Chapter 168
Chapter 168
The old man's eyebrows twitched at the mention of ‘Blood Ghost.’
"You know me?."
Zeke smiled and said.
"Yes, I know you very well."
Everyone who knew the name he used during his outlaw days was already dead.
After settling his past, Blood Ghost had been living quietly, hiding his identity and running a small organization in Argos Harlem.
Then suddenly, someone who knew about his past had appeared.
"Who are you?"
Blood Ghost glared at Zeke with murderous eyes.
Frank, who was caught between the two, rolled his eyes back and forth.
Zeke slowly approached Blood Ghost and opened his mouth.
"I was worried you might notice and run away, but fortunately you didn't."
Zeke had bad blood with Blood Ghost from his previous life.
It was none other than Blood Ghost's organization that had sold him as a southern slave.
Later, when Zeke returned to the Central Continent after dismantling the organization while working as Mekein’s hitman, he had investigated all the Argos organizations that had sold him.
This old man was the one who had been managing cell organizations and engaging in human trafficking the longest.
A man who used to operate as an outlaw under the name Blood Ghost, then killed everyone who knew his identity and went into hiding to spend the rest of his life here.
In his previous life, Zeke had captured Blood Ghost and learned that he was connected to an intermediary organization operated by the Nostra Family.
At that time, he had only dealt with Blood Ghost before things got bigger, but now he needed to find connections to the Nostra Family, so he came looking for him again.
Moreover, to be lucky enough to be captured and brought to Blood Ghost like this. Zeke was secretly pleased.
Zeke took out a dagger from his chest and placed it on the desk.
Blood Ghost instinctively felt that the young man before him was someone whose skills were beyond what he could handle.
He slowly opened his mouth.
"What do you want?"
Zeke looked at Blood Ghost and said.
"The Nostra Family."
At those words, Frank beside them rolled his eyes even more busily.
Blood Ghost's eyebrows twitched as he opened a drawer.
Then he took out a bundle of files and placed them in front of Zeke.
"I don't have direct connections with them. I just handle occasional jobs that come down from above. All the relevant materials are here, so take what you need."
Blood Ghost was professional enough to assess the situation and not resist unnecessarily.
Zeke opened the files and skimmed through the contents.
He soon threw all the files on the floor and said.
"I want to know how to make contact with the intermediate distribution network."
"Why would the high-and-mighty Nostra Family bother to deal with a dump like mine? The ones I know are just pathetic thugs. I don't know anything about the Higher-ups”.
At those words, Zeke took the dagger from the desk and stabbed Blood Ghost's hand.
THWACK!
Though the dagger pierced through his hand, Blood Ghost's expression didn't change.
Zeke looked at Blood Ghost and said.
"I know you have direct contact with Skin. It would be better to speak quickly instead of being clever."
Blood Ghost's expression hardened for a moment at the mention of Skin.
He was one of the Nostra Family members who would occasionally assign dirty jobs to Blood Ghost that were difficult for the organization to handle directly.
Seeing Blood Ghost still hesitating, Zeke gripped the dagger and used the lightning skill.
BZZZZT!
The Lightning coursed through Blood Ghost's entire body.
Blood Ghost, who had been trying to maintain his dignity as a boss, foamed at the mouth.
"URGHK!"
Zeke took out another dagger and stabbed Blood Ghost's other hand as he collapsed onto the desk.
"If you speak properly, I promise a painless death."
Blood Ghost coughed and opened his mouth.
"Ah, Southern style. Why would the cartel come all the way here to cause such trouble?"
Blood Ghost said exactly the same words he had said before dying in his previous life.
Zeke took out a third dagger, showing no intention of answering.
"Let me test how much you can endure."
BZZZZZZT!
* * *
Several hours later, Zeke was able to obtain information about Skin from Blood Ghost.
The request that had been secretly delivered to Frank had also come down from the Nostra Family through Skin.
The Nostra Family, which exercised influence throughout the continent, interfered with the succession situations of local lords and powerful nobles, blackmailing them and taking advantage of rights.
