Dogs

Alessa's eyes blinked as she watched the unnamed man. He readily bowed down to them even if he was a witch while they were hunters. However, she had a feeling that something strange was happening to the witches these days. She even stood next to a level five turning against covens.

She only nodded. Based on Isla's briefing about the miscellaneous, this Genevieve Connor was a human and not a witch. It was the duty of the Order to save humans from the fangs of evil; that meant she had the responsibility to save this Genevieve.

Her eyes then slid towards Noah. She wondered if this man was betting on the hunter's oath to manipulate them into doing his work for him. Surely, it would be against Luca's conscience if he were to just help a witch without any kind of premise, right?

"Wanna go in first?" Noah felt the weight of Alessa's stare, and he turned to her. He watched the woman huff and walked ahead on her own, proceeding first into the wormhole the witches had made. Soon, Winona and Tabitha didn't wait for Noah to move before following their leader.

Isla and Gianna did the same, and Luca instinctively followed suit. However, he paused when he realized that Noah wasn't moving at all. He turned to him, and Noah was gazing in a different direction. There was no one else around them but the witch who opened the wormhole.

Noah's lips lifted in a smirk before turning his eyes towards Luca and the wormhole. "Sorry, someone's bothering me."

Luca only nodded and jumped into the wormhole, and Noah did the same.

The man then closed the wormhole and only stared at where it was. His smile dropped, and his brows frowned. "The other people in Montana's group… they're not witches."

"Indeed. They're hunters." A woman phased into the material, holding onto her arm as if it was aching so badly. Yvette chuckled. "Three ordinary ones, and three White Magi. No wonder he wanted to keep us out. I wonder how he could make them obey him.

"Either that… or his handler is pretty influential even to the Order."

The man only nodded and followed Yvette when she walked away. However, she paused in her steps and turned around to see someone leaning against the dark walls of the alley. Fear struck her instantly, and her heart felt like it would burst anytime soon.

She, however, was still present enough to hold her hand out to stop her agent from taking a defensive stance. Her eyes quivered, and her lips pursed into a line. She then spoke softly. "Are you here to punish us? Drawing power from Hell without the use of contracts is forbidden after all."

"No, no, please, relax." The man flashed a small grin before dropping it into a smile. His white eyes slid towards the woman who had noticed his presence. "I'm only here to investigate. You know how much I loathed those who dare overstep their boundaries."

"Even if you are here to do that, wouldn't you be breaching your own rules if you use your power now?" Yvette's eyes squinted. Like what she expected, she could only see a blurred image of him as if it was very intentional for her not to recognize his image, only his presence.

"Really? You think I would need to actually show myself?" He extended his hand down, and a black dog walked into their sight. His prominent size and scar on the left face showed, and Yvette was forced to back away instinctively. There was no presence in the dog, but she knew exactly what that meant.

The man only caressed the dog's head. "Let's agree about something, Yvette Larke." His white eyes glared and glistened in mockery. "They're already mine to play with. Don't try to poach Montana as you fit. Not only will Belphegor kill you, but I will also crush you.

"Chroma's long gone now. Even Allan Cicero wouldn't care to bargain with us."

Yvette only took a step back before turning away. "I understand." She then grabbed the man next to her and dragged him away with quick steps. However, she somehow lifted the corner of her lips as she went.

The black dog then sat down and turned to his master, his voice sounding out like a deep growl. "You do realize that the scars Randy Connor left are slowly burning off. They are still level sevens and higher. Montana wouldn't be able to stand against them."

"Funny that you think they are planning to fight him." The man shrugged his shoulders as he laughed out and walked out of sight. Only his words remained. "Don't you think it's strange for them to come out right now? My dear Pollo, have you forgotten how you propagate wrath?"

The dog's eyes blinked as he got to his feet. Since his master had given him a hint, he decided to run off and phased into the shadow. It seems like… Druid was the least of Noah's problems.

