Quest-3
"IT CAME FROM THE SECRET OWNER OF THE BLACKDOG. I DON'T KNOW WHO HE IS. BUT I KNOW IT CAME FROM THE OWNER. YOU NEED TO TALK TO MY BOSS IN THE HEADQUARTERS TO KNOW HIS IDENTITY."
He yelled out the answer.
Ayaan looked at him, his gaze sharp, as if he is deciding whether he is telling the truth or not.
"Third. How did you get my location?"
The branch leader's pain seemed to have subsided a bit, he spoke in a lower tone.
"It came with the mission details. We were told that you will be there. It most probably came from the secret owner."
Ayaan looked at him silently.
"Are you sure, there are no more people that you can call?"
"N.. no.. All of them left for some missions. Most of them are still with the clients. I only brought the people that are in town."
"Okay."
*BANG*
Ayaan shot him down. He got all the information he needed. He picked up the phone and called Raj.
"What is the current status of Black Dog Issue?"
"Sir, everything went smoothly. All the Black dog branches have been raided with all the relevant departments. The special taskforces have been deployed. Their operations ceased and all their information, computers, even their weapons are seized. We captured their boss as well.
Their clientele is also put to scrutiny. They are undergoing investigations.
The only problem is, sir. There are some politicians involved and they are putting some pressure on local departments."
"Use my seal. Send an executive order. Tell the local teams that they can immediately divert any pressure to our office."
Raj gasped for a moment.
"Sir. This is going to be big. Even though we have the authority, we don't operate in this circle. The people who were originally handling this will not be happy."
"And?"
"I will immediately send the orders."
"Send a cleanup team to the Sthal Police station. I will be waiting at the Black Dog's office, send a raid team there."
"Okay, sir."
Ayaan cut the call, got on his motorcycle. To no one's surprise, there are many people on the streets observing the state of the police station. Ayaan covered his face and left quietly.
Soon, he was at the office.
Surprisingly for their scale of operations the office is quite simple. It is a remodelled warehouse with a large ground attached.
The ground seemed to be the training ground, while the warehouse has only couple of office rooms with the rest of it converted into barracks.
Ayaan shuffled through a few rooms, when finally he arrived at the equipment room.
Inside, he saw what he wanted. Weapons.
There are firearms ranging from handguns to shotguns and assault rifles. There are also some blunt equipment like batons, some riot shields. But most of the equipment room is empty.
He wanted to test something. He picked a box and placed a bunch of weapons into it, and locked it.
He then tried to place it in the inventory. But it seemed like the system has thought of how over smart humans can be. The box didn't go in, no matter how many times he tried. He just wondered if it is possible.
He thought for a while and picked two weapons. A fully loaded Assault rifle and a spare magazine and a 12-bore shotgun with a box of shells.
The assault rifle is 5.56 caliber with 20 round magazine. Along with the extra magazine, that is forty rounds. The 12-bore shotgun has a magazine tube with 5 shell capacity. The extra box has twenty-five slugs. A total of thirty.
He placed them in the inventory completely occupying all ten slots.
He waited there for the arrival of the raid teams. They are quick to act and come down on their helicopters within thirty minutes.
Ayaan just signed a document authorizing the raid and left on his motorbike.
He directly went to the next quest location.
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January 6th, 2025, 8:00 AM
Bhongir
Ayaan is sitting on the bed in his hotel room. He just finished his workout and he is at the most fatigued that he could be. He barely managed to shower and is now trying to get some sleep before he can go and scout the town.
He was ready to go to bed but wanted to check out the news. Yesterday, he stirred up quite some shit and he wanted to see the aftermath from the public perspective and more often than not, the public perspective is what the media says it is.
The morning TV news reporter is eloquently speaking on TV.
"Yesterday, a massive raid has been conducted on Black Dog Security Company. Black Dog is a private security company that specializes in bodyguard and industrial security, operated by retired soldiers. The Central Intelligence has put the company under surveillance due to suspicious activities.
All six branches of the Black Dog, including their headquarters have been raided by multiple departments, under the leadership of the Central Intelligence Department.
In the raid, the departments uncovered a lot of illegal activities conducted by Black Dog under the guise of security.
Assassinations, extortion, smuggling, just to name a few.
Many clients that employed Black Dog are also discovered to be involved in these illegal activities. Upon discovery, the central intelligence took swift action and conducted raids on these businesses immediately.
Considered one of the biggest raids in the decade, the operation resulted in the seizure of cash, minerals, and other resource worth more than 100 Million and more than 300 arrests.
However, this raid did result in some casualties. The Black Dog branch of Sthal led by a former military captain, rebelled and resisted the investigation by collaborating with the local police officers who conspired to create a riot and kill the investigation team sent by the Central Intelligence.
This resulted in the retaliation of the central intelligence and more than sixty people were killed.
For the safety of the officers involved, their identities have been classified."
That news was done, and Ayaan was about to turn off the TV, but the next news caught his attention.
"The town of Nadivara, known for its river fishing and cruises, one of the most popular tourist destinations of Bhavara has been hit with an unexpected storm.
None of the weather reports or scientists predicted the arrival of this storm. The storm has hit the town a few minutes after midnight yesterday and the rain hasn't shown any signs of stopping. The river is raging with every passing second and the authorities are contemplating whether they should issue an evacuation notice.
