He ran forward at full speed, weaving between the wind blades with minimal wasted movement.

One came too close to dodge, so he slashed his sword through it with perfect timing, disrupting the mana construct and causing it to dissipate harmlessly.

His boots pounded against the rocky ground as he closed the distance between them.

Just before Klaus reached him, Neo attempted one more desperate attack. He channeled mana through his entire body and performed a rising slash enhanced with both wind and fire elements with the blade trailing flames and cutting wind but Klaus saw it coming.

He twisted his body at the last second, letting the flaming sword pass harmlessly by his side close enough to singe his clothes then he reversed his grip on his own weapon and drove the hilt... the solid metal pommel directly into Neo’s chest with tremendous force.

CRACK!

The impact drove the air from Neo’s lungs again and sent him stumbling backward. His sword fell from his grip, clattering against the stones.

Klaus stepped forward and placed his blade against Neo’s throat, not cutting but making the threat clear as he stood directly over the gasping Protagonist.

"This is over," Klaus said quietly.

Neo was on his knees with one hand pressed against his chest where Klaus had struck him, breathing heavily and unable to speak.

’Is he deliberately holding back his power for some reason?’ Klaus wondered while being genuinely confused.

His thoughts were abruptly cut off.

Something tiny struck the back of Klaus’s exposed neck and pierced through his skin with a sharp sting.

The object had been so small and fast that he hadn’t been able to dodge it, and it was made of wood rather than metal... which meant his Magnetic Field or Metal Sense wouldn’t have detected it approaching.

Klaus reached up and pulled the small object out, bringing it in front of his face to examine it in the dim moonlight.

It was a thin wooden needle, coated in some kind of viscous liquid.

Poison... Tranquilizing poison, to be exact, based on the rapid numbness spreading through his body.

’Fu... Fuck—’

His vision immediately began swimming as his muscles went slack all at once. Klaus collapsed forward onto the rocky ground with a heavy thud with his body refusing to respond to his commands. The poisoned needle fell from his fingers and rolled away.

Darkness claimed his consciousness.

Neo took several deep, shuddering breaths, slowly recovering from the beating he’d just received. He’d been thoroughly outmatched in that fight... there was no denying it but then Seo stood up from her observation rock and walked over, a satisfied smile on her aristocratic face.

"Don’t worry about it, Neo," she said warmly with her voice completely different from how she’d spoken to Klaus. "You didn’t do badly at all... That commoner simply got lucky with a few tricks."

She looked down at Klaus’s unconscious body sprawled on the ground, and her facial expression changed into a darker smile as her smile twisted into a wicked grin that showed her true nature.

"Now come on," Seo said briskly. "We need to chain him up properly and deliver him over to the Death Cult exactly as they requested us to do."

Then she turned toward the carriage driver, who was just picking himself up from where he’d been blown by the wind spell.

The man looked terrified but he was the one that shot the needle

"When are we going to arrive at the designated meeting point?" Seo asked him coldly.

The driver swallowed nervously, clearly understanding that he was now in severe danger. "We’ll be there by tomorrow morning, Lady Seo, if we continue through the night."

Seo nodded with satisfaction. "Then we’d better get moving immediately."

’Perfect...’

...

...Drip! ...Drip!

The sound of water slowly dripping from stalactites echoed through the darkness.

Klaus’s consciousness gradually returned, pulling him up from the depths of drug-induced sleep. His eyes snapped open groggily.

He was in some kind of damp underground cavern. The walls were rough natural stone covered in moisture, and the air smelled of mold and decay.

His hands were secured behind his back with heavy metal chains that bit into his wrists.

As his vision cleared and adjusted to the dim torchlight, Klaus could see that someone was holding the other end of the chains that bound him.

Neo. The Protagonist stood there with a blank expression, gripping the chains firmly. Standing next to Neo was Seo, looking pleased with herself and showing no remorse whatsoever for what she did.

And as for the carriage driver who had been kind to Klaus and the one to shoot the needle...

The man’s corpse lay on the cold stone ground not far away.

His face had been completely caved in... crushed by some tremendous blunt force as blood surrounded the body in a dark pool.

The corpse looked strangely thin and desiccated, as if something had drained all the moisture and life from it.

On the opposite side of the cavern stood multiple robed figures wearing the distinctive black and red garments of the Death Cult. Their faces were hidden behind ceremonial masks and at the front of that group, leading them, stood a figure Klaus recognized with a sinking feeling in his gut. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The Heir of Death herself.

