I Became A Zompirewolf

Chapter 161 – Foul Play (1)

The next day Ashton left for the guild as soon as the sun was up. He wanted to claim his rewards as soon as he could. Well, at least that's what anyone who'd see him would think. But in reality, he simply wanted to know who these people were that had been hiding in the shadows trying to get rid of him. 

Mera was nowhere to be seen around him, neither did he have an escort like before. He was just a random kid walking through the streets of Deja. Upon entering the guild, he was immediately guided to Markus's office as usual. 

"We are sorry to learn about your loss in the dungeon. Seven was a great soldier." Markus shook Ashton's hands before getting down to business, "Your rewards seem to be quite peculiar. We got the gears and weapons as it was mentioned, along with this letter. Obviously, we did not open the letter as it was marked confidential."

Markus then snapped his fingers and the mentioned gears and weapons were immediately laid out in front of Ashton. Who immediately checked whether they were real or counterfeit. To his surprise, the gears were indeed genuine.

Although none of them was eyecatching, it was enough to make Ashton look at them twice. 

'Looks like they do not want me to get suspicious about them, therefore they sent actually weapons and not some fake ones.' Ashton thought before storing them all in the inventory, 'Little do they know I'm already on their asses. But for now, I better keep my mouth shut.'

"This should conclude the request that was made. The request has been officially closed now." Markus said, his voice sounding weirdly formal, "Thank you for your hard work."

For a moment Ashton wanted to ask about the change in Markus's tone but ultimately decided against it. The man must have lots of matters to give him tension. Also, it was none of his business to pester around with someone whom he barely talked to.

Once he was out of the guild building, he opened the letter. Inside there were coordinates to a place. Just like the mistress had thought. The enemy was planning to lure him to someplace where no one would be able to hear his cries for help. Sadly for them, it was going to be their doom and not his. 

He pocketed the letter and headed to the above-mentioned place. The coordinates led him to a travel portal that was already registered under his name for one-time use. After a quick verification with the guard stationed there, Ashton was able to jump right in. 

'An intelligent move to get me to travel through a portal. Since only registered members are allowed to travel through it, they would eliminate the possibility of someone else coming to my aid.'

Although Ashton was heading straight into the lion's den, he could not help but admire the thinking those bastards had put in just to get rid of him. Donovan, for the love of his life, could not have come up with such an elaborate plan nor would he have the resources. Someone had to be helping him from the shadows.

As soon as Ashton stepped out of the portal, he found himself inside some sort of old building. Nature had taken over the structure with moss and wild vines growing from every part. Upon further inspection, Ashton realised that the design and the make of the place was unlike anything he had seen before. 

He didn't know why but the building did not seem to be made by the werewolves. After all, the building appeared to be more of a bunker than anything else and what would the werewolves need a bunker for? On top of that, a bunker that was made to keep things out… especially mutated creatures… like the werewolves.

As Ashton kept wandering around the place, he came around some blurred illustrations followed by instructions on what to do when under attack by a werewolf. The half-eroded picture made it clear that this place was made by humans.

"Humans made this bunker? But why would someone invite me over to this place?" Ashton was completely clueless as to what was going on. 

He tried to make sense of everything, but couldn't. Yet one thing was clear… he was far away from Deja and it was safe to assume no one was coming to save his butt.

Not that he needed anyone to do it, but it would have been reassuring to know there was someone behind him, should things go south. 

"A beautiful place, isn't it?"

Suddenly a voice echoed through the dark corridors. Ashton immediately assumed battle stance, thinking someone was around him.

"Don't worry, none of us will attack you. After all, none of us is there to do so." The voice continued, "But it seems to be a good thing that you're here now. There's a lot you need to understand. But first, let's test you out, shall we?"

"I have nothing to show or tell to a coward." Ashton retorted, "Hiding in the shadows against one kid? You seem to think too highly of me. Or maybe someone overexaggerated my capabilities. Maybe someone named Donovan?"

"Interesting… very interesting…" The electronic voice chuckled, "It seems you are not as foolish as we thought. But it doesn't matter. If you'd like for us to answer any questions, then come find us. Before we find you…"

With that last word out of the speakers, static noise filled the dark hallways. The sound itself was highly irritating and almost too distracting. 

"First my vision, and now my hearing… these sly bastards are really pulling all the stops aren't they?" Ashton sighed and took out his blades, "Test my skills eh? Let's see how you'll like it when I rip your hearts out and juggle them with my foot. That's a skill too."

***

Meanwhile back in Deja…

"Let me know of the coordinates this instant!" Mera screamed her lungs out at the guard stationed next to the portal Ashton had gone into.

The same thing had been going on for a couple of minutes but the guard wasn't ready to budge. Not because he didn't know where the portal led to, but because the life of his family depended on it. 

Just yesterday, the guard's family had been taken hostage by some anonymous people. All that was left behind was an envelope with the details of his job written inside. If he wanted to save his family, he had to do as he was told to. 

The coordinates of the portal were already set by the time he arrived for duty. The only thing he had to do was wait for someone known as Ashton to get inside the portal and then delete the coordinates so that no one could follow him through.

He couldn't help Mera because he simply didn't know where the kid had gone to. But that was not the answer someone like Mera would entertain. Her temperament was slowly getting the better of her. But she knew, getting angry on the guard wouldn't solve the issue at hand. 

"You're not gonna talk, are you?" Mera asked the guard for the last time, to which the guard remained unresponsive just like before. 

The moment Mera yanked the guard's neck and kicked him right in the chest, breaking several ribs. The guard screamed before curling up on the ground like a ball, desperately gasping for air as the mistress still had her hands wrapped around his neck. 

"So you can talk." Mera whispered into the guard's ears as her own bodyguards stood there like statues, "Then talk before I shatter your spine next. Where did the kid go to? It better an answer I would want to hear or else…"

"I-I don't know! I never got to see the coordinates!" The guard blurted out in a muffled voice, "They kidnapped my wife and kids… I had no choice! If I didn't do as they told me through a note, they would have killed them!"

"hand over the note, NOW!" Mera yelled once again after kicking the man away. 

"I-I can't! They'll kill my family if I did-"

"If you don't then I'll kill you, fcking moron! Hand me the note THIS INSTANT!"

The guard was stunned into silence. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He wanted to see his family one more time, but if he didn't hand the note to the woman, she would most definitely kill him. He was doomed whether he gave the note away or not.

Roughly 10 seconds had passed, when the guard decided to give Mera the note. If he wasn't going to see his family regardless, he could at least do a good deed. He gave up the note and decided to wait for a month. If he couldn't find his family by the end of it, he would… kill himself and hope he'll be reunited with his family in the afterlife. 

Mera only took a look at the note and immediately realised who was behind it. Her guess was correct, it was Donovan. At least he was the one who had written the note. She could recognise his handwriting anywhere.

But there was something else… a black rose was printed at the lower edge of the note. The symbol of royalty. 

"Get to the castle!"