274 The Trade 3

Gio's eyes immediately left the equally shocked red-haired witch. Sofony was only frozen there for a moment. Thinking of who the other party was and how fragile non-hosts usually were in front of those at the mid-levels and above, she hurriedly left her seat and jumped in front of Gio.

The man saw the deep fright and worry in her eyes. That time, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The short-haired woman wearing a simple shirt and denim pants wanted to hug him, but hesitated. She must have been put self-conscious of her appearance. This was the reason why the man almost laughed. Sofony didn't know but even though she looked different due to her disguise, he knew it was her.

The pet ghost inside the coin didn't have to tell him for him to know.

'No matter if it's the present or the future, she always uses this disguise...'

"Who are you?" The lady dressed like a typical B Empire royal woman asked in a hostile voice.

That sudden question appeared to have sobered Sofony up. She withdrew her raised upper arms and turned around. The way she protected him from the enemy's sight using her slim and dainty body made the man chuckle. If his guess was correct, based on how she frequently stole glances on the broken entrance, she was busy overworking her brain thinking how to get the two of them out there alive.

'Cute, but unnecessary.' The twenty-eight years old man shook his head. A second later, his unfriendly eyes met the red-haired woman's.

"I'm Gio Albarez, Blood Countess. Pleased to be your acquaintance."

In front of the red-dressed woman, a man did a perfect bow. However, she was not in the mood to compare his gesture and greeting to the greatest gentlemen she met before. There was a problem with this young man.

'Why didn't I feel his presence approaching this place?' Like a broken recording, this question kept playing in her mind.

"A non-host?" There was an undisguised surprise in Bathory's tone.

"I am." With a smile akin to that of a predator, Gio replied to the woman. Since he was still taller even though Sofony was wearing high heels, patting her head did not prove much of a problem for him.

"Gio, I'll talk to her. This is me, Sofony. Don't provoke her." The girl held his arm and prevented him from walking forward.

Gone was the woman trying to brave the deal against Bathory. Because in her mind, Gio would die if that monstress wanted to, she even wanted to have him leave and not ever come back without contacting his uncle. She was betting that the old man was the king referred to by Bathory.

"Trust me. I got this." Gio showed her a very confident smile that made her not able to react immediately when he did walk forward.

Bathory continued watching with narrowed eyes.

"The ghost in my coin relayed to me something so funny," he said. "Somebody tried to scam my Baby with her future awards with just information and then when the negotiation almost fell, she threatened her with death."

"Oh. I see. It means that coin housed a ghost-type system user. Which old foggy is it?"

The man angrily laughed. Mysteriously, although the opposing party was a genuine old legend, she was not able to counter the sudden drop in the room's temperature. She heard him barking out,

"Who my pet ghost is doesn't matter. Anyways, why should you care about something so trivial when you're about to die, huh? Ms. Tudor?"

A shadow flickered in front of Bathory, catching her by surprise and off guard. Her eyes enhanced to the second-highest level by the system couldn't react to the man's actions. Before she knew it, he was already by his side, swiftly reaching out to her neck!

"What?" Automatically she stepped back and teleported away.

"BAAANNNGGGGGGG!"

When the woman reappeared next to her new servant, she turned her head to the direction of that loud booming sound and to her shock, the sofa and the area around the center table where she used to be turned into unrecognizable wreckage inside a two-meter radius crater! In the middle were a few fragments of the glass table under the man's unhurt first! The floor had caved in there, she suspected at any given moment, it would become a hole leading to the lower floor!

"What the hell?"

Bathory was feeling puzzled how a non-host could be that quick and strong to the point a Level 9 like her almost didn't manage to evade the attack. While Sofony was also surprised, before she got dumbfounded by the aftermath of his attacks, she had fired some corrosive bullets towards the enemy. However, Bathory did not even take a glance at those. After waving a hand and having those bullets redirected somewhere, she remained staring at Gio.

The man stood up and looked at the huge dent on the floor before tossing a glance at the supposed target. Annoyance crept up in his face. He tossed the coin in his hands and commanded it, 'Buy the highest space lock you can and lock this place.'

An unwilling humming came from the coin, but he ignored it. He threatened to pulverize its current object of obsession, the reason it could continue to exist, if it didn't do what he said hence despite its anger and reluctance, it didn't continue pissing him off anymore.

Wearing that same misleading smile, he commented to the countess, "Miss Blood Countess, amazing. Your greatest attack is mental in nature since you're a Seer. And because of it I assumed you'll be an easy picking since I'm your natural nemesis. But I guess you are still a Level 9 and your ability to predict is still annoying."

Gio referred to how his fake choking attack failed due to her so-called 'nature power'. Bathory narrowed her eyes again. The man before her didn't seem like a normal non-host, but more like somebody from that level. The only thing she couldn't explain was his lack of natural suppression towards people like her.

'He's not a Level 10. But since this newcomer could have an abnormal physique like this, apart from being so knowledgeable about my kind, he could only be a non-host supporter of a Level 10 monster.'

"Whose supporter are you?" she asked Gio.

The man answered while manually 'teleporting', "Sofony Mendez', who else?"

Bathory Erzebeth once again only saw a shadow when he ran towards her at full-speed.

She gave Sofony a hate-filled glance. She didn't believe it was Sofony. The woman was merely a level 5 host. So which of 'Them' sent this man to assist this young easterner woman? Why does she have someone like him beside her? If it was she, Bathory, who had a guardian as good as him, she would not have failed to reach the level of a real god!

Angered by this thought, when the Blood Countess teleported to escape the non-host's flurry of attacks, she reappeared next to Sofony.

"Since you don't want to agree in a normal way, I'll force you into it then!" Bathory said venomously. She activated the same skill that bound Gloria to her. She crazily laughed and tossed a blood-red scroll up. "YOU LOWLY PEASANT, ACCEPT YOUR FATE AND BE MY SLAVE!!!"

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