“King Heckel will now see you,” said a man in black armor. The clear opposite of those of the Temple who were covered in white armor and robes.

Terry and the priest stood before the massive gate to enter the strong brick castle. Archers stood inside the several towers that overlooked the castle and several aimed their powerful bows upon the strong men. The priest wore white robes white Terry wore white armor and Ryan wore simple clothes since Terry wanted him to be as fast as possible since he would burn or melt off any armor if Terry planned to utilize his strength as a master of flames. Each and every soldier was ranked from dangerous to deadly and for good reason. Powerful, enchanted armor covered their bodies and they held high amounts of experience. Terry expected no less from the army of a place with many million people and a king who had earned much valor and glory on the battlefield. Although, the rabble didn’t matter to Terry since he could only be bothered by the king as killing the king would give Terry plenty of fame and experience.

There were 6 very dangerous guards surrounding the massive ebony gate before 2 moved to push very hard upon the gate while activating some skill or magic, forcing it open.

Terry gave a slight bow as thanks before leading his allies into a grand throne room of black and silver. Plenty of light lit the room from sunlight as there were many windows upon the ceiling and unlit torches upon the sides of the room for when the light of the heavens reached no longer. There were rows of soldiers in either thick black armor similar to the guards outside or people in black robes who were probably priests of some kind. The soldiers numbered around 50 or so and were all of the ‘very dangerous’ category or higher which didn’t surprise Terry as his first assassinations were all very difficult. An old, hairy man sat atop a massive ebony throne meters before Terry. An old, worn, golden crown was placed upon his head as he stared gruffly upon Terry and his allies as they carried the several pouches of the platinum coins toward him. Beside the king, a soldier stood in much thicker armor than all of the other soldiers. In fact, the man was so large that he was double the size of even Terry while wearing the armor which signified that he was either some dude who was f*cked up on steroids or was using a skill in the spirit of isekai culture.

“So, you are the ones who brought the money? Your strength is mediocre and many of my weakest guards could slaughter. Although, you are merely weak messengers and have been sent as slaves of the Temple. Well then, hand it over, guards, take the money from them,” said the man.

Terry flinched as he saw 2 deadly soldiers walking toward him. Soldiers approached the three men and stretched out their arms to take the pouches of money. Reluctantly, the two handed the money to the guards and watched as they took the money to their king.

The priest looked concerned for Terry but kept silent in the choking pressure as he stood before an opponent who Terry saw as simply [????????????=Invincible] Notice, your opponent is ??????????????????????????????????????????

Heh, just like the tarantula except for one thing, Terry thought. This bastard is only 3 digits compared to the 4 from the tarantula. I wonder just how strong I’ll get from f*cking him up. He doesn’t have a single clue about what I’ll do to kill him. Well, I might have trouble dealing with that dude who’s like the second in command, but I should be able to do fine after I slaughter this Heckel fella.

The soldiers attempted to hand the money to their king but he simply signaled for his massive bodyguard to take the money and open the pouches after the man set down a massive mace he held. While he was said to have gone insane and completely different from his former self, he was very cautious.

After picking through the money, the soldier handed the money to his king. The king took the money from them and placed the pouches upon his lap as he began to open the pouches. As he looked inside, a look of fury overcame his originally calm face as he picked his whip and began to glare at the massive soldier angrily.

“You fool! There’s blood in here!? Why would you give such filthy stuff to me, wait, since this is their fault, you’re not to blame. But you are... right!?!” roared the man angrily as a wave of raw strength radiated from man and forced the priest to their knees. Attempting to hide his strength, yet also show partial intellect, Terry lay across the ebony floor.

“So? Why do you remain here? Your money has been paid, I shall send the products via a far more reliable form of transportation. After all, what can you trash possibly do?” asked the king as he stared intimidatingly upon Terry. Terry had sparked his curiosity as few knew that voluntarily lowering oneself to the floor would significantly weaken the effects of raw power being used to overwhelm your opponents.

The energy dissipated as the king calmed down and Terry rose back to his feet.

“Of course,” Terry said as he helped the priest to his feet before heading back toward the massive gate with a small grin as the 2 soldiers who were beside the king began to follow them, their hands each tightly gripping thin swords of incredible sharpness. Terry stopped at the massive door as he waited for the soldiers to open the door. While he waited, Terry turned to the priest and showed a small grin before raising his hands to his long, black hair to scratch it while reaching slightly back. The priest looked puzzled before his eyes began to fill with water and a tear began to flow from his eye as he trembled.

“Hey, what’s taking so lon-”

Slash

Clang!

“What the hell are you doing? You dare to defy the Temple!” Terry said with a glare as he pulled the sword from the crusader from his back out of the sheath and haphazardly parried the sharp sword that tore through the air and almost his flesh. He had left the other one to Ryan to get a sheath for and get it imbued with magic as it was apparently a very rare sword that he had just barely stolen and was planning to have Crystal use to make her much stronger had she not been a weak little b*tch.

