Chapter 402 C402. Nine
—Underneath the capital city of the Floato region.
A strange-looking group blended into the darkness.
They were all outfitted differently, without any sense of regimentation or unity. The closest thing to them would probably be Hunters or mercenaries.
However, in contrast to those groups, the quality of their outfits was leagues beyond anything a normal Hunter or mercenary could afford.
Leading the group was a tall muscularly built demon— who, while contrary to his build and appearance, was dressed in a finely tailored suit, a classy top hat adorned his head and fingers, decorated by several jewels, held onto an expertly carved wooden cane with a Victorian style solid gem dragon head handle.
Behind him stood four figures, the first was of an dapper-looking demon and a lady in a gauzy cotton outfit that seemed ill-suited for battle.
She had a slightly pink skin tone and two red horns protruding from the sides of her head, with a pair of bat-like wings gently flapping on her lower back. It was safe to say she was a succubus and the man beside her, an incubus.
Further behind them was a robed person whose face was hidden behind the darkness of his hood and finally, a naked furred lady manned the rear.
The group was looking at an opened door through the walls of the underground tunnels. The room beyond was pitch-dark, and they sensed that any previous occupants were long gone. A look around did not turn up anyone else.
This was quite a strange situation. Indeed, the base should have been stripped bare and everything within it, taken to a guard post. That said, someone ought to have been posted to stand watch, even if the place was empty.
In fact, if one looked along the otherwise empty tunnel, one would be able to see signal fires where the night watch would have been stationed as there were no magic lamps working in this abandoned tunnel.
Yet, there was nobody here. That was because this group had used their influence to temporarily get rid of the sentries rather than outright killing them and drawing attention to their arrival.
However, this was not something they should've had to do as their operations in this city should've been kept top secret, so what the hell happened here!?
The largely built demon that led the group — known only by his code name Nine — slammed his cane into the ground as it dug into the hard concrete as though it was made of dirt, creating web-like cracks on the ground as he glared fiercely at the gutted base and growled:
"What kind of sick joke is this? What the hell is Number 10 doing? I even lent her 16 for assistance, but to think this place was taken down so easily, not to mention our secret operations have been discovered by the Jaxith family and our supply of Mana shards has been cut off!... What a joke."
Sneering laughter came from behind him. Nine turned and fixed the source of that laughter with a razor-sharp gaze, his aura flaring uncontrollably.
The woman in cotton knew Nine's personality rather well, so she hurriedly spoke while shrugging.
"Ah, well... How do you want to handle this situation? Should we find and kill Number 10, since she got captured? I doubt the enemy would've killed her yet. Capturing a high-ranked member of Numbers must be their wet dream. None of us here are rogues or assassins but I'm sure we can request for a unit pretty quickly... what do you think?"
"There's no need for that. Sure, even someone as weak as her still has some uses so I'll just have one of the elders locate and release her for us... we'll just have to retrieve that list from the hidden safe, there's no way the city knights have found it yet."
"How about the crates of Mana shards taken from that Lord's mansion? Without that, the production of Blue will be significantly affected. That's millions of DC's in losses." The incubus asked and Nine furrowed his brows as he spoke.
"Unfortunately, we'll have to accept the losses for now. There is only one other mine in the world that produces Mana shards, we can't afford to compromise this one by acting too rashly. I'm sure the Jaxith family will cover this mess for us. How about the slaves? I heard the guards took them but all the dark elves are missing?"
"Information on that front has not come in yet. The knights did not find any slaves in that Viscount mansion which was strange but the dark elves used in the underground brothel here disappeared without a trace as well. There may be a rogue Dark elves operating secretly from the shadows and using the chaos to their advantage."
The voice from under the robe was low and crisped with an ethereal undertone that subconsciously infused those who hears it with a sense of calm.
"They might even be the reason for this mess to begin with. We did a great job of hiding out actions from the royals so this was strange. To think a mere dark elf would go against us, I'll definitely rip their head off once I find them."
"That's impossible. Even with their natural racial abilities, a mere dark elf cannot achieve such a feat!"
"What I can't understand is why the Single Digits accepted such a ridiculous request from a common third-rate Viscount."
"That third-rate Viscount was the gateway to expanding our influence to the east, a single dark elf was,— hmm..."
"Huh? What's wrong!"
"I just remembered something, wasn't the emissary from the Darknar region said to be a dark elf formerly from the Alcar family?"
"I believe so, wait, you don't mean...?"
