There were no guards or djinns so far. Seemingly because the frenzy was still ongoing but that didn’t mean it would last long. Ludwig had to move fast to figure out what was going on.
“It’s awfully dark for an underground den…” Alva whispered.
“They’re creatures of fire, they don’t care if it’s dark,” Ludwig said as he kept looking around while moving making sure that there were no traps, he read way too many novels about traps in tight corridors like these and didn’t want to become a pincushion.
“We have company,” Alva said. Picking up a cue even Ludwig couldn’t. She immediately brandished her rapier and went ahead of Ludwig as would a proper sword wielder do.
Ludwig then patted his ring, pulling a short dagger he had on him. The item was something Ludwig had obtained earlier today when he was venturing the market with Hoyo and Kassandra, he never thought he’d need it this soon. But after what happened with the Champion Lizardman where his unreliable ceremonial sword simply broke, he needed another weapon to protect himself albite not as powerful as a sword, even a dagger could kill.
“A mage using a dagger, that’s a first…”
“Spells release mana signature, this is safer,” Ludwig said hiding the fact that most of his learned spells would send him straight to the gallows.
“What was that?” they heard from the other end of the corridor. Two distinct sounds of footsteps echoed ahead, but they didn’t seem to be coming their way.
“Something happened outside, I lost my reason for a bit, what about the rest?” the voice was deep and sounded terrifying in the darkness.
“Same here, something happened to all of us, what about the Sheikh?”
“He’s still by himself… well he should be by now,” the first speaker said.
“Sickening hobby he has. Regardless, go out, and see what happened to our brothers, if the same thing that happened to us here affected them, they’d have burnt half the city by now,” one of them said.
“I’ll go as fast as possible,” the second one said.
“No, use your feet, you can’t use [Fire Infusion], the city is already in an uproar we can’t be caught using Djinn magic here in Lufondal,” he said.
“Alright, I’ll use these feet then, see you later brother.”
The reply never came, and the set of footsteps began moving toward Ludwig and Alva.
Ludwig gestured with his hand for her to withdraw, and hurriedly backed away to the junction of pathways.
“What now?” she asked.
“We have to take him out,” Ludwig said.
“Do we? If we hide here,” she pointed at one of the other paths, “He’ll just leave past us,” she said.
“Then he’ll notice the door you cut apart and come back to report, we can’t let him leave,” Ludwig said.
Hesitation was clear in her eyes. She wasn’t too sure about taking out another person especially if she didn’t know their full intention.
“Your hesitation will get us in trouble,” Ludwig said. “The moment we’re exposed all we did here will be for naught, and you heard t yourself, they’re the ones that are causing this ruckus.”
Her hesitation soon switched to resolution, the duty of her family to serve and protect had kicked in because of Ludwig’s words.
The two of them hid under the shadows of one of the pathways near the exit and waited patiently for the man to arrive.
He slowly walked up until he reached the ladder, thankfully he didn’t have his mask on as it was strapped behind his back. But his massive form was still something that didn’t feel too comfortable to deal with.
Ludwig wasn’t short or weak by any means, compared to a normal human his age, he was far stronger just thanks to his undead strength and the points he invested in. However, what he was dealing with was a Djinn that was taking the form of what looked like a miniature giant.
The moment the Djinn comfortably grabbed at the ladder to go up, Ludwig hopped right behind him grabbing the Djinn by the mouth and pulling it back. The two of them fell back, Ludwig first as he received the full weight of the creature.
[-16hp]
The mere fall was enough to make Ludwig’s bones creek, while the man struggled to shout where only muffled groans came out of his mouth.
Ludwig’s eyes looked at Alva who was stunned and suddenly unable to move, “Hurry!” he hissed.
But she didn’t move though her weapon was pointing at the struggling man who was slowly overpowering Ludwig’s grip.
“For fuck sake!” Ludwig hissed again as he grabbed his dagger and swiftly rammed it into the man’s neck, cutting away his vocal cords.
The blood sprayed out like a fountain, and it steamed and boiled as if it was broiling water. The Djinn are weakest when they impersonate something, something that Ludwig clearly remembers from their passive [Twisted Manifestation] that they gain the exact body composition of whatever they possess or take the form of at the cost of half of its power. And since he picked a humanoid, he’d die like one.
[Critical!]
[You have ended someone’s life in one strike from full ambush. You have unlocked a new path]
Additional Path unlocked for the quest Black Tower Academy [Skeletal Assassin]
[You have obtained Weak Soul]
Ludwig ignored the notifications and pushed the body aside.
“I don’t even have to say anything do I…” Ludwig muttered, completely feeling hopeless about this swordsman’s wannabe.
“I-I was just surprised…”
Ludwig sighed, as he muttered to himself, “Use Weak Soul.
[You have obtained 100 souls]
The notification informed Ludwig of what he just got.
‘Interesting, this is the same value as what I got from the Champion lizardman… still, I’ll take all I can get.’
‘Use ten points to upgrade wisdom.’
[Your wisdom stat is now 31, you have used 40 souls.]
Your soul level has gone up by one.
‘Upgrade agility by ten.’
[Your agility stat is now 30, you have used 50 souls]
Your soul level has gone up by one.
You are now Soul Level 6.
Ludwig decided to save the last ten souls he obtained from [Weak Soul] and carry on.
He needed to have a balanced set of stats for the moment. Since his wisdom was lacking behind the rest of his stats alongside his agility he decided on upgrading them. The two stats were crucial in both his casting and his ability to move.
Ludwig wiped the blood on his dagger on his own robe and tried to check if the Djinn had anything valuable he could use.
A large beefy curved sword was hidden underneath his baggy clothes.
Ludwig picked it up.
***
Category: weapon.
Durability 100/100
Tier: Common
Damage 40-60
Requirement: 40 Strength: 30 dexterity –(Requirement Not met!)
[Slash Fest] : Active weapon ability, once used will cause the weapon to summon three similar images that will all strike at the same time doing triple the damage.
Lore: A common weapon mainly used by Saharan Peddlers and warriors of the Kingdom of the Sand.
Warning you lack the dexterity needed to use the weapon’s ability.
***
Ludwig ignored the warning, it didn’t allow him to use the special skill, but this was still a fine weapon to use. And definitely better than his current dagger. Or at least something he can use to defend himself better with now.
“I guess you better get your grip on reality as soon as possible, if not you can just leave right now. You don’t need to dirty your hands if you think it’s too unbefitting of your noble lineage,” Ludwig said as he moved forward.
“No, I’m coming with you!” she said and followed close behind.