[First Advanced Scouts, gather up!]
We were right.
Master intended to scout the fourth Quintal Trial soon.
It had only been yesterday that Sigyn relayed the supply distribution orders.
And the morning after, Party 21 to 25 had been called up to the first floor square.
The Reserve raiders all knew why they were summoned, of course.
"Don't be afraid, everyone!"
A burly bearded man shouted to the other scouts.
He was Dhavine, the leader of this raid squad.
"Apparently there was a scout that was meant to die on the nineteenth floor but managed to survive and return with his life intact."
He told them about the Tsahanam man.
I had been using the scout's case to maintain morale with the Reserve parties.
The raid leader apparently wanted to give his comrades some last-minute reminders.
"If someone from the Evaluation Center could do it, then so can we!"
The raiders in the First Advanced Scouts began to cheer along with the raid leader.
The spectators around the square joined them as well.
After the distribution orders were relayed, people in the lobby understood how big of an importance Master put toward this scouting attempt.
They actually already expected as much given Master was relying on trained raiders of the Raid Team this time.
Which was why the lobby supporters, the first and the second floor trainees, and the other raiders had gathered to see the Reserve parties off.
[※Caution!]
[This mission requires five parties. If there aren't enough party members, use summoning to fill in the ranks!]
[The parties will be divided into vanguard and rearguard roles. If certain conditions are met or a certain amount of time has passed, the rearguard can join the battle!]
[Master can choose when each party will attack. Your choice will have a lot of impact, so think wisely!]
The system logs hovered above the first floor square.
The deployment was imminent.
[Choosing 'First Advanced Scouts' for the mission.]
[Proceed with your choice?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
-
-
[Choosing 'Party 21' as the vanguard.]
[Party Composition - 'Dhavine (★★)', 'Riolle (★★)', 'Allise (★★)', 'Gallen (★★)', 'Broam (★★)']
[Proceed with your choice?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
Once Master set their decision, Alam immediately flew over to the rift and performed her exaggerated pose.
[Open the rift of space and time!]
The rift shined with its otherworldly brilliance and formed a large glowing maw at its center.
The fairy turned to the group standing foremost on the square.
[Party 21, you guys know the drill. Enter that rift now!]
Dhavine no longer shouted encouraging words.
He and his comrades simply exchanged stiff looks with one another and started walking toward the rift.
The spectators around the square erupted with great cheers for the vanguard party.
"Victory to the Raiders!"
"Fortune to the Raiders!"
Party 21 soon vanished inside the rift of space-time.
Their departure immediately silenced the square.
The supporters knew there was nothing left they could do for the deployed raiders.
And no one really knew how long until the rest of the scouting parties would be deployed as well. If they would be deployed, that was.
So most of the spectators began to disperse to continue on with their duties.
The four remaining groups of the First Advanced Scouts waited in silence as the vanguard party initiated the Quintal Trial.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 20th Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
I turned from the window of the Tactical Post which provided me a good view of the first floor square.
As I sat at the table where Master and I would have our mock battles, Alam appeared before me.
[Are you ready?]
The fairy asked.
I immediately nodded.
"Hurry. I don't want to miss a single thing."
[Don't worry. You still got some residues from our previous experiment. So you should still be able to catch something if anything happens by now. But just give me a sec.]
The fairy proceeded to assume her exaggerated pose once more.
This time she even put on a weird face, as if she was struggling with something.
[Fairy power! Hyahh!!!!]
A mysterious purplish light began to emanate from the fairy and creeped onto me.
As soon as my entire surface was encapsulated by this faint strange glow, the fairy's face and body loosened.
She started to breathe heavily as if she had just done a huge labor.
[There… You're all...set.]
The stunt just now was apparently an act in which the fairy channeled Intervention Points into me.
Despite whatever Intervention Points really were, they should enable me to intervene with the workings of the forged land.
I could not do anything drastic such as taking over Master's authority completely.
But I should be able to perceive information that was accessible only to Master.
Not everything. But more than what I was already able to as a Vice-Master, of course.
"Has anything come up before we finished the channeling process?"
I asked the fairy despite her reassurance earlier.
The fairy softly sighed upon my persistence.
[Nothing has happened yet. The mission is just beginning. Time flows differently between the lobby and the dungeon, you know.]
Indeed.
Apparently the lobby's time moved faster than the Quintal Trial's. The same for the Exploration Dungeon too.
It was three times faster as I observed so far.
I should take into account of that fact as well.
[I still need to help Master with the mission. The Intervention Points you have should be enough for the entire duration of the stage. For the whole day, even. So I'll leave you be for now.]
"Of course. Thank you, Alam."
The fairy nodded and swiftly vanished from my sight.
Notification windows soon replaced her.
['Gallen (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Broam (★★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]
The names that were displayed on these system logs belonged to the members of Party 21, who were inside the Quintal Trial.
Ordinarily I could not perceive bleeding or mental notifications of heroes that were in a mission. That was unless I were inside the trial with them.
At most, I could only see the death notification whenever a raider died.
This record access was possible through the Intervention Points Alam channeled into me.
After much experimenting with volunteer parties on the regular floors, we had determined this was the extent of the benefits those points could give me.
I still could not see the mission unfolding like using a Replay Stone nor could I see the mission window.
But this slight additional information was already much help to our cause.
['Riolle (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
The fact that there were notifications on bleeding this early in the mission meant that the vanguard party was engaging enemies.
The previous vanguard parties from the Evaluation Center had all their members wiped out almost instantly and simultaneously.
It was difficult to determine whether they were killed by enemies or simply failed the mission objective which resulted in their deaths.
But we now knew for certain.
The fourth Quintal Trial would have us fight right at the beginning of the mission.
['Broam (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Allise (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
Half an hour had passed.
If I considered the time difference, around ten minutes went by inside the trial.
Party 21 managed to survive way longer than the previous vanguard parties from the Evaluation Center.
All of these raiders were level 19 2-star heroes.
Though only their party leader managed to reach level 5 in weapon skill, the rest of their members were only a level lower.
Each of them were also supplied with some of the finest equipment and potions in the lobby.
Surely these had to be enough to properly challenge the twentieth floor.
['Dhavine (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Broam (★★)' is on the brink of death. His life is in danger!]
55 minutes had passed in the lobby. Around 18 minutes in the trial.
Things had turned sour for Party 21.
I looked over toward the window which showed the first floor square.
The other scouting parties were turning anxious with how long the Quintal Trial had been going.
Surely by now the rearguard parties would soon be deployed and help the vanguard.
Would they?
As the clock hit the one-hour mark, a barrage of notifications suddenly emerged before me.
['Broam (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
['Gallen (★★)' has returned to the Goddesses' embrace! His fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
['Riolle (★★)' is on the brink of death. His life is in danger!]
['Allise (★★)' has fallen into the state of panic. All stats decreased by 50%!]
['Dhavine (★★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]