Chapter 201
Upon hearing Finn’s question, Ottar closed his eyes and envisioned the scene once more.
“Upper level six—no, maybe higher,” he replied, his voice softer than usual.
At his announcement, the entire conference room buzzed with murmurs.
‘Tsk, how I wish I could reveal that the enemy is actually level 7,’ Draco thought, clenching his fist.
He too had inspected the hole, and through the lingering aura, his instincts, and some future knowledge, he concluded that both holes were made by at least level 7 adventurers.
Draco had a knack for gauging the strength of others, a skill he had honed after encountering the one-eyed black dragon.
“What!” Asfi exclaimed, unable to contain her surprise.
Her astonishment wasn’t unfounded; in the current Orario, level six was a significant achievement.
In fact, Ottar was the only known level 6 adventurer in all of Orario.
The possibility that the evilus might have two or three individuals of that caliber was extremely concerning.
“We also encountered a mysterious woman while securing the black market storehouse,” Shakti revealed, explaining the incident at the abandoned church to everyone.
“She fought off the entire Ganesha Familia by herself,” Riveria muttered in shock.
She had read the report, but it lacked such detailed insights.
“I have never heard of a mage that strong,” Riveria continued.
“It wouldn’t be the first time a powerful adventurer went unannounced. Didn’t the Osiris Familia have access to many first-tier adventurers they never disclosed? They could also be survivors from the Zeus and Hera Familia,” Draco said, subtly sharing information he knew.
Finn nodded in agreement.
Such occurrences were indeed common in the era of the Zeus and Hera Familia.
During their reign, many familias vied for supremacy, some harboring level six or even seven captains without reporting to the guild.
In the end, however, it was the Zeus and Hera Familia that emerged on top.
The Sobek Familia was one such example, but they had lost and were now a shadow of their former selves.
Currently, the god Sobek still resided within Orario, but only had one member left.
“Sigh, I can’t speak about the allegiance of the mage, but we now know that the evilus have at least two level sixes on their side. We should stick together; nobody wants to run into them alone,” Finn said, massaging his temples from stress.
Everyone’s expressions grew solemn at his words, and the room fell silent as each familia representative contemplated how to deal with the speculated level sixes.
It was disheartening to know that the enemy had two or more level sixes, while they only had one.
‘I have a terrible feeling that I may have to utilize that skill to its fullest. I pray it never comes to that,’ Draco thought.
“Now then, let’s move on to the last order of business for today,” Finn announced, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
“We’ve received word from the Hermes Familia. They have managed to locate several new evilus bases.” Finn revealed.
Alise and Kaguya’s eyes widened, as did those of every other adventurer in the room.
‘Is this it? Is this the event that led to Adi’s death?’ Draco wondered.
He recalled that around this time, Adi had died during a large-scale evilus base raid.
So far, this was the only large-scale raid being announced; the others had only been small in scale.
While Draco contemplated this, Asfi stood up to deliver her report, verified information gathered by the Hermes Familia scouting parties over the past few weeks.
“There seems to be three in total,” she said.
“All previously abandoned facilities, and quite large compared to those we’ve seen in the past. We don’t know what’s happening inside, but based on the number of lookouts, it must be something quite important. We speculate that perhaps the evilus main base of operations is among these three locations,” Asfi concluded.
“Based on these reports, the guild has also advised that these are definitely important evilus facilities. They recommended that we try striking all three at…” Finn began, but was interrupted.
“The Astraea Familia will take one!” Alise exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and startling Draco and Asfi seated beside her.
‘Is this girl eager to die? Didn’t she just hear that the evilus have level six members on their side? Hopefully, the Bahamut Familia gets paired with the Ganesha Familia so I can try to prevent Adi’s death. But with Alise’s actions, Finn may pair us with the Astraea Familia instead. I need to say something quickly,’ Draco thought.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Finn said, his expression defeated.
“You’re going to ask for volunteers for the attack, right? Of course, you’ll pick the Freya and Loki familias, but you’ll need one more! Well, I nominate us and the Bahamut Familia,” Alise said, placing her hand on the table.
She leaned forward as if she wanted Finn to agree immediately.
“I object,” Draco announced, shocking Alise.
She had thought he would support the idea given their successful collaboration.
“Why?” Alise asked, her expression perplexed.
“Haven’t you been paying attention all meeting? The evilus has at least two adventurers speculated to be at least level six. Do you want to lead both our familias to an early grave?” Draco asked.
Even with the combined strength of the Astraea and Bahamut familias, facing a level six was too much—especially since Draco knew they were actually level seven.
“Oh,” Alise gasped, a bit embarrassed.
Finn looked at Draco with a genuine smile, glad another person with common sense was on his side.
“Finn-san?” Draco called out, unsure of how to address him.
“Just Finn is fine,” Finn said, smiling.
“I propose that we combine with the Ganesha and Astraea familias to raid one of the bases. That way, we have a higher chance of surviving an encounter with a level six or seven,” Draco suggested.
‘Why did he mention level seven?’ Finn wondered but didn’t dwell on it.
“Shakti, can we proceed with that?” Finn asked.
“It’s fine with me,” Shakti replied.
“Great! Then the Loki Familia will form the second group and take on the second base. The Freya Familia will be the third group and handle the third base. Ottar, can we count on you for this?” Finn asked.
“Hmm,” the boaz man responded with a nod.
Now it was clear that the Loki and Freya familias would participate in the operation, morale began to rise among the adventurers in attendance.
“I am terribly sorry to interrupt the good cheer, but are we not considering the possibility that this is all a trap?” Kaguya asked.
“Ah, about that. We are counting on the guild to enlist the help of other strong familias like the Ishtar, Hephaestus, and Dionysus familias, to name a few. Right, Royman?” Finn replied, having already taken this into consideration.
“Well, since Orario’s safety is at stake, I will make it happen even if I bleed,” Royman affirmed.
Nodding in satisfaction, Finn then turned his attention to Asfi.
“Post your scouts all over the city. If they see anything out of place, let me know immediately,” Finn instructed.
“Yes, sir. I will get the whole familia on it,” Asfi replied.
There was now positive chatter among the attendees, as they finally had direction and purpose.
“Now, I’m sure you’ve all surmised, this will be a search-and-destroy operation. We will not spare anyone and will wipe the evilus out once and for all,” Finn said, his blue eyes scanning each participant.
“The operation will begin in three days. I trust that everyone will keep this confidential, as it demands utmost secrecy,” Finn stated.
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Upon seeing this, the meeting was adjourned.
‘Hmm, what’s this?’ Draco’s eyes suddenly widened as he stood up.
His magic sense picked up something odd.
It was a faint magical wave coming from the room next door, but he thought little of it.
It was the guild, after all, so magical devices were obviously being used daily.
If only Draco had been more curious, he would have realized what was wrong.
But after spending almost the entire day in the meeting, he was too mentally exhausted to think straight.
The coming days would bear witness to the folly of his inaction.
…………………………………………………………………..
In an empty room next to the conference hall, a diligent guild employee had been listening in on the adventurers’ conversation.
She had an earring-shaped listening magic device placed on the wall.
Once she heard the sounds of adventurers leaving their seats, she casually put away her tools and left the room.