BXBX NOVEL Chapter 180: Beyond the Wall
Chapter 180: Beyond the Wall
The new Crimson Hound\'s headquarters was located at the far corner of Mercenary Street. It lined up with the other guild buildings, its dark crimson banners fluttering in the wind.
They didn\'t have their own yard, courtyard, and backyard anymore. Instead, it was just a simple three-story building, but there were a lot of rooms to house all of the members.
In terms of size, the indoor was quite massive and impressive-the first floor had its own reception area, the second floor had the offices and meeting rooms, and the third floor had the living quarters.
There was also the basement, hidden below the main building, and there were all the storages and their vault. It was heavily guarded by armed security at all times.
The front door of the main building was always open, and they sometimes received guests who came here to conduct business deals, such as making quests to either find their missing puppy or something more serious.
While mercenaries came and went by the front door, at the second floor\'s meeting room, three people were gathered.
They were Digby, Valora, and Zahn.
On the meeting table, a map was spread out, showing the terrain beyond the wall\'s harsh landscape.
"There, there, and there." Digby pointed to three different locations on the table. "That\'s where you must go, Zahn."
"I see." Zahn rubbed his beard that had slightly grown since the departure from Dawnwatch. "The treasures of ancient civilization will fund us for the foreseeable future."
Digby said while looking at the map.
He was slightly reluctant to send Zahn there without them, but they had other troubles brewing in Ebonreach, so they couldn\'t leave their guild alone even for a moment.
However, they didn\'t plan to send Zahn there alone, and he would be accompanied by a small group of mercenaries of their choosing.
Zahn looked at the map, his fingers tightening against his palm.
The Crimson Hound was not in a good place now.
They spent most of their guild funds to transfer their headquarters from Dawnwatch to Ebonreach.
It was a money sink since they had to pay for all the transport and then had to pay Ebonreach\'s Guild of Mercenaries to be here.
That\'s why this mission beyond the wall was of utmost importance.
Zahn\'s job was to go beyond the wall, to the wretched wasteland, and find rare artifacts that were from the ancient civilization that used to live behind these walls.
A few of those artifacts would fund the next year of guild expanses.
Digby folded the map, then handed it over to Zahn with a deep look.
"We\'re counting on you."
"I got this." Zahn said with a smile, then nodded to Valora and then left the meeting room, stepping down the stairs and out towards the streets.
The weights of the expectations pressed heavily on his shoulders.
After traversing through the busy streets of the Ebonreach, he left the shadow of the looming buildings and saw the massive wall reaching high into the sky.
It was the only thing that was standing in the way of the total chaos.
However, the Originals of Ebonreach went by their days with smiles on their faces-none of
them were thinking about the horrible future if the wall collapsed one day.
They had a complete faith in the sturdiness of the wall.
\'I am going beyond that wall.\' Zahn felt some butterflies flying in his stomach.
The unknown aspect of that place was terrifying to him.
However, he just forced a fist and put more weight into his step, trying to shake away the nerves.
After a short while later, he arrived by the horse stables and saw that some crimson-cloaked figures were already there waiting for him.
They were mostly Holymen and Grandeur\'s; they were part of the second and third teams of the Crimson Hounds.
After they saw Zahn arrive, they bowed in unison.
Before being promoted to the core team, he was a leader of the second team, so he already knew a couple of guys that were coming with him.
After a brief moment of catching up with them, they hopped on the saddles of their horses and rode off towards the wall.
At one moment, they were still surrounded by the buildings of the city, and the next, the buildings had changed into military-looking barracks with high walls and barbed wire
fencing.
The closer they got to the wall, the more imposing it became, looming over them like a giant monolith.
After a short while, they rode an open road that led them straight to the massive gate of the wall.
There wasn\'t any line to wait for, as there weren\'t many people willing to go outside the wall. A guard was waiting for them.
After giving him an ID, the guard went and opened the gate with loud creaking noises, then the crimson cloaks rode through the gate and entered a dark chamber inside the wall.
The gate behind them closed.
Then, another gate opened ahead of them, and this time, it led straight to outside.
Zahn gulped, then grabbed his reins tight and started galloping through the open gate, followed by ten strong horsemen.
As soon as they were outside, they noticed it was harder to breathe, the air thick with humidity and the smell of smoke.
The landscape ahead looked dark and foreboding, drought-filled land reaching to the far mountains, and a few trees that were scattered throughout were smoking like a dying fire. Atop the far mountains, a storm was brewing, with silvery lightning dancing above the dark clouds and thunder rumbling in the distance.
Kyaaak!
A scream of terror pierced the eerie silence.
Zahn and the rest turned their gazes over to the sky and saw a couple of vultures circling the sky above them.
A few of them sighed in relief after seeing just a couple of ordinary birds, but then they noticed just how high they were, yet they still looked much bigger than ordinary birds.
Then, the long-winged vultures headed down, and as they neared them, they continued turning bigger and bigger until they were giant-sized vultures, their screams echoing
through the valley.
"Giant Vultures!" Zahn screamed. "Ride faster!"
He immediately recognized them as a breed of Chaosbeings that were common above thirty
floors of the dungeon.
The horses galloped as quickly as possible, but then one of the long-winged vultures dove down and swallowed one of the horses whole alongside the mercenary riding it.
A paleness came to everyone\'s face as they witnessed that horrible sight. Another Giant Vulture headed down, and this time it was heading straight to Zahn, who was
riding at the front of the group.
The steel sword appeared from the scabbard, and Zahn, with one swing, cut the vulture\'s wing
off and made it crash straight to the ground.
The rest of the group also fought off the vultures.
After seeing that it wasn\'t worthwhile to continue the attack, the vultures retreated, flapping their wings loudly and strongly as they flew far into the distance.
They were usually preying on the weak; that\'s why they were waiting near the gate. If the fight didn\'t seem worth it, they would usually retreat.
"Damn it..." Zahn looked behind at the terrified looks of his group members and realized this
was the worst way to start their mission outside the walls.
Now, the fear had crept into the hearts of everyone present. \'I knew this place would be dangerous, but we already lost one!\'