Meanwhile, Abium had long left Bucher's lane and moved towards his next target.
Rakke Street, Slum Borough.
At that moment, a black-haired man, around 30 years old, stood in the middle of the road and showed a painful expression. His name was Neil, an official tier necromancer who now disguised himself as a roaming mage.
"F*cking thugs!" He shouted in rage and looked at his wounded body with bloodshot eyes.
At that moment, he had more than twenty sword wounds all over his body, and his left hand was nowhere to be seen.
"Where the hell did those morons come from?! Argh, if not for the order from above, I would've eradicated this street."
Gritting his teeth, he took a nature healing potion from his spatial ring and poured it all over his body.
He was too unlucky today!
A while ago, he was dragged into a random fight between thugs and lost his left hand. But what made his heart ache more was that he couldn't even be able to kill those two morons. Both of them ran away when they noticed they had hurt a mage.
Meanwhile, the main culprit behind this incident didn't even watch the necromancer's misery and directly moved toward his next target. He went to Olive Street, Killer's Street, Slaver's Street, Trinity Lane, and Wood street and continued to cast the [Misfortune] spell on other necromancers. By the end of that day, same similar misfortune things started to happen to all the necromancers hiding in those seven streets.
On the other hand, Abium didn't dare to roam around and returned to Pine Street quietly.
...
Dusk came, followed by multiple knocks.
Abium quickly opened the door and saw seven ruffians-looking tall, muscular guys standing at the entrance. Darby also accompanied them and stood a few feet away with a nervous look.
"Come in." Abium invited them in and gave them seven portraits, seven disguise spell scrolls, seven low-tier magic stones, and seven sealed letters. And then, he shifted his gaze towards Darby and others and spoke.
"This is your first mission. Each of you has to take one portrait and go to the address mentioned in the portrait to complete your mission."
Although Darby and others didn't understand why they were doing this, none uttered a word of refusal.
"Once you reach your target's house, kill one of their servants and disguise yourself as them using this spell scroll." He paused for a second and shifted his gaze toward the spell scrolls before explaining.
"This spell scroll is called the 'Disguise' spell scroll. Once you rip the scroll, a mysterious magic runic circle will appear. After that, Immediately toss the low-tier magic stone into it and wait for the spell to take effect. Don't worry; the runic magic circle will help you change your facial appearance. But don't use this spell near the target's houses. Once you have changed your outer look, go to the targets' house and place these sealed letters at the entrance along with their servants' heads."
'That will make them lose their calm. Those necromancers are all afraid of Real Baxter after all.' He muttered inwardly.
"What if they found us?" As Abium was muttering inwardly, one of the ruffians asked with an anxious face.
He knew that they didn't make any detailed plan and felt uneasy.
"I know it is not a planned mission. But we don't have much time. And this will also be a part of training. You have to learn how to adapt to sudden changes, which will give you a good experience. Don't worry; there won't be any failures." Abium's lips started to curl up as he said those words.
"Okay, Boss. Is there anything we need to be aware of?" Darby asked with a curious look.
"There is nothing else," Abium said calmly and waved his hand. He then gave them another explanation and continued to teach them how to use the spell scrolls.
An hour later, Darby and his friends walked out of the small house and scattered in different directions.
...
28th June, around 2 A.M,
Pine Street, Slum Borough.
At that moment, Abium stood outside his house door and gazed at the dirt path with a deep frown.
'It's been more than 4 hours since they left to complete the mission. Will they mess up?' He couldn't help but get anxious inside. He knew that once his location and real identity got exposed, he had no choice but to escape.
As he was in deep thought, he suddenly saw a few hooded figures appearing from the nearby alleys and soon entered the street road. After that, they didn't delay for a moment and hurriedly ran towards him.
Although all seven men returned without a scratch on their bodies, Abium saw Darby's anxious face in the bright moonlight and frowned.
"What happened?" As the group arrived closer to him, he asked in a suppressed voice.
"We completed the mission successfully, sir. But while on our way, I encountered a strange being." Darby deliberated for a moment and continued in a trembling voice.
