The four of them were now standing in a room, all somewhat close. They had traveled to a nearby inn where they continued to hold their conversation in private.
Mary was peering out the window, looking out in case of danger while Ashur and John were conversing in the middle of the room; Mr. Meyers stood beside them.
John nodded in understanding. "I see. So you and Mary here are two of the other three Adventurers that were hired."
"Exactly, but there's one problem…."
"What's the issue?"
Ashur released a sigh at John's question, turning to Mr. Meyers. "Unlike what you see now there were originally three of us together here in Mural Town. Me, Mary, and the 3rd adventurer you hired, Floyd."
John placed his fingers on his chin. "Let me guess. Something happened to him."
After hearing those words Mary, while continuing to keep watch outside the inn's window, spoke.
"Something like that. Floyd went out for a moment, saying he'd wait at the entrance to the town to escort you in. But it's clear by our meeting earlier that he couldn't carry that through, seeing how he wasn't with you two."
"What does that mean though?" John inquired.
Ashur started tapping his foot on the ground; having a thoughtful look on his face.
"I'm usually the type to stay positive but he's been gone for many hours so I'm fearing the worst has already happened."
John wondered if the disappearance of Loyd could have been connected to that presence he felt earlier. They were definitely dangerous, and them having a kind of ability related to combustion wouldn't have been out of the question. After all, he had sensed the same presence before the explosion that he'd felt during his fight with the thugs earlier that day.
"Ashur may I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Mr. Meyers."
"How strong would you say he was?"
Upon hearing the question Ashur looked away for a moment; seemingly gathering his thoughts before turning back to him and responding.
"Well he's at B- rank adventurer level but I'm sure he wouldn't go down without a struggle against a high B Ranker. We had worked on a couple of jobs together in the past so I know of his abilities."
"Hmm, I see. Well, I trust your judgment. If he was taken out with no one knowing then these assassins are very dangerous."
"I agree sir."
Ashur opened his mouth to continue but Mary spoke first. "May I suggest something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I'd recommend that we leave this instant."
Ashur gritted his teeth, his eyebrows were furrowed ever so slightly, indicating that while he wasn't angry he was on the road toward it. "Come on Mary, are you really down to leave one of our own?"
She turned to him, a sympathetic look on her face. "Listen I get where you're coming from. You and I grew up together so I know you better than most people. You have a strong loyalty to your comrades but in this situation, the most responsible decision would be to leave."
Ashur looked away from her, a conflicted as well as a frustrated glint in his eye. It was clear he wanted to say more but maybe he knew that she was right so he couldn't find the words to sway her words.
Seeing his silence as a sign he was reflecting on her word she continued.
"Don't forget that the last thing Floyd said was if something happened to prioritize the mission at all costs!"
Ashur cliqued his tongue, his shoulders lowering in defeat.
"You're right Mary, like always."
A lighthearted smirk grew on her face. "Got that straight. But anyways the decision is up to you, of course, Mr. Meyers. It was simply a suggestion."
"Right. Your suggestion makes the most sense for our next move. It is unfortunate that we'll have to continue without Floyd accompanying us though. I believe the best thing we could do is hope and pray that he's all right."
The three adventurers nodded in acknowledgment at his words. Despite the differences each of them held, the one thing in common was the thought running through their heads, that they would accomplish their mission no matter what.
***
A blonde-haired man with slicked-back hair was breathing heavily. His eyes darted all around but to no avail, as he couldn't see anything, it was extremely dark. He tried to move but couldn't, feeling as if he was tied down, possibly to a chair.
As a nervous sweat started to roll down his face he found himself biting down on his lip, being a feeble attempt to calm himself. He closed his eyes, since one, he couldn't see much of anything with them anyway and two, he wanted to retrace his steps on how he wound up in this situation.
The man recalled how he had tried waiting at the entrance of Mural Town to wait for his employer but he never reached his destination. Someone in a nearby alley screamed out for help and him, being the self-righteous person he was, decided he had to intervene.
To his surprise, when he tracked the source of the voice down he found a person, covered from head to toe in a black robe. They flashed a sinister smile at him and before he could catch up to the fact that it was a trap, multiple figures, clad in similar black robes appeared all around him.
Without warning they attacked him.
Despite them getting the drop on him it was very even, especially given the contrast in numbers, with it being just him against at least eight fighters. One assailant would slash at him with a blade and he would dodge, before countering with an attack of his own.
