Night Has a Soul-Snatching Sound

Moving with extreme caution, the figure finally arrived outside an office door in the back hall of the tavern.

Halting, the figure carefully held their breath and focused, scanning the surroundings repeatedly. After confirming safety, four soul rings—white, yellow, yellow, yellow—rose behind them. Somewhat guiltily, they shrank toward a corner, doing their best to conceal the glow of their rings. Then the first and second soul rings flashed. A brown vine as thin as a strand of hair grew from the figure's right hand, lengthened, slipped into the keyhole, and turned silently...

Click.

The figure held their breath, concentrating intently as they manipulated the vine to try and unlock the door. At the crisp sound, joy flickered across the figure's face. They swiftly retracted the vine, suppressed their aura, and tiptoed inside.

The scene that greeted the figure's eyes was completely different from what they had imagined. In their mind, the room should have been piled high with mountains of gold and silver soul coins, or lined with cabinets full of secret treasures, or perhaps that thug would be meditating to recover inside. But this modest office held only a desk with a few small drawers and several posters of scantily clad beauties on the walls.

Shock and disbelief filled the figure's eyes. In their agitation, they abandoned all pretense of hiding their aura and rushed forward, trying to open those drawers.

Rattle, rattle.

The figure pulled at the drawers a few times but found them locked.

"Locked..."

A hint of delight crossed the figure's face. What needed to be locked up? Surely it was something valuable.

The soul rings behind them rose again, pulsing rapidly up and down. The third soul ring flashed. Countless tiny vines surged from their right shoulder, quickly wrapping around the figure's right arm and condensing at their five fingers into five sharp, sturdy spikes.

Shiiing.

Like a hot knife through snow, the figure's fingertips pierced the drawer effortlessly, destroying the lock mechanism. Leveraging the motion, they pulled outward, and the drawer's interior lay exposed before them.

There wasn't much inside—just a cloth pouch the size of two palms sitting there.

The figure's expression soured somewhat, but they still withdrew the vines from their right hand, revealing their palm. They grabbed the pouch and brought it before them.

Feeling the pouch's somewhat heavy weight, the figure's expression improved slightly.

Opening the pouch, a flash of gold nearly blinded the figure's eyes. It was a full pouch of Gold Soul Coins.

Huff.

The figure's breathing suddenly grew rapid. Hastily, they dumped the Gold Soul Coins onto the desk.

Clatter.

A small mountain of Gold Soul Coins piled up on the office desk.

"Damn."

A low exclamation escaped. Greed was written all over the figure's face. They carefully picked up one Gold Soul Coin, held it before their eyes, and examined it by the light of their soul rings.

"It's real!!"

The figure was already grinning from ear to ear. They hurriedly opened the pouch and began counting the coins one by one as they tossed them inside.

"One, two, three, four... one hundred and twelve."

Lost in the joy of counting coins, the figure completely failed to notice that a faint breathing sound, as if something was being suppressed, had already appeared in the room.

"Shit, I'm rich."

The figure's face was full of delight. They casually weighed the pouch in their hand, tucked it into their bosom, and turned to open the remaining drawers.

Schlick.

Their body, halfway through the turn, suddenly froze. A sharp pain shot through their chest.

The figure stared in shock at the two blazing "ghost fires" in the pitch-black air before them, and the robed figure gradually materializing from the darkness.

Their voice trembled. "P-Puppet Thug..."

Hearing the fear-laden voice, Hals grinned. His face, lit green by the Soul Flame, and his teeth, dazzlingly white and stark against it, were horrifying to behold.

A stream of Soul Essence, green so deep it bordered on black, flowed along Hals's right arm—translucent, faintly glowing jade-green, and buried in Siya's chest—pouring continuously into Hals's body.

Feeling the endless influx of cool substance, Hals was almost intoxicated. He lowered his head deeply, his body trembling violently, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

"Greed."

"Excitement."

"Fear."

"And... and..."

Hals's body trembled even more violently. The Soul Flame in his eyes surged with increasing intensity, even slowly spreading to engulf his head.

"And, despair."

Boom.

The Soul Flame finally exploded. Blazing fire shot skyward, and the accompanying sensation of bliss and ecstasy shattered what little reason Hals had left.

Schlick.