The soldiers were trained and instead of jumping back after being figured out, they attempted to rush forward in an attempt to overwhelm and kill him as fast as possible since they knew their superiority in strength and realized through their experience that jumping back to rethink a strategy was the worst possible move. Although, what they didn’t know was that Terry was hoping for the exact reaction.

[All vampire blood has been drained out of a subject currently in contract. Contract now void]

Terry looked to the priest who had been badly wounded on his right arm as it had been sliced off thoroughly, causing quite a bit of blood to become drained from his body, and smiled cruelly as he plunged his sword deep into the white robes before pulling it out, soaking them with blood.

[Level Up 36/100]

[Activating Overwhelming strength]

[Activating Spur]

[Activating Bane of Humans]

Terry tried very hard to hide his feeling of excitement from a real battle in hand to hand combat which he had only felt in training back on Earth and only seen glimpses of in the cave. Now, he could finally have fun but had to play the fool, simply trying to survive.

Slash!

Stab!

Whoosh!

Terry allowed a few strikes upon his body but made sure to maximize the use of his armor by using it to seemingly ‘barely survive’ each hit until Terry finally began his counter attack.

“You wish to rebel against the Temple, a sinner is punished with whips while a heretic is blessed with death and punished directly by the thousand gods!” Terry said as he began to feel some sorrow for killing the priest as he had taught Terry the crucial information for his plan. Sadly though, the life of the priest was a dangerous variable if he got captured.

“You fool, you kill the priest and call us heretics?” asked the king gruffly in surprise that Terry had noticed some of his elite soldiers and even survived 2 fighting together.

“The Temple doesn’t allow heretics to possess the living body of a devout believer. Besides, one of us must notify the Temple of your betrayal,” Terry said as he knocked away one of the soldiers strongly and even landed a hit on the other as 2 more soldiers charged towards him.

“Hah, you don’t yet know, your only purpose was to deliver the money, the Temple you serve actually told us to kill you in order to protect the secrecy of your mission. Well, you won’t believe me anyway and will sadly just die,” said the king as he watched the spectacle of Terry ‘struggling’ to fight back as he was overwhelmed and attacked from his front as he was smart enough to keep his back to the gate. Even so, the sheer difference in power between Terry and the soldiers was unable to be changed, especially with how he was also hiding his vampire powers in order to not be figured out as an imposter. Eventually though, the soldiers grabbed ahold of Terry, crushing his muscular arms with their own and chopped him apart. But not before Terry used his activated skills in order to 1 of the soldiers away while also rending the three who had landed mortal blows upon him.

[Level up! 38/100]

[Activating Immortality]

[Activating Play Dead]

“You, liar…” Terry said weakly as he collapsed to the ground. Blood slowly oozed out of his body in the darkness near the gate. While his body was resistant to sunlight and light in general, Terry felt immense pain from his wounds even worse than literally putting a steel ingot straight from a fire into his wound. Plus, the blood that left his body felt as if he was ripping out pieces of himself, while he could handle small amounts and felt nothing in the cave, the pain would be unimaginable if he was literally spilling it. The light of the sun would also slowly kill his blood cells which, while resistant, would be excruciating and he’d lose the ability to control his blood.

The knocked soldier ran to Terry as they saw him ‘die’ and take 3 soldiers down with him.

“What a waste of EXP, make sure that the bastard is dead, decapitate him and then bring his corpse here so I can investigate it. Just make sure he doesn’t have a pulse, I don’t want him trying to attack me as you fools died for not being cautious enough,” said the king as Terry tried his best to prepare for the excruciating pain.

The soldiers looked angrily and shocked at Terry’s body before kicking away his sword and using their sharp swords to his head from his body.

The men then stripped Terry of the heavily damaged armor he wore along with his pants before dragging Terry’s bare, bloody body, head, his armor, and his trousers to their king.

[Activating Resolve]

From the moment the powerful sunlight entered into his slow organs and emptying blood, Terry felt pain unimaginable, while he had been tortured before, he had never experienced such excruciating pain in his entire lifetime but similar to his entire lifetime, he had to endure harsh conditions upon himself and inflict such upon others in order to become stronger and truly fix the world. While his skill kept him conscious, it served to make little impact upon his actual pain.

“Wow, not many have what it takes to impress me but you have done so flawlessly. Killing 3 of my elite soldiers is a grand feat to be sure. I can understand one of the more powerful Arch-Crusaders being able to do so, but one with such a low level as you, if only you had been chosen to serve me. Well whatever, all that matters in this world is money, magic, artifacts, alcohol, and women. Men however, are worthless to me unless as cannon fodder or as messengers to die like you were to the Temple,” the king said to the headless figure before him which had a bloody trail behind it. “Clean that up and bring the rest here too!” the king demanded as his soldiers began to use water magic to wash the floor and then fire magic to evaporate the water. Some soldiers brought Terry’s armor and sword along with his bleeding head that oozed out brain matter, to their king.

The king’s eyes looked curiously upon Terry’s armor as he saw a small hilt sticking out of it.

