Chapter 162: Necromancer
Ken walked into a large building in the middle of the night. It belonged to a mercenary group that had long taken over that town. Nothing was done about them simply because they helped the town rather than destroyed it, but they also made it clear that if anyone came for them inside the town, the people would all suffer for it.
They were known as the Black Cobra, an elite mercenary group that only took the best of the best missions around.
Ken had reached out to them a few days prior and informed them that he would be arriving.
He walked in as if the place belonged to him. Without a hint of fear in him. The very moment he passed the door, he saw a ton of mercenaries scattered around, all wearing the unique black uniform of their group. They all gave him a quick up-and-down look before they turned to whatever they were doing. A few were just handling a few tasks, some playing games, and others simply talking.
He made it halfway through the door before a man walked up to him, sleek black hair that flowed to his back, a very lean body, and no weapon.
"The boss is ready for you. Come with me," he said and turned around. He headed for the stairs, his boots sounding like wood against the wooden floors. Ken watched him for a few seconds before proceeding himself, following behind as they headed up the stairs.
"The boss said you would be our biggest client this year, hunting a dragon and all that," the man spoke as they climbed.
"The dragon is mine. Your job is to take down everyone else."
"And you believe you alone can take down this dragon?" the man asked.
"That’s not a problem for you to be worried about. I’ll handle what I need to handle, and you just handle what you are paid for," Ken said.
"Tch, we’ll make sure you pay us completely before you go die in the hands of a dragon," he said and faced his front. "Stupid," he cursed under his breath. Ken heard that but said nothing.
They arrived at the top floor. There were a few rooms there, but the man led them down the hall to the one at the very end. On the wooden walls, a lot of monster heads were hung on wooden plaques as some sort of trophy. Ken found himself looking at them.
Some of the monsters looked to be highly evolved monsters, and somehow they got killed by the Black Cobra, a show of their strength and skill.
The man stood in front of the door, raised his hands, and gave two solid knocks on the door. He waited for a few seconds. There was no response, but he proceeded to open the door, pushing it open slowly and standing to the side for Ken to walk in.
Ken did not hesitate. He walked into the room, and the man followed behind him.
It was a lounge, lit by a few candles, scented like weed and sin. The boss sat down on the large couch with two women by his side, each one clinging to him like wet towels, acting like sirens that needed to hypnotize him with their body movements.
He was busy grinding something inside a small wooden box. Then he took it out and poured the contents inside his pipe. He took a lighter and lit it, drew a deep one, and then let out a cloud of smoke.
He was a pretty standard man when it came to size, but his muscles were tense under the short sorcerer shirts that he wore, his well-built chest showing because he refused to button up, covered in hair, but even the hair could not hide the large scar on his chest.
He had an eyepatch on one eye. Parts of the scar showed at the edges of the patch. Whatever had injured him was definitely something deadly.
He looked at Ken and cracked a smile. He leaned forward, which forced the hands of the women off his body.
"Mr. Ken, nice of you to meet right on time," he said, his voice deep, but not overly heavy.
"The carriag..."
"Wait, please have a seat first. We are gentlemen, we cannot have our talks while standing," the boss said and signaled to the chair that was there.
Ken looked at the chair, then walked over there. He sat down calmly and looked at the boss.
"Can we get to it now? We have until morning."
"Tch, clients always in a rush. Don’t worry, we have everything set up to make sure that your attack succeeds.
I even got my hands on someone pretty interesting that is willing to help," he said with a smile and then leaned back into the chair.
Ken raised his brow. He did not know they were adding anyone else, so when he heard this, he was a bit shocked.
"Who is that?"
"A friend of mine from way back. She is a necromancer, and she is of the peak of the sixth-star realm. Well, that was where she was back when we still knew each other. It’s been over ten years, and she could be far ahead.
I came across her a few days back, and we got to catching up. She is willing to help me out here, especially when she heard that there was a dragon involved. She wants to have her hands in one."
"I have stated that the dragon belongs to me," Ken said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that already, but after you have killed it, she is willing to strike a deal with you in order to get her hands on his corpse," he explained.
"Tch, fine. She can do whatever, as long as she helps us out properly. I do not have an issue with that at all," Ken agreed with no issue.
"Great, then everything is already set up."