"Alright, we have 3-B ranks, 14 C-ranks, and 3 D-ranks." A young man carrying a large shield spoke. "I wanted to wait at least 3 days, as you know, you can never be sure of the true level of a Rift before being in it, so let's do it like this: if the level is indeed B, we follow the strategy, but if it's beyond that, I take responsibility for holding whatever is inside while you evacuate, is that okay?"Everyone agreed, some of his team looked at the 3 D-rank emissaries mentioned, Hope, Cid, and Sunnah.

Earlier, when they revealed their rank, most disagreed about letting them join, but after learning that Candace was the dean of the Knights Academy and had accepted the request on this condition, they remained silent.

The group crossed the Rift and came to a dark cave.

It was a large cave, with several holes in the rocks.

"Attention now, until we can confirm otherwise, consider this as not a B-Rank Rift. D-Ranks, stay close to B-Ranks."

Hope and Cid were very annoyed by this, Sunnah was already next to Iris, but their pride did not allow them to do the same with the team leader, and they had resentment towards Iris.

“Hmm?" Dora's ears twitched.

They began to move forward, towards a larger hole resembling more of a tunnel, but behind them, Dora, Midgard, and Candace did not move.

The leader moved closer to the tunnel when he jumped.

"Damn! Everyone, in position!"

They took their weapons, a little anxious.

It was then that several sounds of footsteps spread all around.

"... Shit! above!" An archer shouted.

From every hole in the walls, giant insects came out by the dozen and dived at the group.

"Wall" The leader summoned a magical shield above them, on which the insects gathered.

"Prepare to shoot!"

Each member of his team prepared to attack, charging their magic for a powerful blow.

"Wait!" Candace held his hand. "These monsters aren't A-rank, let's follow the plan!"

"Are you serious?... Damn it... Ok, switch to plan A, guys, cover the nobles, they will be the damages dealers! Get ready, I'll lift the shield in 10 seconds!"

He triggered his shield and simultaneously used a taunt spell, the members of his team positioned themselves next to a noble.

It seemed unrealistic to entrust an experienced group with the defensive role of the knights, but everything had been decided during previous negotiations.

Only the leader was Rank-B, so their only condition for being allowed to enter this B-rank Rift was the participation of two additional emissaries from B-rank or above.

This role was filled by Iris and Candace.

The monsters were now a dark mass swarming above the shield, it rather seemed that deactivating the shield would doom them to be buried alive.

"4 seconds..." The captain was counting down when suddenly a red light tore through the mass of insects from behind.

"Uh... Wait! Something is attacking behind them!" A girl with a crossbow reported.

She noticed the lack of reaction around her and when she looked at her comrades, she noticed that everyone was looking at Mercy.

“Jupiter's Roar”

A red and orange tornado tore through the mass of insects on the shield and formed a cyclone above.

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The team members were in shock at such an achievement.

Hope, too, was paralyzed as his noble lady had just performed a skill exclusive to astrologers.

“It’s been more than five seconds already,” Freya informed the team leader.

The latter, still in shock, shook his head and dispelled the shield, but a new wave of insects began to fall from all the holes.

"Fiery Soul"

Dozens of small fire moths formed and flew into each hole and inflated like mini explosions, covering each exit and never disappearing.

“This should solve this problem for good.” She wiped her hands indifferently, to the amazement of the team and Hope and Cid.

Cid stared in shock at the fireballs above, it wasn't just that the idea of using them to plug holes was brilliant, but their power was enough to disintegrate hundreds of these B-rank insects, Freya was strong, she was famous among the nobles for her skills, but this was another level.

“Is it my turn yet?” Zuri asked, checking one of her vials.

"No, not when we're in the splash zone," Solaria replied. “It’s too dark in here to show off well, let’s move on.”

She led the way, followed by her group, while the rest of the team and the two youngest council members stayed behind.

Lisa started walking too before noticing their reaction and smirked.

