Chapter 369 First Job (2)

True to his word, Mazton provided Ashton with a room to stay in while he was in the tower. While it wasn't as luxurious as the other rooms, it was still located on the upper floors where usually someone of his rank wouldn't even dream about stepping a foot in.

Not to mention, there were guards located right outside the rooms as an added security measure. Mazton was worried the Gold water mercs might hire someone to kill Ashotn as they wouldn't dare to do something to him. Not after the warning, Mazton had given them.

Ashton tried not to think about them and focused on the task at hand... whether he should accept the job request or not.

Right now he was sitting on the bed reading the information Mazton had given him about the job. It was an escort job where he had to accompany a high-value target from one planet to another where the target would be staying for a couple of weeks. Then return to the tower with her. All the while, they had to make sure nothing happened to the target.

The job was issued to the association and they were responsible for selecting a 10-man team to get the job completed. It finally made sense why Mazton was personally handing out invitations to mercenaries of his choice and why the job wasn't listed as regular jobs.

Accepting the job meant Ashton would have to accompany nine other mercenaries, who were most likely going to be of higher rank than him. It was a drag, but the rewards for completing the job were quite a sum. Not to mention the reputation he would receive would be enough to make him jump straight to rank 4.

On top of that, there were a few other miscellaneous rewards that would be provided to them by the association itself. It was a job anyone would love to have on their resume and Ashton was no different. But there was something else going on in his mind.

"I can't help but think this is going to be some sort of test."

[I agree. Mazton is probably using this mission to test your strength whether you're really strong enough to fight and defeat Hydra or not. Honestly, I don't blame him. If I didn't know you and you said that you slew Hydra, I would be sceptical as well.]

Ashton nodded and kept reading whatever he could about the job. The gist of it was the target he had to protect happened to be a well-renowned personality in the galaxy. As such, a terrorist group had issued a hit on her. The reason behind issuing the hit wasn't disclosed.

Instead, an image of the woman was issued. She was the target they had to protect. While the lower half of her face was covered up, her yellow eyes, were majestic and so were her horns. Well just one eye, since the other one was covered by an eye patch. Other than that, no additional information about her was present on the device.

"Interesting... she looks like a succubus to me." Ashton commented, "Not as beautiful as Anna, but definitely good-looking. I wonder why the terrorists want to kill someone like her though?"

[You'll most likely get to know about it when you accept the job. Turn the page, will you? There could be more important information hidden away.]

Ashton looked at the couple more tabs that were left. In these tabs were the images and descriptions of potential hitmen who could be paid to do the dirty work. Surprisingly Ashton could only read about two of them, while the information about the other two was hidden.

The information of those he could read... left him frustrated. He saw reports about two identical-looking aliens, but at the same time, they were different. At least in terms of physique, since one of them had a missing arm.

Chak 'Mandai and Olk Yoga, were the names of these blood-thirsty hounds. The more he read about them and their bloody rampage, the more he realised how twisted their minds were.

"They look horrifying... what even are they?"

[Those are Siiglinas. A race that craves war and battles. So much so, that they often even kill their parents, offspring and partners, just for the sake of it. No wonder they are working as Assassins.]

Both of them were extraordinarily tall, towering at an absurd height of 7'7" and 7'10" respectively. Still, they seemed short because of their hunched back. Their face was unlike anything Ashton had seen till now. While their lower jaw was just like anyone else's, their upper jaw was divided into two independent jaws that were filled with razor-sharp teeth.

The file even included pictures of their fallen prey, and Ashton had to clench his teeth tightly, just so he didn't throw up. Ashton, a zombie who was used to eating flesh, wanted to throw up just by looking at the horrifying remains of the unfortunate souls these two fuckers assassinated. One could only imagine what bizarre things he saw in those tabs.

The rest of the information was hidden and would be released if Ashton accepted the request. After reading about the rewards and such, Ashton wanted to accept the job without any hesitation.

But one thing was troubling him... he wasn't suited to work in a team. Especially when they were necessarily a bunch of strangers. As if that wasn't enough, he was probably going to be looked down upon since he was going to be the 'weakest' amongst the rest based on their ranks.

This meant, he was presumably going to be treated like shit. On the other hand, it was an excellent opportunity to make some connections with the mercenaries as well as other strong personalities. In the end, the pros of the job vehemently overshadowed the cons.

As a result, Ashton decided to take the job and see how it went. He wasn't a fool to give up on 5000 Yenos and more than a thousand reputation points. But more than that, he wasn't giving up on the opportunity to gain Mazton's favour.

That being said, he still needed more information. Thankfully, he knew just the person who could give it to him as he called her.

"Hey, Otiga? I kinda need some information. Do you think you could help me out?"