Tier-4 was the second-lowest tier ranking a place town or city could get. Nearly all jobs in such a place involved some type of manual labour. If one couldn't work that way, there were other means of making a living, including another type of manual labour.
The jobs in Tier-4 towns were often dangerous, yet they produced items and more for the higher ranking towns and cities. They were essentially factories for their respective countries and the whole world. As such, there was always a dark, thick smog over those towns.
The air was polluted, making the people suffer and it was unfriendly to their bodies just like the people. Just like in all the other cities, there were gangs in this one as well. However, there were more gangs than one could count their hands on. On top of that, if you weren't in a gang for protection, you would soon find yourself in a bloody mess.
Unlike in Tier-3 town like Slough, where the gangs were working behind the scenes and skimming money off other companies, here they didn’t shy away from doing things out in the open. Being in no gang was risky since it meant gang members could attack you without fearing any consequences. If you were asked to fight for the gang even if you weren't a fighter you had better be there.
Of course, there were those that managed to survive without a gang. They were either too weak to join any gangs, addicted to drugs or reliant on something else such as alcohol to escape the current reality they were in. It was rare for these types of people to afford to live in a Tier-4 town for long, and usually just a matter of time until they eventually ended up having to move down to a Tier-5 town.
Then there were those that were just a little too crazy, those that needed to be avoided at all costs.
When Ozacas first entered the town of Dreadix, he thought that his stay there would be a short one. Any Altered that would come down to a Tier-4 town would only do so to run away from something. Most likely having offended someone they couldn’t afford to, on the run from the White Rose agents or some other messed up reason.
Whatever the case, the fact that he, a three-star hunter, had been called to assist two others of that rank, meant that this mission would be a tough one. Still, the experienced Altered Hunter wasn’t really afraid. In fact, if he could be the one to bring down this Altered, he would only be one kill away from ranking up into a four-star hunter.
Until he realised that this job was slightly different compared to the ones he was used to.
Walking down a smoggy street, he met up with the other Altered Hunters. The two of them were covered in hoods, since this was a bad part of town, even for a Tier-4 town. As they walked down the road, they could see men and women who were all skinnier than should be healthy. They were most likely barely able to afford food, making them resemble zombies as they dragged their feet along on their way home.
“Have you considered my offer, Ozacas?” The hunter with orange spiky hair sticking out from his mask asked. His body was slightly larger than the others, but it was top heavy and didn't make him look fat, just muscle.
“I'm still in the middle of training my son.” The three-star hunter replied. “However, once he’s ready, I’ll happily take him along to that Tier-2 city. Unfortunately, he still has a lot to learn until that time comes.
“As a matter of fact, I hope that we can deal with this matter quickly. I’ve been here longer than I had anticipated, and as you might know, Slough has had its fair share of problems recently.”
Eventually, their group arrived in front of a crummy looking apartment building. Still, it seemed in a better condition than the surrounding buildings, seeing as all its floors were somewhat intact.
“This should be the right place… we just need to find out what is happening here and report back to the association. We need to be quick and not hesitate like last time.” The orange haired man said, since he was the leader of this group.
Rather than entering through the front door, which was currently shut, they went around the side looking for an opening. Jumping off the side of the other building, the leader used the momentum to grab onto the ledge of the window that was on the second floor.
Fortunately, it was already smashed. Pulling himself in, the others followed his example. Once inside, each of them pulled out their concealed weapons. For Ozacas, it was a single longsword, though It wasn’t the same one that he had used when fighting against Billy.
This one was a little more special in design. On its hilt, there were green coloured roots growing from the bottom. His colleagues had similar special weapons. The orange haired leader had two small axes in his hands, while the third member had some type of chain.
Walking through the hallway, the group had already put on their masks and made use of its special function. In this case, the special heat searching mechanism that was built in, it was easy to find. They could see a group of several people that were above them.
However, their heat signals were a little higher than usual, this was true for all of them.
“It's the same as last time, the reading isn't too high, but it’s still above the norm.” The leader mentioned. “Remember, they’re not regular humans, so don't hesitate this time.”
It wasn't the first raid they had been on. After all, they had been in this city a while, but they had a special mission to accomplish, and they wouldn’t return home, until it was complete.
The leader placed a special device under the door, allowing him to look inside. He could see that there were four inside standing around, and with the mask that there was one more further in the room. The orange haired man pointed at Ozacas and his colleague, assigning them their roles.
A hand count down was made, counting down from three… two… one… the leader immediately burst through the room, rolling on the floor, and he had soon reached one of them. The next second, he swung his axe, cleanly chopping off one of the legs of the closest human, causing his top half to fall down.
But when its top half could be seen, one could see it clearly wasn't the face of a human at all. It had what looked like large warts on its body and tusks like a walrus on its face. Immediately it seemed like the rest were alerted by the situation.
Still, before they could act, a set of chains had wrapped around another one and pulled towards them. A kick in the beast’s face was quickly delivered. It had hit one of the large tusks to break and caused it to bleed. The blood coming out from the human, or the suspected Altered mouth was a little darker than it should have been.
As for Ozacas himself, he had another task to deal with while the others were fighting the four in the room. He continued to charge forward and burst through another set of doors in the room. Inside there were already countless dead bodies, but there was still one person inside that was alive.
He looked just like the others with the large tusks and warts on its face, but more importantly was what was in the creature’s hand. Stabbing his sword in the ground, the sword started to glow, and strange roots appeared.
They instantly travelled and grabbed the man, wrapping around him and holding him in place. He tried to resist and break through, yet the roots proved too durable. Not hesitating, Ozacas swung his sword, cutting off the man's hand, and grabbing exactly what he needed.
The Altered weren't this easy to deal with, and that was because the creatures they were fighting weren't really Altered. None of the kills they made today would go towards their stars they would carry. It was why they hesitated in the last raid but something was up with these people.
‘So this is what caused all this trouble.’ Ozacas thought, as he lifted the syringe that was filled with a strange black liquid like substance.