Swallowing a New Talent

A couple of decades back, Clemens had created a mercenary squad that only recruited assassins. His mercenary squad had completed many assassinations, including the assassinations of hundreds of high-level targets.

Clemens, by himself, assassinated most of those High-level targets with ease.

And it was all thanks to his talent, 'Haunting of Ecstasy'.

It is one of the rarest talents that humans have ever awakened.

Until now, there was not one of his targets, whether it was a rank 6 hero or rank 7 hero, they all died after experiencing the hellish pain in their head.

"All the happy moments in your life will turn into nightmares and give you the hellish pain that makes you rather die than endure it."

Looking at the groaning Leo, Clemens wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he laughed at Leo's misery.

"I wanted to injure you as I was curious about how you vanished, my vice leader and the other squad members. It's a pity that you will die without answering me."

Clemens didn't bother about the disappearance of the vice leader and the other squad members as he was going to be satisfied with the death of Leo.

"Once I kill you, I will kill that girl and take my reward from the young master Zen. Since I lost all my squad members, I will ask for a big compensation."

Clemens was not sad that he lost his squad members; instead, he planned to use their deaths for his profit.

"Okay…I am done with you bragging. I can't act anymore."

Suddenly, Leo, who was groaning in pain, stopped groaning and slashed his 'Arcane silver' sword.

Before Clemens could know what was happening, he lost balance as he fell to the ground.

'Aargh…my legs…my legs.'

Clemens realized that Leo chopped off his legs only after falling to the ground.

"This is how pain should feel like."

Leo bent a little and said to Clemens with a cold smile on his face, making Clemens shiver.

"How did…? How is it…possible? My talent….it never failed before."

Clemens was shocked at the fact that his talent, which he was so proud of, didn't work on Leo.

"Who said it didn't work on me?"

'Puchi'

While maintaining the cold smile on his face, Leo pierced his sword into Clemens' heart without wasting time.

'Ding,

The host killed a rank 7 hero with a unique talent, 'Haunting of Ecstasy'.

'Ding,

Talent:- Haunting of Ecstasy.

Effect:- All the happy moments of the target will turn into nightmares, and at the same time, the target experiences hellish pain throughout those nightmares.

Note:- The more happy moments the target has, the more hellish pain the target experiences for a longer time.

'Ding,

Do you want to swallow it?

As soon as he killed Clemens, the system sent a series of system notifications.

'It's a good talent for torturing. I guess it will be useful when I catch the mastermind behind the death of my adoptive parent. I will swallow it.'

With a calm look on his face, Leo replied to the system.

If it were anyone other than Leo, they would have been over the moon to gain a new talent; however, Leo was not excited as he remained calm and emotionless.

'Ding,

Extracting the talent crystal from the target's body. Please wait a moment.

Soon, a small crystal started materializing above Clemens' body. 'Swoosh'

As soon as the crystal emerged, Clemens' body disappeared into nothingness, leaving behind a ring and a dagger.

'Swoosh'

In the next moment, the pitch-black crystal flew into Leo's hands.

It was not his first time extracting the talent crystal from someone's body; as he turned around, he caught the crystal and walked towards the Iron ore cave.

'Gulp'

without any hesitation, he tossed the small crystal into his mouth and swallowed it in a single gulp.

'Ding,

A new level 1 talent is added to the host's talent list.

There was no delay as he directly received a new talent.

Every time Leo gains a new talent, it would be at level 1, and he had to work on it to increase its level on his own.

'Ding,

The host can extract a new talent in 365 days.

Soon, a countdown appeared in front of him, reminding him about his new talent extraction.

Of course, he closed that window as he knew he had to wait exactly one year if he wanted to extract a new talent.

"Vladimir"

"Master, I am here."

The shadow vampire flew out of the cave with a single call and respectfully stood in front of Leo.

"Take care of the corpses and check for valuables, including Hero coins. Also, protect her until I return."

After giving his orders to the shadow vampire, Leo disappeared from his place and directly appeared in front of one of the last three remaining Iron ore caves.

The distance between the two Iron ore caves was around five kilometers; however, Leo had to use his 'Teleportation' talent only once to travel such a significant distance.

"Time to resume the mission."

Soon, Leo entered the Iron ore cave to clear the Iron trolls residing in it.

...

In Zen's manor,

"If that b*stard didn't return to the city, I can conclude that a rank 8 hero is protecting Julia."

Zen received the information from one of the watchers that Clemens and half of his squad went after Julia and Leo.

Even though the watcher said half of the squad, Zen knew it was the entire squad because a dozen squad members and their vice leader disappeared yesterday night.

'Other than that lowly mercenary, there is no one tagging along with her. It looks like I need to confirm his true hero rank and talent.'

Zen didn't conclude that Leo was a rank 8 hero, and at the same time, he didn't believe Leo was a rank 5 hero with only a 'Teleportation' talent.

So, he confirmed it before deciding what he had to do.

'Anyway, before that, I need to see whether Clemens will return to the city or not.'

******

50 Power Stones:- One Bonus Chapter.

100 Power Stones:- Three Bonus Chapters.