He couldn't accurately say how long their fight lasted but he assumed it was under an hour. Their fight was super tedious. It soon started feeling like more of a cycle where he would eliminate one enemy just for another to appear out of nowhere; effectively replacing the last opponent.
The last thing he remembered was sensing a presence behind him, and now he was in a strange place where he couldn't move or see much at all.
"Ow." He winced as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. The first thought in his mind was that the source of the pain was whatever knocked him out. He couldn't say for certain, but he believed he was taken down by a blunt weapon, possibly a mace or hammer based on how throbbing the pain felt. It wasn't a piercing one like he'd experienced from a bladed injury.
The slight ebb of pain also covered many other places on his body like his arm and back; as he had many bruised bones and even cuts that he retained from his lengthy duel.
"Ah, so you're finally awake."
The man shifted his head to try and look in the direction of the voice only to see a silhouette.
He couldn't fully tell where he was, but he assumed a warehouse of some kind. The air was dusty and thin, leaving little room to breathe well. It was also extremely dark, not pitch black but it was dark enough to obscure his vision for the most part.
"What do you want!?"
The person released a light chuckle at his barking. "You're a little dumb. I'd think it's pretty obvious what we want."
He thought to himself. 'I don't know where I am right now and the person speaking to me has a feminine voice, but it would be unwise to underestimate them by assuming they're a woman. I'm sure I could beat a woman in a fight if we're talking strictly physically. But depending on if they're a blessing user that's a whole different ball game. Also, they said, "we" which could mean this situation is connected to something bigger like an organization or there could simply be more people in this place that I just can't see at the moment. Trying to think of all the possibilities is making my head hurt!"
The man chuckled, attempting to seem confident. "I guess that was a dumb question. It's clear you want to kill Mr. Meyers; I was on my way to meet him after all when you stopped me. But you've made one mistake."
The kidnapper laughed, clearly unconcerned by whatever he had to say. They responded in a playful tone. "And what would that one mistake happen to be?"
"Ashur is one of the other bodyguards who were hired."
The kidnapper who had been giggling so unconcernedly stopped, then there was silence.
That's an interesting reaction. Was this information unknown to my brand-new friend? Ashur is famous across the West of Ruidrid. Over there he's known as one of the strongest fighters, and that's counting leaders of the four main houses of Ruidrid. It's been boasted how he engaged in a sparring match with Prince Westley, the son of Acrillis to a stalemate with suffering little to no injuries. He's truly powerful, so no wonder they'd be-
"Hahahaha...hahahahahaah!"
His smirk evaporated as quickly as it appeared. The laugh that was emitted by the kidnapper was maniacal, yet joyful at the same time. Once they stopped laughing, the kidnapper spoke once more.
"Here, let me show you."
A finger snap was heard and on command, candles, encased in a sort of glass container surrounding the place lit up, illuminating the dark place.
A smile appeared on his face at the realization his guess was correct; he was in a warehouse. Several boxes and tables were strewn throughout. However, his slight contentment with analyzing the situation right was completely overshadowed by the sight before him.
"W-what is that?" He questioned faintly, staring forward as sweat started falling down his face once more. His expression was blank with shock.
The thing before him was hard to describe. Its body was double the size of a grizzly bear, its appearance was lizard-like. The creature was on all fours, a couple of feet away. It glared at him, saliva dripping from its mouth.
Its aura is devilish. I've never seen a demon-beast like this!? It's so monstrous looking, with arms as big as a claymore sword; not to mention its long spiky tail.
"What is that thing!?" Despite raising his voice to sound demanding, it trembled as he was unable to mask his fear. He turned towards the kidnapper, who was nothing more than a voice previously, now in their full glory.
The person was a woman.
She was very beautiful, having deep blue hair and crystal blue eyes with freckles filling her cheeks. Her skin was very pale, not deathly so, but she clearly preferred staying inside over getting fresh air.
She was wearing a white lab coat that had two beast-like claw marks imprinted on it with red coloring in the gash. She smiled, gazing at him with softened eyes.
The look was unsettling, as such a thing had no place in this sort of situation.
"You're about to find out, B- rank adventurer Floyd Silvers." Her voice was calm and smooth sounding as if she knew everything that would soon take place.
Suddenly, his restraints snapped, and he was free to move again.