Just like before, the woman had long silver hair that cascaded down her back, and her face was concealed behind an ancient-looking black mask decorated with arcane symbols.

’Why the hell is she still alive?’ Klaus couldn’t help but think with frustration.

As far as he could remember from his previous encounter, Zephyra had used a devastating slash attack that had cut everyone in that underground chamber in half and even caused the ceiling to cave in, bringing entire buildings down.

The destruction had been absolute so how had this woman survived even that level of overwhelming force?

The Heir of Death wasn’t a playable character in Artemis Online, which meant Klaus had no detailed information about her abilities or stats.

He could only suspect that she possessed some form of immortality or resurrection ability that allowed her to cheat death given her name.

Seo stepped forward confidently, addressing the masked woman with the imperious tone of someone used to being obeyed.

"I brought you this commoner exactly as you wanted and as we agreed upon," Seo announced proudly, as if presenting a hunting trophy. "I also graciously allowed you to take the life of my carriage driver to help replenish your god’s power and hunger."

She crossed her arms.

"Now, you promised me something in return. You said you had a dragon in your possession. So where the hell is it? You’re testing the patience of me, Seo Aestrea of the prestigious Aestrea Family, and that is not wise."

Klaus let out a heavy sigh from where he knelt in chains.

Had this foolish woman not realized that she was bringing tremendous shame upon her entire noble family by openly colluding with the Death Cult? Did she not understand the political disaster she was creating?

Also, the dragon was almost certainly fake... an obvious lie to lure her here but her arrogant noble mind apparently couldn’t comprehend the possibility that someone would dare deceive her.

The Heir of Death looked at Seo for a long moment then she slowly raised one pale finger and pointed it at the carriage driver’s corpse on the ground.

The dead body immediately began dissolving into fine ash, the flesh and bone breaking down at an unnatural speed. A small glowing blue orb... probably the man’s soul floated up from the disintegrating remains.

The orb drifted through the air and touched the Heir of Death’s extended finger.

The moment it made contact, the blue soul turned black as ink and was absorbed into the woman’s body.

It vanished completely.

The Heir of Death then turned her masked face toward Seo, and even through the concealing mask, Klaus could sense her predatory smile.

"I... lied."

Seo’s pupils contracted to pinpricks as the words registered and her face went pale.

Klaus let out another resigned sigh.

’What kind of dumb person doesn’t verify that the person hiring them actually has what they promised before completing the job? Apparently Seo doesn’t understand basic transaction security.’

The Heir of Death continued speaking.

"You will all be sacrificed to our god as offerings. You all possess quite good life force... strong and vibrant. The noble girl’s bloodline is particularly potent and even the commoner’s life force is acceptable for our purposes."

With that simple declaration of their fates, Seo’s noble composure finally broke.

She jumped backward away from the Death Cult members, terror clear on her face, and shouted desperately.

"NEO! PROTECT ME!"

Neo immediately released Klaus’s chains, letting them clatter to the ground. He drew his sword and charged forward at the Heir of Death with impressive speed as his blade was already glowing with swirling combinations of fire and wind mana.

The dual elements coalesced and merged around his weapon, creating a devastating combination spell. Fire enhanced the cutting power while wind increased the speed and range.

Neo slashed forward with everything he had and Klaus could actually hear it... the Protagonist’s theme music beginning to play in the background, that heroic orchestral score that accompanied all his important battles in the game.

However the Heir of Death simply raised one finger.

She caught Neo’s enhanced blade between her finger and thumb, stopping the attack cold. The fire and wind dissipated harmlessly against her skin.

"Oh?" The woman’s voice carried genuine interest. "You possess multiple types of elemental magic. How curious for one so young."

Then she casually kicked Neo in the stomach.

BOOM!

The impact created a visible shockwave that radiated outward. Neo was sent flying backward through the air like he’d been hit by a catapult.

His body slammed into the cavern wall with tremendous force, creating a crater in the solid stone and causing cracks to spider-web outward.

He slid down the wall and collapsed in a heap, groaning in pain and struggling to breathe.

Before Seo could even finish drawing her own sword, the Heir of Death had already closed the distance between them with speed that defied human capability.

The masked woman delivered a brutal backhand slap across Seo’s face.

CRACK!

The force of the blow sent Seo spinning through the air. She crashed face-first into the rocky ground, her nose bleeding and her expensive clothes now torn and dirty then the Heir of Death turned to look directly at Klaus, who was still kneeling in chains and watching the whole scene unfold.