There is a good chance the evacuation will take place if the rain doesn't stop by this evening."
Ayaan frowned. Because the name of the town is extremely familiar to him. Nadivara.
It is one of the quest locations for the last quest. From what he noticed the system showed him all the quest locations in the nation. Nadivara is one of those locations for the last quest.
He doesn't know if the current disaster is really related to the quest or not. After all, from what the system said if a Boss level(not the individual quest boss. But the boss that comes every ten quests) is not dealt with, it will reflect in the real world in the form of natural calamity.
Coincidence…
Ayaan shook the thoughts off his head. Whether it is a coincidence or not, he cannot take any action at the moment.
So, he will just deal with what is in front of him. He went to bed.
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January 6th 2025. 12:00 Noon.
Ayaan woke up. He felt as good as new and he immediately checked his stats.
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STATS
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Strength (STR): 39
Agility (AGI): 36
Endurance (END): 40
Intelligence (INT): 49
Perception (SEN): 64
Available Stat Points: 5
==============================
His strength increased by 1 and his endurance increased by 1.5. Not a big increase, but an increase nonetheless.
He went out to check the town. One of the reasons he took his sweet time working out and sleeping this time is because the town is not exactly big. It is a tourist destination as well, but not particularly famous.
Only the people in neighboring districts frequently come and some hardcore travelers come here.
As for what this place is famous for…. Caves and streams.
There are several naturally formed cave networks. A tributary has split into several small streams and enters this cave network through various caves and they all merge together in one waterfall at the central cave, creating a large lake.
There is an underground stream from under the lake that sends the water out of the cave network and it emerges as the tributary as it flows out of the town, a bit far away merging with the river again.
This place is indeed beautiful and it formed naturally. Many kings left their mark on developing this place by making several sculptures inside.
So not only does this place carry nature's beauty but also holds the history of Bhongir.
Apart from this cave network, there is nothing else worth speaking in this place. And there is already a fully and properly documented map of this cave network. Not just a tourist one, but the one done by the archeological department of the nation.
Ayaan didn't have much trouble finding it. He took a printout and decided to explore the cave network in the afternoon.
With the map in hand, it didn't prove too difficult to check them out. And this map even had hidden paths and crevices that connected different caves and paths.
In the whole cave network, there are actually five paths that caught his attention. They are called the five stream paths. These are the five small streams that start at different cave entrances and flow towards the central lake.
These streams each go through a set number of caves before going to the central lake. One of them is even big and allows people to go on the stream on a raft. And for all these caves, there is barely any path to travel on foot.
The paths that exist are very narrow. But of course, those are what usually attract the tourists.
As for why they interested him… he noticed that all these paths have hidden routes, either through deeper tunnels or from hidden crevices that lead to different cave paths and caves. They even have entries to some hidden caves.
Simply put, if one travels through these five paths and explores all the hidden routes within, they would be able to touch every single cave inside the cave network.
Ayaan figured that it would be better to stick to one of these paths so that he can navigate around easily, of course, that is if the quest is really related to these caves and these caves actually exist in that quest setting.
But he had a strong feeling that it would be this. It just felt like the most obvious choice, and another reason is that both quests before are related to aquatic environments and all the quest locations are also of aquatic environment.
Ayaan covered the whole cave network within five hours and came back to town. Just in case, he checked the town's situation as well, before going back to the hotel. He took a nap to reduce his fatigue.
He woke up, had dinner, and went to the hotel's rooftop.
He did check for the biggest building, but it was a personal house and the difference wasn't that big. So, he stuck with the hotel rooftop. He equipped himself with the water serpent king armor.
As usual, just a minute before the quest, at exactly 11:59 PM, the quest window appeared in front of him.
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QUEST
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Quest Name: **The Depths of Terror**
Objective:
Eliminate the Embryo of Abyssal Guardian in the central lake and ensure the various aquatic humanoid tribes cannot summon the Abyssal Guardian with their essence of corruption.
Clear Conditions:
Explore at least one Stream path and eliminate all the representatives of at least one aquatic humanoid tribe Kill at least one of the five guards of the stream paths leading to the Abyssal Guardian Embryo Ensure the other aquatic humanoid tribes cannot add their essence of corruption in the lake to evolve and awaken the Abyssal guardian. Destroy the Abyssal Guardian Embryo
Reward:
All Stats +4 Passive Skill: Primal Awareness: Instills a deep-rooted instinct warning of danger in the player. The player can sense the approaching danger in their path, surroundings or circumstances.
Penalty for Failure:
- All Stats -50%
- 40% Possibility of summoning a Boss monster early
Additional Information:
The abyssal guardian embryo is in a state suitable for evolution. Five aquatic humanoid tribes are carrying their essence in an attempt to evolve the embryo to create an Abyssal guardian of their own race. All races are taking different paths and if a race passes the test of the Guards, they will be allowed to add their essence to the lake.
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Ayaan is a bit surprised this time. Because for the first time, the system bothered to give the additional information. Usually, it is very cryptic with the info. Of course, it is not like it didn't hide anything, but this additional info did give him some ideas on how to proceed.
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The familiar grey light enveloped his vision.