…

As he emerged from the wormhole, Noah's eyes quickly adjusted to the dark surroundings of the underground castle. Just like what the witch outside said so, they were supposed to be in the first basement level. He could barely feel the surface, and digging out would be awful without directions.

Noah then turned to the hunters next to him. Alessa was looking around the room as if she had the ability to scan her surroundings past the walls. Isla was on her netbook while Gianna was only standing on her spot with her eyes closed. The other two White Magi only waited for orders.

It didn't slip Noah's attention that they were all wearing what seemed to be goggles on their eyes. It seemed to be made of light, and yet it looked like it was made of thin, durable plastic. What's the use of those things? Noah had never seen Luca wear any of those before.

"Is this the first time you've seen protective magic?" Gianna suddenly spoke as she turned her head towards Noah, but her eyes were still closed. "It's surprising that you had never seen it before."

"What do they do?" Noah frowned, but he didn't play Gianna's snob game even if she was smiling.

"Basically keeps our eyes protected from anything. Glare, smoke, heat… darkness…" Isla glanced in his direction. "It's a little inconvenient but quite necessary. Gianna, have you finished mapping the area?"

Gianna turned to Isla. "There are multiple spots that are shrouded with magic. I can break through those, but it would alarm them of our presence. Should we do so?"

Alessa spoke as she looked past her shoulder. "No. We have a hostage to be kept alive. Locate her first, and then we turn this place upside down." She then moved to face Noah. "I can't feel anything stronger than level four at the moment. It would be very easy for you to deal with them.

"However, I need you to conserve your strength in case you need to run. I don't like the feel of this place." She then eyed Gianna. "Gianna had already picked up remnants of level eights. We have to proceed cautiously.

"I think it's best for us to move altogether for now and just disperse after securing the hostage and locating the target." Alessa darted her gaze at Noah again. "I will prioritize the hostage. If you want Druid dead in exchange for that, you take care of them yourself."

Noah's brows rose. How convenient. Someone was devising sound plans on their own instead of waiting for him to do the thinking. He might not have Laquisha right now, but dragging Alessa seemed to have a lot of merits in it as well. In the end, he only nodded.

He couldn't bring himself to say 'I dragged you here for you to think for me, actually.'

It's just that Alessa seemed to know what his nod meant. She only huffed before turning around again. Gianna finally opened her eyes and smiled at Isla and at Alessa. The second sister then turned to Noah. "I can bring us to the magic-shrouded places and see if Miss Genie is there.

"However, we don't know how much they needed her so if we spring the wrong strap, she might die. Would you like to see where these places are and pick out what we should put our bets on?" As Gianna spoke, Isla walked up to Noah and showed him the map of the castle.

Seven spots were marked, and Noah couldn't even begin to cross out any place. He didn't even know where he was held when he found himself in one of the castles. Were these sisters testing him in some way? Couldn't Alessa just decide on this? She's leader, right?

Luca joined in looking at the screen. This castle was different from the last one and had more complicated layouts. Moreover, the dining hall for the sacrifices wasn't shrouded in magic. He had no idea what to choose either.

'Master, the sixth level crypt.' Caliga's voice floated inside Noah's mind, and it surely freaked him out a little. How did Caliga know? Did they phase through the spots? The second sister couldn't even casually look into those places. Then again, Noah trusted his dogs more than Alessa and her crew.

He tapped on the spot on basement six. "Let's go here."

Isla hummed. "Why there? If you're thinking she's very protected, shouldn't you go with the one on the last floor?" She still ticked the place nonetheless and even distributed the coordinates to Luca and Noah's watches as if she had another way to let the girls know the location.

"…dogs." Noah knew he couldn't brush her off, but he really had no idea. Caliga said so, and so he believed him. If he didn't believe his most loyal companion, then who did he trust? He didn't even fully trust his own judgment.

"Let's go then." Alessa huffed as she moved ahead. Her eyes landed on another black dog in front of them, and Pane patiently waited for them to catch up with him. 'They wouldn't lure their own master to a trap, would they?'