"AHHHH!"
[Tom Wilson has fallen into despair. From now on, every time he meets your eyes, he will be extremely scared for his life, and all of his stats will fall by 70%.]
He began screaming his lungs out as my blue eyes had turned dark black, scratching his head, his arms—anything his hands could get on. In the span of a split second, he seemed to be having dementia.
"W-What are you doing to me?"
While his mana was skyrocketing, his body couldn't handle it. If he stayed in this condition for a few more minutes, then he'd die.
"Answer my questions and I'll save you." I held his hair tightly, forcing him to look me in the eyes. "Who are the ones who ordered you to do this? Tell me."
Once more, he opened his mouth; however, the moment words were about to come out, blood did.
'I need to ask indirect questions. He clearly can't talk about anything directly related to those people.'
However, I had very little time to come up with questions. His body wouldn't hold on much longer, as I could already see the red energy devouring his body in real time. His mind would hold on for an even shorter period.
"What happened to you after you sent the request to the Mercenary Center?"
He spat some blood as his mouth opened once more.
"I-I... don't remember." The Mayor frowned. "All I know is that m-my mind wasn't mine anymore..."
"Did they give you something to make you this way? Drugs?"
Tears began falling from his eyes. I could already see that he had given up—he was no longer even trying to resist. I still kept [Eyes of Despair] activated; I had doubts that he would remain human the moment I deactivated it.
"B-Blood... They gave me blood, so much..."
He gagged as another mouthful of blood forcefully came out of his mouth.
'Blood?'
It was the last thing that I had expected to hear. What kind of blood could make someone enter such a dire state? Confusion took over me as I tried to make sense of his words. There was a chance he had already lost his mind and was simply rambling nonsense. However, those were the words of a dying man—they were likely the truth, especially given the situation.
Before I could even ask further questions, his mind gave out as he became a charred corpse, just like the rest of those in the room.
The Altrix Mayor had died in my hands.
The ring immediately lit up as messages appeared before me.
[Do you wish to use [Absorb] and [Soul Reaper] on him?]
[Yes/No?]
"Yes."
The moment I gave my answer, the ring flared with a deep crimson light. A faint strand of red energy began to seep out of the mayor's body, barely visible at first. However, slowly but surely, it became bigger and bigger.
Dozens of thin strands emerged from his chest, his head, his limbs, all slowly converging toward a single point above his corpse.
The mayor's body began to lose its form, his skin turning pale as if something essential was being stripped away from him.
And then, once the red strands of energy disappeared... so did his body, gone as if it had never existed in the first place.
[ Soul Absorbed ]
◆ Target: D-Rank
◆ Soul Stored: +1
────────────────────────
[ Skill Acquired ]
◆ Mind Control (A-Rank)
→ Allows complete control over feeble-minded targets.
→ Targets lose all resistance and obey all commands.
[ Condition ]
◆ To activate Mind Control:
You must force a B-Rank individual into submission without using any skills.
────────────────────────
I looked at the text before me and couldn't help but frown. I already knew the mayor wasn't particularly powerful. However, the skill I had gained from [Absorb] was on a whole other level. It was most likely the reason why he had risen to such an important position.
'Force a B-Rank individual into submission without using any skills.'
The condition to use the skill wouldn't be easy to complete. However, it was only a matter of time before I'd complete it. This skill was way too powerful to forget about.
As for the [Soul Reaper] skill, I still wasn't exactly sure what its use was. All I knew was that I had absorbed a soul, just like the skill description had mentioned. However, I knew that there was more to it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be an SSS-Rank skill. It would be much lower, considering its use.
***
In a dark place, twelve individuals were seated around a large round table in silence, most of them frowning, very angry about what they had just learned.
"Our puppet in Altrix has died," a cold voice muttered. "The person who killed him most likely found the bodies."
"Even if they found them, they can't find any connection to us. They won't have idea of their use," another person replied.
A sigh came from the left. "We had invested a lot of his blood into this operation. But now, it was all for nothing."
"How much more do we have?"
"We have enough for another year at the rate we're using it."
-BANG!
A loud thud echoed throughout the room as another masked individual hit the table as hard as possible.
"All of this wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't lost him."
More and more eyes slowly turned toward the person sitting at the furthest end of the table. Everyone agreed—he was the one who had complicated things.
"You know as well as anyone else that he wasn't someone we could control. If we gave him any more time, we would have been the ones in danger. That was the reason we were limiting as much as possible the resources we had given to him."
In an instant, they all became quiet.
"Have you confirmed his death?" someone asked.
The man shook his head. "My subordinates did."
"Investigate his death again, personally. Make sure that he has truly died. Call all of your spies and ask if they've seen or heard of any individual with his abilities. And if you find any traces of him, report it to us immediately."
"If he begins to learn of the things we kept hidden from him... we won't be the one chasing him any longer. He will."