The incubus shrugged in response to Nine's spiel. They could finally understand how such a mess could be made by a single dark elf after putting everything into consideration.
"In any case, we'll investigate this matter later on. Even if we've cleared out the guards around this place, we still can't linger here indefinitely. We should probably head for the hidden vault and retrieve the list. Still, whoever killed Number 16 must've been pretty skilled, looks like a clean cut from behind. He didn't even sense them."
"It must've been that man with the 5th Princess, he's the only one in this city capable of this even though this is still a little surprising."
All eyes went to Nine's body and he continued.
"Well, 16 was lazy and unskilled, relying on just his innate ability was his downfall, even Number 10 was slightly stronger than him."
"—That guy, Blane was it? That's still impressive even if his strength is nothing to worry about. If I remember correctly, he also has a connection with the Brimstone family. Hmm... With two of the five Greats running interference with us, it really makes this more complicated than it should be."
Nine walked by the pool of blood where 16's body must've been and sighed. He then continued walking deeper into the base as the others followed behind.
The incubus spoke up, somewhat lamely:
"You know you can't judge strength by comparing it to yours. All the Single Digits are borderline Demigods so strength like ours might not seem much to you. Either way, should we investigate why this Blane is working for that bitch?"
"No need, just because 16 lost doesn't mean that guy was strong, only means he has pretty decent assassination techniques."
There was an undercurrent of mockery in the robed person's voice.
"Well, both Number 10 and 16 are far weaker than us. None of us wanted the responsibility of ranking directly under the Single Digits so, understandably, they both have glaring weaknesses."
He was answered by several chuckles. This was both a sign of approval and a sign of mockery for those weaker than themselves.
"We've said everything that needs to be said. I'll ask again — what should we do? Shall we pull back after retrieving the list? I don't think clashing with our opponent will be worth the potential losses?"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Nine's words were laced with an anger that he could not completely suppress as the ground quaked under his steps.
"We are Numbers. Just because this place is far from our base of operation doesn't mean we can allow anyone to tarnish it. Fuck the losses. We'll make an example out of everyone that attacked this place. Get ready, Thirteen."
The robed man chuckled as he stretched forth his arm. Said arm was translucent while emitting a faint light that attracted nature's essence to gather gently around any exposed and almost translucent skin.
"'Number 15."
The naked furred lady shrugged her shoulders as her claws tore through the reinforced walls of the base like paper as they continued walking down the hall.
"And you, Number 14."
The cotton-clad succubus dipped her head elegantly, as her bat-like wings flapped in excitement.
"'Number 12."
The incubus clicked his heels together with a resounding report.
"As your boss, one of the Single Digits known as Abyss swords, Nine, we shall begin our hunt!"
The people around him nodded to show their agreement and understanding.
"First, we'll find and free Number 10 and question her before retrieving the hourglass. After that... we'll use the stopped hour to retrieve the stolen crates of Mana shards as well as capture all the attackers including that god-damned emissary and make them suffer for this!"
Everyone smiled sinisterly as they felt the pure unadulterated rage flowing out of Nine as he made his declaration. There was a reason he was amongst the highest-ranked members in the organization known as the Single Digits.
None of them doubted his words as they were clearly aware of how truly terrifying the difference between a Single Digit and a Double even when their ranks were only a single number apart.
Everyone here knew just how strong Nine was. In fact, they were all already stronger than the one known as Number 10 but chose to remain at a lower rank for various personal reasons.
Yet, Nine was still several-fold stronger than they were and even the Elders in this region were no match for him.
However—
"Curious, how exactly do you plan on making me pay for my before his eyes.
A dark figure had appeared behind them and a pair of bloody crimes? Hehehe... I'm truly dying to find out~."
That voice could not have originated from more than a few meters away yet none of them had sensed any presence approach them which sent alarms ringing in their heads and everyone hastily drawing their weapons in a desperate attempt to prepare themselves.
Even Nine furrowed his brows as he turned his head around to trace where that voice had originated from. If even he had failed to sense an enemy approach then it must've been a skilled assassin. Or at least, someone in possession of a magic artifact.
His gaze narrowed in a glare as he stared daggers at the scene before his eyes.
A dark figure had appeared behind them and a pair of bloody daggers were currently protruding from the neck and heart of the naked furred lady who had been
unable to avoid that attack as the blade was silently pulled out and her now lifeless body dropped to the ground.
"Number 15!?"
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