"We don't know what that thing is, but it made my mind go crazy." Darby quivered as if he had seen a ghost and quickly took a black-colored humanoid creature's head from his bag.
It had a small reddish horn protruding at the center of its forehead, a goblin-like face, long ears, and grey skin, and it looked gruesome.
'Lesser Imp? These creatures are infant forms of demons and would grow to become fully-fledged demons after a few transformations. But how come this lesser imp comes to this Slum?' Abium wore a troubled expression and felt puzzled inside.
'Hmm, the arrival of these lesser Imps means the Demons had already started their invasion. Although this is indeed a major problem, there is still more than one year before the large-scale invasion happens. By that time, the academic mages will be well prepared. For now, I should focus on my current mission and stop the necromancers from wreaking havoc.' Abium muttered inwardly and asked.
"It's just a lesser imp. So you don't have to worry too much about it. Anyway, did you place those sealed letters successfully?"
"Yes, boss," Darby and others nodded in unison.
A cold smile appeared on Abium's face.
"Good job."
Saying so, he quietly took out three hundred white gold coins from his spatial ring and gave them to Darby.
"This money should be more than enough to get new identities for everyone and even buy a house in the Commoners' Borough." Abium purposefully stopped talking and unsheathed his sword.
"Now, I'm going to give you two options. The first option is that you have to work for me from now on. As a bonus for choosing the first option, each will get a high-ranked cultivation technique, high-rank sword arts, and one white gold coin as a monthly salary."
"What kind of work do we have to do, Sir Jeevis?" Darby asked with a stiff tone.
Meanwhile, Abium let out a chuckle and spoke.
"All you have to do is train your body using the warrior-cultivation technique and improve your strength first. I'll give you three years. During that time, you must train non-stop and reach the realm of fifth-Tier!"
"Once you achieve that stage, I want you guys to take over this Slum Borough."
"Take control over the Slum Borough?! Sir Jeevis, it's not an easy matter-"
Before Darby could say something, Abium raised his hand and interrupted him.
"If you choose the first option, you will have to face all the gang leaders in the future. In the worst-case scenario, you might die. So, think carefully." His words instantly caused everyone's expression to pale.
They thought it was a simple mission but realized it was not!
Everyone started to think about what the second option would be. Darby and others knew controlling a slum district's street was not much of a problem. But taking over the whole Slum Borough was another matter. In truth, the Slum Borough was divided into eleven main streets, each controlled by a gang leader. Although most of them only had around fourth-tier warrior strength, they had absolute control over the masses.
But that was not the main problem.
Darby once heard of a rumor that all these gang leaders were just servants of a single leader named Underworld Lord. No one knew of that leader's real name, and he was called Dark Eye by all the thugs. As for his original strength, it was just a mystery. As he was thinking about that Underworld lord Dark Eye, Abium curled his lips upward and spoke coldly.
"As for the second option, there is none. I won't stop you guys from walking away from this mission. But the sad thing is that a friend of mine dislikes these things. Even if I tell him to leave you guys alone, he will come to your home at midnight and cut your head silently." Abium's simple words made everyone's expression stiffen up. At that moment, everyone realized that it was a direct threat!
Submit or Die!
"B-Boss, Why?" Darby stared back at Abium's eyes with a fearful look and asked with a trembling tone. All this time, he thought this new gang leader was easygoing and thought his life would improve.
But now, he realized that this guy was even worse than others!
Noticing his gaze, Abium shrugged his shoulders and silently waited for their answers.
In truth, he didn't trust these guys at all.
Although they hadn't caused him any harm, they had done many cruel things before and could betray him at any moment. The only reason he didn't kill these guys was that he needed their strength in the future. That's all.
After a short discussion, everyone realized that it was impossible to escape and nodded their head in approval.
Meanwhile, Abium was pleased by their response and continued to speak.
"Don't be anxious. From now on, all of you will be working under Lilian. She will be your new boss. First, get your official identity and then move to Black Street. Then, buy a house near my own and protect the kids in the shadow. As for your mission about taking over the Slum Borough, Lillian will tell you guys about that later." As he said those words, Abium quickly turned around and entered the house.