Chapter 157 - The Iron Doors

The two separate teams were currently getting all their equipment ready and getting a debrief from the two leaders, while Slyvia and Von were discussing other options.

"Do you think we should contact Nes for help?" Slyvia asked.

The contract allowed members to message each other as well as the leader, Ray would have to accept the message before he could read it though. If Ray sent a message, on the other hand, the message would appear without the team members having a choice.

"He knew danger was coming, and he might already know a way to defeat a true infected. Perhaps he can even protect the city?"

Von thought for a while before giving Slyvia reply.

"Have you looked at all of the members of Red wings?" Von replied, "Nes is meant to be an adventurer from the outside right? Yet every single member so far in the Red wings are part fo the academy in some way. Most likely this Nes person knows about everything that is going on already and not only that, I think he's closer to us then we think."

The two teams where now ready to head out and go their separate ways. Ann's guild members were currently stationed at the cave since they weren't allowed to come into the city. They were watching it closely in case they spotted anyone else enter or leave, while Von had some black knights of his stand guard at the Red door.

Sir K's team headed off first as it would take longer for them to arrive at the cave compared to Ann's team. Using the shadows and all of the training they had learnt over the last two years, it was easy for them to scale the city wall unseen.

Of course, it was much easier with Sir K taking the lead, as he was commanding everyone with ease as if he had done it 100 times before. They ran up to the mountain and a great speed taking paths that would allow them to avoid all the beasts on the mountain.

The longer they would take the more chance the true infected would have to complete its goal, whatever it was trying to do down there. Sir K's team had finally met up with Ann's guild members as they entered the cave, Ann's guild members agreed to watch their back.

Sir K had handed over a pinging crystal to one of the guild members. If there was any danger outside, they would only need to hit the crystal and it would send a ping to his crystal.

The crystal could be split multiple times and no matter where you were if a piece of it was hit, it would ping with its other parts as long as they came from the original crystal.

The team headed into the cave but instead of rushing in, they were now walking about carefully. They carried on going deeper into the cave and the students each used their light crystals to light up the way. Eventually, they had come to the Giant steel door they had met before, only this time, it was already open.

"Someone is definitely down here?" Sir K said.

"I thought Ray was the only one who could open these?" Kyle said.

"That's actually not true," Sir K replied. "The door is made out of Bedtatium, the strongest metal known on this continent. The circle lock is a complex lock and can only be opened by a code that is set once by its creator. Only the Master knights and Elders know this code."

"Is this why Wilfred thinks one of the higher-ups have betrayed us?" Gary asked.

Sir K nodded.

"Wait a second, then how come Ray can open the doors?" Kyle asked.

The room went silent and Sir K ignored Kyle's words. Sir K was actually hoping that Ray would answer Kyle's question but Ray decided to remain silent about the whole thing. It was clear to Sir K that Ray wasn't going to tell them even if they asked and right now, they needed to work together.

Ann's team were currently just about to enter the mines through the red door. Jack was standing outside when he received a message from Ray.

The message read.

"If you see the infected person, let me know straight away. Do your best to make sure the others don't kill it."

"Okay, Boss."

Jack didn't need to ask why, he was sure Ray had his reason for doing what he was doing. Due to Ray's actions, he was able to save the students from the Dark guild. So Jack believed in Ray. Ray had also sent the message the Badger and Sloth but didn't tell any other members of the Red wings. Because the matter concerned his father, he only wanted to let those know that knew his identity.

Ann and her team then proceeded through the Red door and started to descend down the long winding stairs. Until eventually, they had reached the large cavern that was void of everything but weapons and a few beds on the floor.

"What is all this?" Martha asked as she looked at the supplies on the floor.

"It looks like at one point they must have used this as an army camp," Ann replied.

Finally, after walking around in the huge cavern they had reached the large iron door. This door was still sealed shut.

"It looks exactly like the one in the cave," Martha said.

"What are they for?" Badger asked.

"Wilfred had told me they were made to keep the beasts from below from rising up" Ann replied. "These mines apparently go on for miles in all sorts of different directions and were used to deliver supplies to the nearby towns and villages during times of war. Then the magical beasts found out about them and started using them to attack the city."

"Who knew we could be attacked at any second without these doors." Sloth said.

Ann then placed her hand on the centre of the door. A circle light started to shine in the centre and numbers started to be projected. Ann started to move her hand and as she did, so did the numbers. She arranged the numbers in a certain sequence and when she did, the doors started to open.

The doors slowly started to pull apart and open but as it did a giant black claw could be seen coming out from the other side.