"Do you want what they’re having?" She asked.

Klaus would have raised both hands in surrender if his arms weren’t currently chained behind his back.

Instead he just said simply and honestly.

"No."

"Smart commoner."

The Heir of Death turned back to the other Death Cult members standing behind her and gave them a dismissive wave.

"Take all three of them away to the holding rooms. They’ll be prepared and sacrificed to our god at the appropriate ceremonial time."

...

Klaus walked slowly down the twisting cave formation with his footsteps echoing on the damp stone.

One of the Death Cult members... a woman based on her voice and build held the chains that kept him bound, pulling him along like a prisoner being led to execution.

"Ehehehehe~" The woman let out a disturbing laugh. "I heard from the Heir that you killed several of our sisters in that previous encounter. You and some silver-haired man cut them down without mercy."

Her grip on the chains tightened.

"Once I tie you up securely in the holding room, I’ll make absolutely sure to whip you up really good before we sacrifice you to our god. I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer and bleed."

She laughed again, louder and more unhinged.

"EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

Klaus couldn’t help but notice that the members of this Death Cult really seemed to hate men specifically. There wasn’t even a single male member present that he’d seen as the organization appeared to be exclusively female.

He also noticed something else important... they were extremely unaware of their surroundings and careless about security.

There had originally been two cult members escorting him through these tunnels but he’d already dealt with the first one several minutes ago by using his Forge ability to silently create a metal needle above her head, then dropping it straight down to pierce her skull.

She’d died instantly and silently and he’d shoved her body into a side crevice with a needle.

This current escort hadn’t even noticed her companion was missing so Klaus decided to test something.

He sighed dramatically.

"Oh, can you look up at the ceiling for a second? I think I see something strange up there."

The woman immediately looked upward without any suspicion. "Wha—"

A long metal needle that Klaus had been forging above her head suddenly dropped straight down, piercing completely through her skull from crown to jaw.

She died before she could finish her sentence.

Her hands released the chains automatically as her body went limp and she collapsed to the ground.

Klaus stood up properly, his chains no longer being held.

He activated his Magnetic Field ability and used it to bend and manipulate the metal chains binding his wrists. The metal warped and twisted under his control until the chains snapped apart, freeing his hands.

He reached down and pulled off the black Death Cult cloak and hood that the dead woman had been wearing, lifting it over her head.

As he did so, Klaus discovered that she’d been completely naked underneath the ceremonial robes. Apparently that was standard practice for this cult.

’It would be extremely dumb to just run around this place openly killing people and trying to fight my way out...’ Klaus thought pragmatically as he pulled the cult robes on over his own clothes and drew the hood up to shadow his face.

He dragged the naked corpse over to a small side cavern and shoved it inside where it wouldn’t be immediately visible.

’The Heir of Death is somewhere in this underground complex, and she’s far too powerful for me to face directly. Running around killing cult members to escape would just lead to my early death when she notices.’

He adjusted the hood to better conceal his features.

’And I also can’t trust the combat abilities of that Protagonist. Neo is far too weak at this stage... The Heir of Death literally stopped his theme music from playing.’

Klaus took a deep breath and started walking through the tunnels with the confident stride of a cult member.

’And as much as I hate to admit it... I need to rescue Seo as well before I can escape.’

The logic was frustratingly simple. He was the last person seen with her before she vanished.

If she died or disappeared, her powerful older brother would come hunting for Klaus to exact revenge. No one would believe a commoner’s word over a noble family’s accusations.

’But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to report her crimes of colluding with the Death Cult once we’re safely away from here... Though then again, who would actually believe my words over hers in a courtroom? The justice system is rigged in favor of nobility.’

Klaus made a firm decision.

After this nightmare was over, he was going to use his accumulated wealth to purchase a legitimate noble title.

It was the only way to level the playing field and protect himself from this kind of situation in the future.

’Now let me practice my evil laugh so I can blend in better with these insane cultists...’ he thought while wishing he had some white makeup to make his face pale and gaunt like theirs seemed to be, but the hood would have to be sufficient disguise.

He took a breath and let out his best attempt at a cultist’s unhinged laughter.

"EHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

An awkward silence followed his performance as Klaus felt his face flush with embarrassment beneath the hood.

’I think I actually know how to do that evil laugh a bit too well,’ He thought. ’Am I a natural at this?’