“Simultaneous Debilitation”, Gaius said as he ended a long-winded explanation to Logan.

  Logan stood up from a crouched position near the fountain where he had found the cultists earlier. “It’s not comforting to hear people can penetrate the barrier like this. So, do we have any leads on who or what did it?”

  Gaius rubbed his chin. “As always, seers are looking into it. However, this was a precise infiltration rather than an all-out attack. The origin could be almost anywhere. But with the teleportations and that ‘creature’ invading, it should be unique enough that the magi can find out something quickly.”

  Logan sighed. “No trace”, he said under his breath.

  “I’ll take you at your word that the invader was indeed a skeleton lord. I doubt many monsters could give you trouble at this point, especially with the help arriving to meet you. We’ll need to call on the goldies to sort this out.”

  “Do we have many adventurers over rank 30 in the capital?” Logan asked.

  Gaius looked to the sky, now clear with the barrier having gone back into a passive state. “The alerts sent out from the Demonturtle Shell Barrier would have alerted quite a few people. Many should return to the capital.”

  As the two were chatting, another mage made their way to the back alley, loud voices from the main road following at their back.

  “Sirs. We have found the strongest point of spellforce for the weakening of the DSB.”

  Gaius nodded. “Do we know how many points were attacked?”

  “So, you already calculated it was Simultaneous Debilitation? That’ll make this faster. There were three points of origin. An older guardhouse that has been put under arrest, a dungeon close to the Helm kingdom border, and an underground complex not far to the south. The latter is the one we’ll need hitting.”

  Logan quickly asked, “The last one. It has a single entrance, a trap door of sorts. Right?”

  “Yes, Guildmaster Logan.”

  Logan turned to Gaius while still addressing the pair, “I’ve been down there before. It was mostly locked away until a few months ago when a traitor group was teleported into it with an unknown artefact. It’s empty but holds a Madamra Rampart that was closed.”

  “A day and a half’s ride?”

  Logan nodded.

  “Then yes. Your experience with the location should prove valuable, however, it is a bit outdated. Our seers noticed several shifting spellforce bodies, meaning, monsters now occupy the ‘dungeon’ underground.”

  Gaius then asked, “Have our summons been responded to?”

  “Yes. Around half are already here; we’re fine to set off when Cassius arrives.”

  “Cassius?” Logan perked up.

  “Yes. The Raid Master will be a key part of the infiltration, or, counter-infiltration team.”

  “What rank is he nowadays?”

  “He hasn’t spent a lot of time in the capital; records say 31 was the last assessment, but that is far out of date with the number of dungeons he has eradicated.”

  “He’s still been staying ahead of me. But I’m condensing while he’s expanding”, Logan thought to himself.

  “Logan, you’re to come with us? Marcus will be an invaluable member too”, Gaius spoke.

  Logan nodded, “I’ll need to fetch him, but we should be both good to join the attack. What about defences in Gauntlet?”

  “We’ve got magi reinforcing the barrier for the next week while this goes on. We’ve also called back some other adventurers in reserve”, the mage responded formally.

  “We better gather together then.”

  The next day, Logan, Marcus, and Amalia had grouped up with a good forty-member raid team. Adventurers with ranks as low as 24 up to 35 and Cassius at the top as 39. Everyone was part of some guild or another, all far more formal than the run-of-the-mill adventurers Logan had dealt with in the past.

  Smaller groups that were previously formed still chatted amongst themselves and combined with others they had worked with before, though none that Logan recognised aside from Cassius.

  The leader had changed quite a bit since the Spellthief’s last meeting with him. Cassius’s blonde hair was spikier than normal and swept back, and all of his previous scarring had disappeared. The usual shortsword sat on his hip, glowing slightly red, his artefact blade. Plate mail covered most of his body now, with spikes that aimed backward, a flowing red cape at his back.

  Cassius approached Logan, a serious look across his face. “Logan. Have you grown much stronger since we last met?” he asked sternly.

  “Rank 29.”

  Cassius nodded, “Good, one less problem to worry about. Your allies?”

  Marcus spoke up, “28.”

  Amalia added, “25.”

  Cassius kept his eyes on Amalia for a few seconds before patting her plated shoulder, saying, “You’re an amazing crafter; almost all your gear is of legendary quality. I have no worries for you either.”

  Amalia nodded, accepting the praise.