The second the ropes hit the floor, the beast, which was lying in wait, charged forward. It opened its mouth, revealing its long dagger-like teeth.
Floyd quickly scanned the room, looking for something- anything to use as a weapon and there it was. A couple of feet away was his weapon, a shortsword. He slid, scooping it off the ground in a hurry.
Floyd clenched his teeth and gripped the sword tightly, and while releasing a blood-curdling scream he mustered all his strength to release one, ultimate, slash.
"I won't die like this!!!!"
Splat
The sounds of crunching and spilling of liquid filled the vast warehouse soon after.
The woman chuckled, looking at Floyd's now dismembered corpse.
The amount of blood spilling from his body was enough to fill a small pool. All the while the creature was chewing viciously, savoring its hunt with utmost urgency.
It didn't appear to have tried against him. His slash barely pierced its skin as it chomped down, killing him instantly.
"I'll have to see how my loveable Lactle stacks against Ashur if it was able to make quick work of one of his partners."
She paused, before speaking once more. "Otis?"
The woman had been alone in the vast warehouse but once she spoke the name, that changed.
A man suddenly appeared; being bent in a half-kneeling position. He wore a white robe, covering him from head to toe. The only thing visible was his golden hair that poked out slightly from under the hood.
"Yes, Lady Yura?"
Yura turned to him. Her eyes while looking directly into his seemed distant as if she wasn't focused or engaged with the conversation at all.
"You can deploy the girl as well. As a backup, just in case my baby isn't strong enough to finish the job. Also, I'll need data sent back regardless of the outcome."
"Sounds good. I'll have to check with our boss first, however."
"Yeah yeah, that's fine."
With their consensus being reached, the man once again vanished in an instant.
"He has such an interesting blessing, that one. The power to teleport… Oh, how I'd love to run experiments…"
***
John gazed out the window with a blank expression. His mind was clear, as they had just left Mural Town. The group had tried waiting for 10 more minutes, but Floyd never showed up. They just had to resign themselves to continue without him.
John was unaffected by the decision, but the same couldn't be said for Ashur.
He was composed, showing his level of experience as well as professionalism but there was a noticeable air of frustration over him. For one, his eyebrows had been furrowed during the entire packing period, he didn't say a word of protest or complaint, however.
The current arrangement inside the carriage went like this. John was seated toward the back end of the carriage, with Mary sitting right next to him while Ashur was next to Mr. Meyers who was seated toward the front.
As the group edged further and further away from the town he looked through the back window. The many buildings and homes lingered in his vision, growing fainter and fainter as they progressed.
The carriage continued on, many minutes passing until the sights of Mural Town were just a distant memory. Their journey was going swimmingly in John's mind. Things had been pretty quiet so far and he was not one to complain about it.
Mary had a strained expression as she shot glances toward Ashur ever so often. He was sitting with his arms crossed and eyes shut. His brows still furrowed slightly. Mr. Meyers simply stared out the carriage window, his head occasionally lowering forward before shooting up once more.
It was almost amusing, seeing him constantly jerk his head back, catching himself before slipping into a deep sleep.
Some might've seen John's current situation as awkward, with no one saying a word for such a long time but John was fine with it. If anything, he preferred that, as it gave him time to organize his thoughts in peace.
'I really hope Floyd is all right. From a little of what Ashur told us while we waited a bit longer, he sounded plenty strong. Based on his feats I can gather he was probably stronger than me. Just hearing his mission completion ratio makes me seem like a novice at best when compared to his…'
All of a sudden, the carriage was brought to a halt, which brought John's inner thoughts to a halt as well.
"Sorry about the sudden stop, something's a bit further ahead in the middle of the road!"
After hearing the rider's words the three Adventurers raised their guards instinctively.
Mr. Meyers raised an eyebrow, shouting to the rider. "Do you know what that something in our path could be?"
There was a second or two of silence before the rider spoke again."Not too sure but it looks like a person, just lying there."
"Hmm." Mr. Meyer had his head down, deep in thought.
Ashur turned towards him. "I believe we should check it out. Do you approve, sir?"
There was a bit of silence before Mr. Meyer raised his head, seeming to have made a decision in his mind.
"That's fine, however, one or two of you should stay just in case."
"Of course, since this could be a trap after all. I think the best course of action is for one of us to go while two of us stay here to guard you."
