Chapter 207: Tracking!

The roars of the crowd slowly faded into a content hum, reverberating like the dying tremors of a great beast. The bloodlight from the execution spell still danced faintly across the arena walls, bathing everything in a dull crimson haze as the four Nightborne gladiators stood victorious.

The crowd had barely calmed before the arena announcer’s voice thundered again.

“Next match. A duel! Mid-Amethyst Rank Veterans of the Crimson Claw Mercenary Division!”

Elara’s eyes brightened again, just slightly, “Wait—we’re watching more?”

Lilian snorted softly, “It’s barely been half an hour. We’re staying.”

Albedo didn’t complain. If anything, his eyes sharpened with interest, and the next two hours passed in a whirlwind of violence and spectacle.

The first duel was a brutal clash between two blood-enchanted swordmasters, one wielding a curved blade covered in shifting runes and the other relying on agile footwork and crimson clones.

Sparks and bloody light tore across the battlefield, each strike accompanied by the rumble of shifting stone.

Then came a coordinated battle between a team of five armored warriors and a massive obsidian serpent with six eyes that could fire beams of condensed malice. Elara practically shrieked when the serpent shattered half the arena wall with a single strike.

Lilian simply smirked.

The final match was less… structured.

A beast that with a shadow-esque body and wearing a horned skull like a mask, was unleashed on a trio of contestants. Its movements were jerky, its form constantly warping in and out of physicality.

Even Albedo’s eyes narrowed when its presence pulsed unnaturally, whispering faint static against the glass. The fight ended when the contestants detonated a synchronized blood-burst formation that blew the creature into chunks of dissolving shadow.

Albedo had quickly realized that while they battles were ’tagged’ as Gladiator Fights, their true purpose was almost to certainly show off and ’flex’ the power of the various Vampires throughout the City.

Especially the Nobles or Vampires with Influence. If Albedo saw correctly, every single team that appeared in these Gladiator Battles had at least one Noble, or someone with a high status originating from a Hunting Group or Merchant Family.

Still, he didn’t comment on it, and eventually, with the last match concluded and the crowd beginning to thin, Lilian rose with a slow stretch, “That was enough entertainment for today. I’m heading back to the hotel.”

Elara practically jumped to her feet, “Yes. Yes please. Soft bed. No more blood explosions.”

Lilian rolled her eyes but didn’t disagree.

Albedo stood as well, calm, composed, unaffected. Unlike the other two, he wasn’t tired in the slightest.

“You two go ahead,” he said, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I’m going to walk around the city a bit.”

Lilian paused at the doorway, her red eyes studying him.

“Don’t cause trouble,” she said lightly.

“I never cause trouble,” Albedo replied.

Elara scoffed so loudly Lilian nearly choked on her laugh.

“Right,” Lilian said. “And I’m a humble baker.”

“Have fun then,” Albedo said, waving them off.

He stepped out of the VIP suite, down the obsidian staircase, and into the dimly lit streets. Despite it being late, the streets were still booming, as everyone walked around.

The city breathed differently at night and Albedo walked through the streets, greeted by a warm breeze with the smell of iron, roasted monster meat, and the sweet perfume of bloodfruit liquor drifting from various tavern doors.

The crimson lanterns lining the avenues cast elongated shadows across his face, painting him in sporadic patterns of dark and light as he walked.

For a moment, Albedo simply enjoyed the ambiance. Compared to the arena, a storm of violence, tension, and ceaseless cheering, the city streets felt strangely serene. There were still crowds, but their noise formed more of a gentle thrum than a chaotic roar.

As he was walking around, Albedo spotting Fade leading the other Elves back towards the Hotel from the opposite side of the street.

Albedo raised a hand in a small wave and Fade noticed instantly, tipping her chin at him.

“Night breeze suits you, Albedo,” she called softly with a small, rare smirk before turning back to wrangle her exhausted students.

In a few seconds, the group slipped around the bend toward the central district, Fade disappearing behind the soft glow of elven runes.

Albedo continued on, eventually stopping by a stall and buying some roasted monster meat pierced through on a stake, walking through the city while taking bites out of it, noticing the atmosphere changing as he left the vendor area.