  Logan smirked. Legendary gear typically offered double the bonuses of shoddy-tier ones, the base effect. Since Amalia used a shortsword, there was little doubt she did more damage than Logan’s daggers, not counting skills. It was good that he was a strong caster.

  “This is a good team. We’ll split up the raid into teams of us four as the vanguard due to your knowledge of the area, and the rest into three teams of sixes and three of sevens”, Cassius explained as he pulled out a piece of parchment.”

  Amalia leaned into Logan as Cassius left to speak to the others, “You know that guy?”

  “Yeah. He helped us a long time ago, twice, actually. He can eradicate dungeons too, though we haven’t talked about that yet.”

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  “A good guy then”, Amalia laughed.

  Marcus readjusted his gauntlets and added, “A dependable one. He can take on the skeleton lord all by himself; the rest of us are backup and cleanup.”

  “There will be quite a few monsters in the ‘dungeon’ and a lot of corridors to clear to make sure we aren’t flanked. That’s why it’s a raid team situation like this”, Logan explained.

  “How’s the kaevock?” Marcus asked.

  “I repaired it a bit before we got here, but with the strength of the magi in the teams, we shouldn’t need it too often.”

  “Man, brings back a lot of memories. Fighting Dena, saving Evén”, Marcus spoke in a daydream daze.

  Logan sighed; it had been a long road, and seeing Cassius brought up many memories. Some good, some bad. Logan’s thoughts were broken up as Cassius addressed the raid team.

  “Alright. Everyone has their assignment. Toph’s team will guard the entrance up here as the lowest-ranked team of all of us. They will also interpret communications if we’re blocked underground. Syla’s group will guard the entrance chamber after we’ve secured it. Anyone who reaches their limit is to return to Syla and ask for a replacement from either her or Toph’s group so we can cycle out members.

  Logan has given us a diagram of the route he took last time to the Madamra Rampart, and with old records, it seems the underground has not changed since then. My team will head straight to the door, while the four other teams will go through different doors and corridors to clean up the rest of the underground.

  Each team leader has a dungeon-commwatch. These will not reach the capital, but they will breach most disturbances in the underground. Use these to communicate with the other teams and report every cleared room to the entrance team. Any tracks of traitors or the undead are to be reported to all teams.

  There is a skeleton lord amongst the enemy; run on sight of this foe. We’ll hope it rests within the rampart, as that is where the seers found its spellforce to be located near. With the number of teams on hand, we should have many secure routes to flee.

  These enemies invaded Gauntlet without warning, destroying the safety of our home. Now we’ll show them that even their home isn’t safe. Every foe you cut down is another that an innocent family won’t have to suffer. Once we’re done here, another faction will be lost against the might of Guantlet. Fight well!”

  The raid team cheered at the end of Cassius’s speech, raising weapons and shields to the air. Logan, Marcus, and Amalia followed at Cassius’s back as they went into the underground. Logan noticed the usual party statistics appear within his vision, alongside smaller portions for the other raid teams.

  “Cassius: 694/694 HP.

  Logan: 324/324 HP, 60 MP.

  Marcus: 282/282 HP, 65/65 MP.

  Amalia: 538/538 HP.”

  As a Fighter, it wasn’t surprising there was only a hundred and some change in health difference between Cassius and Amalia. His true power would be shown in combat.

  Placing the familiar glass lenses over their eyes, the raid team saw through the darkness of the underground as they descended slowly into the depths. A few minutes passed before Logan reached the familiar setting of thirty-foot tall ceilings held up by sturdy pillars of intricately carved spirals. The entrance door had stayed open from last time, leaving the beginning chamber open to the elements from above.

  Standing guard within the entrance chamber was a tall orc, around 12’ and thick with muscle under leather-bound armour. A massive sword stood at its tip on the floor, the pommel in the monster’s palm as it awaited visitors. Its grin separated large fangs that hung up and down from its lips, a sort of laughing snort vibrating through its snout.

  “Identify”, Logan mentally commanded.

  “Orc Rai - Orc. Level 31: 472/472 HP.—”

  Before Logan could read much further, Cassius’s body warped into its centre with a blast of air. Appearing above the orc, Cassius had his sword coated in a red mist, utilising the skill Power Strike, as he cut downwards into the monster.

  Blood sprayed all around as if shot from a hose, the Fighter landing on the floor as his blade cut through the orc like butter, segmenting it in two. Two large slams echoed in the hall as the entrance guardian was defeated instantly.

