The veil of night covered the city, yet it was still illuminated by the lamps all over. Jake sat down inside the house with the black book in his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, not really reading it, but just staring at it.

Suddenly, the words within the book started floating like the words when John spoke, and all of them turned green.

Jake looked at them in shock. This could only mean one thing.

[It seems your ability isn't restricted to spoken words.]

"Yeah," Jake said.

Thump

The sound of something hitting wood lightly reached Jake's ear. Jake immediately closed the book, placed it on the couch, and made his way to the stairs.

His first thought was that Ophelia had fallen off her bed. And the fact that both Crypt and Drake didn't warn him of anything meant that it wasn't something dangerous.

There were two rooms on the top floor, each opposite the other. Jake placed his hand on the door of her room and opened it. He walked in, placed his hand on the light crystal, and infused some mana into it, turning on the lamp.

The room barely had anything beyond the bed that Ophelia slept on. Only a small cupboard beside the bed.

He looked at her, still snug on her bed. 'What made that sound? Doesn't seem like anything is wrong here,' Jake wondered. He stepped out of her room after turning off the light and closing the door.

Creak

A sharp creaking sound came from the lower floors. Jake immediately shot down the stairs, pulling out a spear.

But as he came in, he didn't see anyone there. He looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was nothing.

"Drake, do you sense anything?" Jake asked.

"Nothing, Master, but allow me to focus a bit more," Drake said and started focusing. Jake gave him all the time he needed to check.

"Master, dodge," Drake suddenly said. Jake reacted as fast as he could and moved to the side.

Thump.

A finger-long needle stuck into the wall just where he had been, a black smoke coming off the needle. The area around where it stabbed into the wall immediately went black.

Jake looked in the direction of where the needle came from, and for a brief moment, he saw the outline of a person. Without hesitation, he threw the spear at the outline.

The outline vanished again, but the spear hit the target, stabbing into the person's shoulder.

"Arghhhhh!" A heavy groan of pain came from the person. His figure finally formed inside the room—a man wearing a cloak and a white mask.

"Who the hell are you?" Jake asked, already taking out another spear and summoning Crypt.

The figure didn't respond, but instead, its body started turning into black smoke.

"Stop him," Jake said. Crypt charged at the man and thrust his spear, but the man completely turned to black smoke. He got past Crypt in that gas form and flew toward Jake, turning back into his physical form and attacking with another needle. He was so fast that Jake couldn't react to it.

The needle dug into his chest, and the man turned into smoke again and flew toward the wall.

"Master!" Crypt yelled.

"Go after him, forget about me," Jake said. Crypt was reluctant, but he had to. He rushed through the door while the smoke man sped through the gaps of the window.

Jake stood there. A massive pulse of pain shot through his body. His veins bulged, getting so big it looked like they would tear.

"Arghhhhhhh!" He cried in pain, collapsing to the ground, his body jerking, foam already spewing from his mouth. He was dying at a stunning pace.

[Poison found in bloodstream, removing now.]

The system started detoxifying his body as fast as it could, but Jake was still on the ground struggling for air and fighting for his life.

A few seconds passed, and the system finally took over the poison, and Jake could finally start breathing normally. His body stopped shaking, and he finally returned back to normal.

His entire body was soaked in sweat, so much that a puddle had formed below him. His chest raised and dropped as he took in deep and heavy breaths.

[Detoxification complete]

[...]

Outside the house, the smoke turned back human on a roof and started running. Crypt leaped onto the roof and gave chase.

The man was fast, running across the roof like a pro. He leaped from building to building with such speed and fluidity that it seemed impossible.

Crypt chased as fast as he could. He was faster than this person, but his agility and maneuvering on the roofs weren't as good, yet he was catching up slowly.

The man turned for a moment, looked at Crypt, and threw out a blade covered in black smoke. Crypt easily swatted the blade aside, but it exploded into black smoke, covering his view, and when he got past it, he didn't see the man anymore.

He looked around, trying to spot the man, but he couldn't. When he was sure that the man was gone, he turned back and went back to the house.

He walked in and saw Jake on the ground. He rushed to help him up. "Master, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just saw death for a few seconds," Jake said with a weak chuckle. Crypt helped him back to his feet and onto a chair.

"Let me guess, he got away," Jake said.

"I'm sorry, Master," Crypt apologized.

"Not your fault. That person managed to go undetected by Drake and you. He is good at what he does.

The real question that stands is—who would want me dead so much that they sent such a proficient assassin?

I've barely been here long enough to piss someone off enough to be attacked. This doesn't make any sense," Jake said.

[Like John said, there is no trust here.]

"I understand that, and I'm going to find who wants me dead and why," Jake resolved.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.