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nStaying inside the hole proved to be somewhat useful as the penetration of corrupted blood-qi was lessened. Keith kept monitoring the outside using his blood-qi. The rest of the team was already corrupted and there was nothing he could do. If he gets out now, it won’t take much time for him to experience a blood-qi eruption.

nWhen he focused his mind on his blood core, he could see that it was sucking up the existing blood-essence at a rapid pace. Still, considering the amount of blood-essence he absorbed, it would take a lot of time to condense all the blood-essence completely.

nCreating a bigger space using his hands, he wondered how he could escape this place. One way was to dig a hole to the surface, which was his last bet. He could do that, but he wanted to observe the place a little more. If the corrupted blood-qi disappeared quickly, he could get out of this hole and possibly study the cocoons more.

nWhile thinking about that, he also pondered another possibility. That is to use this cave as his leveling farm. The red cocoons harboured ghouls, and he could technically absorb their blood-qi and turn them into blood essence. He wouldn’t have to worry about the time limit as he would kill as many as he needed.

n‘The question is, can I hide this place now?’ He thought.

nIt was already known by the mercenary group, and they will tell everything they saw here. Sure, the ones that came with him probably won’t make it out alive. But the fact that such a place exists won’t be staying hidden for long. And the bulky man was also here with him. He looked panicked and was sweating profusely.

nThis complicated things even more. On one hand, he wanted to report this place, and on the other, he wanted to keep it to himself. An hour had passed after the ritual, and there was no sign of the blood-mist slowing down. It was already early morning, from his estimates. He didn’t want to stay here any longer.

n‘I don’t know when it will go away or if at all. Then I can’t stay here anymore. I will come here later.’ Keith made up his mind to leave this cave for now…

nThe leader was feeling better now and anxiously looking at him.

n“Don’t worry. We will get out of here now. I will dig a tunnel to the surface, just stay behind me.”

nThe bulky man nodded and followed him as Keith started to dig through the ground. He used blood-qi to enhance his hands, so it was easier for him to carve. He stayed just below the surface, and the carved soil and rocks buried their legs, but they had no problem going through them.

n‘I could use this tunnel to come back later. But..’ Keith looked from the corner of his eyes towards the leader.

nA sudden urge to leave him here came over him. He was conflicted, wrestling between two choices, about whether to leave him here or save him. After thinking a lot, he couldn’t bring himself to leave him here. Maybe if he was ruthless and cruel, he might have. Maybe it was his inner righteous ego telling him not to do it.

n‘Am I too righteous? Why can’t I bring myself to leave him here? Nobody will know anyway.’ He couldn’t figure out his rationale.

nMany conflicting thoughts popped up in his mind, but he couldn’t decide. He just dug through the tunnel and monitored the cave above. After digging for a while, he got out of the large open space and reached the place they had landed. He sensed that the corrupted blood-qi didn’t permeate this place.

n“I think we are out of the open space. There is no corrupted blood-qi here.” Keith said.

n“Thank you for saving my life. I will remember your benevolence for the rest of my life. I know I’m weaker than you, but if you need any help from me afterwards, I will gladly help you with anything.” The bulky man said with a grateful look…

n“Yeah, it was nothing. You were just close to me. I couldn’t even save the other.” Keith put up a fake smile.

n“Honestly, I was surprised to know that someone of your caliber is unknown. I’ve worked in the mercenary guild for hundreds of years now. I never saw you there. Are you new to this city?” The man asked.

nKeith got up from the opening above him and extended his hands towards the man.

n“Something like that.” Keith replied.

nAs the man got up, he looked at the narrow passage leading to the open space and sighed. He lost five of his best men on this mission, with whom he spent well over several decades. He was a little sad, but he accepted the fact that they were already turned.

nKeith also looked at the narrow passageway in front of him. Something was blocking the blood-qi from getting out of the tunnel. He guessed it was the runes used for this ritual. As he was still clueless about the discipline, he didn’t understand how the runes worked and how they could block his senses. For that, he had to delve deeper into this discipline.

n“We have to inform the city guards and the count as soon as possible before it escalates further.” The leader said.

nKeith kept silent and closed his eyes.

n“Can you do me a favour?” He asked.

n“Anything as long as it’s within my reach.” The man replied.

n“Can you keep everything that happened here a secret? At least for a week.”

n“As much as I want to help you, this is too much. Don’t you know the consequences of keeping this information a secret? This cave is a breeding place for ghouls. If we leave them be, they will attack the settlement sooner or later. I don’t understand why you would want to keep it a secret.?” The leader was puzzled in response to his weird request.

n“I want to destroy this place as much as you do, but I have something I need here. I promise I will destroy this place within a week. I will make sure that your comrades get eternal rest.” Keith said resolutely.

n“What gives you such confidence? Are you sure you aren’t planning to kill yourself? This is beyond our expertise.” The man warned Keith again.

n“I know, but I’m not suicidal and I have way more cards up my sleeve than you imagine.” Keith said as he let go of his suppressed blood-qi.

n“This… Are you a baron?” The man said in awe.

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