  “One blow!?” Logan thought in his head as he saw the destruction Cassius wrought. He wasn’t as surprised that he gained no experience, as he didn’t aid in the fight at all. No contribution, no reward.

  “Looks like the entrance was guarded by lieutenants again, just like the yetis”, Marcus thought aloud.

  Cassius stood up tall as he flicked the blood from his sword, looking towards the three options for paths ahead of him. he called to the rear, “The entrance is clear. Come in and do a preliminary scan!”

  Logan and his team walked closer as he looked over the walls, now covered in blood. The place had been aired out for some time now, no longer as dusty and cobweb-filled as before. His eyes kept going back to Cassius, the leader seemed annoyed at something, Cassius’s face a mess of frowning wrinkles as he looked around similarly.

  A nearby mage assessed the corpse of the monster and explained to the raid, “This ‘was’ an orc rai. A strong variant of the orc species. With a rank close to 31, we should expect monsters in the ranges of 20 to 35, with the skeleton lord as previously investigated being the ‘boss’ of this dungeon, if he has not suplanted the original one.”

  Another mage added to the explanation, “Orc spellforce signatures are sporadic in the other chambers. I can also detect goblinoids, spirit beasts… and some demon variations.”

  A Knight who led one of the other teams commanded, “Spellcasters, keep your spells handy for the spirit beasts. We need you to weaken them before the melee participants can engage. Knights, go full protection against them until the spirit beasts are either grounded or your magi tell you to engage.”

  Logan approached Cassius as the other teams organised themselves, keeping an ear out as he spoke to his leader, “Are you still fine with us relying on you to do all the work to the door, take rests for cooldowns, then enter with the other teams? Seeing that guardian might mean the enemies will wear you down quicker.”

  Cassius looked at Logan and then back at the door they were going to enter next, before replying, “The leg to the rampart will be the hardest route, we need to make sure none can flow into the other tracks so our teams are safest. If that means I need to go all out with my skills, then so be it”, he then looked at the doors, all three of which were open, before adding, “If all the exits are open, we can’t let stragglers through.”

  “So, just like the ice caves.”

  Cassius nodded. “We’re the vanguard. We take on the hardest so the weakest don’t have to.”

  The first mage then spoke a bit louder, “Raid Master! You’ve got the hardest route. I can’t sense the Madamra Rampart, but you have orc neers on your path. Approximate ranking is 27.”

  Cassius waved and said, “Thanks. We’ll clear them out for you”, before turning to Logan, “The other 30s will keep the teams safe against hordes.”

  Logan looked over the other teams, each was led by someone of rank 33 through 35. Even if the skeleton lord found them, they would stand a good chance of defeating it, which meant fleeing was even more assured. Cassius had made sure every group had a Devout, a Wizard or Sorcerer, and a Rogue, Fighter and Knight, at the minimum. The leaders changed between the two latter choices. At this stage, most people had spell rings, with many equipping around two for teleportation.

  Logan was unsure of what trinkets Cassius had, though. Many were hidden, but he most likely had highly priced pieces of gear and a high number of artefacts from dungeons. As the “Raid Master”, he was bound to have the pick of the litter when it came to completing dungeons in groups.

  The second mage had assessed the corpse, came jogging to Cassius and handed out a piece of parchment to him, saying, “Raid Master Cass. The pre-assessment.”

  Cassius read over the notes quickly before nodding. “Good work”, he praised before raising his voice to the whole raid party, “Teams 1 and 3 swap routes. Maher and Tii should also swap to the other’s team for coverage.”

  “Right!” many members shouted as footsteps stampeded in the hall, everyone now comfortable situated in the underground.

  The leader of the entrance chamber party, Syla, then shouted, “Communication topside is steady. We’re good for everyone to begin.”

  It was all so organised. Logan could only ponder if this was from raiding experience or the leadership that Cassius provided. It was bound to be a mix of the two, but with how confident and knowledgeable Cassius was, it was hard to tell how heavy one side was.

  “Logan, let’s go”, Cassius ordered as he began to walk through the opened door.

  “Got it”, Logan replied as he ran to Cassius’s side. Marcus kept up the middle position while Amalia guarded the rear. Logan’s heightened Echo Radar skills meant he shared the point-man duty with Cassius.

  The raid on the underground dungeon had begun in full swing.

  --- *** ---