18 (XVIII) the one called 'Wasp'

Mark made his way to the tavern blending with the shadows remaining undetected by everyone there... well except for Alicia who gave a stern look towards his direction then whispered.

"she's in the same room you guys were in before, if you got a message for her make it quick"

All while holding a thumb towards the direction of the second floor.

Mark was thankful so he hastily reached the room to see the weakened girl asleep as if just suffered from a nightmare as her face quivered miserably.

Mark raises a hand for a bit only to retract it as his weakness led to her getting hurt so easily, biting his illusionary lower lip in frustration, he looked to the dresser to see that Alicia had prepared things for him as there was a fountain pen and a blank paper there for him to leave a message for Remishia.

while it pained him he didn't have any choice in the matter as should he take her with him as she is now it is only asking to get the girl killed.

so after writing the letter Mark blended with the shadows again.

When Mark reached Alicia again he was going to make another selfish request but her words made him smile at first then stumble at the end as he was about to leave.

"Don't worry she can stay here as long as she likes, but it's going to be on your tab!"

Mark was rather speechless but this was somewhat understandable with her next words.

"what do you expect? I am running a business here!"

Mark sighed helplessly before placing all of the coins that he had hoping to lessen the possible future tab as much as possible before leaving silently as Alicia laughed boisterously before thanking him then left a warning.

"thank you for your patronage! and you better come back for her or I'll hunt you down myself!"

Mark smiled sheepishly as he left while still within the shadows.

A pair of compounded eyes seemed to lock on to him as soon as he exited the tavern following Walter as he quickly left the city.

The one spying on Mark was a wasp that flew back to the tallest building and at the rooftop, it landed on the hand a hunched-over individual covered in a large robe as the wasp buzzed about as if explaining every little detail that happened within the city as the person had a smirk on his face as he ordered his men.

"well boyzz, Our MiZZter Damien'zz quarry izz finally on the move!"

the person that spoke, the top part of his head looked more like an insect while the lower half looked human-like as his hand was covered in an exoskeleton and able to communicate with any insect thanks to his skill "arthropod" it may seem simple, however, it allows the user to imitate all of the abilities that insects are capable of to a certain degree with limitations of course.

His job was simple which was to track down and hunt any monster similar to Mark!

The higher the rank the better!

all of them were either B or A Ranked adventurers that numbered over 20 all specializing in reconnaissance, espionage, and assassination as the monsters similar to the bone fiend lacked speed, detection abilities, and other things that will be said later.

As he rewarded the wasp with a maggot, the others prepared themselves for a possible struggle as their target was hopefully the nesting grounds of the target's kind as it is said that they tend to stay together when injured or when a mate had been found... at least from the old reports about others before Mark.

But sadly for them, Mark doesn't have a single clue about what he is or even where the rest of his kin resided thus making their attempts futile and if they mess up they'll serve as nourishment for HIM.

one of the people in the group had a skill called "Portable base" this served to help their group stay at optimal conditions no matter where they went as the condition for the ability to work is to designate any item that could be put in a pocket and remain 100 meters of the skill user as for the little cheat that comes along with.

the person was also a priest, well, a former one at least meaning that the base can act as a hideout, and a hospital when needed!

So to keep the skill constant and exploitable they had this person stay within the base in case of any emergencies.

The humanoid Arthropod was the one to carry the mark this time as the rest entered the portable base that was in the form of a coin that he placed in his mouth as he removed his robe exposing just how similar he was to wasps as his four large wings began flapping before he flew high into the air.

It was a cloudy day, so it was difficult for those without any eye skills or anything like that to detect him.

The arthropod man was originally a common soldier under the city lord, however, thanks to his ability his fellow soldiers had 'mistaken' him a monster despite him using the skill to save them beforehand, thanks to how monstrous he looked there were countless times that he nearly died at a friend's hand, causing him to abandon his post to stay alive, but his harsh reality didn't stop there as even the family members that he held so much trust in labeled him as a freak of nature all for some coin...

so He abandoned his name, hid in the slums until Damien the only person to ever treated him humanely after that made him devote his life to him, as this man helped him get his life straightened out, get revenge, on the soldiers, on the greedy family members, everyone that treated him like shit!

Thus he took the humble name 'Wasp' as he hid in the shadows of the city thanks to how little love he had for people while acting as one of the five eyes under his M̷͚̬̈́͋̆͒͒̽̚͠a̶̢̖͔̻͉̱̱̤̻̿̔S̴̝̖̟̘͆ţ̵̤̝̞͔̱̔̈́̓̋͗̀̈͝Ê̴̫̥̲̂̋̑͘r̵̪̭͕͐̏͒̔!̶͖̤̎͗̾͛̄́

As Master Damien, for Wasp, was his light in this atrocious world, so there were only a few things that he wouldn't do for him as Damien provided everything he needed from a home to willing(?) women to incubate his young. (A/N yes while he was in an Arthropod form, so you can imagine their ending afterward.)

Which is why now, as Wasp was making his way to follow the clueless Mark, the 'Incubators' he had prepared beforehand hidden outside the walls all screamed agonizingly as the bugs within them ate them inside out ravenously, however, they are unable to do anything thanks to the paralytic poison that rendered them immobile some died from the pain, some from blood loss, and the lucky(?) few broke mentally from the experience, regardless each one became the meal of hundreds of wasps as they followed their father as a swarm!