Elite team

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/Inside a decorated hall.../

'Thanatos sat on a big round table, waiting for someone to arrive...'

/Crunk!/

'In front of him, a pair of massive double doors opened, revealing a pair of people.'

"Look who we have here? It's a pleasure to see you in full form again." Thanatos said with a smile as he looked at a woman in a plain white robe

'Next to her was a man in similar robes, he always stood a step behind her, silent and unresponsive...'

'Because that was his place, his position.'

"Can't say I'm flattered seeing you again." Ishtar replied as she took out her hood

"How cold, please, have a seat, else the tea will grow cold." Thanatos replied with a small smile as he pointed at the chairs

"Enough talk, I don't have all day, my schedule has been a mess ever since... That happened." Ishtar said in displeasure

"Everyone commits mistakes, albeit I hope that you stick more to the overall plan more, or at least warn us before doing such a thing..."

"I want to repay you for everything you've done to us, but I can't do so if..." He said with a genuine smile

'But Ishtar simply smiled scornfully, interrupting him:'

"I came here to make some things clear, not for small talk."

"Speak then, I am all years."

'She approached the table and sat on the chair, it was very comfortable, and the tea was perfect, although she herself wasn't a fan of this type of flavor.'

"I'm thinking of increasing my investment."

"Oh!"

"That's music to my ears." Thanatos replied with a genuine smile

'His eyes then sharpened…'

"But what do you want in return?"

"Simple, I want you all to hurry up."

'Thanatos was once again very surprised, but he retained his emotions and said:'

"Ironic, after all that happened, you wish to push our plans forward?"

"Spare me the talk, I did not come here to hear you making fun of me." She said with a distasteful expression

"I had no such plans, instead I only wish to ask... Why do you wish to push things forward?"

"I believe you misunderstood me, I do not wish to push the plans forward, I merely wish for you to become faster." She said as she grabbed a small cup full of alcohol

"I understood my mistakes, I let my anger rush to my head, I thought I had it all, that the pieces had fallen together… That it was time to pull that pretentious hoe from her throne..."

'She stared at her reflection on the cup, and upon seeing her now, shorter hair, she bit her lips and said:'

"I have reflected upon my actions, but this simply reaffirmed my goals."

"I want power, more power than ever before, and I need it soon."

"I'll invest more on you all so your plans may progress further and more stably, while I'll also try harder from my side, my children should be now trying their hardest in the Dungeon, training to improve after their previous failures."

"Next time I won't fail, and to that, I want you to guarantee your side as well, to make my investment worth something."

"Oh my, it looks like you truly changed…" Thanatos replied with a smile

"You can trust us, we'll deliver upon our promise, after all, you can come to see it for yourself any time..."

"But at the same time, some things cannot be sped up, not because we lack funds, but because we're already operating as fast as we're allowed."

"Any faster could attract unwanted attention, so some things we'll have to be left for later..."

"I know, I was just reaffirming what I wanted…" She said as she took another sip from her tea

/Sip…/

"But there are a few more things I want."

"I thought as much, this much is little compared to your promises, speak your word."

"My children… I want you to assign assassins to each of them."

"Going directly to the point... But... Are you truly willing to follow such a path?"

"I'm surprised that you would be this sympathetic after everything you've done." She said with an ironic smile

"Is that how it looks to you? I'm merely concerned about the loss of your force you'll take from these actions."

"The gains will surpass the losses, a new Level 4 can outclass 3 Level 3's... So yes, I'm sure, otherwise, I wouldn't have come here, so enough talk and tell me if you can do it or not."

"The feasibility of such a thing is not the question, it can be done, at any moment, in fact, the problem is the success rate, I cannot guarantee it when we take into account your entire Familia."

"That is up to me to consider, you just need to do your part." Ishtar said as she got up from her seat

'She grabbed a paper from her bosom and threw it on the table she was sitting on.'

"This is?" Thanatos asked as he grabbed the paper

"It's a list, the order in which and the appropriate Level for the Assassins for each of my Children that are close to Leveling up."

"It seems you came more prepared than I had initially expected..." Thanatos said with a small smile

"Of course, I'll not send in my Children to die, I only need to push them a bit further so they can grow..."

"Amazons are used to fighting to the death, leveling up in such harsh conditions…" Ishtar said in a deep tone

"So let us have them remember the brutality in their blood, and the power they have."

"... Alright, I'll make it happen as soon as possible, the details…"

'Ishtar waved.'

"Send it to me once they're ready, I have other things to do."

