food and a drink, whatever you've got. Keep the whole silver on my tab."

He takes the coin and nods.

"Very well, coming right up."

I sit down and let out a sigh to let my gaze wander around the room, then back behind the bar to the quests. They range from just a few bronze to up to a few gold, mostly looking for mana crystals and specific item drops. Some of them are even bounties for criminals and wanted individuals.

My eyes widen in shock as I gaze at the wall a bit closer. Each of my teammates' faces are displayed on posters with red X's marked over them. The word "Collected" is written in the same red colored ink underneath each one.

A million thoughts start racing through my mind, then my eyes come across the final poster with the same red marks across it.

The face on this collected bounty is my own.