The second soul ring behind him flashed, carrying a strange ripple. Hals yanked his right arm out abruptly, simultaneously dragging out a dark green soul with his hand.

Staring at the soul so close before him, Hals could no longer hold back. He fell to his knees, buried his head, and tore into the soul with great, ravenous bites, gulping down the maddeningly sweet essence.

Gulp, crunch...

Saliva flew. The face buried in the soul showed only boundless madness and hunger—not a trace of reason remained.

In the blink of an eye, the soul of a full-grown adult was reduced to a few scattered fragments of Soul Essence on the ground. Nothing went to waste. A lantern glowing with green light appeared at Hals's waist, sucking in the scattered remnants.

Having devoured the soul of a full-grown adult, Hals felt not the slightest hint of satiety—instead, he grew even hungrier, wave after wave of hunger crashing against his brain, stirring his desire to hunt.

Thud.

Hals wrapped his arms around his abdomen, falling to his knees in agony, slamming his head against the ground again and again, his voice brimming with pain.

"More... more..."

Struggling to lift his head, Hals gazed with burning, greedy eyes at the dozen or so Soul Flames scattered outside the tavern within his field of vision. A low, inhuman roar rumbled from his throat, and his form dissolved into a black mist, vanishing without a trace.

"Roar..."

With Hals's departure, the sizable office fell silent once more.

On the cold floor, a figure with a massive wound in its chest lay still. In the darkness beside it, a few bloodstained gold coins gleamed faintly.

Outside the tavern, all was dark. Many watchers from different factions tacitly refrained from disturbing one another, savoring the somewhat oppressive stillness.

"Aaaaaaahhh~"

A piercing scream shattered the rare tranquility of Nork Town.

The watchers, who had just been idly chatting and resting, simultaneously released their Martial Souls, warily turning toward the direction of the scream.

As the originally dark area suddenly lit up with the glow of Soul Rings and the figures of watchers from various factions emerged, all the watchers exchanged glances, reaching an unspoken understanding. They warily took different routes, dashing toward the spot where the screaming had ceased.

Among the countless combinations of Soul Rings, several perfectly matched five-ring Soul Kings stood out.

When the watchers arrived at the scene, what they saw sent a chill through their hearts.

A figure draped in a Dark Green Robe, with green flames flickering on its face, was kneeling on the ground, hunched over, tearing and swallowing something. Beside it lay a watcher from some faction—now split in two, long dead.

As if unaware of the watchers gradually encircling him, Hals continued gulping down the soul in his hands until it was completely devoured...

Watching the Soul Essence fall to the ground, the Lantern dutifully absorbed it, ensuring not a shred was wasted.

Licking his lips, his stomach still gnawing with hunger, Hals tremblingly raised his head to look at the watchers present. In his leaping Soul Flame burned the greed of a predator.

When Hals's terrifying gaze pierced into him, the highest-ranked among the crowd—a Level 59 Agility Attack Battle Soul King—narrowed his pupils, feeling a prickling sensation on his back.

Without hesitation, he activated his first, second, third, fourth, and fifth Soul Skills in an instant, not to counterattack, but to flee at top speed into the distance.

"RUN!!!!!"

His trembling, fear-laden voice rang through the sky, and in the blink of an eye, he had already covered over a thousand meters.

Seeing the highest-ranked one already bolting, the remaining watchers, still stunned, wasted no time in using their own abilities, fleeing for their lives, cursing that their parents hadn't given them more legs.

Ignoring the watchers scattering in all directions, Hals licked his lips, turned into a black mist, and shadowed his target, closing the distance relentlessly before swinging his arm down in a stab.

After a few mouthfuls, he devoured the Soul King's soul. Its richer, sweeter flavor intoxicated Hals, finally giving his stomach a hint of fullness and restoring a sliver of rationality.

Paying no mind to the Lantern's cleanup work, Hals slowly rose to his feet, his form slightly hunched. Soul power surged, and a Hook radiating fierce killing intent appeared in his right hand.

Whoosh

Hals's form turned into a black mist, lightning-fast, catching up to another panicked "food" fleeing in the distance. The black mist condensed, and Hals materialized, then...

Raised the Hook.

Swung it down!

Pfft!!!

"It's all mine..."