"... It shall be done." Thanatos said in a low tone with a thin smile

How amusing, to send your own children to death over a simple desire... Carnal Beauty... Envy...

How fickle…

But this is a good trade, an increase in our funds, and now Ishtar has gotten serious.

Instead of living secluded in her tower, deeming herself as the queen, she has now decided to embrace the true potential of her Familia…

Her personality did not change, but her methods have, she's now a bit more self-aware...

This makes things harder, if the Ishtar Familia becomes too strong, controlling them will…

"Sigh… How tiring." He mumbled out loud

I'll leave this to Valletta-Chan once she's back, she'll know what to do…

In fact, she'll probably join in herself!

She's very keen on the holy task of sending souls back to heaven!

"If everyone was just as enthusiastic about this as her..." Thanatos said as he thought about the many souls waiting to be cleansed back in Heaven

…

/Back in the Dungeon…/

/Fwoosh!/

'Several Xenos ran across the dark hallways of the Dungeon, going floor by floor as they fought and killed everything on their path, making use of every secret path they knew to catch up with the poachers from the Ikelos Familia.'

'And right behind them was Silver, with his augmented stats, he found no difficulty running after them, in fact, their pace was rather slow.'

'He approached Lyd and asked:'

"Look, if we go by like this, someone is going to die, even if we accomplish our objective, but you already know that do you?"

"..."

'Lyd did not reply, his expression said it all.'

"There is a way though, they can be saved, we can win this fight… Although I cannot guarantee that there'll be no casualties, I can at least save the hostages." Silver said quickly

"You…" Gros said as he approached them flying

"Is what you said true?" He asked, going straight to the point

"According to what the Hobgoblin said…"

"Jamiru, his name is Jamiru." Lyd said

"Right, apologies, according to what Jamiru said, from his group, he was the only one that escaped, while the other 6 were captured, isn't that right?" He asked as he looked behind

"Yes... I'm a failure, I... I escaped alone and..."

"No, it's okay Jamiru." Ray said reassuringly

'Silver nodded and said:'

"There is no need for you to feel guilty, someone had to come back to tell the tale, otherwise, we would've still been down there, waiting for no one to come."

"..."

'The Hobgoblin, Jamiru closed his eyes with a pained expression.'

"Still... It's clear they let him escape, all so they could attract us and hopefully capture more of us." Lyd said as he looked at Silver

"You're right."

"Their objective is to capture, not elimination, but this doesn't mean they'll hesitate to do so when the time comes…"

"Get to the point." Gros said

"Calm down, we have some time, if we don't make this clear now, we'll run into problems later on." Silver replied

"What I'm trying to say is that they'll have a nasty trap waiting for us, so I want you all to be aware of that."

"If something were to happen to any of the 3 leaders, then everything will truly be over." He said towards Lyd, Gros, and Ray

"..."

"So what do you suggest?" Ray asked as she flew by

"I'll rescue the hostages, or at least, help with doing so."

"You? How?" Gros asked

"Yes me, like this." Silver replied as he disappeared, reappearing several dozen meters ahead

'Once everyone arrived next to him again, he continued:'

"I can teleport around and do so with others as well…"

"This means that as long as I can get my hands on the hostages, I can bring everyone back with me, essentially ridding you all of the worry of having to rescue them."

"That! It's actually feasible." Lyd said as he went in deep thought

"There are several problems with this, the first one being the enemy's decisiveness." Silver pointed out as he raised his right hand

"Depending on how serious they are, the moment they realize something is wrong, even if we did nothing, they may injure one of the hostages or do something worse in order to put pressure on us."

"They want to capture more Xenos... They aren't criminals trying to escape after robbing a bank."

"Their hostages aren't only shields, they both that and... Bait."

"A fight will be inevitable, I don't think any of you will concede to any of their demands, nor will they try to negotiate at all."

"But the possibility of them starting to hurt the hostages in order to affect our morale is extremely high, especially you three."

"We definately win in terms of numbers, environmental knowledge, and firepower, as such, they'll lure us somewhere where they can reduce those advantages as much as possible…"

'Ray thought as she flew, eventually reaching a conclusion:'

"The 18th floor?" She said in disbelief

"WHAT?" Gros said loudly as his eyes darted open

"Unfortunately, that may be the case…" Silver said slowly

"The 18th floor is Adventurer territory, if suddenly, a group of monsters rushes inside while going after a group of adventurers…"

"Everyone is going to attack us…" Lyd said in frustation

'But silver said one more thing:'

"But that is not their plan."