Families who had their weaknesses exposed to the mafia ultimately had to either pledge loyalty to them or participate as accomplices in dirty work.
The Nostra Family's hundreds of years of history was made this way.
Zeke looked at Blood Ghost's corpse and turned to Frank, who was completely frozen beside him.
Frank, who learned that the naive rookie he had sold out was actually a cold-blooded southern hitman, ended up wetting himself.
Zeke looked at Frank and said.
"I heard Blood Ghost was going to assign that request to you, Spider Hand."
Frank quickly nodded at those words.
"Y-yes, that's right."
After thinking for a while, Zeke said to him.
"Good. Then you'll have to help me."
"M-me? I-I'll do anything if you spare my life!"
"The request to fake assassinate a noble heir, I heard it's such an important job that Skin is coming personally. If you help me, I'll spare your life and even add some money."
Frank had no way to refuse.
The target of the request was scheduled to come to Argos tomorrow for dungeon tourism.
Zeke used the transformation cloak to change his appearance.
In an instant, he transformed into the appearance of the tattooed man who had collapsed in front of the door earlier.
"What's this guy's name?"
Frank's jaw dropped when he saw Zeke's sudden transformation.
He stammered as he answered Zeke's question.
"It's, it's Jack."
"Good. Tomorrow you'll come with me to the meeting spot to meet Skin."
"Y-yes, understood."
After disposing of the corpses using his decay power, Zeke went to Frank's office together.
He planned to capture Skin, a member of the Nostra Family, to properly extract the location of their headquarters in Hell.
The next day, Zeke took Frank to the meeting place as planned.
* * *
"This neighborhood is really depressing."
A young man with slicked-back hair leaned against a black carriage while smoking and spoke.
He was wearing a black suit, and tattoos were briefly visible around his neck and wrists.
Across from him, a young man with curly hair silently took a deep drag of his cigarette.
The slicked-back hair spoke to the curly-haired man.
"Hey, are you really mute? Ah, seriously. Next time I need to tell them to assign me a guard who can actually talk. There's absolutely no fun at all."
Just then, the carriage door opened and a man came out.
"Boys. Go smoke over there."
The slicked-back haired youth grumbled to the man.
"Ah, Uncle! You said we were going somewhere fun but you brought us to this backwater place. What is this!"
The man was also wearing a black suit.
The man called 'Skin' due to his bad habit of skinning captured members of enemy organizations stepped out of the carriage and put a cigarette in his mouth.
The curly-haired youth lit Skin's cigarette.
"Don't complain to me, go tell your old man."
"Damn, I knew father was behind this."
The slicked-back youth angrily threw his cigarette to the ground.
Just then.
A carriage approached.
Skin gestured to the organization members who were standing by.
When the organization members blocked the carriage, it stopped immediately and someone got out.
It was Zeke disguised as Jack, and Frank.
The organization members searched Jack and Frank's bodies and confirmed there was nothing suspicious.
Only then did Skin approach them with a grin.
"Jack, you look fatter than last time. Things must be going well? By the way, why did you come alone without your old man?"
Zeke, disguised as Jack, pointed to Frank and said.
"He had some business. You know the boss's personality. I brought this guy to guide us, so let's check him out."
Skin understood, knowing the Blood Ghost's eccentric personality of needing to handle anything that bothered him first.
He spoke while looking at Frank.
"Is it this guy? You know what you need to do, right?"
Frank nodded with a tense expression.
"I-I'll do my best! Leave it to me!"
Skin patted Frank's cheek while speaking.
"This bastard. How can you guide properly when you're this nervous?"
Zeke, in Jack's form, said with a reassuring expression.
"He's been in this business for 15 years. Once we start working, you won't need to worry about his tongue-wagging."
Skin nodded.
"Good. I'll trust your old man on this. You know what happens if you make a mistake?"
He made a throat-slitting gesture.
Then he called the youths behind him.
"Say hello. This is my nephew. I brought him to learn and observe the field."
