The pair walked through the many streets of the city, looking behind. Alma used her [Mana Detection] Spell, to spread out a large shockwave that allowed her to detect things, and she quickly filtered normal citizens. In seconds, she found out two figures glowing with red aura following them from behind at a fast speed, hiding over the rooftops of the houses of the city and using abilities to make their movements soundless.
"They're following us." Said Alma, pointing out at the figures following the pair. Hermes immediately realized they were bad news. "Bloodsuckers" were powerful demi-humans, even at low Rank, they were not easy to deal with.
"How many?" He asked with intrigue, Alma quickly answered his question simply. Her sharp gaze shone bright green as her emerald eyes were both charming and filled with the experience of the many hardships she had experienced ever since being a child.
"Two." She responded with a sharp gaze. Her voice was cold and stoic, and Hermes quickly nodded. He suddenly channeled a strange power he always had since he was a child, the power he had asked to the strange and mysterious voice that responded to him in his last moments of life back on his original world, in his previous life…
"Let's quickly get lost then, hold my hand." Hermes said filled with a strange confidence, his cockiness was no more there, but an incredible sense of reliability. Alma quickly held his hand, as this power he had acquired was quickly channeled within him, Alma's Mana flowed into his body and his hand, quickly enhancing his special ability to completely new levels. In mere seconds, both disappeared after turning into an abandoned alleyway.
FLASH!
When the Vampires reached their area, they found nothing. One of them clicked their tongue in frustration. While the other remained in silence and stoically analyzed the area and the leftover mana left behind by the two mysterious reincarnated souls.
"They're gone? How so? We were tracking them down quickly!" Complained the female of the two, hitting the ground with her sharp black heels.
"Could one of them have the power of Teleportation?" Wondered the second of the two, a tall and stoic man. Both Vampires covered their bodies with black robes, especially their faces, while wearing black gloves. Because of the dangerous sunlight, this was often the special clothes they wore, infused with magic to also decrease the heat accumulated.
"It is not as simple, but Green, the one that is working with our Lady, said that one of them has a particularly special ability… He can jump between areas." Said the woman.
"So teleportation then?" Asked the second.
"Not as literally, there are limitations to it, he can't do it constantly either, it somehow has a cooldown… I think. So now that they have used it, they will most likely lay low in their hideout. Quickly tell the rest of our group to disperse blood bats and search every nook and cranny."
"Understood." The tall man obeyed the woman, who seemed to have a higher hierarchy, her chest emanated the powerful aura of a Rank 6 Magus, particularly, a strong aura of blood.
Meanwhile, Alma and Hermes jumped through space itself. It felt strange, as if space itself suddenly lost all physical matter around them and in seconds, they arrived in a completely different place, the sewers of the large port city of Heaven Port, where rats and other creatures crawled around.
"Your [Runaway] Unique Skill is really amazing and useful in these times… Sigh. Though… ugh, it really makes me a bit sickly." Alma groaned, resting on her knees as she suddenly threw up directly into the sewer waters.
"A-Are you okay? You're not really good at traveling at fast speed, aren't you? I wish my ability had more uses though, a cooldown of 12 hours is terrible…" Sighed Hermes while looking at Alma clean herself up with a handkerchief. "You okay now?"
"Y-Yeah. The others should be waiting for us nearby…" Said Alma, walking with Hermes through the corridors of the sewers, evading rats and the occasional Trash Slime, monster slimes that enjoyed eating garbage and disposals filtered by the water.
"Ugh, this place sucks but it's the only place where we can properly hide… Ugghhh…" Alma sighed while covering her nose with her fingers, the smell was to die for, literally. Hermes seemed not to bothered by it in actuality.
"Well, when you're raised in the slums you get used to all kinds of odors." He laughed.
"Hahh~ I was a cute little princess all my life, I can't understand your slum life survival skills." Sighed Alma, she was always a rather cocky girl. Hermes laughed it off. As friends they both joked against one another. And he knew that Alma was actually a heroic and gentle-hearted girl deep down, but often covered her soft interior with a hard shell of cynicism.
"Didn't that only lasted until you were like ten or eleven?" Asked Hermes.
"Ah… Yeah." Sighed Alma, quickly growing slightly saddened, the memories of the past always put her even more depressed. "Both of my parents are dead now… My brother was brainwashed, and my only friend and arranged husband… I haven't seen him in years… I guess I barely lived the life of a princess for a bit, and even then, I spent most of my time enclosed indoors… If it wasn't for the strength I gathered myself and those I recruited, I would be a goner."
"S-Sorry, I didn't intended to bring back bad memories." Said Hermes with a bit of sympathy.
"Nah, it doesn't matter. I am already over it… I am just doing what I can. I got this amazing power, I gotta use it for good, right? Like my parents and Elred would do it…" Alma said with a faint smile.
"Hmph, you're really got the hero complex, huh?" Asked Alma. "This doesn't feel just because of what you've experienced now… your previous life too?"
"Yeah… I… was part of an organization that did terrible things. I was kinda forced into it but still… I ended staying there on my own accord at the end for the money. I feel like I was garbage back then, and I died… I died like garbage too. Since then I've been trying to redeem myself and finally become someone good, someone better… But I always feel like I keep failing…"
"Alma…"
As the two reached the next corridor, Alma and Hermes were quickly greeted by two… adorable elf twins!
"Lady Alma, you're back!"
"Are you alright?"
These two twins were Elma and Elena, two talented girls Alma had as childhood friends which she recruited when she was only a little girl back in her homeland.
"Oh, you girls... Yeah, I'm fine. How's things going? Where's Root?" Wondered Alma.
"Root is working hard extending his roots around, he said he finally found where the lab is!" Elma said.
"He's pretty competent as always. But overly silent…" Sighed Elena.
"I see… We might begin working faster than I predicted." Said Alma. Things were only going to get even more intense from here.
Meanwhile, unaware of this, Drake continued his visit through the market with his family and friends leisurely, slowly making his way towards the Chef's Guild.
A beautiful Vampire woman with long red hair and sharp scarlet eyes looked into a crystal ball emanating divine essence. Her entire body emanated a powerful aura of utmost divinity, which encompassed the entirety of her surroundings. The enormous castle where most of the Royal Vampire Family lived within this small fiefdom in the middle of the icy snow mountains was completely encompassed by her divine power, protected, and at the same time, surveyed. There wasn't a thing she couldn't listen or hear. And this was also one of the reasons why one of her captives was incapable of communicating with her ally through Telepathy before said ally acquired a power that could defy her own divinity. Of course, she was completely unaware of it.
"Milady, it appears that we have lost track of them…"
"We apologize for our incompetence."
The voices of two subordinates spoke through the crystal ball, sent to Heaven Port alongside another squadron of Vampires to look for a certain group of people.
"Hmph, well, they have the one that can teleport. But you saw them teleport right now, right?" The woman asked rather carefreely. She wasn't angered as her subordinates would had expected, she was in a good mood, quite honestly.
"Yes, they disappeared completely, we lost track of them."
"I see, this only means that they cannot teleport in the next 12 hours, isn't it?" She asked with a devilish smile. "They foolishly panicked too quickly. Find them at all costs, track them as much as you can! Now that they cannot run away so easily, they're more vulnerable than you think." The woman said with a malicious intent, as her two servants obeyed her and quickly cut off the call.