"WHAT?! Explain it in simpler words!" Gros said, extremely annoyed

"Of course." Silver said with a small smile

"I'll go over everything again while changing my words."

"We're currently halfway through the 22nd floor, while our enemy is most likely taking their first steps into the 20th floor at this point in time."

"If they arrive at the 18th floor… There is no more discussion, we lose."

"Albeit there is a very faint chance of us being able to finish them before others intervene, that in itself is going to be hard, it wouldn't be surprising if they have a team waiting for us there..."

"Because of that, we mustn't follow them to the 18th floor under any circumstances."

"We'll be forced to wait and lead this fight to the surface, either that, or ambushing them after they leave the 18th floor, but that'll be extremely hard…" Silver said in a low tone

Especially since they'll never do so… The Ikelos Familia has access to the entrances leading to Knossos on the 18th floor, they don't need to leave through the conventional exits...

"But this isn't what our enemy wants, they want to capture more, otherwise, they wouldn't have let one escape and warn us."

"If they wanted to flee with what they had, even if it meant silencing him and incurring losses, Jamiru wouldn't be here with us right now…"

/GRRR!/

'Gros growled, he didn't like the sound of his words.'

"Sorry if I sounded insensible…"

"No it's okay, continue Silver-Chi." Lyd said deeply

"As I was saying…"

"They don't want to escape like this, they are greedy, our enemies have another plan in mind... And we'll use that greed to our advantage."

'He pointed towards the three of them, Lyd, Ray, and Gros.'

"If you three were to run with everything you had, it would only be a matter of time until you reach them, you'd probably intercept them around the 19th floor."

"Don't tell me…" Lyd said with a frown

"They want to separate us." Ray concluded

"Correct. Their plan is to have the fastest to arrive first."

"They are definately fully aware that the ones that'll arrive will be the strongest, but they must be extremely confident of their ability to finish things before the slower ones arrive."

"That is why I say they'll definitely wait for us on the 19th floor, as once they finish, they'll be able to retreat to safety."

"Or in case something goes bad, they'll have a retreat path…"

"ROARRRR!"

'Gros suddenly roared, shacking the entire cavern.'

'He was furstrated, incredibly so…'

"Gros! Now's not the time to give in to your emotions!" Ray said hastily

"GRR… I know!" He replied

'He looked towards Silver and said:'

"Human! Can you do it?... Can you save them and allow me to… RIP THEM ALL TO SHREDS?!"

'Silver smiled slightly.'

"I have a few ideas, but first, let's determine who'll be coming with us."

'Lyd and Ray nodded.'

"Me and Gros will advance with you, Ray, you'll stay behind just in case they have something else prepared." Lyd said as he looked behind

"Understood." Ray said as she decreased her flight speed

"You all heard that right everyone?!" He screamed loudly

'Silver took this opportunity to say:'

"From what Jamiru told us, their numbers are around 12, but this number is very likely to increase once we're actually there."

"I can imagine something on the likes of 20 or even 30 adventurers..."

"The problem was their strength, according to him, they were only attacked by 10 people, while 2 remained behind, being subdued after a decent struggle."

"This means they're all at least Level 2 by the Adventurers' standards... Since albeit a Bait team, all of the captured Xenos were equivalent to Level 3."

"So we should be expecting something in the likes of 15 to 20 Level 2 adventurers, 5 to 10 Level 3's and perhaps a few Level 4's, no more than 5."

"Also, if their Captain makes an appearance, something I'm sure it'll happen, we'll have to be even more careful, because he's definitely Level 5... A strong one at that."

'Lyd nodded.'

"We'll be taking Four, Ranye, Let, Helga, Aude, Cliff, Kiln, Ecos, and Ygor. The others will continue marching behind us and try to catch up as soon as possible!"

/Roar!/

'Behind him, a tall Formuire, an Arachne, a large Hellhound, a Warshadow, a Hippogriff, a Madbeatle, a Merman, and a Troll all nodded, increasing their speed to keep up with Lud and Gros as they marched towards the horizon.'

'Both Four and Ranye were Level 5 monsters, while everyone else had their strength around 4 and 5, these were some of the most elite warriors of the Xenos.'

'Albeit not all of them, after all, a few had to stay behind to protect the villagers and the noncombative Xenos, while some others were left in the backlines group...'

"We'll be saving everyone!" Lyd said with determined eyes

"..."

'Silver remained silent, he was thinking about what to expect, and what plans his enemy could use against them…'

'But he would have to wait in order to see if what he choose was for the best.'

'His actions have just changed the future of these Xenos… But was it for the best, or did he just condemn them to die?'

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