The day of the raid quickly arrived, and so I found myself gathered with a large group of adventurers outside the city gate.

  Since I'm... well, a loner, I couldn't say I recognised anyone around me.

  As a result, I naturally gravitated towards the back of the crowd.

  After a few minutes passed, a red haired man wearing the armor of a knight stood up on a small crate, gathering everyone's attention.

  Even before he spoke, I had a vague idea of what role he was playing.

  Most of the adventurers here were D rankers, with a few C and E rankers mixed in.

  But judging by the quality of that man's armor, he was clearly a step above the common rabble gathered here.

  "Attention! I'm sure many of you recognise me, but to those who don't, my name is Corsen, although you might know me better by my title, the Red Dragon Rager. I'm a B plus rank adventurer belonging to the Flame guild, and today, I'll be leading you all to victory in the dungeon we're challenging today!"

  Hearing his introduction, I couldn't help but cringe.

  'Have some shame, damn.'

  The title he introduced himself with 'Red Dragon Rager', didn't sound inherently bad to me, but...

  'It doesn't seem suitable for someone of his level.'

  Even the handful of S rankers I knew didn't have such gaudy titles.

  Something like 'Poison Eyes' Mai or 'Warhammer' Vengir seemed fitting, but this was just ridiculous.

  Unfortunately, it seemed many around me did not hold the same opinion.

  "Wow... The Flame guild? This'll be easy..."

  "With a title like that, he must be super strong."

  I held in my exasperation and continued listening.

  "Out of the fifty adventurers gathered here, excluding me of course, we have ten C ranks, thirty D ranks and ten E ranks. I guess I should also mention we have a few porters, but they won't be doing any fighting."

  I raised my eyebrow at the last part of his sentence.

  Now that I thought about it, there were a few people around who seemed comically out of place.

  They wore massive hiking backpacks and had a gloomy vibe.

  For a moment, I wondered if any of them held some amazing hidden power.

  Like, perhaps they were actually a secret powerhouse supporting their party from behind without ever receiving any recognition for their acts.

  'Even after all these years, I still remember such nonsense.'

  Though, from the porters I could identify, none of them seemed to be anything special.

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  Beyond just carrying potions and monster parts, they had the job of setting up campsites, performing basic weapon maintenance, cooking, and other miscellaneous activities.

  The red dragon guy, whose name I had already forgotten, continued babbling on about the basics of dungeon delving and whatnot, making sure to mix in some self praise wherever he got the chance.

  It would take us two days to make it to the dungeon whilst travelling in such a large group.

  Since this dungeon expedition was apparently sponsored by the Flame guild meaning that the cost of camping supplies, food and some potions were covered by them.

  Obviously, they were not just doing this out of goodwill, though.

  They wanted whatever item would drop from the boss monster as well as the dungeon core.

  Honestly, I had already accepted I wouldn't be able to steal whatever the boss monster dropped.

  I was more than willing to backstab if it meant I'd get something exceptional, but they had sent the B+ ranker for a reason.

  Even if he was overly self absorbed, his skills were legit if he was at that level.

  Picking a fight with him would be a poor decision, and even if I did finish him off, there'd be no way his guild would leave it at that.

  As for the dungeon core, I had absolutely no interest.

  Dungeon cores acted as batteries and held a variety of uses ranging from magitech to being refined into a pill to increase one's mana capacity.

  It went without explanation why exactly such a thing held zero value to me.

  'I'm the ultimate battery, after all.'

  So, rather than the boss drop or the dungeon core, I would try for hidden pieces and sub boss drops.

  The D and E ranks were naturally of no threat to me, but going against multiple C ranks could be troublesome.

  'Guess I'll have to burn that bridge when I get there.'

  Pretty much as soon as we began moving, people tried to get chummy with me.

  Since there were only ten C ranks, it wasn't surprising that the lower ranks would end up trying to stick with us.

  "Hey senior, got any tips for a newbie like me?"

  "You'll help this big sister out when we're in the dungeon right?"

  "Back off hoe, the boss won't be swayed by a face as ugly as yours!"

  I snorted at that last one.

  For the most part, I was cordial with whoever approached me.

  These people having a good opinion of me wouldn't be a bad thing, so it was fine to pay a bit of lip service.

  "Yeah, I'm pretty strong, so as long as you stay in my sight, I'll be able to protect you."

  I lied as easily as I breathed.

  Of course, if I wanted to, I'd be able to protect them.

  But I didn't want to do that, did I?

  It wasn't at all a rare circumstance for groups to be completely annihilated in dungeons.

  I was curious as to how much experience I'd get from trained humans like these guys.

  It had been ages ago that I had killed the bandit group, and since then, I had never had Blue devour any humans.

  For a brief moment, I considered letting him devour the adventurers I had saved not too long ago, but I felt it would ultimately be pointless.

  At least for these guys, I could justify it with the fact that I'd be able to grow significantly.

  The fact that they were already trying to use me for protection helped me feel better about the decision.

  'To be honest, it still leaves a slightly sour taste in my mouth.'

  When it came to the bandits, I had no issues, but for guys like these, I had felt a little hesistancy.

  'I guess I still have some sense of justice after all?'

  Some of the people I worked with in my old life were true freaks who derived pleasure from harming people.

  Thankfully, I was not so far gone.

  I was merely okay with it as long as it held a purpose.

  'It's a shallow reasoning, but it's better than nothing, right?'

  'Hm, that's him."

  On top of his duties as raid leader, Corsen had been tasked by his guild to recruit an upcoming talent.

  At the age of fourteen, the boy, named Outis, instantly started off as a C rank adventurer had been completing missions solo at a rapid rate.

  Corsen could say confidently that he didn't like the guy.

  He had the same look as every arrogant prodigy that had looked down upon him throughout his life.

  Even if he was just a kid, he strongly gave off that vibe that he so disliked.

  As he discretely stared at the boy, he wondered if he should do anything.

  'Making him meet with an accident would be a bit too much...'

  A small smirk made its way across his face.

  'But an arm wouldn't be so bad, right?'

  His smile quickly vanished when he realised that they were making eye contact.

  'Probably a coincidence.'

  He relaxed his expression and waved at the boy, who calmly returned the greeting.

  Turning his head forwards, Corsen clicked his tongue in displeasure.

  'There's no way that I'll let you be recruited into Flame.'