Upon returning to his body, Adam stumbled to his feet. The Leputi jumped away in surprise. Adam checked his body. It still wasn't fully clean, but he could always hop in the shower once this mess was resolved.

Cruxannith also looked worse for wear. She didn't look in pain any longer, but a thick, translucent ooze seemed to be dripping from parts of her skin. Adam figured it was the Red Clan version of sweat. It was gross looking. Like them.

The first step Adam tried taking towards the cell's exit almost caused him to fall. His muscles weren't firing properly. They seemed to lack any power beyond what a toddler had. It took several steps before he became used to the unsteady movement.

As he moved into the hallway, Adam had to hold onto the bars and the wall to continue moving forwards. At the first cell he came to, the Powerguard sat, looking horrified. As he saw the messy state of Adam, he whispered in fear, "what did you do?"

Adam glared at the invader with all the [Intimidation] that he could muster, and the Powerguard backed into the corner while hugging his legs. Without taking his eyes off the Red Clan, wary of him coming to take advantage of Adam's current weakness, Adam clutched the bars and used both his arms and legs to creep past the prison cell.

Once Adam was out of reach of the Powerguard, he arrived at the cell that the Infiltrator was in. The Infiltrator stared blankly at Adam. The trauma that Adam had put him through showed as the Infiltrator didn't try to attack or hide. He simply hissed and clicked his teeth together.

When Adam reached the center of the Infiltrator's cell, he turned and looked across the hallway to the cell that the Red Clan negotiator was in. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself, Adam pushed off the bars, stumbling across the hall. He barely caught himself on the opposite bars before he fell.

The negotiator stared at him, partly with concern and partly intrigued. He watched as Adam had to stabilize himself and then use a herculean effort to pull himself up the bars, into a standing position. With every grunt from Adam's effort, the Red Clan's expression changed. By the time Adam was fully upright, the negotiator had a confident look on his face, which made Adam scowl.

Adam knew he could have asked or ordered the Leputi to help him move, preserving his illusion of strength, but with how scared the Leputi were of Adam's prisoners, he was willing to do it himself regardless of the struggle. Adam didn't even feel embarrassed that he was approaching an enemy while wearing only his boxers. If anything, this reminded him of the early fights under the [System].

"Drop your soul protection," Adam ordered the negotiator.

He couldn't enter the souls of those with this type of protection skills without them removing the passive skill. Only soul classes from the Red Clan, and future Adam, had these skills. Adam had previously bargained with the negotiator by starving him and then offering him blood. However, at this moment the invader saw things differently.

"No," said the negotiator.

There was a glint in the prisoner's eyes, and a slight red flash. Adam had always surmised that the invader's skills allowed him to read the other person's desires to improve his negotiating position. This seemed to be what the negotiator did right now.

"No?" asked Adam, his eyes narrowing. "I have two more of the blood vials I give Cruxannith. Is that enough?"

"After all the crap vermin blood you've fed me, you'll need more. Much more."

Adam gestured to his near naked body.

"I have nothing else to bargain with right now, and I don't think you want me coming back when I recover," he threatened.

"If you can even survive enough to recover," smirked the negotiator. Then he sniffed the air in Adam's direction. At first it was a few short breaths, then he gave a long, deep, inhale through his nostrils.

"You are leaking energy," said the Red Clan member. "It smells weak and sparse. Whatever happened has damaged you more than you can know. I don't think you will survive, and I'm not even sure what you want from accessing my soul right now. No, I need a much greater incentive."

Adam glared for a minute. The creature's evaluation was accurate. Adam didn't feel like he was going to die in the next few minutes, but his strength wouldn't be coming back, and it was unlikely he would be able to find enough enemies to refill his energy before he completely ran out.

If Adam had been a Red Clan member, then he could replenish his energy through consuming blood. His berserker skills only allowed his body to heal from blood, not his soul. The racial and skill divide was working against him here.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Then what is it you want?" asked Adam.

Another red flash momentarily tinted the negotiator's already red eyes. His confident look had been hesitant before, but now his oversized jaw and layered teeth became a smile.

"Oh, there is still so much I want. So much you could give me," said the negotiator, as if it were a friendly card game. "I am quite parched considering how poorly you've treated me and how hungry I am. For now, I will settle. Instead of some mediocre blood, I want blood that is powerful."

"I don't have any other blood, and as you can see, I'm not in a position to capture a strong opponent right now," said Adam.

"That won't be a problem," said the negotiator with an edge of joy coming into his voice. "There has been the scent of powerful blood since I was brought here."

Adam looked along the hall in each direction, almost falling from how much it threw off his balance, before looking back at the captive.

"Powerful blood?" he asked.

"Oh yes. Probably the sweetest blood I've ever smelled. It has made your torment all the worse without you even knowing it."

"And this blood is?" asked Adam, suspecting he knew.

The invader spread his hands to either side, as if he was surrendering some great information.

