Into The Portal: Monster Invasion

Miles knitted his brows as he looked at the blasted door. Anger started to build up inside him.

"So, someone is targeting me. If it wasn't for convenience's sake that I had rented a room with Ezio's identity on the same floor as my previous one, I would have never figured out that someone is coming after me." Miles said inwardly to himself.

He then steeled his heart as he listened to what people were saying.

"Wow! When I heard the explosions, I ran to the floor immediately, but I would have never expected an attack on someone else's room."

"But with one explosion, the attacker took half of the door. It must be a pretty strong explosive. Luckily they couldn't break in, otherwise all of us would have been on edge.".

"Don't be ridiculous! The rooms in the stronghold are impenetrable. Even if they manage to break in, the guards would arrive in minutes."

Miles listened. However, he didn't learn anything useful. Guards were guarding the front door and were waiting for the commander to come and inspect. Not long after, Quinn arrived with Lucy behind her. They split the crowd and looked at the entrance.

"Whose room is this?" Quinn asked one of the guards.

She then noticed the number of the room and realized it wasn't foreign to her. "Nevermind, what have you found?"

"The cameras on the floor were blocked just before the attack, and the explosive is Earth-Made. That much explosive shouldn't be able to be brought from Earth without any permissions, but when we checked the records, we couldn't find anything. It is either a small amount brought over time to create a bigger one, or brought from another stronghold." The guard reported.

"Or, one of the guards helped them to smuggle the explosives." Lucy cut the guard short who was about to finish and had interjected instead. She concluded the remaining report.

"Check the surveillance records of the last few months." She then ordered a guard.

"Yes, ma'am!" One of the guards answered and left.

Quinn looked at the crowd and analyzed everyone in the circle. She wasn't unfamiliar with saying, "The criminal will always return to the crime scene." But there were too many people in the crowd, and she couldn't interrogate every one of them.

As she scanned the crowd with her eyes, she noticed a person with a hood over his head. This got her suspicious all of a sudden. It only took her for a moment to blink, but the hooded person was no longer there. Quinn searched the crowd but couldn't find the person at all. He had simply vanished.

At that time, Miles entered Ezio's room and sat on the bed. "It must be Tian Ling and his goons who did it." He thought out loud.

"Probably. Because you screwed them over, and even took the orb they lent you, they must have aimed at your room. They probably thought you were dead." Coin gave his opinion. He created his hologram body and lay down next to Miles.

"They are truly audacious to attack a room in the stronghold, but with their background they can even smuggle explosives." Miles shook his head.

Strongholds were built to be safe. But Tian Ling was able to sneak in an explosive strong enough to destroy half of the door. Considering the durability, the amount needed was massive. Luckily, the materials used to build the stronghold were close to invulnerable. Thus, the explosion only created a little quake but no damage to the floor nor the building.

If they weren't durable enough, any monster could topple over the building with a single attack.

What surprised Miles the most was Tian Ling and his goons' ability to smuggle explosives. Because of the randomness of appearing in strongholds, criminal organizations were abundant in them too. To prevent them from attacking innocents, or soldiers stationed at the strongholds, the military took action and placed machines to detect explosives. But Tian Ling and his goons somehow passed through the detection.

Miles stood in his room for two days and waited for the incident to cool down. He couldn't confront Tian Ling while his room was blasted not so long ago. He didn't want to expose Tian Ling, not yet at least. After two days, he was ready to leave his room.

"Let's go see Tian Ling then, I wanted to speak to him anyway." Miles said as he left

"Why do you want to see Tian Ling?" Coin asked. "Shouldn't you avoid them?"

"Why would I avoid them while I have all the leverage? They lured people to use as bait, and even used me as a meat shield. I still have to take my employment money." Miles could only grimly smile.

The guards had already left his previous room, and there were only "Stay Away" strips attached to the door.

He arrived on the first floor of the stronghold and looked for Tian Ling. Luckily he didn't have to search too much, he found them in the entertainment area. Tian Ling and his goons were playing an arcade game. The machine might have looked outdated, but it was good for reflexes.

"Ah, finally found you, Tian Ling." Miles called for them with his voice loud enough for anyone in the room to hear. "I have completed the task, and I'm here for my payment."

Tian Ling was shell shocked when he heard Miles's voice. He turned to look at the caller and his pupils widened. He never expected to see Miles after what had happened in the cave. Then his brows frowned with anger. But he couldn't lash out at too many people and could only act ignorant.

"I don't know what you are talking about, pal. I don't even know you."