172 Alpha Black! (1/2)

”Show the way,” Ozul said to Mark, who began to lead the way again.

As they passed by the streets, Ozul sensed people of various power levels. This town had become a place specifically regulated for all the shady business. No one minded each other's presence and hurriedly moved about for their work.

Mark brought them to the other end of the town. There was a tall building on a busy street, but there was only a shabby counter at the front entrance.

Ozul saw no one entering the building, but some people occasionally passed by the counter. Those few only did a little chit chat with the man standing behind the bar in shadow before walking away in a hurry.

”Is this it?” Ozul pointed towards it, but Mark made a difficult expression on his face.

”Y-yeah... kind of,”

Ozul nodded his head in understanding. Mark was probably not allowed to tell so much, but he wasn't keen on knowing this either, so he let it go.

The trio walked towards the counter before Mark and Cyril approached the counter.

The man behind the counter had his face hidden because of the shadow, but it wasn't hard for the trio to see his expressionless face, smoking.

Cyril and Mark showed the tattoo hidden on their neck to the man, who stopped smoking, and hurriedly stood up straight.

”Cough, Any orders, sir?” the man asked after clearing his voice.

”Signal for protocol 1, and inform about arrival with a guest,” Cyril said in a deep voice. His demeanor was completely different from before.

This was the change in his attitude before a Rank-9 Mage and someone else.

”... I placed the signal, anything else?” the man gulped before he gave an affirmation.

The duo walked away without answering. The man behind the counter, however, did not feel insulted about it. He was just happy that he had survived talking with these two monsters just now.

After doing the talk in codes, Mark led Ozul to the center of the town.

Even when almost every street of the town was crowded, this area was surprisingly a little empty. Only a few would randomly stumble upon this place before quickly walking away.

Mark stopped in front of a shabby property. Ozul stopped behind him, letting him do whatever he wanted to. They waited for a couple of seconds, staring at the empty air.

Though he did sense something unusual, he could not quite put his finger on it.

But in the next second, he got his answer as suddenly something shook in the air. He could see a glimpse of something like a tall building in the air, but it was only for a moment before it turned back to the clear sky.

A tall building came into his view in the place of the previous shabby single-story one. Ozul realized that it was probably the work of some advanced formations since even he had been deceived with this.

'I should study more about these formations...' Ozul decided to search for the formations in the future as well.

There weren't many people who could cause him trouble, but these simple formations that he ignored before now seemed to be quite crafty.

There was this huge tower built in the dead center of the town, and no one was aware of it! This formation was indeed useful.

Ozul looked at the stylish interior, which was made with a combination of black and red polished stone.

Mark and Cyril walked inside as Ozul followed right after.

As they walked inside, Ozul saw men and women alike in a whole different atmosphere. This ground floor seemed to be the lounge of sorts as many of them were chilling around as well.

Ozul noticed that all of them had varying clothing. Some were dressed in fancy clothes while others wore something as casual as it could get. Overall, it was almost like the mercenary guild but more secretive.

Most of them minded their own business at their arrival, but a few women ended up glancing at them. Just then, gasps started to resound in the area as people began to whisper while looking at the trio.

”No way! They really are the Alpha Black tattoos!”

”What is that?”

”Heh, I forgot you are new. Alpha Black tattoos represent the highest rank here!”

”Both of them are together. Does that mean...”

”Do you think they are the fire and water duo?!”

”Hey! Don't say it so casually...”

. . .