The crowds becoming sparser and the shadows stretching longer. The distant hum of late-night festivities faded into soft murmurs carried by the breeze.

Albedo kept a steady pace, hands still in his pockets, eyes relaxed yet quietly observant. He wasn’t aimlessly wandering, he was learning the city, tracing its heartbeat, mapping its alleys and sensing the flows of mana that ran beneath its foundation.

The city was powerful and cool, but he could also tell it was watching him. He felt the first pair of eyes less than ten minutes after parting ways with Fade.

A faint prickle against the back of his neck.

It wasn’t killing intent nor did he feel any hostility, it was just observation.

Three figures, no, four of them, keeping to the rooftops. Cloaked in blood-concealing artifacts, subtle but not subtle enough, especially with Albedo’s Source Code.

“Persistent,” Albedo murmured under his breath, turning a corner into a narrower street lined with shuttered shops and floating crimson lamps.

The presence didn’t fade as he continued to walk through the city, if anything, it grew more numerous.

Now, it was about eight of them, maybe even nine. Shadows shifted between chimneys and balconies. Soft scuttling noises barely audible even to trained ears.

They were very cautious and professional, but Albedo felt none of the tension an ordinary victim would feel. The night breeze was cool. His steps stayed unhurried. The city lanterns bathed the street in warm crimson tones, and for a moment, he let himself enjoy it.

He stopped near a closed apothecary, pretending to study the faded runes etched into its front sign.

Behind him, the air moved.

A faint displacement, almost silent, almost perfect.

More figures converging. They weren’t ready to attack. They were just tailing him.

As he resumed walking, his mana spread thinly around him, like a translucent veil. A subtle pulse, delicate as a spider’s thread, reached out, brushing against the distant rooftops.

And in that contact, brief and unnoticeable to anyone but him, he left a mark, just a tracking band. A sliver of his mana, woven in the subtlest fractal pattern. Almost invisible. Completely undetectable unless one used a spell strong enough to alert every Vampire Noble within a mile.

The watchers didn’t notice and they kept following him a little longer, and then, one by one, their presences flickered and vanished into the darkness, retreating back into whatever organization had sent them.

Albedo paused at the end of the street, glancing up at the wide moon partially obscured by drifting red clouds.

His smile widened as the moment the last presence vanished, Albedo let the pulse of his lingering mana threads unfurl through the city like invisible ripples across dark water.

Almost immediately, he felt them. Nine signatures, barely distinguishable from the night itself, streaking silently across rooftops and slipping through narrow alleys with the precision of trained predators.

But their destination wasn’t random. They moved with purpose, toward the northern quadrant of the city.

Albedo narrowed his eyes slightly.

That area was blocked off on every map he’d seen. Dense fortifications. Sealed streets. No taverns, no shops, no public paths.

Even the blood lanterns were dimmer there, replaced by cold, regulated spell-torches. The moment one passed the threshold, surveillance magic thickened like a second atmosphere.

A restricted zone, one of the places Lilian & Ysvara had warned them about going around, it seemed the people tracking him had a-lot of influence in this city.

Albedo watched the threads in his mind grow faint as the trackers slipped deeper, their signatures being muffled by layered barriers and spiritual wards.

A chuckle escaped him.

“So that’s where you scurried off to…”

He took another bite of roasted monster meat, savoring the rich, smoky flavor as he leaned back slightly against the apothecary’s old stone wall. The night breeze tugged at his hair, carrying hints of blood-scent and distant music.

Whatever waited in that zone, whoever sent those watchers, wasn’t going anywhere.

And after today’s spectacle, after the nobles flaunting their power in the arena, after the crowd roaring over bloodsports and displays of dominance… Albedo had a fairly good idea what kind of people would be interested in him.

But there was no rush. He dusted off his hands, finishing the last bit of the snack before tossing the wooden skewer aside.

“Tomorrow,” he murmured, rolling his shoulders once as he turned back toward the livelier district. “Let them feel safe for one more night.”

The moonlight glinted along his eyes as he walked away, calm and utterly unbothered.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep