Alessandro stood with his back to the very edge of the Great Forest, facing the twenty-odd people our group numbered.

“To cover more ground, we will divide into four teams. Simone and I will lead one each. Stefano. Chiara. You two will be in charge of your usual groups, but I need you to chose four of your people to join Simone and me,” he said, looking at the only two B-rankers beside Simone in our group.

The two nodded, singling out some of the C-rankers in their teams, two from each team, and then assigning them to Alessandro and Simone. I overheard Natalia—who was in Stefano’s group—volunteer for the job of joining Alessandro’s team, but Stefano shot her down.

Once it was done, Alessandro briefly explained how he wanted us to move.

“Stefano. Chiara. You will be clearing the outer areas, while I take my team to the more central zones. Simone and his team will keep away from monsters, ready to lend a hand to any of us should it be needed. If you sight any monsters above your rank, retreat immediately and let me know. I will take care of it.”

The three nodded.

“Any questions?”

“I was wondering where the Cardinal was,” Chiara said, looking around for emphasis. It was a question we all wanted to ask since it concerned our safety, and the whole group turned as one to look at Alessandro. “Mr. Scacchi assured us we would have the S-ranker’s help should it be needed.”

“He is already here,” Alessandro told us with a shrug. “Yesterday, he communicated to Giacomo he would be moving independently.”

“If that is all, let’s get on with it,” he added, after a short pause.

With that, Alessandro turned, stepping inside the dungeon. Before following too, I waved Natalia goodbye. The brunette didn’t notice me, however; she didn’t look to have taken her team leader’s denial to join Alessandro’s team too well.

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“Marco, don’t lag behind,” I heard Alessandro say, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Along with Alessio and Sara—the two C-rankers from Stefano and Chiara’s teams—I hurried after Alessandro. As always, the moment we walked inside the real perimeter of the dungeon, we seemed to enter another world.

The forest was the same as it has always been. The trees were taller than they looked from the outside with their sprawling roots covering most of the ground, waving a net spanning the entire dungeon.

The three, more experienced Awakened drew their weapons. Alessio and Alessandro unsheathed the sword they kept by their side, while Sara brought out a pair of recurve daggers. With her lite frame, I had initially taught her to be a mage wearing light armor, just like me, evidently, I was wrong.

It was a bit of a shocker since Chiara and Stefano had volunteered a mage and a warrior each from their team. That meant Simone’s team was composed of mages only. The lone reason I could come up with why Alessandro skewed the groups' composition was that he wanted Simone’s team to have better maneuverability and help where it was needed in the shortest time possible.

“Marco, the reason why I placed you with me and not with Simone is because Giacomo and I want to raise you to be the scout of our team,” Alessandro said all of a sudden, drawing my and the others’ attention. “Your use of Mana Step in the Orc’s Lair impressed me, and I think you would do great in filling the role. Cristina isn’t that good with the arcane magic, and neither is Simone, I have no doubt that in a few months’ time you will be better than the two in its use. So, your job in this raid will be precisely that. You will be scouting the area ahead of us in search of monsters. When you find one, you report back.”

“Do I even have a say in the matter?” I asked, somewhat miffed by their assumption I would just go over with whatever they had decided. I know I had joined a team, but they could have at least told me sooner.

“You do,” Alessandro confirmed, turning to face me. “But before you refuse, I want you to try it out. This raid is the perfect opportunity to do just that. Besides, I will have you scout the area ahead of us only until we rendezvous with the others. After, we will be too close to the center to let you move alone.”

I nodded, feeling better in knowing I had the option to bail out of the role if I so decided.

“Good,” Alessandro said. “You can start whenever you are ready.”

I nodded a second time, and following a Mana Step, I left the group behind. I moved on the ground, speeding past trees and vaulting over roots with ease. The arcane magic, in fact, not only allowed the caster to move far faster than it should be possible for a human, but it also heightened their senses to help them react to the rapid changes in terrain that moving with such speed brought.

Considering it was the first time ever I filled in the role of a scout, I had no idea whatsoever of what I should be doing. If Giacomo and Alessandro wanted me to fit in this role, they could have at least asked another, more experienced Awakened to show me the ropes instead of letting me puzzle it on my own.

I was a Heretic, however. I had also dominion over anathema. Just like Awakened could feel the refined forms of mana, qi and prana, I could feel the refined form of anathema—corruption. I had managed to many times before, but only when I had them in front of me or when I knew where they were. Now, I just had to find a way to do it in a wider, less controlled area, where monsters could be just about anywhere, which was easier said than done.

Coming to a stop, I focused on the anathema around me. The best words I could think off the top of my head to describe it were heavy and placid. While mana moved, anathema was inert; for all intent and purposes, the energy seemed dead.