I Can Contract Beauties-Chapter 247: Target Secured

An hour later, Darius came back with Bran.

Bran was a man of few words. He followed behind Darius like a follower would to their leader. He has pale skin and long black hair tied in a ponytail. His eyes were black and looked tranquil, yet hidden behind it was an eye that calculates everything around it in a cold manner.

Though Miguel only heard him speak once earlier, he knew that the man was one of the most formidable fighters in their group.

Darius also introduced him as their killer or something like that. He said that Bran was oftentimes the one tasked to do the dirty work behind the scene.

As for why they would willingly mention their abilities to him, Miguel did not care. He also knew that some of their words were mixed with lies and truth.

No sane person would willingly mention all their abilities to another, especially toward a stranger like him.

But he did not take it to heart. He doesn’t care about their abilities at all. As long as they brought him the enemies that he desires, then that was all that matters.

Earlier, Darius said that they will return in two hours. However, it has only been an hour since they departed and they were already back–not all of them, though.

Miguel was curious if they had already achieved their goal.

He was about to ask, but Darius beat him to it by reporting first.

"We have already achieved the mission, at least, the first part of it," he said with a smile.

"Ohh? That fast?"

Darius shrugged his shoulders while nodding his head, "I did not expect this either. Well, the enmity between our group and theirs is truly that great."

He then continued, "Anyway, we have succeeded in riling them up, brilliantly at that."

"We have managed to provoke the Crimson Mercenary squad. The Ironclad have a deep enmity with them. Their current leader is actually a traitor of ours. For his own interest, he established the Crimson Mercenary squad..."

Darius then proceeded to tell him the strength of this Crimson Mercenary squad.

And to his delight, there was indeed someone who has a grimoire among the Crimson Mercenary squad, which was also their leader. It was unfortunate that he was the only person who had one, but it was still good for Miguel regardless.

Now, he only needs one more Bronze grimoire to create another one. He wondered if this one would be compatible for any of his summons.

After Darius told him the general strength of the Crimson Mercenary squad, he then told Miguel the general plan and where he would be able to fight them.

Apparently, Darius and his group had lured the Crimson Mercenary squad through rumors they purposely spread.

Using the current situation, where almost every mercenary was searching for the beast, they spread the information that the Ironclad Mercenary already has a trail of that beast.

Knowing the nature of the enemy, they would surely react strongly about such information as the Crimson Mercenary squad does not want to be outdone by the Ironclad Mercenaries.

And given the chance, the Crimson Mercenary would surely take advantage of their situation, and might even ambush the Ironclad members while they were at it.

As for how they managed to convince the opposing party about the genuinity of the information, it was no longer Miguel’s problem.

Darius had his group had chosen the Ashen Ember. It was a place located directly next to Northern Crest Woods.

Miguel has also heard of that place before. Apparently, that place was shrouded with smog all day long. There was hardly any visibility even during the day, how much more if it was during the night.

No sane mortal would venture in such an area– was what he heard.

"We have chosen that place as it is hard to access by just any normal mercenaries. Most who frequent those areas are warriors and summoners as normal humans would not be able to leave if they go there," Darius explained.

"The other reason is also because of the visibility. You mentioned that you would face them alone, but just to be safe, we chose that area so that you can fight them one by one as long as you use the terrain to your advantage."

Miguel nodded his head and followed behind Darius and Bran who began to lead the way.

Fighting in an area with almost little to no visibility would also help him conceal the fact that he was a grimoire user.

That way, the persona of Sid of being a strong martial artist would be cemented to the mind of the mercenary and would not connect to his other persona.

After all, if another super strong summoner emerged right after Elder Journey did, smart people would realize that the two of them were somehow connected.

"In any case, we will also offer some help if we notice that you could not handle them. Of course, we would not willingly risk our lives as well, Captain. We will only offer our help, once we see that the situation is to our advantage."

"Is that alright? Captain?"

From his words, it was obvious that Darius and his group were still doubtful about his strength.

Truthfully, it doesn’t matter to Miguel whether they believe it or not.

And if it turns out that they were deceiving him... A mischievous grin appeared on the ugly face of Sid thinking of that.

’How many grimoire users were in their group again?’ He thought deviously.

Darius unknowingly shivered, he looked around and heaved a sigh after realizing that there was no enemy.

Time was of essence as they did not know when the Crimson Mercenaries would attack.

The night was getting late.

It was a good thing that the moon was still present tonight. It seems that it would still be able to witness another rare spectacle in the area of Blazing Expanse.

Running at full speed, the three of them traveled at swift speed relying only with the moon’s light as their lightsource. Though, as strong martial artists, the three of them could already see the area a few meters away from them–given if their sight were not purposely obstructed.

Although Darius was just a summoner, his speed was not to be underestimated either, he actually kept up with their running speed.

Even though Miguel and Bran purposely lowered their speed for him, his physique was still not to be underestimated.

From Miguel’s estimate, his physique should be as strong as a Beginner Warrior. He was one of the rare minorities that was both a summoner and a martial artist.

After twenty minutes, Miguel and the two finally arrived at the Ashen Ember.

Even from afar, Miguel could already see the famous ’smog’ that shrouded the place. The place itself looked desolate and crumbling. Only charred trunks of once humongous trees remained in the area.

The air was thick with smog, and upon entry, Miguel felt that the ground was a little unstable, as if it was threatening to devour his feet at any given time.

The three of them entered the place full of smog as the smell of rotten egg assaulted their nose.

As the three of them traveled through the smog-filled place, a silhouette suddenly emerged in the distance.