“Perfect, it seems that the Temple didn’t forget our agreement. Now I finally have a left Ring Finger Of Thomalus which I can use to finally create the left hand. Perfect,” the king said happily before beckoning for his massive soldier to remove the dagger from its resting place before handing it to him. The king held the purple dagger tightly in a fist as he inspected it closely right up to his face.

“Now I can finally obtain the legendary Left Hand Of Thomalus which controls the ability to resurrect the dead in perfect condition and gives the power to have control over the very souls it consumes while also energizing the wielder with the same energy and rendering them nearly invincible. I’ll never have to see my comrades die again and can avenge them by killing Colloseum Kingsman in the dungeon. Now I just need to pour my energy into this dagger as it has been drained quite a bit and will be strongest once filled with my power. Ready the other fingers so that I may finally realize my goals. And ready the transport of refugees for the Temple, they deserve those rabble as I only need their souls, their bodies have no other purpose than to be mutilated however the Temple pleases,” said the king as several of the soldiers in the room entered together through one of the several hallways leading deeper into the castle. While there were still plenty of soldiers remaining inside the room, there were as little as Terry could hope for with his planning so far and so he had to take his chance.

The king began to focus hard as the refugees let go of him immediately as they, along with the remaining soldiers in the room, knew of his incredible strength and began to form a barrier around themselves of some kind.

Terry however, didn’t have any way to protect himself without being figured out, although, due to his resistance that he had built up from facing the massive tarantula, he had no need for such a barrier as he was well prepared for such things.

A purple light began to surround the dagger as thick veins appeared across the head of the king and the very air became incredibly heavy with raw power. Unlike the tarantula who simply radiated massive power unknowingly, the king was concentrating his very soul into his power and naturally had far stronger pressure, but as Terry had plenty of resistance, while painful, he could endure quite well against the powerful, concentrated energy that the king produced. Not long though, which was why he had to make his move immediately, which was exactly what he would do.

The king held the dagger tightly in his hands while his arms focused firmly on keeping still from the numerous tremors that were created via pouring his energy into the dagger. The king was focused only on the blade before him while the soldiers kept their distance. The conditions had been met, it was time for Terry to make his move.

[Activating Blood Regeneration]

[Activating Blood Empowerment]

[Activating Blood conversion]

[Activating Spur]

[Activating Overwhelming Strength]

[Activating Acrobatics]

[Activating Mask Existence]

[Activating Muffler]

[Activating Bane of Humans]

[Activating Demon King Aura]

[Deactivating Impersonate]

Without a single sound, warning, or signal, Terry’s headless body reverted to its original looks before rising from the small pool of blood upon the ground toward king Heckel as he held the dagger while filling it with power in his powerful arms. Terry’s large, muscular arms began to tense violently before they grabbed ahold of the king’s clenched hands before flinching for a moment and then plunging the empowering dagger deep into his chest, forcing him to be pushed back violently from his own disturbed magic as his entire chest became ripped apart by a purple wind and blood spilled across Terry’s mangled body and energizing it as new blood coursed into Terry’s slowed veins which began to finally pump new blood now that he no longer needed to feign death.

Terry then quickly removed the small from the now mauled body of the king and used it to penetrate deeply into his skull, instantly killing him.

[Level Up! 65/100]

[Finger Of Thomalus, used, as this weapon has been used for the second time, 1 attack remains]

Terry became coated in the blood of the overwhelmed king and became overwhelmed in ecstasy of his success as his body stood, headless, bloody, bare, and trembling. A newfound power radiated from his body as he lifted his head to his neck and connected it as it began to steady for a moment as he held it tightly in his right arm while his left arm removed the dagger from the king’s head that oozed with white brain matter and blood as a terrifying expression began to form across Terry’s face. A smile of pure excitement, as he began to speak.

“Finally, let’s get started!” Terry called out loudly as a single window across the ceiling began to shatter and 1 dark-skinned individual fell into the room.

“Finally, while I expected more, I’m at least glad you came even though I don’t know your name, Mr. Leader of thousands of refugees, who’s also super strong. While I killed the king, I didn’t gain all of his strength since more than half of his total EXP is cut before it is given to me, and so naturally, you are still much stronger than me and naturally I’d love your help or rather, need your help,” Terry said as he stood weakly, attempting to regenerate as his body was flooded with newfound strength and power from the king. He stared at the man from the refugee alleys as he looked for a blank expression as the man processed what Terry had done while many of the soldiers who couldn’t even sense Terry and still needed to process what was going on. Yet surprisingly, the man had one look on his face, a look of sheer sorrow, then anger.

“My name is Gilian, although that name should mean nothing to someone like you. Besides, it’s not like you’ll remember it after today,” the man said softly as his body began to tense and he held a purple dagger in his hand of greater length than what Terry held.

Whoosh!

Stab!

“Now you betray me?!” Terry roared angrily as he held the dagger while blood spilled across his arm. Gilian stood within a meter of Terry’s bleeding body.

“Well, I always planned on killing Heckel myself, but having you do it instead makes things far easier to me. Now this place is ripe for the taking!” laughed the man as he grasped Terry’s dagger along with his own.

Stab!