This is going to be harder than we initially thought. Though the map was a glimmer of hope in helping us through any way it can now it just stares at us blankly just another useless piece of paper. Well, those are just my thoughts because looks like the hunters in front of me were not going to be taking what we said for face value.
"And how do you expect us to trust you?" one of the twins said glaring at me. "For all we know, you can just be misguiding us into a trap."
"It is not a trap," I said and sighed. "Look you have to understand that the person captured in there is someone very dear to me and the sole reason I am here is to get her out of there. If that was not the case, I wouldn’t be in my right mind go into Dominic’s den knowing that I am not strong enough to beat him. We are more of the weaker bunch of this group and I know you know that too. We wouldn’t go through all this trouble for just putting you into a trap and jeopardizing this mission."
"If you are that weak, then you are nothing but just dead weights. We can just leave you here for all we care and carry on with the mission," the other one said.
The hostility from the twins didn’t go down even for a bit and it could be heard from their tone. They were still very suspicious of us and our motives in the mission but I wouldn’t blame them for it. However, if we keep quarreling like this, it won’t really get us anywhere.
"Meme, since you are the leader of this group, it’s your call. I trust what Yuna said and I also think that Dominic will not let things be so easy," I worded my thoughts. Meme looked at us pondering over the thought and let out a sigh.
"I do trust Ama so I trust you guys," Meme said leaving the twins completely silent. Looks like they won’t be going against his thoughts. "You’re lucky that I owe Ama life many times."
Now that it was going to be this way, we had to formulate a new plan. I know we have no idea what the actual layout would be and finding it out will prove to be harder than I thought. I could ask Akira to go and search it out but I don’t want to leave her on her own in there given that she is also deemed as a traitor amongst the group. Yuna would pose to be in less danger but it’s still not zero.
"Let’s not forget, he already knows we are here," I muttered and Meme looked at me raising his eyebrow asking for an explanation. "That is a hypothesis but that may be the case…"
Wait, I know why he knows we are here. I looked at Yuna with my eyes widened along with Akira and just facepalmed. How can I be so dumb? They don’t have the suit from VEO that hides your presence. I rub my eyes and just let out a sigh.
"This has to be the dumbest thing I have done," I said and looked at everyone. "Akira and Yuna here are not really wearing the suit to hide their presence which means they are already sensed by Dominic inside. If Dominic knows that they are here, he already knows that I am with them."
"And?" one of the twins said and I was confused. "You think we are going to do a sneak attack?"
"I mean, isn’t that the best course of action?" I said and all four of them started laughing. "Wait, did I say something dumb?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"PFFFFFFT!"
"Ahahaha, not really Kazuki-kun," Meme said wiping a little tear. "Well yes, there are many people who prefer going in all sneaky, it isn’t really necessary if we know what we are doing. We never planned on sneaking in."
Don’t tell me they just plan on going in head first like it’s a morning walk to them.
"This is why working with new people is fun," Meme said and slapped my back almost making me fall over. I looked at them and it definitely did not look like they were kidding. Just how much confidence do they have in them? "The "plan" thing was all a little joke we played with you."
Even the two twins were laughing hysterically as if they were having the time of their lives. They both walked towards me and put their arms around my neck. They took off their hoodies so I could see their face and they looked older than me though they were…kind of lacking in their height.
"Man, that was fun to do," one of them said and I still looked confused. "Oh don’t give me that face, just because we are S rank doesn’t mean we are absolutely strict monsters, that’s just Natsumi-sensei honestly."
"I…okay?"
After that, they just started walking and bringing us with them. I still have no idea what is going on. Are they underestimating Dominic or are they just so confident in their abilities that this is just how they do? I do say that but Hotori-san did look just as timid as she was before. I let out a sigh and just went along with them. Yuna joined Hotori-san and Akira decided to walk behind me for my safety.
"So what was the reason for this?" I asked them and Meme chuckled.
"I just saw how tense you were for this mission so I had to build up the pressure and completely break it down," Meme said. "This is the way I know how to calm people. Show them hell and bring them back to earth is how I say it. Fear not, we are a merry bunch."
"Every one of your S rank hunters is unique in your own ways I swear. And it is not in a good way," I said as I recomposed myself. Well, at least I am a bit less tense because of this so it’s not half bad.
"Thanks, bro," the other twin said. I think we are already at the point where we call each other that way."
I looked at the two twins and honestly couldn’t tell them apart. They both had shiny golden eyes and jet-black hair. Though there were some white hairs along with their black hair which don’t seem dyed did make it a bit worrying for me.
"This is just how we introduce new members to our group," Meme said showing his plain white teeth. "I remember when these two joined, we almost made them cry on their first mis- "
"SENSEI!!!" they both screamed at the top of their lungs bursting both my eardrums.
Sigh, I was getting worked up for nothing. However, I am still not too happy with how things are playing out. Just doing this won’t help us in finding and getting Ai from there. Just calm your thoughts Kazuki, now is the time to get Ai back. Though this little interaction with Meme calmed me a little but I still had only one thing in my mind.
"Ka…zu…Kun…" I heard a voice in my heard and I started frantically looking around. I knew whose voice this was. I looked around to find the place where this voice was coming from.
"Ai…" I muttered and grit my teeth. Shit, her voice sounds so weak and faint. Was worse than the last time I heard it.
Everyone looked at me with a worried look on their face and as I came to my senses, I took a deep breath and looked at everyone. They don’t understand what just happened to me, yes, I cannot get all happy and merry go lucky until I get her out of there.
"It’s nothing, sorry about that, it’s a big mission so I am a bit nervous, that’s all," I said and we continued and I clenched my fist.
"Ai-sama will be alright Kazuki-sama," I heard Akira’s voice in my ear. I looked at her and she had a reassuring look on her face. "I know you are worried about her but we will get her out of there no matter what."
"Thank you, Akira," I said with a faint smile on my face.
We finally stood before the church. Meme and Hotori-san up front, behind them were Akito and Hiroto. I and Akira were standing beside them and Yuna was right behind us. I gulped a little and took a deep breath. One of the twins pat my back reassuring me. I looked at him and smiled and looked back at the door.
BANG
The church door opened on it’s own and I could feel it again, the same dreading sensation. He is right in there. We slowly started walking in, everyone with their weapons in their hands. The more we walked, the stronger that feeling was getting and I started gripping on my scabbard really hard. I have been here before; I know what happened the last time I was here and the memories play in my head. I quickly shake them off.
Right ahead of us, there was a red glow and the door behind us shut. From the shadows, emerged the person who was the reason why we were all here.
"Welcome everyone, to my humble abode…"
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.
Dominic.
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