John and Mary nodded silently in agreement.
"Well, with that said I'll go."
Ashur stood, turning to open the door but he couldn't; he was stopped by Mary right before he could touch the nob. She shook her head.
"That's not smart. If the enemy knows you're here, that's what they'd want you to do. I'm sure it's not a debate to say you're the strongest person here right now so your leaving would be a higher risk than either me or John going to investigate."
Ashur looked like he was about to disagree but stopped himself, sitting back down. They were now seemingly back where the conversation started.
"Don't worry, I'll go." John stood up before more conversation could be had.
Mary perked up, a glint of surprise in her eye. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay behind with Ashur? You seemed pretty determined not to leave his side, at least from how you acted back in Mural Town."
"I'm positive it's the right move. For one, I'm assuming you're a ranged fighter, right? Based on what you did back there with those chains."
"Not completely, I'm decent in close combat but if I had to choose between close and long-range, I would choose long."
"I thought so. If I went you could always support me with those chains of yours. Also, if I didn't make it, you two would just lose your weakest link."
Mary frowned and was about to respond with what would most likely be a disagreeing notion, but Ashur spoke up first.
"If that's what you analyzed then I support that plan, John."
"Thanks, Ashur."
John turned to get out of the carriage but was stopped once his arm got grabbed from behind.
He turned to see it was Ashur grabbing his arm, sporting a serious look on his face.
"There's one thing I don't support about your plan, however."
"Which is?"
"I don't support how you believe yourself to be the weakest link, thinking it wouldn't matter if we lost you. Analyzing things from the most logical perspective as you did is fine but that's only until you think of yourself as a pawn that can be sacrificed easily, that's something I don't support. If we lost you things would be much more difficult."
He released a sigh, a warm smile on his face. "Long story short I'm telling you to be careful; we need you."
John turned away giving a thumbs-up as he stepped out of the carriage. "Will do."
Now, he found himself walking down the path, all alone. The sky was starting to darken and the realization of it being close to sunset came over John. He intended to hurry with his search job, so he could be graced with the comfort of the carriage once more.
He gazed up ahead and he did indeed see a "thing" that the rider had mentioned. So, he did the proper thing of raising his guard while approaching. However, no amount of guard raising could've prepared him for what he would see. The sight made him sick.
Lying there were the remains of a man. One of the most severe injuries spotted at first glance was his face, which had many bite marks all over it.
The shape of the face, as well as the head, was disfigured, so much that the concept of that person having a normal appearance before would be too tall a task to imagine. The man was also missing limbs such as his left foot or even a whole arm. There was no blood around him however which stuck out to John as strange, and he could also see… an adventurer's card?
'Hmm, the picture shows a handsome-looking guy with blonde spiky hair, he has black eyes interesting. It says his name is…Floyd Silve-'
He jolted up instantly in a panic. He turned around towards the carriage shouting as loud as possible."It's Floyd! We're in danger this was a tra-"
In an instant, he heard a metallic whoosh sprout from behind him followed by a clunking sound.
John turned around in confusion to see a chain that was right in front of him, he also saw a cloaked figure holding a sword. The blade had been blocked by the chain which made the sound John had heard a second ago.
'Wow, Mary saved my skin just now. Looks like it was the right call to go instead of her.' He thought sheepishly.
The cloaked figure whose blade had been deflected by the sudden chain backed up warily.
John shouted out. "Thanks, Mary!" His face was slightly paler than usual, due to his understanding that without her interference he would've been done for.
He was currently, all alone, and the closest to death in a long while. Shoving his sense of unease aside, he raised his fists up toward his face, crouching into a fighting stance.
John deep down wanted to head back to the carriage immediately, but he felt that looking away from the assailant for even a second would be deadly. They snuck up on him, and even though his guard was down due to his shock at the situation, they were still fairly skilled. One thing he knew for sure was the person in front of him was at least stronger than the random thugs he'd run into previously.
"So, what do you want buddy?" John asked, his head tilted tauntingly.
"It's very simple. The death of your employer, Mr. Meyers. We were hired for a job and so we're going to do it."
The robed figure's voice was deep and raspy, the cadence he chose to speak in was labored. John couldn't detect much, if any emotion in it, giving his previous statement more validity had he said it with more gall in his voice.
"Ha, well good luck with completing your job. As long as I'm here I refuse to let you get past me!"