The slicked-back youth grinned and extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you. I heard you've been in this business for a long time. Let's get along."
Zeke, with Jack's face, nodded to both of them.
Then he went up to Skin and whispered.
"The workshop is all prepared. The boss said you need to do a final check before we start."
Skin made an annoyed expression.
"Ah, seriously. The old man is so particular."
Having worked with the Blood Ghost several times before, Skin knew his meticulous personality well.
Though he complained about it being bothersome, he nodded, knowing that it was because of this thorough personality that he was entrusted with such important work.
"Alright. The target will arrive in the afternoon, so let's go look around now."
Skin got in the carriage with his nephew and organization members.
They headed toward a high-risk dungeon that had been arranged in advance.
It was a place where the mountain path was steep and sparsely populated, making it difficult for outsiders to notice if an accident occurred.
After getting out of the carriage, Skin entered the dungeon interior with the organization members.
"Ugh, the smell. I really can't get used to the smell of these monster bastards."
Skin covered his nose with a handkerchief as he went inside.
Inside the dungeon were high-risk monsters that had been prepared in advance by the Blood Ghost's side, locked in cages.
Skin nodded when he saw the monsters.
"Minotaurus and Cyclops? Pretty strong. The old man put some thought into this."
Since they were told the security level wouldn't be too high as it was supposed to be a light trip, the Minotaurus and Cyclops would likely be difficult even for the target's guard knights to handle.
Skin gestured to his nephew.
Then he showed him the caged monsters up close.
"Kid. Have you seen things like this? This is what real monsters look like."
The slicked-back hair approached the Cyclops with curiosity.
Then he took out the sword he was carrying and poked the Cyclops through the cage.
GRRRR!
The Cyclops, trapped in the cage while starving, got up drooling.
BANG! BANG!
The slicked-back hair laughed holding his stomach as he watched the Cyclops shaking the cage.
"Hahaha! Hey, look at that. So hilar..."
THWACK!
It happened in an instant. The slicked-back hair's head exploded after being hit by the Cyclops' fist.
"Huh?"
Skin, covered in his nephew's blood, blinked in surprise.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The cage had already been broken, and the Minotaurus and Cyclops were coming out.
GRAAAAAAH!
Skin stepped back in shock at the roaring monsters.
"W-what! Fuck! Jack! Hey! You bastard!"
He looked around in panic, but Jack and Frank were nowhere to be seen.
As Skin cursed and tried to escape out of the dungeon, a huge boulder was already blocking the path.
Zeke had activated the trap prepared in advance by the Blood Ghost's side to block the way.
"Damn it! You bastard! Open it! Open this! Hey, you guys hurry and stop them!"
The organization members, frozen in shock at the unexpected situation, took out their weapons to try to stop the Minotaurus and Cyclops, but it was futile.
THWACK!
Mangled corpses of organization members began to pile up throughout the cave. The frightened Skin fell to the ground, and the Cyclops approached him.
Just then, the curly-haired youth stood in front of Skin.
He pulled out a dagger from his chest and stabbed his own palm.
DRIP!
The curly-haired youth sprayed his blood toward the charging Cyclops.
SWOOSH!
The Cyclops hit with the youth's blood suddenly showed a strange reaction.
GRRRR!
It suddenly charged at the nearby Minotaurus.
While the Minotaurus and Cyclops fought and bit at each other, the youth helped Skin up.
Skin grabbed the youth's shoulder and said.
"Visco! Get out of here! Quickly!"
Just then, someone walked out of the darkness.
"I didn't know there was a bloodline ability user."
It was Zeke who appeared as Jack.
Skin glared at him and drew his sword.
"You bastard! Who are you?, where is Jack and the old man?!"
"At least you have some sense. You're not a complete idiot."
Zeke took off his cloak and returned to his original appearance.
A uniform with the Dragon Slayer badge and black gloves.
On the continent, this outfit meant only one thing.
"D-Draker?"
Skin's eyes shook at the completely unexpected identity.