As soon as we entered the building, we split up into different groups. I examined the layout of the room - at first, it seemed like an empty abandoned building with literally nothing inside it, but then, by chance, I looked up. I narrowed my eyes as I spotted a slight outlier in color from the rest of the ceiling. That was the first thing that roused my suspicion. The second...my Third Eye was telling me there were people not to our front, not to our back, not to our sides...but below us. That could only mean one thing.

I pulled out my new gun, Ace, and aimed it directly at the outlier on the ceiling.

"Alright...now...this is a silenced gun, so all I have to do is...

"

Pull the trigger.

I let the bullet fly. No sound was made, but I felt the recoil kicking back. However, I kept a firm hand, and my shot hit its mark.

Suddenly, eight sections of the ground slid open to reveal eight different spiral staircase, leading downwards. Luckily, this mechanism didn't make too much noise, which I honestly found pretty surprising. I slowly peeked over one of the holes that had opened, and heard noise coming from below - the bottom floor.

Now I see why security seemed so lax...it's because they want people to think no one's hiding in here at all. If the door was locked, that would just give them away.

The nine of us, with the exception of Obsidia, all each went down a different staircase, in order to attack the enemies below at all angles. I motioned for our dragon girl to stay up here and use the Whisper, her sniper, to eliminate any targets who ran away or we couldn't kill.

I kept my footsteps light and gentle. Similar to the door we had opened, these staircases didn't creak at all, which greatly worked in our favor. Around the halfway point down, I opened up the comms, but this time with the girls instead of Old Man Leng.

"Alright...everyone in position?

" I whispered, eyeing the people below. From where I was, I could already make out quite a few people. My Third Eye revealed that there were even more in my blind spots.

"Yes, Master.

"

"Yep! Let's do this!

"

"Yeah, ready.

"

The girls responded one by one, and I nodded in satisfaction.

"And lastly...Obsidia? Can you draw first blood? We'll follow.

"

"Hmph...very well, human. I already have someone in my scope.

"

"Sweet. Alright, then...as soon as we hear Obsidia's shot, we unleash hell on these guys.

"

I wasn't too worried about the girls, since all of us turned out to be able to use guns quite well. After some short practice on the training dummy inside Old Man Leng's shop, we were all pretty used to our respective guns' recoils and whatnot by now. The only one who had a bit of a struggle was Lan Xiao Su, but with her it was more of a internal debate than her actual mechanics with the gun. But still...this would be the first time most of these girls would be killing other humans, for real. I can kill people at a second's notice, but I couldn't help but wonder if the girls had made their mental preparations yet...especially Lan Xiao Su.

But before I could even process these thoughts, a loud boom resounded across the room. It was Obsidia's sniper shot, and I looked down to see one of the gang members lying on the ground, dead. His head had a huge bloody gaping hole in it - the Whisper's mark.

This gunshot signalled the beginning of our first true battle within The Fortress. While the Bloodthirsters were still drunk from the beer they had been having, I leapt off the staircase and landed solidly on the ground in the middle of all the gang members, while the other girls remained on the staircases, providing me cover fire and taking out whatever enemies they see. So far, it didn't seem like they were feeling disgusted by the feeling of killing someone, but whether that was because they really are just as cold-blooded as me, or if they just hadn't come to terms with what they are really doing yet, no one knew.

But that aside, I had bigger things to be worrying about right now. Pulling out my hand cannon from its holster, I smirked.

"Let's rock, Ace.

"

*****

- Meanwhile, in a different part of the slums... -

(???'s Perspective)

Hm...what should I do nyow? Go back to my clan? Nya, nyever! Mm...well, I'm running out of meowny again, and I don't wanna go steal from someowne like last time. That didn't go well. I had to get saved by some unknown guy! Grr...I hate being indebted to someone! I hate this feeling! Oh, I knyow! I'll go look for that guy from last time! I'll find him, then repay him the debt I owe! And then after that, I can beg for some money! Yay!

With these thoughts in my mind, I continued journeying through the slums, now with a goal.

But then, I suddenly paused, and sniffed the air.

Hm? What's this? I smell...a fight? Sniff sniff...wait...this scent...nya! It's the smell of that guy from a while ago! What's he doing in these slums again? Mm...I have to go investigate!

I immediately changed direction, and headed for where the scent was coming from. Us demihumans, especially the cat clan, are renowned for our sense of smell. We could track down things - or people - with our noses from miles away. I abandoned my clan a long time ago, but that didn't mean I didn't embrace my catgirl nature. I loved being who I was, and it was times like these that I was thankful I wasn't born some other race.

Eventually, I focused harder, and the smell of that stranger became more potent as I kept running. After a couple of minutes, I was panting pretty hard, since I was more of a short-distance sprinter than long-distance runner. But alas, I was standing before one building in particular, and my nose told me that the guy I was searching for was within here. The building had a weird claw mark logo spray painted on the wall I was facing, and the door was open. I peeked inside, and saw eight holes that were actually spiral staircases, leading downwards. Light shone from below, and I scratched my chin as I heard multiple gunshots ring out.

"Nya...is he fighting some gang down there? That logo outside...I feel like I've seen it someowhere before...

" I murmured to myself.

"Well, no matter! This is the perfect chance to pay him back! I'll save his life and help him out here, then we'll be even!

"

I activated my black mechanical extended claws, and leapt down one the holes.

*****

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

I shot down the drunk Bloodthirsters members one after another with my hand cannon, Ace, but before I knew it, my magazine was empty. I performed a deft tumble, rolling behind a nearby pillar and promptly reloading my weapon the way Old Man Leng told me. This gave the Bloodthirsters a chance to recover, however. The still half-drunk gang members pulled out their own guns, and began firing back. Our element of surprise was now gone, and they still possessed the numbers advantage.

"Ugh, damn!

" Yu An Yan muttered, before hiding behind the spiral staircase she was on for cover from the volley of bullets coming towards her.

"Obsidia, can you locate their leader?

" I asked quickly, before peeking from my hiding spot and hitting two gang members in the head with Ace, then ducking back behind the pillar again.

"Yes...I have my sights on him. However...it appears he has put up a shield of some sort...? My bullets cannot penetrate it.

"

I peeked over the pillar again, and saw what Obsidia was talking about. Their leader, wearing full armor and a cloak, was within a dome of protection generated with some unknown energy. I frowned as I attempted to devise a way to get rid of that dome. Their leader was calling for everyone to gather around him, and now we couldn't get close to him without running straight into a storm of bullets.

But then, all of a sudden, I sensed something - another presence. This should be no extraordinary thing, since there were plenty of people within this room at the moment. But what was unusual about this newcomer, was that he or she...came from above.

Bloodthirster reinforcements? No...couldn't be. They had no opportunities to call for help...and even if they did, they wouldn't request the assistance of one person.

That being said, this unknown newcomer had the power of an Advanced Mage, from what I could tell with my Third Eye. She was certainly more powerful than these gang members here, however.

I decided that it would be best to stay wary, so I pointed Ace upwards, where I was anticipating her to appear.