Chapter 274

Chapter 274

A tall woman in dark clothing walks out from the shadows in the back of the room. Her voice echos as she gets closer and my eyes slowly adjust to the dim yellow-tinted lighting coming from a single flickering bulb.

Short blond hair hardly reaches her shoulders but covers her face enough so that shadows hide all of her defining features.

The woman wears a tight black combat suit with silver daggers, and assorted magical items on her midsection and tied around both thighs.

I gulp and squint my eyes, attempting to activate inspect and appraisal, but they won't turn on... My cuffs tighten around my wrists even more and I feel a wave of fatigue pass over me.

My eyes widen more as her footsteps get louder and she continues to walk forward at me.

Her face is becoming visible now and isn't familiar at all.

The woman has mature and stern features, but they're symmetric and devoid of any imperfections. Her hazel eyes glimmer in the dim light as she speaks up again, now across from me at the opposite edge of the table less than 2 meters away.

"Good to see you're finally awake."

She crosses her arms and a silver badge on her chest shimmers. It's 3 numbers on a small pin labeled "005". My gaze tightens as I attempt to activate my skills and tear my hands from the black metal cuffs holding me to the grey metal table.

Again, nothing activates and my muscles become extremely tired after attempting to brute force my way out. Just a fraction of a second worth of exertion feels like I just finished an hour-long battle. The fatigue hits me instantly, and I let my head droop.

I should be able to break through metal like this easily, but it gives off the same odd feeling as the gas-like substance that was used to knock us out.

I let out a sigh, raise my head, and reply.

"What do you want with me?"

She tightens her own gaze in response and a corner of her lip turns up.

"You're cool-headed now, aren't you? No where am I? Who are you?"

She leans in over the table and her grin widens.

"Most of your friends had a much more aggressive response when waking up. Especially that green-haired girl, she was a nightmare."

The woman chuckles.

I clench my jaw and scan the room as my eyes adjust more and it gets much clearer than moments ago.

There's a heavy metal door at the back, no more than 5 meters behind the blond. The walls are made of pure cement with no decorations or even windows. The floor matches the dull grey coloring and it's damp covered in dirt and shallow pools of water.

I'm sitting on a small wooden stool and my hands are attached to a cold metal table by a pair of cuffs that must be a magic dampening item of some sort. Dark lines come out from under the cuffs and move up my forearms...

My conceal skill is deactivated, she can see my true form.

I want to curse her out and break the walls down, but I swallow my words, not wanting to provoke this woman in this weakened state. There's not much I can do other than hear what she has to say for the time being.

"I'll say it again. What do you want from me...?"

She continues to grin, looking down at my wrists, then up to stare directly into my white eyes.

"I want to know what you saw up there. It appears you're the only member of your squad that made it to the final Boss Room. I need a full report."

I gulp again, staring back at her unwavering expression.

The woman's outfit looks like a uniform but has no branding or special marks to signify she's from the Association. This could be a special unit I've never heard of that deals with higher-level matters, or possibly a Solaran-exclusive organization.

My last guess would be rogues, but to pull off a heist to this degree without fail, it's highly unlikely.

I reply.

"What skills did that red-horned creature have? We know most Greater Demons have a teleport skill, but Arch Demons often have varied abilities. What did it have?"

I feel the tip of the cool blade touch the upper side of my chin and blood trickles down to make clinking sounds as it hits the metal table.

I whisper through gritted teeth.

"That's it. It only had a teleport skill."

Her eyes flash white, then she stabs my left hand with the new silver blade. She gets close to my face again and yells with a twisted grin.

"Don't lie to me."

I feel blood flow from my other hand as well now as I feel her breath on my nose and mouth.

"The only way you're getting out of here is if you tell me what I want to know. Do you understand? If I kill you here and now, I'll take your cores and that'll be the end of it. So it's in your best interest to spill it. You may get a chance to walk."

This time around, I don't even react. If she's really going to torture me until I talk, the best thing I can do is stay silent and think of a way to escape. If she kills me, those cores will disappear once my real body wakes up anyway.

I tighten my lips and don't respond, deep in thought.

She leans in even closer to me, less than a few millimeters away, and whispers.

"No one knows you're here. No one is coming to save you. No one can-"

I back my head up slightly, then swing forward and smack my forehead against hers, stopping her from speaking mid-sentence.

Pain splinters through my skull, down my spine, and makes its way through my full body, nearly knocking me out.

The instant fatigue from these black cuffs hits as I exert any excess force, but It's worth the pain and energy.

I let out a laugh as the blond-haired woman falls backward onto the floor wide-eyed with an expression of shock on her face. There's a light sloshing sound from a shallow pool of water as she hits the floor.

My interrogator immediately scrambles to her feet, unharmed but covered in green and black grime and red-faced with anger.

"You want to play games? I can play games... I said I'd kill you if you don't tell me what I ask you! Do you not value your life?"

The woman puts her hands on her hips and stares at me.

"You asked for it..."

Her eyes fall to her soaked uniform, disgusted by the sour-smelling liquid covering her left side.

"You may be tough now, but let's see how you handle a few days without food and water. Those wounds on your hands won't heal easily without magic. You'll talk. They all do."

I smirk, still amused by her fall.

She turns around, unlocking the metal door at the back of the room and speaking in a lower more serious tone."

"Really think about your situation. Just answer my questions and all of this can be over. I'm not an enemy, so don't turn me into one."

I give her no response, and she slowly nods.

"Looks like you'll be difficult. Enjoy your peace of mind while you still have some left."

She turns back to me with an indifferent look on her face, then slams the door.

It echoes for a moment before I'm left with a knife in the back of each hand sitting in a damp empty room.

Letting out a sigh, I talk out loud to myself.

"Well, that probably could have gone a lot better... Now, how am I going to get myself out of this one?"