"Well? Shall we go? Don't tell me you're surprised, it's just a first impression. Come on, Hope the hero, I can't wait to see you put them to shame."

She winked and left, laughing. Hope frowned and followed her.

A few minutes had passed and on the path taken by the group, several body parts of insects and arachnids were scattered.

The group was in a larger area, with thousands of insects littering the ground.

Moonra, with one foot on a monster's head, wiped his sword, growling.

A little further away, on a table with a tea set and cakes, Candace, Iris, Dora, Midgard, and Solaria were chatting nonchalantly.

In the middle of the scene, the Guild team and council members were facing a gigantic spider and scorpion.

"And then she looked at her and said, 'I'm not a rat, I'm a mouse with standards!'" She bursted out laughing while Candace sighed.

"You... Why don't you fight with the others?"

"Me? Please, that would be too easy, I can't shine if my opponent can't give me a real challenge, so I'll let the kids have fun." She smiled proudly and glanced at Dora to see his reaction.

The concerned took a sip of tea and sighed in turn.

“This isn’t going as planned… What’s the point if we can’t fight?"

"I know, right?" Iris agreed, forcing him to reconsider his opinion just to disagree with her.

Midgard also finished her tea and looked at the battlefield.

"Should I remember the whole point of this operation? The best way to gauge the date of Twilight of the Gods is to raid, the easier a high-level Rift, the closer the day is."

“The more this allows us to train our weakest soldiers, I consider that an absolute victory.” Eryl nodded.

Back on the battlefield, the group was giving the two monsters a hard time.

Mercy, surrounded by small black stars, pointed her finger above the monsters then lowered it, black lighting destroyed the wall and hit the spider.

The creature leaned to the side, Hope, determined to seize this opportunity, let his energy explode, and threw himself towards the beast.

“Hero time!”

He glowed brightly and dealt powerful blows to the monster, severing a leg and injuring the eyes.

Suddenly, an enormous mandible closed on him, the beast in a final burst of despair, trying to devour him.

“Ngh!!..”

He hit the mandible and was pushed back.

He landed a little further away and resumed the fight, cutting the monster's face and leaving some wounds, but the monster was still alive and ready to fire an acid bomb.

"Amateur."

A black vector pierced the monster's head and passed through its body from several sides before continuing towards the scorpion and piercing it from above.

Zuri appeared behind Hope, her strange wand in hand.

"That's how you apply poison, no need to spit your guts out."

The spider became covered in purple stripes and collapsed heavily.

The scorpion fell a little further away, also covered in purple stripes.

Zuri polished her wand and turned to the guild members who looked shocked.

"They're done for, can I have a bomb to finish them off?"

None of them responded, more confused as to why they were needed in this battle all along.

"No one? There aren't any pew-pew users among you?... Hey, Frey-Frey, give me some fire."

Freya sighed heavily and then looked at the monsters in thought.

“You, why are you trying to redeem yourself now?" She spoke to Cid nearby.

He looked at her, his eyes showing a very strange emotion.

It wasn't fear, nor frustration, but something like a mixture. It was the beginning of despair.

Freya looked at him silently before raising her arm.

"I'm warning you, if I have to do this, you won't get anything from me, you're the one who refused to join my training." Her hands shone brightly.

Cid clenched his fists, it wasn't that he didn't want to too, but he had attacked several times already and the fact that Freya thought he hadn't even tried was a testament to his lack of power.

He was outclassed, and overwhelmed. Previously, Freya and Mercy showed abnormal power for C-rank emissaries against a B-rank monster, here we had the perfect representation of what to expect.

The one who was considered the future prodigy of the academy was now the weakest among the strong, simply because one day he was seriously injured.

This was Cid's second Rift in his life.

"Disappointing." Freya sighed and then focused her energy on a white ball above the scorpion.

"Gates of Heaven"

A blinding light blasted the ground and destroyed a huge amount of monsters and turned the scorpion into millions of tiny burnt shells.

The remaining insects fell one after another, and soon luminous stones rose above each body.

The raid was a success.