Mia looked around herself and sighed before addressing Eren.
“This is a common behavior when demonic rankers are involved, Eren. Those bastards have various means at their disposal to assume various identities. That’s what the Awakened guard must be worrying about.
Extreme measures need to be taken to deal with demonic rankers. Plus, those who fight with them often face severe injuries because of the normal-than-usual battle potential of the demonic rankers. There are even cases of people dying from kamikaze attacks by those lunatics.
So those who are assigned to battle demonic rankers are often looked at with vigilance. As if there’s something wrong with their heads too. Hehe. It’s funny and kinda not funny if you think about it.”
Eren nodded at Mia for providing him with a perspective. He then looked at her curiously before asking her.
“Mia, you always focused on solo missions, didn’t you? Why did you apply to join us on this mission?”
The rest of the members of Eren’s squad were also keen on Mia’s answer. They had always seen Mia as a maverick. Mia’s presence on this big team mission seemed strange to them.
Mia chuckled and looked at Eren curiously before answering him.
“Hehe. I am interested in seeing someone’s potential so I came here.”
Eren raised his eyebrows when he received Mia’s vague answer. And for some reason, he could see that Reece had a frown on her face when the beautiful elf said that. But before they could discuss it further, Mia spoke some more.
“Besides, I’m lagging behind Miranda, Eren. She is already an Awakened ranker while I’m still stuck in the last stage of the Meta rank. Participating on missions like these is a sure-fire way to achieve a forced breakthrough while battling with demonic rankers.”
Mia looked at Miranda in the distance who appeared to be discussing some more stuff with Kiara and the guard captain. For some reason, Mia felt that the distance between her and Miranda was more than what others perceived.
Eren and the rest of the team were accommodated in a city hall built for various events and purposes inside the city. It had minimal furniture and a raised platform at one end of the hall.
The hall was around 50 meters long and 30 meters wide. The ceiling of the hall was about 5 meters from the ground. The ceiling of the hall was studded with luminescent stones that exuded ample light.
The rankers already had their rollaway beds with them. They just chose a random place to crash while maintaining sufficient distance from each other.
Soon the team members were served an army-style dinner by the guards. Dry bread with mashed potatoes with spicy garlic added to the mix.
Pointlet was not a very famous town. It only had one inn, which couldn’t accommodate 30 rankers in one go. Staying at the city hall was a compromise Kiara’s team members had to make.
Eren immediately set up his rollaway bed near his squad. The group was busy eating and chatting with each other when Eren heard Kiara’s mana-imbued voice. She was addressing everybody.
“Listen up, guys. We will now tell you guys about the plan we are planning to use to scour the Pointlet forest that is not too far away from this town.”
Kiara didn’t seem interested in having dinner. Miranda was beside her, coordinating things with Roland.
Kiara started discussing the details with the entire team. She allowed her team to split into squads. It was never a wise choice to face demonic rankers alone. So Eren was grouped with Reece, Ekay, Mia, and Rhea. The rest of the squads were also decided at this point.
Eren and the rest of his team finished their dinner while finalizing their roles in their squads. Everything was set. The illuminating stones were dimmed to allow rankers to get some sleep before they headed out for their mission.
Around 2 AM.
Eren was still staring at the moon that was visible to him through the large windows that were placed 2 meters away from the ground. There was something about the way the townspeople looked at him and the rest of the team that was still bothering him.
Mia had cleared his doubts for the most part. But his instincts as a hustler and street thug were telling him things were not as simple as they might seem.
‘Something’s off. This whole town feels off.’
Eren started recalling the sight he saw after entering the town. It was reported that at least 4000 people were living inside the town. The number seemed way off considering the scarcity of people he had seen outside their homes and shops.
Even if he were to consider that the nighttime had reduced the traffic, it didn’t explain why some of the people he did see didn’t look like ordinary townspeople. He felt like he was looking at scam artists who were trying to put on a show.
In the next moment, Eren’s senses were shaken to the core as he felt danger coming from every direction. He sprang from his bed and drew his Tachi while surveying the surroundings around him.
People were still sleeping. Most of them hadn’t discovered anything. But just like him, there were a few rankers who had risen from their relaxed positions.
“Something is coming!”
Reece and the rest of the people were woken up by Eren’s words. The lights in the hall were bright. Just then Eren felt a distinct pulse of mana all around him.
Boom!
The large doors of the city halls were blown away and some people entered inside. In the next moment, a shield of energy appeared, covering the entire hall. Somebody had used an isolation array to trap people inside.
Ten demonic rankers had entered the city hall uninvited.
This was a wild bunch of rankers who looked vile and bloodthirsty. They had worn a range of armors and attires that looked completely different from the usual ones.
“Hahahaha! Our sacrifice was delivered right to our doorsteps. Lord Bulal would be very happy.”
