I followed the man dressed in a military uniform down a long series of corridors. Not losing him proved surprisingly easy, because even when I didn’t have him in sight, people I’d meet along the way would give me nods and short verbal directions. It seems that my skill still made them think that I somehow worked for him, which still worked in my favour. Although I was starting to grow eerily worried about what would happen if this favour came to pass.

Solomon and the guard leading him stopped in front of a seemingly random lab door. The only reason I knew the door led to a lab and not another type of room was because of the biohazard symbol drawn on its door.

“Alpha is still in there?” Solomon asked.

“Yes, he didn’t try to escape this time.” The guard replied.

“Very well.”

Solomon reached into his pocket and took out a pair of gloves. From the distance I was at, I could just about make out the runes sewn into them.

Without any further words, Solomon vanished into the room.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of how far away from the lab I was hiding, or because of the architecture of the place, but the next few minutes were filled with dreadful silence. The guard had pulled out a small book from a pocket and was idly reading it. No other people seemed to come to this corner of the lab, leaving unseen and undisturbed the nefarious deeds that occurred here.

These few minutes seemed like an eternity to me. I had planned everything out, and I had accounted for certain things, but the number of people who’d seen me worried me. What worried me even more was the fact that that friend of Solomon had also noticed my presence. I knew that Cain could easily take all of them out, but as of now there wasn’t any guarantee he wouldn’t go against me either. But all of that was a risk I was willing to take for the sake of my future long-lasting protection.

This long and dreadful silence finally broke. I had never heard a digital lock click as loudly. It seemed like for a brief second the whole corridor was filled with nothing but the sound of that lock and that of my own heartbeat racing in anticipation.

Solomon appeared out of the door. He was carrying something over his shoulder.

The System screens vanished as quickly as they had appeared, confirming that this whole expedition had not been in vain. Solomon was carrying a small unconscious body over his shoulder. The identity of this S ranker was unmistakable, not only based on the circumstances, but also due to the blood-red messy hair that covered the face of the child.

“You take it from here.” Solomon said in a disinterested tone, as he handed the unconscious kid over to the guard.

This seemed to be a well-practised ritual, as the guard didn’t even bat an eye, as they carried Cain somewhere deeper within the concrete guts of this seemingly endless facility.

Unfortunate I did not get the chance to follow them right away, as Solomon headed my way. I had to quickly and discreetly hide inside a room (which thankfully did turn out to be a utility closet this time, and not another abandoned conference room), as I waited for his footsteps to vanish in the distance.

As soon as I deemed that that damn man was far enough, I dashed in the direction where I last saw the guard. The hallways on this side of the facility were deserted, which was both a blessing and a curse at the same time. I could not, no matter how hard I tried, figure out where he’d gone.

Suddenly a muffled scream echoed around me. It was immediately followed by a string of curses, the sound of a heavy door shutting, and the unmistakable noise of someone running.

I dashed in the direction of the noise and crossed paths with the guard from earlier. One of their arms was covered in blood, and they didn’t even give me a second glance, as they ran, swearing in pain under their breath, towards what I could only assume to be the infirmary. At least they had the kindness to leave a trail of blood droplets all over the floor.

***

I found myself in front of a large heavy metal door. It had a crank wheel in its centre and might have in the past served as a vault of some sort, but the exposed wires around it, and the digital keypad on its left-hand side indicated that it had been modernised since.

I did try turning the crank wheel just in case, but either my figurative luck had run out, or it truly no longer served its original purpose. I did, however, notice rune inscriptions over the door. I easily recognised them from the novel, where they were often used in dungeons (the author never shied away from including drawings of these runes). Thus, thanks to my knowledge of the novel, or perhaps thanks to my language comprehension skill, I was able to decipher that these runes acted as a magic-absorbent and damage-reflecting barrier.

Which meant that if I shot at it, the bullet would bounce right back, with a very high percent chance of hitting me. Magic hadn’t been an option for me anyway, so I turned my attention toward the keypad. Alonzo’s card didn’t work. More surprisingly, the key-card of that guard had no effect either.

I clenched my fists and muttered a curse under my breath. I was so close to getting what I wanted, but I had no way of opening this damn door. I thought back to the bleeding guard who’d run away after carrying Cain here. They had a working key card, and I could, in theory, chase after them to get it. I should have taken it when I had the chance, because now really wasn’t the time to be running around the facility. I had been here for almost two hours, so in between the ever-growing risk of being detected, and the also growing likelihood of the two idiots I had knocked out waking up, I needed to act now.

I reached for my sword.

This could go brilliantly right, or horribly wrong. I readied the blade on my hands, and took a deep breath, preparing for what would be to come. I would have mere seconds to act after doing this, so I could not waste time thinking or worse; panicking.

I readied myself for the ear-piercing sound of an alarm, and in one swift motion brought my blade down on the keypad. Then, using my momentum, I sliced the exposed cables running under it, before reaching out and slicing the cables that ran over the door. With the electronics out of the way, all that was left were the magic runes.

I knew a lot of random trivia from ‘immortal immorality’, including the fact that a cluster of runes would vanish if the first rune to have been drawn were to be destroyed. I had no means of knowing which of the runes was the first in this case, but I could tell with some certainty that two of the runes looked older and more worn-in than the others. It was a 50/50 chance.

Surprisingly enough, no alarm had gone off yet. As I braced myself for the pain, and loss of luck, that would come if I were to guess wrong, I caught a glimpse of the reflection of unfamiliar green eyes in my blade. It almost felt as if the sword itself was telling me to get on with it.

I hit the rune furthest from me.

I clenched my fist and shut my eyes, but nothing palpable happened. If my trick would have worked, I would have heard something, the door opening, or an alarm, something, anything … I dared to open my eyes, only to see that every rune drawn and engraved on the door was slowly fading away. This wasn’t how rune deactivation had been described in the book, but I let the issue slide.

When the runes had completely vanished, I put away my blade, which was now as cold as ice. The last thing I wanted was for Cain to perceive me as a threat. But, the door still did not open.

“Fucking hell.” I swore, realising that it wouldn’t, after I’d destroyed all the electronics.

Thankfully it was now nothing more than a heavy chunk of metal. So, I grabbed the crank wheel and spun it with all my strength.

The door opened onto a large, dark vault.

Cain stood less than half a meter away from the doorway. His unkempt hair fell over his ember-like eyes, which glared at me with an unreadable expression. He wore simple clothes splattered with dry blood, the kind of attire that would not have let him get through airport security. He was smaller than I’d expected, perhaps two heads shorter than me, and visibly too thin.

“I came to get you out of here.” I immediately said, raising my hands in the air.

I suddenly winced, feeling a sharp pain in my left eye, as if something was trying to get out of it from the inside. Although I did on some level understand that it could only be an illusion, the skill hurt all the same.

While keeping one hand in the air, I rubbed my eye with the other. There was nothing there, but the sensation wouldn’t go away. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice told me that this was exactly why Cain was a terrible option for a bodyguard. He was violent, powerful, and unstable. But another part of me understood his reaction.

“I know I don’t look trustworthy, but-” I paused. Perhaps I should have brought a cream puff with me. “I am one of the good guys,” I continued. “I know the way out, not only of this lab, but also of the country. I came to get you out of here, so if you follow me-”

“Alright.” Cain cut me short.

The uncomfortable sensation in my eye vanished, but before I had had the time to say or do anything, Cain had already run off down the corridor.

“Wait!” I called out. “That’s not the shortest way out!”

He didn’t seem to care for my words, as he vanished behind a corner.

“Dammit.” I swore, as I chased after him.