"Thank you, Kieran," Reign said, standing and carefully tucking the documents into his coat. "Your advice is appreciated."
With a nod, Reign left the auction house, his mind racing. The pieces were starting to come together, and the documents in his possession could be the key to finally cornering Nicholas. As he walked back to their base, he went over the information in his head, already planning their next move.
Upon his return, Reign called an emergency meeting. The team assembled quickly, sensing the urgency in his demeanor.
"I've got news," Reign began, placing the documents on the table. "Kieran's brokers found some leads, Nicholas has been using multiple aliases and moving across different regions."
"His face is often described as having a strange distortion—like a barely noticeable disturbance, that tipped them off and they managed to notice that it was him."
The team leaned in, examining the documents. Wolf was the first to speak. "This confirms what we suspected, Nicholas is constantly on the move, changing his identity to avoid detection."
"Yes," Mia added, tracing a line on the map that marked Nicholas's movements. "But these locations form a pattern, he's been visiting towns and cities in a specific sequence."
Shadow nodded. "He's methodical."
"This could be his attempt to cover his tracks, but it's also his weakness, we can predict his next move."
Jin, who had been silent, spoke up. "We need to cross-reference these locations with the regions, and we need to find out more places that he had visited, that is the only way to learn the pattern."
"If we can anticipate his next stop, we can set a trap."
"Agreed," Reign said. "Mia and Shadow, you continue gathering intel."
"Wolf, coordinate with your father's network to monitor these locations, I know that the people he employed are far away from these regions and it will be nearly impossible for them to do so, but we need to at least try."
"Beast and Uncle Jin, focus on doing what you've been doing till now, securing Doncaster and preparing for our move."
"We need to be ready to act as soon as we have a solid lead."
"That is all fine Reign, but you are forgetting something." Jin suddenly said as he walked over to Reign, suddenly headbutting him.
"You guys have done nothing in the last several days except gather information, remember what I told you, finding Nicholas is definitely important and we can't put our guard down, but you can't allow yourselves to stagnate, for your strength to stop improving now."
"You need to go hunt, to fight, to make sure that when we do find the bastard, you can capture him without major issues."
"Torkan, the specter called it a Torkan." Beast said as Tank nodded in thanks to him.
The Torkan, a massive pyramid-like structure, dominated the horizon. Its ancient stone walls loomed ominously, casting long shadows in the desert sun. The elevator, which descended into the depths of the underground desert, was located in the very center of the structure.
Reign took a deep breath, feeling the hot desert air fill his lungs. "Alright, everyone, stay close and stay alert, we don't know what we're going to find down there, we were only there for a couple of minutes the last time we went down, and we didn't have time to really explore the area." Stay tuned for updates on m-v -novelhall.net
The team nodded, their expressions serious. They descended the mountain and made their way across the desert towards the Torkan. The heat was oppressive, but they had Mia with them, who was able to use her frost ability to keep their surroundings nice and cool.
No monster was active during the day, and even if they were active, the monsters on the surface of the desert were only Tier V monsters, they were unable to go up against Reign and the others.
A couple of the faction's top teams used the desert as hunting grounds during the night in order to do the same thing Reign and the others had done, level up quickly. It was dangerous, but definitely worth it, especially since there were multiple teams present and they could all work together if one team was in danger.
The party entered the Torkan and moved forward until they reached the center, where they were greeted by the same specter as last time.
"Well, look who is back!" The specter said with a smile on his face.
"You surely did get stronger quickly, I couldn't wait to go down there and explore, huh?"
"Tell me, is there anything down there we should keep an eye out for, anything that might be dangerous, or perhaps valuable to us?" Reign asked the specter who smirked at him before shaking his head.
"I'm afraid I cannot divulge such information young man, but I will give you some advice." The specter said, his face turning a bit serious.
"Do not attempt to go too far away from the elevator, you guys are strong, but not strong enough to simply wander around the underground area, make sure to be less than a mile away from the elevator at all times, otherwise, you might find yourselves in mortal danger."
Reign and the others glanced at one another before Shadow suddenly stared at the specter.
"Wait, why didn't you tell us that the last time, we almost died!"
"No, you didn't." The specter said before chuckling.
"As for the reason I didn't tell you, well, that is quite simple."
"You were not powerful enough to wander far away from the elevator, I knew that the moment you came across any monster, you would realize just how dangerous the area was and would quickly return, so there was no reason for me to give this advice."
"Now, come on, get on the elevator and go down, the underground won't explore itself, the monsters won't kill themselves, and you won't level up and become stronger if you don't do that."