[Alright! But I will do it on my own terms.] She did not like her freedom being restricted when she was on a mission. This is one of the main reasons why she decided to retire, although it wasn't a retirement. It was more like her role temporarily became that of a scout.
[Alright! But I expect success from this Mission.]
Sigh.....!!!
After ending their communication, Kaoru let out a tired sigh.
'This time my target is the Dragon Monarch.'
Looking outside at the distant buildings of the Twilith City, she was prepared to face anybody from the Six Continents. She would happily fight anyone under the Peak 6th-order realm. But among the few persons whom she didn't want to fight under Peak 6th-order, Aditya happened to be one of them.
Even worse, Aditya was one of those who never lost a battle. At least, she had never heard of that man losing.
Regardless of how powerful his enemies were, he always managed to slay them and conquer his opponents.
And each time, his opponents only grew stronger.
'Kaoru, are you afraid?' A voice within Kaoru asked her.
Kaoru did not reply.
'To think that the former core member of the Organisation is now afraid of a Kid who hasn't even reached Peak 5th Order yet, how far have you fallen?' - These voices are just her Kaoru's inner demon or more specifically, her voice of her Doubts. Ever since, in a mission, she lost her whole team and was the only one who somehow managed to survive, Kaoru's confidence had plummeted.
She lost that arrogance of a cold-blooded killer.
'I was once called the Calamity Bringer. Just my nickname put fear in the hearts of millions.'
'I was, and still am, one of the most wanted criminals on the Main Continent.'
'I have taken more lives than I can count.'
'I have ruined the lives of countless people.'
'I might have retired due to my failure, but that does not mean I have lost my power and killing instinct.'
Her eyes turned cold as she began to think. 'With proper preparation, I refuse to believe that I won't be able to bring the Dragon Monarch to his knees.' With that, Kaoru turned around and left.
Using wooden stairs, Kaoru came to the secret basement. She was the only one who knew about this basement. This is where she kept everything.
Kaoru used to be a core member of the organisation. She had failed to execute the task that the organisation had given her, and as a result, when she lost her whole team and returned to the base, she was punished by the leader of the Black Tomb organisation. Kaoru was demoted to the level of Inner Member.
It was already considered an act of mercy. Instead of becoming a cripple or being punished to death, she was just demoted.
She went from being a core member of the Organisation to being a mere scout whose level and importance were way lower than that of an Outer Member.
It was also from then that Kaoru took the path of retirement. She decided to lie low for a while. And that turned into months, then years and then decades.
Kaoru began to enjoy the daily life as the Manager of the exchange house.
Strangely enough, compared to her life of killing and only following the orders of others, this simple lifestyle felt more fulfilling and peaceful. Fortunately, she was one of those core members with a lot of influence within the organisation and was able to use that to her advantage to lie low for more than a hundred years now.
Many almost even forget that they had a core member named Kaoru. As for the newest members, they had no idea who Kaoru was. And even in the eyes of the Main Continent, one of the most famous criminals suddenly disappeared and was never seen again within the Main Continent.
As she walked down the old and dusty stairs that hadn't been used for almost 100 years, the antler-shaped blue crystals attached to both sides of the walls started glowing one after another.
Soon, the whole place came to life.
The basement wasn't big. The shape within this place was around the size of a large bedroom.
At a glance, it looked like just an ordinary basement, with nothing but rusted, forgotten items scattered in the corners, nothing that seemed important or remotely valuable.
Without wasting a second, Kaoru touched a slightly larger antler crystal attached to the wall. As soon as she inserted her Mana, everything became blurry and distorted.
Except for her, everything started to distort and get blurred. This continued for a few seconds until everything stopped, but this time the dusty basement was gone.
It was almost like she had teleported to a different basement. There was no dust nor any old and rusty scattered items around the corners.
The basement was filled with many valuable items. This was her real hideout. She could have kept everything in her storage ring, but this was a way better option.
She kept some essentials in her storage ring for emergencies. Items that she no longer needed to use daily were stored in this basement. Once she retired, the things she used daily were no longer in use.
There was a huge golden box at the centre of the basement filled with gold and platinum coins. There were so many coins in that box that the floor around it was also covered in coins. This was her life savings.
More accurately, this was everything that she took from her victims after killing them. She wasn't much of a heavy spender, so all those coins were left in this basement.
Ignoring the large wooden box, Kaoru began looking for a few items that she placed around the Box.
'I am going to face the Dragon Monarch, I am gonna need a strong weapon that can injure him or possibly end him. I will also need a strong defence armour that can protect me from his Crimson Flame and Crimson Lightning.'
'But even these two things won't be enough. I need something that could give me an advantage against his sudden teleportation.' In her years of being an Assassin for the organisation, and then later becoming a core member, she has fought countless cultivators.
Two kinds of opponents always gave her a headache. She always felt reluctant to face these two kinds of opponents, as facing them meant that the fight wouldn't be an easy or quick one.
The first one was dark Mages, especially mages that specialise in Curses and Dark Spells. And the second are those with spatial skills.
'His sudden teleportations are a nightmare for his opponents.'
'To counter his random teleportations, I guess being slightly faster than him won't be enough.'
As she began selecting various artefacts, armour, and weapons from her little treasury, she couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that she was making all these preparations against a cultivator who hadn't even reached beginner 5th-order yet.
"If I remember correctly, at the beginning stages of his cultivation journey, Aditya did not have any spatial skills. Not that he showed any teleportation abilities." Since she was told to look out for Aditya and Laura, Kaoru have been studying Aditya. She even paid people from the Istarin Empire to tell the tales of the Dragon Monarch.
She asked people who were lucky enough to observe his fights. Even the organisation didn't hesitate to provide her with intel on Aditya's abilities.
The more she learned about this Mad Man, the more troubled she felt.
"This has too many Resources."
Once she was done, Kaoru realised that she was still lacking a few things. She thinks that what she chose was of the top quality, but it still wasn't enough.
"I need an artefact that can allow me to store my Mana so I can have extra Mana to use in the battle."
"I also need Poison. Special poisons that are only made for Dragons."
Unknowingly, within the span of a year, Aditya had become a headache for the organisation. Before, the organisation wasn't even that concerned about Aditya. To them, he was a small fry, not worth splitting their resources to deal with.
But now, the Organisation was willing to put resources, manpower, and time into stopping this madman from becoming a bigger threat.
"Given how seriously they are taking this mission, I am sure the higher-ups will be more than happy to give whatever I need to increase my odds of defeating the Dragon Monarch." There was no room for failure.
Failing meant she died.
••
Scene Change____
Without even realising it, the next day had appeared. Kaoru was still waiting for any news about the Dragon Monarch's whereabouts. But she also had a feeling that finding the Dragon Monarch would be really difficult since he might be in a disguise, and how were their scouts supposed to find a man in disguise?
"My Lady, I want to report something." It was her maid who knocked on her bedroom door.
"Come in!" After she walked in, her maid appeared slightly tense.
"What is it?" Kaoru lazily asked.
"Our guards haven't returned yet!" Hearing this, Kaoru immediately got up and looked down through the glass window. Sure enough, the guards were still missing.
Yesterday, her guards and their friends had followed those two rich guests who came to their exchange house. Usually, in this kind of activity, the guards return to work by the next morning. Their absence could only mean one thing.
And Kaoru and her maid had long known how strong her guards were, especially together as an unit.
"So Aditya and Laura did came to my exchange house?" Now, she was almost 80% certain that this was the case.
----------------
Really Thank you very much to all those who send support with valuable golden tickets and gifts. I hope we can keep it up!!!