"Your own blood!"

The negotiator took a huge inhale and moved closer to the bars. A greedy expression took over his face. Hope and desire filled it. "I can smell it! It is almost intoxicatingly powerful! I don't know why your scent is this way, but it almost feels like a mixture of three pure bloodlines, each filled with their own strength."

The negotiator licked his lips and teeth, continuing to creep closer. Adam watched but didn't move.

"And if I share my blood?" asked Adam.

He felt wary, but right now it was more important to get what he needed from the Red Clan member. Hope blossomed in Adam. He would gladly trade some of his blood for access to the captive's soul, but he tried to hide this, hoping the eyes flashing with skills didn't see through him.

"Hm…let's see. I can see that you are rather desperate, though I don't know what for. How about this. I will drop my protection skill for only as long as you provide me blood," suggested the negotiator after theatrically thinking for a minute. "Once you run out of blood or step away from me, the skill will reactivate, and you will be shut out."

"You will just drink me dry," stated Adam angrily.

"Oh, certainly I will if you don't step away," chuckled the invader. "The question becomes, can you get whatever knowledge you need from me before you concede. Let me ask, do you like games of chance?"

"My people call it playing chicken," said Adam. "Whoever flinches first loses."

"Lovely!" exclaimed the Red Clan member. "Then do we have a deal?"

The prisoner was wringing his hands with open lust on his face. Adam tried to think of the downsides of this deal. To him it seemed straight forward. He would either pass out and die from blood loss, or he would get what he needed.

The negotiator's words also reminded Adam that his captive had only known that he could watch memories. The invader didn't know what Adam was planning or was capable of. Was it worth Adam betting on this gambit or taking the safe way.

Then he acknowledged that there was no safe way. Reaping the Leputi for XP was not even an option for him. He might be willing to drink his allies' blood to heal, but killing or betraying them was not an act he was willing to take. Adam stared at the negotiator, his eyes flickering with skill uses.

"Fine then," said Adam. "Should I have a knife fetched?"

"Oh, no need for that." The prisoner held up his hand, the triangular nails looked able to cut through skin easily. "Just place your hand in the cell."

Both Adam's hands were needed to hold himself up, so he leaned against the cell wall. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to back away when it was time, but this was the gamble he made.

Once Adam was pressed against the cell, he put his left-hand in. The smile on the negotiator's face instantly shifted to one of a predator about to snap up his prey. What happened next wasn't far from that.

"Thanks for the meal," said the invader with grim pleasure.

Instead of using his nails, the negotiator's whole body jumped forward led by his mouth. The jagged teeth chomped on Adam's wrist. Stifling a cry of pain but still grunting from the effort, Adam tried to pull his hand back. He couldn't.

The layered teeth held him firmly. Not only could he not back away, but the hand wasn't bitten completely through. The grip the negotiator's mouth had on Adam wouldn't let go.

Adam's arm was trapped, and the numerous teeth had opened so many large holes that it would be no time before he ran out of blood.

A moan of pleasure came from the Red Clan member's throat.

"Ooooohhhhh…" he said through the side of his mouth without releasing his jaw's pressure. "That is the finest blood I've ever tasted! So…sweet! So…POWERFUL!"

Adam didn't have much time. He opened a tendril in his soul and connected to the negotiator's. The energy in the invader's soul wasn't especially dense, which made sense considering how little he had eaten since being imprisoned. Adam had spent a lot of time in all of his prisoners' souls, so he knew the layout of the one he connected to, but he had never figured out how time worked when he was here and couldn't chance to waste it now. Picking a target wouldn't work, so he went for the brute force approach.

"I can feel my levels increasing," said the negotiator, gloating. "I get to taste heaven while sending you to hell!"

Adam could feel it too. While the sensation of his blood being pulled out of him continued, the density of energy inside the negotiator was increasing. His blood must be powerful to the Red Clan if the conversion was this strong. But that still served Adam's needs.

One problem with connecting souls was that they couldn't occupy the same metaphysical space. Adam's tendril that connected him also moved the negotiator's soul out of the way. Fortunately, Adam had a solution for that.

Yet, before he could use it, a shriek echoed throughout the prison.

"What is this?!" screamed the negotiator.

Adam felt the clamped teeth on his arm release and heard a thump as the invader fell backwards. Choking and gasping sounds were also made.

"Poison! Your blood is poison!" yelled the blood sucker. "You tricked me!"

As Adam watched, the energy in the soul that was usually golden began to turn black. The change didn't happen everywhere at once, just in patches, but it was spreading. Adam wanted to laugh as he saw his corruption, like a plague, coating all the energy. That wasn't something he had expected, which meant he needed to act.

"[Soul Shatter]!" called Adam from his body.

"What?!" hollered the invader. "No! You can't!"

"Thanks for the meal," said Adam sarcastically.

Then the screaming began.

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.